a what-if i've been thinking about for forever... trucy knowing the truth before anyone could tell her

There have been some interesting bits of Sonic-related news lately! This is the post where I comment on them.

Sonic Superstars

Finally! A new Sonic sidescroller! It's been too long.

Admittedly, in a perfect world, I would've wanted a Sonic Mania 2, but I'll take a 2.5D game with all new zones for sure, especially when the art direction for it looks this nice. And four-player co-op with Sonic, Tails, Knuckles AND Amy playable? Hell yeah. Also Fang is back, and there's a new funny little guy designed by Naoto Ohshima! Wow!

There's been some concern over how this will play, particularly after it was discovered it's being co-developed by Ohshima's company Arzest. They're perhaps best known for some mediocre Nintendo games like Yoshi's New Island, Hey! Pikmin, and the 3DS version of Mario & Sonic 2016, as well as, of course... co-production on Balan Wonderworld. The thing is, Arzest is very much one of those "silent collaborator" type companies. They're hired gun developers who do the grunt work on projects for other studios without being put in the spotlight. The quality of their games isn't really up to Arzest, who are presumably just doing whatever they're directed to do with whatever resources they're allotted. It's up to their publishers.

Based on the side-by-side physics comparisons that have been going around Twitter, it seems clear that SOMEONE on this project is invested in making Superstars play just like the classic games. I'm admittedly no Sonic physics purist, but the extended gameplay footage (with placeholder music from Sonic 4 Episode 2) looks spot on to me. Christian Whitehead also seems to know things about the game, stating that "the Mania physics were indeed fully translated to modern 3D." It seems that at the very least they consulted his previous work on this, regardless of whether or not he's actually involved.

But even if this ends up not being true, honestly, I'll take a new Sonic sidescroller that's "just okay" if it has all new zones, nice art direction, and good music. If Sonic 4 had checked those three boxes but played exactly the same, I would've been way more into it.

Really, it's the music that has me most concerned. Obviously we all love Jun Senoue, but hearing he's trying to do "classic-style" music again makes me worry that he's gonna bust out the fake Genesis synths. I'm actually a weirdo who likes the Classic Sonic stage themes in Forces, but those weren't by Senoue, whose otherwise very strong compositions were really hurt by the sound palette chosen for Sonic 4. Like many others, I'd prefer it if Superstars went for the new jack swing sound of Sonic Mania - and considering Tee Lopes is contributing, hopefully he's allowed to tap into that sound a little. But I'd be open to other styles, too. I just really don't think a game with HD visuals should be going for a fake 16-bit sound.

But yeah, overall, I'm looking forward to Superstars. I think we've needed something like this for a long time, and I'm glad they're finally doing it.

Sega union update

We don't have many details on this, but the newly forming Sega of America union, AEGIS-CWA, is facing resistance from management. Apparently some form of "anti-union campaign" (their wording) is underway, also described more worryingly as "relentless attempts at union busting." We unfortunately don't have more details right now, and it seems like no news outlets are doing anything with this story.

This behavior is unfortunately not surprising, even from a company that purports progressive values like Sega. Remember kids: corporations are not your friends.

In the face of this, the members of AEGIS-CWA are still trying to convince management to stay neutral with the help of their fan petition that raised over 4300 signatures. At the time of writing this, their first union election is also underway. I continue to wish them luck in their efforts. We're currently seeing a wave of unionization attempts the likes of which we've never seen before, and I have to hope that at least some of them stick. We need real change in the game industry, an industry where if you're able to stick around longer than ten years without burning out then you're one of the lucky ones.

Okay now time for the thing y'all really wanted me to comment on

Penders says he's leaving Twitter

Earlier this month, Penders announced: "Since Twitter is promoting anti-trans nonsense, I can’t in good conscience continue to be associated with it much longer."

He's certainly not wrong. Elon's been doubling down on his transphobic fearmongering, and Twitter's already weak moderation of hate speech has only gotten even weaker. (They quietly removed their rule against intentional misgendering in April.) But based on the date he tweeted this, I assume Ken was referring specifically to Elon promoting Matt Walsh's shit ass transphobic documentary, which Elon personally allowed to be hosted on Twitter in its entirety. I'd quit the site myself if it didn't feel necessary to promote my work and stay connected with my peers. (Both the furry community and the gamedev sphere are very much centered on Twitter.) Assuming Ken does actually leave in protest, hey, good on him.

There's been some surprise over the fact that he's apparently a trans ally, but for all his many flaws, Penders has always been your average baby boomer Democrat. Half his tweets are about hoping Trump goes to jail. He has many outdated views that he refuses to unpack (I am not going to devolve this post into a catalog of stupid shit he's tweeted), but he at least understands that "progressive" is a thing you should try to be. He's that uncle who you wouldn't go to for a nuanced view on queer identity, but like, he knows trans people exist and are discriminated against and that that's bad.

Of course, instead of just leaving Twitter, he's announced that he intends to leave by September 30th, after which point people will have to contact him via his website. The idea of someone scheduling a date four months in the future on which they're going to leave a social media platform in protest is very, very funny to me. I wonder if he has something planned for September that needs to happen first - like, you know, maybe finally releasing at least a portion of The Lara-Su Chronicles?

Lord knows when the hell we'll be able to read the first part of the comic, but in the near future you WILL be able to buy THIS on a t-shirt!

Wait did he change that one character from Anthony Mackie to Ernie Hudson???

Anyway, my one hope is just that even if he does leave Twitter, he doesn't delete his account. His tweets have long been one of my most important sources for behind the scenes info on Archie Sonic, even if you do have to take some of it with a grain of salt. Gallagher and Bollers are simply not going on Twitter and talking about this stuff on a regular basis like Ken does. With so many old forums and fan sites now gone, only partially preserved by the Wayback Machine, Ken deleting his Twitter would truly be the burning of the library of Alexandria for old Archie Sonic behind the scenes drama.

You know, assuming he actually does leave Twitter.

...

Aaaand that about does it for Sonic-related news lately, I think? Okay, back to my hiatus. I would still like to get back to updating sometime this year, but I'm still in recovery mode following SLARPG's launch, so I can't promise when that'll be. I appreciate everyone's continued patience!

