Gay ass homo
23/M/Spain
Mostly liveblog and post long opinions about my million interests in here.
Currently playing: Fire Emblem Engage
Currently reading: 13 Sentinels
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A mind-bending story that skillfully weaves a massively interconnected narrative between thirteen different main characters. The ability to pull a story of these proportions while being this accessible and consistently entertaining cannot be overstated. Each character wishes to continue living or find a reason to live in a world that repeteadly refuses their existence, and the whole work has such a hopeful, compelling message about wanting to continue forward despite all adversity that I felt couldnât be the one left behind. The gameplay only helps drive these themes and serves its purpose excellently.
My only real complaint about the narrative is that most of the romances needed tighter writing or more scenes to really sell most of the emotional beats. This is a clear plot centered story despite the multiple protagonists, and characterization being on the thin end was understandable for a huge chunk of the story, but personal attachment was slightly lacking with certain characters when you finally unveil all the layers of this Shinzo Abe coded plot.
I think this is a fantastic VN to get into the genre, especially when the presentation is this top notch, but I find worth mentionining it is also an aggressively horny experience. Seems like a Vanillaware thing. Itâs sad that some questionable artistic choices rightfully tarnish the reputation of one of the best narratives in the medium. This is easily one of my new favorites.
Uuuuuugh, finished 13 Sentinels today and the post game brainrot kicked me all day... Please, if anyone reads this please reccomend some fics or something to fill the hole...
Letâs start positive. This game sells completely the strengths of Idolm@ster. All the idols are problematic students which for some reason or another are not realizing their full potential. Character-wise there are common staples of the genre: idols struggling with their gender identity or ones with self-esteem problems, but also other specific issues like a student who has given up on life after failing her previous dream, or one who has fallen into a self-hatred pit of isolation after breaking up with their previous idol unit. Not only are the character concepts here mostly interesting and likeable, but a school that encourages the alumni to be their best selves and clash with the other students is the ideal setting to explore these stories. In fact, the game is perfectly built around the idea of helping these girls to shine on stage and their personal lives.
You produce each of the idols and manage their schedules, constantly training and interacting with them through the visual novel sections to learn more about them, their insecurities, and their strengths, to see how you can make them the best person they could possibly be. Your first performances are terrible, your idols will not even be able to finish their song due to exhaustion and they will do an absolutely terrible job at it. With each produce run results start showing, learning the gimmicks of each idolâs gameplay style, using your resources correctly, and leveling up your cards all build to their visual growth on stage; they have memorized the entire song and choreography by now, a bigger audience will appear at their concerts, and more importantly, the girls start confidently smiling on stage, finally happy with themselves. Sorry to be corny but Gakumas absolutely understands why we love idols and why we want to support them. The game has been polished to a sheen to fully realize this idea. Even elements outside the game like the animated MVs for each girl make a great job on selling you on their individuality.
Sadly the game crashes and burns with the insipid writing, which is serviceable at best and God awful at worst. For some unexplainable reason Namco decided that the writing team would be helmed by Fushimi Tsukasa, from Oreimo and Eromanga sensei fame. You read that right. I was hoping time would prove me wrong but all of Gakuenâs interesting concepts are ruined by the writing. Main story scenarios get explicitly romantic with your idol of choice, and each route is plagued with the terrible tropes of your average LN, including the idols constantly reading the situation as sexual, feminizing the aforementioned idol struggling with their gender identity or your horny self insert constantly flirting with any near minor (even the teachers aren't excempt from this). The relationship between the idols and the self-insert skews from passable to creepy as shit at the drop of a hat and itâs really hard getting invested. I feel like I have to make up my own story in my head to not roll my eyes out of my skull.
Look, I wouldnât be as frustrated here if this shit didnât feel crowbarred into a game that does not need any of these shitty tropes to shine and that CONSTANTLY pushes the story in your face. A professional producer character who manages the girlsâ schedules and gets to know them better is a great idea! But it really clashes with the juvenile dating sim thing that this game is constantly attempting. Itâs even more infuriating when these tropes ruin the characters themselves. One of the idols is a genius girl who has excelled at everything academics all her life and has basically guaranteed her entire future, but decided against all odds to train as an idol despite absolutely failing at it only because she wanted to dedicate her life to her weaknesses. Fucking inspiring, right? Well, do I need to explain why giving her the shitty fetish gimmick of being aroused by pain and suffering fucking DESTROYS her character? This is past just wanting to attract a creep audience, this is terrible writing.
As you can see, I have a lot of thoughts about this game. In many ways I think this is an absolutely amazing concept and I will continue playing the game for now. The potential here is frankly outstanding, the gameplay is addictive, I love the art, and I am very curious on the long term content as a gacha, especially because it has been lamp shaded pretty hard Gakumas will be a series with an ever expanding cast of new students joining the school, meaning the writers can (hopefully, for the love of god) see what works and is not working for future storylines.
