Nightly musings and daily rambles about IDV especially on Alice and Norton and Florian. I write a lil bit of everything from analysis to fanfiction. Just be prepare for a lot of yapping.
So...I made my own IDV News Website + Happy 1 Year Anniversary to Me~
"...almost every IDV character has passed the threshold of Oletus manor to participate in a deadly game of desire. Most never leave. Yet, their stories and the little traces of memories they left behind remain to be found, like ghosts hiding in the shadows."
I decided to try my hand at creating a website for IDV news similar to an actual gaming news site (which the Western media has failed us on when it comes to IDV specifically). And that is why the site was born. I know there are IDV news accounts on Tumblr and Twitter, but I haven't seen an actual site outside the wiki. Also helps me learn/practice journalism as well, so there's that.
It's very baby right now though. I only have a handful of articles up and I'm still learning as I go. While I've ran blogs before, that was more of a casual hobby. This is slightly bigger. Feels even more bigger when I'm launching this site on the same day I started playing IDV exactly a year ago. Huzzah~ Yippie~ If only we were AI-free! (Sad times we live in...)
Anyways, for more information on the site and a lil about me, I do have an About page already set up.
I plan to try my best to keep up with what's happening with IDV but I'm running the site on my own so while you should expect regular updates, I may miss something.
And lastly, despite it being a news site, I will still post about the lore and include perhaps some of my analysis posts that did well here and import it over to the website.
Still trying to get a footing on this site, so please be patient and understanding. I definitely have to open a tip/contact form for news help, too...I swear...
Tentative yet hopeful I can do something with this honestly...
Did we talk about the theory on how Norton might be southwest Asian because of his (I think) 2026 backstory letter where it mentioned he was a foreign miner and also how he had two paras?
I've not heard of that theory. I have heard of people thinking he may be Spanish in origin due to a couple of things such as his debut S-Tier Costume, Soul Catcher, being a blatant fit for Day of the Dead along with his story possibly being taken from an H.P. Lovecraft story that seems to take place in Mexico. His dance emote may also be inspired by a Mexican or Colombian dance. Mind you, I'm taking all this from the IDV fandom Wiki which is admits this is all just theory.
As for the 2026 letter, yes, it says he was listed as a "foreign worker" but I had just assumed he was from somewhere in Britain. The man interviewed in the letter, Mr. Smarecz, mentions Norton getting along the best with British miners even a rather rough one called Iron Chisel Hank who was similar to Benny.
Considering he was working in the Balkans, Norton would be considered a foreigner. Not to mention the fact that his last name "Campbell" is traditionally a Scottish/Irish last name so he probably has heritage/family there. I would also assume his family, particularly his father didn't move around a lot considering their poor economic situation so I assume he is of British origin/heritage.
But who knows for sure?
Oh, nearly forgot to address the paras. Paras was the currency of places like Turkey, The Ottoman Empire, Albania, etc. But they were basically used in parts of the Balkans where Norton went and worked for a time. In the 2026 letter, Alice notes it wasn't Norton's first time working in the Balkans so more than likely the coins just originated from his first time there.
But yeah, until we get more definitive proof towards one nationality or the other, Norton's origins will remain a mystery for now.
[IDV x Tomodachi Life] The DeRoss Family and Beanie's Daily
The baby reveal for these events will never cease to kill me since every time they do it, it's like they're about to reveal something at least mildly horrific.
But yeah, Alice and Fin had a kid themselves. Couldn't fit this in the last post so it gets a dedicated one.
I actually had a hand in naming the baby because I thought it would be fitting to name their child, Anita, named after Florian's own mother which I thought would be nice. Though, it looks as if Alice's genes were the ones that won because Anita looks exactly like Alice but has Florian's smile lol
Also, look at them already indoctrinating her. Trying to make her a lil journalist like her mother because why is her first word "Newspaper"??? 😭
Like...oh my Lord...
Anyways, cute stuff. Florian out here again making me wonder what exactly is he wearing in that last picture but, that's typical of him smh. As for Alice, she's fine but I totally forgot to talk about how I got a blue bow from the store or one of the Miis or something and I put it on her not realizing how BIG it was. I kept it on her though because I thought it was funny lol
Well, here is lil Anita all grown up. She is a mix of her parents: introverted/a thinker similar to Alice besides looking quite like her but with Florian's mannerisms. I gave her a camera immediately when I could and she's already out there being her own lil photographer.
But speaking of cameras...her parents ADORE her. Like, look at this...
