Show me your teeth

[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, episode twelve: abschied

2012-02-27T07:05:52Z

Previously on Weiss Kreuz
Previous episodes

Finally I've seen your faces. I'll come for your lives someday. And because Schuldig likes being dramatic, he jumps backwards out the broken window and into the night, probably back home to Crawford. There's probably a reward waiting for him, too.

So it seems like they finally remembered that Omi's, you know, hanging there, so Aya cuts him loose.
"Can you get up, Omi?" Aya asks, as they kneel on the floor together.
"But why? I'm a Takatori..."
"Omi, you aren't Takatori Mamoru. You're Tsukiyono Omi." And this is the look Aya gives him. He's not glaring! =D
And Omi gives him a look of love or whatever.

[...]

BRIDGE.

Hirofumi is driving along and sees Omi, so he attempts to run him over. Omi instead shoots an arrow through his windshield and, uh, kills Hirofumi. The car veers into the bridge railing and crashes, and Omi has some tears over it as he stares up at the moon.

( But mama I'm in love with a criminal... )

THIS EPISODE TOOK FOREVER mostly because, uh, yeah, I had to showcase Schuldig every five seconds, plus I had work and RL stuff in between.

Next episode...

Is probably going to be Aya centric, from what I can see from the previews. "I've lived for revenge since the night I lost everything." How poetic. Basically sums up Aya's character.

What do you have to look forward to in episode thirteen? This:

See you then!

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[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, episode eleven: abkunft

2012-02-22T06:15:22Z

Past episodes

Previously on Weiss Kreuz...

So now Omi's crying and Hirofumi is crying and OHAI AYA AND KEN. They come bursting through the doors and Omi tells Hirofumi to run and then shoves him out of the way. He then takes Hirofumi's gun and points it at Ken and Aya, who probably think by now that Omi's lost all of his marbles.
WHAT THE FUCK, OMI? asks Aya, who is Deeply Concerned.
"Mamoru, I will see you again, right?" And with that, Hirofumi runs, probably off to Takatori. Ken attempts to run after him and Omi threatens to shoot.
"He's... He's my big brother."

Ken: O:
Aya: /DEATH GLARE OF DEATH
Omi: /falls to his knees and sobs

MEANWHILE, Yohji is driving Ouka back to Tokyo.
Ouka: Omi...
Yohji: :| Damn you, Omi!

( I'm borrowing him. )

Next time on Weiss Kreuz...

I think you can guess who that Ferrari belongs to.

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[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, episode ten: bruder

2012-02-19T07:18:48Z

Previous episodes.

Previously on Weiss Kreuz...
Masafumi drank some shit, turned into a tentacle monster that promptly tried to kill everyone and maybe, just maybe, he unleashed the Kraken. Schreient and Weiss fought, shit exploded and caught on fire, and we ended the episode with this, which left Jayden very happy indeed.

IN THIS EPISODE, we meet Takatori Hirofumi, the less faily of the Takatori siblings. Which says a lot, really. Hirofumi likes to hunt.

( But not animals. )

On the next episode of Weiss Kreuz...

Ken: Omi is Hirofumi Takatori's younger brother? Does that make me his sister?
Yohji: I could've told you that.
Omi: Who am I? Who am I...? 24601!
Manx: I think we used that joke before.

oh all right let's have something that isn't from the outtakes.

Omi: My brother is a sadistic criminal!
Aya: You are not Takatori Mamoru. You are Tsukiyono Omi.

The first thing is actual dub dialogue and it made me laugh my arse off. Probably because of how Omi's VA says it. "My brother is a sadistic criminal omg!!!11"

oh and. There will be more pictures in episode eleven. Why? Do I even have to tell you why?

There is Schuldig. ;D

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[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, episode nine: schreient

2012-02-18T08:17:01Z

Previous episodes

Apparently tinypic decided to delete some of my screens, so if anything in previous entries is broken, let me know and I'll reupload them on Photobucket.

Anyway! On to the review thing.

( Apparently Jayden can watch Harry Potter and Weiss Kreuz at the same time. )

AND THAT ENDS THE EPISODE. Finally.

