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camelely · 4 years

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13rw S4 Fix

So i did one of these for last season and I think now that I’ve had some time to think about S4 I’ll do the same. While last season I thought the issue was one character being overused. But here it seems like there were multiple smaller things that could have improved the whole season Again I’m keeping the same basic plotline and characters :)

1) Winston

Have Winston stay at Hillcrest. Him moving to Liberty did nothing for the main plot and he was basically a red herring through most of it. Let him try are befriend the characters from the outside. He can learn about Jess from Bryce’s trial and the news coverage and then try to befriend her at Monet’s. This is where he meets and later starts to date Alex. Since he doesn’t go to liberty school Alex sees him as a sort of escape and lets him in. Clay and Ani dont tell everyone about him because they dont know he is trying to get close to them. It makes them seem less like assholes and more like people. They don’t mention his connection to Monty because they dont realize how close he is getting to answers. Clay can still suspect he did the graffiti, after all it was a break in and a non student could have done that. Plus Estella is another red herring in the school. She serves that purpose so let Winston be the outsider looking in. His arc would still be about knowing a different Monty and not knowing who is was at Liberty but now he is literally the outsider who didn’t really get Monty, rather than it just being a figurative thing at the prom. You can still have the prom scene it would just be entirely imagined rather than the half imagined thing they went with. I think they overused the people talking to ghosts thing so here it would be a fantasy of Monty and the relationship they had rather then a representation of what could have been. However I don’t think this would have retracted from the point. Also play him up, he is a sympathetic antagonist and it sucks how much he is sidelined for Diego. I didn’t hate Diego but Winston and him basically went through the same arc. They were pro Monty and ending up dating a member of the group, couldnt believe that member was involved and then learned something about Bryce and Monty agreed to move on and just did. All while saying they will alway care for that member of the group. It was an unnecessary rehash. Having WInston be the outsider looking in and Diego the insider looking out also lets their characters compliment each other. They should still work together, just have Winston contact him looking for Monty’s friends. It’s simple.

2) Tyler and Tony

Oh Tyler. The character who seems to be in the middle of everything despite never doing anything himself. I didn’t mind his arc of helping the cops find the guys who sold the illegal guns. But Tony’s suspicions, eventually leading to Clay and Tony finding out the truth and just moving on never really go anywhere. I think it would be cool if Tyler tells Tony, despite the cops telling him not to tell anyone, because he trusts Tony. But Tony, who has had bad run ins with the cops, thinks it is a bad idea. He doesn’t want Tyler taking the deal. Tyler says its the only way the guns wont be traced back to them but Tony thinks teh cops are planning to double cross them to mind out more about Bryce and Monty. At the same time he starts getting close to that cop that takes him boxing and helps him get into college (i dont remember his name for the life of me lol). Tyler sees this as being hypocritical and pulls away. Tony still suspects Tyler is behind the lock down because he is pulling away and Tony is getting paranoid. The rest of their story can still be the same but this way they can show Tony’s paranoia and his loyalty.

As for Tyler and Estella, It was fine. The scene of them in the bathroom was really powerful, being in the bathroom with a de la cruz and becoming comfortable because isnt her brother was really nice. This could even be another reason Tony and Tyler fight. Tony can be paranoid that Tyler is trusting her too quickly and think she will turn on him.

3) Jess

Her arc with the principal, being scared and agreeing with the security measures before she sees them in action was really interesting. Focus more on it and less on her manipulating Diego. I did like parts of that arc for her so I don’t want it completely gone but I do think focusing on her working with the principal would have been cool. I would call more attention to her first meeting and her agreeing with the measures and slowly show her change her mind and start to turn against them. Maybe even have an early scene of her and ANi talking about it and have Jess admit she feels safer. Move the creepy cop trying to pat her down to the second or third day. So she can have a moment where they make her feel safe before the negative experience. I loved the protest and a bit better build up would have made it amazing

Her arc with Ani. They fought over Bryce... It should have been a conversation. Not a moment where Ani judges Diego and then they argue. I still think this arc should have been Chloe and Jess and should have been in last season. But they had the opportunity to include Chloe this season and just didnt. I’ll talk about this a bit more in the Zach section but I think Chloe should have been at Prom and the moment between the Ani Jess and Chloe should have been then. It would be right after Jess and Ani made up and would have been cool.

I don’t think she should have had scenes where she saw and talked to Bryce. Yes it created some powerful moments but they could be reworked. Have WInston use his wealth to commission a positive thing in the paper about Bryce and Monty and have her talk to his idealized photo of Bryce. I will mention it in the Clay section but her hallucinations detracted from his journey with mental health.

4) Clay

Okay two thing here the first is his arc with mental health, hallucinations, and blackouts. They used it for drama and I wish they hadnt. It should have been about him healing. I didnt mind the way they handled the realization for clay that it was him doing everything (Did they explain the symbol he kept drawing because I missed it if they did? or i just forgot because it was that forgettable lol) but I think the whole thing could have been handled a lot better and a more educated fan then I can provide a better explanation for what exactly was off about it. I will say the the therapy sessions were repetitive and I know thats realistic but for a tv show its boring. The scene were Clay goes to his home was weird and low key scary. I understand the purpose but I wish he had called him and asked to meet at his office instead. A more likable and relatable journey for Clay with his mental health would be really good for a show that was accused of glorying suicide (personally i dont think it did. My inbox is open if you wanna talk though :))

The second thing is the phantom phone caller. I hate this trope so it might just be me but this is so stale. There are exactly two ways it could go. The person could know everything and be a real problem or the person could be fishing for information and not be a real problem. The whole thing was predicable since Winston had red herring written all over him, Estella was barely developed, and on this show it is always the football guys. Instead let the pranks be smaller and less crazy. Like these boys had to coordinate a lot to mess with Clay. There should be more than one prank and end with a Monty doll and Clay holding a knife to set up the camp episode. But they should be pranks, not the phantom caller psychological torture bs. The blood shower can also happen just on a different day. Clay can be confused about what is real and what isnt making him even more worried about his blackouts and again assuming the mental health arc is handled well, the pranks can be a real part of it. Dumping him in the pit on the camping trip also seemed kinda attempted murdery so maybe do something like tie him to a tree of the path or in a small dirt ditch not a rocky pit where if he hit his head or fell weird the team would all be murderers.

5) Alex

His arc with Charlie was one of my favorite stories this season. I was also not bothered by him getting close to and exploring his sexuality with Winston and Zach. I’m in the minority but I’m glad Zalex wasn’t made canon and Zach was used to be an effective (kinda) ally and good friend. Plus this way Zalex can live on in the fandom untouched or ruined by the writers interpretation.

