#i think subaru likes tsukasa actually <- thinking about the stories i have read | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

dumping-ideas · 2 years

Note

To continue the Tsukasa rants, do you remember the Wonder Halloween event? When Rui held back from giving Tsukasa his idea? Tsukasa got really upset at that and I think that he was upset because he thinks that he a star, wasn’t good enough for the role and so the director had to change his ideas because of him. Even if the event focused on Rui, I still have that stuck in my head because Tsukasa holds memories that reflect his personality. (Saki’s doll event) Those memories make him who he is. I think after that Halloween event, he’s going to hide his negative feelings from everyone else and bottle it up until one day, he just shatters apart.

In short,

He’s a star and what do all stars do?

They burn.

Oh no, angst.

But, well, it's not like I dislike angst, so your idea is very tempting. I kinda can see what you mean by bottling his negative feelings until he shatters apart too. It'll make a very good hurt/comfort route for sure. It may be cathartic to see, but after seeing/reading Subaru's breakdowns so many times I'm sure my heart would ache terribly if I saw my other fav characters like Tsukasa fell apart. Just Subaru is enough please. On the other hand, my sister actually wanted Tsukasa to snap at WxS, so it's kinda funny how much people wanted to see him breaking down in sadness and/or anger.

Fortunately(?), I don't think canon would go that far with Tsukasa's internal conflict. While yes Wonder Halloween event enforced his perfectionist tendency, and yes he's most likely still blaming himself for that incident, I think his tendency to put 'the best shows' next to 'the happiness of his loved ones' help in this instance. If his negative feelings compromise their shows, he would consult the others after being able to look at those feelings objectively. And it's not like he bottled them up in canon too. Dazzling Stage hinted that whenever he has negative feelings he'd play the piano as a coping mechanism. And while he struggled to name those negative emotions in various event stories, he could identify them in the end. His way to deal with them definitely isn't the most ideal, but it's actually not that bad imo (Niigo members are the worst in this regard). And yes hard agree that he needed to talk about them with someone (most likely the VS) before he burned out lol.

Also, the end of a star's life is either a big explosion/supernova that can create new stars or a blackhole, or just slowly dimming and cooling into a dark mass of nothingness. Choose your pick.

#ask #pjsekai #project sekai #tenma tsukasa #i'm sticking with ainana and rezero not because of the angst but because they're genuinely uplifting stories #so is proseka

33 notes · View notes

utanoshitpostsama · 2 years

Text

hey i’m back with my highly quality content

um anyways my shuffle units predictions

1) wataru, shinobu, rinne, kuro and shu:

well im thinking of some sort of adults night- maybe some sort of mafia or gambling group that gets into dangerous things? ever heard joker by ember last? or joker trap by utapri? (or any song with the word joker on it I guess) yeah thats kinda what I had in mind. and wouldn’t be cool if the mastermind (in story) was shinobu? like the child and his 1.80 friends doing illegal stuff that would be funny

2) mika, madara, yuzuru, yuta, adonis:

a MARINE UNIT. LIKE MERMAIDS listen

a very omoi no kakera-ish song, with lotus lanterns and floating fishes. idk how to explain it well but look at this hiyori cn exclusive card, you’ll get the idea hopefully

the song could be about a forbbiden love with a human or something like that

3) hiiro, koga, ibara, hinata, subaru

oh yes the school delinquent unit. idk go listen EVIL LIVE or Tokkou DANCE . a rock song. theyre trying to kill eachother on screen they have bats . I actually see this very possible. maybe one of them ends up dying fr

if I got at least one theme or 3 character combination right I’ll go berserk

4) jun, tsumugi, tetora, tsukasa, tomoya

okay this one is for the funsies because i don’t have any actual theme. but since happyele loves to make tomoya, tsukasa and tetora struggle with their leadership. and tsumugi getting the spotlight would be hilarious. jun is there because they need at least one fan favorite

thank u for reading this very intellectual post

#enstars #ensemble stars #enstars meme

35 notes · View notes

astro-break · 3 years

Text

Did I spend 3 hours cataloging the new MV outfits instead of studying? Yes. Please don’t question it. Everything is under the cut because its long, there’s really bad quality screenshots, and i went ham on the data analysis :)

General points: - There are three types of outfits in the set. Tucked, Untucked, and Half tucked shirts. Pants are the same as far as I can tell

- All of this is speculative and is in no way fact. Please take the data with a grain of salt, I am horrendous at math and can’t count for shit

- Belts and shoes are reflective and go Kira Kira during lives. Subaru goes crazy over them and has probably already stolen them all

Units

Trickstar - Orange Shoes

Hokuto - Tucked Shirt | Subaru - Untucked Shirt | Mao - Half Tucked Shirt | Makoto - Untucked Shirt

