137 | in which I beat Never Alone, continue Mystic Messenger, & start the Spring 2017 anime season

[straightforwardly]

Um, long entry alert. This is what happens when I don’t keep up with posting...

► I beat Never Alone a day or so after I last posted. I was actually pretty close to the ending at that time, apparently. It’s not a long game at all— it only took me about three hours from start to finish, according to Steam. Overall… I still feel mixed? There were a lot of frustrating portions, which the occasionally stiff controls didn’t help with, but when it was good, it was a lot of fun, and I loved the scenery and the story. I don’t think I’ll ever replay it from start to finish (though I might take the time to do full achievements + the Foxtales DLC, since I already have that), but I am still glad that I played it, if that makes sense.

► In Mystic Messenger, I’ve achieved Jumin’s Normal Ending and Bad Ending 03.

His Bad Ending 03… wasn’t quite what I expected? Or, rather, I’d osmosis-ed something different (which a bit of googling tells me is actually the ending to the BRE;;;). I was actually a bit disappointed because of that— it was actually rather tame, all things considered. I honestly thought that Jumin wouldn’t let V in when he came, but nope, everything went smoothly until the MC got back to her apartment (and then it fell apart).

I did like how the MC got a chance to snap “Stop deciding things on your own!” at Jumin— his route gets so much more disturbing when the MC chooses the “I want to go home” answers. Like, when she’s saying she’s fine with it, Zen looks unreasonable for his flipping out over her being at Jumin’s, but when she’s saying she’s uncomfortable and wants to go home… then suddenly Zen looks so much more reasonable, and Jumin so much more creepy for not complying with her wishes. It was just… ugh. Jumin’s never been my favorite, but it did put a sour taste on his route, knowing that he’s capable of utterly ignoring her desires like that. Jumin/MC seems pretty popular, judging by the fic output on AO3 (I’ve only seen more fics for Seven/MC), but while I don’t NOTP it, at this point a fic would need a very intriguing summary for me to click on it.

I did also feel sorry for Unknown in this ending— it was very clear that he had no idea that clicking that button would activate the security system. Poor darling— sacrificed by his “savior” in the most direct of ways. Though I suppose she didn’t lie— he and the MC dying in the explosion would hurt Seven in the most direct of ways, even if he’s not actually in love with the MC in this route.

I did get some cute Seven phone calls in the lead-up to this ending, though. ♥ My favorite was possibly when he went “ahhh I meant to ignore this phone call, oh no!” (not a direct quote), because of how it mirrored his reactions in his own route. Seven ♥ There was also a more depressing phone call post-Operation Hacker where his self-flagellation reaches the level of “Some people call me a genius but I’m an idiot who can’t even invent a time machine.” (Direct quote, this time.)

I also got Jumin’s Normal Ending! For the first time, I tried to call the RFA members after noon on Day 11, and, I have to say, Seven’s voicemail message was brilliant:

“A volcano near I live has exploded today so I am on a rocket evacuating to the stars. So I cannot attend to an agency tasks at the moment. When I come back to Earth, I will sign into the network so please relay all emergencies to Vanderwood.”

I was amused, and then I remembered the reasons why he needed to keep his going to the party secret, and then I was sadly amused.

I feel… really disappointed in the Normal Ending? I was hoping that it would be like Zen’s Normal Ending— basically, similar speech, but with less public acknowledgement of the MC / secondhand embarrassment. Which, don’t misunderstand, the Normal Ending did deliver on that. But… I really, really hated Jumin resigning from his father’s company, for a number of reasons.

I admit that part of it is because I have a hard time seeing Jumin being able to handle normal life, but most of it is that I really, really, really, really, really, really despise it when the ending of a love story requires/involves one of the pair to give up on their career and/or dreams. It’s just one of my biggest pet peeves. Perhaps it’s just my personal attitudes poking through— for all the time I spend reaching romance novels and ship!fics and shoujo manga, I’m actually really disinterested in relationships in real life— but I don’t think any love is worth that sacrifice. Any. When Seven said, “[MC], you have to smile in a time like this. He gave up his job for you!”— I’ve never disagreed with him more. That is not something to smile about. Ugh.

Also: poor Jaehee. He almost gave her a heart attack re: her future.

Finally, I’m working on Jumin’s Bad Ending 01, and:

I got this really strange bug when I reloaded my save for my Bad Ending 01 attempt. Basically, this is what happened: I loaded a Day 05 00:23 save sometime about seven in the morning. When I went to the chatrooms screen, it said that Day 4 was at 100%, and I could see Jumin’s portrait on the screens for Days 5-11. However, the cursor was over Day 4 as the “current” day— I couldn’t enter Day 05 at all— and when I went into Day 04, I could only see the chats up until 7:00— chats that were still completed. As the day went on, the chats unlocked normally, but I didn’t have to redo them— they were all completed on arrival. It was so weird, but I figured that I’d wait it out instead of going to the trouble of submitting a bug report. Thankfully, everything went back to normal after the day was through, and the next day I could go through the Day 05 chats like normal.

► I mentioned the other day that the Mystic Messenger April Fool’s Event inspired me to make my own cardboard/paper Seven. What I kept forgetting to mention is that, a day or two later, I made a cardboard!Yoosung as well!