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[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, ending one: beautiful alone

2012-02-11T05:54:56Z

Okay, so one of my favourite Weiss songs is Beautiful Alone, and as luck would have it, it's the first ending song for Kapitel. Which is where I heard it originally in the first place.

If you saw my review for Velvet Underworld, then you'll know this will be similar to that. There's only so much commentary I can give for an opening or an ending, so. I'm doing this just so all of my bases are covered.

I do not have the textless versions on my computer, and I didn't feel like screencapping from my DVDs, so just deal with the text for now.

( Chased by the sounds of the clock. )

For previous Weiss Kreuz episodes, please visit here.

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[anime review] weiss kreuz kapitel, episode eight: raubtier

2012-02-11T05:11:41Z

Previously on Weiss Kreuz Kapitel...
Weiss Kreuz Kapitel Episode Master List

Yeah, I was bored, okay?

Weiss Kreuz is the property of Koyasu Takehito, Project Weiss, and other people who are Not Me. I'm not being paid to do these reviews, because if I were, I'd've been fired after the first one. I'm doing this because I can.

You know the drill: spoilers, fangirls, pictures.

( Maybe I shouldn't be listening to Rammstein's 'Tier'... )

That's not the last of Takatori Masafumi and his ~~gaudy~~ sweet dolls. We're just getting started, in fact. Plus a few things are going to get intertwined before Schreient's done. One of them gets involved with a member of Schwarz, another a member of Weiss, and the remaining two fight over Masafumi pretty much.

Yeah.

Get used to seeing Schwarz. Get used to Schreient, too, but Schwarz gets a bigger role towards the end. So. Yeah. You can bet your arse I'm gonna have lots of pics of Schuldig, because he is my favourite. There's gonna be a lot of Crawford too, for nuraya, because he's her favourite. ~~So when our powers combine, you get Crawford/Schuldig awesome.~~

Overall, this episode is okay. I only like it because hurr Schwarz, but the plot of this one is pretty interesting, and we get to see how much of a bastard Takatori is, to the point where he doesn't care if Crawford disposes of Masafumi if he fucks up again. And Masafumi is his own son no less, so yeah, Takatori is a bastard and by the end I'm sure you'll be happy to see Aya shove his katana up Takatori's arse.

Next Episode:

My thoughts exactly.

Oh, and just before I leave, there's gonna be more of this in episode nine.

See you then!

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[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, episode seven: entführen

2012-02-10T21:47:18Z

Previously on Weiss Kreuz...
OP1 - "Velvet Underworld": DW, LJ
#1 - Lockvogel: DW, LJ
#2 - Fort Laufen: DW, LJ
#3 - Paradies: DW, LJ
#4 - Verrat: DW, LJ
#5 - Schicksal: DW, LJ
#6 - Fräulein: DW, LJ

I'm looking forward to the day where I will need an entry just for the "Previously on Weiss Kreuz" segment because it got too long.

(It'll be a master list of all anime reviews, not just the Weiss Kreuz ones.)

Standard crap: spoilers, pics, fangirling.

( Come out, come out wherever you are... )

NEXT EPISODE:
Our first official appearance of Schreient.

And Schwarz. :D :D :D

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[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, episode six: fräulein

2012-02-02T20:14:57Z

Previously on Weiss Kreuz...
OP1 - "Velvet Underworld": DW, LJ
#1 - Lockvogel: DW, LJ
#2 - Fort Laufen: DW, LJ
#3 - Paradies: DW, LJ
#4 - Verrat: DW, LJ
#5 - Schicksal: DW, LJ

Same old, same old.

( Aww, they stole my freaking kidney! )

This is actually a pretty okay episode. We get to see that Aya's actually human and capable of, uh, speaking more than three words at a time. And we also get the only girl who lasts all fucking twenty-five episodes--she doesn't fade out of view or die or anything, so she is Important To The Plot. I like this episode because I like Sakura.

