*waving pompoms* System Kokichi HCs! System Kokichi HCs! ... If- If you want to share them I mean!
Oh sure! :D
Sorry I just finished fixing a fan so I'm a bit frazzled but
Koko is among my favorites when it comes to how I interpret Kokichi and his OSDD--because he's got a slider, where he's both a child and a teenager. I think it's so valid of him to have an age slider like that xD
Koko and Kenrou are the two alters who cofront with Kokichi the most, and just so happen to be among the oldest Alters. Koko acts as like a preserver of happy memories while Kenrou preserves information. If you know my Kokichi's backstory you'd know why he developed these two pretty early on.
Mizu is the only non human Alter, but still is the "personality" Kokichi projects onto his rabbit toy. They're also among one of the earliest alters Kokichi got, and are as skittish as they are viciously defensive.
Hibiki is a prosecutor of sorts that eventually mellows out, but he also has a slider--but it's a "human to goop monster" slider.
Yuu is the alter who tries to protect the system the most, and especially Kokichi from a certain memory that, at least in Yuu's eyes, would ultimately destroy and/or break him if he remembered it. Yuu was created from that memory after all. Yuu overcompensates their role, though, and sometimes takes memories from the other alters that they deem dangerous, Ala why he's called a "Memory Thief"
Kokichi is completely 100% unaware of his alters because he is so front stuck and has his own set of memories. He thinks it's normal to think of himself in third person sometimes, thinks he has weird af mood swings, wonders if he should have a bajillion different names he sometimes identifies with and sometimes does not, and he wonders why he has gaps in his memory before he starts dissociating very heavily.
Sorry if these are haphazard dmskjdmsakldmsal but yee, there u go!
Fan Theory: Neil Gaiman used the Good Omens sequel's ending in Season 1. By Season 3, there was nothing left.
Here is my theory about the ending of Good Omens Season 3: it wasn't the ending that was always planned.
The ending that was always planned was actually this one:
or, why Terry's final ending was always the face-swap ending we saw at the end of Season One.
Let me present the evidence:
Season 3 was to be based on 668: The Neighbour of the Beast — the sequel that Gaiman and Terry Pratchett plotted together in a hotel room in 1989 but never actually wrote. By 2019, Gaiman confirmed it only existed as a plot, not some unfinished manuscript or even drafts and notes [source]. Nevertheless, it was sold as the story Terry always wanted to tell:
"Terry was clear on what he wanted from Good Omens on the telly. He wanted the story told, and if that worked, he wanted the rest of the story told." [source]
We know a handful of things about what this sequel was supposed to cover. First, The Second Coming and a flight to America (which we did see fragments of on screen). But also, and more importantly for this theory: the inner workings of Heaven and Hell. In interviews during Season One, Gaiman said a lot of the sequel was about "where the angels actually came from." [source]
When building the world of Good Omens the TV show, NG drew heavily on the sequel's ideas. He has said so directly:
"I stole stuff from the sequel we never did and put it in this series." [source]
"A lot of the trappings and the idea of what propelled book two into existence wound up integral to what I did in Good Omens the TV series." [source]
In the original book, we don't actually see many other angels or demons. The Heaven and Hell we see in Season 1 — the corporate offices, the hellish basement, Gabriel too — all of it came from the sequel.
(These guys were not the original book. Metatron was though.)
In a 2019 Guardian interview, Gaiman confirmed that the visual concept of Heaven and Hell as a shared building came directly from the unwritten book:
"It's all one beautiful skyscraper and the angels have the fantastic offices right at the top, and hell is the basement rooms that nobody really wants to be in." [source]
Gaiman did also note at the time as this was all very useful in building out the world of Good Omens for the show: "We never actually see the people behind the scenes who are very, very keen on Armageddon [in the original book]" [source]. But importantly, all of this was something that had left to be explored in the sequel novel, which he was now cribbing from.
I can imagine this all being an interesting development in the sequel book, very Pratchett-esque in its humour, with a bunch of suited angels all gung-ho about The Second Coming after the first apocalypse was called off, and the absolute corporate nightmare of trying to talk to get to someone actually in charge...
But if a bulk of the plot was about Heaven and Hell's office culture, then doesn't Aziraphale and Crowley's face-swap ending from Season 1 fit perfectly here?
