#because for all the things yamato has issue with...taking a t shot is not one. the euphoria of being able to claim his body in this way

[deltaengineering]

Summer Anime 2021: we take those

As delta awoke one morning from uneasy dreams he found himself transformed in his bed into Anthony Fantano.

Magia Record S2

I wasn't a fan of Magia Record, but surmised that S1 wasn't entirely worthless, so I gave S2 a shot. And early on, S2 is definitely the best version of Magireco - while it still struggled to justify its existence, at least it focused on plots that didn't point out the fundamental flaws such as the lore being both overly complicated yet fairly uninteresting, having far too many shallow characters, not to mention being an insult to PMMM. It also looked amazing, so I was ready to say that this time we got consistently entertaining pointless fanservice if nothing else. But in the back half all of the issues came back with a vengeance and the production chops evaporated. It's just a mess: The Magius story is still as bland as ever, and I still only barely care about the new main characters of Magireco, nevermind the extended cast (when I even remember them) - which is a deadly issue when that's all the content, the storytelling is borderline incoherent and even the storyboarding doesn't hold up. I suppose the PMMM cast appears more, but since this show is so all over the place they end up seeming like decoration at best. So yeah, S2 isn't actually any better than S1, even though it arguably has higher highs. 5/10

D4DJ Petit Mix

I gave this a shot because I do like Bang Dream Pico a lot, and Petit Mix is uh... fine? The main issues are that it's not nearly as absurd as Garupico, and D4DJ itself being far more absurd and goofy to begin with. So Puchimiku ends up not providing much of a meaningful contrast to the main show, apart from being (more) slight and (more) random. It's still fairly enjoyable because it's more of an okay thing, but entirely forgettable - in fact, I have already forgotten about it. I guess it's just Pastel Life then. 6/10

IDOLiSH7 S3

So I've been standing up for Idolshi7 for a long time, pointing out that it's probably my favorite idol franchise show overall. But I have to say, as of S3 it seems to be starting to collapse under its own weight. It's just running out of new places to go, and it can't truly escalate because the franchise concept is immutable. This is very apparent in the beginning, when we get to Yamato's story. Not because it's bad, but in a way because it's too good; it goes far harder and cranks up the drama to absurd degrees, which would be great if it didn't end with the most disappointing plot reset I've seen in a long time, when all of this "getting hallucinations and choking a bitch" business is resolved with a group hug and an offscreen phone call. After that, the spell was essentially broken. We get super detailed backstories on Re:Vale, I guess? I thought that whole business was better off as an unexplained twist, but we have to fill airtime here so we get a lot of Yuki being a dick in the past. We get yet another delightfully villanous executive, but that's nothing new and in the end it's just in service to introduce yet another band, this time consisting entirely of edgelords, and it will be interesting to see how the next sequel will attempt to make the audience like these assholes. And we get the rest of the cast just sort of sticking around doing their thing again. Now this all sounds very negative, but i7 still has extremely solid fundamentals and production chops (and it was never great at storytelling to begin with, so you take the highs where you can get them), and it's not that it doesn't try (it's honestly a miracle it even held together as long as it did), it's just increasingly turning into a case study on why Love Live's model of not sticking with a cast too long is probably the smarter way to go after all. Barely a 7/10

Shiroi Suna no Aquatope

So you might be saying "hang on a minute, that show didn't end yet, what are you doing", to which I say "you clearly haven't watched it then". Aquatope's first half most definitely has an ending, and the fact that it continues for another cour is immaterial to that. The second half is basically a sequel, and since we're a fair bit into it now I can also say that it's more different than most sequels are as well - though we'll get to that when it's over. Looked at on its own, this show started as the usual P.A. Works FEEL Team Six jam, maybe just that tiny bit more interesting that made me actually watch it - The beginning is a very standard and very middle of the road "visit the countryside to get healed with magical realism" yarn, but over time it shifts from Fuuka to Kukuru and becomes more of a very concrete coming-of-age story that's actually well thought out and less predictable than expected. It also may or may not be hella gay (early signs point to hahaha yes, later signs point to hahaha no). So yeah, that ending is not only present but also very good and if the show ended right there I would not complain (if I didn't know the second half would be the true sequel to Shirobako, of course, and I'm not even joking). Still, it takes a fair bit to get there - While that path isn't exactly bad, it's also not nearly as interesting as the later stuff, relies a lot on vague sentimentality, and while the hacky fantasy aspect is always less important than you'd think, it's still there. 7/10

Vanitas no Carte

Let's get straight to the point: Vanitas has one major upside and that is that it's intensely sexual. It's not only horny as fuck, but outright erotic at points, and that's not something I see often in anime. Of course sexual vampires is nothing new, but Vanitas shuffles the concept around just enough to drive the point home even harder (for starters, casual necksex among vampires is a thing here). So that's great, but what about the rest? Well... most of the time it's pretty good, with a bombastic presentation that gets a lot of humor out of absurd hamminess. But on the other hand, it also has a tendency to indulge in rote shounen plotlines, and when it does that, it just becomes a weaker Fire Force (a show that's already not great at shounen template nonsense), and its very anime humor is not always on point, an issue it also shares with Fire Force. I do like the characters (in particular Vanitas and Jeanne), but not enough to make them bickering while walking down a hallway of midbosses entirely worth it, if you know what I mean. And just in general, it tends to work better in single scenes than it does as a whole. Vanitas is wacky, wild, sensual and generally a good time, but it has structural issues that hold it back and may or may not doom it in the long run. 7/10

Sonny Boy

So. How about some capital-A Arthouse? The astute reader might remember that while I approve of headier stuff in principle, in practice it seems to not work out most of the time and I was particularly dissatisfied with the recent works of Messrs. Ikuhara and Yuasa, who embody this type of work ca. 2021. Now Shingo Natsume is throwing his hat in the chinstroking ring and he definitely takes no prisoners. I will say that the list of adjectives one could apply to Sonny Boy is very impressive: I'd call it clever, visually stunning, bold, unique, creative, artistically consistent, unpredictable and confident without any hesitation. But here's the thing, despite all of that I don't think I actually like it very much. I certainly don't dislike it, which is already a massive step up from what I think about the aforementioned clowns, but I never felt a close connection to the material. This is pretty funny, because for all the coming-of-age sentimentality Natsume packs into this, it still comes across as a pretty austere and intellectual exercise to me. Of course, that's not an accident; the storytelling is intentionally vague and at points wilfully obtuse to the breaking point - Which has a surprising amount of charm by its own, but it still prevents me from relating to the characters on a more personal level, and the other avenue of appreciation (writing kiloword-length analyses of the deepest deepities at display here) is also not something I'm into. In fact I think that the latter would be outright detrimental, because Sonny Boy works far better as an abstract mood piece than any truly profound statement, which is easy to see at the occasional instance where the meaning is eyerollingly obvious. In the end, Sonny Boy actually comes with a strong recommendation from me, especially for something that could so easily have gone very wrong given the first impressions of a bunch of highschoolers Living In A Society - Though I respect it more than I like it, even if I do respect it a whole lot... so make of that what you will. It's all in your head, maaaaaaan. 7/10

