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the-faceless-scribe · 7 years

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Persona 5 Scribblings: I

The start up to about ten days from the first Deadline

This game is so fucking Stylish. I’ve never seen any media so absolutely dedicated to being stylish at every level, every design, every mechanic. The UI and Interface are of particular note, as areas a lot of games don’t really give proper attention to, or express creatively; it’s usually just there, not bad, not good.

P5 fucking gives you some motherfucking menus, boy.

But it’s everything. The outfits, the animations and poses, battle music, all the music, loading screens, transitions, fucking everything. It’s an astounding level of design and quality that makes it just a treat to be in P5.

This is especially of note because it’s also got so much edge and grim in it, bringing back the series’ roots in the early game, or perhaps even trying to surpass them. And yet it’s not a grim slog or depressing game to play, it doesn’t sap your energy or make you question life.

At, least, not yet.

Still not very far in, so we’ll see.

Oh, and Ryuji and Ann are great for forming a starting trio with Joker. I’m already well sick of people trying to pit the [best bro] characters against each other, because I like them all in different ways.

And Junpei will win every time, fuck off-

Ahem.

Anyhow, Ryuji’s a good guy, that’s important, and I like him. And Ann is just awesome. Her Junko-like design drew me in instantly, but the way her story’s going so far, her character, the way she expresses herself, it’s just good.

Even character designs and arcs all feed the central design goal; Rebellion.

Even the fucking Velvet Room is about prisons because Every Element, Son.

This is Design, this is what it looks like, and it’s glorious.

#persona 5 #persona #mostly spoiler-free #musings #scribblings #current events #topical

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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Most of the reason I got so fired up in my previous post about Chihiro is that, DR1 is so good, and the characters are so good, and Chapter 2 was so good, that, like. To see people just fly in and take a good character and use him to as a prop for their own issues, and worst, to see them dump on anybody who disagrees like they’re Unequivocally Right? That’s pathetic and stupid.

For people who want to do trans headcanons or RPs or fanfiction or whatever, or discuss rationally why they hold that position, or just want more trans representation, that’s all fine, I’ve got no problem with any of that.

But as with all things, just because you may happen to be right, that doesn’t mean everything you do, or how you do it, is justifiable or reasonable. Heck, if anything, that means you’re more obligated to consider your own actions and approaches. A cause which is true can still be wrecked by a sufficiently terrible implementation or plan, while a lie will always be a lie, whether or not it’s proposed skillfully or artlessly.

#addendum to previous post #chihiro fujisaki #brainstorming #this pretty much got really poltiical #ah well #all life is politics in a very real sense #so hey

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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Strength and Weakness

I particularly enjoy watching some games LPed over and over by different people, and I think it’s mostly in the realm of story-driven experiences that are the same every time. Think of it like a controlled trial; the story itself doesn’t change, but the reactions of the person playing it are interesting. Particularly with Undertale, I enjoyed seeing how different people reacted to the moral decisions, humor and characters, battle system, etc.

I’m getting the same way with the Dangan Rompers, and while I was watching a new group play through the first game’s second case, I started thinking about Chihiro Fujisaki and stuff.

Spoilers for the first two cases in Dangan Ronpa 1, and the fate of all involved. Also be warned, Opinions ahead.

I forgot exactly how heart-rending the second case is. I could easily make the argument that, of all the murders presented to the audience throughout the game, it’s the most emotionally devastating. It certainly feels that way when you’re going through it.

Chihiro is killed, and through the course of extensive investigations, it comes out that ‘she’ was a cross-dresser who presented as female but was, in fact, male.

(Because of this, you will find jerks particularly on places like Tumblr who hijack a cross-dressing male character, who literally says in the game, in plain English/Japanese, “I’m a guy”, out of their own desperation and issues, and try to force everyone to obey their Trans interpretation rather than fucking chilling out. And it’s bothersome.

You’ll also note that this means in this case, we are being told to directly ignore a character’s own gender identification. Which I guarantee is not an actual position such idiots would support on their own. It’s almost like being an extremist who ignores reality for an ideological bent is, like, bad, even if the ideology has merit.)

As it turns out, the person who killed him was Mondo, the big tough ultra-manly biker dude, and it happened in the boys’ locker room.

Now, there’s certain, uh, expectations about why that happened that have probably already formed in your mind. But among many things to say about Dangan Ronpa, I have to praise something critical.

It was not in fact, some form of Gay Panic reaction.

As in, at its core, the story was not just >Chihiro tells Mondo >Mondo freaks out >Mondo kills Chihiro.

... Actually, that is an accurate description, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Chihiro being a cross-dresser is handled like any important part of a character’s backstory, motivation, and murder, rather that some Special thing because it’s gender-y.

If anything, what drove Mondo over the edge wasn’t >>>>queer detected, there’s actually no trace of that being in his thoughts. It was his own issues, his own dark secret from the past that had been tormenting him. Chihiro said just the wrong things at just the wrong time, and Mondo just flew into a rage. He was supposed to be a big strong tough manly-man, but in reality, Mondo knew he was weak. Far weaker than Chihiro, who was facing his fears and overcoming them bit by bit rather than letting a lie rule his life anymore. And Mondo couldn’t stand that realization about himself, so he lashed out in a moment of anger. And he ended the life of another human being who had come to him for help, and trusted him with his deepest secret.

