design by @j1tt3rcr1tt3r who thought it would be funny to give them a kid (and i mean literally give through imagenesis) just to see what happens. they have june's pre-nihility eyes T T
The way Planarcadia is just modern capitalism hell 💀💀💀
There's something a bit sick about the way that Imagenae's existence is entirely reliant on Wishpower. Which means that most Imagenae are often forced into showbiz just to sustain their existence 💀
But the way it's written feels very similar to the way Studio Ghibli's Pom Poko is written.
Planarcadia's Imagenae are clearly just thinly veiled depictions of yokai lol
Ghibli's Pom Poko also dealt with similar themes of the spirits of the past becoming forgotten and less respected by modern society. Similarly, their existences were also trivialized in that movie which cause the power of the yokai to wane and subsequently their presence in modern society.
Tbh tho I like the term Imagenae more within the context of HSR's universe. It really emphasizes their existences as originating from the human imagination.
But like man... You ain't fooling me bruh. That "ploo" is a kappa and that "lightpaw" is a nekomata... Those ogres were also probably meant to be oni...
It's really cute that more modern Japanese icons like mechas were also included as Imagenae hehe
Planarcadia is so cool because it's still so clearly Japanese even when leaks said that the devs allegedly had to revise a lot of materials because of China's political tensions with Japan. But even then, it's identity is still so inherently Japanese.
But I'm sure there were already elements that had been changed to fit the Japanese themes and aesthetics into HSR's universe.
I don't buy the idea that the trees were originally meant to be sakura trees :P think about how Evanescia's pink hair would get lost in the background!
In Cyrene's case, her pink hair accentuates the softness and romanticism of Amphoreus' themes esp when she's put into the Exotale's environment. She also wears a lot of white to offset her pink as fuck hair. She's also paired a lot with the color blue btw.
In Genshin's case, Inazuma is really fucking purple. Not pink. So Yae Miko doesn't get lost in the environment.
I also heard that the Gingko trees are potentially tied to an Abundance storyline in Planarcadia so I'm really interested to see how it goes.
A gingko tree is a really fascinating choice for a place where the existence of Imagenae can be as fleeting as the next shiny new thing.