They should have given us Alex in therapy. He tried to kill himself had a traumatic injury, an arc with steroid abuse, and an arc about killing someone. All of which were forgotten this season. All the other characters seemed to be dealing with Bryce and Monty, why not focus on Alex? Even if it isnt in therapy just let him exist in his feelings.

6) Zach

I have one major issue with Zach’s arc, the lack of Chloe. She was the reason he almost killed a man. Let them date, let him start to spiral while dating her. She doesnt know what he did. Have them grow apart on screen but her still connecting to him and not wanting to give up on him. They should go to prom together. I know the hooker was supposed to represent Zach turning into Bryce with the hookers and the drunken sex/potential rape and cocaine. But Chloe fills the same comparison. He brings cocaine she is not okay with it, He tries to convince her to have sex in the back she is not having it. Maybe he tries to convince maybe it becomes a bit worse than that but she breaks up with him at prom and leaves early. She sees Bryce in him, she doesnt have to say it but you can see it on her face and she walks away when her mind and heart tells her to this time no making excuses. Boom Chloe actually has an arc. As for Zach this is a big wake up call for him he sees what we had become. I know it is later in the actual show but I think it should be in the prom episode so he can have a better conclusion in the finale, like the other characters. The whole season was a downward spiral and I wish we got to see more of him pulling himself out of it. If the whole finale is him getting better even though he wont be all the way done he will be in a better place up the end.

7) Justin

Okay the hard one. I think the writers really wanted to kill him. I mean a fan favorite, who did bad things, and the death would be in the series finale. this is a tv writer’s drug of choice. So I’m gonna do a fix where I still kill him first then to the ideal version. Ok so first Justin dies. No HIV/AIDS. It was out of nowhere, unneeded, and seemed a bit insensitive. If you want it to be related to his drug use, make it so he got a bad batch when he relapsed. Or maybe organ failure. If it doens’t need to be drug related it can be an accident or someone he knew on the streets getting revenge, like that drug dealer we spent time with last season. Or if Justin helps Tyler put the gun salesmen behind bars then have it be retaliation for that. He can still go to the hospital and have goodbyes but it wont be an aids diagnosis and death in the same episode. I know they had signs in earlier episodes but the timeline is still really fucked up...

An ideal ending would have him live. He can still pass out at Prom. The diagnosis can be a combination of stress and withdrawal symptoms.He can be the red herring for the person in the coffin. If Justin lives he can represent hope. He can show the audience that you can get better and things can work out. Even if you are sick and think you will die you can do better be better and live in a better world. Plus I love him and really wanted him to be happy. The message would be you can get out of a bad situation and wold have ended a sad series on a positive note. Even if you are a bad person. Even if you have bad circumstance. Even if it feels like the world is against you, it can get better if you put in the effort. Which felt like the message the show was going for in eariler seasons by showing the people on the tapes doing better but abandoned this last season.

So who would I put in the coffin. Ani’s mom. Now I know she wasn’t a well liked character and her mom wouldn’t have the same audience or character reaction Justin’s death did. But this version isn’t about making the audience sad. Ani would finally have a plot that was really about her, her mom died, Bryce’s mom basically wants to provide for her. And she isn’t sure what to do. Justins funeral felt like it was overshadowed by graduation anyway. Now Ani’s moms absence and the funeral being overshadowed both make sense. She is going to college and doing what she can to honor her mom. And the death of a parent causes Clay to immediately appreciate his own family more. The theme in the first season with Clay was appreciating and acting on his feelings for Hannah before she was gone. Ani’s mom dying is a reality check for him and he know the most important things are his family and friends. Justin’s arc was about finding a family and he did. The core of the show is about family, friends, and the importance of a strong support system. And starting it with a mother grieving her daughter and ending it with a daughter grieving her mother would be a cool full circle moment.

This post is really long so if you read all the way down Thank you! :)

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migleefulmoments · 4 years

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So... Abby responds to her family's intervention by obediently telling them she'll stop (ie. lying to them). She then immediately tries to find ways to keep the blog in secret, hiding behind various usernames, lurking on her coven's blogs, more time deleting posts from both blogs we know about. Meaning, instead of getting help, she spends even MORE time online engaging in more batshit crazy crap to cover her ass. Yeah, sure, that doesn't signal dire need for mental health intervention AT ALL.

It looks like that is what is happening. We will have to see what the future holds. What does Abby do?

So far the fandom is flailing. Cassie got a couple of anons- one that reads like those anons Abby used to send herself as it covers all the issues they are most upset about so perfectly well (My comments in parenthesis and italicized::

Anonymous asked: Even if I am unsure about CC itself, I don't buy M*arr*n. I just don't. And the other side is using doxing and the fact that you and others say things they don't like about M as an excuse to do so and as a way to detract from the fact that their couple goals have some pretty big, glaring plot holes in their love story. I've not seen anyone on this side of the fandom out or dox anyone publicly as a way of humiliation. M gave up her privacy by dating D, but Abby didn't and they were wrong. Period.

cassie1022 answered: Nonnie, I swear every time they diagnose us as mentally ill or say we’re bitter hags, an LGBTQ angel gets his or her wings. We all know my beliefs, but there are MANY people that are like you and don’t know for sure about CC but sure as hell know Miarren isn’t a normal, healthy relationship. (Funny thing, I don’t remember anyone diagnosing Cassie as mentally ill. Cassie is alwasy the wallflower that nobody wants to dance with and she tries so hard to be part of the fun people. Last week she was sad because I hadn’t sent her a “hate” message (See comment in last post below)

Even if I remove D from the situation, I would still think M is a lazy, spoiled toddler with no discernable work ethic coupled with a superiority complex that rivals the Cheeto in Command of the US.

You are absolutely correct. Our fandom just wants to be left alone. We don’t send hateful asks to the other side. We don’t have to. They feel they have the right to dox CCers because they don’t like what we say about M, a woman that would light a cigarette from the flames engulfing them and not call 911 to help them. I mean, honestly, it doesn’t get much lower than mocking someone’s death. Plus, as you correctly said, M put herself in the spotlight “dating” D. If she didn’t want that attention, she would have stayed in the background. There are plenty of celebrities married to non famous people and we don’t see them at every event like we do M. (It is BAFFLING to me that they can’t comprhend something as simple and obvious as the reasaon they “see Mia everywhere” is because they fucking stalk her and they hyperanalzye every photo Darren is in looking for her. If they started stalking Ben Feldman they would see his wife just as much as they see Mia).

