#like all of them are on path to somewhere and the action portions are subtle but not entirely the plot | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

unrestedjade · 4 years

Note

fic writing meme: 1, 12, 17, 18, 21

Oh dang, that’s a lot! Think I’ll put this behind a cut to spare everyone’s dash.

1. The first fandom I wrote and posted for was Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. But! Somewhere in a landfill is a notebook with a very overwrought Animorphs fic about Ax falling in love with my very cool, original-character-donut-steel alien bat-centaur who can tell the future. Every day I thank the universe for not letting my family have internet access until I was 14. Actually, maybe the universe should have held out longer, but you can peep the cringe for yourself over here: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/173909/Fortuna

Yes, that is my old ff.net profile. My only regret is that I didn’t get a chance to back up my ask fics before the site suddenly decided to make a rule banning them and deleted them all. (Me, still salty over that 15 years later? Why, yes actually.)

12. A trope I haven’t tried yet but really want to? It’s hard to narrow it down; there’s a lot of “cliche” fanfic tropes I never let myself write that I want to indulge in this year. I’m thinking about finding one of those bingo cards to use or something. But since I grew up sneaking my mom’s romance novels, I think an arranged marriage would be fun to try if I have to pick just one.

17. The fic I’m most proud of should come as no surprise, lol. I still can’t believe I finished something as long and plotty as finaglc. Would love to manage it again someday. :’)

18. Line/scene dvd commentary: okay okay okay! So there’s this more-or-less abandoned DaphGan Legend of Zelda fic I was writing back in the day, that was just a loose serious of vignettes in chronological order. I had ideas for like 20 chapters and fizzled out because it turns out only about three people on the whole earth give a shit about DaphGan and I can’t write in a complete void of feedback. Anyway, I researched medieval boar hunting techniques because I desperately wanted an action scene culminating in a ~bad omen~ and here it is, so scroll by if you just want to see the last question in the batch:

Within minutes, they were deep enough that the forest canopy closed above them, far above Ganondorf’s head. In the cool and the dim, and with the rustling of leaves in the breeze overhead sounding almost like waves, Ganondorf felt as though he were at the bottom of a great, ancient lake. Mist lay in a thick blanket on the ground as high as the smaller horses’ barrels, and a carpet of dead leaves and needles deadened the sounds of their movement. The hunters had fallen silent. About that, he had no complaints.

(I recall being inordinately fond of the underwater imagery, because I’d been struggling for how to conceptualize a thick forest for a person who’s spent most of his life in the open desert.)

Save for ferns and scattered herbs, there was little in the way of troublesome plants or low branches beyond the border of the forest, and Ganondorf realized that King Daphnes’ suggestion the day before had, in truth, been polite censure of his clothing rather than any practical concern. He frowned, and put the thought aside. It did not matter.

(I was not at all subtle about the Hylians picking at the Gerudo envoy’s appearances, which I think I could handle a little better now, but alas...)

He thought instead on the many sounds surrounding them, his ears straining to hear every one. There was birdsong, in patterns and notes he had never heard. Small creatures rustled in the trees. Water gurgled somewhere out of view. The woods were full of life in every direction, and Ganondorf quietly marvelled at its richness.

All of this, for the sport of one family?

(This piece of writing is old enough that I was still using the now-defunct “two spaces after a period” rule, wow. Also, hello there, years-old misspelling. :/)

They kept to a walking pace for an hour or two, hushed but alert. The dogs picked up a scent, the party wheeling around to follow after them. Ganondorf rode alongside King Daphnes. The man’s eyes were alight as he looked down the deer trail ahead of the dogs; a small smile of anticipation grew on his face. "They have something, eh?” he said, in a whisper. “What did I tell you!”

The lead dog threw its head back, baying. It launched itself forward and the rest of the pack followed suit, tails held high like flags.

An enormous boar, all sinewy muscle and bristled hide, burst from a nearby thicket and was driven ahead of them.

“Aha!" The king spurred his horse to a gallop, the rest of the party just behind. Ganondorf quickly found himself bringing up the rear.

The stallion seemed to find this as unacceptable as he did, for without his urging it picked up speed, long strides eating up the ground until the pair were level with the king once more.

(This bit started with the rest of the hunting party giving G-dawg mad shit for insisting on riding his stallion instead of a more appropriate horse, so I had to vindicate him, of course.)

Ganondorf’s eyes were now fixed on the boar. He crouched low over the stallion’s neck, free hand fisted in the tangles of its mane. They pulled ahead to run with the dogs, until even the dogs were falling behind them.

"Stay with it!" The king’s bellow carried over the thunder of the stallion’s hooves. "Keep running it!”

They ran. The boar was fast and nimble, leading a chase through dense copses and over fast-flowing streams. The world fell away until all that remained was the path they weaved through the trees, the rolling strength of the horse beneath him, the forest rushing by in a blur of green and loamy brown, and the boar.

Ganondorf laughed like a child, his heart light for first time since he’d come to this impossibly green land.

The chase ended when the boar made to leap over a fallen log and could not clear it, tumbling end over end. The beast scrambled to its hooves, brandishing its long tusks. It had reached the point of exhaustion, steam rising from its hide, muscles quivering with exertion. It could run no longer.

Ganondorf held it at bay, keeping the point of his spear trained on it. He did not wish to incite it to charge and risk his horse. He simply looked at it, watching the boar watch him with wide, red eyes. Foam gathered at its mouth, and he wondered whether it would die where it stood, if its heart had burst in its chest.

The baying of the dogs was not far off. The hunters were closing in.

(Still a little puffed up over the juxtaposition of hunting being legitimately thrilling but cruel. Catch my bro getting swept up in the excitement.)

“Excellent work!" Daphnes was at the head of the party, as he had been to start. "Oh, well done, man!”

As the dogs circled, barking and snapping, the boar stood its ground, head lowered. It made a few feints at the dogs foolish enough to attack, but as the hunters closed in it had less and less room to manoeuvre. Ganondorf could see it rallying for a final effort, weariness flowing into terror and rage.

It roared, lunging, scattering the dogs. Blood streaked its tusks. A horse reared when its leg was cut by sharp hooves. For a moment, it looked to Ganondorf as though it might break away again and escape.

In one practiced motion, Daphnes leapt from his horse and sunk his spear deep into the boar’s side.

Ganondorf’s racing heart froze. Pain keener than any he had ever felt lanced through him, choking him on a silent cry. He clutched at his chest, groping for the spear-head that wasn’t there. His own spear fell from numb fingers to the forest floor. Terror and agony, all-encompassing, swept over him in a crushing wave.

None of the other hunters noticed his distress. All eyes were locked on their king’s struggle with the beast. The boar screamed, running against the spear as if it would happily run the length of it to reach Daphnes with its final breath. The cross-tree of the spear and the strength of the man wielding it kept the boar’s tusks far from its target, however, and for every drop of blood that spilled from its side a portion of its strength bled away with it.

After what felt far too long, the boar collapsed. It’s screams had faded to rattling breaths, and when Daphnes stepped forward, knife drawn, it did not resist.

It was on Ganondorf that its red eyes rested when its throat was cut, in some mute accusation or seeking solace, he could not say. The pain in his chest receded when the final gout of blood ran out onto the dark earth. By the time Daphnes stood from his task, wiping his hands and blade clean on a rag, Ganondorf might have believed that the pain had been a trick of his imagination.

(This thing with the dead boar was meant to keep coming up in small ways throughout the rest of the vignettes as a harbinger of G-dawg’s ultimate failure and doom along with being an illustration of how he twists and suppresses himself for the sake of pleasing Daphnes, but of course it’ll probably never happen now since I’m five years out. I really did like this idea, though, and this scene was super fun to write. Except for now I’ve noticed another old typo. T_T)

21. The fic that got away? Lots; I actually have a horrible track record for finishing long fics. The one I’m most bummed out by, that I still think of from time to time, was actually a fill for the old Transformers Anonymous Kink Meme on LJ. It was Animated-verse pre-war Ratchet/Ultra Magnus with a detour into Ratchet/Megatron. I was about two thirds of the way done when something happened in the community that I can’t recall anymore derailed me, and I never ended up finishing it. Sometimes I think about scraping it off the meme to at least archive what I had done on Ao3 or something, but I probably won’t lol. It would take forever to track it down since this was back in like, 2012.

6 notes · View notes

comicgeekscomicgeek · 4 years

Text

Their Hero Academia – Chapter 60: Final Exam Part 2: Multiple Choice

Presenting the next chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia!

