Stuck in fandom hell

Exactly what it says

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good luck cielowillers… we’re following up on the twins’ thread and Bluebou going to meet up there, are we? you’d better start talking, Cielo…

Episode 26: Reaching Out to that Blue Sky

“Cielo, you stupid… stupid idiot!”

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can you tell who my favorites are 😭😭😭 I’ve been irregularly posting, but I swear I’m keeping up… I just don’t want to keep writing long-ass reaction posts unless I actually have something to ramble about

Episode 25: Remember

“I’m not givin’ up; I’ll definitely save ya!”

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Episode 23: Scenery at the Beginning

“For now, how does a truce sound?”

The title and the CG seem to be depicting different scenes… given the prominence of flower petals, it looks like this might be Merold’s magic CG? I totally thought they’d save it for the next part, but I guess it makes sense here.

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has this dog 🐶 been playing in my face the whole damn time? goddammit

Episode 22 is out! It’s still a 10+ minute episode, and this one was quite focused, with only three segments looking at two groups. As usual, spoilers under the cut:

how much Aruchaco rambling are you willing to take before you leave? This episode was genuinely incredible for Aruchaco shippers. Chaco using all of his powers (including that damn scent-enhancing potion most of us thought wore off already and getting a magic CG) to reach Arupek and get him out of there? Peak. The chapter title being based around trust, and specifically Arupek’s unwavering trust in Chaco? Thematically incredible. Hell, even the flashback to Pochacco with how he became a Fragaria and his feelings towards Pochacco is genius, because Chaco holds a lot of these same feelings towards Arupek. Being by his side, finding him and keeping him safe… GRAHHHHHHHHHHHH

Right, this is supposed to be first impressions. Aside from the stuff in the Gate, the other side led to Wish Me Mell kingdom. So while Merold, Kurode, Klark, Cielomort, Willmesh, and the others are still arguing, the secrecy of the Wish Me Mell kingdom has already been compromised… I wonder if Willmesh gets some sort of ping whenever someone new drops down in the kingdom.

Then, we have Hallritt jumping into the SEEDs, with Romarriche, Sanah, Badobarm, and Tuxam following him. I wonder if seeing Badobarm so openly care for and try to help someone who isn’t in an alliance will help drive the point home to Cielomort that it’s the interpersonal bonds and relationships and trust that matter. They’re also doing some pretty important stuff, namely that they’re experiencing the likely memories of either the Strawberry King’s Fragaria or an LRB lord. This plot line’s going to continue into next episode, because in the preview…

Yep, Shadowritt’s back. He showed up at the end to ask if Hallritt really wanted to know who the memories belonged to. That question could be taken in two directions next episode; either he gives the information, or he further antagonizes Hallritt by claiming that the memories are painful. We’re also getting Cielomort and Klarkstella, so there’s probably going to be some arguing back in Cinnamoroll Forest. Stay tuned for episode 23, coming next week!

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I’m winning so hard right now. Chaco finally got a CG! I think this might be his magic CG, actually, so I will be patiently awaiting info about his magic…

Episode 22: Overwhelming Belief (okay it’s formatted as an action, but idk the subject 😭)

“Aru! Give me your hand!”

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local Aruchaco fan munches on feast while everyone else dies of starvation

That is to say, episode 21 is out! Compared to the previous episode, this one took a different approach and only featured about five characters (well, really four), and one segment takes up like 4/5 of the runtime. Still, it felt well-paced, since there was pretty much no egregious jumping. As usual, spoilers under the cut:

The Louter segment did not disappoint. At first, I was really disappointed; after he used his magic like that last episode, all it amounted to was the scene with him and Klark? But then it looped… and the music box started distorting… it was chilling to see the scene replay itself and realize that Louter wasn’t in fact fine. It’s really helped by the fact that we see Louter’s magic also having an effect on the rest of the LTS Kingdom. I hope everyone gets back to the kingdom soon… I hope Louter oshis aren’t dying…

Between episode 20 and 21, we got a Secret Memories post about Louter’s magic… no wonder they’ve always considered it so powerful. He literally can stop and rewind time, in accordance with his “unchanging” chivalry. It also removes any ambiguity about why the time is distorting for LTS Kingdom and why Louter is stuck in a time loop.

