#Poor Shirou really

[shuttershocky]

how do you feel about iori/saber so far by the way, whether as a ship or just their dynamic in general

I really like their dynamic!

While Iori and Saber themselves are full of callbacks to the original Shirou and Saber, their relationship dynamic is something that's all their own.

Usually a servant like FSR Saber would have belonged to a more emotional master. Saber starts the game out as an arrogant, destructive force and a bit of a bully, constantly going "Good grief my master's so weak! How did I get such a weak master when I can solo this whole thing? I should just kill everybody that gets in my way."

Rather than get upset or insecure however, Iori's humility and martial discipline ends up making a wall for Saber's arrogance to repeatedly bounce off of. When told he's weak, he goes "You are right. I don't fight because I'm strong, but because I should." When Saber talks down to him saying his presence doesn't change the outcome of a fight whatsoever, he just goes "I know. I'm doing the best I can."

This doesn't just eventually warm Saber up to him, but it also ends up creating the soul of their dynamic for the rest of the game. Saber's powerful, impulsive, and free in all their aspects, while Iori is measured, disciplined, and tied down (he's poor, he's an orphan, he's a warrior in an age of peace). This leads to fun gags like Saber having that classic Saber gluttony which wreaks havoc on Iori as a poor ronin living hand to mouth every day, but where this really shines is in how it makes its own twist in the original dynamic of Shirou and Saber.

Underneath Shirou and Saber's relationship was the recognition of themselves in the other. Both were willing to give up their entire lives for the greater good without once thinking of themselves, and seeing it in the other person horrified them because that was someone they cared about, while making a special exception for their own self-sacrifice.

In Samurai Remnant, Saber wonders how could such a weak human have summoned a servant as powerful as them, but the answer slowly becomes obvious as their relationship grows. Hiding underneath Saber's smug nature is a legend known for brutally killing anything and everything that stood in their way, whether that be armies, kings, monsters, or even gods. Why? What could compel a human to put a god to the sword just because they were ordered to? How broken and terrible inside must you be to see an aspect of divine power and feel no fear, only the desire to fight and to kill something that should be untouchable by a human?

The most delicious part of Iori and Saber's developing relationship is Saber slowly realizing that the bravery in Iori's eyes when he (literally) locks blades with a Servant is not bravery, but something much more familiar.

It should also be said that FSR Saber is one of the extremely few servants (if not the first even) to cry about the thought of leaving their Master after the ritual has ended.

Bittersweet goodbyes have been a mainstay of the series since Fate/Stay Night, but FSR is the first time in my memory that we see a Servant look back at the short, second life they've been given and actually break into tears about not wanting to go.

Going back to the throne of heroes would mean returning to legend. They'd be the bloodstained killer and godslayer. Unparalleled, feared, revered, and alone. Meanwhile in this incarnation, they run around doing odd jobs every day to afford rice, assumed by the neighbors to be the new fiance of the poor ronin that lives in a shack, destined to be forgotten by history like everyone around them living humble and ordinary lives. And now that they've tasted it, they don't want to go back. They've fallen in love with this life, and have to live out the rest of the Waxing Moon Ritual knowing they don't have a choice about going back.

It's soooooo good. Such a perfect capture of that vintage Type-Moon feeling, I'd almost forgotten this wasn't even written by TM themselves but by the Fire Emblem Three Houses team.

#FSR spoilers #Fate Samurai Remnant

[weeb-polls-with-pip]

Autistic Anime Boys Prelims - Propaganda Division - Group 2

Propaganda:

Kyouya -

"what's there to say? you know him. you love him. vote kyoya."

Rinnosuke -

"Rinnosuke Morichika lives in an overly-cluttered curio shop, and has a special interest in making magical inventions. Since he doesn’t live in a modern setting— but a pocket dimension slightly disconnected to the outside world— whenever a modern item shows up in his shop via spiriting away, he can obsess over it for extended periods of time. He is quite blunt without realizing it, even to people he cares for. He also has a special ability to generally understand the name and use of any item he touches (though this backfires sometimes, he thought a Gameboy was a doomsday device once)."

Fuuta -

"okay look theres so many fucking signs hes autistic. he cannot tell tone and often doesn't know how to react to stuff which is a major point in his character id say. he was asked if he remembered his victim's name (hes a murderer. oops!) and his response was something along the lines of "Of course I do. I saw it everywhere." because he did not understand that they wanted to know what it was since it wasnt directly stated. im convinced that hoodies are a comfort object of his because i genuinely have not seen him without one except for one time. also hes canonically a chronically online twitter user. also he gets really passionate about his interests. also not really related but everyone in the fandom agrees hes transgender but no one can agree on what way. ive seen every single gender hc for this dude. vote kajiyama fuuta for this sopping wet poor little meow meow of a man."

Hansum -

"He's just a very odd and strange lad, can't remember names well, is an alien (mild spoiler), he's very popular, obsessed with Doritos and becomes their mascot, just refers to everyone as humans which is a mood, and is completely socially oblivious."

Miyuki -

"Relatable neurodivergent-Gifted Child syndromeTM case with all the superiority-inferiority complex that results. A chronic show-off and scheming strategist with a lowkey hopeless romantic dramatic aspect to him, silly cool and pathetic in a very hilarious way. Shirogane has a trademark glare purely thanks to his eyebags as he runs on coffee everyday having to support his family with multiple jobs in addition to class, on top of student council president duties. He's kind and an obsessive perfectionist who fills his entire wall with the weirdest motivational posters. Shirogane is very devoted to his love. He likes penguins (Kaguya and him is peak asd4asd and bi4bi btw)."

Kirito -

"He's autistic and bisexual as hell, and there's a good bit of trans coding in him 🥺

Autism coding: Bro's literally got a sword and swordfighting hyperfixation where, despite playing a game that focuses around guns, he still chooses to use a sword!! We also see him completely missing Asuna's flirting at first (he tells her she could have just checked her friendlist to make sure he was alive, in response to her tracking him down to see him)

Bi coding: Dual wielding swords is literally a euphemism in Japan for bisexuality; and Kirito initially tries to hide the fact he can dual wield out of fear of how the people he's close to will view him (and once he reveals it to them and they accept it, he begins to be more open about it.) Also in the Underworld arc he becomes very close with Eugeo to the point of living with him (and sharing a bed on occasion), and there are several parallels between Eugeo and Asuna, and they're so gay for each other that despite the anime having only a toned down version of it, they're still very affectionate (Also of note is that Eugeo is the only guy in SAO canon to consistently have a 'laying in bed with Kirito' talk CG in the spinoff games) (There's more but it's spoilers and this is a shortened version)

Trans coding: Kirito is very trans coded in the light novel (which shows Kirito's thoughts in much greater detail than the anime) Aincrad arc reveals that Kirito explicitly Does Not Like his real face, and dislikes how feminine it looks (he mentions that its led to him and his cousin being mistaken for sisters) And in Phantom Bullet arc, he's visibly uncomfortable at being mistaken for a girl due to his avatar's appearance, and in response to being misgendered he briefly panics and checks to make sure his chest flat (at least in the anime adaptation) 🏳️‍⚧️"

Shirou -

"Has one goal in life and ignores almost everything in favor of trying to fulfil that goal."