Next episode...
There's a kidnapping ring that is Scalps Lite basically, and it's the beginning of Omi's WHO AM I subplot. Yeah, the next few episodes have to do with Omi to a certain extent, which is okay because I like Omi. We'll be seeing more of Masafumi so don't forget about him, and also more Schreient. Schreient will be dealt with in more detail in episode eight, Raubtier, and episode nine, Schreient.

And episode eight is where you will finally meet Schwarz. But we need to go through episode seven first.

See you next episode!

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[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, episode five: schicksal

2012-02-02T08:36:30Z

Previously on Weiss Kreuz...
OP1 - "Velvet Underworld": DW, LJ
#1 - Lockvogel: DW, LJ
#2 - Fort Laufen: DW, LJ
#3 - Paradies: DW, LJ
#4 - Verrat: DW, LJ

Spoilers, pics, yadda yadda.

( Think maybe this should have been called 'Schadenfreude' instead. )

This is one of the few Weiss oriented episodes I love, possibly because Ken is so down to earth in it and fff this is where our little sub-arc comes into play, which eventually ends up becoming part of the main plot in the Eszett arc, but let's not get too far ahead of ourselves, we're a long ways off from that yet.

What's in store for episode six?
In this next episode, we get to meet Tomoe Sakura, the first girl to last more than one episode (aside from Ouka). Also we deal with that creepy "you wake up in an ice bath and find your kidney stolen" story. And we find out more about Aya's past.

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[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, episode four: verrat

2012-02-01T19:39:40Z

Previously on Weiss Kreuz...
OP1 - "Velvet Underworld": DW, LJ
#1 - Lockvogel: DW, LJ
#2 - Fort Laufen: DW, LJ
#3 - Paradies: DW, LJ

Spoilers, of course.

( This place is hell too. )

I will be upfront about this: this is not my favourite episode. Aside from getting enough flashbacks every five seconds to give me whiplash, it's all expositional crap, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it's the way it's set up. It's set up for these flashbacks. And while now we know that Ken was betrayed, well, Ken's the most normal out of Weiss--for now. It doesn't look like this affected him any. I don't know. It bothers me. Also, without Ken, Kase is just there. Before we find out he and Ken have a connection, Kase is just another bad guy they're going to kill.

SIGH.

What's next episode about?
Schicksal, aka "that Freude episode", featuring Yuriko. Don't get too attached--like all girls involved with Weiss, she's only here for one episode before leaving it. Can't say I blame her. That's episode five.

How many more episodes until Schwarz?
They appear in episode eight, so three more to go.

Are you really going to do all twenty-five episodes?
Yes. I've been tempted to just do the Schwarz ones but meh. That's no fun. You want an honest impression of this series from me, I gotta go all the way.

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[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, first opening

2012-02-01T06:17:35Z

Episode 1: Lockvogel - DW, LJ
Episode 2: Fort Laufen - DW, LJ
Episode 3: Paradies - DW, LJ

In case you didn't know Weiss Kreuz has two opening themes. I do believe the first one is "Velvet Underworld", and regardless it's not a song that I particularly care for. The second opening is "Piece of Heaven", which I love. This is the first opening.

No spoilers here, but it is image heavy because, well, it's an opening. What else would there be?

( Welcome to the underworld. )

There is a distinct lack of Schwarz :< But overall, not a bad opening montage.

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[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, episode three: paradies

2012-01-31T18:18:07Z

Previous episodes:
#1 - Lockvogel: DW, LJ
#2 - Fort Laufen: DW, LJ

As per usual, spoilers, fangirling, lots of pictures. Also, not sure if you guys knew (or cared), but I'm reviewing all of this while the sound is muted so I can, uh, pay some attention. Imagine trying to write something awesome and then I get distracted because OHAI SCHULDIG so yeah.

( Paradise lost. )

There wasn't really much to nitpick in this episode (which is probably a good thing), and it's nice that we get a glimpse into a past that isn't Aya's. I don't watch this episode often ~~or most of Weiss Kreuz often~~ because I am only here for Schwarz, but it's nice to revisit the whole thing every once in a while, because then you pick up things you didn't notice before, like all the exposition concerning Yohji that I will talk to you guys about when I do Gluhen.