Kageki Shoujo

And again with the shows that only really have one selling point, but what a selling point it is. The main character of Kageki Shoujo, Sarasa, is such a fluffy, lovable and T A L L (like, so tall) goof that nothing else in the show hardly even matters. Well, she's not on screen 100% of the time, so I'll have to look further anyway. So incredible lead (and her sidekick Ai, an almost-Adachi whose dork tendencies are also adorable most of the time) aside, what is there to Kageki Shoujo? Eh, it's alright. A Marimite-lite mixed with a generic competition slash doing ur best storyline that's perfectly functional but pretty shallow and held back by tonal missteps. In particular, early on the show goes to a couple of fairly grim places - which I don't necessarily have an issue with, but it treats them so superficially that all it achieves is needlessly harshing the buzz. It also curiously insists that the school is a cutthroat hive of scum and villainy which isn't really borne out by much of what we get to see. Plus, it also has a spectacular non-ending (the least ending of any show this season, especially compared to Aquatope's dark horse "most ending" title), which may be fixed in a potential sequel but doesn't help at all right now. But hey. Sarasa. SARASA. (And also Ai). 7/10

Love Live Superstar

Heyyyyy, it's Love Live. Yeah, it's the winner by default. Who'da thunk it? The focus on a smaller cast, general disregard for the mobile game roots and focus on the "core" appeal of Love Live as a narrative may make Superstar the best iteration of Love Live yet, but make no mistake: Even if it is, the difference is negligible. This is exactly what I said about Nijigaku, because Superstar deviates from "baseline" Love Live just as much (or rather, little) - just in the opposite direction. But again, this is all minutiae that only people who already watched this would ever care about. The characters are still really nice (and the smaller cast leads to more interplay, which is even nicer, especially when it's Keke and Sumire antagonizing each other), the comedy antics are still fun as hell, and the big sappy drama is still impossible to dislike. But there's also still a number of curious plot dead ends like the school being in danger of closing after all (which is anticlimatically resolved by Dad Ex Machina, making the whole subplot a distraction at best), and none of this is anything remotely new. The one thing that's not opposed from Nijigaku is sadly the production value, since Superstar is also surprisingly cheap for an allegedly premium product (apart from the CG music videos, which still continue to get better and better). I will say that Superstar is probably the best starting point for someone new to the franchise, because it just looks the most respectable on paper and seems somewhat easier to get aboard with, even if that doesn't make much of a difference to the end result. The ultimate question is: Can Love Live ever exceed the 7? I think it's possible, but not this time. 7/10

#anime #review #summer2021 #magia record #d4dj #idolish7 #shiroi suna no aquatope #vanitas no carte #sonny boy #kageki shoujo!! #love live superstar

[coeursetcolores]

What I Would Add To/ Change About: Devil May Cry 5

Hello again! Today is March 8th! Two years ago, Devil May Cry 5 was released, over ten years after Devil May Cry 4. Such a long gap caused many to believe that Capcom abandoned the franchise, but to our surprise at the 2018 E3 conference, after years of silence and tentative hope brought by a picture of Reuben Langdon and Johnny Yong Bosch in mocap gear, the day we dreamed of happened: DMC was back!

Now here’s the million dollar question: Did Devil May Cry 5 live up to it’s fans’ expectations after all those years?

I’m pleased to say, YES!

To the whole collective fandom, this game was totally Smokin’ Sexy Stylish!

To me individually...

Well...

It wasn’t really what I’d thought it’d be.

This is all just my own personal opinion and if you disagree with me, that’s perfectly okay! If you’d like to talk about a point I made, please let me know, but please try to respect my opinion as I respect yours.

Fair warning, I won’t talk about online stuff. I’m not an online gamer, that’s just not me.

Well, with out further ado, let’s get started!

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Like the last time, I’d like to start with the positives before getting to the things I wasn’t 100% on board with.

Combat. It’s DMC, and it’s styling way past any other game that dare challenge it.

The music: Frustration is getting bigger! BANG, BANG, BANG! Pull my Devil Trigger!

NICO. I jut love that crazy chick. And yay! Nero has a friend!

The death screen changes were SO helpful. Giving an option to come back in the middle of a fight saved me so much time! As long as it stuck to in-game currency...

The backgrounds are so detailed, Redgrave City looks amazing! And I was really happy when they brought back that gorgeous gothic architecture for Sparda’s mansion!

Bosses are tough, but not to unfair levels. It really makes you feel awesome when you finally knock that last bit of health out.

I’ll never miss an opportunity to fight Vergil. One for having an opponent that doesn’t tower over you, two for his fights just being great as usual. And after everything he’s done, yeah, it feels good to beat the ever loving crap out of him.

Dante dance. I cannot do it justice.

Lady’s new outfit is so cool!

Patty! Call her back Dante!

MOTORCYCLE! BUZZSAWS!

Dante has officially embraced being a silver fox. I salute him.

LORE!!!!!!

NERO! NERO! NERO! BEST BOY, SPICY SON I LOVE YOU SO MUCH YOU PRECIOUS BLOODTHIRSTY SWEETHEART!

You can see just how much detail went into the game. From the blood tubes staining you to V decomposing, it’s astounding.

Nero got a Devil Trigger! And it’s GORGEOUS! ...I do miss his persona, though...

Seeing all our favorite demon hunters again! I missed these guys!

Okay, but before we get to what I wish they added, I want to say something.

I have a lot of issues with this game, but while I can blame some of that on the writing and design teams, a lot of it is also on me having spent years basically imagining the story that would be perfect for me and probably me only. So a lot of my problems may boil down to the game not matching my imaginary scenario, so take my suggestions with a grain of salt.

Now here are some things that could have possibly made me like the game more.

ADD:

MORE LADY AND TRISH. These women were screwed when it came to the plot and they could have done more, what the heck?! Maybe some scenes where they try to process what happened to them, have them distraught at having been used by Urizen to help him destroy the city and blame themselves. Have Lady blow up at Dante for not warning them about what was really going on, for letting them go in unprepared, let her tell him that the blood of the city is on their hands because he kept his mouth shut. Lady is a huge influence in his life, and I feel like this would really open his eyes to how much he messed up.

As for Trish, she knows better than anyone else that you can really screw up and hurt someone that cares about you. Maybe after everything goes down, she could be the one to encourage everyone that, “Yeah, we messed up big time. But sitting around here hating ourselves isn’t getting anything done. So get up, we’ve got a city to fix.” I feel like this could really show how human she’s gotten from being with Dante and the others. I think it’d make her look more multi-dimensional.

And how come Vergil can get a DLC when he was in the game even less than they were?! The women in these games deserve equal representation, Capcom’s DMC developers!

