mageknight14

[mageknight14]

Considering how the Rindo of the first week and the Rindo of the last week couldn’t be any more different, I couldn’t disagree more. Like, the entire ending of the game is literally shaped by the choices Rindo makes that develops his character and putting the lessons he learned into practice.

Everytime Rindo does Replay, he’s essentially forced to take charge of his life and grows more confident and assured in his capabilities as a leader while also becoming more and more heavily reliant on his time-travel to carry him through as well as growing out of his paranoia in regards to other people, having a habit of riding others' coattails and seeing them for their performance value first, personality second (Minamimoto, Beat, Neku when he was seeking him), especially if it's something he's heard about them (Neku the 'Legendary Player', Nagi having a 'bunch of pins') AKA, again, others' opinions, which is something he grows out of as the game progresses. Hell, just compare when he encounters the DRS with Sho to encountering the Purehearts with Beat or how he initially wants nothing to do with recruiting another team member when they’re not immediately useful to him to jumping at the chance to recruit Shoka, who had just gotten kicked out of the Reapers.

The game very much relies on you analyzing and replaying the game in order to get the most out of it and discover the depth for yourself in a genre in which most people will just beat the game and call it a day.

Hell, this even extends to the game’s combat: it’s incredibly deep, not just compared to the original, but a lot of Japanese ARPGs in general but it relies on you actually analyzing the mechanics despite how simple they appear to be at a glance.

One of the things I immediately noticed upon replaying the game is just how many details there are that requires you to have context from the end of the game and especially the secret reports before truly understanding them.

It made me realize that with the way Rindo’s time travelling is handled, where you see a bunch of supposedly inconsequential details that you understand only when you have to go back and connect them all, that the WHOLE game is written like that, which is most obviously seen with characters like Shoka, Susukichi, Fret, and Kanon once you reread it all. I really like this because it feels like a natural expansion/twist on "the world ends with your horizons" as a theme, because you see it happening in NEO. The way characters interact, bounce off each other, and the information that can be gleaned through the wider berth of character interactions is how you get to learn about characters and their world.

What do you think of the sequel of twewy then? You talk a lot about the original but I'm interested in your opinion of the second part because I saw a few fans disappointed :o

OKAY. Omg.

So first of all? Soundtrack? SLAPS. We won. We won with the sequel soundtrack. I actually prefer some of the new remixes to the original!

The artwork? Stuck to the original style. Can’t complain at all. The new designs? PEAK. They’re so cool. There’s new shopkeepers- who look AWESOME- who have LORE. We can access NPC LORE. I read about one who is married to one of the players? Catch me eating popcorn at that story.

Shout out to the sprites you get when you’re feeding your party members? They’re so cute. In original TWEWY we just had a voice telling us if they liked it after I’ve fed them. NOW we get to know via their face going 🤢 or 🥺 BEFORE they eat so I can give them something they definelty like! and I think that’s fun and funky fresh.

Gameplay? Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. - the original game had a switch port and honestly? I really think they should’ve done better with the controls. What worked and was beautiful for the ds- felt very clunky on the switch. Especially when playing console? I mean what in the Wii controller buLLSHIT. I need my attacks ACCURATE and on tv that’s very very hard. My friend managed it but? Maybe I just need to get good LSLGFSPALDL. But NEO twewy? beautiful. Perfect. Great for the switch. no complaints on the new battle system.

The story:

edit: THE HUMOUR IS THERE. I FORGOR. I forgot how fucking funny it is. The amount of screenshots I have? Hilarious. Not any like quotable moments like there is in the original game. But there’s so much silly billy shit going on. Bunch of CLOWNS I swear.

Its messaging is not driven home as much as the original twewy is. Like my friend had to explain to me what they were doing because it’s very very subtle. The characters are changing but only just a little. -unlike the first game which, like? At the end of the game? These guys are CLEARLY not the same people who entered the game!! These are Zuko ATLA level transformations!!!: whereas Neo twewy game says? Hey. Your actions are kinda sucky bro. Ever thought about changing up your style? Like it’s THERE. But it’s clearly not the CORE of the game like the first one. And that’s where it falls flat FOR ME. I LOVE and ADORE character development and it’s just not the focus of NEO twewy. But that doesn’t mean I hated the game. I just don’t prefer it over the original.

What NEO twewy DOES focus on is world building which. I think they’ve made some super cool and interesting choices. Even if I, and many Joshua kiryu fans don’t agree with them. 💛 we just straight up ignore the new lore because we don’t like it- the one around Joshua anyway. They bring in some new reapers and some new plot line surrounding shinjuku. That’s fine. That’s fun. But. Joshua? MY MAN? No square enix, you don’t know my blorbo of 10 years better than me :))

So. In conclusion. I was not DISAPPOINTED. I just think they lost the core of what twewy meant to people for the sake of focusing on the new details theyve added. I think rindo and fret and nagi deserved better development.

ALSO IDK HOW I FEEL ABOUT TEAMS? I MISS PARTNERS. LIKE TEAMS IS FINE I GUESS BUT. PARTNER WAS SPECIAL.

Okokok real conclusion is that I was not disappointed. I had fun. I loved a lot about this game. But the original hit home so hard, and the sequel was just a good game.

[mageknight14]

In all honesty, this entire post just reads like you couldn’t read between the lines. Especially with your claims that NEO missed the point of what made the original special when I would argue that it very much didn’t .

What do you think of the sequel of twewy then? You talk a lot about the original but I'm interested in your opinion of the second part because I saw a few fans disappointed :o

OKAY. Omg.

So first of all? Soundtrack? SLAPS. We won. We won with the sequel soundtrack. I actually prefer some of the new remixes to the original!

The artwork? Stuck to the original style. Can’t complain at all. The new designs? PEAK. They’re so cool. There’s new shopkeepers- who look AWESOME- who have LORE. We can access NPC LORE. I read about one who is married to one of the players? Catch me eating popcorn at that story.

Shout out to the sprites you get when you’re feeding your party members? They’re so cute. In original TWEWY we just had a voice telling us if they liked it after I’ve fed them. NOW we get to know via their face going 🤢 or 🥺 BEFORE they eat so I can give them something they definelty like! and I think that’s fun and funky fresh.

Gameplay? Fantastic. Absolutely brilliant. - the original game had a switch port and honestly? I really think they should’ve done better with the controls. What worked and was beautiful for the ds- felt very clunky on the switch. Especially when playing console? I mean what in the Wii controller buLLSHIT. I need my attacks ACCURATE and on tv that’s very very hard. My friend managed it but? Maybe I just need to get good LSLGFSPALDL. But NEO twewy? beautiful. Perfect. Great for the switch. no complaints on the new battle system.

The story:

edit: THE HUMOUR IS THERE. I FORGOR. I forgot how fucking funny it is. The amount of screenshots I have? Hilarious. Not any like quotable moments like there is in the original game. But there’s so much silly billy shit going on. Bunch of CLOWNS I swear.

Its messaging is not driven home as much as the original twewy is. Like my friend had to explain to me what they were doing because it’s very very subtle. The characters are changing but only just a little. -unlike the first game which, like? At the end of the game? These guys are CLEARLY not the same people who entered the game!! These are Zuko ATLA level transformations!!!: whereas Neo twewy game says? Hey. Your actions are kinda sucky bro. Ever thought about changing up your style? Like it’s THERE. But it’s clearly not the CORE of the game like the first one. And that’s where it falls flat FOR ME. I LOVE and ADORE character development and it’s just not the focus of NEO twewy. But that doesn’t mean I hated the game. I just don’t prefer it over the original.

What NEO twewy DOES focus on is world building which. I think they’ve made some super cool and interesting choices. Even if I, and many Joshua kiryu fans don’t agree with them. 💛 we just straight up ignore the new lore because we don’t like it- the one around Joshua anyway. They bring in some new reapers and some new plot line surrounding shinjuku. That’s fine. That’s fun. But. Joshua? MY MAN? No square enix, you don’t know my blorbo of 10 years better than me :))

So. In conclusion. I was not DISAPPOINTED. I just think they lost the core of what twewy meant to people for the sake of focusing on the new details theyve added. I think rindo and fret and nagi deserved better development.

ALSO IDK HOW I FEEL ABOUT TEAMS? I MISS PARTNERS. LIKE TEAMS IS FINE I GUESS BUT. PARTNER WAS SPECIAL.

Okokok real conclusion is that I was not disappointed. I had fun. I loved a lot about this game. But the original hit home so hard, and the sequel was just a good game.