This is, you know, a rather average episode, so there's really not that much to say about it.

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[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, episode two: fort laufen

2012-01-31T06:10:51Z

As mentioned in episode one, there are spoilers and also a lot of fangirling. If that's too much for you to handle, kindly make use of the exits to your left and right and leave. There are also a lot of pictures so uh yeah.

( Read more... )

Overall this episode was interesting what with the Jun-Aya parallel aaaaand the introduction of the villain of this arc plus the leader of a really awesome team you will see a lot of in the future so don't you dare forget! I would say more, but I'm kind of tired (it takes me THREE HOURS to write these things!), so yeah.

What's happening in episode three?
We learn about Yohji's past.

Yeah not much to really talk about here. Later on I'll probably elaborate a little more on the stuff in this episode but probably not until after Kapitel.

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[anime reviews] weiss kreuz kapitel, episode one: lockvogel

2012-01-30T06:01:03Z

This is both a review and also a rather detailed synopsis of the episode, with my commentary mixed in. As a result, it has spoilers. If you have not seen Weiss Kreuz and don't want to be spoiled, don't click the cut. Otherwise, proceed ahead.

(There will also be screencaps because I am awesome like that.)

( We're all trapped in the end. )

Dear god this took FOREVER.

Anyway. Lockvogel as an episode is kind of strange as the first episode. If it were the second or third episode, I'd be less confused, but it's the first episode and the focus isn't on our main characters--the majority of the episode was about Michiru and her quest to figure out the mystery surrounding her boyfriend's death. Weiss were in it, yes, but it seemed like they were secondary to Michiru, and for a show about these four undercover-as-florists-assassins, it's a little confusing, especially since there's no reference to Michiru in subsequent episodes. On the one hand, it makes you go, "Oh hey, these guys seem pretty cool, I want to keep watching to learn more about them." On the other hand, it makes you scratch your head and go, "Well, that's weird, this episode wasn't about the main characters at all!"

The other thing about Weiss Kreuz is that, though there is a ~~somewhat~~ cohesive storyline, you can watch the episodes individually and nothing of value is lost. I have seen Weiss Kreuz all the way through probably twice. I printed out a short episode summary, watched the series all the way through, and highlighted the episodes I was interested in--the ones with Schwarz--and skipped out on the 'unnecessary' ones. I still know the storyline because Schwarz are kind of important, especially after the Takatori arc is completed. The only things that get lost are the expositional episodes concerning Weiss, but all of those happen towards the beginning to you can start skipping things after episode four.

I will probably say this in my overview of the last episode for Kapitel, but Weiss Kreuz is a story with flaws and holes you can drive a semi-truck through. It's not really well-written by any stretch. Is it enjoyable? I feel so. Is it worth watching at least once? I think so--my brother did not. I think it depends on what your expectations are. You shouldn't expect this to be the greatest anime in the world, because it isn't. If it were to be remade, it'd have to be redone, and everything would have to be rewritten and plot holes filled up.

You also have to take into consideration as to why Koyasu created Weiss Kreuz in the first place. He pitched it as a show where he and his buddies could showcase their talent. He wanted a show wherein he could show the world I AM AWESOME AND SO ARE MY BUDDIES HIRE US PLEASE. Obviously you need a story, so he created a story about four guys who were florists by day and assassins by night, gave them some angsty backstories and gave us some interesting villains. It's a shallow series.

Do I think it's worth going beyond Lockvogel? Yes. Why? Because I know there are some good episodes coming up. Weiss meets a bodyguard team. Whoopee, right? We're talking psychic bodyguards. Oh, that's interesting. And while I could easily just tell you what episodes Schwarz show up in and you can squee with me, that's not exactly fair. Even I realise that, and I am Team Schwarz all the way. Experience the whole package once or twice, and then start sampling your favourites later on.

Besides, I could have just originally watched all the Schwarz episodes, because I only watch my anime for Midorikawa Hikaru anyway. I watched the whole thing so I could say, "Yeah, I watched Weiss Kreuz," instead of saying, "Yeah, I only watched the episodes with Midorikawa in them." And I ended up loving the show anyway.

