#the game is good i like it accurate sibling dynamic apart from the very very toxic parts but dont mind it | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

4ragon · 3 years

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do you have any thoughts on the dynamic between iris and dahlia??

Ooo that’s an interesting one.

There is a wide spectrum of sibling dynamics in this game. We’ve got the Mia & Maya dynamics, the Apollo & Trucy dynamics, the Miles & Franziska dynamics, but then on the other side of that spectrum we have the Gavins or, case in point, Iris and Dahlia.

Listen. Dahlia on her own is fascinating. Iris on her own is also pretty fascinating. But when viewed as a pair? Good lord. Horrible and awful and deeply interesting all at the same time.

I mean, right off the bat, Dahlia at the age of maybe eight?????? don’t fact check me on that one convinced her father to just Get Rid Of Her? Because they had too many children?? Like. That’s fucked up. That’s horrible. That’s wild. That’s gotta be traumatizing for any child. And it’s gotta at least affect both of them deeply, like. Iris is abandoned for being “An Extra Dahlia” which, you know, I think clearly fucks up her own values, self perception, and self worth for years to come. And then Dahlia knows that she can do this kind of shit and get away scot free, and learns that anyone, even family, can be used and tossed out, that’s not healthy for any child’s development either.

God. Like. Can you even imagine? Your father (a wealthy jeweler by the way, so he has the MEANS to take care of all the children) just deciding he only needed to keep around one twin and basically gives the other one to a convent? What the fuck is wrong with Mr. Hawthorne??? Then of course there’s the fact that Morgan’s constant 4D chess meant she didn’t give a shit about them either, so it’s clearly coming from all sides in this family.

Honestly, I think Iris being given up by the Hawthornes was probably the most formative moment of her life. Like, on the one hand, she gets Bikini, who is this kind, motherly woman who actually cares about her. On the other, I think it really cemented in Iris’s mind that she is the Extra Dahlia, the extraneous twin who doesn’t have any value in herself. Dahlia, too, I think internalized that. Iris is the extraneous twin, the less important twin. She’s the shier twin, the weaker twin. Of course, Dahlia also sees the rest of the world like a tool to be used, but I think that goes double for Iris because she’s where Dahlia learned to think that way.

Then, of course, there’s Iris’s various ‘betrayals’ of Dahlia. Like, Iris does some pretty heinous shit for Dahlia, so it’s interesting to see what she draws the line at. She agreed to help steal the diamond and frame a man for it, but chickened out at the last second. Dahlia almost died, and Iris felt horrible about it, even if Dahlia is the one who put herself in that situation. Iris later agrees to date Phoenix under a different name to get the necklace back, and comes to realize that she would be willing to betray Dahlia again to save Phoenix, I assume both out of guilt and love. Like, that’s a lot of extreme stuff she was doing for Dahlia, and a lot of people she was betraying for her.

And again, I feel like her becoming “Dollie” is just another part of her being unable to become her own person, her being the “extraneous twin”. She gives up her identity for Dahlia, to ‘protect’ Dahlia in her own way. She didn’t care about Phoenix initially, she only cared about Dahlia having to dirty her hands, having to stain her soul.

Really Iris is always perfectly willing to sacrifice herself in all her interactions. She goes with Godot’s plan, willing to sacrifice herself for Maya. She sacrifices her own autonomy and identity to date Phoenix for months. I don’t think she really knows how to live for herself after everything she’s been through with Dahlia.

On the flip side, it’s very interesting to pick apart “Iris’s” dialogue after the switch. The first time through it’s hard to catch it, but once you know where the switch takes place (namely when they put up more trick locks in the inner temple), you can really see a lot about how Dahlia views Iris.

I already talked about Iris’s guilt toward her sister, but a lot of the dialogue about her guilt are actually Dahlia pretending to be Iris. (Not all, just most.) Iris was scared and ran away during the heist. She betrayed her sister, and that’s why she deserved any and all punishment she received. It’s a little hard to parse out which parts are Dahlia playing the role of Iris and which parts she truly believed, but at the end of the day, her focus on guilt and betrayal was what she went with when pressed about ‘her sister’ while in her disguise.

Like. There’s absolutely some anger there. Iris was the one who betrayed Dahlia, after all. Iris was at fault. Iris was weak. I really wonder which parts of her Iris imitation were accurate? If Iris had expressed any of that to Dahlia?

I do think it’s interesting how outwardly similar they present themselves. Dahlia takes so much, she even takes Iris’s personality and wears it like a mask. She knows how to play the victim, how to be sweet. Actually, how much of Dahlia’s presentation is her imitating Iris, and how much of Iris is her taking from her sister?

Anyway, there you have it. A rather parasitic relationship if you ask me. One sister who makes sacrifice after sacrifice, and one sister who does nothing but take and take.

Man. What a fun game.

#spoilers #ace attorney #dahlia hawthorne #ace attorney iris #ace attorney spoilers #specifically aa3 spoilers #meta #j

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sageybear · 3 years

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Sooo I made my own sims challenge 😳 I'm not sure if it's been done before or not but I wanted to try my best,

Its my first challenge so please be nice!

Also, sorry if some of these aren't that accurate to the aesthetic.. I tried-

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Basic rules:

-no cheating, especially for money, unless the rules give you permission.

-feel free to edit some things to fit around the packs you have! For example if you wanna live in an apartment, or if you want to have pets! Pets are allowed in any generation, just be wary of how many people will be in your household!

-feel free to start with no money/restart your money, house etc every generation! You don't have to, but if you want to you can :)

-enjoy! Feedback is super appreciated!

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Aesthetics Challenge

Gen 1 - Cottagecore

Your parents were humble, sweet people with no mean bones in their body. They taught you to be kind and to follow your dreams, no matter what. As a young adult, you adventure into the world and see what's out there for you.

Traits: loves the outdoors, creative, clumsy.

Aspiration: Painter Extraordinaire.

Career: Freelance Painter/selling paintings.

Rules:

-live in a small, cottage-like house (tiny living: live in one of the tiers).

-max painting skill.

-make 10 sculptures via woodworking bench.

-complete aspiration.

-marry a creative/ambitious sim.

-have at least 2 kids.

Gen 2 - Naturecore

Taking after your parents, you enjoy the peaceful life surrounded by nature. They taught you that nature was a valuable thing, never to be taken for granted.

Traits: Cheerful, Good, Bookworm.

Aspiration: Freelance Botanist.

Career: Selling plants, flowers, etc.

Rules:

-continue living in a small home.

-have a garden, you like to grow your own food.

-complete aspiration.

-max gardening and fitness skills.

-[seasons: sell flower bouquets and honey].

-have a reading nook in your garden.

-have a small circle of friends.

-have a secret relationship with one of your friends, have a child together and then "ask to just be friends".

-own a pool.

-Adopt a child/children.

-3 kids max.

-complete the plants/flowers collection.

-never marry.

Gen 3 - Alternative

As a child you always craved more excitement, the easygoing, nature filled life was never for you. You rebelled a lot as a child, and was troublesome, as well as a bit of a player.

Traits: Kleptomaniac, Romantic, Non Committal.

Aspiration: Serial Romantic.

Career: Entertainer, Musician Branch.

Rules:

-live in your parent's basement.

-have a bad relationship with your grandparents.

-complete aspiration.

-reach level 5 career.

-no long term relationships until adult.