Bottom line is what they did to Abby was deplorable, but, just like their kween, they feel justified in doing whatever they want. This isn’t the first time they’ve crossed a line with regards to my friend, but it was the worst.

notes-from-nowhere Anon, they love to throw the guilt of their actions on our shoulders, it’s how they justify what they do to themselves. They need us to be the bad guys otherwise what is the only option left? (I never know what the hell Notes is trying to say- throw the guilt of our actions on their shoulders? I’d love an example of that. I can’t imagine what guilty action I put on their shoulder. As for needing them to be the bad guys or what do we have left? OMFG are you kidding me? We critcize the cc fandom for being misogynistic, homophobic, bullies who attack Mia, Darren, Ricky and their own Nonnies. They have viscioulsy attacked people in their own fandom who dared to question them. But the biggest reason we push back is because THEY LIE. All the damn time. So what do we have left? Being on the right side, being correct, not lying, not needing to lie, and the joy of watching Darren live his best life)

Leka got a couple of asks but her answers were weak, confusing and pointless. It’s clear she isn’t ready to take over as their leader. She repeated Abby’s main talking points, tried to use big words to sound smarter and basically ended up not making a lot of sense:

Anonymous asked: I could be wrong, and I hope I am, but I think the character on the HW poster holding the girl is D's character, it would fit if you look at the other guys on the poster, maybe this is already the first hint to show D's character is not gay and so technically not breaking the no more queer roles rule his team set for him. It won't make it any better because it's still a career on the bag of LGBTQ+ people with it's teams but it's technically not a broken rule. I just really need for things to change, I want them to so bad, it kills me seeing someone so kind in a situation like that, and I truly believe D is one of the kindest people in that horrible town. He deserves better than M, I wouldn’t even mind if he goes onto another beard but she and RR just need to go. I really think it’s crazy people still think everything HW is real and PR relationships don’t exist, I wished that place was just better and had a moral compass, people deserve more it kind of shows just how jaded this situation has made me, I can’t even enjoy amazing promo material without directly twisting it into something negative, I don’t want to be this way and if I feel like this I can’t even imagine how D must feel. He is stronger than I’ll ever be living through hell every day, even if he’s not ok he’s still here and holding on, I don’t know if I could in his position. Sorry for the long message and the unneeded negativity, I guess I just had to vent a little

*********************************

Leka answered: So let’s look at the way HW is described:

“Each character offers a unique glimpse behind the gilded curtain of Hollywood’s Golden Age, spotlighting the unfair systems and biases across race, gender and sexuality that continue to this day. Provocative and incisive, HOLLYWOOD exposes and examines decades-old power dynamics, and what the entertainment landscape might look like if they had been dismantled.”

I do consider this the very intriguing thing about the news. (And it just goes to show that believing everything you’re sold is being utterly and completely ignorant.) Let’s say you’re right because ofc it’s possible. How does R/aymond fit in here? Given the excessive way team shit has pushed that article, a technicality won’t be good enough. There has to be a better plan. This doesn’t match what’s been said in his name.

What I think is this doesn’t necessarily have to mean much. You know very well what you see doesn’t have to be the (full) truth. That doesn’t just apply to the real HW. Especially considering the time period of this show. And let’s not forget the pap pics we got at a gas station. This doesn’t rule out SB as an inspiration. I would advise anyone to read up on him. We don’t know at this point. As we keep saying, the best thing to do is to wait and see. I’m certainly interested in finding out more.

As time goes on, the danger of this situation keeps becoming even clearer to me. D deserves much, much better. He’s incredibly strong, but the most toxic person in his life needs to go and she’s more than welcome to take the jumping jackass with her. That’s definitely the most important thing right now. (I’m curious what the danger of Hollywood is?)

awesome-fanfictionada: @leka-1998I’m just wondering - it must have been D who got himself this job on HW, right? Couldn’t this have been done on purpose to counter that ridiculous statement - which wasn’t even accurate, if the source was that interview where he stated that he wouldn’t want to be a casting director? Could in this case RM be a friend?

leka-1998: @awesome-fanfictionada Yes, he did that himself. Again. And he said the show’s been sold late in 2018. According to an article that came out later, it happened in February 2019. Not true.

HW has been a thing before that statement was made, which is indeed very different from the answer D himself gave during the interview. That’s what makes the article seem like sabotage by team shit. And standing in RM’s way is never a good idea. So while I will obviously never like him, I’m reserving judgment on his current role until we know more.

Anonymous asked: The underlying issue in general is really that social media has made it so people think they get an accurate glimpse into the lives of celebrities, when in reality social media, like everything else that is publicly released about them, is used as a marketing tool. People are actually more inauthentic than they've ever been because they feel pressure to maintain a certain image for social media at all times. So anyone who decides D is living honestly, it's because they want to believe he is.

Leka: True, nonnie. Just look at the text lines that are becoming more popular again. Not nearly as genuine as people want to believe. In D’s case, what has to be brought up? M. Oh Halloween and her amazing shopping skills praised on SM. The work fam honeymoon pic promoting the place they stayed at. Coa/chella for the H&M ad. Mardi Gras posted shortly after the mockery to promote the designer. I could obviously go on. Most of what we see on SM shows the person the 10 year crew wants him to be. And what looks like a split personality if you compare certain posts. Which brings me back to ‘they want to believe’, as what you’re saying clearly isn’t a secret. Anyone can choose to ignore it but at this point, if that’s the case even though you’re more or less paying attention, it’s really a conscious decision.

Oh btw, there’s a HW IG account now and it already has a D follow. Imagine that. R/oyalties co-stars, anyone?

Flowers didn’t get any asks. Amazing since she has more followers than I do and she bragged about getting more “notes” than me. She did answer azscc who posted an odd rant that baffles me. Who the fuck is azscc and who is posting anything about her? I realize I am not the only person in this fandom posting about ccers But I just checked all the blogs that I know of and nobody is talking about her;

azsc its so weird how chillarrens call me a bully while i only say something rude towards them if they write bullshit towards me. and its just ironic how chillarrens go around calling people bullies while they are the reason why tons of cc accounts use their accounts private or don’t post their opinions and etc. the real threat to the fandom are people like you. so instead of going around throwing shit on people and calling them “mental, delusional...” get a life. no cc believer goes around hunting for chillarren pics and insult the account owner so why don’t you all grow up and realize no one has to agree with your opinions. every crisscolfer blog/twitter page/insta acc basically stan accs never asked for your opinions on their pages so why don’t you just let it go? no one cares about what you all say or do so why are you forcing it this much?

call me a bully i am pretty much okay with that. its obvious that people are unable to understand basic sarcasm and irony and i am not judging because to actually understand what people say you have to at least have an average IQ level. and if you don’t have it, it’s okay but that doesn’t mean you can twist people’s words and post them all over the internet. but its lowkey really funny that i only had my instagram acc for something like 4/5 months and i received over 300 hate/insult/blackmail/death wish messages and etc. and who are you people to call us bullies? (Nobody is a Chillarren. Darren and Mia are married and Chris and Will are in a long-term relationsihp, Nobody has to “ship” them in order to believe they are together. In America, we accept that when someone introduces their wife or their boyfriend they are telling the truth. It is customary to address that person as their wife or boyfriend respectively. The crisscolfers on the other hand, must use a fandom ship name because they are shipping two people who are not in a relationship and never were. All evidence indicates Chris and Darren are no long friends; they are nothing more than former co-workers-friendly and polite when they see one another but no longer involved in one another’s lives. Chris and Darren both have denied (more than once) that the were ever in a relationship). .

flowersintheattic254 I have never in my whole time here posted an anon to a Miarren account. I have no desire to. I’m confident in my beliefs.

