#and then finding his own way to do UI without losing his emotions completely

[royalbilliards]

Now that you’re done, what are your thoughts on our fav failking Maruki?

So I’ve been sitting on this question a while. I didn’t know how to really express my opinions properly that weren’t in the usual comedic tone I pick up when I talk about the things I love, but I really wanted to answer this question wholeheartedly, so here we are!

Firstly, I need to get my actual thoughts about Persona 5 Royal out of the way, because I love this game. I truly and completely love this game, and it’s knocked BOTW out of the number one placement spot for my favourite game of all time. Everything from the characters, story, music, even the UI design have me absolutely floored, and I genuinely cannot think of a game I could say tops it for me. I listen to the soundtrack daily, and constantly think about the game when I can. I have so many complex thoughts about the game I could talk about here, but since this is just about my opinions on Maruki, I’ll keep those to myself.

Moving on, Maruki is, I feel, one of my favourite characters of all time. He’s so interesting and well-written, his motives make sense, and for the audience it’s sympathetic. We understand why he’s doing what he does, even if it’s wrong. He cares a lot about people, but he cares too much, and it’s his downfall. He wants to make everyone happy, and it’s just impossible. He can’t live knowing someone would be slightly upset. He worked for multiple years to create his perfect reality, presumably trying to figure out a way to help everyone he could, when the opportunity to help everyone landed right in his lap. This was the most important thing to him, and it’s admirable as it is stupid. The loss of that desire, the loss of that ability to help everyone he could, his failed reality and the fact that no matter how hard he tried, he still couldn’t succeed did a massive number on his mental state. Though, I feel as though he mostly survived on his need to help people rather than any positive mental state for a while. I mean, the second he loses that desire, loses years of work and watches as it crumbles and shatters around him, he fully gives up and tries to kill himself (something which Ren was in no way shape or form going to allow). His love for people is what drove him, and his love for people almost drove him to his death.

I feel like a lot of people misunderstand Maruki and what he was meant to represent, He's not one of those “rotten adults.'' He's a broken and hurt man who hadn’t been allowed to express his emotions, and suffered hit after hit (his studies being cut short, his lab being turned into a stadium, his fiancé having a mental breakdown and going catatonic) and tried to fight his emotions by helping other people instead of focusing oh himself. Hence him becoming a therapist and trying to help other people out with their problems as opposed to focusing on his own.

I’ve realised people tend to get angry at Maruki because he was a twist villain. They trusted him and he turned out to be the last boss of the game, and whilst this is understandable, it’s also fucking stupid to stay mad. Characters like this tend to get a lot of shit treatment and I’ve seen people complain multiple times about games having obvious villains, only to complain and get genuinely angry when a twist villain is revealed to be a character they got attached to or trusted. (An example of this is Volo from Legends: Arceus.) Maruki is very much one of these. People are allowed to feel how they want, however these communities of people are so loud, and it makes it hard to find accurate and earnest portrayals of the characters. Instead, what's more prevalent is an insane twisting of the truth people do to justify their anger, or portrayals present in order to have a “villain” for fan content. They do this without realising that the point is that anyone can mess up, and Maruki isn’t a villain for what he did.

To me, Maruki represents guilt and trying to catch an elusive “happy ending." The story of the game is riddled with tragedy and it mostly sticks to its guns about keeping these tragedies permanent. The characters wouldn’t be who they were without the sadness that’s befallen them. The reality Maruki tried to make (and what a lot of people who try to “fix” the canon of a story) made no sense for the characterisation of the characters or who they became as a person because the reasons were erased. There is no happy ending to Persona 5, there is no way to fix everything, and I feel a lot of people may have seen Maruki as an attack on this. It’s okay to feel sad about how something ended, but sometimes you just gotta accept it.

This has gotten pretty wordy, and it’s just a long winded way to say that my opinions on Maruki haven’t changed all that much, other than those 4 hours I spent on merciless trying to beat his fucking fight and getting more and more wound up each time I fucking failed. Anyways, the point is I love him, I love the game, and if anyone is meanies to him again I’ll fucking kill them all with my autism laser beams.

#anon #ask #virtype

[dbzkaka]

Just imagine a scene where a villain figures out that strong emotion can affect Goku's ultra instinct and so he starts attacking vegeta instead to try to make Goku upset and at first vegeta is like "HA you think hurting me will affect Kakarot at all? Fat ch - kakarot?"

And he looks over to Goku who is now in base form because he cant contain it and hes angry and cant help it.

"Im s-sorry Vegeta"

#and anyway #whats the point on ultra instinct #if they dont do anything like this #itd be such a good arc #and then whis scolding goku next time theyre training (after they defeat whatever baddy) and saying he HAS to remain calm at all times #and goku needing to work through it #and imagine his loved ones getting hurt #and needing to detach from it #but also then failing #and then finding his own way to do UI without losing his emotions completely #bam #just hire me at this point #maybe ill write it... whoops

[baragakiscans]

Firstly, sorry for losing the post to your ask! Tumblr shitty UI stuff happened and I accidentally deleted the draft TvT (they should make an option for asks to reappear if the draft answer got deleted or sth smh)

Secondly, IM SO SORRY FOR THE EXTREMELY LONG POST AAAAA

I tried to keep the explanations short like I did for Saraba (even that was pretty long) but then the more I tried the longer it became, and in the end what was supposed to be my take on like 2 pages of this book became this extremely long in-depth analysis of the entire book  _(´ཀ`」 ∠)_  But I mean, I’ve agonised over the translations for this book for almost half a year and I have Lots of Feelings about it because GOD I LOVE THIS BOOK

Anyway, Makkura is another one of those books with a lot of hidden layers that can be unpacked from the story with multiple rereads. Unlike Saraba where some things were intentionally left open to interpretation (I think), though, this book is slightly more straightforward, and I’d like to offer my take on the story.

Long post and Makkura spoilers below the cut!

At the beginning of the story, Gintoki and Hijikata were already dating (secretly-but-not-so-secretly). They’ve clearly been dating for a while now; Hijikata coming over to Gintoki’s place to stay the night (though he’d usually be gone by morning), mayonnaise in the Yorozuya fridge, etc… Though their displays of affection were rather subdued, to the onlooker (and everyone else around them) these two idiots were so obviously crazy in love with each other 💕💕 However, there is something that seems a little… off about their relationship, and this something would have continued lurking in the shadows…

The beginning of the end…?

…Had Gintoki not lost all of his memories of his relationship with Hijikata. Gone was the man who would become agitated at the mere thought of his beloved going into danger; the man before Hijikata now barely knew him, and the thought of dating the Demon Vice Commander would never have crossed his mind.

Imagine waking up to find out that your boyfriend has forgotten all about his relationship with you and makes THIS face at the mere thought of shacking up with you

What Hijikata did next may seem illogical at first (and don’t get me wrong, it really is), but it makes a bit more sense once you realise what exactly was off about their relationship.

You see, Hijikata didn’t think that he was good enough for Gintoki.

If you’re familiar with Syaku’s works, you may have noticed a particular trope being rather common: Hijikata and/or Gintoki falling in love with the other, yet not taking the step forward because they were afraid of getting in the way of the other’s creed—to protect.

Looks familiar? ;)

In Makkura, they did manage to take that step forward (regardless of who made that step first), but even so, there’s always been a niggling doubt somewhere in the back of Hijikata’s mind that maybe—just maybe—Gintoki would be better off without him. Hijikata would do everything in his power to protect the Shinsengumi, and he knows that Gintoki would do the same to protect those he holds dear. It just didn’t occur to him that he was one of them, too. Instead, he was afraid of Gintoki straying from his path because of him.

Gintoki losing his memories was like a wake-up call to Hijikata, that his relationship with Gintoki was too good to be true—and if it will all come to an end eventually anyway, then he should be the one to pull the plug first, especially since the perfect opportunity to reset everything to a clean state has presented itself. He pretended that nothing happened between the two of them. He told Gintoki to “Forget about all this. Everything.” He tried to convince himself that he should make a clean break and completely remove himself from Gintoki’s life, and be content with merely watching from afar.

Maybe Hijikata thought that since he and Gintoki never confirmed their relationship, the people around them will just shrug it off, or won’t notice the change in behaviour. But needless to say, everyone around them immediately noticed that something was wrong. And they even had Hijikata’s inner thoughts all figured out.

The Shinsengumi members know their vice commander too well XD

Even Gintoki himself had managed to put two and two together, but he just couldn’t figure out why he fell in love with the man with whom he always fights like cats and dogs. And since Hijikata himself was so adamant on nothing happening, all he could do was watch as the man-who-is-apparently-his-lover-but-he-somehow-forgot told him to stay out of his way. That’s why, it’s up to everyone else to restore Gintoki’s memories and get these two idiots back together.

While the Yorozuya kids were scrambling to find the antidote, Hijikata opted to go down the slippery slope of self-abandonment by meeting the pervert Bakufu official despite knowing full well what might happen to him. He thought it was all for the sake of the Shinsengumi, but seeing Gintoki down the hallway jolted him back to his senses and made him realise just how wrong he was. He realised the reason why he was actually doing this—to see if Gintoki would come to his aid, to see if Gintoki was still the man he knows and love. He realised that he doesn’t want to give his body to anyone anymore—anyone else, that is. He realised just how truly madly deeply in love he was with Gintoki.

What indeed…

By the time he realised this, though, it already seemed too late; it didn’t seem like Gintoki was going to save him. So, he resolved to keep his memories of Gintoki as a happy dream, and was ready to succumb to despair—when Gintoki finally comes to the rescue! (Not sure if Yamazaki didn’t press the button on purpose here) Of course, Gintoki was pissed off that Hijikata would do something this reckless. So he told Hijikata, “You should treasure yourself more…” (BTW, the original Japanese really only had “You should _______ more…”, I had to fill in the blanks) That’s when Hijikata realised that he was right all along; Gintoki hasn’t changed, even without Hijikata’s memories. And that’s all he needed to know.

And over in this exhibit we have the exact moment when Gintoki fell in love all over again

Right when Gintoki was about to profess his love say something to Hijikata, the kids finally arrive with the antidote! And Sougo even figured out that Gintoki doesn’t really need the antidote anymore since he’s in back in love with Hijikata XD But of course Gintoki wants to remember. Of course he wants to remember all about his time together with the man he now knows he loves. He drinks the antidote—

Ohhhh boy shit’s about to go DOWN

—And we arrive at the emotional climax of the story. Gintoki’s furious—Of course he would be; his lover just tried to erase himself from his life, thinking that it was for his sake! Gintoki thought that Hijikata had underestimated him—in a way, he’s right; Hijikata had underestimated just how much Gintoki needs him. He knew that Gintoki loves him, but he also thought that Gintoki should forsake him for the sake of those he wants to protect.

That’s why Gintoki let Hijikata know just how much he means to him. He has already come to know all of him, so he can’t ever bring himself to let him go. That’s when Hijikata started to realise that he was wrong about Gintoki, and wrong about himself. He meant much more to Gintoki than he ever thought he did.

This led to the one exchange that I wrote out this entire analysis for—

Did I really write 1800 words just for this? Yes. Yes I did.

If Hijikata really meant so much to him, then does that mean Gintoki would have tried to erase himself from Hijikata’s world for his sake, too? Gintoki doesn’t think so, but that’s after everything that has happened so far. Who’s to say he wouldn’t do it if their positions really were reversed at the beginning of the story? They both know that, because they both hold on so dearly to the same beliefs, the same pride.

That led to Gintoki throwing the question back at Hijikata—does that mean Hijikata would fall in love with Gintoki again even without his memories, just like Gintoki did? In asking this, Gintoki was telling Hijikata that, even if he were to do the same, deep down, he would still want Hijikata to fall in love with him again. And that’s when Hijikata realised—it was the same for him, too.

At that point, the two of them came to the same conclusion—neither of them can live without the other anymore. Yet, even if their positions were reversed, they would still have done the same. And even if that were to happen, they would still arrive at this same conclusion. They both love the other too much to let go; yet, they both love the other so much that they’d be willing to let go. Now that they both know this, their bond has become truly unbreakable.

Hijikata’s reply was therefore an affirmation—

“Even so, you’d have done the same. Even so, I’ll still fall in love with you.”

That’s just the way both of them are.