Keith -

"Speaks in a way that is seen as weird and has mannerisms others think is funny. He struggles with not being taken seriously by others because of this and many of the things others say goes over his head. He struggles to connect with other people because of these things. His entire arc in the second film is about him deciding that the people who don't accept him for who he is aren't worth it and that he's going to continue being himself."

Junpei -

"for other fans of this series, I know the more obvious representation here may be Luou, Junpei is So Good. his special interest is ballet and he has so many hangups involving how his family sees him and how other boys his age interpret him to the point that his idea of masculinity is extremely narrow and he enforces social rules on himself to mask and keep people from realizing that he loves something that Isn't Manly. he misinterprets social cues and takes things literally, like assuming that when Miyako asked him to dance with her she meant Right This Minute rather than as a pair in the studio. for some reason the point where he cuts his hair super short to prove his devotion to ballet is also sticking with me, I think maybe it's the combination of the way it's normal for boys/men in Japan to do that, yet Junpei didn't realize that kind of attitude/action didn't suit ballet at all? he wasn't aware that the context was completely different. Junpei also doesn't act or pretend very well, he's gotta put his whole entire ass into his roles, which he then proceeds to get TOO into and cause a lot of trouble, without giving too much away! he's really relatable to me as someone who's socially anxious but very skilled at masking, and seeing him become more comfortable with himself and start to show how he really feels is so inspiring to me."

Kazuma -

"He may be (wildly) misguided but his intentions are good kinda! He’s just the Guy of all time idk how to explain it."

#autistic anime boys poll #tumblr polls #prelims #kyouya ootori #ouran high school host club #rinnosuke morichika #touhou project #fuuta kajiyama #milgram #hansum ochinchin #not so shoujo love story #miyuki shirogane #kaguya-sama: love is war #kazuto kirigaya #kirito #sword art online #shirou emiya #fate/stay night #keith goodman #tiger & bunny #junpei murao #dance dance danseur #kazuma asogi #the great ace attorney

[kagekitsuneoflight]

Actually there is a very good reason why Gilgamesh hates Shirou. And it’s not a “I’m an arrogant bastard. I don’t need a reason to hate this boy trying to claw his way to my level.”

In Fate/Extra CCC, we get to have Gilgamesh as our servant. He’s exactly the nightmare you imagine him to be. He makes fun of you for being poor. He genuinely starts to cry when he sees the state of the player character’s (named Hakuno) wallet. He will follow your commands, but if you screw up in commanding him, he will make sure you know it. He’s the highest maintenance bitch to exist. Entertain him Hakuno. Go on. Struggle. Fight for your right to live. He’ll kill you if you mess up. He’ll strip down naked to prove a point.

Yet despite Hakuno objectively being more useless than Shirou, being an AI who only just gained personhood, who was supposed to be deleted and die… Gilgamesh’s sacrifices 90% of his treasury to save them! He gives up 90% of all of humanity’s treasures!! For an AI who can only do a handful of spells granted by a mystic code!!! Who’s just figuring out this who personhood thing!!! Even Shirou at the start of his series could do more than this computer program.

Fate/Extra CCC gives us this important insight to Gilgamesh. He values people who are true to themselves. No matter how weak or useless, he adores seeing a genuine person, who does not hide who they are.

Tokiomi bent over backwards to please Gilgamesh in a way he thought that Gilgamesh would want, to be the person he thought Gilgamesh would like, even if it was not who Tokiomi truly was. So of course Gilgamesh was insufferable. He hates being bossed around and you SHOULD be respectful to him. But Tokiomi dealt with a bored Gilgamesh who sought his entertainment elsewhere, because he knew that Tokiomi wasn’t being genuine. Kotomine, on the other hand, just needed a gentle push to finally embrace who he truly was, and Gilgamesh was amused watching Kotomine. But even then, he never truly held Gilgamesh’s favor. Because Kotomine couldn’t grow. Gilgamesh sacrifices nothing of value for Kotomine.

Kotomine never got to learn about Gilgamesh’s Thrilling Splash Time, the all-weather indoor water park he had once planned out. It’s Hakuno! He whines that he wants to swim, and they suggest the school pool, and Gilgamesh is mildly offended at the suggestion, calling it a ‘seedy water tank’. And then proceeds to spend an unspecified, but not a short time, explaining just how amazing his Thrilling Splash Time is.

So how does this tie into Shirou? Well, it’s simple. Gilgamesh says as much. Shirou is a Faker. He based his entire identity around fulfilling his dead adoptive father’s dream. To be a Hero of Justice. He’s snarky and rude in his mind, but outwardly he’s that friendly classmate you have. Sure you’re not exactly best friends, but if you’re in a spot of trouble, he’s definitely someone who could help. He’s good at archery, but it’s not something he likes. People can argue that he doesn’t really have a hobby outside of cooking. Everything is about becoming a Hero of Justice.

But he does truly care about people! In the VN, he was ready to kill Shinji when he found out Shinji was the one putting all their classmates in danger by stealing their life force after all. But we’ve seen how he will put his borrowed dream over his relationships when it really matters.

Shirou’s projection ability also REALLY hammers this point down. He can copy any weapon he sees, with a few exceptions. He steals and borrows and uses them. And truthfully, he never gets permission. He never asks. He’s never asked. Just like with his dream, he takes those legendary weapons and makes them his own, though he was never asked to. He never asked for them.

Gilgamesh sees Shirou for what he is. He’s taken bits and pieces of others and stuffed it within himself with hardly an effort to make it his own. And to Gilgamesh, this it’s infuriating. He loves when humans are themselves and honest and to see this boy with a stolen dream wielding stolen legends, stolen pride (because keep in mind. A Noble Phantasm is a symbol of a hero’s pride), he cannot help but be infuriated. Who was this boy, this faker, who dares claim to be a Hero of Justice when it is not even his own dream?!

As the King of Heroes, the First Hero, he absolutely cannot let this stand! He, Gilgamesh, is allowed to use those symbols of pride as projectiles. He is the King of those owners of pride. It is within his rights. Yet.

He never truly uses another’s Noble Phantasm, does he? He doesn’t grasp their pride and use it as his own.

Shirou does.

#fate stay night #fate stay series #fate ubw #gilgamesh fate #shirou emiya #shut up kage #archer is only sliiiiightly better because he’s at least self aware about it #is this coherent? do you get what I’m saying here. #Gilgamesh is a deep and nuanced character (blorbo status complicated) #he’s more than just arrogant powerful bastard he’s an arrogant powerful bastard with the capacity to care

[lurkingteapot]

What did you eat yesterday? きのう何食べた？ S2 Ep 1

My reaction, as soon as I saw Shiro staring at his spreadsheet on my screen, was oh, I MISSED them.

The character development we got up to here didn't get retconned (my biggest fear with any sequel), and I love it so much. That scene at Shirou's company – he's DEFINITELY not going to girly bars, and everyone knows, but the way his boss really emphasised the "he's not going anywhere they've got girls!" … poor Shirou. Also kudos to Nishijima-sensei, I loved his 😑 face in that scene. We see that as a plot point, that's going to come and cause more trouble (or plot development) – I'm excited to see how that goes.