I’m glad we got some follow-up on Arupek, Chaco, and Pikero, especially with Arupek actually getting stuck in the Gate and not ending up in Wish Me Mell Kingdom lol. Anyways, Chaco jumped into the Gate after Arupek despite being told that the inside of the Gate was just chaos… that’s some good ship food for me. So does this mean that Gates can just trail off and lead to nowhere like that, even though their entire purpose is to connect…? Or, perhaps, instead of this Gate leading to Wish Me Mell Kingdom, it’ll end up leading to… like… the secret Noir lords or something. Or maybe it’s a Gate that’ll pop you out somewhere random at the end. I’m not too worried that they won’t be able to find their way out, but I am a bit perplexed as to where it’ll lead.

Alright, now for the preview to next episode:

Since Arupek and Chaco were just touched upon this episode and their appearances here probably just mean they’re continuing the chaos Gate line, I’ll talk about Hallritt and Badobarm’s appearances. Last time we saw Hallritt, he was with the rest of Red Bouquet, Klark, and Kurode, presumably at the Gate to Wish Me Mell Kingdom. Last time we saw Badobarm, I think he was with Myunna… and… Tuxam and Hangyon. This likely means that we’re then going to have everyone except for Arupek, Chaco, Pikero, and Louter in one big group, arguing about the whole Cielomort and Willmesh of it all. Well, maybe Hallritt becomes the main topic of discussion, considering his cliffhanger last time indicated that he could’ve reached out to the SEEDs and gotten absorbed into one. I guess if Badobarm ends up with the big group somehow, he’d be inclined to share his own experience with being possessed by a SEEDs and try to help the situation. Considering the quality of the last few episodes, I’m pretty stoked for the next one.

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this episode felt crammed asf bro what was Noir even doing here

Anyways, with that preamble out of the way, there’s a lot to discuss about episode 20. As usual, spoilers under the cut:

Okay, not a hint of talking about it and all of a sudden everyone from Noir is here… I do like the fun stuff some of them got up to here, and Myunna is always a joy to see, but I’m more than a bit disappointed that no one from Noir other than Badobarm has interacted with the main group yet. Arupek and Chaco on my screen… I’m so happy I could die. With them, it’s always the tiny details, like Chaco getting more than Arupek while not even trying.

Noir does have an interesting plot trajectory, what with Arupek getting sucked into an unknown Gate that potentially leads to Wish Me Mell Kingdom. Assuming that Chaco and Pikero don’t immediately follow him into the Gate, Chaco’s actually going to have to learn to hold his own in scenes, because he’s maybe had one solo interact with another Fragaria other than Arupek in general (Pikero in Noir3). We also got some more Gate lore about how they apparently require proper maintenance like a live-service game, so there’s something.

Okay, but how did the other Fragaria feel Louter’s magic from across the continent? Is he just that powerful, or is Klark’s twin magic telepathy able to project Louter’s use of magic into the magic circle? For that record, why didn’t they immediately leave to check on Louter if they could sense him using magic, knowing that he rarely uses it like that? Louter did get a cool magic CG, but it’s not fun how he’s completely divorced from the big group, kind of the same as how I feel about Noirbou rn. He is getting a full segment to himself based off of the preview for next week, so I’ll keep the specs to a minimum.

Now for the main group… the magic circle they’ve discovered probably leads to Wish Me Mell Kingdom, right? Though, that begs the question of where the hollow that Arupek got sucked into is a Gate to… I love how everyone’s starting to piece it together, even with Cielowill’s attempts to hide their discoveries. I hope that the knowledge that Sanah can hear the same message that Willmesh does makes him more willing to open up; it’s in-character for him and Cielo to hide things, but that doesn’t make me any less frustrated when they do.

I still don’t really get the deal with Shadowritt. Is he a manifestation of Hallritt’s darker impulses? Is he his own being that happened to take on Hallritt’s shape because he’s his host? He doesn’t seem to be an illusion because Puruth and the others were able to see him, but they don’t seem to react to Hallritt seeing his hand in this episode? Considering what we know about SEEDs, is Shadowritt even a bad guy? It’s possible that Kitty really is trapped inside a SEEDs, at this point.

The other big question on my mind is: Why did the Tree of Wishes choose this moment to start dropping leaves? Is it possible that it sensed that all 18 Fragaria were on the Blue Continent and this is a cry for help? Or is it a sign of the tree’s quickly deteriorating health? We don’t really know the amount of time between LK2 (when Willmesh first appeared) and LK20 (this episode), but if it’s been less than half a year, that’s a pretty fast autumn for a tree that’s stood for potentially millennia. I’m surprised the tree’s leaves don’t magically transport you to Wish Me Mell Kingdom, though I suppose that’d be too efficient and we wouldn’t have any plot occurrences then.