Hi love. Hope you're doing well. I was wondering if you would be ok with some general Frederick and/or Helena headcanons for the birthday requests. Hope you have a nice day and thank you for your content 🥰💕💕

hello and i am, thank you sm! 💓💓 you've just requested both of my faves (for the first time too on here too) so who am i to deny🤲

helena adams and frederick kreiburg general/random hcs👁🎼

helena adams👁

first of all, i hc her as american (not CAWWWW MURICA🦅💥🦅💥🦅💥 (well now that i think about it...) american, but rather mid-atlantic accent american. yeah. the early 20th century american) and obviously quite short, standing around 158cm (~5'2") and being of a bit chubbier, pear shaped build

i'd say that she's a pretty picky eater honestly. she really likes eating sweet foods and is used to the food that's generally on her repertoire at home, so eating out makes her feel a bit anxious since it's a whole different way of preparing food (and whole different dishes/meals, after all) and she's worried that it might have the wrong texture and that it's not going to taste as well as it does at home. she'll always give it a try before judging it though!

it's been made quite obvious in the previous hc but helena loves routine and needs it to function. she only feels completely calm once all the furniture in the house is at the same place it usually is and when her duties/tasks are organized throughout the day. although the manor forced her to adjust to an unpredictable lifestyle, she kept on doing some of the "rituals" she did at home to feel more at ease

definetly has gotten education in the music field! poetry and music go hand in hand, so i'm sure she at least had singing lessons or listened to a lot of classical music growing up. she is very knowledgeable on the topic and can quickly analyze any given composition

prone to meltdowns when she's very, very upset. she bottles it up 99% of the time and hides it well, but sometimes she just snaps and it results in a very self-destructive meltdown. she's a calm person in reality, so if you've managed to anger her you seriously had to fuck up BIG time

she dislikes getting any pity because of her disability, she knows that once her teacher and her father pass away she'll have to be able to stand up and fight for herself. and hell, she has been living like this since infancy, she's prepared for a lot of situations! might occassionally accept some gentlemanly aid, but anything else is a no, thank you. despite her short stature she is incredibly stubborn and strong willed, never giving up even when it seems the most reasonable option

frederick kreiburg🎼

slim and of proper posture, frederick stands at 175cm (~5'9") tall and is of austrian descent

very paranoid about cleanliness and keeping everything tidy, refusing to take off his gloves unless necessary

he likes piercings very much! has a double helix piercing on one ear, an industrial on the other and snake bites, he's not sure why he's so fond of them but it's probably because they're (usually) not very flashy, easy to remove and safe (as long as the piercer is experienced)

very thick body hair/hair in general and has a greek nose!

not incredibly talkative, and when he does talk he often drifts away mid conversation and gets easily disturbed by the background noises or chatter - has a very light lisp and sometimes struggles with pronouncing english words as it's his second language and he was forced to learn it during his homeschooling program, fred's kind of insecure about it so it's one of the reasons he doesn't talk a lot

uses a cane to support himself as he limps, the reason behind it is that some other health problems of his built up over time and resulted in him struggling to walk and becoming exhausted quickly - being frail and sickly all of his life took a serious toll on him and his mental health, constantly making him paranoid about becoming seriously ill and even resulting in a lot of early gray hairs

I am sorry for bothering you, but if you don't mind, can you tell the tips for the very very begginers. I really want to start learning how to draw, but it is overwhelming and I don't no where to start and feel a little at loss

ha! One of these days I'm going to have to write something detailed and well-constructed to be able to answer these questions properly. ^^"

In any case, you're not bothering me at all and I'll try to give you a clear answer, but I apologise in advance if it's too long or if my English isn't good at times. In short version I would just quote Lorenzo from How to think when you draw : source

My long version:

It's hard because everyone functions differently, but I'd say that first of all you need to define a goal or a project that will be your driving force so that you don't lose your motivation. It could be a personal comics project or doing fan art, it doesn't matter as long as you're enthusiastic about it. If you have to choose between academic seriousness and fun, choose fun, because fun make you practice and practice make you progress anyway so you'll be less likely to get discouraged.

It's important to practice as regularly as possible, because your ability to draw is like a muscle that you need to maintain. If you don't practice enough, your progress will be slow, and if you don't practice for too long, you'll lose what you've learnt.

Having said that, learning fast is not an obligation - it depends on your goal.

For the technical aspects that you still need to learn between two sessions of fun, the order that seems logical to me is :

shape and volume || light and shade

anatomy

colour theory

perspective

composition

That's assuming you start by doing just characters before getting into complex backgrounds. And bearing in mind that certain parts are connected together and can be learned simultaneously. For example, I've put perspective towards the end, assuming that you come to the backgrounds last, but it's useful for drawing characters too.

To make each of these parts easier, they need to be broken down into stages.

Shape and volume || Light and shade :

Shape and volume :

Basically, it's useful for everything else. understanding shapes allows you to decompose complex subjects so that you can reproduce them more easily. Absolutely everything around you and everything you want to draw can be decomposed in this way. It will then help you to know how to apply light and shade. A good article here. Light and shade : not knowing how to sum it up in a few words, I found some useful links :

[link] [link] [link] these three articles talk about the same thing, but maybe if you look at what else their authors have in stock you'll find something different or explained in a way that suits you better.

Anatomy :

Once you know how to build a human being with tubes and rectangles, you can go into more detail about anatomy. You can start with the head alone, practising drawing it from all angles, with different characteristics, different expressions etc, then arms, then torso, etc and then gradually moving on to the whole human body. Study the skeleton and musculature, it sounds annoying but it really changes everything. Even if it's possible to know how to position a character correctly without it, the result will inevitably be better with it and it'll make your task easier and drawing skeletons is great fun! This doesn't mean that you have to learn every single piece by heart, just that you know enough to be able to place the bumps and hollows in the right places. a good article for beginners, giving the balance needed to avoid being overwhelmed by the study of anatomy. I suggest as an exercise : with the help of references and tutorials, draw a character 4 times in an identical posture, except that first you only do the skeleton, then the musculature, then a normal nude, and finally with clothes to familiarise yourself with the behaviour of the fabrics. (The folds and drapes are, I think, a sub-chapter of the anatomy part because clothes.) about folds and drapery [link] [link]

Colour theory :

Basically, it's what colour you get when you mix these two together, or which colour is best for shadowing this other one, or to produce a certain mood over the whole illustration, I have to limit my palette to these colours and so on. Again, I can't summarise this easily but it's a big important part. Just type colour theory in google or pinterest and you'll find so many good tutorials. Note: again I think that, colour and light / shade are connected and should be learned simultaneously.

[link] [link]

Perspective :

For this part it's easy to broke it in steps. Start by practising with a single vanishing point to understand the principle, then two points, then three, then the fish-eye effect. I forced myself to do the spiral staircase exercise with the perspective, it was terrible but once you've done it and understood what you've done then you're good. Better, you can test your understanding of perspective by having fun reproducing Escher's impossible constructions. I love his work. 1 point [link][link] 2 points [link][link] 3 points [link][link] [Escher]

Composition :

It's one of the last things I learnt and I can really guarantee that there was a before and an after to it. Composition is one of the fundamental that will make you say: I'm an illustrator, in the sense that I know how to tell a story, evoke a feeling with a single drawing. [link] [link] [link] [link]

To come back to more general things, accept that it can take time, it's OK if it's not great at first, we've all been there. Don't put pressure on yourself and don't make yourself feel guilty by comparing yourself to others. Be curious too, look for new challenges, and always do it for fun. Finding a community in which you can make artist friends with whom you can share projects can also be great, because you feed off each other and that helps to keep you motivated. Don't be afraid of failure, failure is good, failure is your friend. Because once you've identified the reason why you think your drawing is a failure or not good enough, you'll remember to pay attention the next time or it'll motivate you to do more training on that point. Knowing things is good, but turning them into reflexes is better.