Fine - Peach Shoes

Eichi - Tucked Shirt | Wataru - Untucked Shirt | Yuzuru - Tucked Shirt | Tori - Half Tucked Shirt

Ryuseitai - Red Shoes

Chiaki - Untucked Shirt | Kanata - Tucked Shirt | Tetora - Half Tucked Shirt | Shinobu - Untucked Shirt | Midori - Tucked Shirt

Alkaloid - Teal Shoes

Hiiro - Untucked Shirt | Aira - Untucked Shirt | Tatsumi - Tucked Shirt | Mayoi - Tucked Shirt

Eden - Grey Shoes

Nagisa - Untucked Shirt | Hiyori - Untucked Shirt | Ibara - Untucked Shirt | Jun - Untucked Shirt

2wink - Pink Shoes

Hinata - Half Tucked Shirt | Yuuta - Half Tucked Shirt

Valkyrie - Burgundy Shoes

Shu - Tucked Shirt | Mika - Half Tucked Shirt

Crazy:B - Yellow Shoes

Rinne - Half Tucked Shirt | HiMERU - Tucked Shirt | Kohaku - Tucked Shirt | Niki - Half Tucked Shirt

Undead - Purple Shoes

Rei - Tucked Shirt | Kaoru - Tucked Shirt | Koga - Half Tucked Shirt | Adonis - Half Tucked Shirt

Akatsuki - Burgundy Shoes

Keito - Tucked Shirt | Kuro - Untucked Shirt | Souma - Untucked Shirt

Ra*bits - Teal Shoes

Nazuna - Untucked Shirt | Tomoya - Untucked Shirt | Hajime - Untucked Shirt | Tenma - Untucked Shirt

Knights - Dark Blue Shoes

Leo - Tucked Shirt | Sena - Tucked Shirt | Ritsu - Tucked Shirt | Arashi - Tucked Shirt | Tsukasa - Tucked Shirt

Switch - Green Shoes

Natsume - Tucked Shirt | Tsumugi - Tucked Shirt | Sora - Half Tucked Shirt

MaM - Grey Shoes

Madara - Untucked Shirt

(Do you really need a screenshot? Hes been in like. 90% of the other ones :p)

Jin & Akiomi

Jin - Burgundy Shoes, Untucked Shirt | Akiomi - Dark Blue Shoes, Tucked Shirt

Data:

In General - 51 Idols

Tucked Shirts (41%) - 21 Idols | Untucked Shirts (37%) - 19 Idols | Half Tucked Shirts (22%) - 11 Idols

StarPro - 17 Idols

Tucked Shirts (41%) - 7 Idols | Untucked Shirts (41%) - 7 Idols | Half Tucked Shirts (18%) - 3 Idols

CosPro - 12 Idols

Tucked Shirts (25%) - 3 Idols | Untucked Shirts (33%) - 4 Idols | Half Tucked Shirts (42%) - 5 Idols

RyLin - 11 Idols

Tucked Shirts (27%) - 3 Idols | Untucked Shirts (54%) - 6 Idols | Half Tucked Shirts (19%) - 2 Idols

NewDi - 9 Idols

Tucked Shirts (77%) - 7 Idols | Untucked Shirts (11%) - 1 Idol | Half Tucked Shirts (12%) - 1 Idol

(26%) 4/15 Units ([25%] 4/16 if you count Double Face) have members wearing the same shirt. These units are:

Eden (Untucked), 2wink (Half Tucked), Ra*bits (Untucked), and Knights (Tucked)

(53%) 8/15 Units had the same colored shoes. These units are:

Alkaloid & Ra*bits: Teal Shoes

Valkyrie & Akatsuki & Jin: Burgundy Shoes

Eden & MaM: Grey Shoes

Knights & Akiomi: Dark Blue Shoes

Mini Analysis (that eventually turned into a not so mini analysis)

I think that each character wearing their shirts slightly differently is actually super interesting and shows a little bit of personality for them. Loose shirts are more boyish and athletic, youthful and fun while tucked in shirts give off a more refined and put together appearance. Half tucked just looks lazy in my opinion but also has the best of both worlds, a casual kind of formality.

StarPro having a more or less equal amount of Idols wearing their shirts in all three ways is pretty interesting and really emphasizes the amount of freedom these idols are given based on their agency. It also speaks to how free StarPro units are in relation to other agencies since they are the sole agency without any units who match each other’s shirt wearing tendencies. Everyone’s just kind of everywhere with each unit doing their own thing. Its interesting to note that the only unit in StarPro that doesn’t have all three styles of shirt wearing is Alkaloid. In Mayoi’s own words, Alkaloid is “a newbie who has just made his debut”. Because of they’re new I suspect that they haven’t branched out very much, sticking to the tried and true traditions of idol work that dictates that uniformity with minor deviations is the best for unit outfits. You can totally see it in how they’ve separated themselves into two neat groups: Hiiro with Aira and Tatsumi with Mayoi (yes shippers you can go feral over this fact).