-after completing the aspiration, you meet your polar opposite and fall in love.

-elope and have 3 kids with them (may cheat for triplets if you want to).

-max career.

Gen 4 - Clowncore

When you heard your parent's story, you made fun of them a lot. You soon found you had a good sense of humour, and would annoy people with pranks to the point of hatred towards you. All apart from one person, of course.

Traits: Goofball, Hot-Headed, Erratic.

Aspiration: Public Enemy.

Career: Entertainer, Comedian Branch.

Rules:

-Own the sad clown painting.

-Master the comedy and charisma skills.

-Optional: collect aliens.

-Have lots of friends as a child, but slowly lose touch with all but one.

-Max career and complete aspiration.

-Date someone, but have a bad friendship meter with them. Leave them at the alter.

-After reaching the top of your career, realise your love for your friend and marry them.

-Have one child.

Gen 5 - Chaoscore

Due to a mediocre relationship with your parents, you became.. A little chaotic. You couldn't decide what you really wanted, and followed in the footsteps of a crazy household.

Traits: Kleptomaniac, Glutton, Lazy.

Aspiration: Master Chef.

Career: Your choice, have 3 different jobs through your life.

Rules:

-After the chaos of your parents' life and living in a crazy house, you follow those footsteps.

-Hook up with as many colleagues as possible, and get pregnant with two of them.

-Have a bad relationship with your children.

-Complete the frog collection, and display them around the house.

-Quit your job as soon as your oldest child is a teen. Let the kids bring the income.

-2 children only.

-Complete aspiration.

-Never marry.

Gen 6 - Dark Academia

After being used by your parent for money, you became a lonely, quiet person. You simply wished for a normal childhood, and so, at first you don't realise, but you'd like to have a family of your own.. Though, you don't know the dynamics of one very well.

Traits: Gloomy, Loner, Childish.

Aspiration: Best-Selling Author.

Career: Writer.

Rules:

-Only befriend the people you meet at the welcome wagon, or your neighbours if you don't move house. (you may find a spouse by going to their house if they don't turn up).

-Live with your sibling(s).

-Have a 50% relationship with your children. You're not good with kids as you never had a great childhood yourself, and spend most of your time alone.

-Have an office attached to your bedroom and lock the door for everyone but yourself.

-Focus on your career for the first half of your life. Only explore love as an adult.

-Marry as an elder.

-Have 3 children.

-Complete aspiration.

-Complete Elements collection.

Gen 7 - Angelcore

Thanks to a bad relationship with your parents, you spent a lot of time at a friends house and saw how a real family functioned. You fell in love with the idea, and wanted to be the best parent around!

Traits: Family-Oriented, Outgoing, Perfectionist.

Aspiration: Big Happy Family [Alternatively, Parenthood: Super Parent].

Career: Stay-At-Home Parent.

Rules:

-Max the cooking, charisma and have your partner max the handiness skills. [also for both, Parenthood: max the parenting skill].

-Marry your highschool sweetheart as soon as you're young adults.

-Have 4 children, the youngest being twins. (You may cheat for this).

-Have a family meal each weekend. [seasons: have a grand meal every weekend].

-Spoil your children.

-Have them age up with the happy toddler trait and graduate high school with As. [Parenthood: age up with one positive trait]

-Complete the postcard collection.

-Spouse must be an astronaut. (Can change to astronaut when they move in, it doesn't have to be their default).

Gen 8 - Gadgetpunk

Although you had an ideal childhood, you always felt yourself competing with your siblings for attention. You soon got bored of that, and your interest moved to videogaming, before your life began to revolve around it. Thanks to being spoiled, you had the best gaming setup around.

Traits: Geek, Foodie, Mean.

Aspiration: Computer Whiz.

Career: Tech Guru, E-Sports Gamer Branch.

Rules:

-Live in your parent's attic (or treehouse/garage/etc).

-Have a 'man cave' - fill it with gaming consoles, devices, and posters.

-Complete the MySim Trophies collection.

-Date your twin's best friend.

-Have as many kids as you want, and have a better relationship with one than the others. (The heir).

-Complete aspiration and max career.

-Elope.

Gen 9 - Light Academia

You had a better relationship with your parents than your siblings, and seeing how passionate your parent was about their career, it made you aspire to be just as successful. You srill make plenty of time for your family though, as youe grandparents were so loving.

Traits: Ambitious, Materialistic, Genius.

Aspiration: Renaissance Sim.

Career: Business/any to complete the aspiration.

Rules:

-Date and eventually marry an unemployed with the Mansion Baron/Fabulously Wealthy aspiration and help them achieve it.

-Complete aspiration.

-Have 5 children, you love family thanks to your grandparents.

-Leave your job as an elder after gaining a good, stable amount of money.

-Take up an instrument as an elder and max the skill/get it as high as possible.

Gen 10 - Your Aesthetic

Rules:

-Play how you like! This is the final generation, and you're free to do as you like!

#sims4 #sims 4 challenge #this is my first one please be nice #ts4 challenge #ts4 #the sims 4 #sims 4 challenges #new challenge

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my-simlish-addiction-sims4 · 4 years

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Zodiac Legacy Challenge - Updated for Island Living/Get Famous

As someone who is definitely a nerd of zodiacs, i read charts and have studied the history of astrology and all you can imagine, i became super super excited to see this type of challenge, to combine the best of both worlds; sims and zodiac signs! i wanted to make it perfect, i updated the same challengue so as the person before me did, and i kept some of the characteristics because this challengue’s been made before and its on youtube already, they were fun and pretty accurate to play. The order also stars along with the history of astrology itself! Aries. the newborn baby.

The story of astrology tells the story of the “growth” of a human race, and ourself as individuals are represented by 12 signs in each of our lifetime ages.

The story beggins with the first house of fire, Aries, the first explosion and sparkle energy, as it grows the comes the love of taurus, the sedentary life, the venus, then the knowledge of the gemini generation and the social skills, as the knowledge grows the emptiness is fulfilled by mother caring nature cancerness, family values and nuturing love. When we are all set the leo factor cames, we all want our own individuality and stardomness, we want to put our creativity and fire flames, then our virgo friend came to balance it out, pragmatic and caring nurse virgo, the helper, the one that saves them all. After that comes balance to judge us all, but in an armonic way. Then deepness with scorpio to erradicate all crimes comited, and sumerge on the deep turbulent waters that neither of us wants to face, then ofc comes the lighthearted saggittarious, warm heat stones after all that ice cutting, and then again the empire reforming of capricorn, hard working, money maker, followed by tecnology as it finest with aquarious, evolutionating of sapien sapien, and then all pure love and spiritual growht with pisces.

Starting out:

This is a 12-generation legacy, each generation represents a zodiac sign and their meaning.

Feel free tu use the cc for each sim, as you will, as long as it doesn’t break the rules. Traits for each individual will be listed in the description

Custom objects allowed also allowed

There’s different careers options for you to get creative, if the career doesn’t specify a branch or field, you can choose wich direction does your sim take on his path.

Challenge Rules:

- You’ll start out on one of the 50x50 lots or 64x64. The second one brings more difficulty to the game as it leaves you with almost no money to start in. (lot prices varies depending on the town)

No money cheats

Mods such as MC Command Center is allowed and encouraged, but not allowed for gaining advantage to your life aspiration goal, you can cheat the needs, and some relationships such as friendships as long as its not an especific goal to your zodiac sim, the aspiration needs to be hard work on you as well as the geals.