And so, at the end of the story, we now have Gintoki who wants Hijikata to know just how much he loves him (maybe becoming more possessive in the process?), and Hijikata who now knows just how much Gintoki loves him, and has come to forgive himself for loving him. Their relationship is one full of contradictions, yet no matter what happens, they will both find their way back to the place where they belong—in (or should I say on?) each other’s arms.

Look at the how much love there is in Hijikata’s eyes just LOOK AT IT AAAAA

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why Makkura is one of my top Ginhiji doujins of all time! I really really hope that my translation managed to do it justice, and I hope my ramblings were coherent enough TvT 

If you’ve managed to read this far, do give Makkura a reread and you just might see it in a different light ;) Of course, my interpretation might be different from what Syaku intended to present, so feel free to come up with your own interpretations as well!

Also, halfway through writing this I found an analysis by @mugimarumaru over in the MRM comments section, so do check it out as well :>

Thank you for coming to my TED talk and hope you have a nice day~

(I wish I’d put in this much effort in my college essays)

- JJ

(P.S. The REAL question here: if their roles were reversed would that make it a Hijigin book 🤔🤔🤔)

#ask #syaku #meta

[hmollik]

Altrady v3.0 - Your Best Choice for a Crypto Trading Platform in 2020 and Beyond

Altrady v3.0 - Your Best Choice for a Crypto Trading Platform in 2020 and Beyond

Altrady proves yet again that it could be your best choice for an ultimate crypto trading platform in 2020 and even for the years to come. With the release of Altrady Version 3.0, the company further accomplishes its goal of making every crypto trader’s life easier by providing powerful solutions in an extremely accessible and convenient crypto trading application. 

But what makes Altrady an authority among the top multi-exchange cryptocurrency API trading platforms? 

Transparent & Inclusive Product Development Culture 

Altrady started as a humble software company in The Hague, Netherlands. CEO and Founder, Benoist Claassen, recalls, “The beginning of my crypto trading venture was a struggle. I had to compromise a lot of my time and suffer from significant monetary loss just because there was no tool that can help me with exactly what I need.” 

This struggle served as the foundation of Altrady’s mission: to make crypto traders’ life easier by providing a simple crypto trading platform that is accessible to everyone. 

Since Benoist has been in the same boat as other struggling traders, he understands the need for an inclusive app development culture where everybody’s voice can be heard and considered. From the start, Altrady’s development team has always been open to user feedback and recommendations. Benoist even personally acknowledges and responds to users’ messages to provide his warm yet expert take on various trading concerns. 

It is because of this transparent and inclusive development culture that Altrady has grown to become one of the best crypto trading platforms for users globally. By fostering an active community of traders in our communication channels, we were able to discover and eventually develop what they truly need to become successful in this venture. 

Accessible Trading Anytime and Anywhere - Desktop & Web-Based Trading 

The first few months of Altrady opened a lot of areas for improvement including the development of a web-based trading feature that would allow greater mobility among our users. With Altrady Version 3.0, we are now finally enabling a safe and secure web-based trading function so you can access altrady’s complete trading features whenever and wherever. With this development, you can immediately respond to market movements and price alerts without being constrained by your location and desktop availability. 

The altrady website application features all the essential elements of the desktop app including charting, market monitoring, portfolio tracking, and trading, among others. It also has a multi-screen support where you can open as many browser tabs as you want and arrange them between all your screens. 

Very soon, the altrady mobile app will also be seeing a major revamp to enable trading, account management, and asset tracking. 

Real-Time Crypto Alerts Like No Other 

We all know how crypto prices can suddenly rise and drop in a matter of seconds. Without real-time crypto price alerts, it would be impossible to catch profitable trades. 

If you have registered to other crypto trading apps, you could have noticed the speed of their crypto alerts. One of the strongest points of Altrady is our powerful technology that allows real-time alerts instantly delivered to users just when you need them the most. Since our websockets connection in 2019, traders and trading bots have already been receiving crypto price information and market updates over 30 times faster than ever before. Altrady’s unique algorithms make automatic crypto market analyses and real-time notifications 24/7/365 possible. 

Powerful Trading Terminal Comparable to None 

We wouldn’t call Altrady your ultimate crypto trading platform for nothing. We have worked passionately hard to give you a powerful software that comprehensively includes a variety of functions such as multi-exchange trading, multiple account management, and strategic market scanning, among others. 

Version 3.0 further includes backend exchange updates which can track your progress even when your desktop is off. With this feature, Altrady will be able to send price alerts or notify you of any executed orders via email or mobile app. 

Although our main purpose is to give you the convenience of trading from across multiple crypto exchanges using only a single trading interface, we want to give you more power through our innovative tools. Both the Base Scanner and Quick Scanner tools of Altrady are incorporated on our software. You can take advantage of the accurate information coming from these tools to have a more profitable trading experience.

Altrady’s Base Scanner automatically analyzes crypto market histories and checks prices against bases which is helpful in finding profitable market entry positions. On the other hand, Quick Scanner lets you spot huge and sudden price drops and rises happening in thousands of markets. Both of these tools provide real-time notifications that can prove helpful in your trading strategy. 

Insightful Trading Through a Comprehensive Portfolio

Since altrady’s developers are crypto traders themselves, they fully understand the process of making the right trading decisions. Buy and sell actions shall never be based on some random surge or drop in emotions. Instead, trading should always be insightful - taking into consideration the effect of coin orders on the overall health of our portfolio. However, this can only be done if we are equipped with the right tools and resources to make it possible. 

Altrady Portfolio Version 3.0 is a response to this need. It features a more comprehensive presentation of digital assets through an aesthetic yet utilitarian visualization of your trading performance. 

The new portfolio now presents information in three ways - line chart, pie chart, and stacked chart.  The line chart shows your portfolio value over a selected period; the stack chart shows asset distribution by currency, and the pie chart shows the distribution of assets by exchange. 

Giving you an organized, accurate, and updated insight of the asset distribution across exchanges and currencies can significantly impact the way that you make your trading decisions. Strategic trading can now be more effectively done with altrady’s automatic portfolio tracking that can accurately reflect the growth, decline, and the spread of your digital assets across multiple crypto exchanges. 

Complementing our portfolio is Altrady’s Break-Even Calculator Widget where you can immediately see whether you are still earning or losing coins from all your trades on a selected market. It automatically calculates all your trades made on a specific market chart and instantly reflects the data on the widget. 

Advanced Trading Orders Through Scaled Ladders

Altrady supports various trade order types such as Market Order, Limit Order, and Limit Ladder Order. Market Order basically lets you buy a certain volume of coins based on the price in the order book while Limit Order lets you buy or sell a coin at a specific limit price or better. Both of these order types are common among exchange platforms and have their own advantages and disadvantages based on your trading strategy. 

With Scaled Ladder orders, you can quickly place orders at multiple levels on the market chart. Those who follow the QFL method or the base strategy frequently use this order type to take advantage of a volatile market and minimize their risks. On the altrady trading widget, select the limit ladder order type and configure your order according to start and end price, spend volume percentage, and number of ladder orders.

Intuitive User Interface and Customizable Trading Page 

The Altrady trading dashboard is built for traders by traders. Ease of use and functionality are among the guiding principles in the design and development of the Altrady application. The latest version of the app has the following updates: 

A More Functional and Interactive Crypto Chart 

Crypto charts are useful for the effective visualization of market movements and instant spotting of price trends. To maximize the functionality of Altrady charts, users can now instantly create orders and alert commands directly on the price chart. To do this, simply select a specific price point on the chart then right click to create buy and sell orders or set alerts at such a price level. With this new function, users can follow strategic trading decisions based on chart patterns and information.

Improved Market Tabs User Interface & Search Market Functions

Market search, selection, and monitoring can be easily done through Altrady’s improved market search function and redesigned Market Tabs UI. If you have a specific target market or a market under your watchlist, you can simply put them in your market tabs. This way, you can easily jump from one market to another and see the information on your widgets being automatically reflected from the selected market. 

Notes Widget to Organize Trading Thoughts

Do you know that most of the successful traders keep their own trading notes? Since crypto markets are extremely volatile with fast and frequent changes, it is best to keep a record of your trading thoughts, market observations, and trend discoveries through a trading journal. But with the introduction of the Altrady Notes Widget, there is no more need for a separate trading journal. Your Altrady dashboard becomes exactly this plus a lot more!

Altrady’s development doesn’t stop at Version 3.0. To claim that we could be your choice for the best crypto trading platform in 2020 and beyond requires a more open feedback mechanism, non-stop research, intensified development work, and a forward-looking mindset. 

Know that we will never stop looking for better, smarter, and more innovative ways to make your trading lives easier and to make the beautiful possibilities of crypto trading accessible to everyone. 

Altrady Crypto Trading Platform Releases v3.0 With Web-Based Trading,

New Portfolio & Other Features

https://www.altrady.com/blog/web-crypto-trading

Altrady Leads the Top Crypto Trading Platforms in Real-Time Alerts & Customer Support

https://www.altrady.com/blog/real-time-crypto-alerts

[kenkamishiro]

re:quest [tension] - chapter 3

Sorry for the delay. I ended up being pretty busy over the last few weeks, plus having other translations take more priority (like the actual manga chapters and the omakes). Hopefully the next chapters won’t take as long for me to finish.

For those who haven’t read “tension”, the short story about the CCG art festival, you can read chapter 1 here. Enjoy!

(Thank you @tokyo-ghoul-out-of-context and @kanekikenunot for proofreading.)

“Urie.”

Urie silently clicked his tongue as he heard someone call him from behind. Even without looking back at the person he immediately knew who it was.

“...(Annoying prick.)”

He turned around and sure enough, it was his classmate Kuroiwa Takeomi. Between Takeomi’s tall figure and upstanding visage, it was his honest-looking eyes that grated on Urie’s nerves the most, because they were just like the eyes of his father, Kuroiwa Iwao.

Iwao was a distinguished Special Class investigator whom his superiors and subordinates had the utmost trust in. There wasn’t a single person in the CCG bureau who could speak ill of him. That wasn’t the case for Urie, however, since Iwao had only become who he was today at the sacrifice of his own father.

Urie’s father had also been an investigator. As a Special Class he led his own group of subordinates, one of whom was Iwao. Back when the One-Eyed Owl had shown up, Urie’s father had ordered Iwao and his comrades to retreat, and he had stayed behind by himself to act as the rearguard.

And as a result, his father who had once enveloped Urie in warmth, came back home to him as a cold slab of meat.

Why did he let him die?

These emotions were rooted deep inside of Urie and refused to fade away. How many times had he thought about Iwao dying a tragic death just like his father had? No, a death even more horrific than that?

What an irony it was then, that Urie would meet that man’s son, Kuroiwa Takeomi, at the CCG Junior Academy as a fellow classmate, and as a top student like him, no less. That was why Urie put in all his effort so that he would never lose to that man. He wanted to stand at the top, looking down on Takeomi’s bitter face.

Yet, Takeomi never lost his cool. Just like a great and ancient tree reaching up into the heavens, the simple man took everything in stride without reacting, no matter now cruelly Urie treated him. And this pissed Urie off, seeing this part of Takeomi that gave off the impression that he had lived a happy life. It was like he was shoving into Urie’s face the fact that he had a father and mother, and had grown up being loved and cared for.

You just need to start thinking as if you drank sewage, just like me. Then you won’t be able to look at me with those eyes.

These were the thoughts that arose out of Urie when he faced Takeomi.

“...what? (Don’t talk to me.)” Urie asked him curtly. He wanted to ignore and pass him by, but he didn’t want to show Takeomi that he gave a shit about him.

“Are you also going to join the art festival?” Takeomi asked.

Urie raised an eyebrow in surprise. “I like the approach the CCG is taking for the art festival, so I was planning on joining it in the first place. (Don’t just come up to me in the middle of hallway and act like we’re buddies.)”

Urie was a painter who would often paint pictures with a palette in hand. Though he had heard about the strange turnout for the art festival, with Arima as the special adjudicator and the Zero squad participating, he had been planning to join from the beginning. The Washuus played an important role in adjudicating the art festival, so this was his golden opportunity to get his name out there.

“So you knew about it? To be honest, my entire squad was asked to participate.”

“...the Hirako squad? (You too?)”

Takeomi was a member of the Hirako squad, led by Hirako Take. It appeared that Ui had asked Hirako to participate in the art festival. The vice squad leader Itou Kuramoto heard them, and said that he would join as well. The rest of the squad soon followed after.