Contrasting StarPro, CosPro has the highest amount of units with matching shirt styles. Eden makes sense since Ibara probably wants the face of the company to look uniform so he made them all wear their shirts the same. Though the decision to leave them untucked leaves me questioning a few things. Do they want to seem more approachable? I guessed before actually seeing the outfits that Eden would either have half tucked or fully tucked shirts mostly because they’re a unit who prioritizes appearances. Having that put together air definitely fits Eden (or at least Adam). 2wink wasn’t a surprise tho. They’re generally a more uniform unit being twins and all. Though again, a bit miffed about the choice for half tucked shirts. While I will freely admit that I don’t read very many Eden or 2wink stories nor have I interacted with them very much, I do think there is merit in being able to understand design choices at a glance. If a 2winkP or an EdenP would like to hazard a guess as to why these two units have shirt wearing styles that doesn’t really fit with my preconceived notions of them please do tell me. But other than that, CosPro is generally really uniform with each unit being more or less balanced. Valkyrie as always has a really strong sense of aesthetics and pairing the half tucked shirt with the tucked shirt was a very good call. Crazy:B, like Alkaloid, is neatly separated into two groups: Rinne with Niki and Kohaku with HiMERU (more shipping fodder for you shippers :p). But contrary to Alkaloid who’s following more conventional idol ideas, i feel like Crazy:B was instructed by Ibara to dress like that. Both to promote the image of unity within CosPro but also to piss Rinne off ww.

I really don’t have much to say on RyLin since I generally don’t like any of the units affiliated with it. I really sorry but I’m pretty indifferent about Ra*bits and Akatsuki. I do have Opinions TM about Undead but that’s for another day. But for now, I will say that Ra*bits all having untucked shirts is very cute and very Ra*bits. The picture perfect image of youth and energy!

Thanks to Knights basically dominating the board with their five person unit all with tucked in pants, the data was skewed way to much into the tucked shirts area wwww. Even if Natsume and Tsumugi didn’t have tucked shirts it would still be the majority wwwww. In all seriousness, tucked in pants is 100% a Knights look and i am living for it. They look so noble even in converse and casual wear. I think Mama having an untucked shirt is also super cute and makes him a lot more huggable. (please refer to the Ra*bits screenshot, its very cute the height difference) Even Sora’s half tucked look is very boyish a cute, very Sora. Honestly each of the agencies’ personalities shone through even through these simple clothes and honestly did a better job of giving me each unit’s personalities at a glance than those 5th Ani outfits did.

Also I have no idea why some units share shoe colors its just a fun thing to point out. Yes I’m pretentious and say burgundy instead of dark red. Shut up. I like burgundy :p

Extra Notes

- None of these bitches are straight, they’re wearing Converse with cuffed pants! Look me in the face and tell me that wearing converse with cuffed pants is a straight thing. Thats right, you can’t.

- The stage was Knights’ Silent Oath bc it’s a stage with 5 people, has nice lighting, and has multiple parts where I can get all 5 people with a large window of time. Also I can stand listening to Silent Oath 12 times while taking screenshots. The other option was Suisei Halation but I found Silent Oath first :p

- This came from me noticing that Rei had purple converse shoes and laughing my ass off about it before going to check out the other units and spiraling from there

- As I was cataloguing this, I made a mental list of who in Enstars deserves to have fangs on their model and who actually does. I’m not posting that today but if you’re interested....

- None of this was edited. None of it.

- I really should have been studying ¯\_ (ツ)_/¯ time well wasted

#ensemble stars #enstars #outfit analysis #my post #long post #analysis

13 notes · View notes

thedeliverygod · 3 years

Text

2020 Anime Rec List

side note that these animes didn’t necessarily come out in 2020 (though some did) its just the year that I watched them.

FOR FANS OF NORAGAMI

Toilet Bound Hanako Kun

Based off the popular legend in Japan of Hanako-san, a ghost who haunts the girl’s bathroom. However, this Hanako is a mischievous boy who happens to be the leader of the school’s Seven Wonders. The heroine Nene comes to Hanako with a wish of making her senpai notice her and chaos ensues from there as the near shore and the far shore intertwine. You’ll see a lot of obvious comparisons between this and Noragami and the manga is also extremely worth it. I would say Hanako-kun is a little bit heavier on the comedy, but by the same token it can also be dark af :]

Kakuriyo

All of her life, Aoi has been able to see ayakashi; one even saved her from a near death experience when she was a small child. But after her grandfather passes away, she’s met by an ogre king who says that because of a debt her grandfather owes him, she must come to the hidden realm and be his bride. Aoi refuses and asks to instead work off her debt at the inn that he owns. With the help of Ginji, a kind fox ayakashi, Aoi starts her own restaurant and grows many friendships with the various workers of the inn, including the ogre king himself. This one is definitely not as action based as Noragami or Hanako-kun but it’s a very spiritual and fun show. If you’re into cooking/food, there’s definitely a lot of that too.