Cheating the needs is allowed, since the challenges per generation are difficult by itself, but not necessary.

CC is allowed

If you don’t complete one of the goals for the generation, you lose the challenge.

Generation One: Aries

“As the first sign in the zodiac, the presence of Aries always marks the beginning of something energetic and turbulent. They are continuously looking for dynamic, speed and competition, overcome obstacles, always being the first in everything - from work to social gatherings.

You’re competitive and hard working, and can sometimes come across as a bit arrogant. However, you have a bit of an inferiority complex, so every time your sibling or a friend succeeds, you aren’t too happy about it and always try to one up them. But after a while, you realize that you acting this way is pushing away the people you care about. Can you salvage these relationships before it’s too late and the damage is done?”

Traits: Hot-headed, Ambitious, self assured, Perfectionist, active, dance machine, loves outdoors, mean, evil (because of the happy moodlet around sims that are suffering), hates children, outgoing (you have to put one bad in)

Aspiration: Renaissance Sim

Career: politician (politician branch), Military (any branch), Bussiness (any branch), Athlete (any branch).

Goals:

- Be enemies with your sibling until you are both YA

- Only have one friend until you are a YA, since they were the only one who stuck around

- Repair your relationships as fast as possible

- Reach level ten of the fitness skill

- Reach level ten of the career

- Complete your aspiration

- Go for a jog for a total of three hours each week

- Have one kid

Generation Two: Taurus

“Practical and well-grounded, Taurus is the sign that harvests the fruits of labor. They feel the need to always be surrounded by love and beauty, turned to the material world and physical pleasures. Stable and conservative, this is one of the most reliable signs of the zodiac, ready to endure and stick to their choices until they reach the point of personal satisfaction.

You grew up truly appreciating food and what it meant. You were amazed by how a simple meal could bring a family together, and how many memories were made because of that. You were close to your parents and were taught to always stand your ground and share your opinions. However, this caused you to become a little bull-headed (pun intended). You’re super stubborn and don’t like to be wrong, and won’t admit that you are ever wrong. This makes romance hard for you, but you keep trying because you are a hopeless romantic at heart. And once you find that special someone, you are loyal ‘til the end.”

Traits: Romantic, Foodie, Materialistic, glutton, lazy, neat, squeamish, self assured, snob, bro

Aspiration: Mansion Baron

Career: Business (management branch), Culinary (chef branch)

Goals:

- Have a garden with ten perfect plants

- Only make organic meals (using ingredients, no quick meals, no eating out)

- Have a karaoke night with your family every other week

- Reach level ten of the Business/Culinary career (any branch)

- Have four kids (one set of twins, feel free to cheat for this)

- use the cheat sims.get_sim_id_by_name {PlayedSimFirstName} {PlayedSimLastName} Get the pregnant Sim's ID, then use the cheat pregnancy.force_offspring_count {simID} {amount}

- Reach Soulmate status with your spouse before becoming an elder

- Complete your aspiration

Generation Three: Gemini

“Expressive and quick-witted, Gemini represents two different personalities in one and you will never be sure which one you will face. They are sociable, communicative and ready for fun, with a tendency to suddenly get serious, thoughtful and restless. They are fascinated with the world itself, extremely curious, with a constant feeling that there is not enough time to experience everything they want to see.

Growing up, you had the “perfect life”: two parents who loved each other, lots of friends, good grades, and a beautiful house. You were living the good life, so why did you always feel like you wanted more? You decide to take a step on your own, leaving your family behind to pursue your dreams in the big city. However, you quickly realize that life is harder than it seems. You can’t find a job you’re comfortable in, you can’t hold down a relationship, but you find solace in entertaining people and throwing parties. Something about being a host really makes you feel happy.

Traits: Noncommittal, Outgoing, Insider*, paranoid, genius, materialistic, erratic, snob, hates children, vegetarian, jealous, bro, mean, active, bookworm or geek.

Aspiration: Party Animal or City native

Career: Freelancer (Fashion photographer branch, DJ), critic, mixologist (culinary career), secret agent (diamond agent branch), social media (public relations ranch), law (private attorney branch), writer (journalist branch),

Goals:

- Must have a twin (feel free to cheat for this)

- You are the opposite of your twin, in obvious ways such as style, but also in more subtle ways such as emotions and traits (for example, you could be stereotypical and make one of the twins a “preppy” person and the other an “emo” person)

- Reach level ten of the charisma skill

- Must move out to an apartment with the Needs TLC trait

- Throw every type of party at least once

- Complete your aspiration

- Have three jobs (at least one week for each) before deciding (4 in total).

- Travel to at least two community lots each week and stay there for at least an hour

- Have at least level four in three different skills by the time you’re an elder

- Learn all of the recipes from the vender stalls in City Living

- Have one set of twins (keep trying until you get them)

- Be caught cheating by your spouse (you can decide whether they stay together or not)

-As a teen needs to work as something at least a week

Generation Four: Cancer

“Deeply intuitive and sentimental, Cancer can be one of the most challenging zodiac signs to get to know. They are very emotional and sensitive, and care deeply about matters of the family and their home. Cancer is sympathetic and attached to people they keep. They are very loyal and able to empathize with other people's pain and suffering.”

In another life you would have become a doctor, but in this one you are content with looking after your family and making sure your children grow up the best they can. You’re a loving but strict parent, and just want what’s best for your children. However, will you push them away by being too overbearing?”

Traits: Gloomy, Jealous, Family-Oriented, romantic, foodie, good

Aspiration: Super Parent

Career: None, gardener (floral designer branch), writer (Author Branch).

Goals:

- Gen four heir must reach level five in Imagination and Communication as a toddler

- Master Baking skill

- Master Cooking/Gourmet Cooking skills

- Host a tea party (or a small get together) every week. Invite over your neighbors, your friends, your family, whomever you’d like. Must have a baked good for the gathering made by you.

- Complete your aspiration

- Pick up woodworking as a hobby and craft every sculpture

- You live off of your parents’ money until you get a spouse: you are to be a house wife/husband, and will never have a job. You’re allowed to sell duplicate sculptures for money, however, or books.

- Show off your sculptures by putting them on display somewhere in your house!

- Pack a lunch for your kids every morning. If you forget, make them a snack when they get home.

- Keep the house clean (all you have to do all day is chores, after all!)

- Have two kids

- Both kids need to have A’s in school

Generation Five: Leo

“People born under the sign of Leo are natural born leaders. They are dramatic, creative, self-confident, dominant and extremely difficult to resist, able to achieve anything they want to in any area of life they commit to. There is a specific strength to a Leo and their "king of the jungle" status. Leo often has many friends for they are generous and loyal. Self-confident and attractive, this is a Sun sign capable of uniting different groups of people and leading them as one towards a shared cause.

Your parents were so overbearing to you and your sibling growing up that in your teenage years you began to rebel. Staying out late, skipping class, whatever you could think of. Your parent made sure you got good grades, but you didn’t care about school. All you cared about was the spotlight. You were going to make it big, and you didn’t need calculus to help you rock out on your guitar or make the crowds feel emotions from your acting. You’re arrogant and stubborn, but determined to succeed no matter what the cost. Unfortunately, that means that you can miss out on things that are most important in life.