“I don’t have any experience with art, though. That’s why I came to you to see if I could get some advice, Urie.”

It had been pretty easy for Urie to hear stuff about Takeomi in his academy days, but he had never heard of him having a hobby.

“...I see. (Of course I’m different from a musclebrain like you.)”

It wasn’t that Takeomi was modest, but that he had absolutely no idea what to do. Urie had no intention on helping Takeomi either way though.

“Frankly speaking, the art festival isn’t something you can prepare for in a day. And if you don’t even have a clear goal, I don’t know how I’m supposed to help you. Anyways, the first thing you should do is to just make something (that completely lacks any kind of artistic skill). It doesn’t matter if it looks bad. How does that sound (though it’s nothing but a waste of time)?”

Urie had no words for someone so clueless about everything. But even if Takeomi did know, Urie wasn’t planning on giving him any advice.

“You’re right. I’m sorry I asked you without thinking,” Takeomi said, admitting his mistake with honesty.

You should feel more sorry for talking to me without even trying in the first place, Urie thought.

“...instead of using a delicate tool like a paintbrush, why don’t you make something out of wood instead (you musclebrain)?” Urie suggested, his words laced with poison.

He turned his back on Takeomi. “Good luck and do your best (with your crayon scribbles).”

Urie could gain an overwhelming victory over Takeomi when it came to art. And if he could gain that victory, he might be able to get a step closer to promotion. Urie grinned, imagining Takeomi’s terrible artwork. The art festival looked like it was going to be even more entertaining now.

And he began to snicker.

“...I wonder what Urie-kun is finding so funny,” Mutsuki murmured. He had just stepped out of the conference room when he had come across Urie. Urie’s face looked the same as ever, but Mutsuki felt there was something different about him.

“What is it, Tooru?” Suzuya Juuzou called out from behind him, pushing his head out of the conference room into the hallway. Juuzou, who was in charge of the 13th ward, had come to the bureau for the evaluation meeting of the Auction Cleanup Operation.

“Ah,” Juuzou said. He nodded understandingly as soon as he noticed Urie. “Did you invite him?”

“Oh, no I didn’t. I think Urie-kun’s cutting down on sugar…”

“He’s not eating sweets at all?”

“Yes, he’s trying to bulk up.”

Hearing Mutsuki’s words, Abara Hanbee appeared behind Juuzou. “That is quite unfortunate,” Hanbee said. The other members of the Suzuya squad, Nakarai Keijin, Mikage Miyuki and Tamaki Mizurou came out from the conference room as well, having finished the preparations for the conference.

In truth, Mutsuki and the Suzuya squad were actually going to go to a famous cupcake shop known for their delicious cupcakes. The original plan had been for Hanbee to go alone and buy the cupcakes, but Suzuya had said that he wanted to go see the cupcakes in person and pick them out himself. Which was why everyone was accompanying him.

“Plus a little while ago, he was forced to eat the bucket pudding that Sensei made for us.”

“He actually ate that?” Nakarai asked.

Mutsuki nodded and gave a wry smile. “Sensei even divided it up so that it wouldn’t be difficult for us to eat.”

He remembered what had happened that night. Everyone involved with the investigations had returned home at the same time and were eating dinner together, when all of a sudden a bucket pudding materialized onto the dining table. Saiko looked excitedly at the fascinating-looking pudding, and Shirazu was sitting next to her with his sleeves rolled up...while Urie was looking at it with dead eyes.

“I’m jealous, the Chateau gets so many homemade sweets,” Juuzou said with a grin. Sometimes it was easy to forget that he was a genius investigator with a great number of achievements.

The cupcake shop was a bit of a walk away from the CCG. A fragrant scent that could fill his stomach up to the brim spilled out from inside the shop. The display window was lined with beautiful cupcakes decorated with all sorts of animals and flowers. This was beyond art.

“S-something feels out of place…”

It was because among the dozens of female customers, they were the only group of men that were surrounding the cupcakes. They were met with piercing gazes, but Juuzou didn’t seem to care.

“So pretty! It looks just like a toy,” Juuzou said. He poked the icing on his cupcake with his fork.

“Suzuya-san, these are NGC 4038 and NGC 4039.”

“Mikage-senpai, I don’t get what you’re trying to say,” Mizurou, Mikage’s junior, quipped in response to his enigmatic words.

“In other words, Mizurou, the Antennae Galaxies.”

“That’s way too hard to understand.”

“Maybe if I say it’s Corvus, you’ll figure it out.”

“Is that another one of your constellations?”

Mikage showed no sign that he would explain, so Mutsuki promptly looked it up on his phone. He found a beautiful picture of the Milky Way in its splendour.

He showed Mikage the photo. “It’s this, right?”

“It is,” Mikage answered, pointing to the phone.

“I see. This is art without a doubt,” Hanbee agreed as he looked at the photo. He then looked up at Mutsuki as if he had realized something. “Come to think of it, the festival of the arts is coming soon...what is everyone at the Chateau planning to do?”

Art festival. Those words entered Mutsuki’s ears.

“I’m not really an arts person, but the other members look like they’re going to join.”

Shirazu and Saiko from the Qs squad had been the ones to tell Mutsuki about the festival. They had been brimming with excitement about it. Urie hadn’t confirmed anything, but there was a good chance that he would join considering his hobby.

“Is Haise going to as well?” Juuzou asked, his cheeks ballooning out from the cupcake he had spent more than enough time admiring.

Mutsuki was worried about what would happen if he told Juuzou, but he decided to be honest. “Sensei said that he wanted to make a gingerbread house, but he didn’t think that that would be considered art.”

Juuzou’s eyes began to sparkle. “I want to eat it.”

If anyone could get their teeth into anything, it was Juuzou.

“I think Sensei’s still trying to make up his mind.”

“Tooru. Convince Haise for me.”

“M-me?”

Hanbee lowered his head. “Please do it without fail.”

“I’ll prepare a report of the pros and cons of Sasaki-shi participating for next time,” Nakarai said, cutting off a path of retreat for Mutsuki.

“You’ll be better off if you don’t go against him,” Mizurou whispered to Mutsuki.

“Aim for the stars since you were born,” Mikage whispered incomprehensibly on the other side of him. There was no way of getting out of this.

“I-I understand.”

Sorry, Sensei, Mutsuki apologized in his mind.

What had actually happened with the gingerbread house was that Mado Akira, the Qs’ mother figure, had told Haise to stop fooling around, which had resulted in him giving up. “Nothing I can do about it,” Haise had said, smiling weakly, but there was a look of sadness on his face.

Akira might change her mind if Juuzou asks for it, since the two of them have fought before, Mutsuki thought. Juuzou had requested it for his own sake, but if it helped Haise it wouldn’t be a problem. Or I could also help make the gingerbread house.

“Is everyone in the Suzuya squad also going to join the art festival?”

“We are planning to review and submit a number of expressive drawings drawn by Suzuya-senpai,” Hanbee said. Juuzou sometimes drew pictures of animals, and Hanbee would file them accordingly.

“The other ones are me and Mikage-senpai,” Mizurou said as he drank his coffee to cleanse his palate of the too-sweet-cupcake.

“Is Mikage-san making something space-related?”

“Nope, it’s something else. Mikage-senpai, show it to Mutsuki.”

Mikage took a memo pad out of his pocket and ripped off a page. Placing the paper on the table, he began to fold it. The rectangular paper became a square, the creases and valleys folded in a fluid motion.

Two minutes later it was complete as Mikage produced a five-pointed star. It was simple, but it was beautifully made.

“It’s space-related…”

“This is good, the cosmos are coming,” Mikage muttered without thinking, pointing at Mutsuki. And here Mutsuki thought that it wouldn’t be related to space.

“Mikage-senpai’s really good at origami, huh?” Mizurou asked.

“Uh, yes, I see, origami…”

Mutsuki had been roped into Mikage’s groove and unconsciously thought of it as space-related, but if he stopped to think it about it, it was nothing more than origami.

“Besides that, I can also make dinosaurs that were destroyed by the meteorites, the Rose Nebula that is shaped like a rose, and ornamental balls that vividly resemble supernovas.”

The line between space and origami for Mutsuki was beginning to blur.

“If I can fold origami a hundred and three times, I can make it, but I have not been able to reach that point yet.”

“What are you even saying?”

“The cosmos are not coming, Mizurou. Origami is what space is.”

Art sure exists in all kinds of forms.

I can’t keep up with their conversation, Mutsuki contemplated. The type of art that Mutsuki was most familiar with was paintings for sure. Though one of the biggest reasons for that was because Urie painted on a daily basis.

The smell of oil paint would ooze from Urie’s room and even from Urie himself, and Shirazu and Saiko would often call him stinky without a moment’s hesitation. But to Mutsuki, it felt like that familiar scent exuded Urie, exuded his coldness and prickliness. Was he thinking that way because he had experienced Urie’s solitude during the Auction Operation?

Mutsuki let out a short breath and decided to think about something else. Come to think of it, how are Saiko and Shirazu doing? Maybe I’ll ask them when I’m back at the Chateau.

But before I do that, I’ll have to ask Haise about the gingerbread house, Mutsuki thought as he watched Juuzou enjoying his cupcake.

Previous chapter || Next chapter

#Tokyo Ghoul #Tokyo Ghoul:re #Tokyo Ghoul:re[quest] #Translations #my translations #Urie Kuki #Mutsuki Tooru #Suzuya Juuzou #Suzuya squad #Kuroiwa Takeomi

[sparda3g]

Tokyo Ghoul:re Chapter 150 Review

The enemy of my enemy is my friend. It’s the phrase that has been circulating since Dragon was born. The pieces were coming together slowly, but it is safe to say that this chapter made it complete. While it is going to be shaky in terms of agreement, this can be a sign for a bright future. In a rare sight for the beholder, the chapter delivers the sincere and good hearted moment of Ghoul and Human joining hands in unity.

It’s so strange how the series is looking to have a bright future. Is this the happy ending we thought it wasn’t possible to begin with? Is it what Furuta calls it “Super Peace?” Is this the end of the story? While I still maintain my opinion of third part, it certainly gains my maximum interest on how it will end before breaking to the next step.

Kimi has gotten mature. She was a kind and normal girl that finds Ghoul fascinating or beautiful. Now, she seems very intellect with her choice of words and studies to provide the understanding of Dragon. Origami was used for example of Kagune’s origin so to speak, which is something I thought I wouldn’t hear from her. The two year plus time-skip did wonder to her.

Anyway, it is referenced due to how Kagune can be expandable and based on Kanou’s research, consuming a large amount of Kakuhou only adds more “layers” to it. That explains why Kaneki’s Kagune or for that matter, the first One-Eye King has a huge size Kagune roaming around the city. The good news is that it can die out when leaving as it is. The bad news is that it will take at least 200 years. Yes, make sure you message your future great, great, great grandson to take a picture of Tokyo with deceased Dragon.

The other option that could perhaps take just as long as 200 years is to locate the main body, Kaneki, and eliminate it from its core. It’s basically what Hide has in mind from the last chapter. It’s just going to be a huge pain to find it; especially that Dragon is expected to wake up soon. Then the chapter enters a surprising turn of an event and without a doubt, the main highlight of the arc so far with plenty of significant moments.

Ghoul and Human are all in one area. It’s equivalent to the impression of cats and dogs living together; it feels surreal to see them without murdering one another. One slip up and hell will be made inside. It’s amusing that one of CCG Investigators notice Amon in there because they won’t believe that he’s a Ghoul now. It could have been the worst train wreck in history if it wasn’t for Hide, out of all people, to make it possible. It’s not without a lot of indifference feelings, even Marude. Despite the fact he is siding at least with one Ghoul, Matsuri, asking everyone there is ludicrous.

The confrontation between Hide and Marude is amusing and uplifting. You got to love how Hide is all cool with the whole potential blood bath scene. Marude was the only one that was losing his cool about the plan to work together with Ghoul to end Dragon. He even shouts on what he’s doing are impossible and Hide casually said, “Yep.” Best friend of the century here. He finally let it out and expose that Dragon is Kaneki and this is where a lot of commotions come in. You have people lost since they thought the King is dead, you have Saiko now know that Maman is the root of this in which got me awed, and Furuta is exposed to be a piece of shit.