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hooooooly shit holy shit holy shit holy shit oh my god that last segment… this payoff was worth it, I guess, but it was TERRIFYING. Spoilers for Lost Kitty episode 19 under the cut:

Okay, I’m not feeling it about the elephant in the room. I guess I’ll start with the next episode preview…

This preview worries me, like a lot. When they used to do full-group previews, it usually meant that something significant was happening for the group, and not any individual person. And we’re getting that for all three groups… that means it might be an incredibly significant lore revelation. This episode better be like a 30-minute episode for old time’s sake, because I don’t think you can cram all 18 (potentially 19 if Shadowritt shows up) characters into this next episode, even with most of the cast on the Blue Continent.

The Tree of Wishes will definitely feature, since Redbou are seeing its leaves… maybe they’ll somehow find the Wish Me Mell Kingdom? Bado’s probably going to have a chat with Cielomort and explain to him that what he’s trying to do is not how alliances work and tell him about the power of friendship works and stuff… maybe. That’s in my ideal world, though. Kurode, Klark, and Myunna might be heading to the LTS Kingdom and maybe they’ll find Louter and the SEEDs? And I hope the rest of Noirbou get caught up to the main plot somehow, since Noir3 quartet have just been engaging in shenaniganery for the entire run and I want them to be important too, dammit.

I did enjoy Merold this episode. It’s funny how absolutely petty he is towards Cielomort, and it’s also interesting that Klark immediately accepted his apology once he learned that Merold had beef with Cielo. They’re also not on the best terms because of Cielo’s secret-keeping, so it makes sense. Merold also seems to be really torn up when Klark claims that Merold was picking on Kurode, which is consistent with his character and relationship with Kurode.

Sanah oshis rise up! Your fave is relevant! If Sanah can hear the SEEDs’ voice after being possessed by one, maybe Louter will be able to as well…? We’ll see after the situation subsides. At any rate, we now know that the SEEDs themselves are trying to convince the Fragaria not to banish them… does this mean that the Tree of Wishes is basically like one big SEEDs? Or, alternatively, that a SEEDs has possessed/been living in the Tree…

Both Rimicha and Hallritt getting hit by the SEEDs is a bit worrying, considering that Sanah being hit by a SEEDs is potentially what planted the SEEDs for his amnesia plotline inside him. Hallritt especially is quite vulnerable, since he already has Shadowritt goading him on. Someone needs to patch them up, stat.

I don’t know why, I didn’t expect Badobarm to show up of all people. I was starting to think that Noirbou would just never leave the continent, and I may have missed a line or two last episode that implied that Bado-san would be here. He’s always a joy to watch on screen, so I relished the short time he was here for. His descriptions of Romamero being so vibe-based yet so accurate was inspired.

I guess I do have to address the elephant in the room, huh…

Getting hit with that at the end of the episode wasn’t unexpected (I think we all knew Louter was at risk since the promotional art dropped), but in the moment you never really expect it. Louter isn’t a weak Fragaria or anything, but he’s been overworking himself, and his weak constitution doesn’t help matters. I’m really just hoping it’s not going to be another amnesia plot like Sanah’s was. LKA pacing/time-jumps really don’t help the rest of Louter’s segment at all, though. In my head, I know that it’s probably been at least a few days between when we last saw him and Klark talking and this segment, but my head only registers it as a few hours. Time doesn’t really seem to pass in the Fragaria world at the same pace as the real world. What feels like several weeks of episodes for me feels like a few short hours when I’m watching them talk… though, maybe that’s just me. Would Louter’s segment maybe be touching upon the potentially harmful nature of his code of chivalry?

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Sanah oshis are finally getting their content! Good for you! …good for you…

Episode 19: Let Me Hear Your Voice

“Now, bloom fully and proudly…!”

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Okay, episode 18 is out! Just barely, we’re back to sub-10-minute episodes. Still, this episode feels quite dense with content, so we do have quite a bit to discuss. As usual, spoilers under the cut:

I do wonder why it was specifically Merold and Klark who were used to threaten Badobarm in that scene. Was it because they were the two knights present whose lords were from the LRB? That would give them a stated motive, at least. Merold using his magic on a bluff is insane considering how much it’s usually emphasized that he shouldn’t overtax himself.

So yeah, we all knew Hangyon was older than everyone else, but I didn’t expect him to have stories from the formation era. That means he probably knew someone who was affiliated with the Strawberry King or the two Noir lords, or he himself was affiliated with them.