Per the Radio Times, Gaiman has admitted: "When I got to episode six [of Season One], I realised that I ran out of story halfway through, so I was going to need more story to take me to the end." [source]. He never said he went back to the ideas for the sequel for this bit, but it does rather make sense.
With so much focus supposed to be on their Head Offices in the sequel book, wouldn't Aziraphale and Crowley effectively getting fired and set for destruction in Hell Fire/Holy Water, wouldn't them tricking their respective superiors into finally leaving them alone be a fitting ending to that story? It just works really well, narratively.
And isn't the face swap also a bit like a card trick? If the 'Find the Lady' plot is indeed also from the sequel, then this ending is also a complement to that.
(Have a gratuitous Crowley in the bath...)
Further to this, Marc Burrows (Terry Pratchett's biographer) has been saying some rather interesting things on Twitter about the ending to S3 and why Pratchett wasn't credited:
"While I actually like the ending, and while I think the moral/philosophical argument Crowley makes is inherently Pratchett, I think this is Neil Gaiman's ending and that's why he has the sole story credit. I also suspect that, even if we'd got the full series, we'd always have gotten this ending." [source]
"What I know for sure: not Sir Terry’s ending. That’s not a guess, I know that for sure. What I don’t know: the full details of what that ending was." [source]
Marc Burrows is close to the Pratchett estate, knew Terry and his work, and is saying this doesn't sound like him. And that Terry wasn't given a story credit does suggest that this story was made-up by Gaiman and did not come from the late-night conversation Terry and Gaiman had about the potential sequel book in 1989. Burrows has also said that the Pratchett estate didn't fight for the S3 finale story to be told after Amazon all but cancelled it, as many fans have claimed, it was actually BBC Studios who did that.
Marc also has some things to say about what Terry had in mind for an ending:
"The 'South Downs Cottage' ending was always Terry's plan [...] But I very strongly believe he wouldn't have destroyed the whole universe and all the characters therein to make his point." [source].
Which leads me back to where we left Aziraphale and Crowley in Season One, dining at the Ritz, polishing off a bottle of wine...and, for all we know, about to jump in the Bentley and drive off to the South Downs to a cottage they rented for the weekend. Finally free of Heaven and Hell, because of a little face-swap trick. I think that ending was, after all, Terry's original ending. The one that was drafted for the sequel novel.
To be clear about what this theory is and isn't arguing: this is not a claim that Season 3 is without merit, or that the ending we got is without meaning. But I do think it was made-up solely by Gaiman, because the actual original ending - where Aziraphale and Crowley were always supposed to end up at the end of the sequel book - had already been used to cap off Season One.
And it's where I prefer to think of them, still and forever more - the Angels Dining at the Ritz.
ran through Phoenotopia Awakening after you posted the trailer for Star Iliad, do you know any other games like it? Closer than just "a metroidvania", I think. Would love that kind of exploration, rewarding for exploration, hidden rooms... I used to be in the Knytt Stories community, I think some of the stuff coming out of there (and to be sure, some of Nifflas himself's games) was along the same lines. I've played Celeste but I don't think it's quite the same style.
Phoenotopia: Awakening is an odd duck; it's basically the product of the developer trying to imagine an alternative history where Zelda II rather than Castlevania II had ended up being the second major codifier of the metroidvania genre. You're not going to run into too many other games like it for that reason.
However, citing Nicklas Nygren's body of work definitely helps to narrow down what about Phoenotopia most appeals to you, so taking that angle we can range a bit further afield.
If you're extremely into cryptic secret-hunting you might give Animal Well a look; in the interest of full disclosure, I'm personally not a big fan because a lot of its secrets are gated by poor visibility, which is a design pattern I dislike, but that's a me thing. Otherwise it's excellent.
Conversely, if you're more about routing and don't mind a bit of mandatory speedrunning, you might have a look at Treasures of the Aegean. It's a time-loop game where progress does not persist between runs; all progression is purely knowledge-gated, which gives it something in common with the Knytt series.