Here it is, I hope it helps, most of the resources I learnt with were in French so I quickly tried to find the English equivalent, I checked them quickly, but I think it's ok. And, the links I've found are just entry points, in some cases you'll need to find other resources, like anatomy for example, but just type anatomy tuto on pinterest and see what seems easiest for you to start with. aaand this is the end, I think.

Let's see if I can sort out what to say about Fire Emblem Engage yet, which might end up with a bit of commentary on other games in the series, which I guess is appropriate since it's basically an anniversary game. The short version is that I feel like a lot of the hate for it from The Gamers is extremely exaggerated, and even though it's not perfect it's probably my favorite Fire Emblem game at this point.

Like most people old enough to have been around at the time my main introduction to Fire Emblem was through SSBM, although in my case I didn't really care about the characters in that so much. Specifically it was the inclusion of Together We Ride in the soundtrack that got my attention. I still have an mp3 somewhere that I recorded from the game by hooking up the line out of my GameCube to the line in on my laptop.

I didn't actually play the GBA games because I never had a GBA of my own, so I started with Path of Radiance instead and have played a decent number of the games since then at least part way through. Still need to get around to Shadows of Valentia one of these days, but it'll probably be my next FE/3DS game when I do.

Up until now I'd say Awakening was my favorite of them. It was pretty satisfying mechanically without being overly complex like Fates (which was great if you really like planning everything out and min-maxing stuff, but it's all a bit much the first time through playing casually), it had a bunch of fun characters and supports, the music is frequently excellent, and the story is completely ridiculous in a fun way.

In a lot of ways Engage felt very similar to Awakening to me, which was great for me. I don't think I could convincingly argue that any other game in the series is anywhere near as fun for me in terms of gameplay. It's incredibly flexible in terms of what you can do with your units and what kinds of team compositions will work, especially on lower difficulties, but it manages to achieve that flexibility without being overly complex in an intimidating way, and a lot of the map design is excellent too.

It does a great job of encouraging you to try different things out by the way the maps are structured and enemies are placed and various different gimmicks on them and is full of moments early on that demonstrate the value of different units and abilities without directly telling you what to do. There's a lot of stuff set up in ways that don't just hand you a victory and have multiple ways to approach them, usually more than one of which makes you feel very clever for pulling something fancy off.

And the Emblem abilities that are restricted in use by being situational and on long cooldowns let them give you some truly ridiculous stuff that would be broken in any other game but feels perfect here, and it lets you do some absolutely bonkers stuff once-ish per map as a result. A lot of it gets balanced out by giving bosses multiple health bars though, which solves so many design problems and stops you from just warping a single unit there to burst them down instantly. That and sometimes having multiple bosses on the same map really forces you to use the ridiculous emblem abilities and take advantage of your whole team you've deployed a lot more often.

I know there are some people who don't love it aesthetically, and that's fine, but just on a technical level it's easily one of the best-looking games on the Switch. Seeing clips of Three Houses again after playing Engage for a while is rough. It feels like looking at a PS2 game running in an emulator, and Engage feels easily at least two full console generations ahead in terms of the tech it uses and the results they get out of it. Plus I actually love the art style too, with all the bright colors and overdesigned characters and stuff, and the combat animations are probably the best the series has ever had.

And I suppose the big thing that the most people complain about is the writing and story. You know what? They're fine. As far as I'm concerned the series has never had top tier writing (sometimes it's pretty decent like the Tellius games or Three Houses, but even those have some issues), and if that's really what I'm in the mood for I have plenty of other options for that. Just from stuff I've played this year there's been Future Redeemed, 13 Sentinels, The House in Fata Morgana, and probably some others I'm not immediately thinking of.

It's not like a story or its characters have to be super deep to be fun or interesting or serve their purpose in a piece of media either, and for me Engage managed to do that for me in the same way Awakening did. I genuinely enjoyed spending several dozen hours with a lot of the characters, and the story's a bit silly sometimes but did what it needed to to bring a bunch of random characters together and through an adventure together.

And something unprecedented for me for a Fire Emblem game (and pretty uncommon for games in general) is that I immediately wanted to play it again right after finishing. Usually I want to see more of the supports and any optional stuff I might've missed (e.g. optional recruits and stuff), but that's not enough of a motivation to play through the whole game again, especially not right away. This time though in addition to that the game mechanics are so satisfying that I wanted more of that too, especially with all the units I never really used and all the new silly build ideas I started coming up with toward the end of the game as I understood how everything worked better. I've been holding back from actually doing it yet because there's so much other stuff I'm trying to get through or finish up, but there's a pretty good chance I'll start over again at some point in the next few months, maybe after SoV and/or going back and finishing my replay of PoR I started earlier this year before getting distracted by this game.

Engage is almost definitely my favorite Fire Emblem game at this point and easily in my top five games I've played this year, probably in the top three. I think it's probably number one for gameplay, with 13 Sentinels for story and Future Redeemed for all aspects combined overall, and Unpacking is an honorable mention for general vibes.

Betrayer (HH Vol. 24)

I completly understand now how people keep this specific author in such high regard. This must have been one of my fastest reads throughout the Heresy so far. My only complaint, really, as always with Heresy books, is the bullshit style-choice for the cover:

You would think this book is about Lorgar and Angron going totally ham on Ultramarines, and yeah that does happen, but this is not what its about. Like, I get it, the mace-swing makes for a nice composition, but all these covers feel like such low-effort shovelware.

Notice the dude on the bottom right. He's not even LOOKING AT THE TWO GUYS ABOUT TO KILL HIM. The Heresy covers in general always feel like such low effort, when a smart stylized image could have captured the book as a whole much better. Anyways, this book is definetly not about who murders who, it's about Angron, a broken man, and the potentially only family-member that might give a shit about him, which is Lorgar - and mirroring those two brothers, it's also about Kharn (not yet named Betrayer) and Argel Tal, a World Eater and a Word Bearer respectively.

Angron is dieing. The nails are slowly killing him, and Lorgar attempts to save him along with his original mission, which is "shroud Ultramar into a man-made warpstorm fueled by the genocide of dozens of worlds to cut the Ultramarines off for the Siege of Terra". The way he managed to combine these goals however is... well... Lorgar might really, from the bottom of his heart, genuinely care for his brutish brother. But Lorgar is also of the "I will manipulate you for your own good" type of person, who is absolutely hardcountered by Angron's thick skull which takes ages of working on the man to get him even remotely walking into the direction you want him to. Their dynamic is quite entertaining, Lorgar's frustration is just so understandable.

Angron on his own is a broken mess of a person. There's not much to say about it, and he's essentially a force of nature that brings murder and mindless rage wherever he goes - by his own words he is already dead. Whatever is here now is essentially the world's longest suicide note that, much to his own dismay, will drag on for at least another 10.000 years. He has his moments in the book, as he is definetly not a mindless animal and still capable of some seriously baller lines, but he's definetly not the star among the cast.