[mageknight14]

it’s not like a good stabbing killed anyone before

#one piece

[mageknight14]

Oh, ill take care of em alright ! 🍳

#one piece

[mageknight14]

Moral dilemma

#one piece

[mageknight14]

I think the great thing about TWEWY as a series is that like any well-written teenage bildungsroman, it’s able to look past the bullshit teenagers project about themselves/others and call them out on it while at the same time, being completely understanding towards them. Teenagers in games tend to be incredibly annoying and difficult to withstand for a lot of players out there since teenagers, like you and me probably were/are at some point, are often incredibly annoying, hormonal balls of angst. TWEWY never lets these traits hang, and is always extremely critical of the characters, rather than just implying that they suck, and makes the characters come across as kids going through that awkward phase in their lives.

The other half is that the games are also aware that these characters are human, and these traits don’t just pop up out of nowhere. Neku is dealing with survivor guilt concerning the death of his best friend and feels overwhelmed by the world. Shiki is completely lost in who she wants to be and what to do, hence her imposter syndrome and self-esteem issues. Beat is terrified that his tough guy attitude will hurt the people he cares about but doesn’t know any other way to be, which he hates himself for.

Rindo is deathly afraid of taking responsibility for potentially life-changing decisions and tries to avoid it by clinging onto others for guidance so that if things do go wrong, he has a scapegoat to conveniently pass his responsibilities onto, hence why he lashes out whenever people try to force those choices onto him. Fret has PTSD over his best friend’s suicide and is trying to hide his true feelings out of fear of getting hurt again, hence his overly enthusiastic behavior and seemingly carefree attitude. Nagi is a hyperempath who struggles with trying to find an appropriate channel through which to express her feelings and suffers from social AND performance anxiety. And then there’s everything about Shoka.

When these characters act obnoxious, weird, etc, there’s always a reason, always an understandable way to trace these behaviors. It wants the characters (and by extension, you) to grow past their flaws and allows them to be flawed but nonetheless likable/interesting characters, which I think is really important for the demographic these games are mainly catered towards.

#twewy #the world ends with you #ntwewy #neo twewy #neo the world ends with you #neku sakuraba #shiki misaki #daisukenojo bito #beat bito #rindo kanade #tosai furesawa #fret furesawa #nagi usui #shoka sakurane #analysis post

[mageknight14]

Hi I just want you to know that I read every word of all of your twewy analyses. Thank you for putting so much care into writing them

Awwww, thank you! That means a lot! I just love posting my analyses on these games because there’s so many little details and nuances laced within them.

[mageknight14]

It’s a shame that besides a select few, not many people comment on the parallels between Rindo and Shiba. It isn’t as immediately obvious as, say, Neku and Kitaniji but you can connect quite a lot between them, especially when it comes to their flaws.

I think one of my favorite parts about the parallels is how they deal with their victim complexes in similar yet different ways. Shiba essentially sets himself up for failure by pushing his loved ones so hard that they have no choice but to inevitably betray him and blames their betrayals all on them while never acknowledging his part on WHY they would feel the need to do that and Rindo whines and moans about the situations he’s in internally while not lifting a finger to try and change things.

And both of them do NOTHING to reflect on themselves or their flaws until they’re forced to confront the consequences of their actions via seeing a mirror or seeing how damaging their attitudes are to themselves and the people they care about.

It also makes a lot of sense when you consider how Shiba's story holistically is that his pendant is very much like Rindo's mask or Neku's headphones, as it represents the "dream of the butterfly" – Shiba's own actions and ideals are basically out of sync with what his friends want in respect to reality but Shiba, in thrall to Kubo, cannot wake up from his dream. It is reality to Shiba and he wishes to make it so. Like Rindo and Neku, he has an Angel at his back, but unlike Rindo and Neku (who are "awakened" from their views of reality by their angels), Kubo is content to trap Shiba there. Shiba's partnership, his role as the head of the team and his being supported by an angel sets him up as almost like a protagonist figure, with the key difference between them being Shiba cannot escape the world he has created for himself.

#twewy #the world ends with you #neo twewy #neo the world ends with you #ntwewy #rindo kanade #shiba miyakaze #analysis post

[mageknight14]

There’s actually a funny story about that!

2.23 is an approximation of the square root of 5 and in the original TWEWY, the number 5 was the designated route for Udagawa, which Sho is heavily associated with!

Udagawa has a reputation for being seen as a run-down, dirty part of Shibuya while also simultaneously being home to a lot of music culture. It’s seen as one of the trashier parts of Shibuya and considering Sho’s aesthetic for/association with trash, it fits him to a tee. It can be seen as Sho’s roots and a symbol for his genuine love of Shibuya and its culture right down to its seedier parts.

On top of that, there’s also what my good friend @motherfactorin-pi-face said about the number 23 in detail as well, which I’ll transcript here:

"b) there's a goroawase pun that basically *also* has the mnemonic for the square root of 5 ('Parrots caw at the base of Mt. Fuji", roughly akin as an idiom to "Is the Pope Catholic?"--aka something that's exactly what it says on the tin)"

"c) there's almost certainly a bit of a reference to the "23 Enigma", which....ohgod that's just really a whole subject in and of itself, but suffice it to say there is a *lot* of esoterica re the number 23, a *fair* amount of which involves references to chaos/discord https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_enigma"

"(And yes, the Discordians--aka probably one of *the* two original groups that did a "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster" sort of thing in basically saying Eris Did Nothing Wrong--REALLY have run with it, in part because a *lot* of Discordians taking the piss of organized religion have also tended to be in maths programs in schools. The KLF/The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu also *explicitly* took their imagery from Discordianism and Robert Anton Wilson's "Illuminatus" (itself an explicit pisstake of conspiracy theories that actually inspired Discordianism) and have *extensively* played with the 23 imagery in its chaotic aspects.)"

"d) there is at least one known case of a mathematician (the subject of the movie "A Beautiful Mind" who went rather mad, but who also had a fascination with 23"

"e) 23, as a number, is generally zetta cool https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_(number) and *does* tend to come up in rather interesting places"

"f) sqrt(5) ALSO shows up in a lot of interesting places, including calculation of the golden ratio and Fibonacci sequence"

The taking the piss out of religion note in particular just fits to a tee when you consider how Sho’s whole deal is gunning after deities.

apparently minamimoto’s birthday is in february

meaning the dev team missed a major opportunity. therefore, i’m actually gonna celebrate it today

happy pi day or as i like to call it minamimoto’s real birthday

#twewy #neo the world ends with you #neo twewy #the world ends with you

[mageknight14]

Exploring the Parallels Between Our Favorite (and Only) Conductors

One thing I think is really cool about the Kitaniji and Shiba parallels is how they both idolized the Composers/Higher Plane members they were in contact with but take that idolization into different directions and how these are reflected in Neku and Rindo’s individual flaws.

First we have Kitaniji, who idolized Joshua and put him and his status as Composer on a pedestal, and thus, in an attempt to try and save Shibuya, conducted a plan to try and rob the city of its individuality and make it a hive mind to, in his view, appease the Composer. However, what Kitaniji failed to consider that what HE, as an individual, wanted was counterintuitive to what Joshua truly desired as shown by the rules/structure of the Shibuya Game and his various interactions with Neku throughout their week together.

Kitaniji acts in a way he presumes would please Joshua, thinking that initiating the human instrumentality project would be the thing to please him most when that's far from the truth, simply because he's unable to look past his ego. He thinks he understands Joshua best, despite not taking the time to actually get to know him (which sounds an awful lot like toxic idol culture) and only ends up projecting his own insecurities about human connection onto Joshua as desires that a god would share as well because hey, why would a god care about empathizing and connecting with people when they’re just so much better than them, right?

He failed to see Joshua for the flawed individual that he was as opposed to the almighty Composer and instead of trying to genuinely connect with him and perhaps convince him otherwise when it came to his plan to eradicate Shibuya, goes right into the brainwashing scheme, essentially doubling down on his flawed mindset. Kitaniji’s idolization makes him believe that he is something akin to a God as well; makes him feel closer to Joshua in a way. In short, Kitaniji’s idol worship is a conscious, agency-prone outcome mediated by the false relationship he has with Joshua.

Throughout the game, Kitaniji makes conscious (and unhealthy) decisions through his idolization of another person; he also believes he has a measure of personal agency and individuality that makes him more important than others, probably in part due to the "special relationship" he believes he has with Joshua (more idol worship toxicity) despite ironically being an empty individual and misinterpreting his intentions, which is what leads to his downfall. This in contrast to Neku, who due to his past trauma concerning his friend’s death, latches onto his flawed misinterpretation of his idol CAT’s words, only for CAT himself to set the record straight, causing Neku to realize throughout the game how he may have twisted his idol’s (Hanekoma) message to support his bias of isolation, and finally understand what CAT's words meant. This in turn is what allows Neku to finally get through to Joshua and convince him through his actions that Shibuya, and by extension humanity, can truly change for the better and gets him to spare the city. A happy ending that a Shibuya free of individuality wouldn’t have been able to achieve.