I was genuinely sad about their supermarket closing. Where we choose to shop is such a personal thing, and as someone who hates third-party-inflicted change, I really felt for Shirou here. His indignant reaction to learning the cashier could be friendly! And the way he doesn't learn -- but we do -- that the lady from the supermarket is happy to see him again!

Kenji -- I missed him, too. He's a lot, but he's perfect that way, and every time Shirou and Kenji were on screen together I just kept thinking how much I love these two together.

For the staging: I LOVE how I can see Yoshimoto-sensei's panels in many these shots. I don't remember that as clearly from S1, though I might just not have been paying attention then.

I missed this show so much. Looking forward to trying more recipes, too, when Shirou makes things I can get the ingredients for. ¥30k/month for two adults' food is incredible, I'm in awe. Raw ingredients for food (other than fresh seafood) can be had relatively cheap where I live, my household cooks pretty much everthing from scratch, we rarely cook or eat meat at home, and when scaled, we still don't manage with that little. Gotta take a page out of Shirou's book.

#what did you eat yesterday #nanitabe #きのう何食べた #kinou nani tabeta #nanitabe s2e1 #bl watch liveblog #my nonsense #q

[racke7]

I was re-reading "In Flight" (because I have literally nothing better to do, stuck at home sick), and I started to think.

Like, gabriel_blessing's Shirou Emiya is an... interesting character. He's not a very good "Shirou Emiya", but he's an interesting character who happens to share that absolutely unhinged lunatic's name.

I can't even entirely blame the author for it, because Shirou is a... very complicated character to do right by. It's a knife's-edge of trying to balance "too traumatized to consider themselves human", and "thinks that this is normal", and trying to fit that into an entertaining (and not trauma-focused) narrative is... not easy.

But. Looking at a character who's called "Shirou Emiya" behaving in ways that don't mesh with "Shirou Emiya"? It's weird. And it sometimes makes me step back and go: "what the fuck kind of Sekirei-story could you write with the actual Shirou Emiya?"

Pre-War Shirou? He's basically just a traumatized nice guy with the ability to make a crowbar a little bit tougher. He kind of disappears into the background, is what I'm saying.

Fate-Route Shirou? You put a Sekirei in front of a man who's sworn his heart to another? You try to steal him away from his beloved Saber, who he must always search for until his dying day? Jail! Jail for the author for a thousand years!

(I could see him being good friends with Miya or Kazehana, who both know what it's like to love and lose. But he didn't really lose, did he? She's still waiting for him, even now.)

UBW Shirou? Do you really think that Rin would ever give up on a promise she made? Her promise to watch over him and guide him away from Archer's path? Rin would rather try to raze the Clock Tower to the fucking ground, than give up. And Zelretch would probably think that that's too fucking hilarious to not reward, so trying to split them up is just... very much a long-shot.

HF Shirou? He's already happily married, dude. He's not gonna fuck your aliens, he's too busy being satisfied with his life.

It just-... There's just no Shirou that really meshes well with Sekirei, because he's already made his choices by the end of the Routes, and those choices don't include ecchi-aliens.

BUT

But, there's one idea that struck me.

HF Rin comes back from London, and stumbles across a young boy desperately searching for his little sister. A boy who is clearly not human, and whose sister is very likely to be targeted sexually (because Sekirei-Ashikabi are romantic bonds).

HF Rin who knows some of those horrors from the suffering of her own little sister? Of fucking course she helps. She'll turn the entirety of Shin Tokyo upside-fucking-down if it means she can track down that girl faster and make sure that she isn't being hurt.

Which made me think about "how would she track Kusano down?". And the answer to that is blatantly obvious: "Shirou is a goddamn blood-hound for magic, and he'll probably owe her like half-a-dozen favors at this point".

And if we'll be involving Shirou by calling him over from Fuyuki in order to track down someone's little sister? I feel like we need to up the absurdity-value of Shirou's entrance.

So, rather than calling a young man who looks very friendly and reliable, Shiina's new Ashikabi calls a tiny little girl with pink hair.

That's right, Emilya von Einzbern is dragged into this mess, and Sakura (who absolutely refuses to have her senpai out of her sight for longer than five minutes) comes with her (and Rider plays chaperone, as always).

So now, we have a very pretty tiny little girl with pink hair. A tall and very sexy-looking (almost unnaturally so) onee-san with glasses. And a young woman with very sizable... tracts of land.

Of course they're going to be mistaken for a group of unwinged Sekirei.

(And then Sakura murders the poor Ashikabi who tried to flirt with her cute senpai.)

As for the rest of the story? I have no clue. But like... what a fucking entrance.

#rin and shiina would be an... interesting ship. i think. rin is very headstrong and very vulnerable to snark. #and i feel like shiina could do well with learning how to snark. he's also sincere and filled with love. and rin would be so flustered. #also. sakura would take one look at the young shiina and go ''onee-chan. that's a crime.'' ''i don't want to hear that from YOU!'' #which would be hilarious. #laughing #musings #fate stay night #sekirei #anime #story ideas #writing

[odysseys-blood]

current fate/aitsf lineup (not finalized at all)

-shirou and rin are psyncers fresh out of college. both end up working at abis due to family connections (rin's father was a founding member of the department and kiritsugu worked there and died on a case)

-kotomine is the current head of abis

-gilgamesh is current head engineer. he was an ai but body jacked the poor soul that was above engineering years ago. only kotomine and some higher ups know this

-saber and archer are ai's with saber being an older model that was partnered w/ kiritsugu. shirou pairs with her to get intel about what happened on kiritsugu's last case but much of her memory is lost, spotty, or confidential with shirou's clearance level being too low to access the information. no one's really sure where archer came from and gil didn't program him himself

-sakura isn't out of college yet but is a legacy employee like rin. she doesn't take on her own cases however and mainly is a support employee, working in the psync room and performing psyncs when needed. rider is her partner and in their free time they end up doing most of the work that gilgamesh has left behind while he goes to do whatever it is he does

-actually making cú a human psyncer for this. recently discharged from the hospital after being hurt on a previous case with his aiball being out of commission. her body was destroyed and her code and memory have been compromised so sakura+medusa are usually working on restoring her leaving some more troubling fixes during this to gil

#cliffnotes/.txt #need to name this au also to keep a working tag on it maybe #fate

[otome-mondays]

Olympia Soiree Review 🤍

Spoiler alert for the review: this is my favorite otome I have ever played. I had been looking forward to the release ever since it was announced and my poor friends had to deal with me making speculations and predictions about the game for months on top of all my kpop and other interests facts and news. Before we start, please note that this game goes over a lot of heavy topics. Trigger warnings for racism, SA, abuse, death, bigotry in general, and some Christianity talks for this game.

Spoilers Ahead

Olympia Soiree is centered around Byakuya, an orphan from an island where all her family and friends have died from an incident years ago. In this world, people are separated by what color they present with into different groups. So yeah welcome to learning about racism and classism. Byakuya, as the last one of the white group, must marry somebody now that she is 18. She has the privilege of choosing whoever she wants on Tenguu Island, whereas most people are limited to those within their class caste. For instance somebody from the red group could marry somebody from the blue group, but they couldn’t marry somebody that’s in a brown or gray group. Byakuya hates the fact that there’s just so much blatant discrimination and wants to focus on making changes while having the pressure of finding a husband in a year. Now, as much as I love this game I do want to point out the common route is extremely long. There is also a recommended route order, and I highly recommend playing in the order I played if you don’t want to have story spoilers or play a less lore focused route later on.