The interesting thing for me is that I’ve been here for about four years now and in that time I’ve seen the head of the fandom disappear, other people disappear because their families have been doxed, established long-term cc blogs with a wealth of history deleted without warning. I myself have had my daughters threatened. This sort of stuff doesn’t happen anywhere in the fandom but here here. If we are a bunch of delusional crazy middle-aged women then this shouldn’t happen. (Who was doxed? Who dissappered? It’s all “liar liar” with everything ccers say. In the last 4 years Abby has been the only leader of the cc fandom. Michelle left between 4 and 5 years ago because her outrageious cc comments threatened her ability to raise money for her little Klaine-fanfic rip-off movie. I vaguely remember someone asking flowers how her daugther’s would feel if they read what she writes- hardly a threat. If there was something more she never posted any proof. As for blogs being deleted- so was D-Criss News. It happens. The only cc blog that I know of that disappeared was DisneyPrincessModelWorld’s original blog which had was a hot mess of lies and catfishing. She visciously bullied Mia. Hardly someone to mourn their blog being deleted).

It’s shocking that an actor may lgbt causes such drama. (HUH?)

Flower’s comment is so disingenuous. While it is technically true -she hasn’t sent me anons, she HAS instead publically ridiculed me and frankly, I can’t see how that is any different? I’d say it’s worse because they wanted their followers to see what they wrote and the only way to ensure that is to post it on their blogs. Flowers and Abby posted many public “Michy” posts. Here is her most recent:

flowersintheattic254Oh and I guess Michy sent us all some hate today.

I guess I have way more followers than you and only about 4 that send hate. You haven’t for ages.

I think I have over 70,000 hits currently to my blog. I must be saying something interesting.

He’s been married allegedly for a year and people still doubt. That’s gotta hurt you. Anyway......

✌️

ajw720 Michy told me today today that the outing couldn’t possibly be promo, because JS was only cast in September! What a moron who clearly doesn’t know how HW works. Sweetheart, it was ANNOUNCED in September;)

I was waiting for a few more months, but in 4 years, since i have been tracking, i have almost a million! (976,695 to be precise).

It is amazing that so many people care about what us bat shit crazy, irrelevant, psychologically unstable, threatening, hateful tin hats have to say! And that does not include people reading on their dash or that hit you on the app! So yep, Michy, clearly what we are saying is being monitored by someone. And clearing making people think!! But you keep wasting your time writing for your audience of 4:)

cassie102 I feel left out, Michy didn't come at me today. Must hurt like hell knowing you're a joke that perpetuates a bigger joke.

leka-1998 Birds of a fake feather flock together. When the right person says tomorrow’s Christmas, tomorrow’s Christmas. Get ready, everyone.

If I narrow it down to the last six months, about 10,000 btw. Hm strange.

flowersintheattic254 @ajw720 the number of hits you have give me oxygen. If Michy thinks they are haters then she is delusional. People know when they are being sold something fake and they look for answers.

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crystalelemental · 7 years

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Atelier Meruru Plus Opinions

Meruru Plus is a game I feel very positively about, while also feeling like it was the most stressful game I played. On the one hand, it feels very much like Rorona, in that it's a game that's very fun and I would gladly pick up again to play. On the other, it's very difficult to get things done in time, and I don't think I've ever been as caught off-guard by some of the stuff that opens up when you think you’re done. It definitely makes it high on the replay value scale, but I also feel like getting everything I wanted done may as well have been impossible. Which...may be the point? But it’s still weird to me that I played through this game twice and still have less than half of all available characters outfitted properly. I don’t even think Gino has armor right now...

CHARACTERS As a whole, characters are great, but Meruru is by far the lowest number of new entries to a game. Most of your playable cast is in returning characters, with only 4 (5 if you count Meruru herself) being complete new, and two of those are DLC in the base game. In a cast of 13 playable characters, the largest thus far, that's...a very small percentage. It's not bad, but it does kinda detract a bit from this being a separate kingdom. It's also tough for the newcomers, who can be fairly bland, to compete with the development that returning powerhouses bring.

Meruru - Meruru was my least favorite of the alchemists initially, but she's grown on me a lot. She's boisterous and loud, but is also presented as an alchemist who, more than the other two, is highly driven toward a goal with alchemy in mind. Totori arguably could've accomplished her goal just through physical training, and while Rorona's goals were entirely based in alchemy, it never really amounts to more than "keep the workshop." Meruru aims to develop her entire kingdom using alchemy, and I think it's a neat little parallel to the history we get at the start of Rorona Plus. More on that later, but Meruru just winds up being a really fun protagonist. Plus, as her alchemy skills develop, so does her personality. She shifts from seeming highly self-centered on just doing whatever she wants, to a character who is driven both for her own sake, but also for the sake of the people in her kingdom. It’s a really nice development path.

Keina - I like Keina. She's fine. But she is not very interesting. Her main character traits are being really lucky, and really devoted to Meruru. She doesn't really bring a lot to the table in terms of being interesting on her own, and serves more as an addition to Meruru. Her primary problem is just not standing out, which, again, is partly because of the returning characters.

Lias - Same issue. Lias has some fun stuff going on, in his own negative self-perceptions and having to overcome them, and his constant looking up to his brother as a role model. Like Keina, there are endearing traits, but he does feel entirely overshadowed.

Totori - TOTORI IS BACK! Totori is a delight, and honestly, I'm super glad she's back as Meruru's teacher. She does well as a foil to Rorona's teaching style, being very explicit and clear in her teachings, and a lot more hands-on than Rorona ever was. She's very involved in Meruru's learning, and the bond they have as teacher and student is really precious. Plus, her basic attack is a massive AoE, so she's fantastic in combat. And of course, there’s her interactions with...

Mimi - THE OTHER BEST GIRL RETURNS! And oh my god, what a return. I love adult Mimi's design, and she carries over the difficulties with expressing herself, but with her entire character arc this game being about trying to...okay, the game will say it's expressing her appreciation for Totori being her friend, but this is a love confession. These two are married now. Canon. The trophy is called “Friendship, Love” for god’s sake! Mimi's arc of trying to move past her resistance to being open and expressing her feelings for Totori is the most precious thing imaginable, and I love it.