And as for Vergil, maybe make his deal less ambiguous? I mean, the whole “Is Vergil really redeemed?” debate is really bringing out the worst in people. Like yeah, keep it ambiguous to the characters, it makes sense for Vergil to not show something “weak” like remorse to others, but show it in a way that the player can easily interpret.

Give Vergil some missions to himself where he takes in exactly what he’s done. Have him see Redgrave City, where he was born, devastated, people he may have once known reduced to ashes and know this is all because of him. That just because he wanted to be stronger, he’s destroyed lives, because even if he had no intentions of doing so, the split went against his wishes and left him weak to see a tyrant slaughter countless people without any goal. Have him realize that even if that was unintentional, he still nearly almost ended humanity once before with a sound mind (Temen-ni-gru) so he can’t pretend he’s in the right and that he’s actually probably a disgrace to Sparda’s legacy. Have him run into a sobbing little boy crying that his mother was killed and he lost his brother, maybe in the ruins of the family home. Have Vergil look into a mirror and see Mundus, have him realize that he’s no better than the demon that killed his mother and imprisoned him for years. Have him hallucinate Sparda disowning him for going against everything Sparda believed in. Have him see Eva sadly tell him that she wanted to save him, but seeing what he’s become lament that she lost her life trying to save a monster. And when Dante tells him Nero’s his son, he freezes. He abandoned and maimed his own child, left him for his brother to care for. Dante sees this and doesn’t know what to do? Is Vergil...sorry? Can he take a chance on him this time?

Or leave him an unrepentant jerk that’s just upset he still can’t win and expressly tells Nero he’s only going to cut down the Qliphoth down so he can fight Nero again and because he doesn’t want to give up Yamato.

And for that matter, make V’s goal clearer to the player. Have him expressly state, when he’s by himself with his familiars with no one that he can manipulate around that:

A. He wants to stop Urizen and prevent anymore devastation as atonement for his crimes as Vergil and part of the reason he wants to merge again is that while he does want to fight Dante again, he deserves to die as Vergil or defeat Dante and fix his mistakes by himself, realizing that Dante’s been cleaning up his messes for years. 

B: He wants his power back, his mind got stuck in the human half and he can’t stand how weak it is. Everyone is just a stepping stone for him to be stronger.

Actually have the characters react to the Qliphoth. Seriously, everyone is crazy apathetic to all the death and destruction that they failed to stop. Aren’t they supposed to be the “heroes?” The only character this would make sense for, ironically, the one who actually seems to remember it exists at the end, Nero. Yeah. Remember how he didn’t care about anything but Kyrie in 4? Remember how the developers said he would just walk away after Dante shot the pope if Kyrie wasn’t there? I’m not say he needed to stay apathetic, I’m just saying it doesn’t make sense for him to be the righteous character. 

Have Dante at some point just look out at Redgrave and see that if he had told the others what was going on, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. “...This didn’t have to happen.” Have this weigh on him. He’ll still act goofy, but he realizes that his selfishness can have real consequences. 

Have him realize that he really hurt Nero with what he said and that he used Nero’s trauma and insecurity against him in the heat of the moment and it’s causing a rift between him. When he’s alone, make him privately promise to make it up to him later and actually apologize at some point near the end. Dante should know from his experiences with Vergil that insecurity can lead someone down the wrong path and that if he doesn’t do something he could lose one of the few positive relationships he has.

Have Nico have at least one freak out at everything around her and realize that she might not be as ready for this as she thought. She hasn’t experienced something like this before like the others. Nero comforts her and it makes their friendship grow stronger.

When Nero starts talking about family, he should acknowledge that while he is related to Vergil, they’re not really a family yet until they actually work for it, and that he knows what a real family is like, the ones who adopted him and were there for him (Kyrie’s parents, Credo, Kyrie, Nico, Dante, Lady, Trish, etc.).

Make it clearer that Vergil isn’t forgiven for his crimes, but that they’re willing to give him a chance. His last one.

Alright, now for the overall changes.

CHANGE:

The entire ending. Instead of Dante going down with Vergil, Vergil stops him and tells him that his life is here, with people that haven’t hurt him like he has. Dante tries to protest, says he can’t leave Vergil free to do whatever, but Vergil gives a bittersweet smile and tells him he can’t stop him, but it’s obvious Vergil’s not going to do anything again. When Dante gets desperate and tells Vergil he can’t leave him again, Vergil tells Dante he’ll be back, once he’s cleaned up his own mess for once; he’s the older brother after all. With that, Vergil goes to fix his mistake.

Dante’s left behind by his brother again. Instead of brushing things under the table, Nero is furious with Dante for never telling him the truth about his family. Especially after he was left uncertain about the future and looked to Dante for guidance, Nero feels betrayed. Dante understands and apologizes. Nero’s too upset to accept and tells Dante he needs time to think before he’s ready to talk to him again. Instead of begging Nero to stay and keep a connection he desperately needs, Dante lets him go, realizing that if he wants to fix things, he needs to start learning how to talk about how he actually feels instead of covering things up and unintentionally hurting those he loves.

Vergil destroys the Qliphoth, but doesn’t leave the Underworld. Realizing just how much he’s sinned, starting all the way back to Temen-ni-gru, he resolves to not go back to the human world until he’s made himself one worthy of being a Son of Sparda, finally understanding what that really means. Descending into the Underworld, he won’t leave until he’s eliminated those that would harm the world his brother, father and son protect so hard. This could be the start of his own spin-off series that would focus more on the demon lore in the games and take place entirely in the Underworld with Vergil struggling to be a better person and take responsibility for his own actions. Devil May Cry: Atonement, maybe.

Nero heads back home with Nico but doesn’t read V’s book. Hurt from his betrayal, he puts it in a box and seals it up for Vergil’s maybe return. When Nico starts talking about how Agnus is the reason she’s alive, she also acknowledges that she already has a real father and family that love her and subtly (and stutteringly) implies Nero’s a part of that, cementing that Nero has a family that loves him and is there for him. Nero thanks her  and the two descend into silence for a bit before they start mocking each other and end up laughing before Nico realizes Nero’s crying. When she starts freaking out, he explains that he’s scared he’s still not strong enough to protect them, but before Nico can say anything, the phone rings. Answering it, a voice says, “You don’t have to be.” Looking out front the two see Kyrie and Patty, decked out in hunting gear, a phone in Kyrie’s hand. Smiling at them, she says into it, “We’ll protect each other.” Running out of the van, Nero scoops Kyrie up in a hug. When Patty starts complaining about them ignoring her, Nico pulls her away and tells her not to interrupt. After a bit, the group looks out at the horizon and vow to fight together, not letting themselves fall to the bitterness that led to this mess. Seeing some demons approach and watching his crew get ready, Nero smiles before smirking and gets ready to throw down. “Let’s rock!” Devil May Cry: Forsaken.