Unlike Song for Prism I am not sure what will be the future of Gakumas. Will it be a success or a failure? No idea, but I am sufficiently in love with the ideas here to be interested in this branch for the foreseeable future. Personally, the writing here is so bad I wouldn't reccomend it to anyone except the most hardcore of idol fans. I can see myself falling off hard after a certain point. My personal head canons are far more interesting than the actual story events here.
I try to keep game comparisons to a minimum when writing a review because I think itâs only fair to judge art by its own merits, but there was only one thing on my mind while playing Engage. That it was just Fates again.
Gameplay wise this is a fantastic experience. Not only is the map design quite solid but the Emblem Rings provide some of the craziest and fun tools the series has ever offered. The flexibility at play is almost unmatched, and the good news is that they did not sacrifice a challenging experience this time around, because the difficulty modes cover the wide spectrum of player skill very well. What I really admire about Engage is how easy it is to customize your own experience without sacrificing a healthy dose of challenge. The game is (mostly) balanced around you having the crazy Emblems powers, and will frequently match you against those same powers in a way many other developers wouldnât dare. The beauty of it is that you donât have to engage with this mechanic if you donât want to. Emblem Rings are stashed into itâs own little menu and the player is given full freedom to use the mechanic as much or as little as they want to. âIf you donât like, donât use itâ is a tired argument point for any game balance topic but I am always happy to see developers actually giving the player a chance not to use their overpowered mechanics.
The story is complete garbage in a way where sadly I donât have too much to say on it. This game will test you on your belief that gameplay rules above all, if you are one of those types, and your real opinions on that issue will probably color your entire experience.
Bad story aside, Engage is without a doubt a really fun and well-designed game. It strikes well the balance between giving you crazy and powerful tools while providing interesting challenging obstacles that are consistently fun to overcome. It is up there as one of the best gameplay experiences of the entire series that makes it worth a playthrough. It also looks and sounds really good, that helps too.
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I am an avid Conquest defender and Engage is cut from the same exact cloth, but there are sadly some points that clearly put the former above the latter in terms of quality for me.
-Both Fates and Engage have some of the worst stories in the medium, but Fates actually tried telling a story. Engage feels like it's not even trying for the first half, with the barest justifications to actually having a plot, only to fall completely into the worst overdone cliches of the genre during the last few hours. In my opinion, this is the worst of both worlds, the premise and initial setup is fucking boring, if not downright rotten, so there is nothing to chew on in terms of potential. But when the stakes are actually raised it falls into the same writing pitfalls as the rest of the series. Fates had an interesting premise with a lot of potential, only to become a complete trainwreck on execution. Engage's story is a complete bunch of nothing, only to fall into the same exact problems that made Fates that much of a trainwreck. I think it only doesn't hurt as much for most people because NO ONE expected anything out of Engage after the initial trailers. For this reason I consider Engage has an even worse story than Fates, Conquest in particular, but your mileage will vary.
-Engage sadly has one of the blandest casts in the entire series. Every FE has been able to squeeze a reasonable amount of likeable or interesting characters to follow but Engage is such a complete nothing in the characterization front. This is partly fault of the complete lack of world building, characters spawn with almost no backstory or context behind them and the few supports that explore anything behind them are buried under the inmense amount of supports that just add NOTHING to the table. There are still enough decently charming characters to fill out your team, I have a particularly soft spot for the Brodian royals, but the overall quality of this cast is fucking dire. I think this is the worst cast since Binding Blade. Fates, especially Conquest, wasn't this bad either. But the fact every support conversation is now voiced might be the reason why the bad nothingburguer support conversations this team really loves writing stand out so much more now.
-The most damming thing about the game is that not even the amazing gameplay is flawless. Conquest stands high and above with the best map design the series has ever seen, with few maps I would state were outright bad. Engage, while having really solid maps overall, and in my opinion, the best earlygame of the entire series, has full stretches of mediocre ones during the Solm arc and parts of the endgame that water down the entire experience. The game balance is also nowhere near as solid. Are the Emblems astoundingly well balanced for what they are? Absolutely, and I think their contribution to how fun they make Engage cannot be overstated. But we are talking about full map healing (which is rechargeable!) as early as Chapter 6 among the dozens of tools the game gives you. I think itâs impossible to fully account for all the possibilities they created here and that shows in the game balance. I can see the argument this makes Conquest better designed too, but they are pretty even for me.
Hopefully IS hires some fucking writers next time because it is seriously getting embarrassing how bad the storytelling of their recent games is.
Sorry guys, I constantly forget I have a tumblr. I failed my Engage ironman and got distracted with Gakumas so guess I am dropping my reviews for those here.
Mauvier is another serviceable late-game pre-promote who is strong enough at base to be useful for any team. The thing here is that Engage has ridiculously low deployment slots, so the chances you have a large team with a lot of investment put into it is very low, and Mauvier is (at base) stronger than all the other characters! And from this map onwards you get more deployment slots, there is little reason not to use him because statistically your other guys wonât be up to par. He just works and wonât be a burden for the huge majority of players. Emphasis on the word Just. He is Good but not amazing.