Gino - Oh good, this guy. Gino returns, and has learned nothing. He's still the same knucklehead as before. I really have nothing good to say about Gino, so I guess it’s nice of him to make sure that not all returning characters were better than the new faces.

Esty - Esty shows up again, and her role as a sort of spy within Arls is...actually super cool. The entirety of the Arland group being here is interesting, really. For Esty, a lot of it is in how she examines others within the kingdom and brings Meruru along to get a closer look at her subjects to build that sense of commitment to her people. It's a nice little arc.

Sterk - Sterk is back again, and with the same knight complex as always. This time, though, he's within a kingdom with royalty left, and he once again pushes to become a true knight, only to be reminded that this kingdom is fading out too. He continues to struggle with moving past a dying dream, and it's a nice continuing story arc for Sterk.

Rorona - Okay, listen. Rorona's return is arguably the worst part of this game, not because of Rorona coming back, but how she does so. Why is she 8? Did we really need this plotline, Japan? Kid Rorona can be cute and all, but this is just...so bizarre to me. I really can't appreciate kid Rorona. At all.

Astrid - Astrid, being outside of the kingdom that she despises, should be more tolerable. The opposite happens. She demonstrates the same issues, where she's needlessly cruel to people who have done nothing to deserve this. It's just her nature to be awful to people, and it makes it really hard to appreciate her. It's worse this time because she tried to change Rorona back to her 14-year-old self and messed up, creating the awkward child Rorona piece. "Who wants a Rorona in her 30s?" ME, THAT'S WHO! WHY ARE YOU LIKE THIS?

Rufus - Lias' older brother. I love this guy. The super-serious counter-point to almost everyone in the cast. Sterk winds up being an over-zealous crazy person compared to Rufus staying ever calm, and of course with Meruru he's a stern advisor who genuinely cares about his princess and wants her to succeed in her goals. He's a sweet and serious character, and I really appreciate that.

Pamela - WOO, PAMELA! Pamela's been in the other games as well, but only ever as a shopkeeper who is delightfully quirky. Now she's playable, and it's great. I wanted this so badly. Just a shame her basic attack is all elemental, so she's borderline useless against post-game bosses. At least, I’d imagine. I never really tried.

Hanna - Hanna has shades of Melvia, without being quite as bad. She's definitely the primary source of uncomfortable moments (most notably, the "someone's drunk" trophy from every game that's always super uncomfortable to get), but it doesn't feel like she's as...constant as Melvia. I'm still not a big fan of her, but there's at least some appreciation for her upbeat and energetic attitude.

Gio - This guy. The king of Arland shows up, and is basically a sort of advisor to Meruru, at times. Although, he's sort of far removed from a lot of the first run through the game. Only when you start NG+ do you start getting anything from him. Gio then gives his history as an adventurer with Meruru's father, and another alchemist named Sofra, and their ill-fated attempt to take down the demon of the volcano and how Sofra lost her life. It's a nice backstory, really, and is kind of Totori-esque in how it establishes Meruru as a successor to a legacy.

Hagel - This guy is back! That’s neat! He’s still great. No changes.

Homs - Male and Female Hom are both present here, and they can be interesting. They get a fun little sub-plot about their role as servants being completely invalidated by Keina’s maid expertise, and have some interesting conversations about the difficulties of rapid social change with the chims. Odd that the only characters that ever address this are the Homs...

Dessier - Did you know that Meruru’s dad was in this game? Because it’s real easy to forget, outside of the four scenes he shows up in and the Airshatter sidequest, the latter of which is solid, as it introduces him as a competent ruler who once had the same ambitions as Meruru, but lost that drive when Meruru’s aunt Sofra died trying to subdue the demon.

STORY This is an odd one. Your story is that Meruru is a princess who hates being such, and wants to be an alchemist. Her father, the king, refuses, but she pursues it anyway, and with Rufus' help, an agreement is struck where she can use alchemy to develop the kingdom, but if she doesn't meet the goals that are set, she has to give up. The odd thing is, there's a simultaneous plot running where the kingdom of Arls is about to be integrated into the Republic of Arland. So Meruru won't even be royalty in a few years anyway, and developing the kingdom is...kind of a moot point, since the kingdom won't exist soon? It's really odd when you look at it from that angle, but I honestly think they’re going for something interesting on this one. The game focuses a lot on this theme of "the more things change, the more they stay the same." Meruru's entire arc with Keina is about how their changing roles won't matter in the grand scheme, since they're going to stay together regardless of what happens. That's a pretty good parallel to the game as a whole. The kingdom isn't going to be a kingdom anymore in a few years, but the development is for the individual people that make up the kingdom, not the stature of its royalty. It feels like it's an attempt to demonstrate what's important with Meruru's actions, and how the changes she makes will have a lasting impact for the people who won't change when the political climate does. SETTING I mentioned this in the Rorona breakdown, about how I feel like Meruru is a parallel to the bit of history we got at the start of Rorona. Part of this is because of Arls itself. It's...kind of a dump. All nearby locations tend to be overrun with plant life and untamed wilderness, and there are several areas that, just based on appearance, are run down and have little to offer even in the way of alchemy resources. Through development of the kingdom, things become better. Farmlands have actual crops, energy is harvested from the windiest areas, drinking water is diverted to the kingdom, and enemy threats are combated and removed. Meruru's actions turned a generally uninhabitable area into something that people would dwell in, and I feel like it's a good showing of how Arland came to be in its current state. Arls certainly doesn't feel any smaller in terms of locations you can go within its walls, but the safe locations outside of its walls has expanded dramatically, and I like to believe that this is exactly how Arland was developed back when their original alchemist began their work.

SYNTHESIS SYSTEM Exactly like Rorona Plus. Like, almost exactly the same. There are a few things that are different, in terms of traits that can be inherited, but it's the same sort of Cost system with the combining of traits and everything. There are also development items that Meruru can equip that make certain actions easier. Rorona Plus also had these, though they were just kept in the Atelier and had their respective effects. For Meruru, they're equipment that you can put on or take off as needed to apply or remove the effects. Generally, you just put them on and leave them on forever, though there's maybe one time you might want a low quality Sage Herb for an Elixer that recovers MP.