Dante looks out over Redgrave from his childhood home, silently miserable. After a while, Lady and Trish come over and try to talk, but he cuts them off with an apology. Fully realizing how his inability to let other people in nearly got them all killed, he encourages them to leave so they don’t end up like that again. Stunned from Dante apologizing, the two are silent. Then Lady angrily asks, “What the hell?! Just how dumb are you?!” She tells him that yeah he really screwed up this time, but they’re not going anywhere! He’s an idiot, but he’s THEIR idiot, and they’re not leaving him alone. They need him and he needs them. Trish tells him that if he has time to mope, he has time to clean up the city. The girls begin to walk back to the city and tell him to hurry up. A genuine smile on his face, Dante looks to his family’s home one more time, sheds some tears and walks away, from his past to his new family. Devil May Cry 6 will pick up on what happens next.

If Resident Evil can have like 50 spin-offs, why can’t DMC?

Alternatively, I’m also open to the suggestion of Vergil being stuck as V for the rest of his life. Karmic punishment at it’s finest.

In all honestly, Vergil was really unnecessary to bring back. Like, just make him DLCs, his whole story is done. It just feels like fanservice and the writers banking on a popular character to bring in sales. I also feel like the game bends itself over backwards to please him (back to life, cheat coded to power, no more nightmares, gets to fight Dante whenever he wants, gets a son who wants his acknowledgement he didn’t have to raise, crimes are basically swept under the rug) while everyone else gets kind of screwed over (Dante has to leave his friends behind, Nero’s abandoned again, Lady and Trish are captured and get no screen time, V’s familiars are gone, millions are dead).

I think Urizen and V should have been their own things: I liked the idea of Urizen being the general of Mundus that attacked Dante’s house (his ACTUAL reason for fighting) and V being Mundus’ son who was abused and bonded with his henchmen who decided to become a devil hunter in vengeance for his mistreatment. I dunno, I feel bad V (who legitimately creeped me out) was just made into a convenient little redemption arc.

Nero’s character arc really should have been something else. I think he should have learned throughout the story to stop caring what others thought about him (a trait that should have been visible in 4 if it was going to be such a big deal in 5) and learn to trust his own strength. He should’ve realized that he doesn’t need to prove anything to Dante, he’s never going to be the same and he should be happy with who he is. Also, wanting Vergil’s acknowledgement doesn’t make sense. He may be his biological father, but literally the only things Nero knows about him is that he ripped his arm off, started the apocalypse, got millions killed, manipulated him and wants to kill the guy who was actually like a dad to him. Biological ties can only count for so much.

Alternatively, his arc could have been about becoming a more compassionate person. Like I said earlier, it’d make sense if he didn’t care about anyone other than Kyrie being in trouble. And remember when he tried to kill an armor he thought had a human in it in 4? Along with the seemingly human Agnus? Have Dante worried Nero might go down the wrong path. Have him tell Nero about Vergil WAY earlier (months after 4) and have Nero worried if he’ll turn out like that. Nero actually had more potential to be dark than Dante, and I feel like that in trying to make him look like a perfect hero in 5, they had to make Dante look worse (keeping secrets, ignoring suffering, etc.).

And instead of “deadweight,” Nero’s berserk button should have been Dante not telling him things. You know, like the Order? The group he worked for that tried to start the apocalypse in secret and nearly got him and his girlfriend killed along with actually killing his older bother? Yeah.

I do not like the hyperrealism. This is purely on me preferring more animesque art styles, but I always felt that not looking like actual humans helped the series’ fantastic elements shine.

Dante’s new outfit is just so...muted. It’s just boring. Dante’s supposed to be flashy, dang it! Give me back the chaps!

Nero’s hair is awful. It just looks terrible on him, I wanted him to have long, pretty hair. They should have just kept his trigger hair all throughout the game.

Also, Dante’s the hunk, give Nero back his soft, pretty boy face!

DON’T GET RID OF DEVIL BRINGER! I hated using the Devil Breakers, who wants breakable weapons in Devil May Cry?! What’s next, reloading ammo?! And if you can come back from being stabbed, shot, electrocuted, impaled, would it kill you to let Nero grow his demon arm back to keep his playstyle easier?! And if you needed a challenge, congratulations! Nero lost his Devil Trigger! WORK WITH THAT! 

Please don’t get rid of Dante. I love Nero, but he can’t do the main protagonist role. This is Dante’s series and he needs to finish it. Sure, give Nero a spin-off or two, but let Dante finish the story; the “Sons of Sparda” storyline was just 3. Not the whole series. Vergil is an important figure in Dante’s story, but he’s not where it ends. Dante. And. Vergil’s. Lives. Do. Not. Revolve. Around. Each. Other. They just liked to fight each other and developed opposing ideals, but their overall goals ultimately didn’t really factor in the other.

The whole Vergil abandonment thing shouldn’t have happened along with his beating Dante obsession, it seriously weakened Vergil’s character. He started out as someone who wanted the power to defend himself and became so deluded that he was ready to disregard any moral limitation to get it and simply fought Dante to amuse himself while never letting it get in the way of his goals. And him blaming Dante and Eva and insisting that Dante had an easier life, while I can understand it, just makes him come across as a spoiled brat throwing a tantrum.

Let V’s familiars kill demons without him. That was just really annoying.

And that’s it. My dreams for Devil May Cry 5 and the reality were two very different things and honestly...I’m afraid I’m growing out of this series. 

I’ll still post some content I want to get out, but I’m not sure I’ll be picking up the next one.

#What I Would Add to/Change About... #Devil May Cry 5 #Criticism #Praise #My Silly Personal Opinion

[depressedkakashihatake]

fluffy headcanons for kakagai for the letters: H O T S P R I N G

Hugs- Gai is absolutly a hugger. He loves guving and receiving hugs whenever someone is willing to give them and he make's sure to always give the stringest hug so they know juat how much he adores them.

Kakashi is a lot more closed off about hugs, but after being asked for a hug about 5 times by Gai gave up and just told Gai that he was allowed to hug him whenever because he can't handle being asked the same question every day. Gai loves it and immidiatly takes advantage, and is to date the only person to hug Kakashi from behind and not be face planted into the dirt.

Occupation- Gai has always just wabted to be a great Shinobi and Tijitsu Master, proving everyone who doubted him wrong.

Kakashi on the other hand never really any had any particular goals in mind for himself and prefered to just go where his life took him. He did once dream of Being a great Jonin leader like his dad, but after Sakumo's death he just kind of gave up on his own dreams.

Together- these two are practiclly inseperable. Like, yes they can be seen seperatly doing their own missions/work, but it's not often that you see them apart if they're both home at the same time. Kakashi even goes as far as Taking Gai with him on diplomatic jobs when he's Hokage, wanting to give Gai something to do and wanting Gai by his side.