Character wise. Replacement husband came in! He initially was my choice to marry before Vander stole my heart due to design alone, but now that Vander is dead, he is back on the table. Hmmm, I think his character in the main story is moronic to a point where he is off-putting but at least he was interesting enough in the few supports Iâve seen to still like him. Religion talk? In MY zero-world building Engage??? Consider me intrigued.
The main problem with Mauvier is that his status as a reluctant villain is mostly centered in his relationship with Veyle (and the other Hounds) and yeah LOL there is nothing there. This character does not look good any way you look at him. Does he actually care about Veyle? Then why did he wait until the last possible second to get her out of her terrible situation? He is awful. Is he bound by his religion? Not really, he changes his tune for Veyleâs sake and joins his equivalent of Satan to save her. This is just not a Well Thought out character at all. But he gets a pass for being cute.
Final unit of the game! Veyle works for the same reasons Mauvier does but unlike Mauvier she would actually hold a candle without the deployment slot problem. She is solid and would be a good asset for my team if⊠she didnât immediately die in my playthrough. Oops!
I could talk for hours why Veyle just fucking sucks but I am feeling sleepy enough to just talk about it for a few paragraphs. She is probably one of the worst characters in the entire series. So much time is wasted on her and her terrible story about reuniting with her family and none of it works. Veyle falls into every shitty JRPG trope I hate without fail. Acts like a 3-year-old when she is supposed to be much more mature? Check. Mind manipulation for drite drama? Check! Incest and pedo undertones? Also check!
Veyle just does NOT work. So much of her character dangles into her relationships with other people and none of it is explored. She is supposed to care about us because we are her long-lost sibling. Do we get glimpses into this relationship? Nope. And in the present she likes us because we talked her once. She is bound to the bad guys because of her evil father. Do we get to see their abusive relationship? Not even a scene with them before she rebels. Alright. The Four Hounds are OBVIOUSLY terrible. Why is Veyle hanging out with them? We do get a few scenes with Veyle and the Hounds and the manipulation tactics on display are what you would expect from a Nickelodeon show. Engage. DECIDE your tone. Are you a parody game? Are you a game for 7 year olds? Are you trying to be a super duper serious story about abusive parent-child relationships? What are you trying to be???
Veyle honestly encapsules everything that is terrible about the story of Engage. I refuse to think her story was written with any sincerity because there is nothing of substance here. She even looks completely out of place design wise. I know Engage gets a lot of shit for itâs designs but while they are very hit or miss for me the only one I truly hate is hers. She doesnât look in-line with the rest of the fashion of the game. She does NOT look like our sibling in any way whatsoever. She feels out of place enough to personally consider her a bad DeviantArt OC. And I do not say this lightly.
Sorry, as you can tell I really hate this character, she really sours my experience every time she appears.
Good old endgame throne map. I am surprised at how much I dig this one, enemy position is on point like always, with the monsters and constant enemy reinforcements being particularly threatening and maintaining the momentum for the entire map. And the enemies hit really hardI am actually close to losing this ironman, a lot of my guys have been getting killed left and right throughout this section of the game.
As simple as it is, this is a great map. Only have one complaint? Not particularly a fan of how Veyle is executed as a boss. Why is she stuck in the defense tiles when she immediately moves out of them when you approach her? Why do so many reinforcements spawn when you approach her when you are going to kill her in one turn? I imagine this is in service of disincentivizing one-turn strategies⊠but it feels so forced and unnecessary? I dunno, I was very confused reaching the end of this map.
This is probably one of the strongest maps in the game in terms of story but I will be honest I beat this last week and I already forgot all the details and I am too lazy to write any more than this but I think Marniâs death is well executed and the drama here is at least fun to watch.
9/10
Chapter 22: The Fell and the Divine
Another two parter map! This one is admittedly worse than the first part in both gameplay and story. The story here is genuinely embarrassing to a point I am feeling second hand embarrassment for these writers so I will move on, but this map kind of iffed me. I give them props for a unique objective with the Ring collecting but itâs poorly communicated to the player what you actually have to do to finish the map. I personally missed the fact I had to talk with every ring to beat the map and I ended having to go back for them, which was a massive pain in the ass. And without a boss or harder challenge at the end there is little sense of accomplishment. Not bad, but both things left a bad taste in my mouth.
(Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers for the Whip the wimp girl!! event story, along with general VBS events, and FES Kohane's card stories)
Hello, to whoever is reading this? This is my first proper analysis post, and first post in this blog in general. So, An's 5th focus event, Whip the wimp girl!!, recently came out and, oh boy. It really inflicted me psychic damage. It was crazy. And crazy good. The cards are insane, and I can't stop thinking about them. I really wanted to analyze them a bit, based on their theme and how they represent the event story, so I'll write up a summary of the event, my opinions on it, and then talk about the cards a bit.
Event Plot
In the current day, An challenges Kohane to a singing duel after she realizes that she cannot complete the task her dad assigned to her until she resolves the complicated feelings she has for Kohane. From here, the story is told through flashbacks to show how the story reached this point.