The terrible destructive power of self-realization, of self-reflection.

That’s a much better, and more horrible, story to unfold than what might have been expected. And in the end, being a cross-dresser and admitting it was portrayed not as some Weird Bad Thing; all the characters are surprised but in fact none of them ever just, become disgusted by it.

They don’t do some gag where a guy likes Chihiro, then finds out ‘she’s a boy, and is disgusted. They don’t do that Persona 4 (I love you, game, but...) thing where it’s presented as the Common Everyman Perspective to bash the gays. That sort of thing is just, absent from Dingle Rompers.

And that’s nice.

I’m grateful they went a different direction with it. Heck, this is what it’s all about, in the end; it’s how Captain Sisko from Star Trek is The Captain who is black, rather than The Black Captain. It’s how, like, progress is made in improving the way we portray these sorts of things. Bit by bit.

(Also I must again point out, by screaming that crossdressing must = trans, even in spite of the character’s own definitive statement, and shitting on real people because of a fictional character(!!!!) the handful of extremist morons who claim to fight for inclusiveness but insist about Chihiro’s gender are literally worse on this issue than the man who bashed his fucking head in with a dumbbell.

Because afterwards, Mondo took care to arrange the scene so it looks like Chihiro was killed in the girls’ locker room, and it’s speculated this was in part to try and hide Chihiro’s secret from the others, even after what he’d done.

Seriously, I’m not a both sides are the same kinda person, I won’t go into it since this blog’s purpose is not explicitly political but I know whose side I’m on. But extremism doesn’t pay. Even if you think it will achieve gains in the real world, to what end? You become twisted and you lose sight of what you claim to fight for so dearly, unless reality is always your anchor.

The moment reality becomes a thing you can change at your will for some Greater Purpose or ideology, of any kind, then you’re on the road to true madness.)

#dangan ronpa #dr spoilers #chihiro fukisaki #mondo oowada #musings on danan ronpa #character musings

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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War, What Is It Good For?

It's the most basic law of teaching that intrinsic is better than extrinsic. In other words, if you learn something yourself or arrive at a conclusion within you, that's four billion times as good as somebody telling you a thing.

This is why The Lecture is the most basic, primitive, and bad of all teaching methods. Because it's just you getting told a thing while you sit there, and maybe you write it down or it's on a projector but. It's you being told.

Therefore, modern teaching emphasizes the idea of guiding people towards developing their own understanding of the subjects being taught.

In this same respect, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is one of the most effective anti-war media ever, and it's because it doesn't just sit there and say 'war is bad and people die in it'. It does, and it portrays people being killed in a brutal manner uncommon in grand epic space war battles, but. That's only the start of it.

The intellectual acknowledgement that 'war's bad m'kay' is something most people already, like, have on some level. But by developing two sides that each have a ton of interesting and ultimately, likable characters, then the inevitable result is that the viewer wishes for peace.

>If these two sides go to war, the characters I like will be in danger of dying, thus, we should have peace.

#ginga eiyuu densetsu #legend of the galactic heroes #logh #anime musings #education #philosophy #musings #anti-war #military #space operas

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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The Nature of Fanaticism

Me and a friend are deep into Dangan Ronpa 2, as in, we’ve just finished Chapter 5 together and are pulling in on the home stretch (and thus, spoilers to that point are to be expected and warned against now). I’d like to talk a little about a character that has nearly dominated the whole story up to this point, and the musings I’ve done over him as I’ve watched how he operates, what he thinks, what he says to others, etc.

Nagito Komaeda.

He’s an astoundingly Pure representation of what it means to be a fanatic. A zealot. To the point where it’s frightening to even consider this boy.

The only thing that matters to him is his ideology, and the means to accomplish it. Everything that happens, whether it’s good or bad, whether it helps or hurts, is viewed and filtered through his own ideology. He starts with this premise, and then works backwards to justify his own past and future actions, regardless of what happens or what consequences may ensue.

The most critical part of this is that he doesn’t care about human life.

His opinions about humanity in general are very clearly seen in the way he treats others; he fawns over the Ultimates at first, as being symbols of Hope. But when he determines that Hinata, the protagonist, is, in fact, not an elite-class student, but a ‘reserve course’ student, as in, a regular person?

He immediately starts treating Hinata like garbage. Like, lower than he himself, who he also considers garbage because he’s fucked in the head, because at least ‘Ultimate Lucky Student’ is still an Ultimate talent, right? He rubs it in, over and over again, as long as he’s around, that, oh, Hinata, don’t worry, you’re just in the Reserve Course.

This even contrasts with the other Ultimates, none of whom even see this distinction as a big deal, at all. It doesn’t affect their opinions of Hinata one way or another even one bit. But Komaeda will fucking not let the point go at all, and just... the malice, the contempt, it reveals his outlook very clearly.

And his actions at every point reveal that he places no value whatsoever on human life. None.