Smile- Gai finds it pretty easy to smile, but he will smile without fail if one of his studebts does something amazing and shows him just how fantastic they are at what they do. He can't stop beaming the day that they all get promoted to Chunin (while Neji becomes a Jonin) and he absolutly beams when Lee tell's him that he's going to be a grandpa soon.

Kakashi's a bit harder to get to smile, since he doesn't really show emotion well at all, but the few times Gai has seen an actual full blow not at all dorky looking smile on Kakashi's face, it's because of either him or Lee. He definitly gives his usual mouth hiden eyes closed smile to everyone else, but the full beam Hatake only comes out when someone in his family does something completly dorky that deserves both laughter and that rare smile. Lee just about has a heart attack the first time he see's it.

Parent- i feel like they would be a lot like their dad's in most ways. The major diffrences being that while Gai is supportive and energetic he is also very careful to make sure that his kid knows that not everyone has to be and someone not responding with the same enthusiasm doesn't mean they care any less (it was a hard lesson he had to learn with Kakashi)

For Kakashi, he's definitly the piggy back giving kind dad who wants to spoil his kid and protect them, but he's also very damaged in a lot of way's and finds it hard to be emotionally open in the same way as gai. He tries to make up for it by showing his affections, but he always feels like he's a steo behind his husband in this area. He doesn't realize that his kid understands completly what he's trying to say through actions.

Romantic- they're both super romantic in their own way, Gai with declarations and actions and Kakashi with the careful way he responds to Gai and does things for him.

Gai will yell at the top of his lungs about his love for Kakashi and he's damn proud of it, where Kakashi isn't as openly loud about it but still does things to make his feelings obviouse, like wearing Gai's old scarf or some of Gai's civilian hoodies when he has a day off. He also likes leaving Gai notes in his uniform jacket to find during missions and training sessions, a thing that gai started when they were kids and Kakashi latched onto because he couldn't say those things out loud.

Instrument- if they were to play an instrument i would say...

Kakashi is definitly a flute player. The dramatic shit he can do with a flute is just too much for him to give up.

Gai is more of a claranet player. He likes it because it's small and easy to hold, but can also blast an ear drum if he gives it enough power.

No-gai's pet peeve is definitly when Kakashi slips into the 'cool uncaring' attitude when he's focused or just really tired. It gets on his nerves because he knows how expressive and attentive Kakashi is, and to see his husband switch automaticlly into more of his old personality annoys the shit out of him when they've both come so far from those days.

Kakashi's pet peeve is unwanted attention. If someone is giving him attention when he just wanta to be alone, or is getting to handsey and in his personal space, he gets edgy and annoyed. He hates it and he espeshally hates when they don't get the clue to back off. It used to be a huge issue with him and Gai, but when he finally opened up and told Gai why so much attention annoyed him (he has been getting unwanted attention since he was 6 just for being naturally talented) Gai works on recognizes the signs and backing off when Kakashi needs him to. Kakashi in turns works on recognizing that Gai's attention is diffrent and that he does want it and it shouldn't set off all alarms of discomfort.

Giggle-i think i did this one before but...

Gai definitly has the loud obnoxious laugh that make's everyone around them turn their attention to them, and it's easy to get him to laugh. A good joke, a snarky comment, or even just being genuinly dorky and funny can make Gai laugh.

Kakashi has more of a snort giggle. He instinctively covers his mouth when he knows he's going to laugh, and as soon as the snort comes out Gai know's Kakashi can't hold back his amusement anymore.

Things that make Kakashi laugh are more along the lines of Gai being dorky, or Asuma making a really funny joke. He is very particular about what make's him laugh and as a rule it's only certain people who can make him laugh.

That being said, he quickly found himself embaressed as all hell on day when Yamato and Gai were arguing in front of their team's and Yamato responded to a jab from Gai with "at least i'm not sleeping with the emotional equivelence of a porcupine."

And gai shot back wtmith "oh like you haven't dream of it."

Kakashi immidiatly curled up into himself when the snort came out. He did bot want to have to explain the sound that just came out of his thorat to the kids.

#kakagai #kakashi hatake #yamato #might gai

[late-stagechosen]

Muse Meme

Stole from: @twistedstarlitspirits

Tagging: @notsobubbly (well, you two have known each other longer, so provided you haven't already done this)

Name: Ichijouji Ken

Aliases: none he can even stand to be called anymore.

Gender: male (trans)

Age: 21 at blog default

Date of birth: 17 January 1991

Place of birth: funny story, Papa Ichijouji used to develop weapons with Oikawa (per the clipping he kept in his desk in the final arc of 02). Per me, it was a private firm that pretty much sold to any country with an active military (so all international sales) Ken was born in St. Petersburg, which was still legally in the Soviet Union at the time. Japanese citizenship is de sanguis, so there were no citizenship problems, but he was born in a place he's otherwise never been, in a country he doesn't even remember the existence of. His family register always brings up awkward conversation, but at least it can deflect from his deadname being on there.

Hometown: 江戸っ子 www mun is a history nut. Toukyou. Everyone ever knows what Toukyou is, at least.

Spoken languages: Japanese (native) Spanish (conversational), English (conversational, albeit with frequent pausing), Mandarin (fluent, native-level), Hindi (fluent, near-native) (why yes, I did just pick most spoken languages)

Sexual Preference: Um, you mean "orientation"? Pansexual. Otherwise I'm not sure I know what this question means.

Occupation: at default, flunking out of being a full time student at Toukyou University. Due to depression. Same reason makes it hard to hold a job. Eventually, planned: nurse.

Eye Colour: Blue

Hair Colour: Black

Height: 180 cm. Even without regular access to T, this isn't implausible. I once knew a Yamato Japanese cis woman who was about this tall. And Ken has had *some* T. (Yeah, it's hormone dependent as well as inherited traits, specifically hormones during growing years)

Scars: He's got a fair bit from Digital World activities, as well as sports. That one from his first game against Daisuke Did scar thanks to not getting it treated and being deep enough to bleed so long, bit it's pretty faint. He's got newer ones here and there, though.

Burns: Er,well, I think that'd be a type of scar for this purpose

Overweight: no

Underweight: unfortunately

Favourite colour: I don't think all adults have this (I think most all kids do) Ken kinda...he has a lot of trouble connecting to things that make him happy.

Favourite hair colour: This seems like a strange question, because different colours look good with different other colours and face types and so on.

Favourite eye colour: Same

Favourite song: I do have a character for a fic project that has a favourite song, but only because he spent most of his life captive, and so only knows under 20 songs. I kinda can't imagine having a favourite single song otherwise.

Favourite movie: Explained below. Ken's only begun to explore non-instructional media. None yet.

Favourite TV Show: Star Trek. When he was his parents' invisible inconvenience, he stumbled on Enterprise one day. He was since restricted from any media that wasn't educational/instructional, and finally living on his own in college, he hasn't been able to get a TV (though he has been able to get a record player to explore music) Star Trek was the only thing he even had that was something he just genuinely liked once he'd firmly grown out of Anpanman and Gachapin and Mukku. It's a great show, sure, but it's also something that's his thing.