Ranging a bit further afield, if Yume Nikki style brainfuckery is a flavour of secret-hunting you enjoy, but you'd prefer to have it in sidescrolling platformer form, Dreaming Sarah (and its decade-later sequel, Awakening Sarah) might be your speed. This one's a bit of a long shot, but the first game at least is cheap!
If you're willing to go full retro, Alwa's Awakening might be the ticket. Like Phoenotopia: Awakening, it takes strong inspirations from Zelda II, albeit with more conventional world design. (Contemporary gamers may find the NES-style platforming annoyingly unforgiving, but if that wasn't a dealbreaker for Phoenotopia I don't expect it to be one here!)
Shifting gears from metroidvania-esque titles to pure puzzle platformers, Leap Year might scratch your itch. It initially appears to be a frustration platformer whose gimmick is that you take falling damage from your own default jump height; it quickly evolves into something else with some fascinating and very well-tutorialised knowledge gating.
If any of those grab you, let me know and I can see what else I've got in my library along those lines.
(Also, I know for an absolute fact that some joker in the notes is going to ignore 90% of your stated criteria and just plug Rain World. On the off-chance that you're not already familiar with it, take that rec with a grain of salt; basically the only point of intersection with what you've asked for is that it's "exploration-based", and the particular type of exploration it features is very different from what you're describing.)
Re: that last ask. I want to write a little more about fan theorizing in fics, specifically about Hollow Knight and Silksong.
I think there is absolutely value in bringing a fic in-line with an IPs lore. In preparation for both of the fics I’ve made in this fandom (a wish cast vain and end, as all good songs do) and my in progress sequel to awcv, I actually did a ton of lore research and ideating. I compiled every bit of lore and journal entry in both games, wrote out multiple timelines for how things happened in the games’ proposed histories, and did tons of character writing exercises for each character I was focusing on (just trying to emulate how they talk in the game dialog and get a feel for what FEELS, say, to be Trobbio-esque). The reason I like doing this is cause 1) I’m a big dumb nerd and 2) I think really cool story concepts emerge in transformative fiction when you’re working on filling in the gaps of an existing story.
I’m, like, always thinking about the epic poem Paradise Lost by John Milton, which explores the events of Satan’s casting out of heaven and becoming the snake that convinces Eden to eat the apple. Paradise Lost, as fanfic, is so interesting with how it takes extremely brief moments out of the Bible and stays really faithful to it (pun intended) while fleshing them out into these crazy long bits of narrative. There’s a great moment in the forward that Golden Compass author Philip Pullman wrote where he discusses this apocryphal story of a layperson at the time of Paradise Lost’s writing remarking that, “By God! I know not what the outcome may be, but this Lucifer is a damned fine fellow, and I hope he may win!” When I write fanfic, I think about his line all the time. It’s just kind of magical that another mind can take someone’s story and, through simply filling in the gaps, putting a bit of themselves in it, and writing beautifully, completely transmogrify a character while keeping them in-line with “canon”.
However, this is not the only way to work, obviously. I’m reading Roselles’ You’re All so Glorious right now, and it is the platonic ideal of what happens when lore is simply a suggestion. The way yasg takes the broad strokes of characterization, the implications in the different dynamics, and some of the lore to craft a magical realism au is really something else. It’s also a really great demonstration of one way to escape the whole “strict interpretation stuff”: make something clearly outside of canon and thus avoid the whole “acshually” business. Plus, it allows writers to really fly in their stories without being limited by what’s in the text. (Go read it if you haven’t, it’s fantastic)
A lot time when I’m writing, I’ll reach these blocks where I’m like, “Well, technically it wouldn’t make sense for the characters to go into the Slab and not be accosted by jailers, so I guess I need to write an in-fiction reason that the jailers are all dead, because I dislike writing castes of beings that are all “Evil” and I also don’t want to write a reformed jailer character cause there’s way too much stuff going on with everyone else, so I guess every bug too haunted by silk dies the moment Grand Mother Silk dies, and OH SHIT now I need to write that into every part of the map, and…” on and on and on and on. This is a huge reason that I decided during the outlining process for AWCV to create Sheo’n and New Hallownest: taking the lore accurate statement that it’s been a very long time since the events of Hollow Knight, I was able to justify establishing a kingdom with entirely new lore because it’s been like hundreds of years. It gives me a chance to invent entirely new cultures, bugs, characters, etc. But, also, it means i can flex my story writing muscles without having to summon my PhD in the HK/SS fextralife pages.