Riku 💙

Riku here is our introductory route! Riku is next in line for the leader of the Blue group and is currently a soldier patrolling Yomi. Yomi is where the “undesired” colors are contained. Riku is a huge stickler for the rules, meaning he does not get along with Byakuya. Riku goes through a lot of character growth throughout his route and I can understand a little bit why he was the way he was at the beginning. His route barely touches on the world of Tenguu Island and the problems they face, unlike the other routes. His route endings were great, I loved them all. I also like how Byakuya isn’t passive in their relationship; she feels less like a blank slate stand-in for the player and more of her own character. I’m honestly going to rate this as 9.5/10.

Amakusa Shirou Tokisada 💚

Time for the baby of the group. I’ll be honest, this route made me the most uncomfortable for a couple of reasons. I’m not the biggest fan of pulling real life people and making them dating sim characters, and Tokisada is an example of this. Tokisada’s route introduces us to the concept of outsiders. Tokisada specifically has been naturalized into the Green and is set to be their next leader. Because of who Tokisada is based off of, the real life Amakusa Shiro Tokisada, he does have Christianity brought up in his route. I do want to make note of this for those it can effect because it is brought up a significant amount of times and pretty in-depth from what I remember. I also am uncomfortable by the fact in-game, this character is 17. When I played his route and most the game, I was the same age as Byakuya so it didn’t bother me as much, but now that I’m older it does bother me a bit more than it did. The endings were pretty good too, but I definitely had to rely on a guide for all of them! The writing in this route was really good too. 8.5/10.

Yosuga 💜

Welcome to the start of the deep dive into Olympia Soiree’s world! Yosuga is this owner os Shikinjou, a bathhouse in Yomi. Unlike the other two routes so far, Yosuga is more of a dependable character. Yosuga’s route is where the game gets even darker and has a lot of angst. This is where the game really starts expanding on the lore we have been given and diving deeper into some of the mysterious of this world. I remember starting to truly fall in love with the writing of this game during this route. Yosuga also has some brutal endings, as well as a great good ending. 9/10.

Kuroba 🖤

Ok this one is really rough but is a great route. I’ll be honest, even though I was excited for this route I was also incredibly nervous because i wasn’t too sure how well the game could properly tackle racism. Thankfully my concerns were disproven as I played. The writers not only talked about racism in a fairly respectful way from what I remember, they also dive into talking about sexism too. They also weren’t brushed off as a “ok that happened but let’s pretend it didn’t,” rather they were treated with the proper response of yeah that’s not ok and traumatizing. Kuroba’s route focuses more on the fictional disease of Haku as well, so it’s definitely one of the heavier routes. If anything, the only thing I’d really complain about is how wild his bad endings were? This route also took me a bit longer because of tough topics mentioned previously. I still really enjoyed it though, 8.5/10.

Himuka 🩶

Welcome to oh my god the lore. This route is only unlocked until you finish the first four routes. Now, admittedly it has been a while since I looked to see people’s opinions on this game, but I remember when it first came out and for a while Himuka was not very well liked. I’m not sure about that now though. Himuka is the current undertaker of Tenguu Island, and his route is locked until you complete the first four above. Himuka’s route goes more in detail about Byakuya’s home, the people of her color group, and the religion the people of the island participate in. There’s huge lore reveals here in this route, so I’m kind of glad it’s locked until you get through those first four routes. I genuinely loved this route and it’s honestly my most enjoyed route in an otome game as of writing. 10/10.

Akaza ❤️

The final route…we made it everybody. So Akaza’s route was another I was worried for. I haven’t had the best track record with enjoying final routes at this point, and after my most anticipated route I was so worried his route would fall flat for me. Yet again, I have been proven wrong by this game. Akaza’s route is locked until you play through Himuka’s route, and for good reason. This is where we finally finish solving the last unanswered questions of Olympia Soiree. I’m a little disappointed by the lack of Akaza really being present for his route, but he is such a great character with an otherwise amazing route that I’ll let it slide. 9.5/10.

Overall Thoughts 🤍

The amount of love I have for this game cannot be put into words. I might be really biased in my rankings, but based off my enjoyment of this game I truly believe these rankings are deserved. Somethings I really appreciated while playing this game was the music and the art. I normally enjoy the art of the Otomate titles I play, but this art was stunning. I also enjoyed the touch of having a sprite for Byakuya, I wish more otome did this. At first I was wary about it, but I loved it while playing. The only major gripe I have that I haven’t stated yet is the ungodly amount of flashbacks to the same 3 or so scenes. I probably have the voice lines memorized for life now. I highly recommend following the Riku -> Tokisada -> Yosuga -> Kuroba -> Himuka -> Akaza route order for optimal experience. 9.5/10.

Now for rankings, this is another hard game to rank for me since I truly enjoyed it all.

Route: Himuka > Akaza > Riku > Yosuga > Kuroba > Tokisada

LI: Himuka > Yosuga > Riku > Akaza > Kuroba > Tokisada

Resources 📝

Once again, I used Otome Kitten’s walkthroughs to help me with this game. I also looked through Blerdy Otome’s review and the community on the otomegames subreddit.

#otome mondays #olympia soiree #minor spoilers #cg spoilers

[typekiku]

Thoughts on Mahoyo Movie

hello hello everyone!

how are all my fellow type moon fans and other "people" doing?

good? good!

anyways so i saw some shit takes going around on the net and decided i would write out my opinions on them here. screaming into the void can be real therapeutic especially for a fellow mahoyo fan like myself.

without further ado here i go

AOKO RINFACE?!?!

(Ignore the somewhat low-quality picture here.)

This is probably the funniest take since it actually is the very opposite: Rin is based off Aoko!

"bUt hOw kIkU? "You poor lost soul may be thinking, and this is actually correct. FSN did, in fact, come out almost a decade before Witch on the Holy Night did. Congratulations, you are right! Pat yourself on the back, champ.

With that being said, Rin is still based off Aoko! Don't believe me? Let's see what Nasu himself has to say on this matter.

NASU: Yes, the heroine with glasses from old "Fate" named Ayaka Sajyou had a rival character who was a total rich-kid, spoiled heiress type. She would look down on you and laugh at you, like Luvia. Her servant was the Lancer. You could say she was the basis for Rin's character. When Shirou snagged the main character position for "stay night", it was this character who transformed into Rin to fill the rival role. We wanted Shirou's rival to be more likeable than the snobby heiress, though, so we took inspiration from Aoko Aozaki, a character Takeuchi and I both like. Azaka, Akiha, and Rin are all Aoko-type characters, but I'd say Rin is the most like Aoko. I really didn't feel like making "Witch on the Holy Night" when we were working on "stay night", so I made the executive decision to create a feminine Aoko. Though I suppose she turned out to be more of a clumsy Aoko than a feminine Aoko... Takeuchi seemed to intuitively understand what I was going for, and his "Fate version Aoko" meshed well with my vision for Rin.

from : Fate/ Character Material II

(https://tri-hermes.org/Materials/cmii-rin.html)

So yes, indeed, Rin was based on Aoko. If you are still confused on how this is possible, you must understand that Witch on the Holy Night is one of Nasu's very first works, written all the way back in 1996, being an almost 500-page novel at the time.