Favourite drink: Can vary by verse. If he associates something with a loved one, it would be that. Otherwise, he's pretty copacetic towards food and drink.

Favourite book: non-fiction, he owns everything trans advocate since1995 and former Congress rep Kamikawa Aya has written to date. Fiction: He did really like the historical tech romp of Mori Hiroshi's "The Strange World of Dr. Kisima"

Passed university: At default, he's got no way left to pass. He's toast. He got to year three, though. Mun dropped out of junior college and considers that pretty good, even had Ken's studies not been at Japan's most elite science school

Had sex: verse dependent. Probably with Daisuke, if I had a Daisuke RPer.

Had sex in public: Nope. Nope, never. Dysphoria, and on top of that, former child celebrity trying to get away from catching notice of tabloids and fans.

Gotten pregnant: could be verse dependant. Planned digimon project, he does at 17, miscarries, which is bad because he and his partners, Daisuke and Miyako,were really looking forward to being parents, even despite their ages. I was a teenager during the teen pregnancy boom in the '90s, and saw parents do horrible things to their kids in a time of need. Deny abortion, toss out on the streets, rehouse with abusive relatives. I work social issues into my play. So sue me.

Kissed a boy: I really just should write my own stuff with an offscreen Daisuke, shouldn't I?

Kissed a girl: well, the project is slated to have Daisuke, Ken, and Miyako as a triad, so I can see Miyako with enough build up.

Gotten tattoos: No

Gotten piercings: Earlobes. He has worn tiny pearl dot earrings in the past.

Been in love: Daisuke

Had a broken heart: Does it have to be romantic? His parents' disregard for him unless he could be a cash cow counts. And also coming home after the Dark Seed's influence was broken and realising how much he hurt his brother.

Virgin: Verse dependent

Cuddler: Yup, and not only romantic. He loves nuzzling Wormmon or being hugged by Osamu.

Kisser: I guess. I mean most people who aren't asexual like that. (Some asexuals also do, it varies. I'm just thinking of five minute kissing scenes in movies being everywhere)

Scared Easily: He's a Chosen Child. Little is scarier than what he's been through. The only things that scare him are potential harm to loved ones. I headcanon that the difficulty in opening the Dark Sea portal was actually really bad physical pain from something something Dark Seed, not fear.

Jealous Easily: If he thinks you've found a new friend or something, he'll be glad you "did better than" him. He has horribly low self-esteem

Trustworthy: In all but actually telling you something is wrong with him. One day, this'll probably wind him hospitalised or permanently physically damaged

Submissive: Fandom, so this probably means sex, but I'm gonna take it outside of that. He doesn't have the confidence to lead anything. Intelligence, yes he could be a great team leader at some kind of academic or sciencey type of work. Sports-wise, he still has the muscle memory of his Dark Seed days. (That being said, the underweight problem hampers his stamina in sports critically) he'd pass rather than take the shot. He could lead, but he just doesn't have the confidence.

Dominant: See above

In Love: Daisuke, willing to also consider Miyako, But that'd be a slow burn

Single: Verse dependent

Siblings: Osamu

Parents: That he really needs to cut off because they're pretty toxic.

Children: I guess this could be verse dependent. None at default

Pets: None. I know some might put Wormmon here, but digimon have the minds of humans, and most are like playmates to their partners in canon. Wormmon in particular canonically comes across as traumatised little brother put into big brother role.

#ask meme #musings #about muse #was not tagged and invited to do this hashtag party crasher

[terresdebrume]

A Fic Rec Post

Okay so @julinettewrites asked me for a few fanfiction recs to get to know the fandom side of things. The requirements were: ‘good character development/introspection’ and ‘doesn’t require in-depth knowledge’ for fandoms she isn’t in. Of course I had to oblige.

Note that several of the fics on that list will be novel-length and beyond (wordcount included in the post) and several of them will deal with mature themes including but not limited to : mourning, death, rape-recovery, slavery, depression and medical torture. Please check the warnings on fics before reading :)

Legend for the brackets in front of titles:

M = Multichaptered fic

OS = One shot (one chapter) fic

S = Series of fic

C = Complete

I = In progress

The first fic on the list is my go-to rec for people discovering fanfiction, the rest doesn’t really have any order of preference, fandom or length. I stuck to fics hosted on AO3 for convenience’s sake, although a detour through my fic rec tag has a couple of little gems for your perusal.

I also included a couple of my own fics at the end, because I’m proud of them, and also because I can.

Enjoy !

I. Others’ fics

[M|C] Spin Control by trovia (Hunger Games, Finnick/Haymitch, 146k+ words, Rated M)

Summary : When Haymitch Abernathy’s alcoholism makes the prime time news, Finnick Odair is sent to live in District Twelve to pick up the pieces. But it’s hard to save a friend if you can barely stand looking yourself in the eye. And it might become impossible once that friend decides to move hell and high water to bring two of his tributes home at once, even if it should cost him his own life.

[S|I] Double Agent Vader by fialleril (Star Wars Original Trilogy, Gen, 78k+ so far)

Series summary : The one where Vader turned double agent for the Rebellion about three years after ROTS, and Leia is now his primary contact with the Rebellion.

[M|C] All The Angels and The Saints by speranza (MCU, Steve/Bucky, 48k+ words, Rated E)

Summary : In which Steve Rogers loses God and finds God and loses God, and also: Bucky.

[M|C] The Weight of the World by bellinaball (Glee, Gen, 12k+ words, Rated E)

Summary : Blaine's parents have given him a present. No matter what Kurt tells him, Blaine knows that his gift isn't a person.

[M|C] The Twin Thrones by Angelike (Merlin +Chronicles of Narnia, Merlin/Arthur, 40k words, Rated E)

Summary : While visiting a neighbouring kingdom for peace negotiations on behalf of King Uther, Arthur finds his attempts to seduce Merlin thwarted at every turn. Hiding in the wardrobe seemed like a good idea at the time.

[OS|C] Migratory Birds by nekare (Supernatural+X-Men, Gen, 11k+ words, Rated Teen & Up)

Summary : When the end comes, one brother is on one side, and the other on the opposite.

[S|C] The Guiding Winds by Fialleril (Star Wars OT & Prequel Trilogy, Gen, 5k+ words, Rated General Audiences)

Summary : The one where everything is the same, except Anakin survives ROTJ. Mostly a connected series of fics written in the same universe, centering on Luke and Anakin's relationship, and written by request - updated on a whim, but each fic is complete.

[OS] different from all other nights by metonymy (Xmen, Gen, 2k+ words, Rated GA)

Summary : "This year we are slaves; next year we will be free." Kitty and Erik host a seder for Passover at the Xavier School.