Lorgar meanwhile is a much more interesting character in the book, mostly for the fact how you realize that there is a difference between "serving Chaos" and "serving the Gods". Those two things CAN go together, but they do not have to. What's interesting is that he and Erebus do definetly not see eye-to-eye. He even tried to have the guy killed by Kharn in the end by just giving the World Eater a tiny information that just made the man go into absolute murder-mode.

Which is interesting, because Kharn might be one of the least murder-y World Eaters there is. Note that I said "World Eaters" here and not "War Hounds" (the old name). That distinction is quite relevant in this story. Just like Angron on his own he does not exactly carry the narrative, he's not as absolutely insane or reckless as someone like Sevatar (and that guy manages it without the nails even). He is more of a calm observer that finds his legion-brothers generally less interesting than hanging out with Argel Tal.

Oh and Argel Tal... we met him in "The First Heretic", but I'd like to avoid spoilers here. Let's just say that his bickering dynamic with Kharn is a smaller mirror to their Primarchs' interaction. They are essentially a married couple at that point if you ask me, except none of them has realized it yet.

There's also the support cast around the Legion Audax and Lotara, but they are not the focus here. They are nice to have around however, and none of their segment feels like weird filler. Overall a great book, and I hope there's more of ADB in the Heresy as I go to the next volumes.

Hi I love your art style! Especially how dynamic your poses and how distinct and expressive your faces are.

For somebody currently struggling with their own style, do you mind sharing how you got to where you got? Probably lots of studies, right? 😅

Did you focus on realism and built your more stylized take on that? I'm mostly a digital artist but I have heard that practicing a lot with pencil and paper may help, do you have any experiences with that?

I'd love to hear if you have any advice <3

Hey! First of all, thanks so much! ♥

In terms of stylization, aiming for and sticking to a single style is something I've heard that some people do, but was never something I really thought about too much myself. I started by just copying the artists I liked, so in the beginning I was just mimicking another's style 1:1 for the most part. After doing that with several artists, the styles naturally started to blend together, until I was eventually able to develop a more conscious sensibility of what I did/didn't want to include, which just comes through a lot of the practice. Over the years my style has been really all over the place, from Extremely anime influenced, to western comic book style and cartoonish, to fairly strict realism, to where I am now which I think is something like stylized realism. It's inevitable that you'll go through a few styles as you grow as an artist, even if you're only sticking to one genre, and I believe it's important to allow that to happen, rather than trying to strictly force yourself to stick to one in specific. I don't draw in the styles I used to, but I think little touches of it still remain in my current one, which I think helps give it a little bit of uniqueness. In regard to my current style though, yes, I do studies from life almost every day to help me keep a strong grasp on realistic anatomy as well as to continue to grow my understanding of it. I use references too with almost all my drawings, but then I add stylization on top of it, which is something I wasn't able to do with much success until I had been practicing for years, so don't be discouraged if this is a struggle. I will say though as soon as I began to do studies regularly, my improvement went like 500% faster than it had before; just about the only thing I wish I'd done differently on my journey with art would have been to start doing studies from life sooner. So if stylized realism is a style you're interested in, I can't recommend that enough! And even for more cartoonish styles, the better your understanding of forms and anatomy, the easier time you'll have exaggerating it confidently, tbh. Re: digital versus pen and paper, this isn't so much related to style specifically, but even as a primarily digital artist myself, I highly recommend getting in some practice with real media too. It forces you to be more deliberate and decisive with your mark making, especially if you're using something like pen-- once the line is made, you can't erase it-- and that skill carries over to how you draw your lines digitally. I still try to do pen studies at least once a month and I think it definitely influences the confidence of my digital lines. Lastly, I'd also say keeping some sort of inspiration board is a great tool. I have a side blog for saving pieces that I see which I would like to incorporate elements of into my own style, whether because I liked the way the figure was posed, the expressions, the artist's mark making, the composition, the interaction between the subjects, etc. There's so much like that which all goes into influencing an artist's specific style and it's really interesting to think about when you consider what you want from your own! Whenever I'm feeling a little dry on inspiration I look through my dash over there or in the folder of inspiration I've saved and it almost always helps get some new ideas flowing. Like I said, I don't think it's necessarily a good idea to focus in on just one specific style and constrain yourself that way, but to instead consider how you'd like to use bits and pieces of many styles can be very helpful to growing your own. There's a whole lot more than can be said on this subject, but I hope this much is of some help to you ♥♥

the way that 30 tastes different is not just that it's "predictable" or I overhyped myself, it doesn't feel as smooth a progress to the emotional climax than say, 16. It feels a little bit "not enough" while devoting the whole episode to a single plot for the first time in kingoh.

I swear I don't dislike the episode as much as it sounds. There're just some camera language that I feel a little foreign because I'm too preconceived on the director change (and I have Rita tunnel vision on always).

for example, I'd put Rita and Himeno's conversation in the autopsy room. so Rita can show their process of grief + priorities while explaining the eye. show a little more of them beginning to shake or lose confidence because not even Karras can stop the culprit, or all they had preapred to tell Karras is now gone. (himeno can be examining and Gira calls them back out again). I want it to be more significant that Rita allowed/chose to share a vulnerable, personal moment in front of Himeno.

it almost feels like it's a Rita episode, but Himeno is the driving force the entire time. That's not true, I know, Rita is just passive in social situations and it's about Himeno's influence on them. Wrath of Gods is Himeno's to avenge too (and Rita being the one to absolve her of the hatred, following 14). In the first place, these two have very different definition of friendship anyway. It's not a very fair comment because this episode is also about how much they let her in and where they draw the line.

p.s. I feel Rita and Grodie's standoff is shot a little underwhelming. It's just the composition really. I'd want to see it from Himeno's low angle. Or a wider shot between them. Perhaps.

((´・ω・`))

saw another take that complained Rittan is nothing but scream and moffun which - i (kind of can't) disagree but also yeah Rita is kind of a "simple" person like that... They were raised with a heavy responsibility since young and work was all there was for them. Their duty is their self-worth and they never had external affirmation either. In a way they are very much "a child" in the modern derogatry colloquism of that word. A child thrown in to the real world and had to grow up too fast and still growing.

I think a lot of Rita actually lies in the unsaid because they refuse to open up. it's in the body language and intonation and maybe if you don't grew a liking to them you won't see something so so hidden detail. so yeah... i do agree they have all the coolest anime tropes but on top of that, they were given a new meaning to us socially withdrawn kids - and adults out there, that you don't have to do it alone.

Undead Girl Murder Farce Episode 2: Vampire

A mystery series has to have a good mystery, correct? I'd agree, and so would Undead Girl Murder Farce. I don't have a really good segue for this because I'm just so excited to discuss it. It's good, really good, okay? Great mystery, great dialogue and direction, and Lapin Track still manages to hang on, impressively enough. Now, lets get started, shall we?