I don’t remember if I addressed this last episode, but it feels really weird that no one addressed that Romamero came and beat Cielomort up. Kurode personally witnessed it, and Myunna looks up to Cielo a lot, so you’d think they’d be a bit more apprehensive at the idea of working with them.

Puruth’s harmonica belongs to the Strawberry King, huh… well, I guess Romamero have a new task then. I wish Noir3 gang got to talk to everyone here, especially since Tuxam and Pikero are in the same knight school grad year as Kurode. You’d think they’d use that connection somewhere down the line, but they don’t seem interested at all. Also, not having someone from Noirbou travel to other continents is such a missed opportunity. If their continent really is as stable as it seems, there shouldn’t really be any problem to any one of them or even a pair traveling to other continents.

(the monkey’s paw curls and Noirbou take a vacation to Red Continent, where currently there is not a single Fragaria present)

Shadowritt showing up with a SEEDs right after… could it be that Shadowritt is basically a sign that Hallritt might closely be dealing with SEEDs possession like Sanah was? The trigger for Sanah’s SEEDs-related amnesia was Rimicha expressing the opinion that he would want to forget his lord in a circumstance like Hallritt’s, so Shadowritt is basically trying to goad Hallritt into expressing a similar opinion so that the SEEDs can steal his memories as well.

Sanah scared me in that last segment… I thought he was going to relapse. Instead, he said something potentially even scarier… he parroted something the Tree of Wishes said. We knew this already, but the SEEDs are currently linked to the Tree of Wishes… is it possible that banishing the SEEDs is leading to the Tree of Wishes dying? What do the SEEDs do that is beneficial to the Tree or the residents of this world? Is it just that the Tree doesn’t want to die, and that’s why it’s telling people to not banish the SEEDs despite the SEEDs causing nothing but harm? We might not get more answers next episode, based on the preview…

Merold, Klark, and Puruth fans, how are we feeling having your fave on two previews in a row? No Noirbou next episode, but that’s okay; I guess it’s better than continuing to waste their magic on Pikero’s fuckass experiments. Merold is there probably to relay information to Puruth and the others, and Sanah’s probably going to explain what he heard from the… remnant of the SEEDs inside of him, based off of the visual language of his lapse. We may also be getting a continuation on the LTS cliffhanger we got maybe 2 episodes ago, though somehow I doubt it.

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Okay, episode 17 actually felt pretty good, aside from a few things. For one, it’s another >10 min episode, so the pacing should be less cramped… but there were also way more segments than expected, which once again sped up the pacing. As usual, spoilers under the cut:

So we start off with another section of Noir3 gang… being idiots, I suppose. I’m surprised anyone is friends with Pikero aside from being Stockholm’ed into it, no wonder he won the least marriageable Fragaria poll. In any case, I seriously wonder why Pikero didn’t just tell them the concept from the outset. Maybe time is passing and they’re just not really making that clear…? It happened a bit later in this episode too, so it’s not too much of a stretch to say that these are just weekly or biweekly meetings that Noir3 gang are having.

“Louter gets a segment” and he shows up for less time than Kuromyunna 😭 we also didn’t address the cliffhanger involving Louter from last episode… unless Klark was just calling his name out like that for fun? It is nice to see Klark getting out and about, even if Louter being left alone in this state worries me.

I’m surprised Romamero can still interact so civilly with anyone in Bluebou knowing what they did to Cielomort. I guess there’s always the possibility that Kurociel just. didn’t tell anyone about that. Even if they really like and care for Kurode, I feel like Kurode would feel at least a bit awkward in return because of the Cielomero feud, but his attitude towards Romamero seems to be unaffected by the events of episode 7. Maybe he secretly wishes he could punch some answers out of Cielo too…

Anyways, they spend the last sixth or so of the episode talking about wringing some answers out of Hangyon. Merold suggesting that they get Romarriche to physically pressure Hangyon when Merold literally has mind control magic is interesting, but I have to assume it’s part of his code not to use it except against bitches like Cielo.

Time to talk about the preview for next episode:

Klark and Merold specifically being on the preview makes me think that they, as knights of the former Legendary Red Bouquet members, might be the most proactive in extracting info out of Hangyon. Either that, or they’ll actually bond over their Lords being asleep. Puruhall… I think that group’s heading to the Blue Continent right now? That worries me, especially because the only progressively-minded Fragaria on that continent are off gallivanting in Noir.