In NEO TWEWY, we have Shiba, someone who rises through the ranks of the Reaper hierarchy incredibly quickly and thus, became easy pickings for Kubo to try and manipulate to do his bidding; a man that has obtained so much power that he actually begins to idolize himself, thinking himself so strong and important that now he can whimsically make decisions about life and death, treat every situation as some kind of game, and judge people as he sees fit. Shiba only thinks himself as holding such an important role, which really belongs to Kubo's because of Kubo setting things up in such a way that made it so that Shiba's newfound powers would fuck with his ability to rationalize. Kubo fed into Shiba’s ego and slowly nudged him into the direction of shutting out his loved ones, which then leads into a cycle of Shiba becoming worse and worse thanks to the influence of his powers/Kubo and the Shinjuku gang isolating themselves from him. He becomes convinced that what Kubo wants is what HE desires as well, even if that’s not truly the case deep down, and throws himself more and more into his work to accomplish that, which, of course, only adds onto the cycle I described above more and more.

What's interesting here is that Shiba doesn’t draw any implicit or explicit motivations from his relationship with Kubo; he’s just another guy to him. We can make the argument that Kubo as a character symbolizes a particular substrate of toxic idolizing in that he represents status, a constituent of success that Shiba clamors for in the hopes that he can idolize himself. However, with that being said, the relationship between Shiba and Kubo itself in the story has no bearing on the former’s personal drive the way Kitaniji’s relationship with Joshua does. Rather, what Shiba’s idolism represents is the corruption of one's sense of self when they fall too deep into the cesspool of influencer stardom/corporate corruption; the overinflation of ego that becomes a malicious byproduct of commanding such an effect over large numbers of people.

If you remember, Shiba initially started off in Shinjuku promising change and a better lifestyle for his fellow Reapers, which they clearly took to heart and gladly followed after him, speaking volumes about his charisma. But then when he got a taste of his newfound power after the conclusion of the Shinjuku revolt, he became more and more detached from the people and found himself sinking into the singularity of his own self-indulgence.

This can be considered an almost 1-to-1 parallel with influencer behavior and in a way, Shiba is kind of what Motoi was hoping he'd be before he found some clarity by actually having to look into the face of the fan he was nonchalantly treating as a pawn to stardom and came to realize just how damaging his actions were overall.

In contrast to Shiba, we have Rindo, who also has the flaw of internalizing someone else’s thoughts and opinions as his own, something that gets repeatedly shown off in his interactions with Swallow and Motoi/an0ther. Hell, it gets to the point that Sumio, Motoi’s second-in-command, is able to play on Rindo’s need for validation from his idol and trick him into helping him (I love how Beat in the last pic here sighs in his sprites because he knows that Rindo fell for it, hook, line, and sinker)

However, what truly cements the parallel here is this convo Shiba has with Tsugumi in the Last Day Intervention.

Shiba here basically flat out admits that he was afraid of having to face the consequences of his decisions. Of having to own up to the fact that his self-destructive actions were causing harm to himself and others and so, in an effort to try and suppress that feeling of insecurity, he saw it fit to run away from the warning signs and trap himself in his own self-isolating bubble in order to avoid taking responsibility.

Now, who does that remind you of?

Now, at first glance, this comparison might seem like a stretch, but there are a couple of things to keep in mind. First, let's think back on what Nagi said about Shiba at the end of W3D3 after Kanon's erasure.

When we reflect on what Nagi said, you start to realize that the majority of Shiba's actions throughout the third week was due to his feelings of anger and hurt following what he feels is a personal betrayal from the people he cares about the most and how he then takes out that anger on the people below him. First there's his calling out Shoka personally out of anger of a mix of betraying him and the others by switching to Rindo's group and blaming her for HIS encouraging Ayano to take drastic measures such as personally infecting herself with the Plague in order to try and get Shoka to come back.

Which then leads into the next day where Shiba, out of anger concerning Ayano's erasure, sends out more Plague Noise to target the remaining teams so that they can feel the grief he's currently going through, which ends with Kanon, the Twisters' most supportive ally, getting caught in the crossfire and subsequently erased, which Nagi's analysis on Shiba alludes to when she comments on his wrathful energy in the morning announcment.

Combine this with him sending out Plague Noise that take on phantom images of the Twisters' failures and traumas and him getting so pissed at Susukichi betraying him in a previous timeline on W3D6 that he causes the Inversion a day earlier than intended and you get the sense that Shiba is lashing out at the others for what he views to be their fault, while never reflecting on his own fault on the matter due to a combination of the Dissonance affecting him so deeply and his refusal to see just how much he's hurting the people he cares about the most.

Much like how Rindo tends to lash out at others whenever he feels pressured to make a decision or face the possibility of having to take responsibility of his actions, Shiba's actions can be considered an example of what can happen if that flaw was taken to its worst possible conclusion. Both Rindo and Shiba are afraid of having to face the consequences of their actions and try to avoid facing them by either pawning off responsibility off of someone else or just outright tuning out the warning signs altogether. They put the people around them at arm's lengths, often taking them for granted, and become paranoid around others out of fear what will happen to them if they get too close. However, Rindo eventually starts becoming more savvy to his idol’s intentions and actively seeks out the truth about him, resulting in him breaking away from Motoi’s influence and slowly becoming more assured in himself and his decisions. He becomes more aware of his friends' struggles and will often try to do right by them (as shown with his talks with Shoka and the contrast between his and Fret's conversations at the beginning and end of the game). This is shown off in two ways, with Rindo and Shiba's confrontation at the end of W2D7 and W3D7 being flipped to have Rindo and Shiba trading places to show who’s on top, Shiba utterly alone in contrast to Rindo being surrounded by others, the Wicked Twisters dominating the screen while Shiba can only shrink back in defeat and Shiba being invisible in the Crossing (despite being surrounded by all those people) while Rindo is literally embedded in an ever-expanding Social Network.

By the end, Rindo actively takes accountability for his actions and achieves the happy ending he strives for, even helping with bringing Shiba back to his senses. Shiba on the other hand, once his influential power gets to his heart, begins to devalue the significance of the wants, needs, and individuality of the people who followed him fervently, and it's not until he gets his ass kicked and then is forced to face his number one fan/the person he cares about most, Hishima (another parallel with Rindo and Motoi), does he come to terms with how his actions have affected people he cares about, and is able to break out of his own self-idolizing and begin his path towards reformation, taking responsibility for his actions much in the same way that Rindo himself does.

To recap, Kitaniji becomes convinced that what he’s doing is what JOSHUA wants while Shiba becomes convinced that what KUBO wants is what he actually desires when that’s really not the case and I find these parallels to be incredibly fascinating. Kitaniji and Shiba are considered to be the ideal of what a Reaper should be in their respective cities and what's especially interesting is how while the values each game tries to instill does have merit when applied to our lives, they also show off the downsides of what those values can have if you're not especially careful.

On one end, you have Kitaniji, who is the "ideal" of a Shibuya Reaper. Highly unique and imaginative, has a very strong sense of self and sense of identity. Is an individualist but is also very isolated as a result. Tellingly, when Joshua starts to force his hand and basically tells him to come up with a way to save the city or get fucked, Kitaniji starts going down a dark path and tries to rob the citizens of Shibuya of their individuality in order to save the city from becoming destroyed, unknowingly increasing its countdown to its inevitable destruction and became twisted into a raving madman that insists that he’s saving humanity and is shepherding them into a new ideal utopia.

By contrast, when you take a look at the flashbacks and how the others speak about him before he got his new powers, Shiba is shown an be incredibly charismatic individual and this goes hand in hand with his role as the most powerful of the Shinjuku Reapers. His leadership and connections are his strength. He’s a social butterfly (his Noise powers and pendant are themed for a reason) and is considered the ideal of a Shinjuku Reaper. However, thanks to his new powers getting to his head, he’s pushed away all of his remaining allies and now has just about no one but himself, the emotional isolation being incredibly damaging to both himself and the people he cares about .Susukichi, Rindo, and Neku even talk about this, speculating about how he must be lonely and how his new powers most likely contributed to this.

Both TWEWY games can be read as a cautionary tale of idolism; of influencer status; of becoming so disillusioned that you either close yourself off to others or deem yourself so important that other people matter far less. Last but not least, they emphasize the importance of being accountable for one's own self, especially in a society of influencers because at the end of the day, it's important that you believe in your own views and can uphold them responsibly; it's important to not blindly follow others, especially if your self-worth hinges on it and ESPECIALLY if they become like Shiba or Kitaniji.