While talking about her feelings with Miku and Akito once again, like she did back in Bout for Beside You, wanting to finally settle her issue, Luka and Touya unintentionally overhear them talking. An tells them the whole story, and the feelings she holds for Kohane. Then, Luka offers her own opinion on the topic; telling An to simply talk about it with Kohane.
At first, An seems to have decided on doing that, but her fear of disappointing Kohane comes back and she hesitates once again, saying it's fine to stay like this. Touya seems to be worried about An, however.
A few months later, Touya contacts An, wanting to talk with her. He tells her that the way she looked when she refused to talk with Kohane after all reminded him of what he was like when he wanted to leave BAD DOGS; he hid his feelings from his partner, because he was scared to disappoint him. An then realizes that that's exactly the case for her too; she's scared of disappointing Kohane, of Kohane finding out that An may not be as cool or as good as she thinks.
However, Touya tells her that by talking it out, he became true partners with Akito, so he assures her that by even though the thought of disappointing someone is scary, there are new doors you can open up by expressing your feelings. Their conversation ends with An saying she'll think about it, so that she can properly convey her feelings to Kohane.
Back in her room, An begins thinking about how to tackle this issue, when she remembers about Nagi, wondering what she'd do in this situation. She thinks, if Taiga and Ken were trying to reach higher than Nagi, she'd go, "I'm going ahead of you guys."; rather than talking, she'd fight head-on. An then concludes that that's what she should do, fighting Kohane; to become true partners.
Now back in the current day, after challenging her to a fight, An talks with Kohane. She expresses how she felt all this time, scared of Kohane's growth; of getting left behind by her if she didn't impress her anymore; and of disappointing Kohane for thinking like this. But by thinking of Nagi and what she'd do, An decided; she'll continue to surpass Kohane. By being better than her, by getting further ahead of her, she won't have to worry about getting left behind by her. And to prove that, An wants to fight Kohane.
Kohane expresses joy at An, feeling happy that she was able to make An think of her as someone who she seriously wants to win against, and accepts the challenge.
Sometime later, Akito, Touya, and Kotaro are meeting at WEEKEND GARAGE. Despite being their break day, they've met up to practice. Suddenly, they hear a commotion outside; and as he wonders what's going on, Akito spots Tatsuya and the other EVER members, who dropped the dream of surpassing RAD WEEKEND back when Taiga beat them back in Light Up the Fire. While talking about why they're there, Tatsuya tells the boys that he cannot leave since people are gathered blocking the road, due to Kohane and An fighting. They immediately rush to where they are, to see what's going on. When they reach the scene, they wonder why they're even fighting, but Touya says this is probably a necessary fight, and to watch them.
As Kohane and An fight, they both relish in how amazing their partner is. They're pouring all their feelings into their singing, giving it their all; neither wants to lose. Kohane thinks An looks amazing singing like this; facing her feels different from singing next to her. Ever since meeting An, she has learned many things, and now she has pride in herself, and how frustrating it is to lose, so she won't lose. Even if it's her partner, she won't go easy and will go at her with all her might.
An is overjoyed at Kohane's singing, grateful at her partner for giving it her all, since otherwise their match would have no meaning. Even while facing Kohane, An is scared. If she loses here, she'll forever live with this pain and anxiety she carries; singing next to Kohane with fear. And so, she has to win. She will win. To stand next to Kohane with pride.
As the boys watch them sing, Tatsuya wonders what's up with An. Touya asks him if he's ever felt scared of someone's singing, and says that An feels scared when she hears someone sing. Tatsuya thinks about Taiga, and wonders if that's the person An's scared of, but Akito corrects him; that's not whose singing An is afraid of. It's Kohane. And she's fighting her to shake off her fears.
As she takes a breather from singing, An realizes everyone is there. She's glad everyone's watching her, since it has always been this way; everyone has been looking after her. And with that, the stage for the battle is finally set; the victor of their match will be decided now.
Kohane begins singing again, and An thinks about Kohane's growth and talent, and how scary it is; but at the same time, so exciting. Kohane is truly the best partner An could ask for. She has helped An find so many things about herself that didn't know were in there, such as her uncool self and her anxiety, "dragging them out". However, An wants to give back to Kohane too; she wants to drag out everything out of Kohane with her song.
And then it's An's turn to sing.
With the people of Vivid Street cheering for her; with the teachings and love from everyone; with the determination that has carried her up to this point; she's An Shiraishi! And she can surpass everything!
And with her amazing performance, the crowd goes wild. An wins against Kohane. Kohane concedes the win to An, telling her she's amazing, but it's still frustrating to lose; so she declares next time they fight, she'll win. An responds back saying she'll be the winner, to continue being Kohane's best partner. And by saying that, An realizes that this is what she wanted most; win, lose, overtake, or be overtaken... that's how they both move on; what she wanted most, a partner.
After their exciting duel, Tatsuya and EVER, motivated by An, re-join Vivid BAD SQUAD in their goal to surpass RAD WEEKEND.