All that being said, I never let that lore get in the way of a decision I thought was fun. For example: Second being a trans man, Lace having amnesia about being a hero before the events of silksong, Trobbio being more hero than villain, Sherma being a little more willing to abandon his faith than is implied in the games, Shakra having doubts about her culture, all the names I gave nameless characters, etc. My solution is usually to find a satisfying lore justification that I can connive into serving my purposes / finding a big enough hole in the games lore that I can fill with whatever I want / trying to write it well enough that people just let me get away with making as many bugs transgender as possible and/or be a little more friendly with each other than the games imply they would be.
I think that fanfic is a place to experiment with story telling without having to do ALL of the heavy lifting of world and character building, and that the best of it is stuff that seems like its having fun and putting a lot of heart into its decisions. If I have advice for people wanting to write hk/ss fanworks (beyond please write more Vesperrah fics, its so juicy how is it a rare pair), it would be to not worry about what’s agreed upon and instead think about what’s interesting to you. If writing a very faithful to the lore fic is what you like, sweet I get that, I like it too. But also, write a fic where Herrah revolts against the dreamers and lets Hallownest fall to the infection, write an au fic where they’re all in space and Nosk is a stand in for Alien, write a fic where you just approximate the vibe of the story and don’t worry so much about who the fuck the Steel Masters are or end up writing a 60k word lore accurate creation myth (ahem my dumbass ahem). If you deviate from what most people think about these bugs or the lore team cherry made, know that I will categorically rise to defend your decisions, cause that’s like the best part of fan work. It’s ours to play with, and we should play with it.
I think I discovered it through yt? I watch a lot of gaming videos so sometimes yt just recommends random games to me and I think wat//ch dogs was one of them. I vaguely also knew abt the graphics etc controversy because I sometimes watch top x number videos about games.
I wasn't interested in Aiden's source at the time (this must've been around 2015 or something idk I have the worst memory with dates / years) and wasn't for long time. Suddenly his game just became interesting to me and I hyperfixated on it big time. The rest is history or something.
6. if your f/o is from a series, which episode/movie/game/book of their source content is your favorite?
First game obviously.
He's also in Legion (2nd sequel) as DLC character but his design is so far off what I imagine Older!Aiden to be AND Jackson is so wildly different to what I imagined him to be at 26??
Does this look like the same person to you??? I get that ppl don't stay the same (Jacks is 8 in 1) but?? this??
Also the downgrade of Aiden just...
I'm going to say it; that beard does NOT fit him.
Aside from.. superficial stuff like this, the way his dialogue is written is far too generic (at least in main game or something? I can't shake the feeling his dialogue is off somehow even when his VA did reprise the role or I don't like change this badly lmao) and doesn't FEEL like HIM at all. Also him working WITH Dedsec as whole when in Chicago he explicitly refused is bit, wtf moment for me (yes I'm aware that both San Francisco and London Dedsec are different from Chicago!Dedsec and his mind can change but?? still??) Also I can't see Aiden tolerating Wrench at all. He didn't as DLC reveals so anyway.
Also the whole "he's in coma and his mind is this Silent Hill-esque hellscape bc he never moved on from Lena's death in last 10+ years for majority of DLC" plot is just.. I'm letting out the biggest most annoyed sigh. (Him digging his own grave in the coma dream was kinda neat as it's sad tho)
All in all his inclusion felt like poor attempt at some sort of pandering or something. No effort.
Also he's mentioned to be homeless in Legion?? When in books he has safe room in house he rents to elderly?? He has his container safe houses?? He can just steal money and rent some place??
The only thing I kinda give to Legion is canonically him & Jacks & Nicky had no contact for years. Also the fact that Jacks is bitter and angry at Aiden bc he aggravated his PTSD and other shit.
I did like his short cameo in 2, where he's stuck in cell and 2's protagonist helps him out a little so he escapes by himself (and he's explicitly there to shut down human trafficking operations).