All chapters can be found here

Shota took in a deep breath and let out a scream, high-pitched and powerful. The sonic waves passed through the buildings ahead of them and then bounced back, giving him a detailed outline of everything and everyone those waves had touched. It was like seeing a picture in his head, online mostly just in sharp blue outlines. Normally, he couldn’t get this good of a picture. Solid objects slowed down the soundwaves and bounced them back. But with so many of the buildings having shattered windows or other hole in them, he could get a much better picture of what was going on.

“I count four people in the buildings,” he said, pointing. “Two there, one there, one there. Plus three people outside it and at least four more people up past that building, but it gets fuzzy after that.”

“Good job, Shinso,” Sora Iida told him. In her red and silver armor, combined with her height, she stood out distinctly in the morning sun. “I can scout ahead and take the far point, while you three work on the closer rescues.”

“Who put you in charge?” Aoyama asked. He was lit up like a small sun himself; with his arms and face exposed, his glow made him hard to even look at directly.

“Do you have a better suggestion?” Iida asked. It wasn’t a challenge, the way Kirishima-Bakugo might have asked it, but genuine interest. Of course, given Iida’s scientific leanings, she would be interested in the best outcome.

“…Non,” he admitted. His shoulders slumped and he gave his cape a flick. “Let us do your plan then.”

“We must also be vigilant against the presence of Villains, Aoyama,” Koda said, cautiously. She usually was the one to rein Aoyama in when he was getting an attitude or pouting. “Iida is the fastest of us. If anyone should be scouting ahead, it is her.”

Aoyama crossed his arms, but grumbled his assent. Shota knew he liked to show off and be the center of attention, but now really wasn’t the time for it. Not with all of them passing or failing depending on it. Shota was already worried enough that he was going to drag everyone down… He’d kept it together during training since he came back to school, but this was a lot more intense.

“You are correct as always, Mademoiselle Koda,” Aoyama conceded.

The matter settled, Iida said, “Remember, we are to check in with Tos—Gravi-Might and the others in ten minutes, unless they contact us first.” With the roar of her Jetpack, the wings of her costume snapped up and she took off, quickly speeding into the distance.

Shota, Koda, and Aoyama snapped into action as well. None of them possessed Quirks which granted much speed, but they were all still in good enough shape for a quick jog. On the road ahead of them, a pair of cars had crashed into each other. One had been abandoned, but the other was crushed where a downed electrical pole had landed on it. It showed no obvious signs of still being active, but…

“Hang on, sir!” Shota called out to the robot behind the wheel of the car. “We’re going to get you out!”

From the robot, there was no response. Unconscious, then? That meant they really needed to move.

Fortunately, Koda was one step ahead of him. From the seed pouch on her belt, she produced a handful of seeds and tossed them near the car. Once in the ground, she applied her Quirk and they immediately started to grow, becoming vines that wrapped their way around the pole, covering each stray wire, and slowly lifting it off the car.

“My hastily grown friends do conduct a little electricity,” she said, “but not enough to do them significant harm. And far less harm than that would do to us.”

Aoyama stepped in next. With the car partially smashed, there was no way they were just opening the door to get the robot out. From the mirrored wristband on his right arm, he released a small portion of his stored light, going for a concentrated blue-white laser beam that cut through the car like a hot knife going through butter, leaving an orange-hot line behind it. When he had gone completely around the edge of the door, he took a quick step back as it fell.

“Watch the edges!” Shota said. “They’re going to be hot!”

Aoyama shot him a dirty look. “I know that!” he snapped. But the look on Aoyama’s face said he didn’t. With care, though, he extracted the robot. “Do not worry,” he told it. “We shall get you somewhere safe.”

Getting it a safe distance away was enough for the robot to tell them they had completed its rescue. The other rescues went just as quickly. Shota was even able to use his Quirk to blast away some rubble, letting Koda and Aoyama finish up the rescue. It felt good. Even if they were robots, using his Quirk to find people, to help them, not to cause harm, was a welcome change. Still, some small part of him still flinched at unleashing the more destructive aspects of his Quirk, even for rescue work. He could still see the Nomu simply disintegrating under his power. Even if it had turned out not to be alive, he hadn’t know that at the time…

With a road of jet engines, Iida returned, landing near them. “I was able to rescue two, but I will need additional support for the others,” she said. “But first… Loud Kid, another sonar sweep, if you would, in case the parameters have changed?”

Shota nodded. But just before he could let out another sonar pulse, a loud crack sounded, echoing off the buildings. Something struck Aoyama in the head and he went down!

***

Isamu skidded to a stop, braking hard with a bit of reverse-thrust. The section of Omega City his group had headed to was a wreck, looking like a tornado had hit it. Robot civilians were running from a Villain, a muscular man with bird-like feet that ended in sharp talons, hair that turned into feathers and spread along his back, and massive wings. He wore tattered jeans and very little beyond that, with tattoos covering the space on his back between his wings. When he flapped his wings, he unleashed massive gusts of wind, blowing over everything in his path. The tornado theory was looking pretty solid.

The Villain hadn’t noticed them yet, content in his rampage, with his back to them. His shock momentarily halted, Isamu stood up. Already, he could feel his heart thudding in his chest. Even if this was some Pro-Hero helping out U.A. or one of the other year teachers or something, this felt like a Villain attack. Whoever they were, they were doing a damn good job getting into their role.

Of course, if he was a Hero, Isamu felt like he should have recognized him. But there weren’t a lot of Pro-Heroes with wings (Hawks and Kestrel immediately came to mind, but this definitely wasn’t either of them) and this guy didn’t seem to match up to any of them. Maybe from another country? He wasn’t so good with those.

“That’s right!” the winged man shouted. “Run! Run!” He flicked his wings forward again, sharply. The wave of air was more compressed this time, slicing through everything in its path. The change in air pressure was intense. Even as far away as they were, even from behind him, Isamu could fell it. This guy’s Quirk might make him even stronger than Gale Force…

“…I’m open to suggestions here,” Sero said. “I mean, I could probably shoot some Tape at him, but those wings look pretty strong. I’d have to take him completely by surprise and I’m just not fast enough to wrap him up before he notices.”

“Yeah, this why I’m going into Rescue Heroics,” Ojiro added. “I guess I could go invisible and kick him in the balls…”

“X-Ray,” Isamu said, and he had to force himself to say Sero’s Hero name, “Stick ‘Em Up… Rescue the civilians. Amaterasu and I will get his attention and hold him off.”

Behind the clear face plate of his costume, Sero gave him an astonished look, then performed an exaggerated salute. “It’s been nice knowing you, man. You ready, Kimmie?”

Ojiro nodded, a gesture only visible because of the visor she wore with her eye-searingly bright costume. Sero wrapped an arm around her and in the blink of an eye, they both became invisible, shielded from view by the power of her Quirk. Isamu heard the “thwip!” sounds of Sero firing off a strand of his Acid Tape and he knew they were on the move.

Tokoyami’s expression was more unreadable, but Isamu had known her long enough now to read some of the more subtle movements of her feathers and her eyes. She was uneasy, but ready to fight.

Training had mostly pitted them against robots or, occasionally, each other. And yes, they’d been allowed to engage some very minor level criminals and Villains during their Internships. But this was something different entirely. Who even was this guy?

“Ready?” he asked her.

“Ready,” she said.

“Could be bad,” he said. “Guy seems pretty powerful.”

“So are we,” she said. “Have confidence, Haimawari.”

She had a point. “I’ll go low. You go high.”

There was a small nod between them, and Isamu launched himself forward, employing his Quirk as soon as he hit the ground. “Hey!” he shouted, pouring on the speed and trying to get the guy’s attention. “How about picking on someone your own size, you big blowhard!”

That got the guy’s attention. He turned quickly and Isamu could now see that he had harsh, yellow eyes like a bird as well. “Well, well,” the guy said, a trace of a Chinese accent in his voice, “if it isn’t the brave little Heroes!” His wings flared out and Isamu felt a massive gust of wind push against him. He poured on the thrust, fighting against it, more grateful than ever for the goggles and bandanna protecting his eyes, mouth, and nose. There was plenty of dust and debris in the air that could have been really nasty otherwise.

Fortunately, he was just the distraction. With the bad guy focusing on him, he didn’t see Tokoyami’s Frog-Shadow snaking around from above. But suddenly, Frog-Shadow swerved from her path, flying erratically through the air, until she smashed into the ground, leaving a small crater from the impact. Isamu too, suddenly saw the world spinning around him, making it impossible to tell where the street was. He swerved, hard, and saw a wall coming up right in front of him…!

***

Midoriya had one of the strongest Quirks in the class, up there with Izumi, Shinso, and Tokoyami, and he’d bounced off the Villain like a ragdoll! He was getting back up, but it would take him a minute. That impact looked like it was going to hurt tomorrow.