Alice had lil Anita model for her but it seems like Anita is a wee camera shy.
And yes, that is Florian on the couch behind them. I changed his look because I really love his upcoming Beanie's Daily crossover fit and tried to recreate in game. While I'm not an artist, I did my best and actually quite like how it turned out after working at it for...hours oml
I have no idea why he asked me this as soon as he received his new threads but alright then. He also did love his new fit as well so I'm happy!
Adorable~ Though I still struggle with his hair...
The shirt and pants. I have no idea if there is anything on the back of his shirt but when the fit comes out in game with the full model, I expect I'll go back and redraw it to better fit. For now though, I'm satisfied even if some things are a little messy.
But going back to the family photoshoot. Now Florian is out here joining Alice on embarrassing their daughter. It's but cute and funny but also, I feel Anita's pain lol
I love how she says this again. But I'm not sure if it will ever end for her thinking about how Alice and Florian can be. Especially Florian I can see being a big family man (cause let's be real, in canon even family means a lot to him looking at how his parents strongly influenced him despite passing away at such an early age for Fin). Oh...he'd definitely be a rather embarrassing dad, but earnest and he would have his cool moments I'd expect.
She's certainly her mother's daughter lol
Anyways, that's it for this post. I still have been having fun with this game a lot. I do wish to see even bigger updates but idk if they do that since this is my first Tomodachi Life game.
Anyways, congrats to the DeRoss Family (notice I don't say Brand. Not sure why besides the fact that I feel like it would really be Alice who runs the family lol). Here's to hoping they continue to flourish (and that my art skills can improve because perhaps I can make another fit for Alice, too...though not sure what at the moment...)
[IDV x Tomodachi Life] IDV Love Island...or Something Like That
Me: The last few days. Joker is kinda a mood honestly.
I've been taking a break of socials and putting forth my energy back into Tomodachi Life and other things, thus I'm feeling better. The beginning of the week was just all over the place mentally, but now I'm back with another update and not gonna lie, I don't remember where I left off last time. But we can jump right into it!
Though I had to include these shots because I can't with Joker. I gave him a painting palette because it reminded me of him painting makeup on his face and he's been enjoying it...a bit too delusionally I guess lol
But speaking of Joker, he best be careful cause there are men trying to steal his girl.
The layers to this...the fact it's Mike confessing his love to Margie and it's his Hunter identity at that...oh my...
Well, I say that but naturally, we all know the drill here. There's more of these men aching to confess that jump outta the shadows and well, "Hullabaloo" Mike's confession to Margie didn't disappoint.
First of all, why is Norton here...again? He tried to crash another confession before, didn't he? And the other one being just normal Survivor Mike is frying me.
Anyways, long story short, they were all shot down.
BUT! What's very interesting is that later on, this happens:
So they ended up wanting to live together. First Acrobat Mike then Margie wanted "Hullabaloo" Mike to join them. Truly, a love comedy of all time because! I don't have the images right now but days back before all this, Margie wanted to live with JOKER but they weren't on the same wavelength and so he decided not to. Yes, "he" as in Joker. They were already dating at this time, by the way...
So now I'm like, what is happening??? Why did it go so smoothly for the Mikes?? LOL
Anyways, so now Margie is livinlso with canonically the one man who hated her guts the most at the circus but on Tomodachi Island, they're the bestest of besties. Wow...
Also, Mike was about to crush on Margaretha AGAIN which I've never seen before. He got over her rejection and they became friends again, but then he started crushing on her again a bit later. Anyways, for his sake, I shut this one down cause good lord...the men are hopeless in this game smh.
Moving on from the "Hullabaloo" gang (in which I REALLY need to get Violetta and Murro in here too), how are the others faring in love?
Speaking of hopeless men...Frederick has been crushing on Emily for WEEKS now despite her just not fancying him the same way, but he has still not given up. Who know the composer was so tenacious...and stubborn?
He wanted to confess to her and I told him to go to the restaurant but she didn't show up. I didn't even know that was possible? lol
But it turns out this is why:
She was at home psyching herself up to confess to Edgar. Wild, I know. She originally had a crush on Edgar before but he rejected her twice. She got over it then HE started crushing on her, but she rejected him (along with some other fellows including homewrecker Norton...man, he hasn't been the same since Alice rejected him). And now, they both are crushing on each other. Truly, we're in some sorta TV drama.
Anyways, the cake KILLED me but Edgar actually loved it and accepted her confession. ~Yippie~!
Uh, unfortunately...someone didn't get the memo.