Fantasy

A Lull in the Sea

In this world, certain humans have been blessed by the gods with ena; a special skin covering that allows them to live and breathe underwater. For generations, there has been tensions between humans who live on land and humans who live in the sea. The show begins with a group of friends who for the first time are required to go to school up on land. While most are open to the idea, the main character, Hikari, is very hesitant and very resistant towards befriending land-dwellers. Over time, the friends grow to realize people in the sea and people on land are not so different after all and do their best to bring the two worlds together. This is honestly simplifying the plot a lot, but it’s a beautiful series. The amount of characters could honestly get a little overwhelming at times but I still highly recommend it.

ReLIFE

Arata for all intents and purposes is known as a “NEET”. So when an opportunity arises for him to become 17 again and ‘restart’ life, he takes it. I’ll be real, this anime was not at all what I was expecting. Arata’s reasons for being a “NEET” are very deep and relatable rather than the results of poor life style choices. Honestly, I think most people who are in their twenties right now can relate to at least one or more parts of his story as the anime goes more into detail. By going back to high school, it teaches him how to connect with people on a real level and how to appreciate life for what it is and take in every single little moment.

Slice of Life

Kakushigoto

Kakushi Goto is a successful manga artist. But not just any manga artist, one who makes his living with lewd drawings and jokes. The catch? He has a small oh so innocent daughter that absolutely must NEVER know what he does for living. This anime is so sweet, heartwarming, and hilarious. Honestly the reason I watched it is because the main character is the same voice as Yato lmao. So if you want to pretend, it’s like Yato has a little girl.

My Roommate is a Cat

Subaru is a recluse novelist and has been stuck in writer’s block for quite a while. After finding a kitten and bringing it home, Subaru finds new inspiration for both his writing and ways of seeing the world. A really cute & slow-paced slice of life.

Tonikawa

On his way home from school, Nasa sees a beautiful girl across the street. Without thinking, he walks across and finds himself being hit by a truck. Luckily, the girl jumped in to protect him and saved his life. Though she miraculously only had a few cuts, Nasa suffered some broken bones and was told to wait for an ambulance while she walked off. Not wanting to lose a chance to see her again, Nasa chases after her and asks her about going on a date. Tsukasa replied that she would date him only if they got married first. Without hesitation, Nasa says yes before he soon passes out from the pain. Years pass and Nasa can’t forget the girl who saved his life. But just when he’s about to give up, she appears again and this time she’s got the marriage papers. This anime is really cute and hilarious! I thought the characters were younger than they actually are due to their cutesy design which is why I held off on watching it but I promise it’s not children getting married haha. Although Tsukasa says she’s 17 it seems to be implied she’s older (like, Yato old). I haven’t read the manga so I don’t know this for sure but there’s been a few moments in the anime that seem to hint at this. Plus, you know, the fact that she was hit by a truck and was fine.

#anime recs

23 notes · View notes

mikarashis · 5 years

Text

Ensemble Stars Episode 1 Analysis

Hello, hello everyone! It’s finally time for Ensemble Stars: The Anime Experience! If you were around a year or so ago, you may remember that I did something like this for IDOLiSH7 as well, so this will likely be the same sort of thing: a lot of screenshots, a lot of flailing, and hopefully some interesting character/story analysis thrown in there.

That being said, if you’re an anime-only watcher, do be wary of spoilers, but otherwise let’s get into the first episode!

First, a bit about, well, yours truly: I started playing Enstars in spring of 2016 (during the Valkyrie introduction event) and have been in this hell world ever since! My best boy in the beginning was Mika, and unlike a lot of series, that really hasn’t changed - however, I have a massive amount of love for pretty much every single character and that will probably be evident as you read through this!

So, here we go!

I’m not sure I’m a huge fan of the way the intro was set up to basically look like a mobile game because at this point we know what the source material is and there’s not really a reason to connect the two so literally, but it’s a style choice and I understand why they did it. It’s cute that they start with a song from the very first album series, though!

Oh, so it’s gonna be Like This, huh…

(For anyone wondering, there aren’t really explicitly...canon relationships in this series, but there’s a lot of really unsubtle moments and I think it’s safe to say certain pairings get majorly hinted at)

I’m biased because my top...four characters are all in Mao’s class (2-B) so I’m sad we didn’t actually get to see them all, but while this seems like a minor detail, Mao being in a different class from the rest of Trickstar is actually kind of a Thing.

Everyone has a different opinion on Anzu being included but personally, as long as they give her a personality and she doesn’t feel extraneous, I’m all for it. Plus she’s voiced by the incredible Maaya Sakamoto so that already earns a lot of points from me.