The metal man grinned in a way that vaguely reminded Chihiro of Kirishima-Bakugo, the same kind of “this is gonna be a fight and I’m gonna enjoy it” sort of smile she got before she punched someone. It was made all the worse by the truly massive underbite the guy had. His bottom jaw was huge, like the scoop bucket on a steam shovel. Where the hell had U.A. found this creepazoid? It was part of the exam, right? It hadn’t been crashed by some real Villain, had it? No, if that was the case, Aizawa and the other teachers would be intervening already…

“You going try and fight me like the green kid there?” the metal man asked. Despite looking like a thug, he didn’t sound stupid or uneducated. The voice was deep, rumbling, and confident like a champion fighter. “Nothing wrong with running. I’ve fought plenty of Heroes before and come out on top. I don’t like fighting girls, but if I have to…. Well, I’m not leaving without the doc.”

“Girls”? Mika repeated. She stamped a hoof on the ground and pointed an indignant finger. “The nerve of this guy! We’re Heroes in training! And he’s trying to softball us? I demand the right to be fought just like a guy!”

Anybody else, Chihiro would have thought they were babbling. But among Mika’s many skills was provocation. It had worked well for her during the Sports Festival and judging by the guy’s expression, it was working now.

“I mean, really,” Mika went on, “what rock did they find you under? Haven’t you heard of women’s liberation? Have you even talked to a woman in the last twenty years..?”

The metal man let out a roar and charged, smashing his metal fists down. Mika dodged out of the way and his fists hit the ground. Or rather, they hit what was on the ground: Mika’s sticky balls, the trap she’d seeded earlier.

He tried to pull his fists back but was unsuccessful, the sticky balls adhering quite well to his fists and the ground. His eyes widened in surprise as he realized he was trapped.

“Shock-Jock!” Izumi called out. “Now!”

Which was when Chihiro and Izumi let him have it. Her Cords slinked down and plugging into her bracers and she brought her hands up, sending out dual blasts of electricity. Bless Aunt Momo and Mrs. Hatsume, they did their job well, specialized circuits in the bracers and gloves directed the electricity in a straight line. Izumi, meanwhile, released some of the heat she had stored up from building the ice walls, projecting yellow-orange blasts of flame at the guy.

Her electric attack hit first, setting the guy twitching and screaming, before Izumi’s flames washed over him, turning some of his metal body white hot. Chihiro actually felt kind of bad. This was still just the exam, right? She had to take it serious, but she didn’t want to give the guy permanent nerve damage or anything.

Izumi ceased her fire attack and held up a hand. Chihiro caught the signal and let up on her electric one. The guy stood there, groaning, his metal skin making a slight pinging sound as it cooled.

“That hurt,” he snarled. “But this is going to hurt more!” With a massive grunt, he freed his arms, not by removing Mika’s balls from them, but instead simply being strong enough to tear the sections of ground they were attached to up with them.

“…That’s new,” Mika said, quietly.

Fortunately, by this time, Midoriya had recovered. “GRAVITY...BOOSTER!” He shot forward like a rocket, then hit the guy with an uppercut that made her ears ring. The metal guy was in motion this time, not braced like before and went flying high into the air from the force of the blow, disappearing from sight.

Still, Chihiro couldn’t help but stare, wide eyed. “You sure All Might is only your step-grandpa?” she asked.

He didn’t bother answering her question. “See if you can get any of the other teams on the comms. Mine got smashed when I hit the wall.”

***

Kenta had been exploring the inside of the building with Tensei Iida, looking for people to rescue, when something had taken them by surprise. Or rather, someone: a massive, muscular woman who looked like she could snap you in half just by staring at you hard enough, the kind that Mineta would say could crush your head between her thighs. And for just a moment, Kenta had frozen, the memory of the Nomu rearing up over him playing on a continuous loop in his head.

Iida had saved him, rushing in with his Jetpack to shove him out of the way. The woman had hit Iida instead and seemingly forgot about Kenta. He hoped Iida was okay. It would be really bad if he had to tell Takuma he’d gotten his boyfriend killed or put in traction.

Great. He was making jokes at a time like this. Takuma really was rubbing off on him.

He forced himself to get moving, heading back out the way he had come in. Outside, he could see all three of his classmates (Iida was upright, that was good!, even if he was sporting a nasty dent on his armor!) fighting with the woman. Her costume left a lot to be desired, being only stylized biker gear, with heavy spikes on the shoulders of her jacket.

Kirishima-Bakugo fired off a round of disks from her gauntlets, peppering the ground with a series of small explosions that kept the woman off balance, while Iida flew around behind her and snagged her with a capture-line from his gauntlet. After they’d taken her off balance and restrained her, Shoji moved in, swinging all three of his right-side arms.

Great. He was definitely going to fail the exam and make everyone else fail. Because he’d frozen up like a damn coward. Maybe one bad moment wouldn’t be enough. But he needed to make himself useful somehow…

Shoji’s blows connected, but they didn’t rock the woman back even an inch. Thought the bottom half of his face was covered, Kenta could see Shoji’s eyes widen in surprise. The woman just laughed.

“No bad, kid,” she said. “That was a nice gift. Let me return the favor!”

She flexed her arms and snapped Iida’s capture line like it was made of string, then hit the six-armed boy with a blow that sent him flying.

“Finally!” Kirishima-Bakugo shouted, throwing her head back and laughing. “A challenge!”

She charged, lashing out at the woman with a series of close-range blows. Every time a blow connected, she fired off an explosion. Some kind of contact transfer from her gloves, if he remembered right. It was hard to keep up with everyone’s costume and Support Gear updates. Maybe he needed to invest in something if he wanted to keep up.

The woman may have been sent off balance by the explosions fired at her feet, but this time, they didn’t seem to do anything. They didn’t even singe her skin.

Kirishima-Bakugo took a step back, fists still at the ready, bouncing on the balls of her feet. “What the hell, lady? What’re you made out of?!”

“Can’t stop everything by hitting it, girl,” the woman sneered. She swung her fist in a wide arc, but Kirishima-Bakugo was lighter on her feet, dodging out of the way. Iida swooped in, striking out at high speed. The blow clipped the woman’s chin, knocking her back for a moment and spinning her head around, before she struck out, faster than anyone that big should be able to move, swatting Iida from the sky.

What the hell was he supposed to do against that?

Wait…

She’d gone from being thrown off balance by Kirishima-Bakugo’s explosions to being unaffected. She’d shrugged off blows from Shoji but gotten her head spun around by Iida. Even with Iida putting his speed behind it, Shoji had a lot more power to his punches. What if she had to know a blow was coming to block it?

Hang on guys, he silently pleaded. He had an idea… he just needed her to stay in one place long enough.

He’d say this for all three of them, they kept taking her hits, but they kept getting back up again. And the huge woman gave as good as she got. She’d called Shoji’s blow a “gift” too…

But there, a telephone pole, right across the street…

As he ran towards the telephone pole, Kenta did a little math in his head, grateful for the fact that unlike Takuma and Kimmie, he actually paid attention in class. There was lots of math involved in baking and he was good enough at helping his dad to do some calculations on the fly. If she didn’t move too much, it would be just about right.

CHOMP! Kenta’s jaw muscles were strong and he could open his mouth wider than a normal person could. Combined with the fact that his teeth were incredibly tough, he could bite through anything very quickly. He bit, chewed, and swallowed as fast as he could, feeling like some kind of beaver as he worked his way through the wood. He kept his eye on the fight and the woman was still in just about the right position. In seconds, the telephone pole started to pitch forward. “TIMBER!” he shouted, giving it a strong push to finish the job.

He saw Shoji backpedal out of the way and Iida grab Kirishima-Bakugo (who protested that she wanted to stay and fight), and the woman try ineffectually to hit them as they fled.

THUMP!

The telephone pole came down on her hard, driving her into the ground. She’d started to turn, but hadn’t had time to fully do… whatever it was she did. For the moment, she was trapped.

“Sato!” Kirishima-Bakugo shouted. She looked mad. Probably about him “stealing” her victory. “How the hell did you do that?” When she couldn’t was left unsaid.

He ran across the street to join the others. “I think… I think she can absorb whatever force you throw at her. But she has to know it’s coming. I just got lucky.”

Kirishima-Bakugo scowled. “Yeah, okay. …Not bad, Lips.”

“As soon as I get out of here,” the woman yelled, “you’re dead! You hear me! You’re all dead!” Already, she was struggling and working her way out.

“We’ll see who’s deader, ya witch!” Kirishima-Bakugo shouted back. “I’m gonna explode you so hard your grandkids will have burn marks!” She brought up a gauntlet, ready to fire it.