Where to begin? I guess the start wouldn't be too bad so I can paint a better picture. We're dealing with the murder of a vampire that had integrated with the human side of the world. An almost locked room mystery that presents plenty of questions, and probes deeply into the minds of the characters involved through our ever enjoyable duo of Aya and Tsugaru.

Anyways, the story actually starts with our father vampire Godard, and his youngest son Raoul out in the woods hunting a deer. Right away, the gears start turning and the symbolism and significance of their relationship and existence as Vampires is put on display.

Godard tries to shoot a deer with a rifle but cannot, so he resorts to using his abilities as a vampire to kill it, for example. A pretty clear piece of symbolism of Godard attempting to mesh with the rules and lifestyle of humanity, but being unable to fully assimilate with them, despite his efforts.

More interesting than that is the disparity with which he and Raoul interact and are depicted. Where Godard has a deer over his shoulder, Raoul is more interested in the mushrooms growing peacefully in the forest. For as much as Godard remains his father, and that Raoul is forced to look up to him, their relationship isn't as idealistic as one may believe, and instead uses the typical trope to promote the idea of the pair not seeing eye to eye.

Just a quick interlude before moving onto the next piece here. Lapin Track is struggling with the series, as expected. I wouldn't say it's anything outside of what you might think however, as there's 3D carriages, and other smaller issues like the lack/poor quality of compositing through this short scene here. Aside from that though, Lapin does a rather impressive job of hiding the bald spots of their work.

Back into it though, a very interesting piece as Raoul and Godard talk about confiscating a silver stake from a hunter they ran into a while back. An incredibly interesting visual that may strike viewers as odd upon first inspection. The most peculiar thing about it being that it looks more like a flashlight than a silver stake, especially when you look at the hunter's expression.

Returning to our father-son pair, they make their way back towards their home to skin and clean the deer. But not before Godard makes the discovery of the hunter's silver stake, which was coated in blood. Thus starts the (literal) descent into fear and mystery.

I say literally, because we begin by following behind the duo as they descend the staircase of their mansion. It's an insanely well tracked scene through the 3D space that the characters move in. The only thing that really gives it away is how the walls move compared to the characters.

Overall, they do a really great job of creating both a sense of terror as well as weaving a subtle and interesting mystery. Creating natural alibis for each of the characters as they go, sometimes even superimposing those alibis onto the sinking feeling that the scenes themselves create.

Now superimposing, I chose that word for a reason. It's a very strong theme from this episode (and is from what my thumbnail for this review comes from). The idea of placing one thing atop the other while both remains distinct is a common aspect of visuals, of course. But it does not just apply to the visual world. Layering conversation and interactions to present to explicitly separate concepts is something that's done impressively well through this latter half, and I can't wait to (sort of) explain it (to the best of my abilities). But for now, Godard's wife Hannah, is dead. Killed by presumed impalement in their family home.

It's from here that Tsugaru and Aya pick up the trail, though not after a few interesting pieces first. To begin with, we see Godard interact with regular human news reporters in regards to the situation, which highlights the mistreatment and prejudice held against non-humans in the world. More than that though is this young (presumed girl) reporter that tries to squeak some details out of Godard. Familiar? She appears in the opening atop of Aya's body. The detail of red hair is also something that stands out with the significance of the child's positioning in the opening. A possible relation to the mirrored hybrid oni that fights against Tsugaru in the opening, who stole Aya's body?

Okay okay, Aya and Tsugaru now, I promise. Alright, I lied. Godard's youngest child Charlotte. Just for a little bit, I swear. She's playing with a doll house in which the dolls are modeled after her family. I wouldn't even go as far as writing it off as child's play either. While the placement of the dolls is not accurate to any moment from the episode, what I find most interesting is that Godard is missing alongside the Hannah's maid and Godard's butler. I can almost guarantee there's something to this scene, but at this moment I can't put together its significance.

I swear on my life this time we'll see Aya and Tsugaru. Alright, the pair arrive at the mansion and go through the expected pleasantries that a bodiless immortal and twisted oni-hybrid would. As funny and witty as it is, it tells a very interesting story in addition to this interaction, immediately making use of that theme of superimposition.

Tsugaru places Aya's head directly in front of his for the reveal, simply stating that he is the body of Aya, and that Aya is the brains of Tsugaru.

Also, this really interesting/bold transition. Very curious as to where the red from this scene comes from that's quickly replaced with green later on. As you can tell, there's a mountain of curiosities with this mystery already.

The more-slash-most interesting piece however is the idiosyncrasies of Raoul that are intermixed. Namely, his penchant for placing his hands in his pocket when he's stressed/uncomfortable. We see it prior to this in the scene where him, his older brother, and his father are discussing things prior to Tsugaru and Aya's arrival. It very quickly separates Raoul from his brother and father, but for what purpose we don't yet know.

So, exchanges are made and the mystery begins, but not without flair. I really like this cut of Godard remembering the key aspects of the murder as he saw them. Very telling in where and what his focuses were as things like the wedding ring appear once more.

Alright, time to speedrun the mystery because lord knows this is already an incredibly long post and I'm boring everyone that's made it this far to death. Down to brass tacks. We know that Hannah was once human, we also know that she was rather active in regards to carpentry. There's a clear setting in the room: a dead body with a stake-shaped hole in it, an empty bottle of holy water that is dusty (on the inside) and has a tinge of blood to the cork, a bloody coat, and a book opened to a very specific page.

Right away, you understand the possibility of there being a false compartment in the drawer, as well as the potential for Hannah to have killed herself due to her human past. Though the latter is just as likely as a human coming to kill her for betraying her kind.

Regardless, the mystery presents itself as something improbable: a container that's dusty on the inside, a death that is almost entirely improbable, and an order of events that doesn't make any sense.

Our only "real" clue is this page of a book that was left open on her table (image flipped so it's easier to read). The translation is as follows:

"Death, I appeal to your harshness, Who stole from me my delightful mistress, And yet were not sated Until you see my languishing: Since then I've had neither strength nor force; But how would it harm you- if she were alive, Death? There once were two who shared a heart; If that heart is dead, that power is deflected, If so, I must live without love Like those statues, in my heart Death!"

Is this a message from the killer, or a message to viewers? It's hard to give a real answer, but this poem/song does in fact (apparently) come from a work from 2009, of all things. Whatever the intent, it was explicitly meant, so I'm very curious to see to what it applies.

Anyways, time to tidy up. Superimposition, let's start with that. It happens quite a bit through this conversation. Placing Hannah atop Aya as the latter's eyes wander through the scene to pick up details. The hunter being placed atop Gordad to bring the thoughts of Godard murdering his own wife to the forefront. They're incredibly intentional decisions that force viewers to reconcile the two scenes and decide why it is that we're shown them, and why it is that these two characters share similar visual cues.

From here, we arrive at the conclusion that Aya understands what it is that's happened to Hannah, and she walks Godard through the issues she finds with the murder. Incredibly interesting, it teases her thought process as well as potential theories to viewers thanks to insanely clever sight lines and blocking, like this scene that places Godard between the fingers of Tsugaru.