Then An gives a speech to everyone who was watching them, declaring they are going beyond Nagi's dream. An wants to carry Nagi's feelings with her, and take them to the places Nagi couldn't go to, carrying out her wish from that day. But not just Nagi's wish, but also her dream, and everyone's else wishes too; they will carry them, and overcome any wall, no matter how high.
Finally, the story ends with Kohane and An talking. An thanks Kohane for what they went through, and Kohane thanks her back, saying she believes she can become even stronger after this. An asks her if she can overcome her task now, and Kohane thinks she can do it now, despite it being very difficult; and An looks forward to it.
Afterwards, the girls reunite with the rest of their unit, Kotaro, and Tatsuya and EVER. And An declares that this time, they will surpass RAD WEEKEND.
2. Story Opinions
Okay so. That was a reeeeeally good event. I liked it a lot. I'll try to make my thoughts coherent but man. So good.
Something I really like about the post-anni VBS events so far are that they begin with a glimpse of the current day, then go through flashbacks to show how they reached that point. I feel it was much more effective in BURN MY SOUL and Whip the wimp girl!! than in The first concerto though, as the former two had more surprising developments (nobody was surprised about Touya's task being writing songs), although they were all great events.
The main standouts of the event for me were chapter 5, where An and Touya talk, and chapters 6 and 7, with An and Kohane's conversation in the first, then duel in the second.
The An and Touya conversation was really good. Something to note is that the non-aibou pairs in VBS barely interacted in the past; and they still really don't, but they've been getting more content since the third anni, such as Touya and Kohane in the VD event this year (which was a quite nice event); or An and Touya in this event. The latter is very noteworthy since their interactions were soooo minimal. This is pretty much their first proper conversation in an event? And man did it deliver.
I really liked how Touya was the one to reach out to An, to share his experience and offer his advice. Retelling how he didn't tell Akito how he felt back when he wanted to leave BAD DOGS, because he was scared of disappointing him... It parallels so well with An's current situation.
âïž âŠ At that time, I tried hiding my true feelings and distancing myself from Akito.
âïž I couldn't tell him "I don't have the same dream as you." And that wasâ
âïž That was because I didn't want him to be disappointed in me.
đ§ At the time, I said I just didn't want to embarrass Kohane, but⊠in reality, I was just protecting myself.
âïž âŠ I understand. The more important the other person's existence is, the greater the fear of disappointing them.
âïž That's why I suppressed my feelings, too.
âïž Butâ
âïž By talking about everything, I became true partners with Akito.
âïž The thought of disappointing someone is certainly scary⊠but there are new doors you can open up by expressing your feelings.
âïž âŠ At least, that's what I think.
(credits to @aktyarchive on twt for the tls/quotes!)
They really care about their partners; and they fear disappointing them. They don't want to be left behind. I really like how their situations were so similar, and Touya uses his past experience to offer advice to An. It may be scary, but it can open up new doors for you; allowing you to trust each other even more, and becoming greater partners... so good, honestly. Akito and Touya helping An out with her partner troubles really does feel like a established, married couple helping out a couple going through their honeymoon phase (but alas, I'll ramble about my relationship analogy in another post... one day. Just food for thought for now).
An and Kohane's duel was also very good!! An finally pouring out her feelings to Kohane, how she feared Kohane getting so good and thinking it may mean eventually getting left behind by her partner...
đ§ I wonder if someday I wonât be able to make Kohaneâs heart pound anymoreâŠ
đ§ Besides, I didnât want Kohane to know I felt this way.
đ§ I was afraid Iâd become a disappointment if Iâm this uncool
đč A disappointment!?
đ§ Yeah. I know.
đ§ So I decided toâ continue to surpass Kohane.
đ§ I will continue to stay ahead of Kohane. To prove that⊠I want to compete.
đč Beyond me...
đ§ Iâm sorry for being overly selfish, butâŠ
đ§ I want you to fight me. Please.
It was really nice. Not just exposing herself, her dark, ugly feelings, but also wanting to prove how serious she is regarding Kohane and wanting to stay by her side (or ahead of her, I guess). But what I also liked, too, is that Kohane felt happy about hearing about An's feelings, and how she cares so much about her.
đč You know... Iâm just a bit⊠I felt so happy.
đ§ Happy...?
đč Iâm sorry, it might not be the best idea to say this butâŠ
đč I was able to make An-chan think of me as someone she seriously wants to win against.
đč Letâs do this, An-chan.
đ§ Thank you, Kohane.
Their duel was so good too. Facing each other with the intention of winning, one because if she doesn't, she'll always be next to her partner in fear of getting left behind... while the other has learned to take pride in herself, and how frustrating it is to lose... so neither will go easy on the other; even if they're partners. Because it'd be disrespectful, to the partner they trust most.
đč (This is the song I'm going to win against An-chan with)
đč (It's completely different from when I'm usually singing next to you. My skin has been tingling ever since...)
đč (As expected, An-chan is so amazing)
đč (However, I do not want to lose.)