Well, as you can expect, it went about as well as you think it did.
Yeah...told them she was dating Edgar and this was their response. Also, why is Mike on the CEILING??? I was crying. (Note: This is Mike when he wasn't crushing on Margie. In between crushes if you will...)
But goodness, maybe we need to give Joseph some love cause this is like the 2nd or 3rd time he's crashed in on someone love confession.
Anyways, everywhere else on the island has been pretty peaceful when it comes to love. We got a new crush developing:
So I saw poor Demi had fallen over and couldn't get up. Despite Camilla being right there, uh posing...to herself? I decided to call over Evelyn to help Demi up and well...
Anyways, I wasn't expecting this but how cute. Right now, the crush hasn't gone anywhere but I'm hoping it will. Will be watching carefully.
I'd never seen this scene either and I find it quite cute as well. The two of them just chilling together in Demi's house just reading together is a nice scene to imagine (and this was just Demi's fantasy). Guess we'll see where this goes.
As for current couples, there was an update on the DeRoss front:
Whenever you see an already married couple have a pink bubble floating over them, then you know it means only one thing: It's time for a kid.
And sure enough, this is what Alice had to say. If you look, despite being the first couple on the island, to not have a kid after all this time is strange but in truth, Alice had asked me just like two days into their marriage about having a kid but I said no because that felt WAY too soon.
Anyways, this time I allowed it and soon the DeRoss family will have another member joining them very soon (more on that in a later post).
Speaking of additions to the island, I added both Cleo and Andrew because naturally it was a long time coming. And naturally, I had them interact right off the bat. Look at them~
While those two are having the time of their life, I saw that we have a bit of conflict on the island. This time we have Matthias and Richard apparently beefing with each other...
You see how Emily is coming over? You would think that she'd be out here trying to mollify the situation or just ignore it but nope...
And then Norton coming in like, pausing to be like "Now what is happening here~?" and then just posing right in the middle of their fight??? Ended me.
Like, they do not care and are just enjoying the drama LOL. Actually, maybe Emily is cheering her twin on because I would later get her to come and try to talk Richard down.
It worked (somehow) and Richard tried to apologize to Matthias but our dear puppeteer wasn't budging which made Richard very sad indeed.
But I brought in Emily to see if she could cheer him up again (usually I just send them on vacation and that does the trick because making them happy again can be quite the effort to do).
Anyways, I find it somewhat endearing that this actually worked because the other times I've done this with the Miis, it hasn't worked at all. They usually just turn away from the Mii trying to comfort them.
Anyways, that's it for this time. Was a little all over the place but a lot has been happening. Adding this image of Joker because sure it says he is out on a walk but it looks like he is asking the universe..."why me?" and that is once again, a mood. Seriously, he looks like such a miserable lil man, it's endearing lol.
Look forward to another post later. Since I'm mega biased towards Alice and Florian, I wanted to dedicate a post simply to them cause sorta a lot has happened there (also I've reached my 30 image Tumblr limit so...yeah...sadness ;-;)
I will say that given the up/down situation with IDV, I've turned to OW to at least let out some pent up emotions. I used to play mainly support but lately been on DPS. If you don't know what that means, basically take the fact that my DPS of choice is a firebender who wields fire through her fans and sets people on fire...yeah...I can't escape the arsonists.
And sadly, it does feel good. Especially when I use her Ultimate, rise into the sky all afire and dive as a literal ball of fire onto the poor victims below.
My other DPS of choice are the usual FPS "pew pew pew pew pew" girlies. But they let out my aggression just fine too.
(I'm even playing competitive/rank mode now. I only did that on support MONTHS&MONTHS ago. Now doing it on support AND DPS. Oh, I'm sick.)
[Character Study #7] Female Dancer – Margaretha Zelle
Credit: Margaretha's 2025 Chinese server birthday artwork.
Welcome back to my Identity V character study/analysis series where I aim to explore each character in the game. I started this series to not only better my understanding of each character, but to highlight the talented writing team IDV has because I really do believe their character creation process from backstory to design has a lot of thought and care put into it. I hope to bring to light that while learning a lot about these characters while refining my own writing and analysis skills. Thus, I also want to preface this article by saying that I am no expert on these characters. This is my own interpretation and you're free to disagree with me.
Anyways, this particular article will be on Female Dancer known by many names: Natasha, Natalie, and finally as Margaretha when we meet her in The Closing Night story. She is the third "Hullabaloo" Circus member I've written up on and she won't be the last.