Traits: Self absorbed, active, outgoing, Materialistic, goofball, ambitious, self ab

Aspiration: Musical Genius/Master Actor, leader of the pack

Career: Entertainer (any branch), Actor, politician (politician branch), bussiness (investor branch),

Goals:

- Have a one night stand with a groupie/fan once you reach level five in your career, which leads to an unplanned pregnancy. Only if you’re a musician or an actor

- If your heir for this generation is male, come up with some sort of reason for why you got the baby. The mother didn’t want it, the mother died in childbirth, whatever. You can even move her in until she gives birth, then they have a big fight and she walks out on them.

- Reach level ten of the career

- Complete your aspiration

- Have one kid

- Never get married, but have as many relationships as you’d like

- Never be that present in your child’s life; you don’t want to be overbearing like your parents

- Reach level ten in a instruments (you can choose), two if you’re already a musician

- Licensing songs is okay to make some extra money

- Reach level 7 of charismatic

- Making videos is also okay for extra money

Generation Six: Virgo

“Virgos are always paying attention to the smallest details. Their methodical approach to life ensures that nothing is left to chance and their heart might be closed for the outer world. This is a sign often misunderstood, not because they lack the ability to express, but because they won’t accept their feelings as valid. The symbolism behind the name speaks well of their nature, born with a feeling they are experiencing everything for the first time.

You grew up without a strong parental figure in your life, which made it hard for you to trust other people. How do you know that they would be there for you when you truly needed them? You’re cautious and shy, but curious about the world. You truly enjoy learning and collecting things, you like to think that the best things of life are hard to find, you fish rare specimen for your food and collect spices is through hard work you enjoy more of the things at your table and by sharing this same passion is how you meet the love of your life (by collecting or at work). They are the only person you can trust, but they can tell you’re always holding yourself back and hiding parts of yourself away from them. Can a relationship last with this kind of distrust?

Traits: Neat, family oriented, squeamish, perfectionist, Good, Bookworm, snob, self assured

Aspiration: The Curator

Career: Scientist or doctor

Goals:

- Marry a coworker who has at least one trait in common with you

- Get married right before becoming an adult

-Be as healthy as you can, you can be a vegetarian if you want

- Separate from your spouse for a while after a large fight (your choice if they get back together)

- Reach level ten of the Scientist or Doctor career

- Complete your aspiration

- Have a home library (at least 25 books)

- Finish a collection (your choice)

- Have two kids

-Work as a babysitter as a teen

Generation Seven: Libra

“People born under the sign of Libra are peaceful and fair, and they hate being alone. Partnership is very important for Libra-born, and with their victorious mentality and cooperation, they cannot stand to be alone. The Libra is an Air sign, with expressed intellect and a keen mind. They can be inspired by good books, insurmountable discussions and interesting people.

You thrive on socialization. Your parents are kind of shy homebodies, but you crave constant company and cannot stand to be by yourself. This can come across as quite overbearing to some people, so sometimes it’s hard for you to make friends. And, despite being such a sociable person, you are kind of oblivious when it comes to romance. You are very childish in the best possible way, and are the kind of parent to get down in the dirt and play with your children. You are a very supportive parent and you strive to make your family as happy as they can be, through whatever means. You may love outdoors and nature and fresh air, but you hate the wild and dirty part of it, you can be Squamish, a typical balance and contradiction of a Libra.

Traits: romantic, insider, Materialistic, loves dogs, cheerful, squeamish, loves outdoors, family oriented, bro, childish, lazy, good (only one bad trait)

Aspiration: Big Happy Family

Career: Social Media (any branch), style influencer (stylist branch), law (judge law branch), photographer, Freelancer (YouTuber, Dj)

Goals:

- Go on vacation to Granite Falls every other week (or once a season)

- Encourage your children to do homework and practice skills

- Have your children max at least one skill

- Have four good friends

-have a social club or be part of one

- Be best friends with your spouse

- Visit at least one community lot each week and spend four hours socializing and meeting new sims

- Reach level ten of career

- You post a lot about your kids and about your life, so take as many pictures of your kids as you can!

- Have a wall in the house filled with family photographs

- Master photography skill

- Master parenting skill

- Complete Aspiration

- Have two kids, and adopt one (total of three kids)

Generation Eight: Scorpio

“Scorpio-born are passionate and assertive people. They are determined and decisive, and will research until they find out the truth. Scorpio is a great leader, always aware of the situation and also features prominently in resourcefulness.

You grew up watching true crime television shows and superhero movies and decided that’s what you wanted to do with your life: bring justice and fight evil. Unfortunately you can’t become a superhero, but you can become a police officer/detective. You want to make the world a better place than it was before, and you want your legacy to be something of legend. Hardworking and dedicated to your craft, you tend to focus too much on work and it puts a strain on your relationship. That’s why the deepest your partner the more you like it, or the more attached he/she is to you.

Traits: jealous, Genius, paranoid, cat lover, gloomy, looner, good.

Aspiration: Nerd Brain

Career: Detective, Oracle (criminal branch), bussiness (investor branch), secret agent (any branch), engineer (mechanical engineer branch)

Goals:

-give first kiss as a child

-get passionate as a teen, if you can, your first woohoo

- Get married to your high school sweetheart

- Reach level ten of the logic skill

- Complete your aspiration

- Reach level ten of the Detective career

- Reach level ten of the handiness skill

- Get a divorce (you can decide who gets custody of your kids)

- Get remarried as an elder, retire from your career

- Have three kids

-accept every opportunity that the games gives you to solve a case or to help people

-see one of your parents ghost and give them a hug

Generation Nine: Sagittarius

“Curious and energetic, Sagittarius is one of the biggest travelers among all zodiac signs. Their open mind and philosophical view motivates them to wander around the world in search of the meaning of life.”

You love travel and learning new things. You want to experience as much as you can in your lifetime, which means meeting people different from yourself. You heard that one of your ancestors (generation five) was a big traveler too, so you decide to follow in their footsteps.

Traits: Outgoing, Noncommittal, clumsy, insider, cheerful, bro, child of the islands, active, creative, goofball, loves outdoor, bro, slob, hates children, romantic, self assured.

Aspiration: Friend of the World or Archeology Scholar/Jungle Explorer

Career: None, astronaut, Oracle (criminal career), Athlete (profesional athlete branch), education (any branch)

Goals:

- Live in three different worlds for at least a week before settling down

- Have kids with three different people

- Never get married

- Make money freelancing (collecting, gardening, painting, writing, whatever you wish! This includes the stuff that comes along with Jungle Adventure, such as archeology and treasure hunting.)

- Completely redesign your house at least once (after settling down for good)

- Go to every festival (unless you’re at work/on a date/at a wedding/etc)

- Travel to the Nightclub every Friday

- Complete aspiration

- Master dancing skill

- Master comedy skill

-Work as a life guard as a teen

Generation Ten: Capricorn

“Capricorn is a sign that represents time and responsibility, and its representatives are traditional and often very serious by nature. These individuals possess an inner state of independence that enables significant progress both in their personal and professional lives. They are masters of self-control and have the ability to lead the way.”

You hated how free spirited and laid back your parent was, and craved structure and discipline. Since a teen, you had a schedule every day after school: do homework, practice your skills for an hour, eat dinner, go to bed. Moving around so often meant that you didn’t make many friends, so you chose to devote all of your time to mastering as many skills as you could. But focusing in on one detail of life made you miss out on the bigger picture.

