Entry 44: The Character Designer Took A Day Off
Paralogue 9: Saizo vs. Saizo
Saizo is worried that his son isn’t worthy of being the next Saizo, so he goes to the Deeprealm to test him. Saizo finds Saizo Jr. talking to a bandit he’s been working for. Worse, Saizo Jr. has started calling himself Asugi. Asugi tells Saizo to fuck off then runs away. Asugi’s boss, Funke, gets mad at Saizo for scaring off his thief and attacks.
This chapter is actually fairly interesting, especially for a Birthright adjacent chapter. Asugi spends the entire chapter running for the exit and you have to take out the boss before he escapes. The boss is capturable, but in my playthrough he committed suicide on Ryoma.
After the battle, Asugi explains that he was planning to leave Funke because Funke wanted him to be an assassin. Saizo is impressed by Asugi standing by his pride and morals and allows him to walk away from his responsibilities in carrying on the family name. Asugi decides with Saizo anyway. Also, it’s revealed that the stick he’s been chewing on all this time is a lollypop. Because Asugi is actually Gaius from Awakening.
Not in the way that characters like Corrin and Mozu share archetypes with Awakening characters, nor in the way that Hayato and the Conquest character Velouria have similar designs and stats, or even in the way that Selena, Odin, and Laslow are returning characters from Awakening who traveled from Ylisse to Nohr. Asugi is technically a new character, but he is very, very, similar to Gaius. He has the same design, personality, voice actor, and his name is an anagram of Gaius. A lot of people assumed this was laziness, but I doubt that. Gauis was a fan-favorite character, beaten by only Chrom and Robin in the official male character popularity poll. Hell, he came in 15th in the first Heroes CYL, making him one of the most popular Fire Emblem characters ever. Like I’ve said, Fates was made to ape on Awakening because that game kept the series afloat. Thus, Asugi and two other portal babies are just Awakening characters without the plot connection. Which I have...mixed feelings about.
Gaius from Awakening. Thief who likes candy. Hopefully, he keeps Gaius’s hidden heart of gold, or at the very least his funny Supports. Also his personal skill heals him if he waits for a turn.
C: Saizo finds Asugi making candy so he can give it to girls. Saizo gets pissed about this.
B: Saizo, after finding out that Asugi gives women candy as a form of intelligence gathering, apologizes and accepts that he and Asugi are different.
A: Saizo and Asugi talk about Asugi deciding he didn't want to be named Saizo. Asugi says he'll go by Saizo eventually to honor his father.
Review: A fantastic Support that carries on and concludes the story of the Paralogue. Saizo being grumpy about candy is funny and him growing to respect his son is heartwarming.
C: Asugi comes home late from a mission and finds his mother has stayed up waiting for him. He tells her not to worry about him.
B: Asugi infiltrates an enemy base, only to find his mother followed him to make sure he's okay. Asugi pulls the plug on the mission.
A: Asugi explains that his mom is making him worry about her and thus be distracted and in danger. Asugi also says that he's glad to finally have a home to come back to. It's nice.
Review: Not bad. The idea of an overprotective mother following Asugi on a spy mission is fun and the A Rank is really sweet.
C: Someone steals food from the army's pantry. Corrin suspects Asugi.
B: Asugi explains that poor people steal out of necesity and criticizes the idea of nobles owning land. Based.
A: Corrin finds out that the thieves were starving children who Asugi covered for. Asugi also ensures the kids have enough food to survive on after the fact. Corrin apologizes for not trusting him.
S: Asugi says he likes Corrin because she's naive; Corrin reveals she's been secretly leaving candy in his room. They get married.
Review: Asugi is my new favorite character.
C: Asugi, wanting to go to a bakery but sick of people assuming he wants to go on a date, asks Corrin to go with him.
B: Corrin and Asugi eat great food.
A: Asugi perfectly recreates the bakery sweets. Corrin suggests doing a bake sale.
Review: Okay, but a bit shallow. There is a hint of depth when Asugi says that he couldn’t follow his passion of being a chef, but it isn’t touched upon again.