What's in store for episode two?
We are introduced to the reason why Aya is apart of Weiss--well some of the reason--and we are introduced to the reason why the first half of Kapitel is called the "Takatori Reiji Arc", and get to meet one of Takatori's specialist bodyguards. He wears a suit and glasses and he can see the future. And also kick Aya's ass.

Episode two is rather interesting because it creates a parallel between a boy named Jun and Aya. Jun has a sick sister who spends all her time in a hospital due to her illness. He visits her every day because he is an extremely doting older brother. Naturally her being in the hospital all the time means lots of money, and he can't pay her hospital bills. So he turns to Fight Club-esque places where he earns money to kill other people. It doesn't go so well for him. Aya both sees himself in Jun and hopes he doesn't become him, because, like Jun, he cannot afford to lose.

Unfortunately for Jun, he loses, because he didn't think what would happen to my sister?

What else?
Animation snarking.

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about me

2012-01-16T02:00:16Z

.about me.
name - call me Jayden
also answers to - Jay-dee, Linds, Nanami, Elle, Jei-kun
birthday - 27.04.1992
age - do the maths
gender - physically feminine, mentally masculine
school - Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry; Ohtori Academy; Rosencrüs; Saint Stephen's grammar school; Kearny High School
occupation - Midorikawa Hikaru's #1 Diehard Fan; service desk associate at a Major Retail Company
languages spoken - 日本語, Deutsch, English (first language)

.contact me.

EMAILS
Gmail: roysmyboy217 [at] gmail [dot] com
Microsoft Live: ichbinschuldig at live dot com - 2nd main account

INSTANT MESSAGING
AIM: [in order of usage] roysmyboy217, marthsexual, mikagesouji217
Yahoo!: hylianhero19876
MSN: ichbinschuldig at live dot com
Skype: mikage.souji, gibmirfreiheit

SOCIAL NETWORKING
Facebook: Only for those who ask
Twitter: @soujimikage
LJ: sailorvfan10
DW: sailorvfan10, aka the journal you're currently reading; hoshi_ni_natta_hanabi; jaydenundverwelkt
Plurk: SailorVFan10 [flocked]

FANDOM:
Fanfiction: dearest_disclaimer & Fanfiction.net & AO3
Originals: nanami_j_jaye & Fiction Press.com
Fandom Discussion: hoshi_ni_natta_hanabi
Meta:
Fanfiction notes & misc.: jaydenundverwelkt

FANFICTION CHALLENGES:
mission_insane - Weiss Kreuz ("For We Are the Beautiful Thieves")
fe100
dailyficlets

ACTIVE FANDOMS:
* Weiss Kreuz - Schwarz-side
* Fire Emblem - Archanea
* Fushigi Yuugi
* Castlevania
* Resident Evil

OTHER
Youtube: sailorvfan10
Baka BT: sailorvfan10

FRIEND CODES:
See this entry.

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Friend Codes

2012-01-16T01:56:55Z

FRIEND CODES

Wii
* Mario Kart Wii - 1549-6516-9502
* Super Smash Brothers Brawl - 1721-4504-8706
* Wii console: 3051 0273 4120 5256

3DS
* 3DS Friend Code: 3265-5206-5326

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[meta] it's what we're hardwired to do

2011-05-12T00:15:02Z

So I'm finally catching up on the fics that I need to review (am currently going through To Freely Serve), and when it came time to review, I go through probably the same thing everyone else does.

"I have no crit for this chapter, what do I do?"

It's a dilemma I often face when I review for a story I really like. There's nothing wrong with it that I can see, so I have no advice to offer, and yet I don't want to be all, "I REALLY LIKED THIS!" either because, you know, there's no substance. Well maybe I can point out what I like! Well next thing my review is nothing but quotes and "I liked this!" after it. So then I am at a loss for words and end up just saying nothing at all, maybe saying something in a comment next time I see the author (if they're on LJ) saying, "Hey I read [insert fic here] and really liked it!"

Well then why can't I just say that in a review and just save myself all the trouble?