Traits: Ambitious, Snob*, bookworm, mean, unflirty, perfectionist, neat, family-oriented, looner.

Aspiration: Fabulously Wealthy

Career: critic, bussiness (management brand),

Goals:.

- Reach level ten of the Tech Guru career (either branch).

- Master logic skill

- Have at least level seven in three other skills (your choice)

- Follow a schedule every day; spontaneity is not your strong suit

- Get married as an adult to someone who shares at least one of your traits and is in the same career as you.

- Live in an expensive house (200,000 simoleons or more) by the time you’re an adult

- Surround yourself only with other snobby people

- Buy an expensive item every Wednesday. (Perhaps even start a collection of expensive artwork or sculptures and showcase them somewhere in your house. Feel free to get creative with it.)

Generation Eleven: Aquarius

Unique, eccentric Aquarius’ are shy and quiet, but on the other hand they can be are deep thinkers and highly intellectual people who love helping others. They are able to see without prejudice, on both sides, which makes them people who can easily solve problems.”

Aquarius also represents the house of friends and society, people as a collective, so as much a they are weirdos they are usually a team player.

Who ever said eccentricity was a bad thing? You are a little out there and can be pretty spacey sometimes, but overall you are very passionate about your morals and strive to make other people’s lives better. Just be careful not to become a pushover.

Traits: Self-assured, Erratic, Ambitious, geek or genius, outgoing, creative, friendly, goofball, dog lover, insider

Aspiration: Leader of the Pack

Career: Guru tech, freelancer (programmer branch), level 10 in scientist, style influencer (trend setter branch), politician (charity organizer branch), engineer (computer programmer branch).

Goals:

- Reach level ten of the Politician career, either branch

- Complete your aspiration

- Have a club gathering at least once a week (your club can literally be for anything! Get creative!)

- Have three kids, get married as an adult

- Have at least four good friends (they don’t have to be a part of your club)

- Reach level ten of the Wellness skill

Generation Twelve: Pisces

“Pisces are very friendly, so they often find themselves in a company of very different people. Pisces are selfless, they are always willing to help others, without hoping to get anything back.”

You love to socialize and surround yourself with all different kinds of people. Your parents loved you and raised you to be kind and perhaps a bit sensitive. You can be insecure at times, especially when it comes to your significant other. For some reason, you can’t seem to stay in a relationship for very long. Is there a way to fix this?

Part of you already understand the important things in life, an incredible spiritual soul ready for feel the connection to earth or the real things of life, very namaste and zen.

Traits: Creative, Jealous, child of the ocean (obligatory), good, vegetarian, lazy, loves outdoors, dog/cat lover, foodie

Aspiration: Soulmate

Career: Painter, conservationist, veterinarian, astronaut

Goals:

As the last generation feel free to have kids if you want, preferably not

Have at least three friends of a different race/gender/sexuality than your sim

Reach level ten of the Painting skill

Must go through at least two boyfriends or girlfriends before settling down

Have two kids

Own a pool (at least a 4x4 size)

master the wellness skill

Work as a fiver as a teen (island living)

Make an activist club with your friends to fight for injustice or become a mermaid

Omg we have finally made it to the end of this challengue! i hope you had an amazing time just as i did, and had loved each one of the generations. For me they were all amazing. Sendind all love, please lets give an amazing applause and thank you to the founders of this challengue trend Pagenta and AutumnalPixels let’s all give love to this amazing comunity, and please share your videos, your challengue journey and feel free to send me any picture and update!

please share this and thanks for all the love, i’m always gratefull

i love you guys so much and Peace <3

#ts4 #sims #sims 4 #sims 4 legacy #sims 4 challenge #sims 4 challengesims 4 legacy ts4 the sims 4 sims 4 #sims 4 challengue #sims 4 zodiac #zodiac signs s4 #ts4 zodiac #ts4 zodiac signs #ts4 astrology #astrology #the sims 4 zodiac signs #sims 4 astrology #s4 zodiac signs #zodiac challengue #ts4 zodiac challengue

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dreamtofbluebirds · 4 years

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SHUICHI SAIHARA

While timid and particularly unobtrusive, Shuichi is a person of integrity. Years spent with a detective uncle had carved a formidable foundation for law-abiding behavior.

{ POST-GAME. }

In his primary verse, he was thrown into Danganronpa unwillingly and upon waking up from the Virtual Reality, was missing quite a bit of his original memories. Between physical and mental therapy, he’d find that his past would always be elusive but a few things remain solid. His friendships, his family situation, and his nature remained consistent. What became a hurdle was the fact that Danganronpa had not known prior to kidnapping him that he was a trans male, and thus did not alter his in-game avatar. Upon his release, he would find renewed difficulty in the dysphoria but a clearer understanding of himself.

As a note, if I write with anyone WITHIN the game’s timeline, I will change the mishap over his avatar in the VR to accurately reflect his born sex instead. This is because I am fond of this concept, and I’d like to keep that aspect of him consistent as I write.

{ HOPE’S PEAK. }

Standard verse, taking place during his years at Hope’s Peak. He lives on-campus at a dorm and is often gone over any significant breaks, doing cases or visiting his Uncle and Aunt. He’s more often than not away on any and all days off, going to the city to explore, experience events and festivals, or otherwise, work off his physical energy so he can focus on his studies later that night.

{ P4. }

Split into two halves. One centers around Hope’s Peak –> P4′s plot, without DR.

In his secondary verse, Danganronpa existed within the world of Persona, spurred on by severe influences within the Metaverse. Himself and others were dragged in but through the trials they faced, they awakened to their potential, and Chapter Six was a boss battle as the Metaverse seeped into their Virtual Reality simulation. Upon waking, they retained their personas and made a vow to seek the truth, no matter the cost. He is of the Death Arcana, capable of summoning AUGUSTE DUPIN, same as the legendary fictional detective.

Accompanying these two verses, it’s available for Shuichi and Naoto to be brothers. They lived separately and don’t know much about each other–even down to opening up about their gender identity which would only end up being implied, as both would be too awkward to talk about it during family events.

{ P5. }

Split into two halves. One centers around Hope’s Peak –> P5′s plot, without DR.

{ POKEMON. }

The third verse is a pokemon verse where he’s a P.I. with two pokemon, a Growlithe and an Umbreon named Lee and Bree. After the show ended, he returned to his Uncle’s work as a part-timer and on low-risk cases, and was given an Eevee at the time. Growlithe has been with him since before the show, so both pokemon work together to ensure he keeps a calm head.

{ APOCALYPSE. }

This is an apocalypse AU in which the undead arose while he underwent high school life at Hope’s Peak. He’s great for tactical approaches and working hard, but the loss of Kaito and many others weigh on him. His only comfort is that Kaede remains by his side.

{ VAMPIRE. }

This verse is split into two groups; one remains post-game, and the other is Hope’s Peak. Each of these will be tagged with both tags.

The post-game verse is a vampire verse in which he was bitten before the game. It’s my only non-VR AU with the killing game included, but the game doesn’t have to go as it did in canon because I’d love to interact with certain characters regardless. He’s young and without a sire, but I’ll be taking a bit of lore from Vampire: The Masquerade and say that his humanity is extremely high. This grants him the ability to hide what he is extremely well, among other things. He has the power of suggestion, but he’s very untrained with it and would hate to use it unless he morally had to.