“Ah,” Shoji began. He put a hand on her gauntlet.

“What?” she demanded.

“Perhaps we should continue our rescue work while she’s trapped?”

“I agree,” Iida added. “She is quite capable of neutralizing our attacks and is more than ready to anticipate them. We should rescue who we can, retreat, and fight another time.”

Kenta raised a hand slightly.

“You’re gonna agree with them, aren’t you?” Kirishima-Bakugo demanded. Her teeth were gritted in anger, her body language tense. She was not exactly the type of person who ran from a fight.

He gulped, then nodded. “Maybe we can get somebody like Kaminari or Todoroki or even Takuma or Minet to fight her. Somebody more zappy or who can restrain her.”

“AAAAARRRRGH!” Kirishima-Bakugo let out a scream of frustration. “Dammit, you’re right. Fuck!”

She gestured off in the opposite direction they’d come. “Iida, get eyes in the air, get on the comms and get somebody we can use. The rest of you, move!”

***

“Aoayama!” Koda cried out. The glowing boy went down, smacking his head on the ground, before any of them could react. But they had little time to panic. More shots followed the fist, one several impacting into the ground, others ricocheting off the building behind them. One even stuck Iida, making a clang where it hit her armor.

In response, Shinso screamed. But it was not a scream of panic, instead, he directed the soundwaves outward until they formed a protective, shimmering dome around three of them. Akaya said a small prayer that their classmate was all right. It may have only been an exam, but students had been greatly injured in training and exams before.

“Is he…?” she began, softly, bending down to examine Aoyama.

Around them, shots bounced off of the force field dome Shinso was screaming into existence. They came quickly and from multiple directions. Was there more than one person shooting at them? Guns were a rarity in Japan to begin with, even more so among Villains and Heroes, unless that gun augmented or worked with an existing Quirk, such as their teacher Hawkeye and her Super-Accuracy.

“Breathing,” Akaya continued, after taking his pulse. A nasty bruise was forming along the side of his head, one she could see even through his glow.

“Then we must move,” Iida said. “As soon as we can. I will distract them, while you three get to cover.”

The urgency was apparent. Shinso’s shield was already weakening. He could not sustain the scream for much longer. He held up a shaky thumbs up to say he agreed.

Akaya scooped up Aoyama. He was a fit boy, but slender and not as muscular as Midoriya or Haimawari, let alone Shoji, and while hers was not a strength Quirk, her size and rocky countenance did make her stronger than many. Despite his glow, his skin was not hot, but soft against her rocky one.

“Go!” Iida shouted. “Now!”

Shinso stopped screaming and the dome dropped instantly. He took off and Akaya followed close behind, while Iida rocketed into the air. Shots rained down around them, one narrowly missing her.

Slinging Aoyama over her shoulder instead and apologizing for the rough treatment, Akaya reached into her seed pouch with her now free hand and dropped seeds behind them, using her Quirk to make them grow rapidly. Trees sprung up like lightning behind her, offering temporary shielding from the gunfire.

She kept her eyes on the road ahead, but she could hear the sounds of gunfire still, hear it bounce off of Iida’s armor.

“I cannot see them!” Iida’s voice rang in her ears from their communicator headset. “Shinso, can you pinpoint them?”

Looking around, Akaya and Shinso came to a stop, sheltering behind a car. Shinso looked around, cautiously, then let out one of his sonar screams, casting it in various directions. When he stopped, he made a confused face. “I keep getting something, but it disappears as soon as I make contact. I guess it could be a teleporter, but those kinds of Quirks are, like, super rare! I mean, other than that kid who won the obstacle course, and we probably wouldn’t be fighting him…”

For a moment, the gunfire went quiet. Worryingly quiet. On her shoulder, Aoyama started to stir. Unconscious, the arrogant boy looked much smaller and vulnerable than usual, as though he puffed himself up like a hissing cat when awake.

She wondered sometimes why she tried so hard to be a friend to him. He was a walking tribute to the sins of pride and envy, and just as often prone to wrath. But there was something behind his eyes, a sadness that touched her deeply. There was a pain he carried with him he did not share, but which fueled his vices and she wished she could ease.

Aoyama groaned. “I… claim this land… for France!” he exclaimed, one arm shooting straight up into the air. “Ugh… what hit me?”

“Some kind of projectile,” Akaya told him, helping him get on his feet. “Iida attempted to draw their fire while we escaped.”

Aoyama frowned. She should tell his pride was hurt. “Merci,” he said, simply.

Around them, the world had gone deathly silent, save for a lingering echo of Shinso’s screams. Akaya quickly wished that she had chosen a different word to describe it than that. But it was apt. The strike had come out of nowhere and wasn’t even from a Quirk. They knew less than nothing about who was attacking them.

Iida’s voice again filled their comms. “The shooting seems to have stopped,” she said. “Like it or not, we must continue our mission. I will try to apprise the others of the situation and then join you.”

“She wants us to go on with some maniac with a gun out there?” Aoyama hissed. “Is she crazy?”

“We’ve… we’ve got to rescue people,” Shinso insisted. “Even if it’s dangerous. We’re Heroes. We can’t let everybody down.

It made sense, however dangerous it was. Real Heroes couldn’t just huddle and hide until the danger passed. They had to move on. As they got up to go, something made Akaya stop. There was the slightest of sounds, like a window shade being drawn back. Behind them, rising up from the shadow of a building like a swimmer appearing out of the water was a woman, her features plain and ordinary, especially for this day and age. She wore a black catsuit and carried a dangerous looking rifle.

“Then prepare to disappoint everyo—“ the woman began.

“Hey!” Shinso called out, suddenly sounding excited for some reason. “I know you!”

#my hero academia #their hero academia #fan fic #fan fiction #my writing #shota shinso #chihiro kaminari #kenta sato #akaya koda #isamu haimawari

3 notes · View notes

cosmiciaria · 5 years

Text

Radiata Stories review! (spoiler free - long post!)

I am SPEECHLESS. I can't believe I spent so many years without knowing about this game. My friend thoroughly recommended it to me but with my ps4 and many other pc games, I just wasn't in the mood for a ps2 oldie. But here I am, and I want to spread the word: play Radiata Stories.

In the world of Radiata, the land is divided into regions that belong to different races: elves, dwarves, orcs, humans (and ronsos – no, sorry, wrong game – but you can't fool me there's a lion guy who looks like Kimahri from FFX). These species have been at odds since time immemorial, and thus the dragons – Earth, Water, Fire, Wind, Silver and Gold – have guarded their beings from above.

We follow Jack Russell, a 16-year-old who dreams of becoming a knight. We accompany him to the entrance exams, only to see him fail miserably against a girl, Ridley Silverlake. Despite his clumsiness and obvious embarrassment for having been defeated, he's allowed to join the Radiata Knights, alongside Ridley, only because he's the son of an important late knight. They form a new brigade called Rose Cochon, under Captain Ganz Rothschild's leadership.

This trio will be sent into action in no time. Their dynamics are fun and there's a bit of rivalry between the two new knights, but they get things done. Ganz is proud to finally be able to be captain of his own brigade, and regards his two pupils with care and wisdom. This seems to be the flow the story is going to follow.

An important quest arrives: Rose Cochon brigade must reach the Elf Region and ask the Light Elves leader for a favor. However, things get tough in their journey there: a blood orc attacks the Dark Elves village, and the brigade plunges in to fight and defend.

In the battle, Ridley gets mortally wounded. Jack gets all frantic and desperate, and the brigade asks for the Elves' help. Lord Nogueira, the Dark Elf leader, decides to do the unthinkable for non-humans: the only way to save Ridley is to perform the transpiritation ritual, a spell only available for elves that allows them to take the soul of a dying fellow and use it to heal another one who might still live.

The ritual is successful, and Ridley's soul is fused with that of a small elf who'd died in the battle. Everything seems to settle down for a bit, with Jack and Ganz returning to Radiata City filled with good hopes for Ridley.

The next day, you're fired from the Knights.

This is where the game opens up for you!

From now on, it's just you, Jack, in the middle of a big city, paving his way to the top of the Vancoor Theater guild, the guild of warriors. Since the only thing you can do is fight, better to put it to good use and earn some money in the process!

The game offers a variety of things to do. You can start recruiting people as party members. You know, like, in Dragon Age, you can recruit characters into your team? Or, in any other rpg, that you have a team of five or six characters, maybe some more? Yes? Ok, here in RS you can recruit (listen to me) over 170 characters. Yep, you read right. Mind you, you can't recruit them (catch 'em all) in your first playthrough, but just so you know, yes, this game is that big.