#twewy #the world ends with you #neo the world ends with you #neo twewy #ntwewy #rindo kanade #neku sakuraba #yoshiya kiryu #megumi kitaniji #shiba miyakaze #analysis post

[mageknight14]

"Trust Your Partner": How NEO TWEWY Deconstructs and Reconstructs the Original

I think one of the most interesting things NEO TWEWY does as a sequel is how it takes the original’s game motif of "trust your partner" and explores that to show the negative downsides of that mindset before rebuilding it up again through new lenses.

In the original, "trust your partner" is a motif that’s there to encourage Neku to learn that it’s okay to be vulnerable and that not everyone in the world is out to get you. That you can become strong enough to withstand any emotional hardships that come your way.

In the ending, Neku is rewarded for taking this lesson to heart and being unable to bring himself to shoot Joshua due to a combination of coming to value their relationship and still subconsciously trusting Joshua to do the right thing even in spite of everything he had done to him by getting revived back to life alongside the friends he had made connections with. He can't forgive Joshua for what he had done but he still trusts him regardless and it's a dynamic that still holds true in NEO.

In OG TWEWY, this lesson works for Neku because almost everyone in the game was acting in good faith, doing what they felt was the right thing in the long-run. This was essential towards helping Neku learn to heal from the trauma caused by the death of his best friend and have him open up again. That even if he gets emotionally hurt, he can still keep moving forward.

But NEO looks at that motif and explores a different side to it, showing how the original lesson can be taken into an unsavory direction if exploited by certain kinds of people or their mindsets. How bad faith actors can and will destroy you if you’re not careful. This is a theme that the game thoroughly explores, from Shiba’s relationships with the Shinjuku Reapers and Kubo to Rindo’s dynamic with Motoi, showing off the consequences of what blind faith and never questioning your idols can do.

However, I think the day that best exemplifies this theme in full is W3D2, the Shoka/Ayano day. I think it should be emphasized that Shoka and Ayano DO genuinely care for each other; their actions show that off incredibly well. However, it’s a relationship that’s been broken down by the events that happened around and between them. Ayano, unable to decide who to trust anymore in the chaos that’s happening around her, latches onto Shoka as a security blanket (she even names her iguana after her!) and tries to do everything to keep her at her side, even gaslight her, out of fear that she will abandon her too. An aspect of her that only gets worse as she gets possessed by Plague Noise.

She’s convinced herself that Shoka is just being led around by her emotions, not being able to see that she’s denying and suffocating Shoka’s agency, and that she’s secure in the choices that she’s made (though it’s understandable given what happens to former Reapers in the end). 

On the other side of the coin, Shoka isn’t able to see for herself until the end that Ayano deeply, deeply misses Shinjuku and that trying to show her what life in Shibuya can be like has only depressed her even more, with Shibuya Survivor showing this in detail. She was simply content to have Ayano by her side, never fully thinking deeper about their relationship and its issues. And when Ayano is too far gone to the influence of the Plague Noise, Shoka throws all caution to the wind and tries to save her only to get herself killed.

All of this shows the limit of trusting your partner for both sides. Ayano can't see that Shoka’s made her own decision and is going to stick with it, and Shoka can't see with a lot of convincing and support that Ayano can't simply be talked down. In a way Ayano's trying to give her life to Shoka by "saving" her and dragging her back to the Shinjuku gang and leaving Shibuya to be destroyed but she can't or doesn't care about the city due to her trauma, so she can't realize that is what Shoka cannot and wouldn't want. We as people can always do our best to trust and understand as much as possible, but there's a hard limit to how much that can work. Some people are NOT going to agree or come to a conclusion and in a lot of cases, it can be painful and tragic but we hit the limit of that.

So what we CAN do is to try and soften the blow and trust and be kind/understanding to Shoka and in this case, the motif of "trust your partner" gets built up again via showcasing Rindo and Shoka’s relationship. These convos show off what it means to be a true friend, to listen to them when they tell you how the situation they’ve been through has affected them, and how that has to be enough, with Rindo assuring to Shoka multiple times that he trusts her and that he won’t abandon her. Maybe he won’t agree with what she decides but he helps her to feel secure in her own agency and come to decide what she truly wants to do, reinforcing what Neku had to learn: becoming emotionally strong enough to deal with what happens next.

And the game showcases that the original lesson still holds true: it was possible to talk Shiba down by appealing to his humanity/better nature and Rindo still gives Motoi a second chances even in spite of what he had done to him.

Having faith/trust in the inherent goodness of others is NOT a weakness but just like how there are people who act with good faith in mind, there are also others who WILL try to screw you over for their own intentions or mistakenly think that what they believe is best for you. And in a time where topics such as parasocial relationships, false information, and isolation are explored more and more, I think it’s an especially important lesson/topic to explore.

#neo twewy #the world ends with you #neo the world ends with you #twewy #ntwewy #shoka sakurane #ayano kamachi #rindo kanade #analysis post #neku sakuraba

[mageknight14]

I think what’s interesting about Neku as a protag is that while I’ve seen some people talk about how he’s one of the deeper/most complex characters in the franchise, I’d argue that he’s actually one of the most straightforward characters in the TWEWY duology-and I don’t think that’s a bad thing. That’s not to suggest that he doesn’t have depth, far from it. His trauma and the way that he goes about in trying to dissociate from others while still genuinely loving them deep down, even if he says otherwise, is genuinely interesting to see in action, especially in how he approaches his relationships. But compared to the others, I don’t find him as fascinating to explore in comparison to, say, Shoka, Joshua, Sho, Kanon, Motoi, Shiba, Mr. H, or even Rindo as a protag, even if his reappearance in NEO as well as how he tries to keep his trauma/emotions under wraps is still interesting to see in action.

That said, he’s still one of my faves for how much he embodies TWEWY’s themes in general, his development just being great to see in action, and the impact he has on the people around him in various ways. In a series where a lot of the characters like to hide parts about themselves and how those affect the relationships around them, Neku in the first game is blunt to a tee, almost to a fault, and confrontational, which makes him the perfect receptacle for the themes/lessons the game imparts on him. We're privy to almost every single one of his thoughts, feelings, and emotions throughout the game, to the point that it almost becomes a first-person narration at times. He hates lying and it shows because when the characters have doubts about themselves, he’s the perfect guy for the job of setting them straight instead of trying to dart around the issue, getting them to look at themselves and try to press forward anyway.

This is also part of what makes Rindo such an effective foil to him as a protagonist. Like I said in another post, while Rindo SEEMS more socially well-adjusted compared to Neku on a surface-level, once you look into his actions and mindset, you can see that he's also quite the dysfunctional mess. Whereas Neku is blunt, brutally honest, and incredibly confrontational, Rindo is much more passive, self-contradictory, and incredibly insecure about himself and the people around him, which feeds into how he puts people at arm's length, including his supposed best friend. The kid can't even tackle a simple-ass puzzle without needing to consult his online friend first or ask them about their identity because he's afraid of rocking the boat. Whereas Neku is alone AWAY from the crowd, Rindo is alone IN the crowd.

This also extends to their inner thoughts, where Neku will let us, the player, view into his mind and have him lay out exactly what he's feeling, the conclusions he comes to, and be confident enough in what he's feeling to then express himself in exactly that manner (with some exceptions such as some of his interactions with Joshua, which is justified because he doesn't want to risk anything happening to Shiki if their partnership goes south so he tries to keep what he says in check, even if it internally kills him inside, and even then he still spills out how PISSED he is with Joshua towards the end.)

Meanwhile, in NEO, while we do play as Rindo and get the majority of the story through his perspective, we don’t get to see his inner thoughts/turmoil as much as Neku’s…because he DOESN’T want to recognize his issues, instead trying to rely on everyone else to solve his problems for him so that they can take the fallout in case something goes wrong and a lot of it shows through his actions/outspoken dialogue instead. Nagi’s Dive and Haz’s conversation with him are some of the only times someone directly calls him out on his flaws within the main story but when you pay attention to how he acts, his flaws pop up quite a bit. For example, how he claims that An0ther's quote of "never miss your chance to make a friend" is one of his favorite quotes yet he balks at the idea of recruiting other potential team members as well as grimace at the concept of the first game's Reaper's Game.

So we have a guy who’s constantly internally struggling with himself while putting on a cold/blunt persona because he doesn’t want to get hurt and recognizing that maybe he’s wrong on a point and letting us in on how he's feeling a vast majority of the time in his head versus a guy who constantly bitches and moans internally while passively going along with everything in spite of himself, constantly self-contradicting/being hypocritical without recognizing himself as such until he gets a much needed wake-up call later and I think that’s really interesting.

#the world ends with you #twewy #neo twewy #ntwewy #neku sakuraba #rindo kanade #analysis post #character analysis

[mageknight14]

Maka vs Crona episode 20-21

When writing fiction, there are many points that can end up becoming the defining moment where a story peaks as a tale.