The alternate verse is in which he’s at Hope’s Peak and handles the results of being bitten on a case during a break, uprooting his entire lifestyle.

{ AVIAN. }

Sixth verse is one in which he’s winged, mirroring the pattern of a blue raven with their mostly black, glossy-blue wings and his bright eyes. They’re too big to hide and he can fly, but he’s timid about it and prefers to stay grounded out of safety.

{ REMNANT. }

A verse where DR2′s plot was V3′s, and the ‘older classmates’ that helped were DR2′s cast. The verse is spliced into three parts. Shuichi acting as an active Remnant of Despair is the first segment, him inside Future Foundation’s custody is the second, and post-NWP is the third. He’s ruthless and hellbent on punishing criminals, turning his personality to mirror a sadism that he’s sickened by. He kidnaps Kaito during the active remnant days as well as attempts to kidnap and punish other classmates/remnants in the name of justice.

He’s very similar to Future Foundation’s leaders at the time but believes them to be corrupt/weak, seeing as Junko still captured him and others.

{ BLIND. }

During a case overseas, Shuichi was a victim of an acid attack. It stole his sight during his final year at Hope’s Peak as a result, bringing him to a long hospital stay and therapy in the coming months to regain some resemblance of autonomy.

{ SUPERHERO. }

Shuichi is one of the top officers in the city not for his experience, but his knack for being in the right place at the right time, and his ability to talk to the villains at least somewhat civilly. He often accompanies Kaito and does his best to do what’s right, regardless of what the police force thinks he should be doing, which puts him in a tough spot.

He does have an ability, which is that all psychological abilities have a significantly decreased effect on him. He essentially has a mental fortitude buff.

{ METAL HEART AU. }

Shuichi suffered a car crash that all but ruined his physical body, save for his mind. His Uncle and Idabashi had been good friends, and right as the roboticist entered stages of humanlike development on his own project, Shoma all but pleaded for a chance to give Shuichi a new body.

Codenamed S4U-1C41, he would end up living with the roboticist as he regained mobility while Kibo, the man’s son, was accepted into the Saihara’s household given his own love of detective work.

Regarded as inhumane, Shuichi understands the importance of his secret and hides his true identity.

{ TWINS. }

Fairly straightforward as an AU and can be in conjunction with almost every other AU he has. His birth name would be Shiho still, but the next part depends on who takes the role of Shuichi–if the other twin does, then the name he’d choose for himself is Shouhei Saihara regardless of what last name he inherited. If he takes the role of Shuichi, then he’d have chosen Shuichi Saihara as his new name.

His dynamic with the sibling depends on the personality of said twin, but his own personality remains fairly responsible–even to the point of taking the blame for his brother and proving incredibly loyal. A large detail that changes him is that loneliness is a persevering trait of his and I like the idea that he and his brother were split up a lot as their parents were not prepared for two, resulting in an on-off stay with Uncle Shoma. This means that while he craves closeness with his sibling, he remains awkward about it and uncertain of what is really acceptable or desired of him.

As a result, he’s extremely sensitive to criticism.

{ PREGAME. }

After much consideration, this verse was added. Shouhei Saihara is a boy with high expectations placed on him. Although his Uncle is less strict than his parents were, he was forced into attending Spring Field Academy and forced into living with his Uncle and Aunt while his parents continued pursuing their careers.

He’s used to being treated differently due to his status and loathes it, often avoiding saying his name, hiding his face, and otherwise being suspicious of those who talk to him. His social skills are terrible due to moving from school to school and lacking the ability to have too much freedom beyond studying. His world-view is pessimistic and his love for Danganronpa stems from hoping most of the characters die, believing them to be terrible people, aside from the rare favorite.

{ GOFER PROJECT. }

Shuichi grew up as the world fell apart, heavy-hearted and devastated by the collapse. From the meteors to the sickness, then the Gofer Project and the rise of the opposing cult, he clung to any minuscule stability he had before going on the run, hiding from friend and foe alike. While he feels unworthy of being in the project he understood the necessity of it at the time and still does.

His natural role as a peace-keeper and helper come out full force in this AU as being alone remains the worst thing he could do to himself. His anxiety over being transmale increases due to the heavy promotion of having children, but he comes to the understanding that their new world needs law and not every one of the students were designed to be on board purely for procreating–Kiibo and Kirumi, for example, whose talents center around enrichment of others and coexistence rather than something so base.

{ ROYALTY. }

Born to the King and Queen of a kingdom, Shuichi was able to escape the confines of sophisticated life to grow up under his Uncle’s care, who was a simple detective within the kingdom. Because so little information about the heir to the throne was ever released, when he was called back, few questioned his identity and the ones that did only assumed he may have been the nephew of the rulers and that the ‘princess’ had died. His head knight is Kaito and the chief of security and intelligence is Maki. Kirumi is both the head maid and cook for him, and he’s tentatively worked out a deal where she lets him help in the kitchen when he can.

The kingdom itself is steeped in arts and literature due to the King’s love of stage play and the Queen’s love of writing for such things. This gives the land an easygoing feel, but it’s ill-equipped to handle threats as a result and Shuichi holds a vastly different view of what should be going on–and he’ll soon be King when they step down to finally abandon their royal duties in favor of the arts. It’s a lot, and he’s pressured to find a spouse before the coronation. Men aren’t excluded from this, though his parents specifically have chosen to avoid mentioning it.

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yasuda-yoshiya · 7 years

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Umineko reread - EP1 review

EP1's position in the series is a little unusual. I generally haven't really tended to give much thought to this episode compared to some of the others, probably because it mostly serves more of a role of setting up the basic premise and trappings of the series - the setting, the cast, and the concept of the murder mystery itself - whereas the real core of the story, the BeaBato relationship and the in-depth exploration of Yasu's magic, doesn't really come to the forefront until later. That said, I think I've gained quite a bit more appreciation for it this time around; for all that a lot of the first half is notoriously slow and awkward, it really does manage to pack a lot of important information into a relatively tight space.

The adults' sequences are actually really strong for the most part, and do a good job of conveying a complex and multifaceted picture of the long-running tensions between the siblings and the various dynamics between the family members; the cousins' scenes are significantly weaker, and could probably benefit from cutting down a lot of the fat, but by the end of the first half, you've got a pretty strong picture of the family's history and Kinzo's background, the weird superstition around the legend of the witch and the epitaph, and a lot of the nuances around each of the cousins' individual relationships with their parents as well, all presented in such a way that it mostly comes fairly naturally. There are a few awkward infodumps in there, and the first few scenes at the airport and the boat are a real chore especially - but on the whole, it's a much more effective and substantial introduction than Higurashi's endless club games, and it sets the foundation for the rest of the series nicely. On my first read, I definitely felt by the end of this episode that I had a solid understanding of the situation on the island from all sides.

As far as its overall role in the series goes, the most interesting thing that really sets EP1 apart from the others for me is its unique portrayal of Beatrice. From EP2 onwards, you have Beatrice acting much more as an actual "character", so it's interesting to see her presented here more as this sort of abstract, incomprehensible force beyond human understanding; it's impressive to me how the story manages to give the idea of "Beatrice" such a presence in the story without actually making her physically appear at all, and it definitely gives this episode a distinctively memorable atmosphere. EP1 is very centered around the mystery of Beatrice, and there's a lot of discussion about the weird nature of the murders and what the culprit could be thinking and trying to gain through setting them up in this way; this pretty much establishes the central questions that the rest of Umineko becomes all about exploring.