One thing I really do appreciate about an anime adaptation is that in the game we always hear things like ‘Subaru is always touching/hanging off of people’ but the models just stand there beside each other so actually seeing it is nice.

THERE HE BE. I could say a lot about this opening but the number of little details in it is so well-done, from Subaru’s reference to his father with the marble at the beginning to Tsukasa’s licence plate being his birthday to Eichi rolling up in a super expensive car to Ritsu snoozing and ignoring a phone call from his bf Mao to Leo apparently being in Syria to Leon and Daikichi being one of the screen wipes, it’s full of little easter eggs for fans of the game to discover.

I will mention, though, that an official Yamaha account tweeted what Izumi’s bike is and that bike is entirely too cool for someone like Izumi Sena.

Also I think the composer is the same one who wrote the opening song for the game and mentioned that it was also written this back in 2014 so I’m sure it’s very nice to see it used now!

(Help him). This is actually one of his character traits though so it’s nice to see it referenced.

Subaru can just...get away with saying things like that to Jin, amazing.

Adosou just casually strolling to class together, no big deal,

Subaru’s just willing to let all of Hokuto’s character quirks get exposed for ten yen (and so the audience can learn about them)

Poor boy

~~foreshadowing~~

One of the things I do kind of wish they did was aside from putting names on these little character placeholder cards, that they also mentioned what unit everyone belonged to - especially in this episode where everyone was just in their school uniforms, it would be hard to place for new viewers.

Okay admittedly they do kind of do the unit thing in these little eyecatches (which are really cute with the game card art) but they introduce way more characters than they show here.

If anyone is wondering whether most of these characters know each other or have history: yes. A lot of it isn’t really explored in the main story so I’m hoping that’s one of the things they’ll add in the anime version.

I WAS NOT EXPECTING RIOT WOLF SO THIS WAS A NICE SURPRISE. It’s also really smart of them to introduce a rock song because a lot of the units in Enstars don’t necessarily do ‘traditional’ idol music so this already subverts that possible expectation.

KURO PLEASE.

He’s so soft though, I love it.

FOR REFERENCE most of the lives are...not like this...so I’ve always kind of found it interesting that the very first one we see in the main story is. Eichi would literally be dead already if this was common practice.

The game card has this art of Koga leaning over her and here he’s just squashing her, rip Anzu.

Keito’s just standing there with that megaphone waiting for the right moment.

More...foreshadowing…

Look at this conniving little pink-haired child

I was...slightly worried about how Akatsuki in particular would come off here because they’re wonderful but I feel like it’s...alright? Keito’s just uptight but that’s normal for him I may have a slight bias toward everyone in 3-A so I’m just getting that out there now

See if you’d have just put their unit name on their introduction slides we wouldn’t have needed this line, but then Keito loves to talk so he probably would have said it anyway.

I saw some remarks from people who were unfamiliar with the source material saying the foreshadowing in general was too heavy-handed but I like that they didn’t have Mao expressly say he’s playing a double-agent, they show him with the StuCo at one point so it’s mostly implied but I feel like that works.

And then we get this really serious scene at the end, which is quite honestly more normal for Enstars in general. There’s a lot of humor but the heart of the story is character development and growth both individually and as units or relationships in general, so I’m glad they have this scene here.

She literally had 130 pounds of boy + a guitar drop onto her from a height, I’d say she’s doing pretty well, actually!

They throw a lot of information at the viewer in this episode and quite honestly even after being in the fandom for three years I still don’t know how the live system pyramid thing really works, but it’s not super important - the one plot thing that is integral is that things need to change and the system the way it is now isn’t working.

‘Risking our lives’ may seem dramatic but this is...how characters in Enstars talk. All the time.

Again, beautiful but not overtly obvious composition with the three of them learning toward Anzu and a noticeable space between that group and Mao who’s standing straight at the back.

The ending song is cute too and I think most people assume that all the units will get one at some point? Since I believe these are supposed to be cards for the next game event as well, but if it means more original songs, I’m very for this idea.

So, that was the first episode! All things considered, I think they did a good job with it, though as with most series the beginning always feels a little rushed until things settle into their normal pattern. For all the re-working that’s been done on this anime I do expect a lot from it, and I’m really interested to see how they incorporate the units that didn’t exist when the main story first came out (we know from spoilers that this already happens next week with a certain...member of 2-A that didn’t show up to class this episode…).

I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope to continue doing these throughout the season so please let me know if it was interesting and if you’d like to see more!

And if you’d like to find me on twitter I’m probably 90% enstars over there, so feel free to say hi!