Some people will ask you for a favor before they're added to the 'friend list', but others will join your right off the bat. Once you have a respectable team of four party members that you choose, you can begin doing solo missions, which are the guild's assignments to you and will redound in money and goodies. You get to know the other guild's members, you get to fight alongside them, you get to know and care for the civilians in the city. With a night-day system, if this game is anything, is alive.

NPC's have their own schedule: following the clock in the top left corner, they do and say different stuff depending of the moment of the day you approach them. They're walking around the city, performing random things, making them seem alive. Some events are only available at night, some others only during day. Some people will be nice, others not so much. Some parts of the city will shine, others will look depressing and dirty. Birds chirp, trees are swept by the wind's fine breeze, mosquitoes swarm around – this game breathes life into its pixels in every corner.

Now that we're on the aesthetic aspect, I must admit, this game looks gorgeous. With a very prominent anime artstyle, still it aged pretty well for today's standards: sometimes the lighting was too real, the sunlight pouring from the mountain's side, the character's long shadow stretching onto the road. The animations are good as well, as are the physics: I am beyond amazed by how well clothes and hairs move as flawlessly as if they were real. Each of the recruitable characters have a different victory pose and they have different lines for everything. Some particle effects are really nice, since I didn't think there existed the technology for it back then. The main city is huge, and when I say huge, I mean, every door you see, you can enter, and inside you'll find at least a two-floor building with objects to interact with and people to talk to. And don't even get me started on how BIG the Vareth Institute is in itself – and all that stuff is optional! The world is also vast and filled with brimming elements, although don't be fooled by the illusion of 3D: this game is, mostly, a 2D experience when you want to go from point A to point B.

You'll spend a good chunk of your game doing tasks for the guild. In the meantime, Ganz is somewhere playing the bandit and Ridley is hearing voices in her head. In this 'middle' part of the game, the story seemed to drag on forever for a bit: I wanted to go on with the main plot, and, while you can actually do that (just hit the sleep option over and over until a cutscene appears), the game tends to make you go through long and tedious solo missions to get that Grind™ you need. Dungeons are not long or too big in reality, but the number of encounters (which are forced on you since you can't avoid enemies by circling around most of the times for the 2D aspect) turns what should've been a walk in the park into a dragging hell. This portion of the game, I'm not going to lie, seemed a bit too long for me. And since the gameplay mostly consists in pressing the circle button and hearing Jack yell "Ha! Haiiyaah! Ha! Haiiyaah!" for ten hours straight, yeah, it can get boring.

But I guess the game was trying to make you feel at ease, comfortable around these walls. You're training your fave party members, you go with them everywhere to play the warrior and earn some money, you get occasional messages from Ridley telling you everything's fine – until the plot makes a halt and suddenly you must choose.

I'll keep this spoiler free, but this game is almost fifteen years old, so these are no news: there will come a point where the plot branches into two possible paths, the Human side, and the Non-Human side. I can't tell you which one is right, for there seems to be pros and cons in both, so I'll let your heart decide. For what we care now, I chose the Non-Human side, completely convinced with my decision, only to see myself doubt in many instances.

At this point, your plot shakes. Your comfort zone breaks. Suddenly, things are changing: your team is not there anymore, Ridley acts weird, where the hell is Ganz, what's going on with the dragons? Who am I supposed to trust in this world full of people who just want to exterminate each other?

I won't spoil it. I'll just say, that whatever you choose, please stand firm by your decision. You'll need that conviction, because the game is going to make your ground tremble a few times. And with those endings that await you – man, I don't know if I want to finish either path.

So, to avoid spoilers, I'll talk about the characters a bit!

Jack is your main protagonist, as you could've guessed. He's your average shonen main guy, at least in the beginning hours. He's clumsy, he wants to be a hero, and he even mocks shonen protagonists by saying that he'll awaken to a dormant power and save the world with his friends. But life hits him hard, accuses him of things he hasn't done, and so Jack evolves across the story. His character development is subtle, but it's there: he starts off as a brat who wants to fight, ends on a mature note, with some quite insightful thoughts and reactions I haven't expected from him. Normally, the shonen guy remains a shonen guy; this doesn't happen here. Jack ends up being an adorkable character, worthy of respect, sympathy, and a force to be reckoned with.

Ridley remains a calm force during the game. She's collected, she's well-educated, and she knows her way around. At the beginning, she can't stand Jack much, but as days go by, she starts to consider him as an equal and true friend. In the Non-Human path, her romantic feelings towards him are crystal clear: there's a small spark between them, that flickers every now and then when the plot allows them a moment's respite. Only them and a handful of other characters know the truth behind the transpiritation event, and as such there's a profoundly deep connection that keeps them together, although they're separated most of the story.

Ganz is ma fave boi and he must be protected at all costs. A young and promising man, Ganz was created to be likeable. You can't help but sympathize with his funny appearance: chubby, huge armor, huge sword, and funny moustache. But he's also a man of wisdom, with a golden heart. He's righteous and wants to do good. And he deserves all the love in the world.

Other notable characters are Genius, a scientist who's obsessed with the transpiritation thing that went down, and may know more about the plot than it seems at first glance; Natalie, a guarding woman who works as Ridley's not-so-secret bodyguard; Larks¸ the leader of the Knights and whose motivations remain a mystery to me even to this day – I can't read into this character at all!; Lord Zane, the leader of the Light Elves, who laughs maniacally when no one is watching and I can't bring myself to like him; Gawain, Ganz's father, who disappeared 16 years ago since his best friend died; and Cross, Ridley's fiancé, who just wants to be the best hunter and paves his way to the top of the knight ranks by any means necessary. I hate this guy so much, his only trait is 'I am a bad person' and that's it, he's so cartoonishly evil it makes me want to punch the screen. Probably you see more of him in the Human path, but unless he has a very tragic backstory to redeem him, he's not likeable at all. I mean, you can say that he has ambition and he gets s*it done, but still, damn him, and his voice actor, UGH.

Despite some minor thingies, the relationship between the characters is gold. Jack and Ridley are cute and make me wanna draw the meme of NOW KISS every two seconds. Jack and Ganz are companion goals. Ganz and his father – I loved that they kept their interactions personal and off screen. Idk why, but this story is about Jack, and yes, I care for Ganz as well, but his trouble with his father was his own, not Jack's, so I guess this is a director's decision which I'm 100% behind.

The plot can get predictable at times, but there's also a healthy amount of plot twists that made my jaw drop in a few occasions. I mean, I guessed who the bad guy was since the beginning, but let's face it, it's pretty obvious and the game doesn't hide it. There are other things that made the plot unfold worth my time, like trying to recruit that awesome character, or like what is the deal with Jack's late father, or what the hell is going on with Ganz, and what will happen to the city now that I'm on the Non-Human side? And the game answers them all (I read that the manga answers even more questions, so treat yourself).

All in all, RS is a vast jrpg experience, with high replay value and tons of things to explore. The world seems small, but it isn't. There's always a reward for those who wander off. For a ps2 title, this game is giant. And in the good sense. I thought I had seen the pinnacle of the ps2 era with Final Fantasy XII, but I'm highly considering changing my view on that one.

The endings are bittersweet in both paths. There's not a complete happy ending, I warn you. Things get darker towards the end, and the story knows how to subvert expectations in the good way. Remember Jack saying he wanted to be the hero like in a shonen anime? Well, not happening in this game guys. At the end of the day, this isn't a shonen story: this is a Radiata Story (roll credits), and like in every country's history, sometimes blood must be shed for events to take place and situations to unfold.

I am beyond pleased with this game. I'm considering playing through the Human side now – but first I need to recover myself from this Non-Human ending. I'm not ready to face more tragedy yet.

Go play it. Just do it. You won't regret it.

And pray that Tri-Ace develops ONE DAY a decent sequel.

#radiata stories #tri ace #jack russell #ganz rothschild #ridley silverlake #square enix #videogame #videogame review #review #ps2 #valkyrie profile

39 notes · View notes

svedauth · 7 years

Text

NO SPOILERS BOTW BREAKDOWN. still under a cut and tagged bc i know there are people out there who like me wanted to know NOTHING about the game going into it.

I played it a lot yesterday, and I’m definitely taking my time with it trying to find all the secrets and such. I have about a solid four or five hours in it, but very much of that is not plot related at all (for example, I spent at least half of that time in the tutorial area).