It's simple, really. Fandom has us hardwired. What do I mean by that? Well, fandom has Certain Expectations about reviews, as many of you know. Some of us don't care what kinds of reviews we receive, because a review is a review is a review. From the way fandom talks about these types of people, you'd think they were like dinosaurs--extinct for quite some time now, with a, "Well, we used to be that way, but then we got Standards."

Oh, really? Because I don't care what my reviews say, because reviews are nice whether they say, "I liked this!" or "MOAR PLZ," or are just paragraphs of things they liked or if it's light critique, heavy critique, or all the above. Because someone liked my fic enough to actually sit down and voice their thoughts about it.

But Fandom wants substance to reviews! You can't just leave something that says, "Hey, I read this and liked it a lot!" You have to tell what you liked and didn't like. It can't just be, "I liked this!" because pffft, that's just mindless praise. Properly spelled praise, but praise nonetheless. And as fanfiction writers, we want to improve, don't we? We don't want to be told what's awesome about our fic. We want to be thrown under the bus and told it's shit, right? WE WANT CRITIQUE.

Well wait a second. Now you're saying these things and complaining about reviews. You're not getting any, or not as many as you once were. This happened after you declared, "I want thoughtful reviews, not mindless praise like, 'I LIKED THIS!' and 'UPDATE MOAR!' and btw it has to be at least four hundred words," on your FFN profile. Or some variation thereof on FFN or elsewhere. Perhaps you said something on the anon meme and people knew it was you (or you de-anoned), or you posted it somewhere. WHATEVER THE CASE, you complained about reviews having to be a certain way, and now people aren't reviewing.

Why is that? You would automatically assume that they don't like your fic, though the favourite story add might say otherwise.

They are afraid to say anything. Why? Because it seems like everyone in fandom has standards for reviews that need to be met to be considered a 'review' or it's just 'mindless praise'.

I, like many of us, like well-thought out reviews will nicely written crit, quotes of things they liked, examples of things they didn't... All that wrapped up nicely with an, "I can't wait to see the next chapter," or whatever. I can even name people who give reviews like this, but I won't because you know I don't like naming names. If you look at the reviews for My Sins Won't Leave Me and scroll down, I think you know the people I'm thinking of.

I also like reviews that just say, "I liked this." You don't have to write a whole long, drawn out review for me. Really. It's okay.

But fandom has it hardwired into our brains that long, well-thought out reviews are the only ones worth giving. We are told this time and time again--"I only want thoughtful, well-written reviews." "I only want crit." So I can't just say, "I really liked this fic"? I have to say, "I liked it because...well. Insert Bullshit Reason here" instead?

Thinking reviews should conform to 'standards' marks you, in my eyes, as a review elitist. I am happy with whatever reviews I receive. But when it comes to giving reviews? I am horrible, because mentally I am going, "Is the author going to jump down my throat if I just say, 'Hey, this fic was great!'?"

I figure people would like having favourite lines mentioned, things the reader liked mentioned... All that stuff. I like it when people tell me what their favourite parts are, or if something works. (Or if something doesn't work.)

Apparently not. "Oh, these reviews are nice, but I wish there was concrit." Sometimes there just isn't concrit to be given.

In a fandom where there aren't a lot of reviews to be had, this is not the kind of place where you should be picky about the types of reviews we get. We should be happy someone bothered at all.

Oh, and btw, you also can't say who can and can't review your fics, and their reviews don't count as 'less' simply because it's Person H and Person O. Not only is it really elementary, but it's also, uh, douchey, and who the hell are you to say so-and-so can't review because, "Oh, they cause wank!" or something like that? Get over yourself. You are not the Fandom Police.

~*~

In the same vein--topic, really--I know this isn't standard and I have been a little lax in it lately (job hunting, FAFSA, etc.), but replying to reviews? It's nice. It's like receiving a present in the mail and then sending a thank-you--it should be second nature.

Well. Replying to reviews isn't, really. It used to not bother me if I was met by silence. People are busy, etc. But I picked up this habit from LJ, because it's a great way to have a conversation with someone about their fic.