This is not an exaggeration. He could kill a person, any person, even himself, on the spot, were he to think it was in keeping with his goals. Only his own goals and ideology prevent him from killing at any point, as well as the practical concerns like getting caught, ending the killing school life, etc. But only those external concerns prevent him from, well, doing what he did to himself, to anyone else at any time.

As in, it occurred to me. If he was willing to go that far on his own body for his plan, then it’s obvious he was capable of doing that to anyone else in the group.

This is the sort of person for whom the only possibly limitations are physical. As in, he can’t phase through a solid wall purely on the strength of his belief, which is often where people with this level of fanaticism are tripped up. But other than that, there is nothing which Nagito Komaeda is incapable of doing. Anything else is possible, as they had to consider in the fifth school trial, because unlike a normal person, he just, doesn’t have those filters.

Human life can be sacrificed on a whim as long as it accords with his goals, without a single thought as to whether that sacrifice is right, or justified. He doesn’t even spare a second, as far as we can tell, to self-reflection, or considering other viewpoints, or moral concerns of any kind whatsoever.

That’s frightening. Yang Wen-li would hate this man from the bottom of his heart. This is the sort of person who can’t be bound, limited, intimidated, bribed, or threatened.

The only thing you can do to Nagito Komaeda to make him stop is to end his life, because nothing short of that, including prison, beatings, torture, etc, would ever make him even consider pausing whatever his plans are.

That’s frightening to consider. Almost nobody is that Pure in anything, and uh. Maybe that’s a good thing.

It may sound like I'm praising Komaeda by characterizing him as a person who will never bend his knee, never be frightened into silence, never look back, never hesitate to achieve his goals, and do anything for his righteous cause. But uh, I'm not. That sort of person is fucking terrifying, because I guarantee you, in this world, there are people like Nagito Komaeda.

And if he's on your side, you've got no more powerful ally. And if he's against you, then there's absolutely nothing worse.

Because he's a fanatic, and that's how they do.

#dangan ronpa #super dangan ronpa 2 #sdr2 spoilers #nagito komaeda #komaeda nagito #dangan ronpa 2 #musings #philosophy #analysis

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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Arpeggio of Blue Steel Ruminations #7: "Iwoto"

All this high-tension stuff about little girls suffering, let’s take a break from that and relax. For a little while, at least.

#arpeggio of blue steel #aoki hagane no arpeggio #anime review #rumination #analysis #arpeggio #mecha musume #ship girl #kanmusu #video

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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Let's Watch Together: Mahouka #7 (Irregular at Magic High School)

I can’t act coy or silly about it, I fucking hate this show. This is textbook. This is not opinion, this is literal textbook Incorrect Writing. Go back and fucking try again. And try being less obvious in your racist fascism? I may be asking entirely too much.

#mahouka koukou no rettousei #irregular at magic high school #mahouka #anime #rifftrax #commentary #video

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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Let's Watch Together: Mahouka #6 (Irregular at Magic High School)

Fortunately, the filthy democracy agitators forgot that grown men with guns are still far inferior to students with magic, especially if those students are of a superior race.

#mahouka koukou no rettousei #irregular at magic high school #mahouka #anime #rifftrax #commentary #video

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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Let's Watch Together: Mahouka #5 (Irregular at Magic High School)

In response to the inferior orders and their griping about ‘being treated like human beings’, which we know is a lie like all claims about freedom and ‘’’’’social’’’’’’ ‘’’’’’’’’’’justice’’’’’’’’’’’, the President takes the stage.

#mahouka koukou no rettousei #irregular at magic high school #mahouka #anime #rifftrax #commentary #video

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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Let's Watch Together: Mahouka #4 (Irregular at Magic High School)

Yep, here comes the fascism.

#mahouka koukou no rettousei #irregular at magic high school #mahouka #anime #rifftrax #commentary #video

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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Let's Watch Together: Mahouka #3 (Irregular at Magic High School)

Two of the pillars of the show, Splaining and Incest, move to the forefront as they properly should. We’re just missing one more element, but that’s coming soon. Oh, yes.

#mahouka koukou no rettousei #irregular at magic high school #mahouka #anime #rifftrax #commentary #video

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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Let's Watch Together: Mahouka #2 (Irregular at Magic High School)

Things are starting out pretty low-key, as they’re hoping to introduce us to the characters and world.

#mahouka koukou no rettousei #irregular at magic high school #mahouka #anime #rifftrax #commentary #video

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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Let's Watch Together: Mahouka #1 (Irregular at Magic High School)

In this world, magic can be refined to a science, and so can explaining things to death. One guess what our lead will specialize in.

#mahouka koukou no rettousei #irregular at magic high school #mahouka #anime #rifftrax #commentary #video

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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Arpeggio of Blue Steel Ruminations #6: "Friend"

If only governments had any function beyond murdering their own citizens and building huge meaningless projects, ah well. Damn you, political science!

#arpeggio of blue steel #aoki hagane no arpeggio #anime review #rumination #analysis #arpeggio #mecha musume #ship girl #kanmusu #video

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the-faceless-scribe · 8 years

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