#ensemble stars #enstars #analysis

9 notes · View notes

otakween · 6 years

Photo

.Hack//SIGN - FINAL THOUGHTS

It’s time for me to move on to the next show and I gotta say, it feels super satisfying to finish my first, completely reviewed show on this blog. I feel as though I got a lot more out of .Hack//SIGN this time by writing down my thoughts after each episode and actually attempting to follow its convoluted plot lines. In the end, I found it to be a rewarding show that would NEVER be made today. To organize my thoughts, here’s a pros and cons list...

Pros:

-Thematically interesting and rich. Lots of discussion about depression/coping mechanisms, online relationships, and the politics of an MMORPG environment. Sometimes things got a little over-serious but the real-world consequences with Tsukasa made most of the drama justified.

-LGBT representation...kinda. It’s kind of hard to see what they were going for with Tsukasa and Subaru’s relationship. It’s very similar to Korrasami where they take this borderline-safe route like “maaaaybe they’re lesbians??” Because of this, I don’t want to praise the show too much. Tsukasa and Subaru are still a super cute couple though.

-Character diversity! Not with race really (it’s Japan so :/) but I really enjoy the huge range of ages in this show and the pure friendships between adults, teens, and kids. It makes total sense in the context of an MMORPG. The unknown aspects of the characters’ true selves also adds a great element of mystery/intrigue to the story.

-Characters acting unlikable. Especially Tsukasa. I love that Tsukasa, the main character, starts out as a total asshole. They definitely repel a lot of people but some people (like Mimiru) recognize their jerkish behavior as a cry for help. BT is also interesting in that she’s a bitter adult with a brutally honest, unapologetic behavior. These are rare personality traits in “good guy” characters in anime and heck, rare traits for a Japanese woman to have.

-The soundtrack. I’m actually not a HUGE fan of the OST but I recognize that it is really well made anyway. I really like bgm with vocals in it. Also, the OP really grows on you with its Engrish charm.

-Dialogue/Relationship driven show. I feel like I could write an essay on ever character in this show. I can’t say that for a lot of anime where most characters are flat archetypes. I’ve always preferred character-driven to action-driven shows so, this is a plus for me.

-It’s status as part of a multimedia franchise totally heightens the experience of watching it. It would be SO much worse as a standalone. I really enjoyed following Liminality and IMOQ alongside this show, it made it feel like it was on a HUGE scale. I still have some reading to do to get the prequel plot.

Cons:

-Ugly as sin (at times). While the backgrounds are actually pretty spectacular at times these character designs just do NOT hold up. Some of their costume-design is...alright (Subaru, Mimiru, maybe Tsukasa) their faces and hair are pretty...bleh. This is especially true for poor Tsukasa whose face can be expressed as <_________> Also, this is the era where they were still figuring out noses and hair highlights...I’m glad it’s 2017

-Slowest. Show ever. This series needs a director’s cut. It could VERY easily but sliced up into 12 episodes. There were so many episodes where I was like “...nothing happened?” and even more episodes that just seemed like redundant repeats of other episodes! I don’t know why they felt like they had to stretch the show into 28 episodes (...money?) but it hurt it...a lot.

-Anticlimactic AF. I know this ~comes with the territory~ of being a prequel to a game series but still. Helba deleting a server was the lamest “victory” to a battle ever.

-Really awkward dialogue. It’s hard to think of specific examples but there were many stand-out scenes where the characters would suddenly forget to talk like human beings.

-Crim’s voice actor was very wooden and hard to take seriously. That being said, everyone else was very impressive.

-Limited animation up the wazoo. So many awful close-up shots and still frames masquerading as “animation.” This show deserves to be remade into a shorter series with better animation :/

I give .Hack//SIGN a solid 7 outta 10 for being a unique, immersive show with huge pacing and budgeting issues.

#hack//sign #anime #anime review #.hack

5 notes · View notes

imagineyourstars · 7 years

Note

it's Canada day so can I get... camping headcanons w their s/o for the redheads in the game? (kasa, natsume, mao, kuro, and i guess chiaki bc ryusei red)

Happy Canada day to all of you canadians out there !!!I’m answering this immediately since it would be weird to post that too late, wouldn’tit ? ♥

I’m also writing something for subaru’s birthday at the moment (yes,one week late), so hopefully once I’m done with that I canget back to the usual flow of things !!! – mod mademoiselle

Tsukasa :

He’s never camped before and is mildly horrified atthe prospect of having to sleep in a tent

“Where are the facilities ? Is there just the tent,or… ?” “Can I have a hot bath somewhere ?” “Ah, it looks like my phone is outof battery, would you know of somewhere I can charge it per chance… ?”

Can’t cook to save his own life so someone else willhave to take care of that

He tries to bravely endure the lack of comfort atfirst, so that you see him as the manly man he tries to be, but bursts intotears when he realizes there are mosquitoes and they seem to be inexplicablydrawn to him.

He’s extremely happy to go back to civilization andwon’t leave his mansion for days after this.