I was happy that Ui is the one to expose Furuta and his horrible intention, even though he was used by him as well. If anything, this moment should make him the next Bureau Chief of CCG. That said he has one problem: the ideology behind it. While he is no longer burdened by Furuta, it doesn’t take away his hatred against Ghoul and everyone else is in an agreement. It can’t change like that and that’s understandable. At the very least, he gives Ghouls a chance to leave before it goes straight to hell.

Amon finally got into the spotlight and I have waited for this for a while. This part is great as well because this accumulate to his hatred against Ghoul and Amon breaking in to reject his belief. It got to the point that CCG’s motto is to kill Ghoul and that’s it. In other words, it’s good to kill people and that’s disturbing.

Amon finally got to share his belief as CCG and said it like he should be the Bureau Chief, though he won’t go for it. The point is CCG is meant to bring in peace above anything because that’s what they strive for. I like the fact that every bystander can understand carefully among themselves and why they are in a shamble state. They are fickle on their feelings, whether it’s stem from fear or false justice. It adds a great cherry on top with Saiko siding with Amon. Those past developments truly pay off well and it was just so charming to see how far she matured.

Arguably the best moment is the removal of all Ghouls’ mask. I got to comment on the visual because it’s top notch solid with its conveying the emotional scene. There are so many good ones in here with meaningful impact to the character. It deeply realized the developments they all have went through and they’re sharing it to the world. With the masks’ removal scene, it is powerful; I’m glad that it didn’t go to exposition on why it is. Simply put, Ghoul lived in hiding, but removing it now says that they are willing to share their identity to the world and all this time, what’s behind it is a human. It’s beautiful really.

Speaking of beauty, Touka as herself is always delightful to see. I love she calls bullshit on pride; it is a sin for a reason. She couldn’t give a shit about any of that. It would only beg for death if they keep those selfish prides to themselves. While it is funny for that guy to call her cute, it does speaks volume on how their vision no longer in delusion. It’s such a well-crafted chapter.

It finally ends with one charming moment with Suzuya. It’s such a striking development because Ishida carefully addresses his character to be connected with Shinohara but only because he was like a child being taught by his father. In nearly every moment of his, he reflects back to him. That all said he is no longer a child that needs a caretaker; he’s now an adult. Marude, the guy who lost his bike to Suzuya, is the one to give him an adult advice to open his eyes. That’s just fantastic.

It’s not to say to forget Shinohara altogether, rather Suzuya is a person that can befriend, work, and share his opinion with others. If he feels that working together with Ghouls is a good idea, then go for it. That charming smile is another powerful moment. It’s as if he is no longer tied by chains and can make his own decision. It makes sense on why the mention of his popularity has to be said in order for this moment to even happen. Now everyone is on the same page. Is this truly peace? If so, then Tokyo shall be reborn.

It’s a very sincere and captivating chapter that accumulates every development from each individual into one grand proportion of event. They have come a long way to this moment but if this remain the same with some tweaks, then it’s safe to say that a happy ending is possible. Even if it doesn’t last long after it’s said and done, one thought came to my mind: it feels good, doesn’t it.

#tokyo ghoul:re #tokyo ghoul re #tokyo ghoul #chapter 150 #review

[linkspooky]

Fear of Loss Leads to the Dark Side

Touken? I don’t know her, let’s talk about Ui Koori more. 

What I noticed right away from this chapter was Ui’s outfit change, he’s gone from wearing white primarily in the middle of missions to all black. It could be simply to match Furuta’s change, he is after all on the chessboard a black king where previously Ui fought as an ally of the white king Arima.

My mind however, jumped immediately to a different conclusion. Ui’s decision to dress in all black, and stand at Furuta’s side means he has decided to join the dark side of the force.

Yes, let’s talk star wars. 

There’s a star wars parallel that can easily explain the connection between all events in this chapter. For a little background, in the prequel trilogy the jedi are established as an order of specially trained warriors (most of them since they were children) that maintains peace throughout the galaxy. They also fight entirely with weapons unique mainly to them (lightsabers) made out of a unique material (the crystals that power them). 

The parallels to the CCG are obvious, but one more is that Jedi are taught not to get too attached to one individual, their philosophy leans towards suppressing emotions, so the main relationships in their lives are superior, comrade, or inferior relationships with other jedi. It’s forbidden for them to take one specific person as a lover for instance.

While not as extreme, Ui definitely viewed his every relationship in the CCG through the framework of ‘coworker/superior/inferior’ rather than simply admitting what they were to him. It’s quite obvious at this point that Hairu to him was more than ‘a colleague’ after all, would he really sell out all of his moral values and stand on a pile of corpses for just a colleague?

In the prequel trilogy Anakin Skywalker is set up as a husband and expectant father, afraid to lose Padme the same way he lost his mother, but unable to go to anybody within the Jedi order for help because the kind of connection he made with her was forbidden. 

When Anakin does ask another Jedi about the fear he feels, he receives this response. 

“The Fear of Loss, is a path to the dark side.” [x]  “Attachment leads to jealousy, which is the shadow of greed... Train yourself to let go of everything you may fear you lose.”

Unwilling to let go though, his fears unheard by the order are instead preyed upon by a manipulator wishing to destroy the jedi order, one who poses as a simple bureaucrat within the same order he’s currently trying to climb to the top of. 

Supreme Chancellor: Did you ever hear the tragedy of Darth Plagueis "the wise"? Anakin Skywalker: No. Supreme Chancellor: I thought not. It's not a story the Jedi would tell you. It's a Sith legend. Darth Plagueis was a Dark Lord of the Sith, so powerful and so wise he could use the Force to influence the midichlorians to create life... He had such a knowledge of the dark side that he could even keep the ones he cared about from dying. Anakin Skywalker: He could actually save people from death? Supreme Chancellor: The dark side of the Force is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural. Anakin Skywalker: What happened to him? Supreme Chancellor: He became so powerful... the only thing he was afraid of was losing his power, which eventually, of course, he did. Unfortunately, he taught his apprentice everything he knew, then his apprentice killed him in his sleep. It's ironic he could save others from death, but not himself. 

[x]

This simple fable of course, has a lot in common with the story that Furuta started out telling Ui before he directly brought up Hairu. That the life force is so strong within ghouls, that they could even use it to create life itself.

In both cases, emotionally repressing themselves and attempting to do things as they see the “right, ethical, or just” way has not gotten them what they wanted. Despite fighting hard, gaining power, and becoming the hope of the CCG Ui Koori has lost all the important people in his life. Anakin Skywalker despite being strongest of the jedi and fighting to preserve the republic in civil war, has lost his mother and now his only family is threatened. 

Both men cannot deal with loss in the slightest. The right thing to do is to train themselves healthily to let go, but they’ve never experienced a full relationship in their lives, let alone one they can watch end in a healthy manner and then learn to move past. Every loss for them is sudden and cut off. That is why they get possessive. Ui’s face last chapter was marked with the “3″ of the Empress. In tarot, the empress is a card of fertility, birth, new life, but specifically the kind that comes with a female. Now the empress is being called up in a discussion between two males, deliberating whether or not they should bring a female back to life without her consent. From a truly gendered reading it’s two men deciding to make life, and therefore take possession of a domain that is not theirs.

Life is more complicated than medieval definitions of gendered tarot for the major arcana though, so let’s go back to the star wars reading. Palpatine tempts Anakin by revealing to him what he really wanted, the power those close to him. In his failure to do so he starts to see them as possessions to lose rather than people, which pushes him further into the dark side’s way of thinking. Furuta does the same for Ui, he tempts him with what he really wanted, close relationships with others, people to fight for, but in that same regard he waves Hairu’s head in front of him as if she were an object. 

The simplified version of the light and dark side of the force is that the jedis are trained to restrain emotions, while the sith are told to use those emotions and gain power from them. That could be seen as an old guard vs new guard CCG, the old Washuu taught emotional restraint when dealing with ghouls, the new Furuta vanguard is out in the open. 

It could also be a little more complicated, the jedi are taught to act with respect, restraint and regards towards others, to achieve not with might but with discipline. Furuta however, encourages others to take what they want with strength, peace is only brought with the massacre of the ghouls. He encourages Ui to fight not for the idea of justice, but for what his deepest desire is. 

By doing that though, Ui has become beholden to those desires. His newfound freedom from ethics is only another kind of restraint, because now the only actions he can take are those that will bring Hairu back, or rather Furuta can justify any action to him and Ui will be forced to follow along because that action may eventually bring Hairu back. Ui is even able to justify using childrens as mass murder weapon and props in this grandstanding, the same way that Anakin could justify the murder of innocent children apprentices of the jedi order in his attempts to protect Padme.

In the same vein, Anakin’s liberation from the emotional repression of the jedi did not bring him the security for his family, nor the free will that he wanted. Rather he was chained to Palpatine’s side and exchanging one master for another, rather than being controlled by ethics and restraint he was controlled entirely by his rage and want for power. 

In more thematic language, what Furuta, and also what the sith offer is a chance to embrace your shadow, your deepest desires, while implying that achieving those desires is what will grant you freedom. However, the shadow =/= the true self (persona lied to you), those who fall for Furuta’s temptation and completely become their shadows only find themselves similiarly restrained the way they were before.

There exists the element of irony too, because what exactly is Ui so disatisfied with in this scene, that Furuta would really stand on a pile of corpses for all to see? That people would cheer it?

However, what Furuta is doing right now is no different from what his former master did. One of Arima’s greatest reoccurring symbols was standing atop a pile of corpses, so much so he’d even count how many would pile up before he began his missions. 

Ui however, was a great fan of Arima while calling what Furuta does unethical. It begs the question what the difference is, or at what point does the mass slaughter of ghouls become ethical in Ui’s mind? 

That’s a bit of a tangent though, returning to the chapter proper, Touka and Kaneki have a similiar conversation. What exactly was it that led Kaneki to pursue strength alone, Kaneki answers it was his own fear of being left behind. 

His inability to cope with actually having to let go of others also leads Kaneki to treat people like objects, to turn Touka from somebody who could charge ahead decisively, to what she is now, somebody who waits for him patiently back at the cafe. Even though it was her charging ahead that made Kaneki admire her in the first place. 

I don’t think it’s a mistake that when Touka asks Kaneki why it’s Nishiki and Tsukiyama who are always allowed to participate in the action and not himself, that Kaneki mentions the weakness and inferiority he used to feel to her. It’s not just that though, Kaneki can’t conceive that others might miss him. The words Touka says here, come completely as a surprise to him and one he has no response to. 

He sees neither the care others have for him, nor the pain he inflicts on them for leaving. In his mind it’s always better for him to be the one charging ahead, and risking dying in some alleyway because no one will miss him, but he will miss the person if they are ahead in his place. He also doesn’t comprehend it when others try to correct him on this notion, which is basically why Kaneki responds with the emotional range of a wet towel in this chapter, except when he was asked about his own abandonment issues. 

For that is the only way Kaneki can see his relationships at this moment. Always in terms of “I don’t want them to leave me.” He can’t even appreciate the return of others because he is already mourning their future loss. 

That’s the connection between Ui and Kaneki, and why they are sharing the same chapter. They’re both driven by the same dark desire, the fear of losing others. That is what causes them to throw themselves further into the conflict, and ironically, make objects of the people that they wanted to enjoy mutual relationships with. 

Which is why at the end of the chapter, Kaneki is greeted not with a mutual relationship with Touka, but with this. 

Mutsuki, the shadow of his actions, or otherwise just another person who is motivated solely by the fear of loss. Mutsuki has also made the decision, just as Kaneki and Ui did, to ignore all outside circumstances and simply fight for their shadow of a desire, the fear of losing others. To the point where they become controlled by it, though with Mutsuki it’s more literal as they experience dissociation, and fugue states. Mutsuki’s sudden appearance is the embodiment of these feelings, and also how Kaneki’s failure to move past them will sabotage  his future relationships. 

That’s why the narration at the end, though seemingly foreshadowing horror in this context has also been repeated by Kaneki in the past. Here, and here.

As I’ve said in the past fighting with feeling with inevitably make you stronger, but there’s a catch as well. Acknowledging those feelings, what has been shown in the past few chapters with Goat is not enough. An inability to cope properly with those feelings is what leads to the dark side.