It was obviously shelved for a long while, but the characters within it have remained influential, showing up throughout various different works of Nasu's, but especially Aoko and Touko, who would go on to be important throughout the Nasuverse.

(Also, Soichiro Kuzuki is basically a colder soujuuro and probably even from the same organization.)

Hell, we even have some original artwork from how Aoko looked back then. Compared to how Rin looks now, they don't really look that similar, to be honest.

Now this Aoko, drawn by Takeuchi in TYPE MOON character material all the way back in 2006, after fate/stay night, could be argued to look a lot like Rin, but even that would be a stretch of the imagination (and eyes).

Regardless, what is my point here? Its silly to call Aoko a rin face when:

a) She doesn't even really look like Rin (I'm not even going to bring up Koyama's version of Aoko since that's meaningless).

b) She precedes Rin in both having been created before her and designed before her.

That doesn't mean the movie version of Aoko doesn't look like Rin, because not only does she kind of look like her, but it's probably intentionally meant to provoke these kinds of takes since, in the eyes of most of the audience for Witch on the Holy Night, Aoko might as well be a completely new character.

Honestly? who cares? This "Aoko looks like Rin" business pales in comparison to a bigger worry of mine... How will Ufotable properly adapt Mahoyo?

Mahoyo is a visual novel that has more quiet scenes than action, and will they really manage to adapt that well or lean more into flashy, hyped action scenes?

This worry of mine stems from Ufotables Heaven Feel films, which while I still thoroughly enjoyed, I felt disappointed at all the cut scenes that served to establish the relationship between Illya and Shirou, and likewise the cut scenes between Shirou and Kirei, which are both just as important as Sakura to the main story.

Instead of focusing on the main climax of Heaven's Feel and the climax of the whole FSN, which is Shirou's final battle with Kirei, they extended the Salter vs. Rider fight and made it out to be the centerpiece of the route, which it is in fact not.

Judging from the trailer it will likely adapt up to at least chapter 6 which leaves the rest for maybe another film? possibly even a trilogy which i mean i just don't see happening to be frank but i could be surprised!

Most importantly....

WHERE IS MY FATE ROUTE ANIME DAMN IT??? I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG... TEN YEARS AT LEAST!

ahem

So yes, that is all I have to say on this matter. I'm both excited to finally get to see Mahoyo in film and for others to get into this series that I so love! It will be great to see others get into it, even if it is possibly a shitty adaptation.

also seeing others call this a fate spinoff physically hurts

Thanks for reading my rant of the day!

cyaaa

#type moon #witch on the holy night #aoko aozaki #fate stay night #fate route anime when? #kiku rants once again #seriously sorry for this #arcueid because i love arcueid #its almost the 20th anni of FSN and no fate anime #except deen but that doesnt count #girls work pls

[goldenteaset]

…So I finished La Salut…there were things I really wanted to enjoy but couldn’t, and things I didn’t enjoy at all (sometimes things don’t need explaining!). And then suddenly the emotions worked again and I actually cried, repeatedly! I now have even more thoughts about “divine mantles” and how various characters in Virche learn to embody or discard them…but 0 coherence. ^^;

That said, I couldn’t get into Adolphe that much. I felt for him, but it’s the same feeling as from a distant acquaintance that you see sometimes on his way to Job at Location. There's a lot of implications to him that are interesting: how he's structured his whole life around Ceres and what that means for his sanity, his horror at Relivers, etc., but the writers are so committed to him being Normal (tm) that those aren't touched on as much. This is what happens when you put Ankou and everyone else right next to him. Poor guy…his more snide faces are extremely good though. Hopefully later playthroughs will make him more endearing!

...Actually I do have more thoughts, oops. First the "aw man :(" and then the "YAAAAAY" under the cut:

The "Aw, Man :(" which isn't "bad" so much as disappointing:

Please imagine with me a version of this story where Ankou is the God/Watchman of Death he proclaims himself to be. Imagine everyone else, terrified of dying, suddenly being able to ask about the Afterlife, even if the answers are vague. (Can't have everyone get too hyped to die!) Wouldn't that have been unique and gothic-ly fun? I still like the actual answer on some level, but I wanted this too.

On that note, an actual dislike: I viscerally hate Ankou being embarrassed about acting the part of Watchman of Death. It felt born from a place of love for the Drifter, Yves and Ceres, so for him to feel so negatively toward it? Awful.

Less awful and more confusing: Ankou says he uses "smoke bombs", but none of his previous exits imply smoke. All the more reason to pretend it's only canon here!

The "Queen's genes" (ha, rhyme) thing really did amount to nothing, huh? I don't understand why it's here and that rankles.

Every time some variant of the line "Ceres is a plant/lycoris" comes up I feel like the Six-Fingered Man from The Princess Bride while Inigo Montoya does his revenge speech ad nauseam. "STOP SAYING THAT!"

Seriously though, I can handle Ceres being like a lycoris, akin to, etc. But something about "is a plant" is so inherently funny/brain-breaking that I'm no longer thinking of all this as a metaphor, but an actual, physical part of her, and it just doesn't gel. ;_;

It feels like there were two plots going on in this route: The Royal Family and Adolphe VS Ankou, and frankly I wound up more invested in the former. This isn't the first time it's happened, it won't be the last, but I still was drumming my fingers a little waiting for things to switch back.

I was really hoping the bouquet confession would lead to an option to choose Adolphe or Ankou (or both), because it felt like Adolphe was passing the baton over to Ceres in that moment. But nope! :(

Yves and Lucas' mini-endings in this route's Salvation ending were so wonderful I now have 0 desire to play their actual Salvation routes. Oops!

The "YAAAAAY", which I hope is self-explanatory:

Dahut's reveal? Literally iconic, as was the final scene between him and Salome. Loved his revenge, loved his friendship toward Nadia, loved how he unwittingly gave Lucas the hope he needed to make his first steps toward freedom, etc.

All the love interests working together to save Ceres! Also self-explanatory.

Adolphe and Ankou's banter and arguments, down to their voices being similar, was so funny and also sad post-reveal. It reminds me a lot of Archer and Shirou in F/SN's Unlimited Blade Works route, but better crafted I think. YMMV.

Capuchine KABOOM! (I find him rather morbidly cute, so his frustrated scream pre-explosion gave me both catharsis and a weird sort of cuteness aggression. Again, Scien, again!)

On a more serious note, Scien and Lucas having to interact and him being able to help Lucas on the road to recovery was really sweet. They were both great in this route.

Hugo/Yves are my OTP now, actually. That love realization from Hugo was just too good, ditto them traveling together. Please let there be scenes of their road trip in the fandisc!

The aforementioned inconsistency and embarrassment aside, Ankou being revealed as Adolphe was masterfully done. Loved the Drifter planting those stories of him in the past and then those stories helping to keep Ceres alive in the future. The images of him collapsing among the ever-growing lycorises along with the voice acting made me cry!