For those who missed it, I would recommend reading my pieces on Joker (where I also provided a summary of The Closing Night) and Mike. For this article, I will assume you already know about The Closing Night at least, but I still wanted to talk a little bit about Margaretha's role in the story, but first, let's start with her backstory.
Backstory: The Girl Who Ran Away with the Circus
Sergi, Margaretha's lover, who helps entice her to join the "Hullabaloo" Circus. Credit: 乔木
Originally known as Natasha, our soon to be female dancer was raised by her aunt and uncle, Marjorie and Eugene Hayward, at Lakeside Village. They were immigrants who had seemed to flee from their homeland in a hurry though why that is, is still as of now unknown. What we do know is that Natasha would help her aunt and uncle with the fishing, rising at the crack of dawn to work.
At some point, a traveling circus named the "Hullabaloo" would arrive at the village and lure Natasha with the promises of everything she wanted from fine clothes, applause, and her ticket to all this, Sergi, a red-haired clown who was a promising rising star of the circus.
The two would soon fall in love. Sergi would be the one to gift Natasha her beloved music box and the two would hang out consistently together much to the disapproval of Natasha's uncle in particular. He would try to lock Sergi out of their house, but to no avail as Sergi would still be able to sneak inside to see her.
Eventually, Sergi would convince Natasha to join him at the circus asking if she would spend the rest of her life with him. While Natasha readily agreed to elope with him, her aunt and uncle would prove to be an obstacle and so, Sergi would help Natasha run away with him by adding soothing salt into their soup causing them to sleep through their little escapade.
It is assumed her aunt and uncle believed she went missing until Natasha would send them a letter an indeterminate time later confessing to spiking their borscht, but expressed no regret in leaving Lakeside Village though she does regret the way she did it.
From Margaretha's 2020 birthday letter.
She would go on to ask for their forgiveness and plea for a reply adding that "Serge [sic] can no longer tear up my letters." This point is important to take a deeper look at because indeed, Sergi ended up not being the charming husband Natasha had hoped he would be. Instead, he turned out to be an abusive drunk he would leave her with injuries and wounds especially on her back.
Margaretha hallucinates Sergi at the manor. Notice how as soon as he touches her from behind, she instantly reacts in memory of the physical trauma she endured. Credit: The Closing Night.
Margaretha is the only one in this manor game who is terribly effected by the drugs through the perfume that was left in her room. In reality, this hallucination was induced with the help of Joker who came to Margaretha's room, eager to meet with her again after so long. Unfortunately, because Joker resembles Sergi, it is easy for her to hallucinate him as her abusive ex-husband and thus, reacts the way she does.
Joker meeting Margaretha for the first time at the manor. Unbeknownst to him, she can only see Sergi.
While at the "Hullabaloo" Circus, Margaretha, now known as Natalie, would manage to raise as a star performer specializing in animal taming, acrobatics, and dancing, that glitz and glam could only act so much like a blanket of false comfort and protection before its threads unraveled. Sergi's abuse would end up being discovered by Joker who would send a letter to Natalie and would urge her to seek comfort in him which she did. He would even go on to carefully tending to her wounds in order to help her.
Unfortunately, this led to Sergi's jealousy manifesting in a way that would lead to the downfall of the "Hullabaloo" Circus and countless lives lost. The star smiling clown would steal acid from Mike's supplies and sabotage Joker's makeup which led to the latter permanently scarring his face which would have potentially led to his career as a professional clown being finished. Pushed to his limits, Joker would go on to be the perpetrator behind the "Hullabaloo" massacre and would kill the ringleader, Bernard, and Sergi in the process.
This would free Natalie from her irredeemable husband, but the ghosts of the past would still follow her to the manor where at that point she was now a dancer named Margaretha.
Not All That Shines is Gold
Margaretha's 2020 birthday art showing various accessories and costumes associated with her (ex: the black suit is her "Vile Blossom" COA costume, the lotus is her "Snow Lotus" S-accessory)
Personally when I first played through The Closing Night story, Margaretha was someone who didn’t make the strongest best impression on me. Though I didn’t quite dislike or either like Mike. It was more of an indecisiveness born from not completely understanding who she was besides being a rather nervous individual who held no confidence. She seemed quite passive despite knowing about Joker killing Violetta and appeared selfish in comparison to the others because it seemed clear she would rather stay quiet than risk her own claim to whatever desire the manor owner had promised her.
One draws his weapon,he's so dying to play.The second looked away, puts his fear at bay.