The final climax is ideally when this happens, and the amount of times when that is the case aren't exactly rare.

However it is just as common for stories to peak early.

Goku versus Freeza on Namek is generally considered far, far better than Goku's many, many following bouts, Tolkiens battles of Helm's Deep and the Pellenor fields, climaxing with Aragon's sudden appearance with the rest of the Southern Gondor Forces is generally remembered far more than the battle at the black gate or the scouring of the shire, while One Piece has tried, and failed consistently to recapture the glory that was Water 7 and Enies Lobby that together formed the absolute best story in Shonen.

As for Soul Eater, wheter looking at the Anime, or the Manga, it is not exactly a controversial statement that neither qualifies as it's absolute best. The manga ended on a terrible note, while the Anime while sticking true to it's themes, didnt quite hit the landing as good as it could have.

What both have in common though, is the moment where their tales peaked.

The Rematch between Crona Gorgon and Maka Albarn beneath the halls of the school leading up to the ressurection of Kishin Asura.

Rematches are always a fun thing in fiction, for a variety of reasons.

The most obvious is simply seeing how characters have grown or regressed since last time they brawled, but the simple fact is that rematches are baked into stories where there is conflict.

The Hero suffering an early loss, then facing their earlier foe only to emerge thriumphant is baked into the Storytelling DNA of the Human race. It's one of the most important parts of the Hero's journey for a reason, and you will find COUNTLESS examples of it, especially in shonen, which thrives on conflict and battles between individuals.

Ichigo vs Byakuya, Luffy vs Crocodile/Lucci/Katakuri/Kizaru/etc, team 7 vs Zabuza, and so on.

In the case of Soul Eater's rematch, on paper, and how it's set upon it's start, this battle is very much set up as a classic revenge rematch. Crona and Ragnarok obliterated Maka and Soul the last time they met, and now it's time to turn the tables.

It starts off with a kickass action scene where Maka has learned from her mistakes in the earlier fight, and so uses Crona as a punching bag rather than something to cut...

It event has both combatants trash talking the other... Everything is set up for a good grudge match.

The funny thing is though, that this could not be further from what this fight is actually about.

Because after that exciting action opening, that is meant to contrast with the first one sided fight, it almost immediatly switch gears to what it is actually about.

Maka and Crona as people, their flaws, their strenght, how both of them act as foils and mirrors, and brings out sides from the other that the story has not shown us before.

The first such moment is a follow-up to something Crona said in their first match.

"I don't know how to handle pretty girls"

That was a compliment, though obviously not meant as direct flirting, and this new line isnt either.

"S-stop. I can't look directly at people with big, strong eyes."

Crona looks at Maka as, in her own way someone to be admired... Because Maka has something Crona does not, and wants. Confidence, strenght, beauty.

Crona is both terrified of Maka... But also admires her at the same time.

The trash talk has nothing to do with bravery, or even looking down on Maka... Instead it's an attempt at putting up a brave front so the problem at hand will go away... But the moment Maka refuses to do so, and instead stares Crona down, Crona immediatly begins to crumble and instictively back down in front of Maka's cool and confident gaze.

Also while the fight goes on, a lot things happens concurrently. Not much of it is important for the Fight, but the other big battle taking place, is. Medusa vs Stein and Spirit.

This fight has two purposes, in regards to Maka vs Crona. The first is to give us Medusa's opinion and testimony regarding how she raised Crona, and thus we, the audience does not need Crona to make a long monologue about their past while talking to Maka.

The Second is contrast.

Spirit is absolutely certain that his little girl will win this fight. He has the bravery to trust in her, and her capacities, even after what happened the last time she fought Crona.

By contrast Medusa believes Crona will win because of logic, and calls spirit's faith in Maka "Blind Parental Love."

The funny thing is, they are both right.

Crona IS stronger than Maka... Yet Maka will ulimately win.

Their conversation also serves to contrast both of their children, and how they grew up. Medusa raised Crona as a weapon that is desperate for her approval and love. This will in turn be hammered in by Crona's own rather depressing flashback.

Meanwhile Maka was raised with love and care. It was not a perfect home by any stretch, brought down by adultery, abandonment and the blame game as everyone blames someone else, rather than accept the bigger picture(Maka blames her dad for everything rather than fully accept that her mother abandoned her, Spirit blames himself for his weakness rather than lay any blame at his exwife for abandoning his daughter and running off rather than take the parental responsibility she took claim too by fighting for Maka's custody, while mrs Albarn used her husband's infidelity as an excuse/justification to in turn abandon her own child).

Ultimately what this fight is all about, is both of these children finally beginning their journey to healing from the wounds left behind by their childhoods.

It also shows the values both Medusa and Spirit passed on to their children. Medusa twisted her child by instilling values like not killing... Then deliberatly forced her child to either break those values, or lose her affection, speciffically to emotionally break Crona down into an obedient weapon.

By contrast, Spirit, upon hearing Crona's backstory reacts with compassion, empathy, and understanding. And as the fight between Maka and Crona rages on, Maka will make it clear, that despite all of her protestantions to the contrary, she is her father's child.

The fight that follows between the next generation is a nice spectacle, but the next important development comes as both of the two meisters soul ressonance with their weapons, with Maka betting it all on her Witch Hunter, her strongest move...

And Crona completely blocks it with no problems, with a simple armguard, breaking the technique.

This moment is important for two reasons.

The first is the way it hammers in the point and themes that will later be repeated beat for beat during the climax of the series where Asura does this exact same thing to Maka's strongest technique in terms of raw power in either the manga or the anime, the Kishin Hunter, the same move that Shinigami used to beat and batter Asura around with ease.

Strength and Power will NOT beat madness and fear.

You cannot defeat fear, lonliness and depression by strength of arms, no matter how strong you are.

That is why ultimately Black Star and Kid will all ultimately fail to defeat Asura, and why Shinigami at his prime ultimately could not do it either, being forced to simply seal Asura away instead. Because every one of them faced this problem of trying to conquer their fears by using overwhelming force.

And they failed. Just like Maka fails here.

To defeat it you need something more, something completely different than might and power.

The second thing, and why this specific moment is what prompts Crona into going into a flashback right now, is that upon blocking Maka's best attack with ease, Crona suddenly has a spike of confidence, and lashes out, and brings Maka to her knees.

And it brings us into the next section of the fight, as we explore another aspect of fear, madness, and bravery.

"Weakness can imitate strength if bound properly, just as cowardice can imitate heroism if given nowhere to flee."

This is not a quote from Soul Eater, instead being from the Stormlight Archives, but it encapsulates the Theme of the next section of the fight perfectly.

Crona is not brave. The sudden burst of confidence did not lead to a turn around where Crona confidently and bravely defeated Maka in combat.

It was the lashing out of a scared child with nowhere to run, who HAS to win this fight, even if Crona does not want to be here at all. That one moment simply gave Crona the push to unleash an overwhelming assault of power that Maka could not match.

Weakness can masquarade as strength, and Cowardice can pretend to be bravery if it has nowhere to flee.

Which is why this in turn leads Crona compares Maka to the first creature Medusa forced Crona to kill.

The Fact is Crona has no idea how to interact with Maka, either as an enemy, a rival, someone who Crona finds Attractive and cool, or just a human being in general... So it sorta just jumbles together into a mess.

But Crona has not had the option of running away from either of their two fights, and so has been forced to actually interact with Maka, and so is completely all over the map in how to deal with her. Sometimes it sounds like Crona is hitting on her, cause she's an attractive girl as far as Crona is concerned, sometimes Crona puts up a brave face, sometimes tries to decisively kill her, and so on.

Which is why this in turn leads Crona compares Maka to the first creature Medusa forced Crona to kill.

We don't really know exactly how Medusa raised Crona before this point, but there are several important points to note here.

Crona understands at some level here that killing is, fundamentally wrong. When Medusa tells Crona to murder this thing, Crona does not want to do it, nor how to actually muster the will to actually kill.

That tells us 2. things.

1. is that Medusa deliberately raised Crona to be unprepared for this task. As Crona's mother, it would have been incredibly easy for her to raise her child with a far, far more viscious and brutal attitude against killing other living things.

But that is not what Medusa wanted. She wanted a broken and obedient weapon, an experiment she wanted to test and prod to see the reactions out of.

She WANTS Crona to not go through with it, and to be reluctant to do it at all, in order for the subsequent "Lesson" regarding obeying her speciffically no matter what, would hit as hard as it possibly could.

Upon little Crona's refusal to go through with it, she then locks Crona in a dark room with no food or water for days, alone with Ragnarok that bullies and beats Crona up for failing at the "task".