THE BOUQUET. All that subtle build-up over the routes (this one included) culminating in that one gorgeous CG. Ankou choosing of his own accord to take up the mantle of Watchman of Death, fulfilling that now-old fairytale and closing the cycle for good. ;v;

Hearing Lucas' voice post-ending also made me cry, but happily this time. He's alive and well! He's free! Nadia has a cane now! AAAAAA

Scien ripping up the time travel research letter. Yes. YES. I don't know how to explain it, but something about the way he's written, whether antagonistic or anti-heroic, just gives me such joy.

Ceres flustering Adolphe at the end, and their kiss. Again, I still don't quite buy their romance, but like Ankou I'm glad she's able to smile from the bottom of her heart.

...And that's it! Now to choose whose Salvation route to do first, Matthis or Scien's.

#virche evermore #shuuen no virche #virche evermore spoilers #I'm so tempted to go straight to Scien’s route…but Mathis' struggles were fascinating too... #this got long oops

[tonguetiedraven]

(Alive Yuri anon) Would Yuri be extremely protective of Rin? Like doing his revile do you think she would've tried to shelter him from the other students more?

On a side note... I can see Yuri and Bon's mom being best friends lol both of them telling all the stupidity their husband's get up to (she would totally be married to Shiro at that point)

Torako and Yuri would be such a badass bestie duo and Tatsuma and Shirou would be the chaos duo, and god help poor Bon and Yukio who would try and corral all of them while Rin revels in the chaos that entire group would get in.

Now, to answer the questions.

I don't think she'd be extremely protective of him. I think she'd be protective because he's her child, but not in a too wild way, and I think she'd be more worried about what the reveal means as far as a tie to Satan. I also don't see her being around the school to really do more than offer support. Shirou might be a teacher, but I don't I don't think the kids would have had any reason to be startled by him because I don't know that Shiemi would be in the school (Yukio wouldn't have had a reason to join True Cross young and they wouldn't have been on the mission where she decided to join the Cram school,) Izumo is still strongly in her 'I ignore everyone and pretend not to care about anything' arc, and the Kyoto trio would have theoretically grown up friends with Rin and Yukio, and depending on how the whole Myodha merge with True Cross went down, might not even be there to have a care one way or another.

(Also, nothing to really do with the question, but none of the kids reaction to Rin's reveal in canon was particularly bad or over blown. They were shocked, alarmed at how out of control the dangerously powerful son of Satan was-- who they'd been in class with for an entire semester and watched have no idea what the hell was going on with anything--and didn't really have any time to absorb any of that before they were thrown into the Impure King Mission where Ryuuji, Shima, and Koneko continued to be extremely busy with mission/temple work and mostly just ignored Rin while they worked on that until they couldn't.)

I do think that Shirou and Yuri would have probably ended up leaning more on Tatsuma and Torako, and as such, I could see the trio and the twins being pretty close. And rip to all those bullies when Rin and Ryuuji team up on beating them up. (Double rip when Yuri and Torako hear that their kids were being bullied.)

#asks #ao no exorcist #blue exorcist

[strangefellows]

Hmm Artoria, Emiya (servant), Nagito, and Elidibus

First impression

Artoria: KING ARTHUR AS A GIRL????????? Okay you know what that could absolutely work, let's see how this goes.

Emiya: .........oh shit. Just. Just that, in the most resigned tone of voice humanly possible. Especially when he opened his mouth and I heard his seiyuu.

Nagito: Oh, he's fluffy! But also fandom is weird as fuck about him I do not trust like this....

Elidibus: ASCIAN! Interesting one, clearly evil, but also...helpful? Hmmmmm.

Impression now

Artoria: My god, I love her. I love you girl, I'd kill for you girl, you need to treat yourself better girl. Girl. Girl you had to deal with so much lunacy in that kingdom I love you please go take a nap. Love yourself.

Emiya: lies slowly down on the floor and cries into the carpet, good lord i love this stupid fucking depressed traumatized big brother idiot man.

Nagito: MY BOY MY CHILD MY POOR SWEET FUCKED UP BABY I DON'T CARE HOW WEIRD FANDOM IS ABOUT YOU I CHERISH YOU ANYWAY

Elidibus: [uncontrollable sobbing] THEMIS MY BABY BROTHER I LOVE YOUUUUUUUUUUUU

Favorite moment

Artoria: I don't have a standout moment for her? She's just lowkey amazing the whole time, frankly.

Emiya: His final fight with Shirou, that whole backstory dump speech, every time his theme starts pumping. But also his entire existence in the Servant Summercamp event is pure distilled joy, I love when they roast him for UBW.

Nagito: His almost-confession, how absolutely 100% Done he is with Mikan in chapter 3's trial, that one condescending talksprite, how ready he was in DR3 Despair Arc to fucking murder the shit out of Junko...everything about his OVA...

Elidibus: 5.3, just...5.3. All of it. Also the bit in Pande part 1 where he fucking punches the floor to dispel the binding, CHILD I love that shit.

Idea for a story

Artoria: Like I said, I desperately need Camelot shenanigans, I also want to write stuff with her and PHH Vortigern post LB6 loredrops. I also also want to sit her the fuck down and shake her until she realizes Camelot falling wasn't something she needs to fix.

Emiya: Give this man a fucking vacation let him be a stupid college student let him have fun he deserves it.

Nagito: I still have that 'Nagito didn't get Despair'd back in the beginning and works with the Future Foundation to save his class' AU rent free in my head...

Elidibus: MORE THEMIS SHENANIGANS PLEASE GOD

Unpopular opinion

Artoria: She is NOT WAIFU BAIT SHE IS A PERFECTLY GOOD AND REASONABLE INTERPRETATION OF WHAT IF ARTHUR HAD BEEN A WOMAN AND IT WORKS VERY WELL AND I LOVE HER AND SHE'S EXTREMELY WELL HANDLED THANK YOU

Emiya: He's not an edgy hardcore badass, dudebros, he's not cool and he's not admirable and you don't wanna be him, he's a traumatized fucked up 20something but also ancient immortal cleaner who desperately wanted to die badly enough he was going to try to kill his past self even knowing there was a good chance it wouldn't work, but also kind of hoping it didn't anyway. He's a mess, and I love him for it. Also I don't ship him and Cu.

Nagito: OH GOD OH JESUS WE DO NOT WANT TO OPEN THIS CAN OF WORMS, EVERYONE. Just know I hate 95% of fandom opinions on him.

Elidibus: There's been a lot of pushback on this, so it's becoming more popular but I'll just reiterate: HE'S NOT A LITERAL CHILD. Also, I don't really ship him and Erich? Cute friendship tho!

Favorite relationship

Artoria: Her and Rin and Shirou, her and Merlin, her and her knights. Her and Mordred, poor kid. I'd love to see her interact with Oberon Vortigern for obvious Vortigern reasons.

Emiya: Him and Shirou and Artoria and Rin, but also like I've said, the Gil Cu Emiya idiot trio gives me all kinds of life.

Nagito: KOMAHINANAMI!!!!!!!!!! But also his friendship with Fuyuhiko is absolutely amazing.

Elidibus: The unsundered, yes, and also Themis and Azem.

Favorite headcanon

Artoria: She met her uncle Vortigern when she was veeeeery little, before she went to Ector and Kay, and he gave her her first hair ribbon because he wore one too.

Emiya: He has a scar through his eyebrow that neither Shirou nor Emiya Alter have, it's the one thing that's completely one hundred percent his, not something he has to share with a double.