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okay I slept in and now I’m like… 4-5 hours late? 😭 but here’s a relatively late Lost Kitty episode 16 review (spoilers under the cut):

This episode had some pretty important lore stuff. I’m glad it was over ten minutes long, it felt paced almost like a normal episode again. We also got the first voiced on-screen appearance of a Lord (Kuromi’s voice only showed up through texts, never when she was on-screen), so that’s super cool. I wouldn’t have expected it to be Mell, but it’s better than them just walking in and then walking out with all the lore info and no preamble.

anyways why were Cielowill yaoimaxxing in my lore dump 😭 “we’re in this together” and completely ignoring the rest of Blue Bouquet? This is exactly what Kurode was warning you guys about. Especially Cielo, since he wasn’t even willing to share the conclusion he drew with Will. Now is not the time to withhold information!!!

This episode revealing so much about the Wish Me Mell Kingdom is pretty interesting, even if it was mostly about the purpose of the town, role of the Fragaria, and why it remains secret. I hope eventually we get to learn more about the actual culture of the town, though I wonder if it actually has any…

The twins’ segment… people have been predicting something bad to happen to Louter since the first key art dropped, haven’t they? It might finally come to fruition here. Judging from Klark’s reaction, it’s (thankfully) most likely not going to be Louter going berserk Badobarm-style, but any kind of SEEDs growth would be devastating off of Louter. They’re also getting a segment next week, so I won’t go too deep into speculating.

Speaking of the preview…

The fact that the preview includes characters from all three bouquets worries me a lot. Don’t get me wrong, I’m excited for the follow-up on the twins, and we haven’t seen Romamero since part 1, and Tuxam finally got his preview separate from most of the rest of Noirbou, but unless one of those segments is Romamero going to the Noir continent and interacting with Piketux, then it’s going to be a cramped episode with three separate segments. Even if it’s consolidated like that, I think I’d still prefer the episode to be longer than ten minutes. Hopefully they can keep the streak longer than one episode.

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After Episode 15 🐣🐶

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episode 15 released! Unfortunately, it seems like we’ll never be able to keep the episode length consistently over ten minutes… compared to last episode, I felt the LKA problems come in a bit more. Spoilers under the cut:

I’m just as surprised as Hallritt that Shadowritt isn’t his hallucination or only visible to him. I’m surprised that they’re even different bodies, actually; though, it’s interesting that it seems Shadowritt has control over the appearance of Hallritt’s room. Maybe they’re not as separate as everyone thinks they are.

So if Red1 gang are heading over to the Blue Continent to follow up on the Tree of Wishes and Romamero are heading over to the Noir Continent to look for the missing lords… who exactly is holding the fort? I hope they have the decency to not all be gone at the same time, but intercontinental trips do take a long time sometimes…

Okay, on to the Noir segment. It’s kind of interesting that Pikero can use his magic on potions like that. I’m still upset that Noir has yet to meaningfully engage with the actual plot, but I’m kind of interested in the mechanics of their magic, too. We’ll probably get a follow-up from the Fragmem Twitter account about Pikero’s magic’s properties in a bit, so stay tuned for that.

I wonder if this is just an episode bit or if the 1,000,000x improved nose will actually settle in and work. I’d like to see something Noir do actually advance them forward into interacting with the other continents, but the whole setup and punchline being completely resolved makes it feel like this was just a gag. I guess it’s probably better for Chaco this way, though, to not be stuck with that nose for too long.

why tf were Arupek and Chaco in the next episode teaser from last episode and not Tuxam though 😭 what are the requirements for the teaser? I’m pretty sure they aren’t just put in order (aside from the focus character), since Arupek was before Chaco. Tuxam is in a lot more desperate need of a teaser, since he doesn’t have any outside of the full Noir ones (episode 3 and Badobarm’s Accolade episode). I guess they didn’t want to just tag one of either Arupek or Chaco…?

Cielowill interaction Cielowill interaction! Willmesh is back! Cielomort is still clueless! I wish I could knock some sense and communication skills into both of them! They’re going to be the main focus of next episode as well, so I hope it’ll be something revelatory and not something that makes them close off even more.

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oh we’re SCREWED screwed, there’s a lord in the preview next week. Willmesh fans buckle up

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Episode 15: The Truth’s Silhouette

“Finally… it’ll be finished…! Now, who will test it?”

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bro thinks he part of the gang 😭 from the new livestream btw, everything else on the board was the same as from the part one end broadcast. Shadow Hallritt is saying something along the lines of “Do you also want to forget about it all?” pointing at Hallritt