SHORT BREAKDOWN:

GRAPHICS: Gorgeous. MUSIC / AUDIO: Beautiful, but the music plays rarely. Leaves something to be desired. As in, more of it. CONTROLS: Great. They take a little getting used to for long-time Zelda players, however. COMBAT: Thank Hylia it’s not motion controls anymore. Very fun, very rewarding, extremely difficult. DIFFICULTY: Incredibly challenging, with a steep difficulty curve, but very rewarding. Strategy must be implemented in every portion of the game, from exploring to traveling to combat. Don’t expect to button-mash your way through this game. It’s hard as fuck. But it’s not punishing if you learn the mechanics and master them quickly. CHARACTERS: Vibrant, exciting, and incredibly humorous. The Nintendo Polish is clear on every NPC; they all have names, they all have different personalities and goals, and they’ll remember you and your actions. They all have a ton of dialog to go through, too, and what they say will change on the environment and your attitude towards them. PLOT: Can’t speak too much on it so far since I’m still in the beginning portion of the game, but it’s definitely a story to go through at your own pace, and can allow you to skip whole sections of it – you can technically go challenge the final boss as soon as you finish the tutorial, because that quest is issued to you at the tutorial’s completion. GAMEPLAY: Exploration is rewarded with every twist and turn. You can solve puzzles in a plethora of ways and are rewarded for being creative. Two players can have entirely different experiences depending on their actions. Mindless combat is discouraged; strategic combat is greatly rewarded. The difficulty of enemies increases with how many enemies you kill, so you can travel anywhere in the world without facing a difficulty spike until you’re ready for one, but unnecessary combat will slowly bring up your difficulty curve. The world is constantly changing and is fresh and vibrant, and you’ll always see new things even when you return somewhere multiple times. All in all, it’s fun as shit.

CRITICISMS

– As I mentioned before, the music is beautiful, but it doesn’t play nearly enough. When a single chime plays, it feels out of place at times. Legend of Zelda is known for its music, and it doesn’t need to hold back. – I personally enjoy the difficulty, but fans of the series and new players alike may be surprised by how hard this game is. Breath of the Wild goes back to the original Zelda in terms of exploration and difficulty; you have to very quickly figure out what you’re doing and employ strategy in every encounter. – In that same vein, the game doesn’t tell you a lot of things. You have to figure it out yourself. I like that, but again, a lot of people may be surprised when they’re thrown into the world with no direction. This is a game that very much remembers the time when players drew their own maps on graph paper and took notes on areas, and it challenges you to do the same. I highly recommend that you keep a pad of paper and a pencil beside you while you play. – I like the ability to pick up new armor and weapons, but the game lacks a mechanic to upgrade weapon durability or repair weapons, which is a shame. The game is almost mercilessly ruthless with its difficulty, and while it’s not Dark Souls level of hard, it’s still nothing to sneeze at. Finding a good weapon and being able to keep it would really make a big difference. Dark Souls lets you repair weapons; if a game that hard lets you do it, then why not this one? Fuck, man, I want to keep my Knight’s Claymore, not watch it break against a Bokoblin and then never find one again, so I never even use it because I don’t want to lose it.

COMMENDATIONS.

– Very few games have the level of openness that this one does. Even Skyrim doesn’t come close. When the game says you can do anything, it’s not kidding. The Nintendo Polish is there. – Sidequests are everywhere. Things to find are everywhere. You are in a giant world with an infinite number of things to do, and there will be a reward for doing any and all of them. Going off the beaten path will always give you something worth your while. – The game does a great job of both making you feel very small and making you feel empowered enough to conquer the world. You’re never intimidated by the frankly gigantic size of the map; you’re always given a sense of adventure. – Link’s character comes across more vividly and vibrantly than in any game previously, but it’s incredibly subtle. He’s not just a placeholder for the player. He’s a person who inhabits this world, and his personality has very distinct nuances and ticks. – The game is as slow or fast as you want it to be. I personally have a lot of fun dicking around in the world like it’s a sandbox, and my adventure style lets me have the perfect balance of exploration and combat for me. Likewise, someone who wants more combatwill find more combat, and it will become more challenging to suit their liking. The world evolves based on the way you play, letting each player have their own perfect, unique experience.

Final thoughts: Perfect game, 10000000/10. This is the Zelda game we’ve been waiting for.

#ooc #botw spoilers #breath of the wild spoilers #loz spoilers #zelda spoilers #mobile.

2 notes · View notes

canvaswolfdoll · 7 years

Text

CanvasWatches: Haibane-Renmei

Should I start doing the (Re)Watches thing again, or is that a superfluous detail? On one hand, it provides information that it’s a review not based on my very first impressions, but on the other, is it really necessary?

Anyways, I rewatched Haibane-Renmei. I like it? It’s… it’s a nice little thing. Arty, imaginative, and dark without being outright pretentious about it. Class act. You should go watch it.

Seriously, it’s the type of show that… well, it doesn’t live or die by being unspoiled, but it’d be difficult to discuss without both participants having the context of seeing it. It’s one of those shows that’s more about aesthetic and tone than actual story.

It’s on Funimation at least, and I’m not even being sponsored to carefully, yet firmly shove you in it’s general direction! I just really like dubs and want to support them.[1] Also, it’s on Youtube, legally.

Go watch it. I’ll wait for you. After the page break.

So, one of the lessons one should study from the show is world building by suggestion instead of explicit dialogue. The show is a rare example of pretty much the entire cast knowing very little about what’s up with the fantastical elements, and those who might know something aren’t talking.

Heck, the guys likely to know something use a sign language just to avoid people requesting exposition. The jerks.

As a consequence of this, based on the piece by itself, I can’t conclusively tell you what The Deal with everything is, merely speculate based on imagery and random details.

I mean, the Haibane have a lot of Angel Imagery about them, and they’re… hatched? Born knowing how to walk and talk, and though they have no memory, and yet, based on Rakka’s experience, they feel as if they should remember something, but come up blank.

So I think it’s probably a purgatory thing, much like Angel Beats! wherein the residents have emotional baggage holding them back.

Except the Haibane don’t remember what traumas they might have, so it might be a more inner peace sort of thing?

I could also be totally off base, which is also exciting.

It’s that very aspect that makes this an important lesson: Haibane-Renmei works with being vague about its world because that’s what the story calls for. Other narratives, where you can’t take the fantastical elements with casualness, require exposition.

Basically, Haibane-Renmei is a benchmark for one end of the exposition scale. Stare at it, and hopefully I can find it’s partner at the other end.[2]

There are things about the world you can deduce and interpret, and admittedly ascribe. Ultimately, it doesn’t matter too much, as the actual central narrative is first about Rakka learning about the world she’s suddenly born into, then Reki overcoming her internal struggles with the help of Rakka.

Which is probably a metaphor about depression.

Look, I’ve always held the philosophy of ‘It’s nothing without a good surface story’ and despise when media tries to push vaguely defined symbolism and “Hidden Meaning” as the focus. If I can’t understand it on a first viewing, you have failed.

Haibane-Renmei does that correctly. On the first viewing, I had lingering curiosities, but I was mostly invested in exploring the world and solving what Reki’s big problem is.

And, now that I know those things, I am willing and able to enjoy a second viewing where I can analyze whatever bizarre elements are in the borders, because the creator put in the work of making a strong focal story that isn’t desperate to discard Unworthy Viewers.

Someone I’m particularly drawn to is The Communicator, who is sort of community leader for the Haibane, and thus the person probably most informed by what is going on, but at the same time is of the ‘vague lessons’ school that The Sphinx satirized.

He’s what the professor of a story analysis class I accidentally[4] took might call ‘The System Character’: a character that represents a system the protagonist is (supposedly) fighting against.[5]

The Communicator’s actually a very compassionate but reserved man, who clearly cares for his charges while trying to remain emotionally distant from these beings who, by their very nature, are destined to leave. He is the chief executor of the laws and customs that govern the Haibane, but will allow them to be broken or stretched whenever they’d be hindering. For example, he’s notably lax about Haibane speaking within the temple, which is supposedly forbidden, and eventually gives Rakka a job maintaining the structure Haibane must never touch.

And I think that’s because, over the last five years, The Communicator has realized that being overly restrictive may have doomed Reki, and built a divide that makes him incapable of helping her.

So, now, he needs to use Rakka to save the artist’s soul, but mindfully so as not to accidentally condemn Rakka. It’s subtle, but The Communicator keeps a close tab on at least Old Home and its going-ons, and when the more naive Rakka begins going through the same struggles as Reki is suffering, The Communicator identifies how Reki’s found a kindred spirit, and now can teach and help this New Feather, then aim her to help the Haibane he fears he’s going to lose.

It’s also implied that he, too, has failed to take flight, and wishes the pain of this failure on no one.

Then again, this might be things I’m just ascribing. But it doesn’t matter, because that’s not the point of the show. Its point is to bring the viewer into a new world and tell a pleasant story within it.