I'm kinda iffy but kinda love how he's famous in both 2 and Legion and his name and nickname Fox is known widely in hacker circles as sorta celebrity / legend type. I love it bc it's cute & makes for sorta interesting narrative but also I'm iffy bc I want him to be able to be under radar so he doesn't have to move all the damn time but he did become famous at the very end of 1 so I guess I gotta deal.
10. if you could change one thing about your f/o’s source content, would you? what would you change?
Either have the game explore more deeply how and why Aiden acts and thinks the way he does OR Clara survives
If we don't talk about story things, I'd change the gameplay from all the damn car chases to heavily feature ´hacking and potential gunfight / sneaking opportunities
13. do you have a favorite line your f/o has ever said
Favorite line I didn't mention earlier?
"You're not the first woman to tell me that" after Clara said she'd "open his world" in reference to her phone she gives Aiden that has some Dedsec stuff that makes it easier for him to hack stuff or smth. (Clara's observation of Aiden's intimidation being "very textbook" is my favorite line of hers)
Also the lines where he wonders did he get Bedbug killed are obviously my favorite because FOR ONCE Aiden actually stops to think about larger consequences of his own actions also he sounds pretty panicked there.
thank you @bloody-wonder for giving me an excuse to share my book thoughts!
1. Best Book You’ve Read So Far in 2021?
It’s gotta be The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood; I hear “feminist period novel about mentally ill woman unable to cope in upper-class society” and I am THERE! It’s like [Stefon voice] This book has EVERYTHING: repressed women, a decaying old house, a complex relationship of two sisters, a pulpy sci-fi story-within-a-story-within-a-story, criticism of capitalism and reactionary attitudes and politics, commentary on how conservative society shuns those it perceives to be “other” and a threat to the social order (poor people, socialists, “unconventional” women). It is EXTREMELY my shit.
2. Best Sequel You’ve Read So Far in 2021?
The only one I've read is Siege and Storm, so Siege and Storm! Shadow and Bone was captivating, if a little simplistic, but the sequel really fleshes out the characters, setting, and themes. It’s great to see Alina take a more active role, and I love the exploration of sainthood.
3. New Release You Haven’t Read Yet, But Want To?
I’m really curious about Michelle Zauner’s memoir Crying in H Mart. Same with Axiom’s End, which I haven’t really been seeking out, but it’s been resting on my list since I like a lot of Lindsay Ellis’ stuff.
4. Most Anticipated Release For Second Half of 2021?
5. Biggest Disappointment?
The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood. I’ve been getting into Atwood, and I have a soft spot for female-centric retellings of myths, so this was on my list for a long time. It’s not bad; it’s decent as a character study and offers some good perspective on the hanged slave women from The Odyssey, but overall it came off as...bitter? And not in a good way. It’s reasonable to include commentary on how bad things were for women in ancient times, but after a while I’m just like “But there had to be a time when Penelope was happy, right?” But the biggest failing has to be the treatment of Helen. Why a story focused on bringing literary justice to silenced women also characterizes Helen of Troy as a manipulative, arrogant bitch who single-handedly ignited the Trojan War because she enjoys fucking people over, I’ll never know. Ironic that in the opening chapter, Penelope bemoans being used as a yardstick with which to judge other women, and then the book proceeds to do exactly that with her and Helen. Can’t let Penelope have a positive relationship with another woman! There could be some form of unreliable narrator at play, but there’s not much indication that that’s the case here. Even Homer had a more nuanced portrayal of Helen than this!
6. Biggest Surprise?
I suppose The Red Tent. I picked it up at a Goodwill because of my aforementioned interest in female-centric retellings. It’s not amazing, but I wasn’t really expecting it to emotionally affect me like it did. You spend so much time setting up Dinah’s family and this supportive community of woman within a patriarchal society, only to have Dinah abandon it all after getting betrayed by her father and (most of) her brothers. Hearing about how her family fell apart after she left and she never got to see her mothers again really gets to me. The book has flaws for sure - neither of Dinah’s romances are developed very well, and some of its themes can come off as gender essentialist - but I think it’s a nice exploration of female labor and traditions that too often get ignored.
7. Favorite New Author?
The only relatively new author I’ve been reading is Leigh Bardugo, soooooo... honestly I don’t know what I can say that hasn’t already been said, I got into the series pretty late. Great world-building, witty dialogue, a familiar type of story with enough interesting ideas to make it feel fresh. Check out Shadow and Bone if you get the chance. Sound of the summer.