We see a lot of different sides to the idea of "Beatrice" here - the figure Maria claims to have met, the superstition among the servants, the story of Kinzo's long-dead mistress - but it's hard to put these pieces together into a coherent picture at this point. I tend to think that the way the concept of Beatrice has evolved over time and how it has meant so many different things to different people, with her story becoming a mixture of truth and fiction, is one of Umineko's most interesting aspects, and figuring out how all those factors come together to produce the culprit of 1986 who takes the name of Beatrice and commits the murders turns out to be a central focus of Umineko's "mystery" in the end.

In terms of that central riddle of finding the "person behind Beatrice", the biggest insights in this episode actually come from Maria. She's the only person on the island (Kinzo aside) who actually claims to have a personal relationship with Beatrice, and she's the one who plays the role of communicating Beatrice's intentions throughout the episode - from delivering her letter to explaining the meaning of the magic circles and the purpose of the sacrifices, her role as Beatrice's "messenger" is very consistent. Because of that, the picture of Beatrice we get here is very coloured by Maria's perception of her; you could say that EP1's version of Beatrice is specifically "Maria's Beatrice", the benevolent, all-powerful, unstoppable witch devoted to regaining her powers through carrying out her ceremony and bringing everyone to the Golden Land. The idea of trying to oppose or defy her is consistently framed as foolish and short-sighted, and outside of Kanon's brief, futile resistance in the boiler room, her commitment to carrying out the ceremony goes unchallenged. That's the image of Beatrice that Yasu wants Maria to be able to believe in to the end.

At the same time, from a mystery perspective, the fact that Maria claims to have had actual contact with the culprit makes her information invaluable; it's easy to assume that, if you want to deny the witch, then all of Maria's talk is just noise to be ignored and rejected, but paying close attention to the claims she makes about Beatrice through a human lens actually provides some of the clearest insight we get into Yasu's mindset this early in the series. Maria consistently describes Beatrice as talking about things like "ending everything", "sleeping peacefully forever", and going to a world after death where all suffering disappears. This is unmistakeably the language of a suicidal person. The meanings of the magic circles are translated as "breaking free from physical bonds, ties of obligation or inescapable fate" and "opening a new door when you're blocked by unopenable doors in all directions", which both constitute huge clues toward Yasu's motivations as well. Another interesting point is the way Maria repeatedly stresses that Beatrice is someone who most people are unable to "see" (the new translation makes a point of always putting this in quote marks, which is very appropriate), and how the ceremony is a means for her to become openly visible to everyone. The survivors themselves do correctly pick up on the fact that Maria's talk of Beatrice seems to imply direct contact with the culprit, but they're only able to respond to this with the repeated frustrated demand for Maria to tell them who the person she's calling "Beatrice" actually is; her refusal to provide the culprit's human identity frustrates and confounds everyone, and stops them from being able to seriously take on board all the other genuinely valuable information she's conveying about the culprit's nature and goals.

It's still sort of amazing to me how the way Maria talks about Beatrice - and basically everything Maria ever says in general - flips completely from feeling creepy and disturbing on first read to just being heartbreaking on reread; I love Yasu and Maria's friendship to death, and Maria's fierce defenses of Beatrice's existence here just kind of fill me with joy when viewed in that context. A lot of the motivation behind Maria's "creepy" behaviour here is actually very much correctly figured out by the cousins in this episode alone - she's loving being in a position of power over the others and knowing more than they do, when she's always been in the opposite position, and she's overjoyed at the magic and the witch she's always wanted to believe in being proven "real" and being able to rub that in the faces of all the people who didn't believe, as well as insisting and stubbornly clinging on to and reinforcing the existence of Beato's Golden Land as an escape from the emptiness of her own life - but what also comes across on reread is how much of her feelings are rooted in her genuine human connection with Beatrice as a person.

Even though Maria’s perception of Beatrice is framed through a fantasy story, it's still clear that she genuinely empathises with and understands Yasu's loneliness through that fantasy framing, and that part of her sticking up for Beatrice's existence is because she feels for her as someone whose own magic and efforts to empower herself have so often gone unacknowledged or actively rejected by everyone around her. It's easy for me to imagine her hearing Beato talk about how Kinzo has trapped her on the island and sealed away her powers so that she's mostly invisible to everyone, and to immediately think, "Oh, gosh, that must be so lonely! I have to be there for this poor person!" And I just love that side of their relationship, and how much of that sentiment comes through in those moments where Maria gets genuinely angry and upset on Beatrice's behalf when her existence is denied or belittled. I love how evident it is that even though most of Maria's understanding of Yasu's position is technically a "lie", her fantasy metaphors for her situation are still *emotionally* accurate enough for Maria to relate and connect with Beatrice's real feelings of loneliness and frustration through that understanding - in a way that she probably wouldn't be able to if she was just faced with the actual facts of Yasu's story, which are way beyond her capacity to understand. It's one of Umineko's most powerful examples of truth being conveyed through fiction, and how stories that aren't "real" can still facilitate real understanding between people.

But the other side of this is, of course, that things inevitably do get "lost in translation" through that process as well, and the picture we get of Beatrice through her in this episode is skewed and missing crucial pieces as a result - the biggest and most important being the fact that Beatrice herself doesn't actually really believe in the "Golden Land" she's creating, that she's essentially deceiving Maria to preserve the illusion as "real" in her heart; and, following from that, that she hates herself for going through with it and wishes that someone would stop her, that what she really wished for both herself and Maria was happiness in the real world as a human, and that the ceremony is really born from bitter anger and despair and hopelessness at the fact that that has been denied to them. It's not until EP2 that we get to see that other side of Beatrice. Meanwhile, Shannon and Kanon don't really get that much of a look-in as characters here - there are a lot of striking moments with them on reread, but their connection with Beatrice and their importance to her isn't made particularly apparent until EP2. Yasu in this episode is very much present primarily through Beatrice, and through Maria's perception of Beatrice specifically. On a mechanical level, there are a lot of hints toward Kanon acting as the physical vessel for the illusion of Beatrice - he's consistently everywhere that "Beatrice" needs to be, in a way that seems almost obvious in hindsight - but you'd be hard-pressed to really connect the two in terms of characterisation at this stage, and the unreliable narration is also likely to get in the way for a first-time reader's perception.

A lot of Battler's insights and attempts at speculation in this episode are actually not bad at all; he catches on to a lot of interesting nuances and contradictions in the culprit's behaviour, but struggles with following through on figuring out what those observations mean. While it's understandable that we tend to mostly poke fun at Battler's incompetence, it struck me a bit more this time how consistently concerned he is with trying to reason things out from the culprit's point of view and understand what they're trying to achieve - his "chessboard thinking" - even though he isn't really able to make much progress on that in the end. From start to finish, he's constantly wrestling with himself over what he should believe about Beatrice, more than anyone else; George and Jessica aren't particularly proactive about speculating, and Natsuhi is more concerned with protecting the survivors than engaging with the culprit's game. Even at this early stage, we can see the seeds of why Battler specifically was the one that Yasu wanted to pin her hopes on to try and understand her.