đč (I learned a lot of things when I met An-chan and started singing, I've learnt to take pride in myself, I've learned how frustrating it is to lose.)
đč (So⊠I want to win!)
đč (I don't want to lose, even to An-chan!!)
đ§ (Kohane... thank you so much for giving it your all.)
đ§ (I've been listening to Kohane sing next to me all my life⊠and today's song is the best I've ever heard)
đ§ (Kohane⊠I guess she understands. If she doesn't give her all, this match has no meaning.)
đ§ (âŠyou know what, I'm still scared, even now that I'm competing head on like this.)
đ§ (Because if I lose here, I will live with this anxiety forever)
đ§ (I'll be singing next to Kohane for the rest of my life⊠in fear)
đ§ (I will win, to stand next to Kohane with Pride!)
They both want to draw the best out of each other; to support each other; to stay with each other. Because that's what it means to be true partners.
đ§ (âKohane may not understand properly yet, but she is the best partner for me.)
đ§ (She pulled out all the things that were lying dormant inside of me⊠my insecurities, my uncoolness, everythingâŠ)
đ§ (There were things I didnât want to see, but now Iâm glad I did.)
đ§ (âŠBut, Kohane)
đ§ (That's not enough, I don't like it.)
đ§ (I, too, want to drag her out too.)
đ§ (Kohaneâs new powers, the feelings she didn't know, everything, all of it.)
đ§ (I want to drag them out, with my singing!)
đč Let's fight again, An-chan. I'll win next time.
đ§ âŠYeah! but then again, I'll win
đ§ to continue being Kohane's best partner!
đ§ (...I see, that's what it was. To win, lose, overtake, be overtaken...)
đ§ (Then we both move on, Iâm sure thatâs the âpartnerâ I wanted the most.)
(credits to @ankohabot on twt for the tls/quotes!)
I think a pretty central theme of this event is trust, and, as is usual with VBS events, love. The trust you place in someone, but also not trusting them enough to share how you truly feel in fear of disappointing them; in fear of being hurt and hurting them. And also trust in yourself, as seen in An's low self-confidence, between her avoiding talking to Kohane and thinking she's uncool and weak; then An's motivation to get ahead of Kohane and overcome any obstacles to reach your goals, and Kohane's trust and confidence in herself.
This also ties in with the love theme; you care and love about someone so much, you cannot muster disappointing them. You really love them, and so avoid hurting them. Ironically, Touya did the latter back in the main story, but he cared about Akito too much he preferred pissing him off to intentionally separate them than to disappoint him with his feelings. He really avoided disappointing Akito by breaking their duo up (although one could say that's still disappointing him).
With love and trust for each other (and for yourself!), you both grow together, and draw the best out of each other... they're the best partners they could ask for... truly, this is aiboulove.
Really, this was a very good event. I enjoyed it a lot. Honestly, VBS isn't even my favorite unit (lol), but I like all units and characters, so it's not like I dislike them. However, because Akito's my most favorite character, I naturally end up thinking about Touya and then An and Kohane a lot, and I really enjoy their partnership and aibouisms and so on, so I was pretty hyped for this event. It really delivered, not just with the story, but also the cards (which I'll talk about next) and the song. Honestly, this was peak.
3. Card Analysis
The first thing to mention, before jumping into the actual cards, is the theme of the card set. The Gacha set "Eternal Bout" represents An and Kohane's duel; and so, there's two "sides". The blue side, which represents Kohane; and the red side, representing An.
Not just representing their duel, these can also represent the characters; Kohane's costume is entirely white and blue, while An's costume (and hair) is entirely black and red. The white and blue, light and pure colors, gives off Kohane's innocence and purity, not aware of An's true feelings, and An's black and red, darker colors, represent her "dark", hidden feelings, that she doesn't want to show to Kohane.
Besides that, birdcages can also be seen in all of the cards. I think the open birdcages could symbolize breaking free and overcoming obstacles, but also leaving the cage's door open could mean allowing something to come out...? Or, more especifically, the blue cage and red cage that can be seen throughout the cards may represent Kohane (blue) and An (red).
Curiously, this birdcage theme is shared with Walk on and on's Gacha set, From on a perch. This could be a whole another analysis, so I'll only mention the essential, but it's quite interesting...; in From on a perch, you can see Touya's cage broken open. Comparing it to An's broken cage in her own card, this can symbolize their growth, getting out of their cage, so to say, and actively wanting to improve and become better. They really share quite a few similarities.
Thematically, both Gacha sets share similar meanings for the cages: growth, freedom, getting better, reaching new heights, showing your true self and finding out more about yourself...
Either way, onto the cards:
3â Megurine Luka - "What Is in Your Heart"
"Why not take the plunge and talk about it?"
Luka is confidently sitting in the red side, looking at a red cage in front of her, which is illuminating the area red. The blue side is behind her, but she's not looking at it at all; she knows what should be done.