8. Newest Fictional Crush?
You would think it would be Nikolai Lantsov since I just finished reading Siege and Storm and he seems to be the fan favorite... but nah, not yet. He’s fun, but he doesn’t hit me in that way (Though very sexy of him to just casually proposition Alina and Mal for a royal polycule, a la Arthur/Guinevere/Lancelot; would love an AU where they accept his offer). However, I would let Zoya murder me. Every time Zoya is not in a scene I am asking “Where’s Zoya?” Also shout out to Alina, just because I would treat her better than all the men in her life!
9. Newest Favorite Character?
Gonna try to do this without spoiling too much, but Laura Chase in The Blind Assassin really resonated with me. Her personality reminds me a lot of myself, especially as an an autistic person, like the way she has her own way of thinking that makes perfect sense to her, but makes other people see her as odd and naive. I love how she’s set up in-universe as this Sylvia Plath-esque tragic heroine, with Iris spending the rest of the book interrogating and deconstructing, and in a way, reconstructing this image of her. Atwood you’re insane for this. I forgive you for the Helen thing now.
10. Book That Made You Cry?
I never got as far as crying, but the part in The Goldfinch where [spoilers incoming] the art heist goes wrong and Theo is alone in the hotel room and he’s spiraling and considering suicide and finally dreams of his mom… all that was too much for me and I had to put the book down for the night. This guy just can’t catch a fucking break.
11. Book That Made You Happy?
fucidjdjdj I didn’t read any happy books this year. Shadow and Bone and Siege and Storm because I read them really fast unlike my usual months-long reading schedule.
12. Favorite Book Adaptation You Saw?
Predictably, Shadow and Bone. I basically bought and read the book less than a week before the show came out because I thought it looked interesting and wanted in on the hype (mostly because Jessie is cute 🥰). Honestly, the show improves a lot on the first book; the multiple storylines make it more dynamic and complex, the actors really help to make the characters feel more fleshed out, and Alina and Inej interacted for like three scenes, introducing an unexpected but thematically rich ship.
13. Favorite Review You’ve Written This Year?
14. Most Beautiful Book You’ve Bought So Far This Year?
I impulse-bought this book of Romantic poetry at Barnes and Noble just because it was pretty and I had a gift card
15. What Books Do You Need To Read By The End Of The Year?
Besides finishing The Grisha Trilogy/Six of Crows duology/Zoya’s duology that I forgot the name of….I don’t know. I’m not a reader that plans in advance. I acquire books, finish whatever I’m currently reading, look through my stacks deciding what to read next, spend an hour doing so because I can’t decide if I’m in the mood for any of them, and either force myself to read one or buy/borrow a new one.
I’m tagging @betweenironyandsilver, @illuminaticns, @borispavlikovskys, @chdarling, @sctine, @mightyaubs, @excuseforadrink, and @trckstergods, if you wanna! Or anyone who wants to yell about books.
So years ago there was a Disney Channel Original Movie titled ‘Now You See It’ which is about a stage magician kid who actually has magic powers and because of the similar title I get it mixed up with Now You See Me and its sequel. And other than the similar names and some stuff about stage magic, they are very different movies.
Anyhow I had seen the first movie while I was in grad school and I figured I should go ahead and finally watch the sequel. I like stage magic tricks, and I like heist movies. To be clear the first movie isn’t a very smart heist movie, but it is fun. And since Now You See Me 2 is on Hulu for the time being, I went ahead and did that. And once again I had fun.
It still wasn’t that smart. I think it was smarter than the first movie though.
So after going on the run at the end of the last movie, the Four Horsemen are still in hiding, and Atlas is desperately hoping to get out and do something, going to the Eye (the secret society of magicians they join at the end of the first movie). Also Henley left because Isla Fisher wasn’t able to come back due to her pregnancy and is replaced by Lula. FBI agent Rhodes, secretly a member of the Eye and helper of the Horsemen, gives them a new case to finally out themselves to the world again. But OHES NOES! They are tricked and find themselves confused and being dragged into another heist by an employer who wants to exploit their talents. But with stage magic of course nothing is ever as it seems and things get more complicated than anyone anticipated.