Credit: The Cursed Sun (The Closing Night Exclusive EP)
One laughed and shouted: "Who will walk away?"The second was quiet, hoping he could stay.
Credit: King's Feast (The Closing Night Exclusive EP)
Both of the EPs from the story event describe Margaretha has quiet and passive seemingly wanting to not stir the pot. She is "the second" child while Joker is the first child.
It doesn’t help that Margaretha in AUs like Call of the Abyss and even the Ivory Tower story appears to manipulate others or refuse to be helpful when she has important information respectively. Even in the recent anniversary story, Libero’s “Visitor from Beyond,” when Mr. Inference and Jose would have benefited from her aid in solving the mystery of the island, she refused to help them any further as she was worried about her career being at risk of being over.
Credit: IDV Fandom Wiki.
To be fair to Margaretha in this event, she did provide them help up until this moment as best as she could. The Count himself was truly a despicable and dangerous individual as it would later be revealed in the event. Honestly, her response to the Count feels reminiscent of her relationship to Sergi.
After believing she saw Sergi the night before, Margaretha fearfully realizes she physically and verbally rejected him and fears what he may do to retaliate so she thinks about appeasing him.
Then, is she really so terrible of a person as Mike describes in The Closing Night? As always the answer is a little more complicated than that. Yet, the short answer is that while she is indeed a selfish individual, it was born from the deep desire to spread her wings towards a sky that promised freedom. A freedom she would only get within the icy waters of Moonlit River Park.
I do want to add as a side note that being selfish usually as negative connotations but I do feel given more context, you will understand that for some people, being selfish is a necessity for survival. Credit: JR-NETWORK.
Ever since Margaretha was still known as Natasha back in Lakeside Village, she wanted more. The glamour and excitement of the circus promised her not only the promise of the finer things in life like beautiful dresses, pretty ornaments of decoration, etc. but also recognition. Having her own stage where she could be whoever she wanted. Having her own stage where she could be comfortable in her own skin. A stage where she could be Natasha, Natalie, Margaretha, whoever she wanted to be. Though having one stable identity would have been wonderful as well, I would imagine as there are not many who want to float between identities not knowing exactly who you are or who you want to be.
Yet, looking towards others for answers of who you are can be a terrible mistake as well. Margaretha was a victim to this. Each name she associated herself with was a marker of the people and places she encountered and in many cases would become a stain on her progress of moving forward.
Natasha - Lakeside Village, Eugene and Marjorie Hayward
Natalie - The “Hullabaloo” Circus, Sergi, Joker, Mike, Murro, Violetta, Bernard
Margaretha - …who is she?
Spinning Round and Round and Round Again
Try as she might, Margaretha can don as many masks as she wants but what she truly desired could never be gained through a simple shift in name and identity.
I love looking at the music of IDV because the character-specific EPs can provide a bit more context to a character. Sometimes, it also presents the obvious. Margaretha is no different.
"Jewels, smiles, they both light my stage.
But none of them can calm my deep desire.
...
Chasing a dream that's just beyond my grasp and will.
The music fades and I find despair.
Yet here I stand a lone fool laid bare.
The mirror cracks as I see my face.
But find no trace of any worth or grace."
Credit: Margaretha's Stage (Female Dancer's EP)
It's as if Margaretha had sold her soul not to the Devil, but to worldly desires such as jewels, the approval and recognition of others, and even that fur coat she wore in The Closing Night. These things while fleeting and frivolous to some were things that gave Margaretha some sort of lease in life. She wanted desperately to break free from the label of being just some fisher girl from a small lakeside village, but a star who was well-dressed and well spoken.
While I don't have official access to her letter this year as it hasn't been uploaded yet on the IDV fandom wiki, I was able to read it through the equivalent Chinese site and while the translation is a little funky at times, it was worth the read as it gives context to what I just noted.
As it goes in her EP, Margaretha truly went "round and round and round and round" in a cycle of name changes and identities, in a futile attempt to fulfill her deep-rooted desire. To simply be free on her own stage without pain or sorrow.
The Valkyrie Who Couldn't Reach the Skies
Margaretha's 2026 Chinese server artwork. Credit: IDV Official Weibo.
As per usual, I do try to end these on a positive note despite the fact that many characters in IDV meet terrible fates which is the case for every single member of the "Hullabaloo" Circus. Yet, for Margaretha, I can happily say my perspective on her is quite different now and not just framed by her watery death (which always stuck with me from day one).
Initially, due to her seemingly coveting the material things in life along with displaying some vanity for performance, her initial impression can come across as being a rather shallow and selfish person. Yet, just like with any character in this game, there truly is more than meets the eye.