I’ve always had an odd fascination with Death Mythology stories. From Anthropomorphic Personifications to what comes after, if you make Death a character or show me what comes next (even just portionally) you’ll have my attention.[7] And it shouldn’t be surprising, since death’s such a scary thing that looms over everyone, with some many unknowable questions, that of course humanity would try to answer these questions.

And Purgatories are bizarrely compelling because the implied existence of a transition world, where you go from an impermanent life to an equally impermanent realm. Heck, Dante’s own depiction portrayed it as climbing a mountain as you overcome your sins before finally being granted access to Paradise.[8] To go through the trial of life, only to find yourself before yet another trial is fascinating.

And the town of Haibane Renmei, Glie, is fascinating as far as Purgatories go, since not only can you die there conventionally, but there’s assumably mortal humans residing there, working jobs, living life, having babies, but also all forbidden from exiting the walls that surround the town, which explicitly has an outside world that is travelled by nomads known as Togas (who might be failed Haibane).

It’s also stated, explicitly, that Haibane that fail to take their day of flight will lose their halo and wings, and will grow old and die.

What does it mean to die in the afterlife? Where do you go? And what are the townspeople? Are they also deceased, but following a different path to salvation? Or are they mortals, and Glie is somewhere in the real world, like Baum’s Oz?

These are the sorts of Death World-building questions that excite me, and don’t have answers or are particularly addressed, and I’m not dissatisfied about that. Partly because, again, there’s a focal narrative, and partially because I appreciate having world elements just because that’s how the creator wants it to be, without any meaning behind it.

It’s okay to just have blue curtains.

Still, this is an Anime about Death and Depression, even if no one says so on screen.

We witness two characters pass on and go beyond the wall, and depression wreck our protagonists.

Kuu’s Day of Flight is viewed by most as good and right, and they move on. Rakka, of course, wasn’t properly informed about it, so was taken by surprise and fell into depression.

But the actions Kuu takes leading up to it…

So, I’m not a medical practitioner, and I’m not sure if I suffer (or have suffered) depression, so I’m basing this next bit of analysis on the word of mouth information that gets passed around. However…

Kuu’s shown to be upbeat as she goes about, tying up loose ends, granting vague good-byes to others in her life, and gives away her possessions (highlighted by Kuu giving her favorite coat to Rakka). While the upbeat personality didn’t come suddenly, this is still frightfully similar to suicide warning signs you’re supposed to keep an eye out for. This is the healthy “Death” of the series.

I’m sure the similarities were accidental, but it’s still intriguing.

In contrast, there’s Reki’s depression and suicide attempt.

The lead up shows her being more isolating, moving out of what was once her room and into her studio, where she desperately paints, trying to remember her cocoon dream, and no one but Rakka takes much notice, as only Rakka and Nemu know about Reki being sin-bound, and Rakka’s the only one to go through it personally.[9]

The sequence and final episode is emotional. Even as Reki prepares to be crushed by her train, she doesn’t really want to leave, and she even identifies what she needs to do to get out of it (ask for help), but still finds herself unable. Even when Rakka arrives to try and help, presenting Reki with her true name, Reki still rejects it (probably not helped by the fact that the Communicator’s first story amounts to ‘Well, your lot is to end in pain. Shrug Ascii.’) and Reki says things she knows will hurt Rakka, things that Reki tells her are true, that Reki never cared for Rakka, she just needed someone for one last attempt at being normal.

And so, Rakka leaves, and finds Reki’s diary to confirm that, no, Reki’s not actually that self-serving, and the depressed artist does still care.

So, Rakka returns, but it’s nearing too late, and Rakka is unable to help until, finally, moments before the end, Reki finally asks for help.

And gets it. So that’s nice.

However, Reki still leaves that same night, narrated by the Communicator’s revised story, as Reki’s True Name has changed to what she’d been using the whole time.

Because Reki, by putting on a mask and going through the motions for selfish reasons, was still doing good for others and living life. She kept trying, and eventually she ceased being her true self and was absorbed into her mask, which was also happened to be a healthier person.

Really, the one change I’d make is to delay Reki’s day of flight by at least a couple days, let the girl finally enjoy sunlight unhampered, and go around making amends for the wrongs she did and the wongs she received.

Have her meet with the Communicator first, both of them seeking repentance from the other, then have the Communicator tell his revised story over images of Reki returning to Abandoned Factory and making amends, playing with young feathers at Old Home, spending some time with Nemu, then a few scenes of her closing loose ends like Kuu before taking her day of flight.

I just didn’t like Reki surviving her suicide attempt, only to die that night anyways. I know life’s like that, but I think we could allow a little more fantasy in our town inhabited by angels.

I wish I could transition through my flippant ‘well, I could be wrong, art’s mysterious’ but I hate that mentality. I try to be open to being wrong and corrected, but I don’t like being indifferent, and I’m always annoyed by artists that embrace Death of the Author. It’s your work, your art, your creation. It has a part of you in it, that’s how art is created. You have authority over your story, don’t shrug that off. Embrace it.

Which… I think Haibane-Renmei doesn’t do that. Obviously, there’s a translation barrier, and I’m going off of TV Tropes, but when ABe (sic) says he’s keeping explanations vague to allow viewer interpretation, it feels less flippant than… cuss it, I’m naming names… less like Adventure Zone (Balance Arc) and Runewriters,[10] which have more concrete worlds and tones more towards telling a complete story, yet the creators have gone on record saying any peripheral material they produce or say has the same weight as any fan theory made by the audience.[11]

Haibane-Renmei, as a story and a piece of art, thrives off those vagueties. Rakka’s not sure exactly what’s going on, because her fellows are also working off an incomplete picture, because no one’s given a complete portrait. As such, the viewers are also kept unsure, because that’s what our viewpoint character is always feeling.

It’s set in a town literally closed off from the rest of the world, whatever that world is, because no one is allowed past those walls.

ABe gets to be vague because revealing concrete details would make this particular art weaker.

The work earned it.

I… really should do an essay on Death of the Author, and its use by modern critics and artists. Because I so hate it.

Well… that was my Rewatch of Haibane-Renmei, and harsh criticism of two Literary Criticism theories.

I really love this series. It’s an anime I think everyone should see, for it’s message and artistry.

I’d be happy to hear your thoughts or questions, because I like going off on weird tangents. Maybe, while you’re here, consider checking out my other works, and if you like what I’m doing, I’ve got a Patreon. Local businesses won’t accept the pages out of my notebooks as payment, after all.

Kataal kataal.

[1] Then again, Funimation, if you’d like to… the My Hero Academica Review got, like, three notes! Eh? [2] Needs to be exposition heavy, but still narratively satisfying.[3] [3] I hope it’s not Tolkien. I hate Tolkien. [4] I thought I was signing up for a storytelling class. But, no, it was an ego stroking class on the teacher’s personal analysis method, that was ultimately horribly reductionist. The useful stuff can be found on TV Tropes (better executed) and the rest was chaft. Lady literally thought she could graph comedy, and was too proud to play Pac-Man. [5] The fact that Rakka happily works within the system, and Reki’s problems spawn from rebelling is a good example why the professor of Footnote 4 is wrong.[6] [6] I have a lot of lingering resentment, and must now try not to spend this review tearing apart an unknown literary theory. [7] Though you still have to keep it. Watched an amount of Soul Eater while I was home sick from school, but I feel no draw to return to it. [8] I strongly recommend Overly Sarcastic Productions video on Purgatorio for those interested in finding out about The Divine Comedy’s Empire without actually reading it. [9] Also, they take medicine to hide the signs, though the black wings still remain. [10] Sorry, Shazzbaa. We cool? [11] Any further thoughts probably deserve an essay onto itself.

#CanvasWatches #haibane renmei #CanvasReviews #anime

0 notes

g16framework-blog · 7 years

Text

Seven Costly Mistakes In Every Landing Page Design

New Post has been published on http://g16frameworkmedia.com/blog/2017/05/31/seven-costly-mistakes-in-every-landing-page-design/

Seven Costly Mistakes In Every Landing Page Design

I am pretty sure somewhere and somehow chances are, your landing page is suffering from not just one, but several common costly mistakes present in every design especially the glorified and unforgiven ones.

Here are my lists for the costly mistakes the sober look, unclear call-to-action, too many choices, visual distractions, not keeping your promises, too much text asking for too much information.

1. The Drab Look

Landing page testing is the gold standard of conversion improvement. By tracking the actions (or inactions) of your visitors when they’re presented with a certain version of your landing page, you can reliably determine which version they prefer. It is truly a case of listening to the voice of the customer.

However, you do not need to run landing page tests to uncover many conversion issues. They are so common and so blatant that we have enshrined them as the deadly mistakes in landing page design.