There were a couple of problems I had with the first film: one, that despite going to lengths to explain how some of the flashier trick heists were performed, there were plenty of tricks towards the end, especially big ones, that don’t really have much explanation. The other is that the divide between our protagonists and antagonists is not… that great. We’re meant to view the Horsemen as Robin Hood-esque figures, and that at the end of the day the heists are justified revenge plots, but nobody really seems to be that sympathetic. The final revenge plot felt very petty and not particularly well-earned. Whether or not you can overlook these flaws is a YMMV thing--personally, I found the idea of a heist movie featuring magicians to be a strong enough concept that I could mostly overlook the problems, but they still stick out as things that the movie could have done better.
This movie doesn’t explain all of the magic tricks that well either, I’ll admit. There are times when they give a brief explanation as to how it worked, but I still don’t think they’re all that realistic. There’s only so much you can explain with ‘misdirection and low visibility.’ Now I don’t mind too much, I’ll admit--really cool illusions and magic tricks are still really cool to watch on screen.
The line between the antagonists and the heroes is a lot better defined here. They aren’t people like law enforcement just doing their jobs, or people who the main characters are going after for BS reasons like making a vault that actually works as intended. The villains in this movie are genuinely and actively trying to hurt our heroes (and other people). So it’s easier to root for the heroes on a basis other than ‘they’re stylish and cool magicians doing stylish and cool things.’
The Four Horsemen sadly don’t all get their own very distinct character arcs. And maybe they kind of assumed that you knew them well enough from the first movie. They all have moments but I would have liked if they had distinct development throughout the film that really explored who they were, how they came to be magicians and so on. Not being a deep character movie doesn’t make it bad, but it’s a missed opportunity.
Maybe I’m not selling this movie very well. Maybe I’m making it sound kind of dumb. And I’m going to be real with you: these movies are kind of dumb. They’re dumb heist movies that think they’re smarter than they actually are. But dang, if you like watching cool stunts and ridiculous magic tricks you’re in for a treat. I think they’re lots of fun to watch. If you’ve seen the first one and you want a fun movie night, I think this one’s better than the previous one, for whatever that’s worth, and if it is dumb, it’s not so in an offensive way.
Although I am getting a bit tired of reviewing ‘Fun but dumb’ movies, so hopefully my next review will give you something to actually look forward to.
I know the basics of the story and from what I am aware it isn’t really romantic. At all. Sure it’s got some side plots where romance might be an element, but not in the main plot.
So why are there so many stories based off of it that one of the main focuses is Romance???
I do not know the answer to that question, and wont be trying to answer it (sorry????). Instead, I’m going to talk about the media I’ve consumed based of off Journey to the West and their romances. Enjoy!
I thought it might be fun to do them all in order of when I consumed them (especially because I plan to add to this when I realize something new is also a JttW remix), but I don’t actually remember what order I started them in so we’re just going with obviousness. Starting with the most “Well, yeah.” and ending with the most “wait what?”.
first...
The New Legends of Monkey
I actually never finished this one (how many times can I say that in this post, ha ha ha....), and it’s probably the one I’m least likely to finish (but I’ve got a compilationist in me so we’ll see).
It’s basically a straight forward retelling from what I watched, the main difference that I could see being Tripitaka’s characterization and gender. They made him a girl which felt like an excuse to add a romance between the monk and the Monkey King, though it only ever hinted at things as far as I got, so maybe it never happened (the tags on this gif suggest otherwise though). Tell me in the comments if you watched it I guess.
The acting wasn’t great and I dropped it pretty soon in, so I don’t have much else to say. They also made Sandy a girl, so maybe they were just trying to make it more diverse or something. IDK.
The Epic crush of Genie Lo
This book was freaking amazing and I totally recommend it (and the sequel, it’s a dualogy so both books are out, no need to wait!). It’s the only one I’ve finished at the time of making this post.
It’s kinda the outlier because instead of a romance between Tripitaka and the Monkey King it’s a romance between the Monkey King and Genie Lo (who I won’t explain her character because of spoilers). It’s super fun and interesting.
It’s set in modern day after all the events of JttW took place, which also makes it different from all the rest, and definitely not a retelling. It uses all the same characters instead of just the character dynamics and plot.