While I will admit I didn't delve too deeply into the repercussions of Sergi's abuse on her, we can't forget about how deep of a cut that made on her. I personally don't want to say too much as I have little knowledge on domestic violence/abuse but most of us will know that anyone who goes through that won't ever quite be the same. The negative experience will stay with them, both mentally and physically. We see this with Margaretha in The Closing Night.
The penultimate moment right before Margaretha decides to jump into the river. What is striking about the scene is her smile of goodbye she gives Sergi (really Joker) before leaping in.
But I want to give her more credit than you would think is due. She did survive for a time after the "Hullabaloo" massacre and did her best to make a life for herself. Ultimately, things wouldn't go according to plan as she obviously ends up at the manor where her buried traumatic memories and experiences manifested terribly through the drugs she was unknowingly taking.
And yet, in the end, she had the freedom to choose not only how her life would end, but also came to the realization that she would and could reject Sergi. I think her smile was taking solace in the fact that at least in the end, some part of her life was controlled by her own decisions even if it wasn't the kind of freedom she wanted.
Hence why I used her birthday art from this year as the header of this section. It shows Margaretha in quite a different light than we see her. It's a rather unique cosmetic that I see no one wearing because it's just that different from the rest of her fits, yet no less Margaretha when you really look at it. Fighting her battles on her own personal stage alone, but filled with the hope for better days.
Margaretha's 2026 Global server artwork.
Though I know some have seen it already, her birthday art from this year truly embodies her well, so I will leave off with the quote written with this image from IDV's official social accounts:
"The birdsong draws my eyes upward — to where the sky holds no walls, only endless blue.
Today, I dance for no audience but the wind."
More relatable words have never been spoken. Florian once again somehow being one of the ones helping me during a rough patch.
This is such a stupid ramble so hiding all of it under "keep reading" unless you want to read it for some reason. Want to preface though that I'm fine now...okay, not really but I will be!
I feel like I've been slow on writing articles/posts for the past week. Like I was hoping to do a character study on Violetta but once it got closer to Margie's birthday, I decided to write hers up instead (fingers crossed it'll be up later).
I want to continue my IDV VA series as well. I was hoping to write on Hernando's VA but I feel awfully self-conscious now as he ended up following me as saying the nicest words about my post on Cleo's VA.
I also want to continue to write fanfiction with some WIPs still in limbo for the past couple weeks.
And yet, despite all the good that's come my way from all of this, I wanted to call it quits. Like, I'm tired, guys, but I'm still somehow positive?
This weekend was a back and forth of being excited for things coming to the game from lore to cosmetics to events. But the more I thought about it, the more it hit me that I can't enjoy that to the fullest in good conscience. I do want to pick up the game again...to stream...to make content (though I was a poor content creator...I'm a nobody LOL) to just enjoy.
I love Fin's new crossover fit. I really want it and as silly as it is, it's one of the reasons I thought about quitting. Heck, I even really like "Hertztier's" essence. It takes place in London's oldest tower? Tower of London then? Lore of a location I've been too?
Also, I am looking forward to the anniversary event story. More T&I lore to indulge in. It's doubly interesting cause wedding...and D.M. himself is there.
I was excited to see Kamata is back because that means Japanese IPs are back on the table and it was a Japanese IP that got me playing the game in the first place.
Quite right, Florian. Quite right.
I truly am looking forward to all of these things. And unfortunately, the more I suppress my feelings and try to numb them, the worse it gets cause I'm starting to have physical symptoms now. Actually...now that I think about it, it's quite similar to when I had mini anxiety attacks or deep sadness that manifested as tension.
But yeah, I want to remain positive and while I stumble often, there will always light in the deepest darkness. Giving up is something that is easier said than done for me. I feel like a loser. Being this emotional while I watch everyone else do this so easily. But yeah, that's just me.
Even if I don't give up, I want to rest but I can't. The writing bug is still nipping at me. Truly, I'm hopeless.
I'm sorry, real off topic, but why are these Miis seemingly so SENTIENT??? This Florian Mii is scaring me...(ignore the "innit" pls 😭)
Apologies for the belated response. To be honest, been feeling poorly again this past weekend (in part because of IDV tbh). I honestly would’ve taken a complete break from Tumblr but felt obligated to put up the birthday posts on Female Dancer for the news account. Though I’m feeling a bit better now.
