straightforwardly | 0070 | in which I have computer problems, & finish watching Death Parade

► A bit over a week ago, my computer was hit by ransomware, and all my files were encrypted. I've lost quite a bit, including those scripts from the Lovesickness Event that I half-killed myself to get, and all the writing I did in the last month or two, perhaps more. I can't find the flash drive that I backed up my writing on, so I'm not 100% on what exactly still survives. In short, it sucks.

► On a slightly more cheerful note, I finally got around to watching the finale of Death Parade today. I say "slightly" mostly because this episode had me crying buckets of tears. Which is not a bad thing.

Overall, I think I'm mostly satisfied with the ending? Although I really, really wanted Chiyuki to stay in Quindecim somehow, I think they went with the ending that's best for the story. Had they ended Decim and Chiyuki's story in any other way, I think it would have felt more shallow. Pretty much everything that happened with them in this episode hit the nail on the head for me.

That being said, watching the ending left me with a odd sense of emptiness. I haven't quite managed to put my finger on the reason why, but I think it has something to do with how Nona / that old man's plot threads resolved. I liked what we got, but I can't help but feel like there should be more to it.

Finally, that moment when Ginti mentioned that the cat doesn't come around anymore really made my heart ache.

Overall, I thought that this series was pretty amazing, and heart-rending.

► I've also been playing Bravely Default lately. I got it for my birthday at the end of February, and started playing it about two weeks ago. At first, I was playing it rather slowly, but after the aforementioned thing with my computer happened, I started playing it much more, and then I got hooked.

Right now, I'm on Chapter Six.

I absolutely adore Edea. Her story / character arc are a huge portion of what drives me in playing this game, because I just want more. I really, really like Ringabel too (and, if I'm quite honest, Ringabel/Edea), and am making grabby hands at each piece of information I've been given about his past.

Tiz, I'm fairly neutral on. If pressed for an opinion, I'd have to say that I like him, but he doesn't particularly interest me. I started out the game feeling ambivalent about Agnes, which then turned to dislike, but is now slowly creeping up again. tl;dr I have mixed feelings about her.

In regards to chapters 5 and 6, I really love going back and battling the bosses again— not because I want to battle them, but because I'm enjoying teasing out more bits about who they are / what motivates them. With many of them, I'd already felt guilty about killing them the first time around, but it just gets worse the more I learn about them. ♥ Also, I really love that the game has actually been addressing some of my concerns / feelings about those characters, in regards to the main characters' changing reactions to those battles.

► I think I'm going to end this here, and go get started on watching some of the spring anime that's aired.