And when Crona still doesnt immidiatly go through with it, she throws Crona right back in, and blames it on her own kid again, hammering in the "lesson" that this Crona's own fault for being a "Bad kid".

this is all brutal, but it leads us into the second point to take from the way she raised Crona before this.

Crona WANTS affection from other people... But Medusa only gives it on a conditional basis, but also very deliberatly isolates Crona from ANYONE ELSE to the point where Crona doesnt even have contact with animals.

In the end, this does lead to Crona finally going through with it.

There is a very deliberate difference at this point between Manga and Anime though.

In the Manga, the animal that Medusa wanted Crona to kill was a defenseless, cute bunny, to further hammer in just how defenceless it is. The anime though, probably for censorship reasons was forced to drop this imagery... So they did something better instead, that connects it to what Maka and Soul are about to do.

in the anime, the animal is a small, dragon, unicorn thing that breathes fire, and upon first meeting it, Crona is for obvious reasons terrified of this thing, flinching away as it unleashes a jet of flame.

But after being starved, denied water, and physically abused by Ragnarok, Crona is let out from the room a third time. And this time, the reality that if Crona does not murder this thing, it will be right back to the room has set in... So when the dragon thing breathes fire right at Crona's face again, Crona doesnt even Flinch.

The fear is not gone though. it's just that with nowhere to flee, Crona mimics bravery, by embraces madness in order to not have to deal with the very real fear at facing the fire.

Crona is able to pretend to be both strong, and brave, by giving all in to madness.

The funny thing is though... Maka and Soul do the EXACT same thing.

Upon their tactic of just throw themselves in to the fight and hope to crush Crona with overwhelming force and power doesnt work, they instead decide to try to beat Crona and Ragnarok at their own game, by giving all in to the power of the black blood that makes Crona so powerful, with no heed of the dangers of embracing madness.

This moment, and the subsequent beatdown that Maka delivers is probably the single most iconic moment in the soul eater franchise.

Maka going completely nuts, completely unheeding of danger or any sense of tactics or morality, as she kicks Crona's ass, is Soul Eater's best action scene as it not only is visually stunning and entertaining to watch... but PERFECTLY encapsulates the stories Themes.

Maka wants to win this fight, and so she throws herself into a course of action that at first glance might seem to be brave... Giving up your sanity for power to win.

If Soul Eater was a story about people sacrificing themselves for the greater good, this might work, but it's not.

Soul Eater is ultimately a story about bravery, and bonds. About how it's people coming together despite all their differences, that makes life so worth living.

Sacrificing yourself... or others, is the cowards way out. It solves nothing.

Maka is not brave as she faces Crona withouth a hint of fear. Just like Crona prentended to be brave in order to have the capacity to kill that dragon thing, so Maka pretends to be brave by throwing away all her fears and sanity for power.

And in the end, embracing Madness only leads to Maka munching and gnawing on Crona's skull, having completely lost her marbles.

It's a different kind of defeat, but it still harkens back to her previous failure.

You cannot defeat fear by removing it, and pretending it isn't there... no more than you can do it with power.

Having completely lost herself to madness at this point, the only possibility left for Maka at this point, is to reassess her surroundings, and pull herself back from the edge.

And so, pulling on her speciality as a meister, her ability to sense and read souls, she begins that journey by reconnecting to her own soul, noting how it's such a small and fragile thing... surrounded by madness, it's so easy to fall in... And that's withouth jumping head first like she and Soul did.

And of course, being directly connected to her through the black blood currently steeping her very being, she also feels the soul of her best friend and partner Soul Eater Evans, a twisted, yet great guy who is always willing to listen to her, even when she's being selfish.

It is then though that Maka is drawn to another soul, one that fascinates her far more than either her own, or Soul Eater's soul.

Now the anime doesnt fully make it clear why Maka is immediatly so facinated by this soul... Crona's soul, but it's very clear that she is immediatly drawn to seek it out.

The manga however, makes the reasoning abundantly clear. She finds the soul beautiful for reasons she probably doesnt fully understand herself.

Regardless, she bonds with it, embracing it, and what it holds inside just like she did with her own soul, craddling it to her heart as she delves into it's mysteries.

It's mysteries is a beach with no water, an unatural thing, where there should be beauty and life, and yet is as as devoid of both as the desert it so resembles.

This is Crona's soulscape, the defining mental landscape of the young Demon swordmaster's psyche, as defining for Crona as Soul's jazz and piano room is for him.

It is here that we meet Crona's inner self, a young child, who deliberately draws a circle to be separate from the world... And yet so, so badly wants there to be someone, ANYONE else there.

And yet, when a companion appears, Crona's own shadow, Crona rejects it in a sad, yet resigned way, refusing to answer questions, passing on every one of them, until finally driving the shadow away as it becomes frustrated.

Now the questions are important in how Crona feels, but the actual takeaway isnt the answers, but how Crona refuses to respond to any of them, even completely obvious ones.

Crona does not know how to do so. Medusa's parenting and deliberate isolating her own child from any form of interactions besides her has completely and totally stunted Crona's growth, hence why here, inside Crona's own head it's back to the childhood self, not the teenage years Crona has entered into.

Which brings us to Crona's relationship with Maka. As bizarre as it might seem, Crona's interactions with Maka is the closest thing to actual socialization with another human being besides Medusa that Crona has ever had.

Because Maka by virtue of opposing Crona and refusing to back down has forced Crona out of that figurative sand circle, and actually had to interact with someone else. It was all over the place, but it was real, genuine, human interaction.

Hence why Crona thinks back to Maka in this moment as the shadow leaves, yet another lost opportunity that Crona let slip for interaction.

it's at this point that Maka, having now fully connected to Crona's soul, makes her appearance, in the form of her younger self with an adorable, lion's roar, scaring Crona, who protests that nobody else can be here, that this is where Crona is supposed to be alone from anyone else.

Maka does not care, and instead, upon being told of the circle's supposed purpose, destroys it by literarily stamping it out.

This completely destabilzes Crona's entire soul.

And upon returning to the physical plane, having left behind the Black blood and it's madness, Maka is face to face to a Crona who is having a form of seizure. All the methaphysical and psycological barriers that Crona has put up against the world have now been broken by Maka's actions, and is currently taking the form of the black blood inside of Crona's body shooting out everywhere in the form of spikes.

From a tactical perspective, this is a great development. Crona is wide open and immobilized, so now is either the perfect time to take another shot with Witch Hunter, or to just leave Crona behind to go join Kid and Black Star.

However, things have changed.

instead of doing either of those, Maka leaves Soul behind(much to his suprise and confusion), and withouth a weapon, completely calmly, walks up towards Crona, while talking in a kind, calm tone... The kind one does to someone who is freaking out and needs help.

And she keeps going forwards, despite the spikes that keep shooting forward almost impaling her every time.

In many ways, it resembles the kind of just abandoning fear to try to overcome it that she just tried to use to win this fight... But it's not.

Maka UNDERSTANDS Crona now. She knows what drives Crona to the core... And so she believes that Crona does not want to hurt her.

She doesnt know this. She fully understands that Crona might just kill her on accident... But she does it anyway.

She takes the risk that comes with this march forward, because she WANTS to connect further with Crona. Crona needs help, and maka wants to give that help.

That is bravery. True bravery, not the kind of bravado that drove her to take Crona on to begin with because she wanted to avenge her previous loss.

It is also insane. Pure madness... And yet it works.

Once more, she connects her soul to Crona, but this time, it's the opposite way, instead of delving into Crona's soul, she instead opens her own heart to Crona, to show that she understands.

Crona in response completely calms down, and after Maka lays out that she finally understands how Crona has never had anyone reach out and offer human contact before, Crona is... suprisingly at peace.

Crona still thinks that Medusa will now move and and that the time has come for mom to make good on her promises that Crona is expendable... And yet it somehow doesnt matter anymore.

Crona long ago gave up hope for physical, and emotional human contact with anyone, and now that someone finally has given Crona just that... That's enough.

It's time for Crona to just dissapear into the ether... To which Maka, very softly, but firmly delivers one of her book chops to get Crona's attention and out of the ending it all mindset.

Rather than let Crona continue on in this suicidal mindset, Maka instead takes the next step, and offers Crona the one thing that surpasses even the low, low bar of basic human contact and compassion. Her hand in friendship.

An offer that brings Crona to total tears of happiness and joy, and as the two of them grabs the others hands, they once more bare their souls to the other, while Soul Eater Evans looks on, and addmits to himself that Crona's great fear, of contact with other people is a fear that he too shares.

Just like Crona... And just like Maka, he too ran away from that very thing... But as the Manga shows in his thoughts, despite running away from his brother, he managed to find the very thing he ran away here at this school, in the form of Maka, blair, black star, tsubaki, death the kid, liz and patty... just like Crona now found Maka.