A recurring theme of Battler's character throughout this episode is that he fundamentally wants to empathise and relate with the people around him and believe in their common humanity, to the point that he tends to whitewash their bad points; the pictures he paints of his family members in the introduction are all pretty naive and superficial, essentially coming from a child's point of view (Eva's such a fun person! Hideyoshi's an awesome uncle who would give us spending money for sweets! Rosa's so happy about Maria getting along with us, she's such a good mother! Etc, etc.). Because he habitually seeks to find comfort in humanising and relating to the people around him in that way, that creates a continual tension for him in trying to process the culprit's blatantly horrific and "inhuman" actions, which he continues to wrestle with for the whole episode; from his frantic futile attempts to rationalise the first murders ("well, okay, Dad was a bastard, I guess, but no, he didn't deserve this, right? And hey, even if that was it, Kyrie wasn't a bastard, so you didn't have to kill her too, did you?") to his desperate, uncomprehending pleas of "Hey, you do realise that when people die, they don't come back to life, right?! Don't you have any human sympathy in you at all?!" after Kanon's death. While George and Jessica's responses are more what you'd usually expect, hating the culprit and wanting revenge on them, Battler's pain seems more rooted in a kind of innocent, disbelieving "No one can be this horrible, right?!" reaction - about having his initial impulse to try and understand and relate to and justify the culprit's actions denied, and anger and frustration at the culprit for not giving him room to do that.

Battler's tendency to react in that way sort of acts as a double-edged sword in this situation. On the one hand, it hampers his attempts at reasoning by causing him to flinch away from speculating too hard on the possibility that any of the 18 could possibly be the culprit - because he's very invested in his belief in the "humanity" of the people around him, and he can't reconcile that with the possibility that one of them could be the killer, even though he intellectually acknowledges that it basically has to be the case. (Hence how he ends up stepping back from the argument with Eva and falls back on the reflexive "No, you're my kind and fun aunt, so I don't want to suspect you! We shouldn't be fighting!" talk even after witnessing how vicious she was to Natsuhi, and how he goes back and forth on the idea of believing in Beatrice so that he doesn't have to doubt people any more - a conflict that continues into the later episodes.) But on the other hand, it's also what makes the culprit's incomprehensible actions really *bother* him, to the point that he *wants* to try and get to the bottom of them, that it keeps nagging at him even after the point that most people would have given up on understanding.

This doesn't apply only to his attitude to Beatrice, but to instances like Maria's "creepy" behaviour as well; Battler is genuinely bothered by the inconsistency between her disturbing attitude and the image of Maria he had in his head beforehand, so he actively works to try and reconcile that discrepancy and "humanise" that behaviour, talking it over with George and Jessica on multiple occasions and also engaging with Maria herself much more than anyone else does, trying to understand where she's coming from and seriously reflecting on her responses in a way that the others struggle to do. By doing that, he's ultimately able to form a surprisingly accurate understanding of where her attitude is coming from over time, and to reach a point by the end of the episode where he can look at Maria gleefully laughing about the completion of the ceremony and calmly think, "I see, in Maria's eyes, we'll all be going to the Golden Land, so it's as though all of today's tragedies didn't happen. It's as though all the time she spent deprived of love never happened."

It's things like this that demonstrate that Battler is a fundamentally empathetic person at heart, and it's easy for me to see that twelve-year-old kid who would talk to Yasu about how the heart was the most interesting part of a mystery in him - but his empathy is sort of fundamentally tempered by his immaturity and his privilege, and that's what ultimately stops him from being able to reach Beatrice in time. Battler is someone who easily picks up on the "humanity" of the people around him and tries to cling on to that as much as he can, but he's led a sheltered enough life that he struggles with understanding that people's potential for ugly and destructive behaviour is also a part of their "humanity" as well; that recognising someone as "human" doesn't necessarily preclude them from being capable of terrible things. A large part of Battler's struggle in his relationship with Beatrice as the series goes on is rooted in this conflict caused by his growing human connection with Beatrice and his struggle to reconcile that with her "inhuman" actions, and this theme of reconciling two seemingly contradictory sides of a person into a single coherent picture is one that runs deeply through Umineko as a whole.

Meanwhile, the second most prominent PoV character in this episode is actually Natsuhi, who provides a very different perspective from Battler! I always loved how Natsuhi gets to be so unapologetically framed as the "heroine" of this episode; she's a pretty unconventional choice for such a central role here, given how far removed she is both from Battler as the "protagonist" and from the mystery of Beatrice presented through Maria, but her perspective definitely adds a lot to the narrative; I feel like Umineko's consistent willingness to put these kinds of more challenging and "difficult" PoVs in the spotlight, where they could so easily be relegated to side roles, is one of its biggest strengths that really sets it apart from Higurashi. The portrayal of her complex position within the family and her ways of trying to cope with that and stay strong in a hostile and difficult environment is very effective, and her interactions with Krauss and Jessica manage to convey a lot of emotional nuance in a very short period of time; Ryukishi really has a talent for bringing these kinds of relationships to life in such a way that they feel immediately endearing and compelling without needing a lot of build-up.

The real strength and resolve Natssuhi manages to take from her delusions of Kinzo comes through very strongly here; despite being the only surviving adult with no foreknowledge of the crime, she stays composed and determined and manages the situation very well, and the scene in the study at the end where the cousins all acknowledge how strong she's been and how grateful they are for her presence always makes me want to cry. At the same time, the episode is also very good at portraying the cracks in her composure and showing how much effort it takes for her to stay strong in the face of everything that she's faced with, and allows her to make morally questionable decisions in her desperation to protect Jessica, going so far as casting Maria out of the study when she becomes too suspicious despite having proclaimed that she would act as a mother to all of the children before - but even in those moments, still showing her fundamental strength in the way she firmly accepts full responsibility for the consequences of her decisions. EP1 is a showcase of the real strength and dignity that Natsuhi is able to draw from her sense of obligation and responsibilty, while EP5 goes on to really hammer home the fundamental fragility of the foundation that strength is built on - and both of those sides of her character are equally true, complementing each other to form a really nuanced picture of an incredibly resilient person doing all they can to stay strong in an environment where flawed and unhealthy means of coping and rationalising their situation are all they have to cling on to. I really love how Umineko manages to take this central theme of people finding genuine power in things that might not be objectively true or real and manages to spin that in so many different individual ways through its various characters, and Natsuhi is definitely one of the strongest examples of that to me.

On the whole, I like EP1 a lot! Despite the shaky beginning, it really is very atmospherically strong and has a lot of fascinating things going on beneath the surface, while still doing a really good job during the second half of managing to be genuinely engaging and intriguing and atmospherically strong even to a first-time reader oblivious of everything going on underneath. I think it probably manages to pull off that balance a little better than EP2, which is an absolutely devastating episode when you have the tools to fully understand it, but tends to come across as somewhat weird and messy and confusing more than anything on a first read. The main characters of the episode are portrayed really strongly, and on the whole, I think I just have to admire how solid and well put together it is as an introduction, and how well it manages to firmly establish and flesh out a complex setting that has a lot of different things going on at once without feeling too intimidating or unapproachable - and I think I've gained a better appreciation this time around for the particular place EP1's unique framing has in Yasu's larger narrative as well. Now to move on to EP2, which is...something else altogether...

#umineko reread

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