Nagito: He needs glasses very badly, he just loses or breaks them enough he goes without. Who needs contacts?

Elidibus: Themis and my personal Azem are blood siblings and both the sons of Venat and potentially a certain other Convocation member who will remain unnamed because neither Themis nor Azem know who their dad is, but it makes Pande hilarious. :)

#ffxivblogging #fateseriesblogging #chara: everyone's hero #chara: a fleeting wisp of glory #drseriesblogging #chara: reaching for hope

[unit-zero-two]

If you’ve read any of my posts it’s clear I’m a very obvious fan of Fate/Zero. But I do think that’ it’s okay to not be a fan of the series. It’s a fucking downer and goes out of it’s way to make the viewing rough. If it doesn’t work for you or you just don’t like it that’s okay. It’s not a perfect series and has a completely different take on Saber’s character. It’s also incomplete because as a prequel a lot of it’s arcs are wrapped up in FSN. But I find a lot of the arguments I commonly see against it pretty weak. For whatever reason this series attracts people who find they need to justify not liking the show by finding moral fault with the show, or with it’s writer Gen Urobuchi. A sentiment I see often is, “Fate/Zero would be good if it wasn’t written by Urobuchi”. Also common is trying to work backwards to slag on the show by finding points in the show and using it to claim Urobuchi is sexist and hates women.

And whether he does or doesn’t have a thing against women is not only impossible to prove from this one work, it’s also just really poor media criticism. Fate/Zero is something a lot of people like, so it can’t just be dismissed as, “this isn’t for me”. Instead it needs to be morally reprehensible. And then picked apart from that conclusion to “prove” the point. Imagine if this same method was applied to Fate/Stay Night.

“Seriously though, what woman hurt Nasu to make him such a raging sexist? It's like he gets off on it, the way he tortures and demeans women. Like how Shirou spent most of the series calling Saber's ideals silly, and that she shouldn't fight because she was a woman. Then Nasu wrote her as a blushing maiden who was ashamed of her "muscly body", despite being a size zero. Or how she was called a little girl by the cool badass Gilgamesh! Or when he wrote Sakura as a love obsessed psychopath. Or when he made rape a huge part of her backstory. Or when he had Medusa chumped by a dude and brutally killed. And then that same dude went and beat up Saber, despite her being a servant and he a human. Who could forget when he dressed Saber up in a wedding dress for multiple episodes, bent over so you could basically see her butt hole and generally sexualize and demean her. And that's not even getting into his issues with Illya, who he kills in every timeline. He must hate little girls!”

These are all technically true statements, but does it say anything of value about the series in a critical sense? Would anyone actually think this reflects morally on Nasu as the writer? Of course not. It’s incidents divorced of context. Removed from the themes being discussed. If you don’t like everything just listed there but still like FSN because you see the themes and narrative past it all, then you’re engaging in serious media criticism and thinking. Either engage with Fate/Zero in the same way, or just admit it’s not for you and move on. That’s an acceptable answer.

#fate/zero #Fate zero #a long simmering rant #i hate puritanical takes on media criticism #it's okay to not like things just cause #this isn't meant as a personal attack on anyone #i mean it #it's hard to phrase this in a way that probably doesn't strike someone because it's engaging with actual comments and trends i've seen #I'll probably have more to say about the actual themes of the series #but I need to get this out of my system before proceeding

[madillhethen]

You know how you can tell this game was geared to a male viewer because they only compliment Rin and Rani when clearly Robin and Archer (Gawain too) are right there but even if you can ‘bond with your servant’ I don’t think Hakuno has even complimented Archer once (looks wise) but I’m going to bet Nero is going to have a TON of compliments, maybe even Tamamo. If they don’t have compliments, I’ll actually be happy lol. Cause equality all across the board...

Like what happened to old FSN Fate where Shirou went and said Issei and Shinji were popular and good-looking? Shirou speaking like the asexual (I mean if you want to headcanon him bi that works too) objective minded person but later TM works it’s always just complimenting the girls.

I can’t tell you how happy I was when the Lostbelts started saying how handsome Holmes was. I’m not saying you can’t compliment the females, but please stop thinking your players are only attracted to girls. 

Ok, sidetracked--anyways, I hope this scene in Extra Record actually shows Hakuno viewing Robin’s Forest because this was a little lackluster, we didn’t even get a poetic and beautiful description which was a little disappointing. 

‘Steal from the rich, and give to the poor’, hero of Nottingham or rather thief--the oh-so-famous criminal who doubled as a hero. Robin Hood’s tale is wonderfully beautiful because it goes into details about society views, those in power, and those without, what is good and evil and who gets to decide which is what. Of course, it also can just be a good story kids can love too without touching upon all of those subjects.

It’s why I thought Robin was so famous--or I think he should be really famous. It’s like the Epic of Gilgamesh and his quest against the Gods but Robin’s is against humanity.

#Mad's Fate Extra #fate extra #robin hood #week 2 #nameless route #I actually never read Robin's textual legend #I've only seen him in media #but I always loved the idea that he was giving to the forgotten and poor #for no reason just compassion #a compassion for others that drove him to be a criminal #like that's really admirable

[lurkingteapot]

What did you eat yesterday? きのう何食べた？ S2 Ep 7

This was another lovely slice-of-life episode. Death is something they'll probably grapple with quite a bit this season – it's been a recurring theme, after all – but we also get to see so much of the love these two have for each other. It's beautiful.

March again! it's been nearly a year!

oh dear Shirou-san, that's the point where you need to put on glasses or strain your eyes MORE

I love how everyone's acting like he's the only one making this an issue while making a HUGE fuss

awww poor bb

Kenji already wears glasses, he of all people should know how expensive these can get … right?

oh man the intro's gyouza are making me REALLY hungry as I watch this at 11pm

the sales clerk is having a TIME

oh no, someone died, huh

annnd Kenji walks right in

ah phew

I wish I'd been wrong, urgh, cancer is an ASSHOLE

oof, at fifty-ish at least one of his kids is probably still in education, too

ooor apparently not (good for him AND them though) (and 22ish is still SUPER young to lose a dad)

don't DO that to people urgh

you can SEE Shirou-san thinking here and it hurts

oh that looks LOVELY. The ebi-fry!

oh that egg looks divine

he loves him so much

Shirou coming for me, a person who has tried to largely ignore their birthday (albeit for different reasons) for the past 15-20 year, where I LIVE

I love these two. I love them. #goals really

that's the cooking music! what are we having today?

ooh hamaguri! not a single chance of getting those here, but the nanohana no gomakarashiae looks fantastic, might be able to do that.

ooh we're making shari?

this IS a birthday meal, wow wow WOW

this chirashizushi looks fantastic!

oh that's SO cute

tempura! I prefer dark meat but this looks lovely

I haven't really deep-fried anything since cooking oil prices skyrocketed last year, but oh, oh, I miss itttt

asdfasdf OF COURSE this was Wataru and OF COURSE he's congratulating in the most offhandedly-(unintentionally?) rude way

oh he was being rude on purpose, I guess that's … fine? then?

oh Kenji is INTO this new look and can we BLAME him?