In the story, Luka was the one who suggested An to just talk about her feelings with Kohane, and this is reflected in this card, where the red cage represents facing Kohane. Luka's confident about her advice, so there's no need to hesitate about it; the blue side is unnecessary, and An should instead go forward and face her partner. Luka supports her.
When you consider Kohane and An as the blue and red cages, this card can be viewed as Luka looking after An (the red cage) and watching her development and growth. Luka's devious and confident smile as she looks at the cage can be interpreted as her "tempting" An with her suggestion of... simply talking about it to Kohane. Offering an alternative to hiding these feelings she holds. Just talk to her. What could go wrong? She's your partner, after all. You should trust her.
2â Shinonome Akito - "So That I Never Lose Sight of Them Ever Again"
Well, there isn't much to say here; it's a 2â card. That's my son... He looks funny.
Something interesting to note is that the high-neck shirt that Akito's wearing here is really similar to the one Touya wears in his Brand New World (Anni3 redesign) design. The tag on the shirt's neck is even in the same place; and funnily, the little symbol on it is the same design as Touya's earring in his card from this event. Furthermore, that necklace Akito's wearing in this card is very similar to Touya's Brand New World necklace; and it's not the first time he wears one of these, either. Back in Awakening Beat, Touya wore this type of necklace in his card, yet in the 2DMV, Touya wasn't wearing it anymore, and Akito was wearing it instead. And then in Walk on and on, Akito also wore a necklace like this in his 2â card.
I think he is gay.
4â Aoyagi Touya - "An Emotion Called Fear"
"So, that's why, I also suppressed my feelings."
I really like this card. You can really feel the duality theme in it...
This card can actually be split into two, right in the middle. On the left side, Touya's face is soft and relaxed, and the background is blue, like Kohane's "side"; this shows he understands Kohane's side, of purity and innocence, of so much to learn, from your partner and in general, and that desire to get stronger. On the other hand, the right side's Touya's face is strained, his smile hidden by his hand. He's sort of facing away from the red side (An's side), but not completely avoiding it. He wants to escape it, he fears it... but he has to face it.
I think this card is really good thematically since it shows Touya in the middle of both sides; similar to his role in the story, where he helps An through his painful past experience. The blue side is the safe side, while the red side is what they fear. Something pretty significant is that Touya is facing away from the red side, looking away, since he wants to avoid what he fears. He's also showing a pained expression, and caressing the cheek that Akito hit back when he tried to leave BAD DOGS over expressing what he really felt; it's a very relatable experience for him. However, he doesn't avoid being exposed to the red side's light, since he knows he has to face it.
If you consider that the cages represent Kohane and An themselves, it's even more obvious that this represents Touya being inbetween of their duel, and wanting to support them during it.
There's also the fact that while Kohane's outfit is fully white and blue, and An's black and red, Touya's mixes both black and white. It seems like the main theme of this card is duality, which Touya does represent quite well.
It's a really good card, honestly.
4â Azusawa Kohane - "Taking Everything In"
"I knew it, you're really amazing An-chan."
This one's also reeeeally good thematically. Kohane's entirely in the blue side, but she's confidently looking in front of her, where a red cage can be seen. There's also a red reflection in her eyes. She's looking over at the red side.
The way I see it, this feels like what An fears. The blue, safe side is strong and confident, not holding back, and difficult to overcome; and it's coming directly for her. The cage behind Kohane, with a broken chain and lock on the floor in front of its door, and the way she's on the floor feels like she is crawling towards her, like she's something scary / to fear. She's what An fears, and she definitely can't avoid it, as she actually let her out of her cage... it's right in front of her, coming for her... Accepting her challenge.
Comparing it to her From on a perch card, where she's inside a birdcage, sitting on a swing but getting up, representing how she's not at her full potential but ready to grow stronger; in this card, she's completely outside the cage, strong and confident, and crawling towards An's cage, to face her. To drag her out. To be alongside her.
Something pretty interesting about this Kohane card is that her hairstyle is styled very similar to An's, but mirrored. This is not the first instance of Kohane getting the same hairstyle as An; in her FES card, she also had the same hairstyle as An, but short. In her FES story, Kohane gets warped to a Fragment Sekai where everyone thinks she's An, and only by proving she's not really An she manages to get out. Even though An's her partner, who she admires a lot and wants to become as cool and strong as her, she doesn't want to be her; she wants to be her partner, and be by her side forever. She wants to share her dreams and make them come true together. She cherishes all her memories with An and the rest of her unit, and is thankful for all her growth.
The FES story is not particularly relevant after all, but I think it's a good read to understand Kohane more (it did really change my opinion of her). In either case, while FES Kohane's An-like hairstyle was to represent the card story and how she wants to be similar to An, but not quite her; this card's hairstyle can mean something similar, but I also think it's a way to represent that what An fears is not just Kohane, but also facing herself; and that is why Kohane looks like An but mirrored. She's all of her fears personified, both Kohane and herself, in one.
It's quite interesting that the fears are represented in light and pure colors, since usually you'd expect the dark colors to be that. This goes to show that it's not really what she fears and has to face that is bad and "evil", but rather herself and her own feelings; she considers them dark, and something to hidden.