They could have nixed the romance because it’s not the main thing but it’s really enjoyable so I ain’t mad (but it’s kinda more important in book 2). Also a different take than all the others so, props to the Author.
A Korean Odyssey
This is the only K-Drama in the mix and I had to watch a few episodes to realize what it was. I’m nearly done with this one (started it in October and was zooming through but have slowed down due to NaNo). Another one I’d recommend (in fact, all the rest of them I probably recommend, tNLoM is the outlier here).
Out of the ones that are more obvious and use the same names, this one is the most different since it’s Korean instead of Chinese. Instead of Tripitaka they just use Samjang, and they use the Monkey’s title, The Great Sage Equal to Heaven, a lot more.
This one is also modern, but with the lore that they’ve dropped, is not set after the JttW but is the JttW, without all the traveling though. Also, instead of moving scrolls from point A to point B for The Merciful Goddess Guanyin (who hasn’t seemed to show up at all), they’ve been shoved together by The Devil King (who wasn’t as big of a player in JttW from what I know, but is one of the main characters in this). It’s very funny and emotional, like most K-dramas I’ve watched.
the romance is integral to the plot because instead of being trapped with a circlet that gives him headaches, The Monkey has a bracelet that makes him fall for Samjang and hurts his heart when she’s in danger. This causes much shenanigans which range from annoying to funny to heartbreaking. Good stuff.
Inuyasha
Into the Shojo! You may have heard that this one is Journey to the West-esque (If you run in those kinds of circles) and it’s definitely the most obvious of the ones I’ve encountered. I’ve only watched the anime (still working on it), so if the manga’s different, I didn’t know.
It’s got the five man band, the non magical Trip. character who sets free the Monkey character and the circlet analogue (aka “sit boy!”). Also, we’ve got an actual journey and a magical item that they need to protect and get to a specific place.
It’s both modern and set in the past (portal fantasy!) which is fun. Especially since her family gets to know, and she goes back for school every once in a while.
The romances in this are also semi integral to the plot (it’s shojo, what did you expect), and it’s quite enjoyable. It’s got comedy, action, drama, and cute romance. (Also, it’s randomly getting a squeal after a decade I think.)
Kamisama Kiss
I didn’t realize that this was JttW until after starting the manga, which I picked up after I finished the anime because it ended on a cliff hanger (I have some thoughts about that phenomenon too, but that’s for different and much shorter post). I really liked the anime and am making my sibling read the manga with me now. (they just corrected me and said I offered and they said yes, but saying I made them is funnier so whatever.)
Instead of being a cool monk or having the reincarnated soul of someone special, our Trip. for this one is just a nice girl, down on her luck who is given the divinity of a deadbeat kami who she saved from a tree. And instead of a magical item to bond her with the Monkey character (who is a fox spirit) they are sealed with just a kiss. (Hence the title)
The romance is semi integral, but oddly enough, I’d say less than in Inuyasha. Sure it weighs on their minds a lot, but the main plot is about Nanami trying to be a good kami and take care of her shrine, not her perspective love interests.
Fun show (and manga). Very goofy, cool world building, compelling characters, and good drama when it showed up.
and finally...
Yona of the Dawn
this one might be more believable than the last one, but I realized it later and feel it’s got slightly less similarities with the original source material. Another one that I watched all the anime and now have started reading the manga with my sibling due to the cliff hanger. (I’ve noticed more differences between anime and manga in YotD than KSK, not important, but interesting to me).
The monk is a princess in this one, and her and five man band are mostly reincarnations of dragons, which is why they join her party, to protect her like their counterparts did. They’re all compelled by ancient blood. Strangely, the character I’d ascribe to Monkey king is not a dragon and is only compelled by loyalty (and love).
It’s got the epicness, historical-ish setting, and the journey, but instead of getting a MacGuffin to it’s destination, they’re escaping death and trying to restore a kingdom.
Romance is very complicated in this one. Very compelling and I’d say on the more integral side. Affection and it’s many forms are explored along the journey. There are many dynamics and they all have their own complications. It’s good.
(also, I hope to cosplay Yona some day)
So... yeah. That’s it. If you got all the way through this, thanks.