asdfsadf I love this sales clerk

I really, really loved seeing Shirou-san opening up more and more over the course of this season so far, and this episode was another highlight. We can see him thinking, considering, and we can see how much he loves Kenji, and it just makes me feel warm and fuzzy all over because he started up so closed off, so buttoned up. and now look at him! ✨ growth ✨

#きのう何食べた #kinou nani tabeta #what did you eat yesterday #nanitabe #nanitabe s2 ep 7 #bl watch liveblog #my nonsense #q

[ultraericthered]

Anime Update V3 4

Vinland Saga S2 - The manhunt for Gardar continues, but it turns out that a wounded Gardar is being hidden in Sverkel's farmhouse by a still distraught Arnheid. Einar and Thorfinn offered to help her and Gardar escape, but the plan of passing off Einar as a fleeing Gardar didn't quite fool Snake, who knows Gardar is supposed to be wounded and shouldn't be able to run too fast. So he returns to the farm and catches Throfinn in the act of abetting Gardar, threatening him with his sword if he doesn't back off. And dammit, Askeladd appearances should come with a jumpscare warning 'cause I was not ready for him to pop up in Thorfinn's head at this moment, but he was very efficient at challenging Thorfinn's commitment to pacifism even when there might be no other recourse but to fight. Leading to a really cool ending where Thorfinn, without any weapon, goes into the stance he used for fighting with twin knives, to face down Snake.

Hunter x Hunter - Two episodes spent on Morel facing Cheetu inside a closed space, where he can't leave unless he manages to catch him within 8 hours, but Morel just straight up refuses to play the game, which I found really cleverly subversive and it made it all the more rewarding to see how Morel was able to trap Cheetu without ever needing to run after him. However, the best parts were with Meruem back in the palace, playing rounds of Gungi against the blind, frail and endearingly dorky young champion, Komugi. It's fascinating to see him learn and adapt to the rules of these games so fast, yet in this one game against this one opponent he finds himself unable to win. Even when he effectively ensnares Komugi, it's only through a strategy Komugi herself originated and thus knows how to beat. Meruem is learning the true gaming experience, where he gets frustrated yet ever more compelled to keep playing....

SHUFFLE! - Seeing Nerine get pissed, unleash her demonic side and blow up the whole school gymnaseum was pretty terrifying. But it becomes funny when Sia and Mayumi (still the best girls) actually want to exploit that destructive demon power to escape having to pay consequences for their poor grades, with casual talk of "blow up the school, please?" Nerine's soft nature comes back into play when a picnic is planned where everyone must makes their own food, and Nerine seeks help from Asa to teach her how to cook better. And just when I was wondering when Asa would get more involved, too!

Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works - Got to bear witness to the epic final battle, where Saber found herself once again fighting the persistent Assassin at the temple, Shirou clashes with Gilgamesh, and Rin endures the terror of the Holy Grail itself to pull out Shinji at the core and stop it from storing wishes to destroy the world with. And it all came together pretty perfectly. Shirou's realization and declaration of "my whole life has been Unlimited Blade Works!", activating the subdimension to fight Gilgamesh in, gave me chills, as did Saber's noble sacrifice to push back the Angra Mainyu, Gilgamesh's villainous breakdown and final defeat, and the return of Archer, now looking more like his true self in one last talk with Rin. The one thing I was bothered by is the continued insistence that Shirou is a "hypocrite", now in ways where I don't even think they're using that term properly. Striving to be a hero of justice and fighting to realize ideals of a world where everyone can be safe and happy in a toxic, self-defeating, self-sacrificial way that perpetuates his own sffering yet still doing so purely for the sake of seeing his own happiness emulate Kiritsugu's happiness over having saved a life is a hypocritical contradiction. But a guy simply being an idealist who at times has to fight to get his way and who talks righteously about being a hero of justice even when such a person can't possibly save everyone everywhere all the time isn't exactly a "hypocrite" or "fraud", just a foolish, childish moral idealogue in over his head.

KonoSuba - Another hilarious entry from this series where Megumin makes a daily routine of practicing her big explosion spell directed at a nearby castle, which Kazuma encourages and always accompanies her for, only for it to have consequences when the Headless Horseman-esque demon noble who owns that castle (in the dub voiced marvelously by Patrick Seitz) get furious and terrorizes the town in search of the magic user who's been constantly doing that. The punchline was also perfect, with how Megumin got afflicted with a death spell that would take effect over the next week, so Kazuma, Megumin and Darkness vow to challenge the demon at his castle to get the magic broken....only for Aqua, who Kazuma had earlier been castigating for her utter uselessness, to use a healing effect that totally undoes the death spell on Megumin so nevermind!

Symphogear XV - OK, S.O.N.G really, really needed to learn by now to stop trusting the American government with anything, as they have been consistently horrible throughout this series! Tsubasa also came out of her brief depression coma only to be further shaken by her horrible grandfather/bio father's horrible words and attitude regarding strength and defense. We learn that our new enemy, Noble Red, are literal vampires who survive off blood transfusions, and while Kirika and Shirabe seem to have only gotten dumber in some areas ("Ketchup? They're planning barbeque parties - what a truly terrifying enemy!"), they get the last laugh against the opponent they fight for a second time in a row, so in some areas their competency has improved. But nothing prepared me to have my mind utterly blown by the absolutely astonishing, shocking plot twist revealed at the last minute. What? The old incestuous rapist and abusive family head voiced by Mugihito is EVIL! No way, I never could've guessed!

Eureka Seven - To be honest, coming off last time, I found this episode fairly dull and a little creepy. I do not quite get what Bill Baxter's deal was and his warm, sunny hippie-dippie attitude was sort of offputting, especially when crossed with a Johan Liebert sounding voice. Holland's bit teases at his past with his brother, Ray, Charles, and Adrock Thurston, but hasn't made anything clear yet. Only the very end was befitting for the halfway point of the series, as Renton now knows for certain where he belongs - back with Eureka.

Gintama - A whole episode and half another one just to cover this one story of Shinpachi's date with a cat-eared girl was a little strange, but the jokes in this story were just firing on all cylinders that I could not really complain, so many moments had me laughing so much. Probably the one real critique I could make is that it was way too predictable that the cat-eared girl would turn out to be a thief of some kind not just because it's the payoff that most likely matches the setup, but Gintama did the "cat-eared female thief" thing before already with a character who became recurring, so it was a bit of a letdown to see it go that direction in spite of how hilarious the fallout ended up being on Shinpachi's end. Also, why was there zero follow-through on what was building up with Kondo and Katsura? That's more of a nitpick but c'mon, there was more comedy to be had there!

AND

Spy x Family - Oh joy, an anime that builds its premise on the "fake relationship" trope a la Nisekoi. Only in this one, it's a secret agent and an assassin going out with each other as part of their respective covers on their respective missions, and they adopt a daughter with telekenesis who's thus the one person aware of both their secrets but doesn't tell either one 'cause she wants to live this cool spy thriller life? OK, that really is a joy! I can see why this one took off like it did.

#Anime Update V3 #Anime Update

[fatemenagerieorder]

What if SHirou walked in on that and just fucked Illya and Kuro until the bed broke?

"Well, it would probably lead to an interesting situation for all three of them, as well as Sella at the very least when they'll have to have the bed replaced..."

"At least Leysritt got used to such things, but poor Sella never really managed to get over it..."

#Anonymous