This is just me, personally, but I (usually) reply to reviews. Because then A) the reviewer knows you read it and B) you are acknowledging your audience. You don't have to go into this long drawn out thing, just a nice, "Thank you for reading and reviewing!" would suffice if you're on a time crunch. Like I said, a review is like a present from someone. When you receive something from someone, or someone does something nice for you? You say "thank you" like your mother always said, because it was nice and they didn't have to do it at all. And whilst some gifts you'd be better off without--like that fugly sweater your Aunt Jane made for you for your birthday that's ten sizes too big and in a really unflattering colour--there are some that you're going to squee about and be really happy over. A review is one of those. So you should say, "Thank you!" because you know what?

No one is obligated to receive reviews.

Granted, you are not obligated to acknowledge them, but it is nice, and it is polite, because someone made the effort to at least tell you, "Hey, I read your fic and liked it."

~*~

I am just going to make this short and sweet and to the point.

You are not obligated to write things just because someone else wants you to.

End of.

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[meta] weddings? i love weddings! drinks all around!

2011-05-08T03:00:38Z

Subject line courtesy of one Captain Jack Sparrow.

I know it might be a little pointless to do so, but I've been looking through bridal catalogs and looking at wedding shows. I used to do this as a kid, because I guess when you are five and a girl, you're planning your dream wedding with Prince Charming and all I AM GOING TO HAVE A BIG WEDDING AND BE DRESSED LIKE CINDERELLA and whilst I am sure my mother thought that was cute, I find it somewhat nauseating. But I do like to browse through wedding catalogs and watch wedding shows because I am a writer and I like that kind of inspiration.

And hey, chapter three of "My Sins" has a wedding, so I want to see some overly complicated, overtly extravagant, big huge designer dresses here. Because royal weddings are extravagant affairs, and Nyna would wear some hugely extravagant dress befitting her status. Possibly with lace. I don't know yet. I have like five different drafts of her dress, and I don't care for any of them. Mostly because I can't draw, so I can't actually SHOW the level of detail I want, and I am not close enough right now to any fashion designers who can sketch me out something.

I wanted to pull at that Greco-Roman influence, but the Greeks and Romans weren't necessarily...ornate with their clothing. They had togas. Or they didn't wear anything. But the women did seem to like (at least in the pictures I've seen) long, flowy gowns. I would go with the, uh, plunging neckline but I am sure Nyna's advisors would be thrilled at the aspect of her showing off some cleavage.

And by 'thrilled' I mean they would tell her, "Absolutely not." She wants Marth to use his imagination, doesn't she?

(Marth, for the record, wouldn't be looking at her cleavage anyway, even if she was showing it off. He is just not that kind of person.)

I was thinking of something, uh, empire waisted. (For those who do not know what that means or you've never watched Project Runway, the waist is right under the bust.) That was in the...first draft I made? That's actually the one I care least about XD I don't really have a specific design in mind yet, except that the skirt of the dress will be somewhat flowy. Maybe. I don't know. I hate designing clothing, and yet your clothing says a lot about your status and your culture (or it did back then). I might just use the gown my sister-in-law made--it was fit for a princess, so to speak--and just modify the bodice (it was a corset styled bodice and uh, back in Nyna's time, corsets were strictly underwear. Unless you worked in a brothel). The bodice will have lace, I know that much.

I think that will work quite well.

Oh and no I am not giving white wedding dresses ajkfdfsl. White as the colour of a bride's dress? That's a relatively modern thing. Back in the olden days, you just wore your most formal dress. Royals, of course, could throw money around and make something that was HOLY SHIT FANCY AS HELL. And fancy back then also meant uncomfortable and stuffy.

I was thinking of purple and silver or ivory, really. It wouldn't be a deep purple--maybe a lilac? They're getting married in the spring, they should be lighter colours, plus the war is over and really, it's a happy time! Also, purple is a colour represented by royal, so. Thoughts and suggestions are, of course, welcome. I'm just throwing things out there.

fjdksfd Nyna's hair. I will not describe what her hair actually looks like. It will be very fancy. There we go. Marth isn't going to give a crap about whether it's a french braid or something. He doesn't know anything about hair. He knows it's very ornate and that's all that matters I think at this point.