Natsume :

A bit out of his usual field of expertise, but quicklyproves he’s able to adapt to different environments very quickly.

Very intrigued by the local flora and fauna,especially insects, until they start crawling on him.

He will hideyour stuff and pretend he doesn’t know where it is once you ask him, justbecause he can. That’s just one of the tricks up his sleeves, be careful aroundhim.

Will do a tarot reading for you by the campfire, underthe night sky.

He insists to tell you creepy stories before sleeping,and will then scare you in the middle of the night. He finds it extremelyfunny.

Mao :

Very practical and will figure out how to set up thetent in exactly 4 seconds

He insists to cook and clean with you, and you kind offorget to check on the food because you were too busy having a water fight together,so it’s a bit burnt up but still good enough.

He will shield you from the bugs. Trust him. He’s theultimate bug exterminator.

Especially loves to go play in water. To him that’swhat camping’s all about ! (Besides he gets to see you all wet and he loves it)

Will insist to stargaze with you while holding yourhand and kissing under the stars. He’s a romantic at heart, after all…

Kuro :

He cooks, he cleans, he does everything around… And heinsists you stay seated and enjoy the trip. You kinda feel like you’re royaltyout for a camping trip.

He’ll bring you hiking around the campsite, trying tofind nice viewpoints and exploring the surroundings !

Will try fishing and succeed on his first try. Thatnight you had fresh fish for dinner, that is, after he looked it up in a panicto check if the fish is actually edible. (It was, thank god)

He makes up constellation names and stories with you whileyou’re watching the stars together. He doesn’t know anything about stars, so hefigured he’d just invent something since he doesn’t want you to think he’s boring.

He loved the trip and how close he felt to nature ! Hisfavorite part was cuddling with you in the tent, but only to preserve warmth,of course.

Chiaki

He’s awfully excited about this and actually bought acamping guide, which he refers to every single time there’s trouble orsomething doesn’t go as planned.

Tried to set up the tent but he’s terrible at it. It collapsedon you as you were sleeping. Great job, Chiaki.

He gets sunburns and is practically red all over. Nowhe insists to apply sunblock before he goes out, but it’s already too late.

Really hyper about the small things, like cleaning thedishes with you after dinner. He insists you should do that together moreoften.

There’s no way he’d forget to grill marshmallows withyou at night, as it’s “the ultimate camping experience”.

#ensemble stars headcanons #tsukasa suou #natsume sakasaki #mao isara #chiaki morisawa #kuro kiryu #mod mademoiselle #headcanons #enstars headcanons #imagine #ensemble stars #enstars

116 notes · View notes

periodicreviews · 4 years

Text

.hack//Sign

I think at some point, maybe when it was on Toonami, I had tried to watch it. I’m not sure why I stopped. Maybe it was because I was too young to understand why everyone was standing around talking or at that moment, I was looking for something different.

But in this lockdown, I have no excuses for not watching everything.

Suffice to say, I’m really glad I watched it this past week. If you have the patience, the wait through lengthy dialogue scenes is well worth the reward of complex characters and beautiful music.

My only comparison in the genre of “trapped in a MMORPG” is Sword Art Online, so you’ll see me reference that and Evangelion as usual.

In Episode 1 of .hack, it became crystal clear that .hack and SAO are in completely different categories. In SAO, the reveal of being trapped in the game and how if you die in the game, you die in real life, is played very dramatically. The creator of the world makes this announcement to all players, who in turn, begin to panic in mass.

In .hack, it’s first shown, not told. You see Tsukasa attempt to do something and he is prevented from doing so. When they finally get back to it halfway through the episode it’s told in a very understated fashion as Tsukasa asks Mimiru casually, “You can log out right?”

This scene alone, in retrospect, served to set the tone for how different the two series are and what I should come to expect from the show.

Hijinks are kept at a minimum. In .hack, there is no wacky beach filler episode. There are some episodes that take a break from the “key of the twilight” main quest so to speak. In one such side quest, Mimiru meets up with a new player called A20. They go off into a dungeon despite A20 being woefully unprepared and after feeling like A20 is not taking things seriously, Mimiru leaves. She ultimately returns to see A20 with a sliver of health left and comes to respect her tenacity.

The episode is critical to better understanding Mimiru as a character, who at that point, I thought was just going to be a side character. I had a moment when I asked myself “Hey, wait, isn’t Tsukasa the main character? Why is he not in any of these episodes?”

That episode was the turning point for me when I realized that none of the characters were actually side characters, much as is the case with Evangelion. They were all fully developed characters who had their own motivations and growth, beyond simply propelling the plot forward for Tsukasa. The character of A20 and this episode is definitely a bit more lighthearted than others but it felt like it fit and a break is nice every now and then.