Seriously, and I really do mean seriously, I could go on for paragraph after paragraph about how expertly done this episode is from a mystery perspective. How the scenes lead (or really mislead) the eyes of the viewer, how well it translates the perspective and wanderings of the characters through the scenes, how it uses superimposition through both visuals and dialogue to tell a story, and just the overall storyboarding, blocking and visuals. It's one of the few episodes of a dialogue heavy series that has had me actually say to myself, "that episode went by in the blink of an eye". It's just so rich, so full of content, context, and clues that you aren't given a second to catch your breath or feel idle when viewing it.

Undead Murder Girl Farce shows that it does unfortunately have limitations imposed by its studio, but in the same breath proves that despite those chains, it's able to provide incredible quality and delivery of content to viewers. I'll probably say it with each episode, but this will most certainly be the dark horse series of the season.

(same anon as before) No prob, I'll just post what I wanted to talk about here.

I'm trying to write a fic with KvZ as the focus and you depict him so well with your art, I kinda want to ask for your opinion on him and Genshin and their relationship (huge GnKnt shipper here) just to get a different perspective and more depth into what you think of them. I love how you portray them both and I'd appreciate hearing what you think.

Also as an amateur artist, if you could give me any art tips about drawing like you do, especially with all the symbolism and metaphors, I'd really appreciate it.

That's all, thanks, and sorry if I bothered you!

vvv

Thank you! But you give me too much credit. I’ve mostly just drawn variations of the two standing in the dark [gestures to img below]. Admittedly, I haven’t thought too deeply about their relationship beyond Klimt’s mental decline (and how that affected the people around him) and their final duel. But if it’s anything, I view them both as impulsive and emotional. I don’t really have a solid opinion on the matter of their marital status. Sorry, I just enjoy seeing guys who are doomed by the narrative be self destructive and tear their lives apart 🤷‍♂️

As for art tips— I don’t know how experienced you are, but regardless of skill level, you should have a good grasp on the fundamentals (eg: values, proportion, perspective, line quality, etc.). Once you have a handle on the basics, drawing from life, doing master copies, photo studies, etc. helps further develop and hone your skills.

I don’t have any good resources explaining things, but search around; there's plenty of free art learning resources online. I’ve heard good things about Proko on youtube. It's also good to look at artists of different styles, mediums, and eras. That way, you can learn from analysing their techniques and you can develop a style of your own.

A small word of advice— if you're still a beginner, don't get too caught up on the details and on complex techniques. Those things will come in due time (or if you want to push yourself, but I don't really recommend force. you should enjoy creating art). Beautifully rendered art with unintentional poor proportions and composition sticks out like a sore thumb (unless you don't mind, then you do you).

Explaining my creative process is tough since most of it just kind of happens, so I’m sorry if this comes out incomprehensible. For me, when it comes to symbolism, it’s basically analysing the character and what situation you want them in and honing in on specific ideas. Let’s use these pieces for example:

Kazuma has an association with snakes because his family crest represents snake eyes. Here, I’m using the snake to symbolise his hatred, which stems from his father's death. On the left, he wields it. He's seemingly calm and under control. The snake is ready to strike. To the right, his hatred spirals and nearly consumes him. It's the demon inside him 🤓

Besides the obvious of what happens in their story, some things you can draw from is how a character presents themselves, perspectives, occupation, hobbies, personal effects, cultural/religious/societal/etc. background, conflicts, era/location, etc. But other than that, symbolism can be incorporated in smaller, subtler ways, like the way someone holds a bottle, how an article of clothing is worn, and the like. Watching movies/tv, reading comics, and other media helps. Pay attention to how the director/author frames and lights things 👍

(side note: karuma is a recurring symbol in tgaac)

Not sure if anything I wrote here is of help, but yeah

Hi! You mentioned that Leslie Klinger has a lot of inaccuracies in his annotated Dracula; I participated in the Rosenbach's "Sundays with Dracula" program (on their youtube if you're interested) and a lot of us used his book (and he was even a guest lecturer). Can you point me to some places where I can learn more about the inaccuracies, or get more accurate/balanced info? Thanks!!

Some part of the problem with using Klinger's text is just trying to navigate his "gentle fiction" that the events of the novel all reflect things that really happened. It results in a lot of nitpicks on his part that serve no interpretive function other than taking what feel like cheap potshots at the characters, and I think in those sorts of quibbles he lifts some of the biases from Clive Leatherdale where he builds upon his work (and Leatherdale is--in my humble opinion--grossly sexist and victim blamey). Beyond that, something that really struck me when reading his annotations (and I have a lot of exasperated marginalia in my copy of Klinger's text) is how frequently he seems to rely on either Stoker's 19th century research sources or on the work of other non-Eastern-European Dracula scholars when trying to paint a picture of Transylvania. He largely knows his stuff as far as the Stoker's source texts go, but Stoker's source texts are incredibly outdated and racist, and a lot of his notes don't really try to reach past them.

To offer one example from a place in the text Dracula Daily readers have already passed, Klinger asserts that the innkeepers at the Golden Krone are probably Hungarian and Roman Catholic on account of their slight knowledge of German and their gift of a crucifix (pg. 25, note 51). However, in making this assertion, he doesn't acknowledge that the woman is wearing traditional Romanian clothing or that forced Magyarization policies in the nineteenth-century would have led to numerous Romanians being forcibly converted to Catholicism from Eastern Orthodoxy. He also fails to mention that the folk beliefs they are mentioning are attributed to Romanians by one of Stoker's sources (Emily Gerrard) and that one of Stoker's other sources (Nina Mazuchelli) notes that all innkeepers in the Carpathians speak a smattering of German. As his "gentle fiction" makes it impossible for him to acknowledge that these people are fictional constructs and not real flesh and blood human beings, he isn't able to present them as being contradictory and not entirely well thought out composites resulting from Stoker's flawed research. However, his attempts to paint them as real nineteenth-century Transylvanians living their nineteenth century lives also falls short because he doesn't quite seem able to picture Catholic Romanians who speak a little German as individuals who might have existed in Bistritz at the time.

Honestly Klinger is a great resource in a lot of ways, and I am always going to be grateful for his work in getting the reading public access to manuscript content (and in fighting the good fight as regards copyright battles re: Sherlock Holmes). I'd advise people using his New Annotated Dracula, however, to be very cautious in using his work insofar as it addresses Transylvania and to take a lot of his commentary on the characters' failings with a large grain of salt.