#tg meta #meta #tokyo ghoul meta #kaneki ken #ui koori #furuta nimura #star wars #charade asked me to do this post i have no regrets #mutsuki tooru

[babypunter3000]

The only good things about Netflix’s Death Note Movie

1. Willem DaFoe Green Goblining it up as Ryuk. 2. L for the first half before Watari got Death Noted. 3. The rockin’ soundtrack. 4. The time that-Okay, you know what? No, I can’t even leave just one fully positive post about this you know how much goddamn BULLSHIT it was that Mia/Misa and L were adapted as waaaay more in the wrong than Light was? In the manga and anime, Light was CLEARLY the main bad guy, careening himself farther away from “well-intentioned” and “maybe he has a point” and into “irredeemable soulless fascist dictator” with every chapter and episode. Hell, in the FIRST BOOK AND EPISODE, he clearly states that he will be “the God of this new world,” and his general “I don’t give a general fuck about other people” attitude could already start to be seen. In this adaptation, Light’s all just love and an old soul wise beyond his years who wants to HELP the world out of the goodness of his heart and sense of justice. And at first, it’s not to bad, you think to yourself, “hey, this could be alright. A narrative about how absolute power corrupts absolutely with a kid who only wants to kill the really bad guys, and even then is super freaked out about it. sure, whatever” But no. NO. It NEVER turns that way! Light ALWAYS only kills for “the greater good” and is constantly portrayed throughout this movie as this well-meaning kid who’s just in so much over his head you gu-uys! 

Meanwhile, Misa has been taken from her canon form as a devout Kira worshiper who was used and abused by Light to his own ends without a shred of emotion for her and has been turned into the love of Light’s life and THE REAL VILLAIN OF THE STORY! You see, Light didn’t really want to kill all those people and usher in a new era of Kira rule! It was all MIA’S influence and hen-pecking that drove Light to kill all willy-nilly! I mean, there’s this scene in the movie where Mia is showing Light a pro-Kira website where people are suggesting new people for Kira to kill, and Light brings up a point where some of the criminals could just be regular innocent people that have a beef with the poster. Mia basically tells him “Who cares? Any kind of petty crime or personal slight is good enough of a reason to kill for me! Let’s make out!” and they both go on their merry ways writing in the book. Like, fuck the writers for tossing out Light’s original characterization and motives to turn it all into a sexist, lazy, “It was all the EVIL WOMAN’S fault for tempting that poor boy!” narrative. And then Mia is killed off by Light on screen right after they have a fight where she is portrayed in the most clingy, shrewish way possible. She even says that she only killed all those people to get closer to Light. She had no justice-dog in this fight like the original Misa had. She was just in it so that Light would date her, and she somehow turned out to be the most murder-happy one after Light introduced her to the whole thing. And I’m sure that the neanderthal who wrote this drivel is patting himself on the back for writing such a great fucking script. And you’re supposed to feel bad because of course she dies by falling into a giant flower display and of course she has to be pretty when she dies. Fuck you. And while we’re on the subject of this movie going out of it’s way to justify and excuse A MASS MURDERER, let’s talk about how the movie treats L. For the first few minutes of his screen time, I honestly thought they did a good job. True, all he was doing was copying L’s mannerisms from the show and being deductive, but it was nice to see something from the books being portrayed accurately in this tire fire of a movie. But you know how everyone loved the original manga and anime for Light and L’s high stakes game of cat and mouse and how they would constantly one-up the other using their wits and intelligence and plenty of insanely thought out plans? Yeah, that’s also tossed right out the goddamn window in this one. Instead, we get an hour of L and Light basically shouting “Come at me, bro!” and emotionally lashing out at one another until one of them finally does something stupid enough to lose. It’s a race to the goddamn bottom, like the mental version of watching a drunken fistfight in a back alley. There’s no finesse, there’s no skill, just watching two guys shouting, “I KNOW YOU’RE KIRA!” and, “YEAH, WELL, FUCK YOU, KIRA’S THE GOOD GUY AND WHAT DO YOU KNOW ANYWAY?!” at each other for an hour. And L gets such a raw deal in this movie. I think he technically lives at the stupid non-ending (you don’t see Light die in the film, btw. You see Mia die, of course, because she’s an EVIL WOMAN!1! who DESERVED IT!!1, but of course not fucking Light), but even then he has even less dignity than in the manga and anime where he dies halfway through. L, in the manga, anime, and this trainwreck of a film, is the eccentric big-time elusive detective who picks up the task of finding out the identity of Kira to stop him. The only difference is that the manga and anime didn’t go out of their way to fucking destroy him. And I’m not just talking about the plot point in this failure of a motion picture that has Light easily put Watari’s name in the Death Note (yes, Watari is his real name in this and they just parade his name and face around without a worry in the world, I mean, what did you expect to happen?) that puts L into a tailspin. I’m talking about how the narrative treats L, the guy who’s trying to stop A MASS MURDERER from killing, as another bad guy, clearly in the wrong, because Light’s just trying to make the world a better place, yannow? First, he falls apart because Watari is missing and is in the hands of Kira, which okay, I don’t blame him, but he never gets past that. For the rest of the movie, he’s on the verge of tears, he can’t think straight, he’s blinded by emotion. He only manages to figure out a key point at the very end, and this was after Light openly confesses to what it is. Secondly, L is never able to officially out Kira. In light of this, his higher-ups unceremoniously fire him, leaving him an even bigger wreck. This happens around the exact same time Light is explaining to his dad what his master plan in the climax was, which is the only kind of smart thing that ever happens in this movie and is almost reminiscent of it’s source material. Point being, the narrative wants you to believe that Light is competent, L is incompetent. But you know what scene was the ultimate “fuck you” to L’s character as well as containing a horrible implication and clearly demonstrating a crucial flaw in the movie? Near the end of the movie, L has a gun pointed to Light’s head in a back alley. He’s desperate, and Light is shouting about the page of the death note stuck in Mia’s textbook that’s the key to saving Watari (because he’s such a GOOD GUY, you guys!) Since L has no goddamn idea what Light is talking about, and just knows that he’s the guy who killed 400 people and possibly his only friend, he ignores him, and turns to a man who just walked out of his shop, begging him to help and shouts, “He’s Kira!” The man stops and gets clarification that yes, Light is Kira, and then proceeds to knock L unconscious with a wooden plank to the head because he’s a fan of Kira as Light runs off to safety. Did I mention yet that L is black in this movie while Light is white? A black detective who’s implied to be the best of the best and is completely in the right is struck down because the bystander was a fan of the white mass murderer he was trying to stop. It doesn’t matter that “Oh, but Kira was only killing bad guys!” because fuck you, the movie itself established that Light and Mia were killing people on a whim and not bothering to check sources for libel. I will repeat, THE MOVIE POINT BLANK HAD A BLACK PROFESSIONAL STRUCK DOWN TO PROTECT THE WHITE MASS MURDERER THAT THE NARRATIVE TRIES TO PLAY OFF AS INNOCENT. Seriously, this whole movie exists around the premise that a greasy white boy who murders people needs to be cared about and protected from a woman and a black man who somehow convince him to commit more murder against his will because boobies or want him to stop committing murder at all costs. Ryuk, the death god that patiently walks Light through how to kill someone, doesn’t even get as many “DANGER! THREAT TO LIGHT’S SAFETY!” vibes as Mia and L do. The narrative is like, “Yeah, he’s a death god, what do you expect? BUT THIS WOMAN AND BLACK GUY ARE GONNA BE THE DEATH OF THAT POOR NAIVE BOY!” This kind of shit belongs in a trump rally, not in my movie based on a story where the main, privileged, young man was portrayed as an honest to God mass-murdering dictator who yes, must be fucking stopped. And you wanna know the dumbest thing about this movie? There are no stakes. None. The narrative wants you to care about the lives of a couple of murderers because they make a cute couple and are a pair of “good kids” who have glitter on their tongues (yeah) and are white (or at least, that’s what I’m guessing, since the only black character in the movie is treated as a hindrance and a joke even though he was in the right the entire time). Everyone in the movie’s world that isn’t a cop LOVES Kira. The movie is forever showing you pictures of people at Kira shrines, or holding, “I Love You, Kira!” or spraypaint on the walls that says “Kira Lives!” We never see the dystopian hellscape that ultimately was Kira’s world, where everyone was scared fucking shitless because Light was killing anyone who so much as looked at another guy funny. And don’t tell me that there was no crime ever in that world, there was just unreported crime. And we never see any followup to the scene where they just decide to kill people because anonymous sources online told them to. We never see any distraught partners breaking down on the news because their husband died of a heart attack for a crime he didn’t commit. We never see any innocent people die, or at least innocent people who are quickly brushed off as “cannon fodder” and are never mentioned again after they are killed (ie, the twelve FBI agents). Kira is just worshiped by EVERYONE to the point where if he just came out as Kira, nobody would be able to touch him because they’d be coming out of the woodwork to protect him (as demonstrated in the paragraph above). The only reason he DID possibly die in the end is because Light gave L the means to. If he never mentioned the Death Note, he would basically be unstoppable, because everyone in this movie is either SO DUMB or SO IN LOVE WITH KIRA. And while this movie is so bad it’s hilarious to watch and deserves a good MST3K-ing, it’s also so fucking infuriating with it’s fucking worship and embracing of this fucking white boy mass murderer to the point where they had to make characters from the original work into worse versions of themselves to prop him up while decrying anyone who opposes him as “the real bad guys.” These writers are the kind of people who pass a gang of white kids vandalizing a car to call the cops on a black kid sleeping in one. These writers are the kind of people who would say, “Well, of course she got raped, she constantly teased boys with her short skirts!” The writers are the kind of writers who would describe a white male shooter as, “teen genius suddenly snaps! Unfortunate incident for former varsity football player. His friends talk about what a great guy he was on page six.” Seriously, the next time someone scoffs at you for suggesting that white male privilege exists, show them this goddamn movie a bunch of grown ass adults made and went, “Yep, this’ll do!”

#death note #death note 2017 #netflix #netflix death note #death #murder #racism #sexism #I thought this script died in 2007 #rape

[slapegg]

Quick Critique: Nier Automata

Nier was one of my favorite games on the PS3 and I've talked about it several times on the site, so I won't go deep on the rememberances.

I think this will sum up a lot about Automata. Throughout the beginning of the game, I couldn't read the settings menu. All of the text was garbled symbols. I spent the game thinking that was on purpose, like it was some grand joke or a reference to the android character's mental or physical state. It turned out it was just a defect in the game that some players encounter and I was unlucky enough to have it from the very beginning. It's also a game where I spent 30 minutes running in circles in a map with infinitely respawning enemies because a voice cue triggered at the wrong time and led me down the wrong path. I was sure I was missing a switch or I broke the scripting or something. If the voice cue had played properly, that would have been my signal that a door even existed and that I should have been headed in the opposite direction, but I didn't get that. Thank you, random Youtube person, for posting a runthrough of that level, because I probably never would have found my way out.

Seeing Nier 2 announced at that E3 conference had me giddy, but as soon as I saw Platinum's involvement, I got worried. I hate Platinum's games. My fears were immediately justified as Automata begins with a tedious shooter segment that serves as the intro stage and lasts for almost 40 minutes and then that shooting continues for most of the game. Even the final credits are a shooter. Nothing about it is fun or interesting, you just hold down the shoot button and your assistant does all the work for you. The shooter segments in the original Nier were weird and an interesting way to break up the combat. This one just starts with it and drives it into the ground. Nier was an action-RPG with a bit of weird bullet hell shooting mixed in for fun. Automata is a shooter with a bit of action-RPG mixed in. Most enemies dash back from you when hit or hover in the air, so your options are to constantly chase them down for melee attacks or just hold down the fire button and let the game do all the work. By trying to make combat more complex, they made it far more boring. You're not even allowed to use your sword against the final boss. It floats in the air and the game straight up removes melee combat part way through the fight. The shooting is bad enough but it's combined with a terrible camera and terrible lock-on. It breaks with every enemy you beat even when you're in a crowd, it locks onto enemies that are far away rather than the ones in front of you, and it will actually target friendly units over enemies. Friendly units that you can accidentally kill if you thought you had locked onto the enemy.