It's an astonishingly strong and powerful fight that encapsulates absolutely every theme and idea about bravery, madness, human companionship that the story had, while utilizing it's cast to the fullest, while also making use of it's power system to forge one of the strongest bonds in Manga.

However, we still have one final thing to discuss before we're done.

as we get as shot of Maka and Crona in Crona's soul scape once again, this time happy and smiling, hand in hand, the ocean finally begins, turning the desolate sands into beauty, washing over and then pulling back again, leaving the landscape actually alive, rather than the desolate, and lifeless void it was, and we end the episode on a special animation for the ending credit song.

That song is Soul Eater's second ending Theme, Style, and as we do a deep dive over Maka and Crona's development, we need to also go over it, and what it means, while also answering another question.

Why did Maka appear in the form of her kid self when she dove into Crona's soul scape?

the answer ties into why Maka and Crona made such incredible good foils and parallels for each other in this episode, and why both of them ultimately forged such a powerfull bond from these events.

Style you see, is a story told from the point of view of a child who is just making a new best friend by taking a risk and opening their door. It's about adults desperate to forge a "perfect future" like cogs in a machine, rather living in the moment, embracing everything as it comes, and asking god to make sure to record every one of the memories so they would be able to look back at these moments forever.

It is very much a soul eater styled song, but more importantly, it's a song that was very much chosen speciffically for Maka and Crona.

in a meta sense their relationship is DEFINED by this song, given how the episode ends with a special ending just for the two of them.

Maka and Crona's growth as people, are both defined by going forward... By going back and embracing their childhoods. More speciffically, what they both lost during it.

Crona lost both Childhood innocence, kindness and seemingly any chance to ever have friends and make normal, healthy human bond ever again.

Maka lost her ability to trust easily, became spiteful, hyperagressive, and lost her natural childhood kindness to others.

And both of them lost all of it, because of their parents. Crona lost it because of abuse, victim blaming, grooming and being treated as a weapon, rather than a child to be loved and nurtured.

Maka meanwhile lost all of the kinder, gentler, and trusting aspects of herself because of having to grow up and constantly see the dad she loved and looked up to cheat on her mother, and then subsequently being abandoned by that same mother, rather than have her serve as a source of strenght in her hour of need.

And through this newfound bond, both of them are able to regain all of it. That is the true beauty of Maka and Crona's relationship.

It's not as if all their problems go away, or their personalities go back to from before... the past, and how it has affected both of them is not ignored, or backtracked. but the path forward is a blend of what came before, and what they have become... while hopefully leaving behind the worst aspects of what they became at their worst.

Maka thinks Crona's soul is beautiful because deep down Crona is someone who wants to be kind and who thinks of others before themselves. all encapsulated by Crona's cute smile. That in turn brings out all of those feelings and emotions that Maka has tried so, so hard to bury to never be hurt again.

Crona thinks Maka is beautiful because she is a confident, brave, kind girl, who was willing to give even someone like Crona love, friendship, support and help even while being enemies. And in turn that makes Crona somehow reawaken the hopes, dreams and Values that Medusa cultivated just to deliberately murder for her own ends.

They both help the other to eventually get over their trauma in their own way and embrace their best selves... Despite the insane chance that Maka took to forge this relationship with someone she had no reason to even like, they were both so much stronger for it.

because they had the bravery, and madness to try.

Bravery and Madness, two sides to one coin.

And it all began here, over the course of two episodes.

#soul eater

[mageknight14]

One of the coolest things about Neku and Sho’s respective dynamics with Rindo in NEO TWEWY is how they twist around expectations with Sho, one of the main antagonists from the previous game, being the one who gives genuinely helpful advice towards Rindo while Neku, the enlightened protag, gives him the wrong kind of advice.

While is it true that Sho is mainly using Rindo and the Twisters in order to further his own goals/agenda, every single piece of advice/information he gives them ends up being helpful in some way and stays relevant up to the end

-Don’t just overly rely on me, actually reach out and recruit others (Nagi and Shoka, who end up being incredibly important and useful)

-Synchronize all your powers/talents together in order to achieve a greater goal (Nagi’s Dives, Operation Awakening in its entirety)

-Get the jump on the other teams and take them out before they become a problem later on (W1D5 with Rindo using his time travel powers to reroute the DRS, W2D6 where he uses his time travel again to find out more about Motoi and discover the truth about him, etc)

And last, but certainly not least, warning Rindo about the dangers involved in using his powers and giving him exactly the information he needed to relay back to Kaie and Rhyme in order to save Shibuya.

On top of that, there’s a distinctive pattern where everytime Rindo/the team shows signs of trying to overly rely on Sho, he immediately threatens to leave and pushes them to achieve more for themselves via sink-or-swim. He’s the face of the game’s Hard mode for a reason.

By contrast, when Neku shows up to join the party on W3D4, he starts to unintentionally take Rindo’s place as the leader, with the Reports themselves noting how Rindo is starting to stagnate with his growth once again when he has someone to overly rely on.

This continues on up to W3D6, where Rindo actually goes against Neku’s order to not time travel in order to not fall for Susukichi’s trap.

I think what’s most impressive about this is how it’s all in character for them. While Sho has been noted above, what Neku’s advice towards Rindo is a logical extension of the lessons Hanekoma passed onto him.

Mr. H’s words is generally great life advice that still applies to the themes of both games but Neku’s specific application of it boils down to telling Rindo that no matter what happens, he needs to just let the chips fall where they may. To make the most out of a bad situation.

And while that works great for someone like Neku, his application of Mr. H's advice is exactly the sort of excuse to defer to authority that Rindo has been blindly grasping for over and over the entire game, which is shown prominently in his convo with Haz.

That he should just move on and try to accept the outcome but Rindo actively rejects that to take the ultimately harder but better road for everyone involved. To take responsibility for his actions and fight hard for what he wants instead of just letting things just pass over.

Rindo is a deliberate inversion of Neku as a protagonist. What works for the latter isn’t going to work for the former and vice-versa. And that’s perfectly okay. There’s a reason why Rindo’s theme, the World is Yours, has this as an opening line.

#twewy #neo twewy #ntwewy #neo the world ends with you #analysis post #rindo kanade #neku sakuraba #the world ends with you #sho minamimoto

[mageknight14]

Dissecting the Femme Fatale Archetype: A Dive into Kanon Tachibana's Character

Kanon Tachibana is one of my favorite TWEWY supporting cast members. Probably not a truly unique opinion, as she's one of the more positively-received characters I've seen when it comes to online opinions on the game, but she's one of my favorites because she’s a perfect example of NEO’s more subtle character writing and gets the perspective flipped on her twice when you initially play through the game and then replay it. So, with that, let's get into her character and what makes her tick in particular.

When we first meet her, she doesn’t make the best first impression, what with her stealing the hard-earned victory pin from Rindo/Fret’s noses and sweet-talking them into letting her keep it (I also love how she glares at Shiba’s announcement, having seen this old song and dance).

Combine this with what the Social Network says about her leading other teams to their doom thanks to her honeyed words and sweet disposition and what we seemingly have is a classic case of the femme fatale character, someone who’s NOT to be trusted.

However, as we progress through the game, we can see that there’s actually a lot more to her than meets the eye. Even after point-sniping them, she still comes forward to give the Twisters advice from time-to-time when it comes to matters regarding the Game. Encouraging them to take on more team members, warning against going up to fight the Ruinbringers (Susukichi in particular), all that jazz.

At the same time, however, she also takes care to reaffirm that she’s also suspicious of the Twisters and their capabilities, often showing surprising amounts of protectiveness when it comes to the other team leaders. These switches between friendly teasing and hard-hitting accusations understandably unnerve the team a bit.

On top of that, throughout the weeks, she also shows a talent for picking apart Fret's surface-level compliments/attempts at flattery, herself being an expert when it comes to that sort of thing as noted by her Social Network profile.

While she is mainly looking out for herself and the Variabeauties, she also does have a sense of honor/fair-play when it comes to be able to fight on an even playing field, which she showcases in her alliance proposal to the Twisters on W2D3.

In the span of one convo, she was able to:

-Pick out that the Twisters are the biggest wild cards in the structure of the Game and note them as such, giving them incentive to look into their own capabilities and find her offer more appealing when weighing their options.

-Play into their doubts regarding the Game and reaffirm to them that this is really the only option they have left at this point if they want to have any hope of actually escaping.

-Blow away Fret’s preconceptions that she’s just as ingenuine as he is as shown by his nervous laughter

-Emphasize that if they’re able to pull it off, it’s a win-win for everyone involved.

It’s made apparent that Kanon is an incredibly skilled negotiator, though understandably Rindo still has her doubts about her because she’s been equal parts threatening and supportive, which sends a mixed message. Who’s to say where her allegiance truly lies?