Your art is so amazing!!! I admire the way you build characters with strong shapes and zany silhouettes, and your scratchy lines + the crazy color composition is just pure -chef's kiss- 😙👌👌👌 It's super inspiring!! Do you mind sharing anythin or anyone that's helped shape your style?

thank you vuerrry much, i'm flattered .... <3 i think 19th-20th century art is a big driving force in my stuff rn, always will be. i'd say i leech off paul gaugin, john singer sargent & my very favorite odilon redon, all of his stuff makes me do backflips, makes me fly and bounce off the walls. also love how pierre brissaud & andre-edouard marty operate in their art. don't have many smart words to say, i just like them a lot lol. i also noticed that starting 2 draw skajrim characters and things related to it did wonders for me, i think just drawing such grimy and dirty boiled water vibe-d games would do a lot of good for a lot of artists. in general it's been about 2 years since i really started drifting away from drawing a lot of ani/manga fanart & consuming such media; & it's........great, hoenstly, no shade, i still like some medias i consumed in that era but rn i can't imagine doing that. just speaking from my experience, moving from more cutesy stylized stuff to a tad bit more realistic direction has me in a really content place. & as a tip trying a lot of things and being able to do a lot of things is awesome and grand; consistency in art is a literal joke. ❤

I think it says something negative about either my thinking and/or Rust's design that the first real from-scratch program I decided to write in Rust forced me to write

#![no_main] //... #[no_mangle] pub unsafe extern "C" fn main(argc: isize, argv: *const *const u8) -> isize { //... }

This was for a re-implementation of histdir, because I wanted to reuse ripgrep's crates for faster parallelized search of the many files histdir ends up generating.

See, histdir will do a sha256 hash of the history entry (it doesn't necessarily need to be a cryptographically secure hash, but I need one with no realistic chance of collision, and sha256 is ubiquitously available).

And the history entry can come in as a command-line argument.

Which means I need to be able to hash a command-line argument.

Which comes in as bytes. Arbitrary bytes.

I have, at least once in my life, written command-line invocations with arbitrary binary in them. For testing, for dealing with the rare corrupted file name or contents, and for doing something low-level manually with raw binary files. Rare, but it's a thing that actually happens.

But even if I never again end up having arbitrary bytes in a shell/REPL history line that I typed, even if it's always proper valid UTF-8 or whatever, there's edge cases like data corruption of the history file, and composition with other things, until one day you have a garbled history entry in your history fuzzy search UI and you're hitting the keybind to delete it and it keeps not getting deleted because the fuzzy search UI is passing the entry to the histdir remove command as an argument and oh haha nope you implemented it in Rust so sucks to suck it can't handle invalid Unicode. (And yes, I actually have histdir accept entries either in a command argument or on stdin, but the availability of the latter is a poor excuse for the former to be less functional, especially since the former is frequently more convenient to use both interactively and programmatically.)

You'd think "oh, I'll just take my OS arguments as OSString instead of String, and then they don't have to be valid Unicode", but after wasting ~40 minutes I'll never get back, I can confidently say "good luck getting the raw bytes out of an OSString (unless it contains valid Unicode, hilariously)". And none of the sha256 implementations I found know how to take OSString inputs either.

Well, I'm not being entirely fair... you can do it in a way that's not available on Windows, or with some other API that's currently marked experimental but which will hopefully eventually be stabilized.

So the situation... isn't terrible, but I'd rather not write code that relies on an API whose name might change between now and it getting locked in as a stable guaranteed interface.

And honestly, I don't actually know when I'll use histdir on Windows. I don't know what CLI arguments will look like in that situation (Windows has some really weird stuff with CLI argument encodings - apparently each process/program can tell the OS it takes arguments in a different encoding, and the OS will translate). But at least if I'm accessing the raw bytes there's a 100% transparent option available - if I can pass raw bytes in, I'll get those bytes handled exactly as passed. And the nicer higher-level safer Rust APIs somehow failed to make it possible to get raw OS-level CLI arguments and process them, as bytes, exactly as passed - even though at the OS level arguments are potentially arbitrary bytes.

I'd be a much happier person if I just didn't know or care or think about this stuff. If I just thought "oh yeah std::env::args() yes good I have strings" and moved on to use them. If I didn't even register that it would panic on invalid Unicode, and if forced to, immediately brushed it off with a dismissive rationalization like "well when would that happen?"

I'd similarly be much happier if I could just dismiss Windows as irrelevant and a problem for someone else later down the line, even if that someone else is going to be me. And maybe that's the wiser choice. After all, maybe by then things would be easier, maybe some portable stable APIs would be available. Maybe some of these possibilities would be collapsed so the problem is simpler.

But for now, I still care in a way that sometimes gets me obsessive about properly solving it now, and this happens. And I don't think the problem is entirely me. It's not like "the OS passes program arguments as raw bytes, and sometimes you might want to pass those transparently to other programs/libraries which also handle arbitrary bytes" is a never-before-seen situation.

Controversial personal opinion (actually a rant) about RDARB because I'm still so annoyed about that novel

"Red, White and Royal Blue" is without any doubt one of the most annoying books I've ever read and I really can't understand how it managed to become so popular when it's so blatantly... Bad

I think the horrific Italian translation made me dislike it even more, but there were so many problems with it already

First of all, the side characters. Absolutely useless. I'm not even joking when I say that I had to stop for 5 entire minutes to try to remember who the heck was Leo. To me, it makes perfect sense that they decided to get rid of a lot of them in the film, they shouldn't have been there in the first place

Secondly, the dialogues. They couldn't have felt more surreal. You're telling me that the Prince of Wales, who's been getting PR training and etiquette lessons ever since he pronounced his first word, actually expresses himself like a dockworker? It all felt forced, like the author was trying way too hard to make every single line witty. But it didn't make me laugh, I just found it cringe

Thirdly, the emails. Once again, I had to stop because the second-hand embarrassment was becoming unbearable. God, I wanted to wash my eyes with bleach. Especially because the terrible prose (we'll go back to this later too) of the characters was associated to the writings of some actual intellectuals and poets. It was also a very unrealistic plot device to cause more drama. Basically a disaster under every possible point of view

And what can I say about said drama? Every single conflict was solved within 20 pages. While some superflous parts of the plot strecthed out for an eternity, issues found their solution in an instant. How can an international scandal involving the White House and the Royal Family last for the space of a chapter? *insert Italian boh*

Now, just a couple of thoughts about the main characters. The enemies to lovers trope was objectively badly executed. Their rivalry just felt very childish and based on nothing, so it consequently lacked tension (but no problem, the enemies part came to an end in less than 100 pages). And one thing that annoyed me was that they were supposed to be in their 20s (setting aside the maturity that they were supposed to have because of their respective roles) but they acted like teenagers. After they kind of got together, their in-person communication pretty much stopped existing because they spent every single second together having sex. What sort of development is that?