I’m sorry if I sound less enthused. It feels a little bit harder to be excited towards IDV updates, cosmetics, etc. cause of what’s been going on despite the promise of change though I was toying with the idea of picking up the game again…properly…but even if I do…Anyways, I’ve just been in my head a lot these past couple of days but I don’t want to bog down this QnA with everything that I’ve been thinking. I just wanted to explain the delay in response and why I’m responding as such. Apologies again.
As for Alice being Miss Nightingale…I’m guessing it’s from Cryptic Notes? I didn’t see anything about it from social media or unofficial IDV news accounts like idvlogic (who is like always on top of things).
But! Wait, I did see you repost an image of her here, but I sort of want more official confirmation which I feel would be unveiled in a main story installment or the like. Though it wouldn’t surprise me since the nightingale imagery associated with Alice has only gotten stronger since CoY. What role she’ll play though has yet to be seen though I’m still not quite on board with her being a Hunter but that could change with how they do things.
Anyways, take care and thanks for alerting me on this.
I still couldn't get over how Marcus' Va also Voice acts a certain cookie in Crk
I know next to nothing about Cookie Run besides the fact that it's super popular so I had to look him up and wow...
For those wanting to hear the two characters back to back, here you go!
But it really is so funny hearing the same voice come out of two wildly different characters especially if they sound really similar. And to me, I can definitely hear the cookie in Marcus and vice versa.
I also learned just now he voices Heizou in Genshin Impact. Love that boy~! But I play in the Japanese dub but still very interesting to see the range of characters Mr. Kieran Regan voices.
But I'm the same! There have been many times over the years where I'm just like "That's the same person??" when watching anime, playing games, etc. etc.
Truly, that's the beauty of voice acting lol. For me, when it comes to IDV I guess one example I could put out is Xanthe Huynh who voices Alice. I play Overwatch pretty often and hearing her voice Juno who is very nice and sweet, similar to Alice, but so clueless at times is quite funny. Also, Overwatch is a game where the characters get hurt so they will make noises of pain and I can't help but feel extra bad now since I hear Alice in Juno as well now.
You would never hear this level of panic from Alice lol
OW does these skins called Mythics. I guess they're similar to S-costumes except not limited, of course. Anyways, these Mythics tend to come with new voice lines for the character and here Juno is basically a magical girl from a shoujo anime.
Art by mizumizutorisan
I remember back when this poster first came out that some were saying Alice looked like the protagonist of a magical girl shoujo anime here and I couldn't agree more lol
Anyways, I do look forward to learning more about VAs as I continue to write up about them. I've been slower than I'd like because I've just been busy and have more time to write towards the weekends unless it's timely stuff like the livestream from yesterday and even then I still miss stuff.
But thanks for letting me know about this cookie and Marcus cause I still can't...listening to the Cookie Run video had me dying...
Also, it may be just me but their hair is vaguely similar. Like, all you gotta do is style Marcus' just a little bit more like a roll and you got it. (Guys, I'm hungry writing this up so forgive me lol).
on feburary 8 of last year i posted a little nortalice fic called 'Not Guilty!'. as of june 6 of this year, it's finally done entirely.
70 freaking chapters. lots of words. im so blessed and joyful!!
many thanks to all of the readers who have checked out this crazy story. thank you to @fallereus my beta reader and constant supporter. thank you @sundae-nite and @tempestimes for always being such amazing friends, your talent is crazy and u guys are so inspirational. no thank you to the comment bots, though, but thank God for helping me to finally this thing.
please feel free to share your thoughts or send questions !! i love talking w ppl (and not the bots that usually come thru)!
link here: Not Guilty! - Chapter 1 - honkges - 第五人格 | Identity V (Video Game) [Archive of Our Own]
Synopsis:
[PARTIALLY INSPIRED BY CHICAGO THE MUSICAL]
Criminal journalist Alice DeRoss joins the prestigious Nightingale Publishing Company and is thrust into a life of wealth and popularity, enjoying the company of famous star Norton Campbell and other elites. But what happens when she herself is accused of murder— the very same crime she reports on?
On June 5th, Identity V broadcasted their June Reveal Show which highlighted upcoming content such as the anniversary story, summer event, e
Compiled everything revealed today during the anniversary livestream for anyone interested in seeing it all in one place instead of scattered posts on here. I didn't include offline merch and China/Japan exclusive stuff since the post was bloated enough as is.
Added a bit more detail to the essences as well, specifically the stories behind each essence (all of which are very interesting).
IDV Reveal Show Quietly Acknowledges the AI Situation it Seems...