The UI is a pain with menus that go many layers deep and lots of micromanaging items, equipment, and skill chips. Nier 1 had that with the words you'd find, but very early into that game, I found the settings I liked and stuck with them. Here, I feel like I'm juggling all kinds of things but not really seeing the difference in the game. The world is unnecessarily big and full of invisible walls and one-way routes, so it's a chore to plod from place to place, and you don't unlock fast travel until several hours into the game. Even once you do have it, there aren't enough travel spots or they're bunched together so they don't cover the map well as you run through the same five areas over and over. The sidequests are mostly boring fetch quests, but if you don't do them, you won't have enough crafting supplies or currency and you'll fall far behind in levels so enemies can one-shot you. Almost every death I had in the game was due to some sidequest having enemies that were three times stronger than the story enemies, but the game gives you no warning of this. It will casually toss out enemies twice your level that you do 1 damage to without even a word of caution. And on the escort missions (uuugggh), you have to be able to throw yourself in the line of fire to prevent the escortee from dying, so if you can't tank all the gunfire, you're going to fail that mission very quickly. If you die, you have to do a corpse run back to your old body or you lose your gear. You can see the bodies of other players too, but it doesn't add anything to the game. At worst, it spoils some moments where a fight breaks out that we weren't expecting because you walked into this normally peaceful area that is now littered with player corpses, so you know something is about to go down. It really comes across as "Dark Souls is popular, so we need to get in on that". The bonuses never seem worth it and you should never use them as allies because they pick fights with non-hostile characters. I kept seeing the same player names over and over, so I'm not sure if it's even a real system and not once did I ever get a message that anybody had ever helped me. And of course, thanks to the wonders of the game playing population, during dramatic pre-boss moments, you'll run into people named "F4g". Way to go, humanity. Maybe that feature was a ploy to get me to side with the machines.

Admittedly, even Nier wasn't the tops in the gameplay department (but what it had, it did well for me) and it's all about the story. Automata most definitely does not redeem itself with the story. It does have some horrible character designs and some of the most unlikable protagonists and sidekicks you can find though. I was invested in Nier and Yonah's story from the very start of the first game. Here, I hated my partner and couldn't care about the main character. Of the mostly main characters, there are a total of two characters I took a shine to: a renegade robot that said nuts to The Man and started his own village and my lesbian android ditz of an operator that believes in astrology and has girlfriend problems. 6O, you are a-dorable. Part of the problem is that the protagonists are androids and the game begins with explicitly saying that their bodies can be copied and their minds backed up, so there's never any danger or drama. There are lots of moments where the game plays up that they're in danger, but you as a player know it's no big deal because you canonically have dozens of copies of yourself stashed around the city. Automata makes attempts at the same despair Nier had, but it's like Nier-lite. None of the sad moments hit because the stakes are so low, they keep reusing the same themes, and the plot twists are obvious on their own, but if you've played Nier already, the twists are so blatant and uninteresting. Plot twists are rarely more than "this is what we told you was going on but then this is what REALLY is going on" and its attempts at despair are so corny and lazy that it's ineffective. "Everybody dies" is not an effective way at building despair. It's predictable and actually lessens the stakes. Nier used death as a spice. It built up the characters and their stories and used death sparingly to make its punch matter and, more importantly, it set things up to where some people would have been better off dying, but knowing that they have to go on is more sad than if they died. When you're looking for the junkyard kids' mother, you as the player know she's going to be dead, but then the game still gets you by making the circumstances of her death more depressing than just the fact that she died. Automata just throws death around to the point that it's meaningless. With no grandeur or build-up, it just adds "and then they died" to so many quests, that by the time there actually was a story beat that built up despair, I was so burned out on the trivial deaths that it didn't hit me.

Nier was a game where you poured over the story, trying to wring every bit of backstory and every ounce of lore out of it. Nier made me tear up no fewer than three times. Nier's reveals were earned through great characters and storytelling, so when you finally got to see it all play out, it was like a punch to the gut when you found out what was really going on. Automata's story... just kind of... happens? It has a nonsensical backstory that the game just throws at you with a "look, this happened before the game" and then a few hours later, it completely abandons its backstory and tells you that it just doesn't matter anymore. It introduces its antagonist in a cutscene that makes no sense and finishes that encounter with another cutscene that makes no sense. And the antagonist is evil because... reasons? You meet the antagonist when it's introduced, once in the middle of the game, and then again when you face each other. That's it. This is a game where there's supposed to be a dramatic and/or horrifying cutscene of a robot eating a humanoid android, complete with ripping noises and blood spurts, but it has no emotional impact because it happens for no good reason and the robot doesn't have a mouth. At best, that robot could be headbutting the android's face into a bloody pulp, and that would have been a way more brutal way to approach that scene. Instead, the game just shrugs and decides that zombies are popular with the kids, let's turn some robots into zombies. How? Why? Doesn't matter. Even the connections to Nier aren't worth it. Several characters show up that died in Nier and there's no explanation why they're here. The appearance of one tells you that Automata takes place after Nier, but they just show up unexplained. If you hadn't played Nier or read the Japanese-only side story (again, thank you, random Internet person, for translating that) that Automata uses as its backstory, none of their appearances would make sense, and even knowing that backstory, it still doesn't make sense. 25 hours or so into the game when the reason some of the characters show up is given, it's so flimsy and pointless that I would have rather they just not appeared at all. The writing in this game is just bad. It's amateurish at best and random for the sake of being random at its worst. The moments where it calls back to Nier just make Automata look worse in comparison. There's a tedious side mission of combing the desert for invisible items that tell of the fall of Facade, but that's all it does with that idea. It's like a Family Guy callback that only serves to say "Hey, remember that this thing existed?".

I'd probably be less harsh on the game and enjoy it more if it wasn't called "Nier" Automata. If it was just called Automata and the slight references to Nier were just Easter eggs, I wouldn't have the expectations I have. Calling it "Nier" sets me up for a story, for interesting characters, lore, and a world. "Nier" makes my cold black heart feel emotions. Automata is just... serviceable. The music is fine, but it's not the original's amazing soundtrack. It has some style and some lore, but nothing engaging. Nier told a dramatic story, but still had a lot of lighthearted moments and even played around with references to Resident Evil and Zelda just for the fun of it and they were great moments, but Automata is joyless. It's just an action game with a slightly better than average story. Nier was an essential game while Automata is just another disposable action game.

#Nier #Automata

[riichardwilson]

Reducing Design Risk

About The Author

Eric is the founder of UX Culture Works. He has spent the past 19 years leading UX research and design projects for Fortune 500 companies in the finance, … More about Eric …

The pressure to rush market and usability research carries risk. We’ll offer four practical techniques to mitigate this risk and create designs that better serve customers and the company: context over convenience, compromise, better design decisions, design reduction.

Lean, agile, do more with less. Again, and again, design culture urges us to move quickly and trim research and design operations to the point where design becomes a mere thread in the larger corporate spool.

Author and designer Nikki Anderson explains the consequences of this pressure to conduct research at lightning speed:

“When we’re asked to synthesize at the speed of light, user research becomes a way for teams to take a shortcut — to invent assumptions based on quickly made correlations, opinions, and quotes.”

The result is design based on assumptions or incomplete information about users and customers. For example, a Fortune 500 company (let’s call it Company Q) hired me to conduct a usability test for a complex user interface (usability testing involves a series of one-on-one sessions with real users who are asked to complete specific tasks while using a product or piece of software).

The test yielded what would likely become recognizable patterns, and I was halfway through the analysis when I was ordered to pause and send the client the findings immediately. My explanation about the need for more time to conduct a thorough and nuanced analysis fell on deaf ears:

“Just send a short video.”

I reluctantly sent a video snippet showing a participant struggling with the user interface (UI).

Biased design decision based on observation of a single usability test participant. (Large preview)

There was no time for background, context, or nuance. The product manager at Company Q recognized the participant in the video from a previous encounter and dismissed his struggles:

“He’s a crank, we can’t base decisions on him.”

The company moved forward without addressing this serious UI issue.

This product manager had become emotionally attached to his product (see endowment effect below). This emotional attachment hindered his ability to assess the product’s strengths and weaknesses objectively. It’s not surprising that professionals develop strong feelings about their products.

Understandable, but also problematic. As UX guru Jared Spool explains in an article about the ROI of UX, dismissing user needs carries a high cost:

For example, say you get many support calls because the design doesn’t do something the users expect. That’s a high cost due to a poor design decision.

How costly? According to Jeffrey Rumburg of HDI, the average cost of a single support call in North America is $15.56. Even if support calls only increase by 83,000 each month, the annual cost is over $15 million.

In contrast, addressing design problems works. According to the McKinsey report, “The Business Value of Design”:

“One online gaming company discovered that a small increase in the usability of its home page was followed by a dramatic 25 percent increase in sales.”

Note: For this study, McKinsey tracked the design practices of 300 publicly listed companies over a five-year period in multiple countries and industries. Their senior business and design leaders were interviewed or surveyed. The McKinsey team collected more than two million pieces of financial data and recorded more than 100,000 design actions.

These numbers demonstrate the direct financial costs associated with rushing market research and shortchanging user and customer concerns. They also illustrate the financial benefit of addressing customer concerns.

In this article, I’ll shed light on the techniques for addressing these concerns:

Carefully selecting a research location;

Compromising with stakeholders to allow sufficient time for analysis without delaying the design process;

Making sound, evidence-based design decisions;

Engaging in design reduction.

1. Context Over Convenience: Why Location Matters

Where you conduct research matters as much as the research method. Before booking a facility for your next user interview, consider the importance of location. You might not want to book a quiet meeting room if users work in a noisy environment with numerous distractions. In fact, the user’s environment will help you identify the best research method for gathering insights (interviews, diary studies, observation/contextual inquiry, usability tests, cognitive walkthroughs, etc.).

This is precisely what happened when our team conducted UX research for a manufacturer of large construction equipment. We could have brought machine operators to a quiet showroom to ask them questions about the equipment and what did and did not work well.

This would have been the easy but incorrect choice. Instead, we traveled to construction sites in the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia where we observed operators using the equipment outside where it was dusty, dirty, and loud.

Construction Site in Colombia. (Large preview)

On-the-ground observations included:

Risks of vehicle collisions due to noise and low visibility when winds were high.

The difficulty shorter operators encountered when reaching for certain controls in the cab (operators in Latin America were, on average, smaller than their U.S. counterparts).

The rapid corrosion of metal equipment caused by salt on a construction site near the ocean.

Observing users in their real-world work environment:

Reduced the risk of solving the wrong problem because we did not rely on second-hand information from sales or product (this happens more often than you might think).

Allowed us (the researchers) to hear the noise, see the dust, and feel the bumps while riding on these enormous machines.

Provided actionable insights that could not have been gathered in an office.

The author interviewing a machine operator in Colombia. (Large preview)

Our research at sites in Mexico and Colombia demonstrated the truth of the old adage. Meeting users where they worked every day yielded rich, qualitative data that our client used to inform important design decisions.

2. Compromise

This was a good outcome. The fieldwork in Mexico and Colombia identified real-world problems, and stakeholders acted on this information.

This is not always the case. There is a temptation to make design decisions quickly based on incomplete information as happened to Walmart when management decided to change aisle and shelving design based on a customer survey. When customers were asked if stores were too cluttered, they said yes. Walmart spent millions re-designing stores only to lose more than $1 billion in revenue. When Walmart reverted to the cluttered aisles, sales increased. What happened?

Two reasons for this fiasco were likely a poorly worded survey and incomplete analysis. Walmart relied too heavily on what customers said rather than what they did. The importance of placing considerable weight on what users and customers do is a bedrock principle in customer and user experience.

“Rather than just ask shoppers what they think they would like, I can follow someone through their shopping trip in a grocery or mass merchandise store like Walmart and Sam’s Club and then interview them as they load their bags into the car. What is striking is the wide gap between what they say they did, and what I observed.”

— Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy. New York Times Article about Walmart.

Underhill, a legend in consumer and market research, is exactly right. Unfortunately, even when stakeholders agree to fund observation (ride-alongs, shop-alongs, contextual inquiry), there is considerable pressure to move forward the moment a UX or market study is done leaving little time for thorough analysis.

The goal in these situations is to strike a balance between speed and thoroughness. Product managers and other stakeholders have a great deal of responsibility and are often under pressure to move products to market quickly. Rushing the design process, however, can result in overlooking key user needs emerging from research.

Analysis. (Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay) (Large preview)

Preliminary Design Work. (Photo by Syda Productions from Depositphotos) (Large preview)

Compromise during the transition from research analysis to design serves two purposes. First, it allows researchers sufficient time to review, reflect, and report accurate and actionable findings that will help the design team move forward. Second, as with any endeavor, a willingness to compromise establishes a degree of trust.