Speaking of the characters, they all have their flaws and struggle at times to connect with each other. While they don’t struggle as much as the characters in Evangelion aside from Tsukasa, their personalities and motivations clash as they struggle with both the larger conflict and how each of them is deciding to handle themselves. There are probably just as many interpersonal battles as monster battles in the 26 episodes.

In one such interaction, Bear comes off as too preachy to Tsukasa who replies that he’s just as selfish as all the other adults and walks away. The episode spends a good amount of time on just this one bad interaction. Bear goes to Mimiru to ask her to pass an apology to Tsukasa, which she refuses, and ultimately he has to apologize to Tsukasa himself. All of this comes within the context of Bear in the real world struggling to connect with his biological son. You could argue that this is a “side” story episode as well, but I think it’s equally important as any other episode.

I was somewhat surprised to see the explicit allusions to Waiting for Godot and The Little Mermaid. During another episode where they explore a special dungeon, they have to answer 3 questions, with 1 being about the Book of Revelations and 1 being about a Hollywood movie. It’s definitely more common to have anime bring up some Japanese folklore. But Evangelion has a bunch of references to Christianity, Kabballah, and the Michael Critchon movie, Outbreak, so it’s not completely unheard of.

What’s the point though? Although it’s implied that the main cast are all living in Japan, it seems like it would make sense for an MMO developer to reference a wide variety of things in the real world.

Branching off of that, I can see the lack of Japanese culture allowing this to be a more accessible anime to those just starting out in a similar vein to Cowboy Bebop. You don’t really need any prerequisite knowledge about honorifics, or bowing, or senpai/kohai, just the basics of an MMORPG. This might’ve been one of the considerations when Toonami chose to air it on TV.

There’s this constant struggle amongst the characters on how to handle the act of playing the game. For Tsukasa, being trapped in the game has eliminated the idea of not taking things seriously. For characters like Crim or Sora, they are consistently just playing a role that they admit is distinct from who they are in real life. Whereas although Bear begins in the “just a game” camp, the conflict they struggle through culminates with him having a discussion with Crim where they mention “if you’ve forgot you’re playing a game, isn’t that the greatest game of all?”

In Sword Art Online, I remember distinctly a scene where Kirito and Asuna are discussing their relationship and she remarks that actions in the game absolutely matter because her feelings in the game as just as real. She may even say that it’s more real in the game.

.hack further complicates the discussion of “Is it just a game?” by visually presenting “The World” and the real world as two distinct ways. “The World” appears in the normal colors, with the real world appearing monochromatic, with lots of noise/static, and only being able to read subtitles for dialog on screen.

One could argue this pristine view of “The World” is similar to how Tsukasa views the game in relation to harsh chaos of real life. The pain of his real life has disappeared and for a time, even though he is trapped in the game, that’s preferable to what it was before. This being further cemented by the final episode as the color restores to the real world when Tsukasa and Subaru meet in real life as the pain is replaced with joy.

In the end, I was a little surprised at how little combat there was. In most MMO’s, combat is one of the primary ways to level up and it least when it comes to SAO, action and combat feels like half of the show. The lack of combat could partially be explained as a cost saving measure. There are a number of cost saving measures throughout the show like panning over backgrounds while characters are talking, closeups of faces that exclude the character’s mouth while talking, and scenes beginning right as the battle finished. But a lot of it just feels like that’s the kind of dialogue driven story they wanted to tell, rather than being forced to animate less things to save money.

There were two Evangelion connections that kept me even when I wasn’t sure if I was interested yet. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto created the character designs for both .hack//Sign and Evangelion. Both Tsukasa and Shinji have similar androgynous facial structure which plays into the development of both of their characters questioning their own identity and their masculinity being called into question.

Amanda Winn Lee voices both Mimiru in .hack//sign and in the original ADV dub, she voices Rei Ayanami. The two characters are quite different from each other in temperament but regardless of the character, hearing her is always a delight.

I powered through this show in 4 days, which maybe was a little too fast, but it was just too enjoyable. I feel like I could easily watch it again and appreciate it more than the last time.

#.hack//sign

0 notes

imagineyourstars · 7 years

Note

I am going to request a headcanon/scenario on like a special sports event(1B and 3A are going to be girls then 3A will be cheerleaders and 1A , Tenkousei and 3B are the announcers/failicators)Everyone will form in groups of 3(Format:1 from 2A,1 from 2B and 1 from 1B) Then the 1B one must stand on top of 2A and 2B members who will be squatting down.(I also want a match up but it will be in the next ask as not enough space)

whew it’s here !!! this one ended up longer than usual… i had a lot of fun with it though ! as you’ll see i reinterpreted things a little bit to make it fit better into the story, but the original elements are still here~ those poor boys, forced to be cheerleaders… also i’m not sure what to tag this as since everyone is here, even if just for a line wwww - mod mademoiselle

Sports Festival - The Cavalry Battle Event ✰