I felt it was a little unjust of me to just leave this buried within my thoughts on the livestream in my earlier post so I wanted to leave this here as well in a separate post for more visibility.
Due to certain factors and entities, NetEase will probably never release a proper statement over the current situation. However, in today's livestream, the hosts made some statements that felt like a subtle nod towards it. You can listen to it here or read out the statements below:
"Of course we should celebrate, but more importantly the first thing I want to do is express our gratitude to all the Visitors who have supported us to this day. Eight years is a long journey for anyone and I feel incredibly fortunate that Identity V has been a part of your lives for these past eight years. We've faced many turning points over these eight years and of course, there have been times when we felt lost." - Mr. Bald
"Honestly, I often feel that you have all been so gentle and forgiving with us. To have a community of Visitors who continuously show us support and praise is truly a rare blessing. We look forward to seeing everyone celebrating the 8th anniversary with us on July 5th." -Cherry
Honestly, not the statement that everyone wants but at this point I've personally more or less accepted that's how this is going to be. I'm not being defeatist, but I am trying to acknowledge the reality and be pragmatic about it.
It's up to the individual's discretion to decide what they think or what they will do with what has been said.
For me, I'm still waiting to see if anything else egregious occurs but I am in truth leaning to being more comfortable at least thinking about engaging with the game again beyond the lore stuff I was doing before (playing actual matches feels a bit weird still for me though).
Turns out the A-tiers for this event is for Journalist, Lucky Guy, and Evil Reptilian so I'm not so safe after all. (Sporty Alice though~?). Okay, probably just photographing the event, but still~
The way I nearly choked in the middle of writing my notes for the livestream when she said this. Girl, what're you saying???
Not her acknowledging that Emil is indeed a furry 😭😭😭
They be saying the darndest things on these livestreams istg. Reminds me of how during CoY's livestream they mentioned how the scene with Norton gobbling down that bread in AoM lives rent-free in their minds. Oml 😭
Anniversary Livestream Thoughts and Sentimental Message from the Hosts
My thoughts on this reveal show livestream that no one asked for? I personally found everything a smidge interesting. Besides the obvious excitement for Florian's upcoming crossover fit and the return of Mitsuji Kamata's stuff which was a crossover I was very interested in upon first playing the game (I wanted to get Norton's fit). This also means that Japanese IPs may be on the table again since obviously Kamata is a Japanese artist.
As for the rest of it, I love the Gothic Theme fits. "Knight's" especially I can't help be interested in.
And the anniversary story sounds interesting and seems tied to the one recently with Mike.
As for the essences...ehh. I think this season's was better BUT I do like Emil's a lot. "Herztier" coming is this soon is something I was looking forward to and his essence is the most interesting to me. Especially since this is the first time Emil is without Ada (as in no shared cosmetics). Interesting...and a little worrying. Should I be worried for them? haha...
But most importantly, it does seem they subtlety acknowledged what's been going on. At least it feels like it or maybe I was reading too into what they say here:
"Of course we should celebrate, but more importantly the first thing I want to do is express our gratitude to all the Visitors who have supported us to this day. Eight years is a long journey for anyone and I feel incredibly fortunate that Identity V has been a part of your lives for these past eight years. We've faced many turning points over these eight years and of course, there have been times when we felt lost." - Mr. Bald (again, yes, that is his actual name)
"Honestly, I often feel that you have all been so gentle and forgiving with us. To have a community of Visitors who continuously show us support and praise is truly a rare blessing. We look forward to seeing everyone celebrating the 8th anniversary with us on July 5th." -Cherry
And Cherry goes on to say that it's been a while since she has to deliver such sentimental lines.
I personally don't recall them being this mushy in last year's anniversary livestream but I could be wrong. While this is certainly not the message most people want, I recall what some of you all have told me about why NetEase is being so tight-lipped with a solid statement. And to be honest, I think this is perhaps the closest we will get.
And for me, I'm no longer frustrated or mad or even sad really. I simply acknowledge this is how it's going to be. And I know that these hosts are just doing their jobs as well (like they have any control in the higher ups' decisions). I also took a peek at the Japanese livestream if they said the same thing and yes, they also delivered a similar message there as well.
Anyways, thank you again to those who helped me change my perspective. Things I still rather tough and I'm also still in the midst of debating actually properly picking up the game again or not but I know one thing is for sure, is that I'll remain positive from now on (though not blindly ofc).
Enough rambling. Let me just post this because I need to get ready for my day...been at this for nearly 3 hours posting news and organizing notes smh...