Pre-Yoosung’s construction (when I was checking to see if his shirt design worked):



Yoosung, partially constructed— I was checking to see if I should do him with or without eyes:



Finished. Seven finally has a friend! ♥



Eventually, I’d like to make papercraft versions of all of the RFA, but I keep putting it off because it takes so long. I spent hours trying to get Yoosung’s pieces designed. ._. Next on the list is probably Jaehee, though I am concerned about how well her (brown) hair will contrast against the cardboard.

► I’ve also started on the Spring 2017 anime premieres! It’s been a while since I’ve kept up with currently airing anime, but I miss it, so I wanted to start the habit again. (I actually wanted to start with the Winter 2017 season, but… pretty much nothing aired that I felt like watching, ahahaha;;;)

I don’t have a premium account on Crunchyroll anymore (halted it because I was somewhere without internet access for most of last year, & can’t justify the expense at the moment, though I do intend to get it again someday), so I’m watching from a week behind on all of the airing anime. Here’s my initial reactions to the series I’ve tried out so far:

Alice & Zoroku
I’m not quite sure how to feel about this one just yet. The first episode was double the length of a regular anime episode, which always is a negative for me (I actually tried to watch Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju when it first aired, and just could not get through the length of that episode, despite liking what I saw), and I actually think that the first eight or so minutes of the episode could have easily been cut, with no resulting confusion for the viewer.

But other than that, I feel tenuously intrigued? It really all depends on where the series goes from here, I think. I really liked the dynamic of “grumpy old man” with “somewhat thoughtless girl”*— it was actually what drew me to try out the series. Generally, I prefer plot over slice-of-life, but I’m actually hoping that this anime ends up focusing more on florist stuff/Sana learning how to live in society in a thoughtful and considerate manner angle rather than the Secret Government Research angle. I’d honestly be fine with the latter being pushed to the background until the finale or something, if necessary.

On a more shallow note: the cg was horrendous, and horribly jarring— it actually threw me out of the show a little, and I’m not someone who’s super picky with that sort of thing. Those car scenes. ._. In contrast to the scene in the flower shop had fantastic colors and lighting. I was honestly a little awed by it.

GRANBLUE FANTASY: The Animation
First, could we take a moment to be amused by the ridiculous title? I didn’t think much of it at first, but after finding out that that male main character’s name is Gran, and that the female main character has blue hair…

This is another series where I’m not sure what to think of it quite yet. It’s very pretty, especially in the backgrounds! It also looks to be a generic fantasy story, which, as long as it doesn’t make any missteps, would not be unpleasant to watch. The ending of the episode was also very video game-esque in a way that I can’t quite put my finger on. (That isn’t a criticism, by the way— just an observation.)

My main concern is Gran. Right now, he’s pleasant enough, with two exceptions that I’ll get into in a moment, but he’s also very much a Generic Male Protagonist who stumbles upon the story rather than being a driving force in it. I do think that the series would have had more potential to be interesting had it simply focused around Kataline (! ♥ ♥ &hearts) and Lyria, but I think I’ll be fine with him as long as he doesn’t become too much of a Generic Shounen-esque Protagonist.

Those two exceptions: his reason for staying with them after Kataline gave him an out felt pretty weak— though I’ll forgive this if the series develops it at all later— and the whole Lyria-giving-him-her-special-powers thing at the end. Thankfully it looks like they might have just split it instead of her giving him all of it, but it falls a little too close to tropes that I don’t like.

I’m also reserving my opinions on Lyria. She’s gorgeously designed, but I’m wary of her hesitancy— I usually don’t like shy characters. Or, specifically, I don’t like a lot of the tropes and characterizations of typical shy female characters. Katalina, on the other hand, is a competent delight, and I am all ready to board the Kataline/Lyria shipping train at first notice.

Finally: ERSTE EMPIRE. THE EVIL EMPIRE’S NAME IS ERSTE EMPIRE. I really get the impression that the writer’s went, “how could we make this boring empire name sound cool? Oh, I know, we’ll just take the word for ‘first’ in another language!” I’m not complaining, mainly because I find it pretty amusing.

The Royal Tutor
Another series where my knowledge of German added to my enjoyment! This was probably the anime I was looking the most forward too, and IT DID NOT DISAPPOINT. It did have a bit of a slow start, but once it got going, I really got caught up in it. It has perfect comedic timing, and handles the mix of amusing and thoughtful really well. Definitely my favorite so far.

The random German tidbits of the day: ONE OF THE PRINCES IS NAMED LICHT. As in, light. Outside of the obvious “that’s not even a name” thing, I feel like there’s a Death Note joke here somewhere just waiting to be made.

Also, on a related note, there’s this moment where Licht calls out “Tschüss!” (like, actually in German!) as he runs off, and I swear that my heart briefly stopped at how cute that was. So cute. The cutest.

Speaking of cute, Leonhard is such a kid, omg. I didn’t think that I’d like him at first, but he quickly won me over. The diary! There were many delightful moments, but I think this one takes the cake, if only because it’s the one that made me go, ‘yeah, I have to take a screenshot of this’:


Such a teenager reaction. ♥

► This entry was actually meant to be even longer, but it’s literally two minutes to midnight as I type this sentence and I’d like to post it before I go to bed, so no. I’ll try to update again soon to make up for it.