BATTLE SYSTEM Much like Rorona, it's very fast-paced, and your equipment is everything. You don't really need items at almost any point in the game, barring Elixers for end-game and maybe some good bombs. The biggest difference is the post-game bosses. In Rorona, post-game bosses required a good amount of items and planning. Things could still ultimately be completed with just attack skills of allies, but you needed items to cause debuffs and deal consistent damage, especially past bosses that would heal indefinitely. In Meruru? Just bring Gio. Bring Gio with Shadow Essence, skill cost reduction traits, and call it a day, because you do not even have to TRY anymore after that point. With Gio's Slash skill, which costs very little, you can potentially earn an extra turn. With Shadow Essence, you attack twice in one turn. So Gio will do a regular attack, then follow with Slash, an 99.9% of the time, gain another two turns, and can do this indefinitely. I beast most of the post-game bosses before they could attack. The only reason the Machina Domain final boss got a shot in was because I forgot which attack was which after getting distracted and Gio missed his turn. It was dead on his next action. There is zero challenge with these post-game bosses, and it's entirely because of Gio. I'd almost go so far as to say it's not fun because of it. The post-game bosses become a chore rather than a fight. You just have to keep up the pattern until they die, which isn't particularly engaging. Post-game superbosses are always hard to design, but these ones...I just don't feel like they're all that fun. Maybe if I replay and try to insist on beating bosses without using Gio there would be engagement, but with the amount of HP they have and the damage they deal, I kind of wonder if it's worth it.

OTHER MECHANICS Development points replace license points from last game, and at set intervals your kingdom ranks up. The difference is, when you rank up a kingdom, you just get new requests for development, and maybe new characters showing up. Locations on the map can be accessed as soon as you move there. Your stopping points are because Meruru noted something interesting about the landscape, and you have to go back to Rufus to develop. Once you develop it the first time, you can progress through to the next area. This is a really cool system, and there's an area north of Arls that's really close by that opens up fairly early, but is SUPER hard to fight through because enemies are so strong. I honestly love that. I love when the game establishes boundaries not through arbitrary progression points, but by letting you go through and then brutally kicking your face into the dirt to say "Maybe come back when you are not baby weak."

The development points are also stockpiled and invested into different facilities. These facilities confer benefits, such as increasing experience for battle or synthesis, giving extra uses on items or reducing needed materials, and most importantly, giving you an allowance on certain days of the month, which is HYPER-VITAL, because money is tough to come by in this game, and you have a ton of characters to outfit. To give an idea: I have finished NG+, and still have only half my party fully outfitted. It's that rough.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS I think it's worth noting that endings are very, very different in this game. In the previous games, and even in subsequent games, endings are based entirely on character friendship levels. When you max a character's friendship and complete their events, you unlock that character's specific ending. Usually this is some manner of adventuring with that specific person, and that's it. With Meruru, endings are determined based on what you accomplish in the world. There's one ending for getting max friendship with all characters, and that one takes highest priority (barring the new Plus-exclusive ending), but the remainder are all based on what you accomplish. One is for meeting the population goals without anything else. Two are based on finishing the lizard army sidequest, one with beating Masked G and one while losing. Two are based on beating the volcano demon, one with Gio and one without. Three are based on creating the Potion of Youth again: one for completing it and nothing else; one for completing it once and reaching Alchemy level 50; and one for completing it twice, reaching alchemy level 50, and then creating a new type of potion that actually works. That last one takes FOREVER, and is, I believe, the highest-priority ending, which shows adult Rorona. And I gotta say...nice.

We also get a few of the uncomfortable fanservice moments in this game as well. They're less constant than Totori, but we still get the "Drunken Person" trophy, which has been in every Arland game and involves the main character getting molested by a drunk person. Oh, and there's a scene where you run into Hanna bathing naked. That was super necessary.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS Atelier Meruru is, much like Rorona, a very fun game. I think it has a bit more going for it in terms of an interesting story, but ultimately runs exactly the same. If there's any major faults, it's that the new characters are very few, and not all that interesting compared to previously introduced characters. Combat also tends to feel like a drag in the post-game, as the only real strategy needed to win is "Bring Gio, spam Slash." As a result, the game can really feel like it lacks teeth, especially when you get your best equipment set up. Still, all in all, it's a fun game that's definitely worth picking up.

If you enjoyed this (for some reason), consider checking out the write-ups for the other games in the series as well!

Atelier Rorona Plus Atelier Totori Plus Atelier Meruru Plus Atelier Ayesha Plus Atelier Escha and Logy Plus Atelier Shallie Plus Atelier Sophie Atelier Firis

#atelier meruru plus #atelier meruru #atelier series #atelier opinions

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nedsecondline · 7 years

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The power of small acts of resistance

In Britain and the US, we have recently seen a wave of political upheaval - from Brexit to Trump - triggering a series of protests. There is a long, noble tradition of popular protest against repressive regimes, with people taking action against overwhelming odds. In his new book "Street Spirit: The Power of Protest and Mischief", Steve Crawshaw - a human rights advocate with Amnesty International and former foreign correspondent - examines different forms of protest. The book looks at inventiveness and humour in protest, from America's civil rights movement, to the Arab Spring and Ukraine. Here, he discusses the power of small acts of resistance.

Why did you decide to write this book?

I have always been obsessed with the idea of the change that can come and the little stories that get too little notice. I wanted to tease out the meaning of those stories; why it is that real change happens – often there are elements of humour, creative mischief and things like that that create change. I find it incredibly inspiring.

What’s the interplay between small and big acts of resistance?

Of course, every single act – from going to a protest, to going to vote – is part of a bigger whole. Equally each of us thinks: “what can I actually do? Does this really make a difference?” The bigger stories become part of the history books, and seeing the big picture is very important. But I love the humanity that comes through on the individual person who decides to confront a regime with some crazy act – eating sandwiches in Bangkok with the military junta, or pretending to clap against an unloved president in Belarus. All these might be seen as things which can’t make any change at all but we’ve seen that those acts put together can create truly extraordinary change. Again and again, pundits say this can’t go anywhere, it won’t change anything, and then people’s courage and defiant belief in what they might be able to do – not what they knew they would be able to, but what they might be able to – meant things turned out differently.

How should we judge the success of protest movements?

In the short-term, often things don’t seem to be moving at all. The first place I saw utterly amazing things happen was Poland in 1980. I happened to be living there, and at that time there was an extraordinary movement, Solidarity – it was an independent trade union but in some sense it was an opposition movement although it never officially called itself that. All the Western pundits said the demands the strikers were calling for were utterly unthinkable. But a few years later, it came back with a lot of creativity and mischief. You can look at a certain moment and say, we seem to have failed - but those who continue to believe can still create that change.

There are different, fully understandable reasons why people lose hope. One of my heroes, Vaclev Havel, talks about the “power of the powerless” and “living in truth”, which means doing what you know to be right even if you don’t know if you’re actually going to succeed.