However, a surprisingly strong affirmation on her convictions comes from no one other than Motoi himself, who actually vouches for Kanon’s intentions and belief in the Twisters being genuine on her part. This along with Swallow’s prodding later on gets Rindo to change his tune. Now, there’s a dozen different interpretations on why Motoi would go out of his way to vouch for Kanon’s character but the fact that he was actually right on the money is a pretty subtle hint that they know about each other and how they tick more than people realize…

Then we go into W2D7, where Kanon’s recounting of the Ruinbringers’ activities and her muted reaction towards Motoi’s erasure emphasizing that she’s been at this for a long, LONG, horrifying while, becoming practically numb to it all.

And when Sudden Death in Week 3 comes around, she starts to kick up her critique of Fret and his issues into overdrive, wanting to see him grow for the better knowing full well that she and the Variabeauties might not make it at the end of the week. And unfortunately for her, Fret, and the Beauties, that fear ends up becoming a reality.

The following day, Fret flat out tells the others about how he felt about Kanon: that he wanted to BE like her, finding her genuine nature and confidence in who she is as something to aspire to, and wanted her to see him reach that level.

By then, our perspective on Kanon has flipped: a scheming femme fatale who turns out to be an intelligent, real, and loyal soul. Someone who starts off cold towards the Twisters before coming around to genuinely like and appreciate them (note the little smile in image 2!)

However, this is only half of the real Kanon we get to know and when we take a look back at some of convos within the game, the Reports, and see past Fret’s idealized image of her, we get to see a much more deeper side to Kanon than what was already there.

First, we need to talk about two aspects of Kanon; her hidden resentment of the Twisters/the system she’s trapped in and her trust issues. As noted above, Kanon is quite curiously protective in regards to the other Player teams, even accusing the Twisters of sabotaging them at some points, and this is for one particular reason: she and the rest of the Beauties are in an unspoken alliance with both teams. One where the top 3 teams (besides the Ruinbringers of course) keep their footing by sending new players and other teams to last place. This is something that’s actually alluded to on W2D3, with the Beauties and Purehearts corroborating together to take down the Twisters.

I also want to draw your attention again to these scenes here, where in the second timeline Rindo has Replayed to, Kanon already knows about Fuya challenging the Ruinbringers whereas before in the first timeline she didn’t, hence why she’s a bit more antsy this time around.

The reason for this is because, due to the Wicked Twisters screwing up the balance of powers between the teams with their sheer existence and sending the DRS plummeting to last place on W1D5, Fuya has become more daring/reckless, desperate to etch out a win against Susukichi. While Fuya is noted by in the Social Network to have surprisingly strong Imagination, there's a reason why he and the the DRS are mainly in dead last.

Kanon and Motoi are the most powerful of the (non-Ruinbringers) teams solely because of their ability to manipulate things in their favour despite both being weak in psych/Imagination. In that regard they’re the most "successful" within the constraints of the rigged game. Fuya, on the other hand, while having strong psychic powers, isn't as wily as the other two in regards to their social prowess and failed to keep his team properly motivated and prevent them from feeling demoralized, which is shown most prominently on W1D5 where Rindo uses his time travel to reroute them from fulfilling their duties by playing on their desires in their moments of weaknesses.

With this in mind, it's no wonder that Fuya became so desperate to risk it all against Susukichi. And while the Twisters do almost bring about change by beating the Ruinbringers, it ultimately doesn’t matter in the long-run due to how incredibly rigged the Shinjuku game is and as a result, the DRS are eliminated, getting rid of the Beauties’ and Purehearts’ safety net.

This kind of stuff is what I mean by Kanon being a perfect example of NEO's subtle character writing. At first glance, Rindo's nonchalant note of her behavior in the second timeline isn't anything to write home about, but it's when you look at all these individual pieces and start lining them up all together, a clear picture starts to be formed. It's what makes NEO so fascinating as a work to explore everytime I replay it.

The Reports make it especially clear that the teams have been through this experience for 30 LOOPS, which has left them teetering on the brink of despair and coping with the situation in anyway they can, with W1D5 (as noted before) and W2D4, as well as other segments, exploring this in more detail.

Imagine going through what is essentially a never-ending hell for weeks on end with no opportunity for rest so you come up with a system to at least stall the inevitable before a couple of kids come around to throw that system out of wack but it all ends up amounting to nothing. With this in mind, it’s honestly no wonder that a part of Kanon resents the Twisters for what happened, with her Dive on W3D3 bringing up all of these lingering feelings to the surface.

However, Kanon knows that the Twisters realistically wouldn’t know about any of that. How could they, after all? She knows that they’re fundamentally good kids at their core and knows that her feelings towards them aren’t fair so she keeps them buried to focus more on her tasks. She tries to take all of the responsibility upon herself and not let anyone else get caught up in the crossfire but this leads into one of her fatal flaws: her inability to trust in the capabilities of her team.

Throughout the game, it’s made pretty apparent that both the Twisters (Fret in particular) and the Beauties idolize her, with the latter propping her up as their Kween. And to their credit, Kanon IS a genuinely good leader, one worth looking up to. However, with all of those expectations comes a sense of isolation, a feeling that you HAVE to take on all of the burdens because if you don’t, who else will? This is shown when she splits up the Beauties when the threat of the Plague Noise comes around, not trusting their capabilities. However, all this did was leave the Beauties as slim pickings for the Noise, including Kanon herself. This is actually foreshadowed all the way back in Week 1, where she declines potentially recruiting Nagi because she doesn’t want to ruin the dynamic she and the Beauties have going.

This is also a reflection of how Rindo himself initially acts, not wanting recruit more team members because he’s afraid of getting dragged down into failure and having no faith in his or his teammates’ capability to achieve things for themselves. What’s interesting is that Kanon does it because she wants to shoulder the burden/responsibility by herself whereas with Rindo, he does so because he wants to AVOID having to take responsibility for any potential fallout, relying on someone else to do it for him. However, as the game progresses, Rindo gets better about this, learning to let his barriers down, reach out to others more, and trust in himself and his friends’ capabilities.

In fact, when trying to save Kanon, Rindo nearly makes the same mistake as her by asking Fret to split up, but when Fret shows up, Rindo and co. are down to support him. And although they didn’t succeed in saving her, they were able to grant her the opportunity to die as herself and gain valuable information on combining Fret and Nagi’s powers to combat Shibuya Syndrome that helps them out in the following days.

Overall, Kanon is an incredibly interesting character with a lot going on underneath the surface (in a way, she’s basically Fret’s Hanekoma) and I hope that this analysis on her was able to at least shine some light on her various nuances.

#the world ends with you #ntwewy #neo twewy #neo the world ends with you #kanon tachibana #motoi anazawa #fuya kawahara #analysis post #character analysis #twewy

[mageknight14]

This is one of Susukichi’s most underrated moments in NEO TWEWY and honestly speaks volumes about his relationship with the Shinjuku Reapers and role as a big brother figure.

When you look at the lines on a surface-level, it seems cruel of him, especially after Ayano had just been Erased, but when you look between them, Susukichi is basically telling Shoka "what happened to Ayano wasn’t your fault. She genuinely did care for you but her choices were her own and you shouldn’t blame yourself for them."

This is especially poignant because while Ayano DID genuinely care for Shoka, she also tried to gaslight her multiple times out of a misguided attempt to keep her safe and by her side and that obviously fucked up Shoka IMMENSELY.

So Susy K going out of his way to comfort her while still putting on the facade of the dickhead rival because he can’t let the others know of his plan (which is ironically similar to what Shoka herself did in regards to Rindo and the others) just hits hard.

#twewy #the world ends with you #neo twewy #ntwewy #neo the world ends with you #susukichi #kaichi susuki #shoka sakurane #ayano kamachi #analysis post

[mageknight14]

One thing that’s fun/interesting about Rindo and Fret’s dynamic to me is that both can actually be pretty cynical and pessimistic but while Rindo actually starts to gain more confidence and become more assured in himself and others, Fret’s mask breaks more and more as the weeks go on and he starts to become more honest with himself as opposed to just pretending to continue on without a care in the world. One thing to note is that whenever shit hits the fan, he’s almost always the first one to start expressing worry, doubt, fear or even outright despair before any other member of the group. Even before Nagi, who’s basically a walking ball of anxiety. It’s a pretty big hint that a lot of his upbeat attitude and optimism at times is actually pretty skin-deep.

Fret subtly shows his cynicism throughout the game but one example that always stands out to me is when they’re fighting Shiba and he unleashes his giant people meteor DM at them. Fret is genuinely honest about what he thinks about their odds while Rindo is still going down fighting and encouraging others to do the same.

#twewy #the world ends with you #neo twewy #ntwewy #rindo kanade #tosai furesawa #fret furesawa