However, even though you may deny it, chances are your own page suffers from many of the same deadly mistakes. I strongly urge you to look genuinely and critically at your own pages, applying the techniques in this press release.

Many who have addressed and corrected these common deadly mistakes have increased conversion rates exponentially.

2. Unclear Call-to-Action

Your landing page website should clearly answer the question of what are my suppose to encounter and experience on this page?.

Negative Impact

Instead, your visitor must spend precious time deciding what to do, and then expend the mental energy required to do it. As a result, the visitor may get confused and frustrated, and leave your page in search of clearer experiences.

Imagine a page visited by a visitor for the first time being bombarded and confronted with a stark visual gateway page showing a huge ” image shot” without a call-to-action.

How To Fix This

Clear Page Headline: Each page on a website (and each stand-alone landing page) must be about something. It must have a clear purpose, and that purpose must be spelled out in a headline that spans the top of the page.

Well-Deﬁned Action Block: There should be a single place for the visitor to interact with your page, and that place should be visually called out with a subtle background color. This action block should draw the eye toward the desired activity on the page. The rest of the page should be plain and visually restrained. A white background for the content portion of the page is recommended unless there is a compelling need to use a different color.

Sub-headline in Your Action Block: The purpose of the action block must be clearly stated. What are you asking the visitor to do in the action block? What specifically is going to happen within it?

Clear Call-to-Action: Within your action block, you must have a single clear call-to-action. The call-to-action must describe what happens next and what visitors can expect when they are done interacting with the action block.

The Call-to-Action should be clear and should draw the eye. The placement of the call-to-action should be above the fold. Competing visuals should be deemphasize

3. Too Many Choices

This kind of deadly mistakes would cost your visitor the question of “what am I suppose to do first?“.

We often hear that choice is good. Many applaud the virtues of the “long tail” concept: given more choice, some people will take advantage of it—exploring a wide variety of niche content. But this only applies to situations where someone really cares about the subject or task at hand, is knowledgeable about it, and has signiﬁcant time and resources to expend in the discovery of novel and interesting alternatives.

Negative Impact

Unfortunately that is rarely the situation when someone visits your landing page. Most people are in a hurry and do not have time, they don’t care much about your website, and they know little about your subject matter. Under these circumstances, too many choices can cause paralysis and inaction. If visitors can’t ﬁnd a way to easily get closer to their goal, they will simply leave.

But the cumulative effect of all this clutter is that you are squandering precious milliseconds of every visitor’s attention. They are forced to wade through a lot of muck to even understand if there is any relevant information for them on your page. Will they do this? Probably not. Many will simply throw up their hands in frustration and try another website.

How to Fix This

Don’t present detail too early in the process.

Group related choices into a smaller number of categories.

Use visual shortcuts to reduce reading

Focus on a smaller number of choices that apply to everyone and to funnel visitors deeper into the site.

4. Visual Distractions

The mistake here makes your visitors wonder what are they going to do the first time they arrive your website.

Since the Web is primarily a visual medium, you can think of your computer monitor as a window onto the world. A basic question is where your visitor should be looking shortly after arriving on your page.

Design can deﬁnitely inﬂuence conversion. Unfortunately, it is usually for the worse. Most of the responsibility can be laid at the feet of the internal creative team or outside interactive agency. Because of the limitations of their unique perspective, you have been forced to sacriﬁce conversions in the name of coolness. So you have actually come to love your page and can no longer see it objectively.

The purpose of your landing page must be clear. The visitor should be focused on taking a simple path that leads to the desired conversion action

The Negative Impact

Many landing pages are at the opposite end of the spectrum from this desired state. They scream and demand the visitor’s attention. They visually assault the visitor, forcing them to determine for themselves which of the many strikingly visual elements on the page is the important one.

The situation can be pretty chaotic. Many pages range from simply annoying to downright repulsive. Gratuitous graphics clutter the page and are unrelated to the product or service in question. Strong and contrasting colors dominate the scene, and text styles are outlandish and baroque. There is no clear visual separation between page content and the page shell (header, navigation, backgrounds).

Common Visual Blunders

Wild Background Colors: Many landing pages use dark and dramatic color themes. Often the background of the page or large sections of it are black or fully saturated bright colors. Unfortunately, these kinds of color choices often create a dark and brooding atmosphere, or imply something so exotic that it would only appeal to teenage male adrenalin junkies who like to play video games.

Garish Text: Page text and headlines are haphazardly placed on the page and often use large fonts in high-contrast colors. Font sizes are often enormous, and are further emphasized by the use of edging effects, drop shadows, color transitions and fades, and fill patterns.

Visual Embellishments and Flourishes: Even simple page elements such as box edges are emphasized with drop shadows, glow, or other effects. Simple round disks in bullet lists are replaced by colorful graphical check marks or other icons. Neutral background space to the sides of the landing page is often filled in with intricate patterns or photographic images.

Animation or Video: All of the other design sins on the landing page pale in comparison to the aggressive use of motion, animation, and video. Images and text pulsate or revolve, image slideshows use wild fly-in transition effects, intricate animation sequences draw the eye, and full-motion video auto plays on the page. These attention grabbing tactics are powerful. Unfortunately, they are rarely tied to the desired conversion goal on the landing page and only serve to squander a few precious seconds of the limited visitor attention.

How to Fix This

Your home page should have much cleaner look, with the only strong visual elements in the white content area being the “the top gun” and large call-to-action button.

Your home page must have a visual hierarchy and its conversion goal should be cleared.

Graphic artists need to follow a minimalist visual aesthetic that focuses on conversion and not “window dressing” (This advice is for designers).

A single banner ad can radically shift the attention away from your intended conversion action. Unless your primary business model is advertising supported, ads should be eliminated from your site, or at least radically deemphasized via location or editorial policies limiting the allowable formatting of the ads.

Entry pop-ups represent the most blatant kind of in-your-face interruption advertising. They will anger, annoy, frustrate, and distract your visitors before they even see your landing page. This should be carefully considered.

Remove all graphical elements that do not directly support the conversion action.

Remove colorful page elements and animation or motion (unless they test better).

Replace generic stock photos with specific relevant images.

5. Not Keeping Your Promises

It is critical to match the visitor’s upstream expectation and intent on the landing page to maximize the conversion rate. The way to do this is to align your page with the messaging and promises made upstream, and create a clear information scent trail that makes visitors feel they are making progress toward their ultimate goal.

The Impact

Creating a high degree of continuity and consistency with the upstream experience is critical. If you fail to do this, you visitor will feel lost, confused, and frustrated. This is especially the case where there is no actual access to information that had been previously promised, or an intentional “bait and switch” situation has occurred.

How To Fix This

Understand your important upstream traffic sources and their context.

Match landing page content to the traffic source messaging and intent.

Provide clear access to promised information or functionality, without strings attached.

Provide a sample review. This would show the visitor the depth and format of information and help to firmly establish Consumer Reports as a source of high-quality information.

6. Lot and Lot of Texts ( I don’t think you expect me to read all this…)

No one reads full-paragraph text on the Web. People get lost if there is no clear hierarchy or ﬂow to the organization of the text.

The Impact

Your home page should not be stuffs, long-winded text and dozens of hyperlinks along with a glorified sidebars. Chances are, it also pulls double-duty as a page for SEO. Even if this is the case, there is simply too much information. Most site visitors will be overwhelmed by the amount of text and won’t read it.

How To Fix This

Use a clear page title and headings.

Use an “inverted pyramid” writing style, putting the important stuff first.

Do not write in complete sentences—use short bullet lists whenever possible.

Ruthlessly edit and shorten your text.

Move long text to supporting pages or informational popovers.

7. Asking for Too Much Information

We marketers often become greedy—possibly because of the anonymity of the Web. We start asking for information simply because it might be useful to us in the future, without considering the negative impact on conversion rates.

For example, imagine walking into brick-and-mortar store and being greeted by a brusque clerk at the door who asks you if they may hold onto your credit card while you browse the store. Such a request would most probably be met with disbelief or laughter. But online, equally inane behavior is often exhibited on landing pages.

The Impact

Forms for instance, should be ruthlessly edited. A long and imposing form will turn many people away. The value of the incremental information gathered in a longer form will rarely outweigh the beneﬁt of having many more people complete the process.

How To Fix

Clarify form purpose with a clear and concise title that describes the benefit that the visitor will get if they expend the effort to complete the form.

Keep all descriptive labels and explanatory text as short as possible.

Organize form fields into logically labeled subgroups.

The most important part of form creation is minimizing the number and complexity of form input fields.

You should only ask for information that you need right now—resist the temptation to ask for information that you may not need at all or that you can collect later in the process (after you have established more trust with the visitor).

#landing page

0 notes