A word or two about the political sub-plot too. Apart from being uninteresting and very one-dimentional (I agree with the author's political views, but you cannot make such an absolute distinction between good and bad, we don't live in fairytales), it was also totally predictable. Like, Rafael Luna's "big secret" was pretty much spoiled 200 pages before the reveal, so I was just waiting for it and it wasn't surprising at all (just like the results of the elections, for instance)

Lastly, the style. As I've already said, part of my disdain probably derives from the translation. But still. This thing has really been checked by an editor? Most of the descriptions sounded like my brother's composition about his PE teacher written on his first year of primary school. And then, out of nowhere, the author changed register and started to wax poetry about the most mundane details. Just tell me why. I've read better fanfiction

I'd have so much more to say but I think this is enough. If you liked the book, good for you! Your opinion is totally valid and the majority of the world shares it so you're probably also right. I wish all that enthusiasm could change my mind since I bought the novel with high expectations and spent time reading it only to be disappointed and enervated by it

really very few english speakers know who the fuck aira mitsuki is so here's a brief listening guide based entirely on my opinions

i'd go chronological as i suggest with literally every single artist just because my style is to start at their first album to see where they go with their sound and get a full picture. if you don't want to do that i'd start actually with the sayonara technopolis single/set and then move on to plastic if you liked it

copy: the first full album. there are two versions of it, i've only ever heard the 16 track version so that's all i can tell you about. it's kind of generic, as are most first albums released directly under a label as they want their artists to prove success before they allow them more creative freedoms. tracks on copy can range from okay to painfully mediocre. i don't really even recommend sitting through copy if you have something better to do if i'm being honest. listen to high bash, swallowtail dance, and definitely beep count fantastic. don't bother with the rest unless you feel like it.

plastic: listen to plastic it fucking RULES. like i said before it'll start out girly and cutesy (but FAR better than copy imo) and if you like girly and cutesy (i do!) you'll love it. then it'll punch you in the nose. sayonara technopolis is one of her best songs and it's for sure my favorite on the album, with the closer, re:†, coming in close for 2nd place (though it's really hard to decide and my opinions on these tracks change all the time. not on sayonara technopolis though. my baby girl sweet wonderful song

???: really really pulled back on production for this one, honestly i like the low(er)-fi sound and less polished mixing! this album really moreso benefits from its song composition. there are some really really nice tracks on here. i personally think these tracks work better as a unit on an album rather than on their own (though they do work on their own). one thing you'll find about aira's stuff is that it's A) very VGM inspired, and B) heavy on the bass as a main instrument, this album is a really good example of just how much emphasis is put on the bass instruments in a lot of aira's music. it's not my favorite thing in the entire world ever but i do think you should listen to it. shoutout to rainbow for how much it recycles from sayonara tech. i like that song a lot i don't know if it was clear. my favorite from ??? is actually probably love re:, though. this album does also do the right thing and completely shed the false pop idol persona of aira's previous works to just focus on being.. what it is. also did jin steal the progressions from the title track ??? on outer science? scholars remain divided

6 force: this ones an EP/mini album so you can skip if you want, not that groundbreaking really. if you do choose to give it a go, it's alright. it's basically a natural expansion of her sound up to that point. the track yellow submarine will always have a special place in my heart because i listened to it constantly when i was little, so that's probably my favorite, for good reason too because it actually rocks. only thing i can really strongly say is that uhhh good luck sitting through fake because it is seriously awful and not in a good way. it's like her only truly just bad bad bad song.

park of the safari: this is a collab album with saoridestiny and i think it works really really well. tracks like damage and last song feel very nostalgic and sweet. i feel like this is probably my second pick after plastic if you feel like going out of chronological order, with the third after this being ???. most of the tracks here range from really strong to "oh uhhh holy shit that's wonderful" in my opinion, with the exception of gate or exit and theme of safari, which are the obligatory "why'd they do it like that" tracks. so. play it on the aux for your friends, nobody's ever heard this one ever, especially animal daydream, which may be a very early vapor-subgenre track now that i think about it (unintentionally of course)

i'll be back: look i'll keep it real with you, i have no fucking idea where you find this outside of apple music. i've heard maybe 2 tracks off of it. is it worth it? no actually i don't think so. unless there's a hidden gem on here, i'd skip it, with the exception of butterfly, which is good. i just don't know if i'd listen to all of i'll be back for it it.

pyramidal: aira's most recent work as well as her comeback. not every song on here works, but i was pleasantly surprised! some of the tracks on here are a little on the generic side, though. my rule is basically if i would hear it on a commercial for an app it's too generic. plenty of listening and re-listening value here, though, and i think it's one of her stronger releases if not her most conventional to-date.

if you choose to listen to other works of hers like aira's science CD and whatnot, i'd do that last if not chronological, since they're harder to find. i'm not an enormous aira fan, but some of her work is really worth at least one full listen and her music influenced me a lot as a little kid. godspeed and happy listening.

For the Dr3 AMA thing, if you're still taking it, do you think that the brainwashing plot was a good idea? And was it better to keep Chiaki as an AI or to make her human in the anime?

I am taking it as long as people are asking about it! I knew about both these things long before seeing the show, so my perspective may be skewed by other people's perspectives, but in short: mixed, and human.

In long ...

Even if I hadn't seen so many complaints about brainwashing before starting the show, I'd probably share the same gripe as everyone else. I would've preferred a story of how a master manipulator twists an entire class of nice people into carrying out her dark mission, each character's downfall leading to the next like dominos, with a connected sideplot that puts actual faces to the Reserve (meaning more than just the one episode with Natsumi and Sato).

BUT ... I can see why the writers took this approach to making the SDR2 kids fall into despair:

It's by far the most expedient method - almost everyone even falls into despair at the same time! - and when you have a dozen episodes to give this backstory, you've gotta save time wherever you can.

It removes some of the culpability of these characters in the apocalypse. You wanna love them, and the writers want you to empathize with them. Having them choose to kill or otherwise ruin countless lives is harder for some to accept than having their agency totally robbed.

The story I would've preferred is just not the story they wanted to tell. The Despair Arc had to pull double duty as both its own story and the background for the Future Arc. Time that could've been spent showing Class 77-B or the Reserve Course careening towards despair instead had to give crucial backstory on Chisa, Munakata, and Juzo.

Brainwashing is a plot device of tremendous utility in DR3. The easy way isn't always the right way. With that said, the climax of DR3 as a whole, where Ryota plans to brainwash the entire world and the others must fight for free will, arguably makes it a worthwhile addition? It really highlights how in Danganronpa as a whole, a major part of Hope as a concept is free will. Good people feel forced to commit murder most foul by their extreme circumstances, protagonists never fight solely for self-preservation, and DRV3 would drop the hope stuff altogether and bring that to the forefront in its own climax. I'm just saying, maybe people are a little harsher on the brainwashing stuff than it deserves.

Uh, on to Question #2!

Speaking of DR3's ending, the reveal that the Neo World Program originally would've mined everyone's memories to create an original composite character, only to find someone they all already knew, loved, wanted to see again, and would've fought for ... man, that tugged the heartstrings. Chiaki being a living person before her second life as a guardian AI just makes sense, but what they do with her, how far they go with her, and how much it retroactively colors her SDR2 incarnation all seemed pretty damn good to me. Like, she's so good that I now support komahina even more because she deserves better than Hajime.

Is there much controversy about Chiaki’s portrayal in DR3? I haven't heard any complaints about it. Maybe because most people save that for the rest of the story ...