There was an incredibly powerful video produced when the protests against Hosni Mubarak in Egypt began in 2011. A young woman, Asma Mahfouz, produced a video in her apartment saying, “if you guys don’t go out because no one else is, then you are just as much a part of the problem as the brutal secret police”. That video went completely viral and helped trigger the massive protests which in turn did bring down Mubarak within just a few weeks. The power of believing that change is achievable is truly remarkable. There are continuing problems in Egypt, but I’d argue that doesn’t detract from what was achieved.

Some argue that nonviolent protest only works when there are other factors at play. Could you expand?

What I saw in Poland during the 1980s was one example where people back-flipped from saying “this is impossible, it will never achieve anything”, to after it was achieved saying “this was obviously going to happen”. It may be obvious in retrospect but they didn’t see it coming, and that’s been true of many things. Even now, you still do hear the argument that you can only really achieve change if the regime is ready to be nice. Very many past examples prove that wrong, including in hard-line Communist places in Eastern Europe and in brutal military dictatorships in Latin America.

A few years ago, there was an interesting book, Why Civil Resistance Works, by two sociologists. The book is packed full of statistics which are very interesting about how using violence to create change means attacking the oppressive regime on its strongest front – they’ve got all the tanks and guns and are most comfortable with that. Secondly you lose support, you’re less likely to have all the population behind you if you’re fighting. One of the most interesting things was that even where change had been created and the repressive government had been overthrown, your chances of stability after creating that change are immeasurably smaller if there has been a lot of violence creating the change. If you’ve managed to use non-violent protest and stick with it, the chances of stability are much greater.

Once that’s been said it’s kind of obvious. You can understand why people grasp for the gun as an act of despair, but look around the world and you can see so many examples where you think: if only.

What do you think is the most effective way of bringing about social change?

Above all, I think belief is what matters. When belief stops, you don’t do things. As regards techniques, there’s so many I’d almost not know where to start. Creativity and humour is incredibly important for sustaining things. It makes it fun to observe and to be part of. Even in the darkest times, creativity and humour are important.

Knowing what you want is also really important. It’s obvious, but if you’re saying “I don’t like this” but you don’t know where you want to take it, it’s less likely to have impact – especially when dealing with really big issues.

It’s vital to realise that you need to focus on the main thing that you want to change, whether it’s say, overthrowing Hosni Mubarak or the Serb ruler Slobodan Milosevic. You want to bring together as many people as possible. There’ll be time for argument about how to move forward after the big change has happened. If you start being sectarian while seeking the big change, you end up fragmented and the chances for change are much smaller.

What impact has social media had on protest?

It is endlessly discussed, often in a fairly sterile way, that we live in a world where social media clearly has meaning way beyond anything thinkable even a decade ago. But it’s not that things like Facebook and Twitter have utterly changed the world of protest. The civil rights movement in the US or the great Eastern European protests in the 1980s happened in powerful and networked ways, before those modern forms of communication existed. But equally the fact that they do exist opens up incredible possibilities. Knowing what people are thinking about – which is so much easier than in the old days when you had to talk to people to find that. Also knowing what is happening elsewhere. There might be a protest in a town 20 miles away but if it’s not on the news you might not know. That sense of knowledge gives power and strength to any protest movement.

Your book focuses on mischief in protest. Are there common ways that this manifests around the world?

To some extent there are common themes; there’s mockery of regimes in different ways which puts the boot on the other foot. You see echoes – sometimes acknowledged, sometimes not.

One great example was in Poland. They had this wonderful approach, at a time with Solidarity was banned and it seemed things weren’t going to change at all in Poland as in so many other countries where an oppressive regime doesn’t want the truth to be spoken, people painted political graffiti. Protesters in Poland subverted this narrative. Instead of painting political graffiti, a group painted what in Polish are called “little red hatted folk”, dwarves or gnomes, onto the walls. They became the emblem of resistance in an odd, oblique, witty way. You didn’t know quite why these gnomes were illegal but the state knew something was wrong. My favourite quote was a police message saying “you must arrest all the gnomes!” when people had gone on a protest dressed up. Stories like that can sound fun, but what do they change? That particular demonstration came just as key talks started a few months later, which basically led to almost democratic Polish elections in 1989, a non-Communist Prime Minister, and a few months after that, the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Another example is from Thailand, where the military junta was forbidding a whole range of actions, especially public gatherings. The way people began to subvert that was simply to have “a picnic”. You ended up with the faint absurdity of people being arrested literally for eating sandwiches in the park. It made the military junta look completely ridiculous by the fact that it didn’t even dare tolerate people eating sandwiches. That put the spotlight onto the craziness of the regime itself.

Britain is in a period of upheaval. Do you think we’ll see more protest?

We now live in a world where on both sides of the Atlantic we’ve seen that protest has become massively important in many different ways, and it will continue to be extremely important in creating change for sure. I think one of the things we’ve seen in recent months in the UK is the importance of not letting anyone else tell you what can or cannot be achieved. Even voting is a kind of statement where each individual can feel their vote isn’t going to make much difference. In Britain the pundits got completely and utterly wrong the direction recent votes would go, because more people who cared passionately about the need for change went out and demanded that change at the ballot box than anybody expected. I think that’s a reminder to us on a whole range of issues of how much it matters.

The phrase that Havel used of living in truth is something all of us should be thinking about. It was coined in the context of repressive regimes but it’s important for all of us to think of it in our daily lives. In a world where there are some people who think that hatred between religions, especially demonising the other, is a normal way to go forward, it needs everybody to stand up and speak for that common sense in order to make sure the humanity we all need will continue. We are confronting a huge challenge of some politicians who believe they can press certain buttons in order to encourage hatred. Each of us needs to stand up strongly and confront that. It goes back to the same thing, knowing that we can create a positive direction – if enough of us use our voice.

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100wordanime · 7 years

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Wait, did I just schedule a Yuri on Ice review for Valentine’s Day? Oh, that’s right. I definitely did.

Overview:

Yuri Katsuki is a Japanese figure skater who kind of feels his not-so-glorious career is over when Victor (his idol from Russia) shows up to become his coach. I reviewed this week to week, it took out my best of the season and the year (and was the reader’s choice as well), and after episode 10 I wrote a feature on the appeal of Yuri on Ice to me (all of which can be found here) so now I have to try to review it as a series.

Given everything already out about this series, I’m not even trying to avoid spoilers and my review will outright tell you who wins the final competition so if that is an issue, please go check out some of my other posts on Yuri on Ice instead.

Review:

Let’s be honest, this is not going to be an overly objective view. I’m going to try, but I’m going to fail, because just saying the name Yuri on Ice still makes me smile like a bit of an idiot. I’m actually going to take this as a plus/minus review because that is going to help maintain some objectivity and it will also mean I’m not just reiterating stuff I’ve already said in my over posts on this series (or at least there will be less reiteration – I’ve written a lot about Yuri on Ice already).