[OS] In Starships and Cups of Coffee by lorata (Star Wars OT, Gen, 1k+ words, Rated GA)

Summary : Han has no idea when he was born and it doesn’t really matter, it’s what he’s done with his life that’s important, not whatever day he got dropped into the world, red-faced and screaming and smeared with gunk. (Chewie would have his hide for that, but you know what pal, just because his kid had fur from the start didn’t make the whole process any less weird and slimy.)

Birthdays away from home can be complicated, whether you're an orphaned smuggler who doesn't remember, a princess whose home planet exploded, or a farm boy whose native world used an obscure calendar system.

[OS] A Nice Boy (The Family Matters Edition) by pocky_slash (X-Men : First Class, Charles/Erik, 20k+, Rated T&U)

Summary : Erik's not sure whether the problem is that he doesn't want his parents to meet Charles or that he doesn't want Charles to meet his parents. Either way, he never invites Charles to brunch. Why should he? It's not like they're dating.

[OS] Guardian Angels by WerewolvesAreReal (Digimon Adventure 01, Gen, 3k+ words, Rated Gen)

Summary : After the digital portal closes at the end of 01, TK looks for a new guardian angel. This search leads mostly to heartbreak.

Things to know : Takeru’s Digimon is Angel-shaped at his highest levels and died (twice, I think?) in the course of adventure 01. This fic takes place soon after that.

[M|C] The Crystal’s Song by sebastianL (Rogue One : A Star Wars Story, Chirrut/Baze, 160k+ words, Rated Explicit)

Summary : He is a Guardian. He believes in the Force. He is alone. Things change.

[OS] To Have Outlived The Night by stillane (Teen Wolf, Stiles/Derek, 23k+ words, Rated Mature)

Summary : Derek steps away from the window. “You helped me. They took that as a declaration.”

[OS] The Butterfingers G. D. I. Stark to Problem Solving by Epiphanyx7 (MCU, Gen, 18k+ words, Rated T&U)

Summary : Tony begins to notice that things are going missing from his workshop... and discovers that his bots have been hiding a very, very big secret from him. Or rather, a very, very small one.

In which Dummy is a kleptomaniac, You is painfully shy, Butterfingers is a programming genius, JARVIS is a sarcastic sonofabitch, Pepper takes care of Tony outside of the workshop, Bruce is Tony's boo, Thor is Tony's favourite, Clint is actually kind of smart, Steve has terrible timing, and problem-solving is never simple or easy.

Things to know : Dummy, Butterfingers and You are Tony Stark’s robots, the ones in his workshop, which we mostly see in Iron Man 1 & 2.

[OS] Je n’ai jamais promis un jardin de roses by chezvous(XMen : First Class, Gen, 5k+ words, Rated GA)

Summary : Charles had wanted a puppy for his tenth birthday.

(Or: Charles takes care of roses to make up for the fact that he was not loved quite enough during his childhood.)

II. Things of mine

[M|C] Once more, with kissing (Digimon, Taichi/Yamato, 41k words, Rated M)

Summary : In which Taichi has questionable ways to handle his issues, everyone tries to be nice, and Yamato yells at him a lot. Same old, same old, except for the part where there's kissing.

[OS] The Green Teacup (Saint Seiya, Gen, 7k+ words, Rated T&U)

Summary : Aphrodite, after a week-long absence, is finally back in the Sanctuary, which means Deathmask can just yell at him for leaving everyone behind and let things go back to normal.

Except for the part where they don’t.

Things to know : The characters mentioned are all super-powered child soldiers with Tragic Backstories (Deathmask’s takes the cake). In this fic, Aphrodite was sent 200years into the past and has just come back to the Sanctuary (where they all live) a little too late to prevent people from knowing he time-traveled at all.

[S|I] Teeth of the Desert (Star Wars OT, Gen, 9k+ words so far, Rated T&U)

Summary : In which the homestead doesn't burn but Luke is orphaned anyway.

In which he never leaves Tatooine, but learns to know Han and Leia anyway.

In which Luke never becomes a Jedi, but he saves a world anyway.

[OS] Killing zombies, and other fun activities (TWD+Battlestar Galactica, Gen, 4k words, Rated GA)

Summary : Daryl finds Kara in Griffin, roaring drunk and just about ready to die. Things, as it turn out, don’t quite go according to her plan, but she doesn’t really complain.

[S|C] The Boxes ‘Verse (The Hunger Games+Avatar : The last Airbender, Finnick/Haymitch, 7k+ words, Rated T)

Summary : "Remember that time we talked about little boxes? That was ages ago but try to remember it, if you can?" "I can, Mom. I remember it. What about it?" "Well, we're trying to see if it's possible to unpack them."

#My posts #fic recs #julinettewrites #Fic Rec

[talesofdark]

Some B-Daman Fire Spirits critique (SPOILERS)

I’ve been thinking of these things that kind of bother me when it comes to Fire Spirits, and since being a hater is my job, I’ll do a list of things I consider totally off when it comes to this season, and part of the reason why it wasn’t too successful. 

What will limit me will be the fact that I have only watched about 30% of FS (the dubbed episodes Max kindly uploaded to Youtube.) Also read as much as I could about it, trying to figure out more from people’s reviews. So I’m sorry if something I say will be inaccurate, I’m going to accept other opinions (maybe FS gets better after ep 27?)

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love this fucking anime but I can’t help and pinpoint what was wrong with the second season. It was sure nice to see our favorite characters in animation again, but it felt more like animated fanfiction rather than canon. I think many of these issues happened due to Season two not being related to the events of the manga, so it’s almost not basically canon.

I won’t even get started on the voices, as it’s the obvious flaw of the season, the only characters having acceptable voices being Enjyu, Gray, Wen, maybe Li, Lienna ( annoying but acceptable), Haja, and a few others.

ATTENTION, SPOILERS. 

1.CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT WENT STRAIGHT TO TRASH. Season one did a great job with character development. Characters were believable, flawed, and also had redeeming qualities that made them complex. For example, Enjyu. Enjyu turns out to be quite the hero in the ending of the first season. He basically ends up saving the fucking world. Then we see him acting like an asshole again, in season two.                                                 

He destroys Ludo, leaving no one to tend and help Kia, who basically saved his life. He is power hungry again, which obviously destroys and consumes him. Enjyu’s only dream is to defeat Yamato (a dream shared by everyone else, making up for some pretty boring and overused kind of motivation...oh welp). 

This isn’t OOC for the Enjyu we first see for the first half of season one, but is upsetting at this point, where all the development his character underwent seems to have been thrown straight to the trash.                  

Also, Wen, who used to like Lienna, doesn’t seem to care for her anymore. Though, it might be interpreted as him losing interest in her as it was only a crush, or realizing they’re not going anywhere, but it would’ve been a nice touch as it tied Wen to someone other than Li, as the whole brothers-fighting-as-one etc etc got pretty boring in season two. So I would’ve enjoyed to see the dynamic between Wen and other characters. At least we get Kiba, I guess. I guess I’m mostly upset because little details that got a chance at being developed into a really cool thing were actually left out.