Anyways... a very good card, too. It's so well done.
[Addendum to Touya's card here, but I can't quite add it in his section since I don't talk about the mirrored hairstyle until now: it may be slightly cursed knowledge, but Touya's hairstyle looks like his father's in his card, but mirrored. If you view it from the same point of view as Kohane's mirrored An hairstyle, it could symbolize Touya not wanting to be like his father, but still respecting and even admiring him, despite everything. Through this, all of Touya's card feels like him reminiscing about what he has gone through (caressing his cheek, the hairstyle similar to his dad, relating to what the girls are going through...)]
4â Shiraishi An - "Time for a Decisive Battle"
"ââBeyond! Go beyond!!"
This card is insane. I think it's easily one of the best cards in the game, though that's my personal opinion (and it's right). Other than being ah, so yuriful! and being the first time that prsk gets this kind of blunt and intimate card, it perfectly represents An and Kohane's relationship and this event. It's so good, honestly.
There is so much going on here and I'm not even sure where to begin. The card shows An overpowering Kohane, with the former above the latter, looking like she's about to bite onto Kohane's neck. This shows the conclusion of the story, with An winning against Kohane and taking her "prize", and Kohane accepting her defeat.
However, there is more to it. With the way the card is depicted, it also represents An showing Kohane her dark, "ugly" side; and Kohane completely accepting it. Waiting for it. She willingly entered the red side, or perhaps the red side overtook the area, but she's not struggling against An's "dark" feelings, and is actually staring back into her eyes, awaiting; she trusts and loves her partner, and will accept her in any way.
The way An holds Kohane here shows how much she loves and cares about her; decisively holding her, after taking victory; but also gently and caring.
There's also a birdcage on the left side of the card near the girls. It looks like its door was completely forced open. While the cage in Kohane's card was forced open by breaking the lock and chain, this one has the door completely broken open; something forced its way out of the cage. And that's definitely An, finally deciding to tell her partner how she feels, and with the intention of a fight. Despite her fears, she's strong, and she has to overcome this.
As I said for the previous two, this card is good. Really good. Seriously, one of the best cards in the game.
4. Conclusion and afterword
đ§ (âKohane may not understand properly yet, but she is the best partner for me.)
Trust. Love. Growth. All central themes in VBS stories. The first two are very important themes in the VBS characters... they love their partners a lot, and through trust, they can grow... together!
I'm planning to write more essays, although I don't know how long they will be, or when they'll happen... I'm feeling writing a bit about aibous and "partners", love as a central theme in VBS, and the relationship analogy; or perhaps talking a bit about Niigo-VBS parallels. Eventually, I will write my magnum opus: the Gay Akito Thesisâąïž
Thanks for reading! To whoever has read this, I hope you enjoyed it, and that you have a nice day. And big thanks to akitofan53 for proofreading this, offering insight, and all their analyses throughout the years; they've been very insightful and inspiring. Lots of love.
iâve heard a lot of people say âdonât reach out to your friends first and see how many people will remain in your life. those are your true friendsâ and i get it. it sucks and itâs tiring constantly being the one to message first, to initiate hang outs but donât take this so literally. some friendships require initiation. i have lost touch with so many people who genuinely cared about me and wanted me in their life because i stopped reaching out. itâs a hard pill to swallow but honestly some people just suck at it and it doesnât mean they donât love and value you. iâve reconnected with some people over the past few months and itâs crazy how genuinely happy they are to see me and how engaged they are in the conversation. i just think sometimes weâre too harsh on each other & too quick to emphasize other peoples flaws and remove them from our lives but then weâll all be alone and whatâs the point of life then!!!!
I kind of like this one a lot more than I expected. Griss is really fucking scary but I am unsure on how he works. It seems he is coded to never one-shot your units? Which is a really good way to not make this map bullshit. The enemies are surprisingly well packed for such a small chapter! And the thiefâs that spawn halfway through are really nice to keep you going. I am noticing Engage does this a lot, kind of a lazy anti-turtling incentive but it works.
My Etie actually died here in a really funny way, impossible to explain but it was a riot. I basically doomed her with a rescue staff dropping her in front of the boss. This is honestly a very hard chapter to talk about because I am not 100% sure how it fully works and that really determines its overall quality, but I had a lot of fun! So at least it was good for me.
Saphir is one of those units that sound absolutely terrible on paper but people online say she is good so I guess she must be decent? Lindon was valuable due to his class and utility; I am not sure how much a late game Warrior can contribute at this stage of the game. Do people use her? Apparently, her bases are high enough to make her comparable to your other physical attackers⊠but she was definitely worse than my Boucheron. I dunno, would need to play with her some other playthrough to see how she stands out.
Character wise, the game does an absolutely terrible job on characterizing her before this and I literally know anything about her, but congrats on the team for giving us a black middle aged woman character to play as. As far as I remember she is the third one in the entire series which is pretty grim. I'll be honest I wish I gave a single fuck about her but she is completely forgettable.
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