Plus +

The characters in this story feel real. That was kind of the main point of the feature I wrote back while this was airing. Are they the most well rounded characters in all history? Not really. Do they contain infinite levels of depth? Definitely not. But they feel real. In real life people aren’t always well rounded and depth is something that even if someone has it they don’t always show and these characters have enough depth to keep from being boring. Even the minor characters who get very little screen time feel like real people. One of the criticisms I’ve read of the show is that the support cast exist only to lose and from a narrative point of view that is kind of true. However, someone has to lose the competition (or at least not win) and given our main characters (Yuri, Victor, and Yurio) kind of only interact with their family sparingly and then other ice-skaters and their coaches, it kind of makes sense that most of the support cast are competition and that at some point they are going to lose events. I don’t actually see that as an issue with the characters and more an inevitability of watching a sports anime. I love the cast of Yuri on Ice (even JJ who is really an obnoxious braggart but is never actually cruel to the other skaters which is an important point for when they switch things around in the final competition and make you see him through a different lens). They just feel like this could be a real group of people for at least 80% of the run-time of the show.

Minus –

While it is fantastic that we got to see a romance between two male characters that didn’t involve either one declaring they weren’t gay, acts of violence, or acts that are borderline if not totally predatory, Yuri on Ice didn’t really delve into this. Rather, it feels like they wanted to just ignore the fact that this was a male on male relationship and just tell a story of a relationship which is fine and it would be lovely to see more shows just tell the story they want to tell (so not really a minus). But while it was lovely to see the main characters just accept their attraction and relationship the fact that every other character in the story just accepts it as well and not one person ever raises the issue that they are gay or both guys or anything else, really shatters the realism that is built up almost everywhere else in this story. It is great that this relationship is accepted in the world of Yuri on Ice. It is great that they didn’t need to spend half the run-time justifying themselves. But when you have a Thai character announce to an international group of competitors and a restaurant full of customers from Barcelona that his two male friends just got married and no-one says anything except congratulations (admittedly, he did make the announcement in Japanese) you just have to wonder about the reality being presented. Certainly it would be great if this is how such announcements were greeted but for the most part I think most of us know that this isn’t how such an announcement would be taken. So, no, I’m not criticising Yuri on Ice for not being a political piece on gay rights but I am criticising it for this one critical break from constructing a believable reality in terms of the main relationship.

Plus +

This is so pretty. Okay, people who know a lot about animation and people who are more critical in general of animation than me, will point out the terrible facial expressions some of the characters have if you pause at points during their routines. They will also point to reused sequences of animation for the routines. There’s a few other parts they’ll hold up to show you that this anime doesn’t have amazing animation. Sorry, but I disagree with them whole-heartedly. This is beautiful to watch. The colours, the movement, most of the expressions, everything is just gorgeous and if a certain action sequence gets reused multiple times I’m fine with that. Outside of the skating I loved how each of the venues was shown and I love the small details are included throughout. Yuri on Ice is beautiful and for something that seems pretty simple on the surface there is an incredible amount of detail that you can find when you start looking (and my rewatch of this series only convinced me that I’ll have to rewatch it again, soon, to pull out yet more details).

Minus –

I kind of touched on this when I talked about the characters but the story is really simple. While this isn’t really a problem in a character driven show there really isn’t much going on from a story point of view. Even the other competitors aren’t really constructed as antagonists because they aren’t. Yuri is facing himself and his own self-doubts. Yurio is trying to transition into the senior competition and prove he is better than what he has shown the world so far. JJ is trying to fan his own ego. The characters are all facing some inner-demon rather than an actual antagonist or conflict. The competition is more or less just a way to show us who is winning their psychological battle at any given moment. Yurio winning overall was predictable early on and Yuri not winning gold was also nearly a foregone conclusion after Victor said they’d get married if he did. In light of wanting another season this ending was definitely needed. However, Yuri did need to show how much he’d improved and overcome through Victor’s presence so a silver medal and a world record will just have to do. Still, a lack of antagonist or real conflict won’t detract from the overall viewing experience so while from a narrative point of view this might be a minus, from an enjoyment point of view it probably won’t interere with the fun of watching.

Plus +

Can we talk about the music for a moment? Because after you get past one of the most memorable opening themes of the year what you have is a show that just throws amazing music at you. Admittedly, given each skater has two separate songs and we’re introduced to a lot of different skaters over the course of the show, it was kind of easy for this anime to hit us hard with brilliant music. However, what really sold the music was the solid link to characterisation. These skaters are revealing who they are through their music (part of that ongoing inner battle) and each piece has been perfectly mapped to the character. Some of these links are obvious with Yuri naming his original piece ‘Yuri on Ice’ and JJ naming his ‘Theme of King JJ’ but others are far more subtle and yet equally powerful. I am going to have to get the soundtrack to this anime at some point because the music is exceptionally well done.

Minus –

This is a criticism I raised early on in the series when reviewing week to week and it is of some of the dialgoue. Between being cheesy, obvious, or incredibly lame there are some terrible lines of dialogue early on (though admittedly some of this may be because things got lost in translation). The instances of lame dialogue thinned out as the series progressed but there were definitely a few face palm worthy moments early in the show. Actually, some of the interactions between Victor and Yuri later in the series border on brilliant, not because there is a stand out line that makes you go ‘yes’ but because they really develop a natural pattern of conversation (or arguments) as they spend more time together.

Plus +

This is a truly emotional experience. Okay, that is beyond subjective but if the characters have drawn you in to their romance and their desire to win then you will find yourself incredibly caught up in the final episodes. I know I was. There were tears. Both first and second time through. They were mostly happy tears.

Plus +

Yeah, that’s two in a row, I’m cheating. While the story is pretty basic I loved how early events impact upon later ones and flash backs are used with real purpose and make you reconsider both the story and the characters. I’m not going too much into this because it is something that is better to experience but information you gain as you go will continue to change how you view the early events and this definitely helps give the basic storyline a little bit more of a wow factor.

I’m going to leave this on the positive because even though I thought I’d said everything I wanted to about Yuri on Ice before this review still just spiralled a little out of control even after multiple rewrites and edits.

Final thought, if you are one of the very few people who haven’t already watched Yuri on Ice (or haven’t already totally written it off because of all the crazy fans) then you should definitely give it a go. Maybe it won’t rock your world but its definitely got a solid (if simple) story with characters that moved me (and clearly thousands of other crazy fans).

Please tell me why you loved Yuri on Ice below… or tell me why it wasn’t your thing.

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Thanks,

Karandi James.

Yuri on Ice - finally the series review. #anime Wait, did I just schedule a Yuri on Ice review for Valentine's Day? Oh, that's right. I definitely did.

#anime #ice skating #JJ #review #series #Victor #Yuri #Yuri on Ice #Yurio

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