2. OOC-ness. Let’s take Gray and Lienna.    

 It’s very hard to believe that Gray left, leaving Lienna behind, after everything that happened in season one. We can believe that he learned that she is strong and can take care of herself, but very hard to believe that he would leave her behind. It’s also very weird how they meet, he actually realizes it is her behind the mask, but leaves her behind to go her own way anyway. This looks more like indifference than actual acknowledgement that she can take care of herself. It’s like the people who made Fire Spirits didn’t even watch season one. I can’t believe the fact that he’d just turn around and leave her in a fucking desert by herself, without showing any sign of affection.                                    

Also, Yamato. Yamato isn’t the dumb protagonist stereotype. He does exhibit some typical ‘’dumb’’ protagonist traits. He obsesses over food and fighting and the anime is a classic example of the “friendship matters, not power’’ trope. Though, this isn’t a topic approached with superficiality. During season one, characters bond thanks to Yamato’s kindness, power to believe in people and bring them together. He’s not blindly ambitious and obsessed with being the best. He’s genuinely in for the fun, is caring, motivational, warm, sees the best in everyone to the point of naivety, and can clearly discern right from wrong. He’s not shallow. Though, in Fire Spirits, he’s mostly used for comic relief. There are a few heartwarming moments (such as him disguising as Terry so Terry gets to fight in the tournament- but they’re not as emotionally powerful as some season one moments, and Yamato’s motivation at that moment is mostly shown to be the desire to fight Terry in the Tournament. True Yamato would be too concerned for Terry at this point in order to care so much about fighting.                                    

Also, Yamato forgets Wen and Li’s names?????? This is so OOC I can’t even. Yamato cares greatly about his friends. He tends to be all-over-the-place and not attentive to small details sometimes but he is definitely a people person who would never forget people he shared so many moments with.                 

Terry is by far the worst example of OOC. Terry is the heart of the group, the most caring and supportive one, like Katara in ATLA. He would never turn against his friends. At his worst, he would seek revenge and lose himself for a moment (like Katara did with the guy who killed her mother) but would be too moral to carry on and would be on the right path again immediately. He would be HEARTBROKEN by Joe’s death, but he would probably accept help (or retreat to reconsider his life and meditate on what happen) but he would never turn into a villain. He’s the least likely to. 

3. “MEH” HUMOR. Honestly, too much toilet humor. Too much farting, pissing, etc. That’s just lazy.

4. COOL CHARACTERS LEFT OUT IN FAVOR OF MUCH LESS INTERESTING ONES. I don’t say, bring back every fucking minor character from the first season, but friendships and relationships that went through a deep development in season one were left out and annoying characters got brought in instead. For example, Karat and Bull’s relationship. We could’ve seen more of that. These two went through some stuff together, after all. It was nice that they included Joe though, but he soon gets killed off, leaving Terry acting in ways Terry WOULD NEVER ACT NO MATTER HOW SEVERE THE LOSS. So Joe gets brought in, we get the chance to see some development for Terry and him, but he gets killed off for the sake of the plot. Not smart writing. Also, Bull befriends Aqulas and decided to go with him despite the fact that he doesn’t even fucking know him, turning his back to Yamato, after they went through so much together. It’s just awful.                                  

Haja is interesting though, but has no real backstory. He does provide some humor though.                                                                                    

Aqulas doesn’t speak, which means that it would’ve been better if we got some insight on his character and personality through his actions. We truly can’t find out anything about his personality at all, which is sad because he had real potential. All we know is that he’s too OP.                   

Gunnos is such a typical and uninteresting character. He’s shown to have pretty much no personality rather than being annoying and competing with Yamato. We should’ve seen more traits. His role in the original manga was more acceptable.

5. EVERYONE IS POWER HUNGRY AND HAS NO DEEP MOTIVATION. The characters as we used to know them had very varied motivations. Gray genuinely enjoyed the game and had a deep perception of friendship and caring for each other. He does fight with all he has as a means to show respect to the opponent, but winning is not the ultimate purpose. In Fire Spirits he’s so obsessed with defeating Yamato that he even leaves his own sister behind. Enjyu turns back to being power hungry as well, making everything we saw at the end of season one useless. Yamato himself only thinks about food and fighting at this point.

6. WE GET A GREAT BUILD-UP TOWARDS A SPECIFIC MOMENT BUT THE OUTCOME IS UNINTERESTING. Basically, the entire tournament. Characters go through many preparations and struggles to get a Strike Shot in order to go to the Tournament, but they go out of the competition really fast and the battles are uninteresting. For example, Gray. It was interesting that he got kicked out of the competition because of Haja, but it was all handled poorly. It was too sudden. We didn’t get to see enough of Gray fighting. Even Gunnos has his moment in the tournament, but Gray...it was just plain disappointing, after all his struggles to get there. Aqulas and Enjyu’s battle was interesting, though. I didn’t see Wen lose, but he was suddenly out of the Tournament during one episode (though I might’ve missed something? anyone care to illuminate me?                      

I also enjoyed the fact that Lienna got to fight as well, but of course she was thrown out after a while, and turns back to being overly emotional, crying and praying (she literally only cries and prays) Not saying that it’s wrong to be like that, or that all female characters must be super tough and indifferent, but her B-Dabattler persona and actual personality were strikingly different.

7. THE CHARACTERS HAVE NO FLAVOR. It goes hand in hand with everyone just fighting for the sake of fighting. The only character who was ‘’deeper’’ was Enjyu. We could see some passion in him, but the way he ended up acting contradicted the way we ended up seeing Enjyu at the end of season one. 

8. WE DON’T SEE ACCURATE REACTIONS TO ENJYU’S DEATH. Yamato was enthusiastic about getting to fight Aqulas right after Enjyu died (the next episode). He said nothing about Enjyu, he was just happy that he was going to fight someone so powerful. WHAT EVEN

9. TOO MANY THINGS HAPPEN THAT GO UNEXPLAINED. People die, but are revived and we don’t get an explanation why. Enjyu’s body just disappears after his fight against Aqulas and nobody questions it. Then, he comes back due to Lienna ‘’praying’’?? Also, nobody is shocked, or excited, or questions it. Wen is like “Oh Enjyu, where did you go? Welcome back” That’s creepy. The whole “going to hell and coming back” was an interesting idea though, allthough I couldn’t understand exactly how it happened (because I couldn’t see the dubbed episodes) so I won’t comment on that.

That’s it, pretty much. I might add some more details if anything comes to mind.

I apologize for being such a turn off, but as a huge fan myself, I couldn’t help but state the obvious. I’m willing to discuss though, just remember that I love the series and this is only my personal take on FS (as someone who wished to see something that was up to the standards set by season one)

#batobi #battle b-daman #b-daman #yamato delgado #terry mcscotty