#and as i grew to love Hisoka more act 2 slapped me in the face with his backstory that i sadly can extremely relate to

[icharchivist]

since it’s A3′s fourth anniversary in Japan, i can’t help but think a little more about it.

I started playing a3 exactly 461 days ago according to the app. I was sucked in by some screenshots i was seeing on twitter when it lautched in the english server. the stuff i was seeing were so fun i wanted to discover the plot for myself, and it hadn’t disappointed ever since.

i don’t really get sucked in in slice of life stories so i honestly didn’t expect to get this involved in a3. I also came in completely blind which really made the plot stand out even more for me, discovering it with twist and turns.

A3 has a very solid story, and very good and solid characters that are easy to empathize with, or relate with. 

but imo, the real strength of a3, above all, is that they’ll present you those flawed characters, who all have some stuff wounding them, holding them back, may it be trauma or anxiety or family and stuff... and they address how those stuff heavily affected them... and then process to give them storylines to recover from it.

Since a lot of the storyarcs are easy to relate to, the recovery arcs always hit me right up. 

in a way a3 just... feel like a safe place even as the player. We see the characters bloom and grow past the stuff that were heavy for them, and we grow with them as it goes. 

It’s been over a year for me, and the fact the game has a “the time passes in game just like IRL” vibe with the events timing or the blog posts really make the growth hit even harder when you follow them step by step. 

And i just.. can’t get enough, and it’s part of why i don’t know yet if i’ll read the JPN server translations because i really like going step by step in the story, along with those characters.

a3 really is quite a gem of a story for me... and i’m just so grateful it came into my life when it did. 

Onto new years ahead!

#more personal stuff in the tags: i was obsessed with the game from day one and binged it then but didn't expect to relate to the charas a lo #but i found kinship especially with Azuma and Hisoka on first read which really came to bite me in the ass later #honestly originally i didn't really know why i did - Hisoka was amnesic so it's not like i could relate to his story then #and i don't relate at all to azuma's backstory - i.. relate a lot to his coping mechanism and general behavior tho #(friends who got to see/know Azuma also kinda threw it in my face that 'yeah you do that a lot too' and im :(.) #i do relate to a bit of Hisoka's behavior but more when i'm alone - Azuma is more how i behave with others #(one of the first time i realized i related to Hisoka was bc a friend teased me after i took my fourth nap during a day) #but it took Nocturnality to slap me in the face and have to think more deeply about those stuff i relate to Azuma with... #and as i grew to love Hisoka more act 2 slapped me in the face with his backstory that i sadly can extremely relate to #i don't want to get too much in depth but i was honestly a mess reading it because it was /so specific/. #then later in act 2 there was more discussion around Azuma's trauma ... #and the thing is that both of those things adding up made me realize stuff about myself #i've done lots of therapy with the years but because of the specificities of my trauma and how it is still ongoing #some... guidances didn't exactly help making a sense of how i felt about those things #and to be thinking about why those storylines hit me as they did... made me make sense of my trauma in a way i hadn't managed to #and this is so... special to me.... #ever since those stories clicked in my brain i felt a weigh has lifted from my heart. A weigh i carry for almost twenty years #i thought it might just last a moment but even now monthes later i still feel lighter. I feel more at peace than i've ever been. #of course it's still there... but it's like the fog lifted a little and i can breath a little even if i don't see in front of me yet #and the fact now the story focus on ways for them to recover.... it makes me feel safe. #I can never thank a3 enough for all of this..... so let's see how it leads next. I'm just so grateful to have been here for the ride #ichatalks about a3

[icharchivist]

WINTER!!!!! i am being careful to avoid spoilers for this haha :) anyways!!! winter!!! tsumugi!!!! I just got at the part where he received the magic doll and ahhhhh I am so excited. also when they introduce the play script? I’ll really lose it then. anyways. I feel like homare would be perfect for the XD face and I am just... very glad he’s in this group I think it’d be a bit too serious otherwise lol? oh but I am living for the drama of it so. that’s also good. ummm let’s see. hisoka is great I just think I need a bit of time to know more abt him! and also the fact that tasuku calls taichi nanao is very nice it’s just like. idk he’s considerate. and then he’s lowkey an asshole at tsumugi but understandably so I can’t fault either! I’m realllllly excited for their conversation to come... oh and azuma!! his opening scene in autumn slapped and he’s so mysterious I’m intrigued. god I’m just realizing that now that I’m on winter once I wrap that up I’m gonna be able to understand the event plays... wowwwww!! ahhh anyways. super hype to figure out more!

WELCOME IN WINTER AAAAAAA

yes omg do blacklist my liveblog tag that’ll be for the best bc i ramble so much for them dLKFJDLFKDF

BUT WINTER!!! YES!

and omg the magic doll yessss!! so good!! Tsumu!! and the play yess!

AND TRUE HOMARE FITS SO GOOD and yesss he is essential to the troupe really, i just love what he brings to them, else yeah they’re all so serious, thanks god Homare is here to live up the situation dlfjdkfd

Hisoka is prob the one with the slowest build up out of all of them really, which is already dlkfjdl bc Winter has the slowest build up. Honestly i didn’t expect to care this much about Hisoka on my first read and then he just grew on me and well *waves at self* yeah things happened. (tho i’ll say i DID start to care about him in the Winter chapter, not with the events so it’s not like it’s not there in his intro either-)

AND TASU.. YEAH.. He’s soft toward Taichi... He tends to call most people by their last name (the only ones i have in mind that he doesn’t call by their last name are Tsumugi and Azuma (he calls him Azuma-san) i think? and the without last name gang, but i need to pay more attention to that) and i do think he does this out of respect but yeah with Taichi you can feel they have an history and i mean. he’s sweet and respectful with Taichi which i’m really soft for considering their starting situation..

but yeah with tsumu he’s. yeah. Everything will make sense in time, tbh Tasuku took a long time to grow on me but again *waves at everything* stuff happened. 

AZUMA IS SO GOOD YES his intro in Autumn was already *chief kiss* so to see him more in Winter... gnhhhh Azuma... Azumaaaaaa.... now that’s a chara who didn’t “grow” on me i was ride or die on first glance mann.

ANYWAY I really hope you’ll enjoy Winter and all that’s coming for them :3c 

i’ll be perfectly honest i liked Winter on my first read but it was probably my least favorite troupe (as in they were good but i liked the others three better), then it’s just that the more i thought about it and the more i went on the events, so many things clicked for me and i’ve fell so in love with them now i’m Where I’m At Now, so it’s also why i worry about overhyping Winter because, yeah. But god my feelings for them now are off the charts so i cannot contain anything anymore dLKFJDFLK so i just hope you’ll at least enjoy your first read through and then maybe we’ll see further down the line how you feel for them but yeAH...

AND YEAH!!! Once you’re done with Winter i can send you the drive and you’ll be able to bing all of the event stories, waiting to unlock act 2 ahah. so many stories available to you then and i cannot wait for you to experience them all :3c

i’m so glad you seem to have fun and want to see more tho!! i’m so so happy that you got invested into it aaahh

hoping you’ll enjoy the ride as it goes!! keep me updated ;OOO

#waaaa so happy you like it so far!! #Winter.... good..... winter so good.... me totally unbiased #GOOD LUCK!!!! #ichafantalks a3 #sonnets-of-beauty #ichareply