3. Better Design Decisions

Compromise and trust are a sound basis for establishing a constructive relationship between researchers, designers, and stakeholders. Such relationships contribute to an environment conducive to better design decisions. These points seem straightforward, even obvious.

Straightforward perhaps but not easily achieved. Why? Human nature. Humans are subject to what psychologists call the endowment effect, the tendency to overvalue objects you own simply because they belong to you. Selling a house is a classic example. As the homeowner, you are emotionally attached to your house because you’ve put effort into maintenance and improvements. The house holds fond memories. After all, you live there. None of this matters to the buyer. She only cares about the objective market value and getting the best house for the least amount of money.

Endowment Effect: Emotional attachment leads to an inflated sense of value. (Image by Pexels from Pixabay) (Large preview)

Once the endowment effect takes hold, it’s difficult for people to part with the object, a house in this example. In the context of design, changing a UI or physical product is roughly equivalent to parting with it.

For example, while evaluating a complex UI for a programmable logic controller, the product manager announced to me and a room full of stakeholders: “My name is Jim, and I love this product.” Points for honesty. As expected, when I delivered the report, Jim held firmly to his belief that the UI was fine and did not require modification. He was, understandably, attached to the machine and the UI. Unfortunately, the company’s customers did not share this attachment as illustrated by ongoing customer complaints.

The data supports this conclusion. According to the McKinsey report mentioned above: “Less than 5 percent of those we surveyed reported that their leaders could make objective design decisions.”

The endowment effect is one of many barriers to making sound design decisions. See A Designer’s Guide To Better Decisions to learn how to avoid other, common decision traps.

Awareness of the endowment effect and other decision traps contributes to better design because it allows us to make tough choices during the actual design process.

4. Design Reduction

One such choice is what to remove from an existing design or an early design iteration. For example, the image shown below left could easily be an early iteration of a mobile app.

Cluttered Layout: Fake Fitness App. (Large preview)

Cleaner Layout: Fake Fitness App. (Large preview)

Few will argue against the power of simple, elegant, and engaging design. Such successes are often the result of careful, thoughtful reduction. From the number and size of elements on the screen to the simplicity or complexity of the color palette, it all comes down to reducing the design to the point that it’s clean and easy to use without removing anything essential.

Even in the cleaner example (above right), a designer might ask if “This Month” and “165: Max Pulse” are necessary. If not, removing them would be yet another reduction.

The point is not to debate the UI details for this fake fitness app. Rather, designers must anticipate the “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” effect and make the case for removing unnecessary design elements. Effective techniques include:

Gently reminding stakeholders and other team members about the risks of a heavy cognitive load.

Sharing cluttered designs (any app or site will do) with the team and asking them to quickly locate a specific feature. Their struggle to find the feature will make the point.

Sharing video clips of past research projects for your company showing how easily users become confused when interacting with a crowded UI.

Adhering to this reduction technique early in the design process benefits the business by decreasing the chance of user confusion, task or cart abandonment, and unhappy customers.

Design reduction is essential to creating engaging, user-centered design but only works when coupled with rigorous user research that contributes to informed design decisions.

Conclusion

Because research, decisions, and the design process go together, the focus of this article has been to identify the risks of rushing user research and design. Mitigating this risk does not require doubling the size of research and design teams. Instead, we’ve proposed four practical techniques that teams can implement immediately:

Context over convenience Location matters. Whether at home, a café, or on a noisy construction site, conduct UX and market research where users will be when interacting with your product.

Compromise When business stakeholders cannot simply wait for a thorough analysis, compromise. At the stakeholder’s direction, the design team can move forward with limited design changes while agreeing not to make major changes until the final research analysis is complete.

Better design decisions Make better decisions by keeping an eye out for the all-too-human tendency to become attached to a design you have created.

Reduction Remove unnecessary UI elements leaving only what is necessary for users and customers to complete the task at hand.

(ah, yk, il)

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source http://www.scpie.org/reducing-design-risk/ source https://scpie.tumblr.com/post/617546774440214528

[laurelkrugerr]

Reducing Design Risk

About The Author

Eric is the founder of UX Culture Works. He has spent the past 19 years leading UX research and design projects for Fortune 500 companies in the finance, … More about Eric …

The pressure to rush market and usability research carries risk. We’ll offer four practical techniques to mitigate this risk and create designs that better serve customers and the company: context over convenience, compromise, better design decisions, design reduction.

Lean, agile, do more with less. Again, and again, design culture urges us to move quickly and trim research and design operations to the point where design becomes a mere thread in the larger corporate spool.

Author and designer Nikki Anderson explains the consequences of this pressure to conduct research at lightning speed:

“When we’re asked to synthesize at the speed of light, user research becomes a way for teams to take a shortcut — to invent assumptions based on quickly made correlations, opinions, and quotes.”

The result is design based on assumptions or incomplete information about users and customers. For example, a Fortune 500 company (let’s call it Company Q) hired me to conduct a usability test for a complex user interface (usability testing involves a series of one-on-one sessions with real users who are asked to complete specific tasks while using a product or piece of software).

The test yielded what would likely become recognizable patterns, and I was halfway through the analysis when I was ordered to pause and send the client the findings immediately. My explanation about the need for more time to conduct a thorough and nuanced analysis fell on deaf ears:

“Just send a short video.”

I reluctantly sent a video snippet showing a participant struggling with the user interface (UI).

Biased design decision based on observation of a single usability test participant. (Large preview)

There was no time for background, context, or nuance. The product manager at Company Q recognized the participant in the video from a previous encounter and dismissed his struggles:

“He’s a crank, we can’t base decisions on him.”

The company moved forward without addressing this serious UI issue.

This product manager had become emotionally attached to his product (see endowment effect below). This emotional attachment hindered his ability to assess the product’s strengths and weaknesses objectively. It’s not surprising that professionals develop strong feelings about their products.

Understandable, but also problematic. As UX guru Jared Spool explains in an article about the ROI of UX, dismissing user needs carries a high cost:

For example, say you get many support calls because the design doesn’t do something the users expect. That’s a high cost due to a poor design decision.

How costly? According to Jeffrey Rumburg of HDI, the average cost of a single support call in North America is $15.56. Even if support calls only increase by 83,000 each month, the annual cost is over $15 million.

In contrast, addressing design problems works. According to the McKinsey report, “The Business Value of Design”:

“One online gaming company discovered that a small increase in the usability of its home page was followed by a dramatic 25 percent increase in sales.”

Note: For this study, McKinsey tracked the design practices of 300 publicly listed companies over a five-year period in multiple countries and industries. Their senior business and design leaders were interviewed or surveyed. The McKinsey team collected more than two million pieces of financial data and recorded more than 100,000 design actions.

These numbers demonstrate the direct financial costs associated with rushing market research and shortchanging user and customer concerns. They also illustrate the financial benefit of addressing customer concerns.

In this article, I’ll shed light on the techniques for addressing these concerns:

Carefully selecting a research location;

Compromising with stakeholders to allow sufficient time for analysis without delaying the design process;

Making sound, evidence-based design decisions;

Engaging in design reduction.

1. Context Over Convenience: Why Location Matters

Where you conduct research matters as much as the research method. Before booking a facility for your next user interview, consider the importance of location. You might not want to book a quiet meeting room if users work in a noisy environment with numerous distractions. In fact, the user’s environment will help you identify the best research method for gathering insights (interviews, diary studies, observation/contextual inquiry, usability tests, cognitive walkthroughs, etc.).

This is precisely what happened when our team conducted UX research for a manufacturer of large construction equipment. We could have brought machine operators to a quiet showroom to ask them questions about the equipment and what did and did not work well.

This would have been the easy but incorrect choice. Instead, we traveled to construction sites in the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia where we observed operators using the equipment outside where it was dusty, dirty, and loud.

Construction Site in Colombia. (Large preview)

On-the-ground observations included:

Risks of vehicle collisions due to noise and low visibility when winds were high.

The difficulty shorter operators encountered when reaching for certain controls in the cab (operators in Latin America were, on average, smaller than their U.S. counterparts).

The rapid corrosion of metal equipment caused by salt on a construction site near the ocean.

Observing users in their real-world work environment:

Reduced the risk of solving the wrong problem because we did not rely on second-hand information from sales or product (this happens more often than you might think).

Allowed us (the researchers) to hear the noise, see the dust, and feel the bumps while riding on these enormous machines.

Provided actionable insights that could not have been gathered in an office.

The author interviewing a machine operator in Colombia. (Large preview)

Our research at sites in Mexico and Colombia demonstrated the truth of the old adage. Meeting users where they worked every day yielded rich, qualitative data that our client used to inform important design decisions.

2. Compromise

This was a good outcome. The fieldwork in Mexico and Colombia identified real-world problems, and stakeholders acted on this information.

This is not always the case. There is a temptation to make design decisions quickly based on incomplete information as happened to Walmart when management decided to change aisle and shelving design based on a customer survey. When customers were asked if stores were too cluttered, they said yes. Walmart spent millions re-designing stores only to lose more than $1 billion in revenue. When Walmart reverted to the cluttered aisles, sales increased. What happened?

Two reasons for this fiasco were likely a poorly worded survey and incomplete analysis. Walmart relied too heavily on what customers said rather than what they did. The importance of placing considerable weight on what users and customers do is a bedrock principle in customer and user experience.

“Rather than just ask shoppers what they think they would like, I can follow someone through their shopping trip in a grocery or mass merchandise store like Walmart and Sam’s Club and then interview them as they load their bags into the car. What is striking is the wide gap between what they say they did, and what I observed.”

— Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy. New York Times Article about Walmart.

Underhill, a legend in consumer and market research, is exactly right. Unfortunately, even when stakeholders agree to fund observation (ride-alongs, shop-alongs, contextual inquiry), there is considerable pressure to move forward the moment a UX or market study is done leaving little time for thorough analysis.

The goal in these situations is to strike a balance between speed and thoroughness. Product managers and other stakeholders have a great deal of responsibility and are often under pressure to move products to market quickly. Rushing the design process, however, can result in overlooking key user needs emerging from research.

Analysis. (Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay) (Large preview)

Preliminary Design Work. (Photo by Syda Productions from Depositphotos) (Large preview)

Compromise during the transition from research analysis to design serves two purposes. First, it allows researchers sufficient time to review, reflect, and report accurate and actionable findings that will help the design team move forward. Second, as with any endeavor, a willingness to compromise establishes a degree of trust.

3. Better Design Decisions

Compromise and trust are a sound basis for establishing a constructive relationship between researchers, designers, and stakeholders. Such relationships contribute to an environment conducive to better design decisions. These points seem straightforward, even obvious.

Straightforward perhaps but not easily achieved. Why? Human nature. Humans are subject to what psychologists call the endowment effect, the tendency to overvalue objects you own simply because they belong to you. Selling a house is a classic example. As the homeowner, you are emotionally attached to your house because you’ve put effort into maintenance and improvements. The house holds fond memories. After all, you live there. None of this matters to the buyer. She only cares about the objective market value and getting the best house for the least amount of money.

Endowment Effect: Emotional attachment leads to an inflated sense of value. (Image by Pexels from Pixabay) (Large preview)

Once the endowment effect takes hold, it’s difficult for people to part with the object, a house in this example. In the context of design, changing a UI or physical product is roughly equivalent to parting with it.

For example, while evaluating a complex UI for a programmable logic controller, the product manager announced to me and a room full of stakeholders: “My name is Jim, and I love this product.” Points for honesty. As expected, when I delivered the report, Jim held firmly to his belief that the UI was fine and did not require modification. He was, understandably, attached to the machine and the UI. Unfortunately, the company’s customers did not share this attachment as illustrated by ongoing customer complaints.

The data supports this conclusion. According to the McKinsey report mentioned above: “Less than 5 percent of those we surveyed reported that their leaders could make objective design decisions.”

The endowment effect is one of many barriers to making sound design decisions. See A Designer’s Guide To Better Decisions to learn how to avoid other, common decision traps.

Awareness of the endowment effect and other decision traps contributes to better design because it allows us to make tough choices during the actual design process.

4. Design Reduction

One such choice is what to remove from an existing design or an early design iteration. For example, the image shown below left could easily be an early iteration of a mobile app.

Cluttered Layout: Fake Fitness App. (Large preview)

Cleaner Layout: Fake Fitness App. (Large preview)

Few will argue against the power of simple, elegant, and engaging design. Such successes are often the result of careful, thoughtful reduction. From the number and size of elements on the screen to the simplicity or complexity of the color palette, it all comes down to reducing the design to the point that it’s clean and easy to use without removing anything essential.

Even in the cleaner example (above right), a designer might ask if “This Month” and “165: Max Pulse” are necessary. If not, removing them would be yet another reduction.

The point is not to debate the UI details for this fake fitness app. Rather, designers must anticipate the “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” effect and make the case for removing unnecessary design elements. Effective techniques include:

Gently reminding stakeholders and other team members about the risks of a heavy cognitive load.

Sharing cluttered designs (any app or site will do) with the team and asking them to quickly locate a specific feature. Their struggle to find the feature will make the point.

Sharing video clips of past research projects for your company showing how easily users become confused when interacting with a crowded UI.

Adhering to this reduction technique early in the design process benefits the business by decreasing the chance of user confusion, task or cart abandonment, and unhappy customers.

Design reduction is essential to creating engaging, user-centered design but only works when coupled with rigorous user research that contributes to informed design decisions.

Conclusion

Because research, decisions, and the design process go together, the focus of this article has been to identify the risks of rushing user research and design. Mitigating this risk does not require doubling the size of research and design teams. Instead, we’ve proposed four practical techniques that teams can implement immediately:

Context over convenience Location matters. Whether at home, a café, or on a noisy construction site, conduct UX and market research where users will be when interacting with your product.

Compromise When business stakeholders cannot simply wait for a thorough analysis, compromise. At the stakeholder’s direction, the design team can move forward with limited design changes while agreeing not to make major changes until the final research analysis is complete.

Better design decisions Make better decisions by keeping an eye out for the all-too-human tendency to become attached to a design you have created.

Reduction Remove unnecessary UI elements leaving only what is necessary for users and customers to complete the task at hand.

(ah, yk, il)

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source http://www.scpie.org/reducing-design-risk/ source https://scpie1.blogspot.com/2020/05/reducing-design-risk.html

[scpie]

Reducing Design Risk

About The Author

Eric is the founder of UX Culture Works. He has spent the past 19 years leading UX research and design projects for Fortune 500 companies in the finance, … More about Eric …

The pressure to rush market and usability research carries risk. We’ll offer four practical techniques to mitigate this risk and create designs that better serve customers and the company: context over convenience, compromise, better design decisions, design reduction.

Lean, agile, do more with less. Again, and again, design culture urges us to move quickly and trim research and design operations to the point where design becomes a mere thread in the larger corporate spool.

Author and designer Nikki Anderson explains the consequences of this pressure to conduct research at lightning speed:

“When we’re asked to synthesize at the speed of light, user research becomes a way for teams to take a shortcut — to invent assumptions based on quickly made correlations, opinions, and quotes.”

The result is design based on assumptions or incomplete information about users and customers. For example, a Fortune 500 company (let’s call it Company Q) hired me to conduct a usability test for a complex user interface (usability testing involves a series of one-on-one sessions with real users who are asked to complete specific tasks while using a product or piece of software).

The test yielded what would likely become recognizable patterns, and I was halfway through the analysis when I was ordered to pause and send the client the findings immediately. My explanation about the need for more time to conduct a thorough and nuanced analysis fell on deaf ears:

“Just send a short video.”

I reluctantly sent a video snippet showing a participant struggling with the user interface (UI).

Biased design decision based on observation of a single usability test participant. (Large preview)

There was no time for background, context, or nuance. The product manager at Company Q recognized the participant in the video from a previous encounter and dismissed his struggles:

“He’s a crank, we can’t base decisions on him.”

The company moved forward without addressing this serious UI issue.

This product manager had become emotionally attached to his product (see endowment effect below). This emotional attachment hindered his ability to assess the product’s strengths and weaknesses objectively. It’s not surprising that professionals develop strong feelings about their products.

Understandable, but also problematic. As UX guru Jared Spool explains in an article about the ROI of UX, dismissing user needs carries a high cost:

For example, say you get many support calls because the design doesn’t do something the users expect. That’s a high cost due to a poor design decision.

How costly? According to Jeffrey Rumburg of HDI, the average cost of a single support call in North America is $15.56. Even if support calls only increase by 83,000 each month, the annual cost is over $15 million.

In contrast, addressing design problems works. According to the McKinsey report, “The Business Value of Design”:

“One online gaming company discovered that a small increase in the usability of its home page was followed by a dramatic 25 percent increase in sales.”

Note: For this study, McKinsey tracked the design practices of 300 publicly listed companies over a five-year period in multiple countries and industries. Their senior business and design leaders were interviewed or surveyed. The McKinsey team collected more than two million pieces of financial data and recorded more than 100,000 design actions.

These numbers demonstrate the direct financial costs associated with rushing market research and shortchanging user and customer concerns. They also illustrate the financial benefit of addressing customer concerns.

In this article, I’ll shed light on the techniques for addressing these concerns:

Carefully selecting a research location;

Compromising with stakeholders to allow sufficient time for analysis without delaying the design process;

Making sound, evidence-based design decisions;

Engaging in design reduction.

1. Context Over Convenience: Why Location Matters

Where you conduct research matters as much as the research method. Before booking a facility for your next user interview, consider the importance of location. You might not want to book a quiet meeting room if users work in a noisy environment with numerous distractions. In fact, the user’s environment will help you identify the best research method for gathering insights (interviews, diary studies, observation/contextual inquiry, usability tests, cognitive walkthroughs, etc.).

This is precisely what happened when our team conducted UX research for a manufacturer of large construction equipment. We could have brought machine operators to a quiet showroom to ask them questions about the equipment and what did and did not work well.

This would have been the easy but incorrect choice. Instead, we traveled to construction sites in the U.S., Mexico, and Colombia where we observed operators using the equipment outside where it was dusty, dirty, and loud.

Construction Site in Colombia. (Large preview)

On-the-ground observations included:

Risks of vehicle collisions due to noise and low visibility when winds were high.

The difficulty shorter operators encountered when reaching for certain controls in the cab (operators in Latin America were, on average, smaller than their U.S. counterparts).

The rapid corrosion of metal equipment caused by salt on a construction site near the ocean.

Observing users in their real-world work environment:

Reduced the risk of solving the wrong problem because we did not rely on second-hand information from sales or product (this happens more often than you might think).

Allowed us (the researchers) to hear the noise, see the dust, and feel the bumps while riding on these enormous machines.

Provided actionable insights that could not have been gathered in an office.

The author interviewing a machine operator in Colombia. (Large preview)

Our research at sites in Mexico and Colombia demonstrated the truth of the old adage. Meeting users where they worked every day yielded rich, qualitative data that our client used to inform important design decisions.

2. Compromise

This was a good outcome. The fieldwork in Mexico and Colombia identified real-world problems, and stakeholders acted on this information.

This is not always the case. There is a temptation to make design decisions quickly based on incomplete information as happened to Walmart when management decided to change aisle and shelving design based on a customer survey. When customers were asked if stores were too cluttered, they said yes. Walmart spent millions re-designing stores only to lose more than $1 billion in revenue. When Walmart reverted to the cluttered aisles, sales increased. What happened?

Two reasons for this fiasco were likely a poorly worded survey and incomplete analysis. Walmart relied too heavily on what customers said rather than what they did. The importance of placing considerable weight on what users and customers do is a bedrock principle in customer and user experience.

“Rather than just ask shoppers what they think they would like, I can follow someone through their shopping trip in a grocery or mass merchandise store like Walmart and Sam’s Club and then interview them as they load their bags into the car. What is striking is the wide gap between what they say they did, and what I observed.”

— Paco Underhill, author of Why We Buy. New York Times Article about Walmart.

Underhill, a legend in consumer and market research, is exactly right. Unfortunately, even when stakeholders agree to fund observation (ride-alongs, shop-alongs, contextual inquiry), there is considerable pressure to move forward the moment a UX or market study is done leaving little time for thorough analysis.

The goal in these situations is to strike a balance between speed and thoroughness. Product managers and other stakeholders have a great deal of responsibility and are often under pressure to move products to market quickly. Rushing the design process, however, can result in overlooking key user needs emerging from research.

Analysis. (Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay) (Large preview)

Preliminary Design Work. (Photo by Syda Productions from Depositphotos) (Large preview)

Compromise during the transition from research analysis to design serves two purposes. First, it allows researchers sufficient time to review, reflect, and report accurate and actionable findings that will help the design team move forward. Second, as with any endeavor, a willingness to compromise establishes a degree of trust.

3. Better Design Decisions

Compromise and trust are a sound basis for establishing a constructive relationship between researchers, designers, and stakeholders. Such relationships contribute to an environment conducive to better design decisions. These points seem straightforward, even obvious.

Straightforward perhaps but not easily achieved. Why? Human nature. Humans are subject to what psychologists call the endowment effect, the tendency to overvalue objects you own simply because they belong to you. Selling a house is a classic example. As the homeowner, you are emotionally attached to your house because you’ve put effort into maintenance and improvements. The house holds fond memories. After all, you live there. None of this matters to the buyer. She only cares about the objective market value and getting the best house for the least amount of money.

Endowment Effect: Emotional attachment leads to an inflated sense of value. (Image by Pexels from Pixabay) (Large preview)

Once the endowment effect takes hold, it’s difficult for people to part with the object, a house in this example. In the context of design, changing a UI or physical product is roughly equivalent to parting with it.

For example, while evaluating a complex UI for a programmable logic controller, the product manager announced to me and a room full of stakeholders: “My name is Jim, and I love this product.” Points for honesty. As expected, when I delivered the report, Jim held firmly to his belief that the UI was fine and did not require modification. He was, understandably, attached to the machine and the UI. Unfortunately, the company’s customers did not share this attachment as illustrated by ongoing customer complaints.

The data supports this conclusion. According to the McKinsey report mentioned above: “Less than 5 percent of those we surveyed reported that their leaders could make objective design decisions.”

The endowment effect is one of many barriers to making sound design decisions. See A Designer’s Guide To Better Decisions to learn how to avoid other, common decision traps.

Awareness of the endowment effect and other decision traps contributes to better design because it allows us to make tough choices during the actual design process.

4. Design Reduction

One such choice is what to remove from an existing design or an early design iteration. For example, the image shown below left could easily be an early iteration of a mobile app.

Cluttered Layout: Fake Fitness App. (Large preview)

Cleaner Layout: Fake Fitness App. (Large preview)

Few will argue against the power of simple, elegant, and engaging design. Such successes are often the result of careful, thoughtful reduction. From the number and size of elements on the screen to the simplicity or complexity of the color palette, it all comes down to reducing the design to the point that it’s clean and easy to use without removing anything essential.

Even in the cleaner example (above right), a designer might ask if “This Month” and “165: Max Pulse” are necessary. If not, removing them would be yet another reduction.

The point is not to debate the UI details for this fake fitness app. Rather, designers must anticipate the “everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” effect and make the case for removing unnecessary design elements. Effective techniques include:

Gently reminding stakeholders and other team members about the risks of a heavy cognitive load.

Sharing cluttered designs (any app or site will do) with the team and asking them to quickly locate a specific feature. Their struggle to find the feature will make the point.

Sharing video clips of past research projects for your company showing how easily users become confused when interacting with a crowded UI.

Adhering to this reduction technique early in the design process benefits the business by decreasing the chance of user confusion, task or cart abandonment, and unhappy customers.

Design reduction is essential to creating engaging, user-centered design but only works when coupled with rigorous user research that contributes to informed design decisions.

Conclusion

Because research, decisions, and the design process go together, the focus of this article has been to identify the risks of rushing user research and design. Mitigating this risk does not require doubling the size of research and design teams. Instead, we’ve proposed four practical techniques that teams can implement immediately:

Context over convenience Location matters. Whether at home, a café, or on a noisy construction site, conduct UX and market research where users will be when interacting with your product.

Compromise When business stakeholders cannot simply wait for a thorough analysis, compromise. At the stakeholder’s direction, the design team can move forward with limited design changes while agreeing not to make major changes until the final research analysis is complete.

Better design decisions Make better decisions by keeping an eye out for the all-too-human tendency to become attached to a design you have created.

Reduction Remove unnecessary UI elements leaving only what is necessary for users and customers to complete the task at hand.

(ah, yk, il)

Website Design & SEO Delray Beach by DBL07.co

Delray Beach SEO

source http://www.scpie.org/reducing-design-risk/