Marth is so simple compared to Nyna. He will look sexy. Well, I think he'll look sexy. He will have epaulets and aguilettes and no, I didn't get inspiration for Marth's fancy clothes from Utena, what are you talking about? Also, his tunic will be green. With a white mantle with deep red velvet lining aaaaand white trousers. Why green and white? Hello, Altea's flag. For someone whose country's colours are green and white, there is a lot of blue. So.

~~No I didn't get colour inspiration from Smash Brothers what kind of person do you take me for?~~

AS FAR AS WEDDING TRADITIONS GO, I really don't have a lot thought out. Marth won't be wearing a ring, not because he doesn't want to, but because in Archanea that's just how things are run. A king is first married to his kingdom, and then to his wife. I'm sure Marth likes that philosophy, it gels with his whole "I am a prince before I am a son or a brother" speech. So. Um. There will be feasting.

Lots of feasting.

Did I mention lots of food?

Yeah.

Nyna has no father to give her away, which causes issues because she doesn't have brothers either. Or male cousins. And Camus is 'dead'. And naturally Marth isn't going to be giving Nyna away to himself. So I was thinking Hardin because, you know, he and Nyna are pretty friendly, but that would also be a really cruel thing to do to Hardin because, you know, he's in love with Nyna.

But Nyna might not necessarily know that.

Don't worry, Hardin, I'm not gonna be too hard on you. You're not the one being corrupted here.

oh god I just pictured him and Marth as drinking buddies. (You guys have room for Ephraim there at the bar counter?)

Ummm.

This post would've failed a lot less had I not decided to simply 'wing it' and just write it how I envision it and then that's that. So I'll probably make a more comprehensive post after I write the chapter.

Derp.

I don't have any idea what they'll even be serving at the banquet, but I'm sure it'll be awesome. I might not even go into detail because Marth will likely be exhausted and oh btw he has to become emperor now and no I do not have KIRA KIRA in my head.

Speaking of Utena, as spoken in ~The Cult of That Person~:
[10:55:10 PM] Jayden Touga Juri Kiryuu Arisagawa: Dude, I'm gonna have Marth be wisked away like after the wedding
[10:55:46 PM] Jayden Touga Juri Kiryuu Arisagawa: he needs to become King of the World.
[10:55:55 PM] Jayden Touga Juri Kiryuu Arisagawa: oh dear I almost typed 'End of the World'.
[10:55:58 PM] Jayden Touga Juri Kiryuu Arisagawa: Marth, you are not Akio.
[10:56:01 PM] Utenaknollkageraphipuff: XDDDD

oh goddammit I just pictured Marth on the hood of a possessed car with his shirt blowing in the wind, making porno poses as Merric chills in the front seat.

what.

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[meta] funeral customs in fe

2011-04-24T22:08:49Z

With an obvious focus on Archanea.

So in "My Sins Won't Leave Me", there will be a ~~lot of~~ funerals, of course. You don't honestly think Marth's just going to leave Caeda to rot out on a battlefield, right? Of course not. Thus I began some pondering as to the different funeral rites and beliefs on Archanea. Funeral rites are an integral part of a culture, whether there is religion tied into it or not. Obviously religion plays a part as well, but Archanea doesn't seem to have different, uh, religions. That's probably because the gods would smite them for it. (I'm sure in a cave somewhere, there are people hiding out from the gods because they don't believe in them.)

( More under the cut. )

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[meta-y thing, feel free to ignore] afterlife in archanea

2011-04-08T08:28:46Z

SO idk what made me think of this buuuuut.

This doesn't necessarily have to apply to Archanea, but I'm using it because it's in "My Sins Won't Leave Me".

Afterlife in Fire Emblem. There aren't any mentions of an afterlife in FE (that I remember), people just poof and that's it.

Come to think of it, there really isn't much about religion in places like Archanea. We know there are Gods, and that's how magic works, and these Gods like to use humans like playthings (see pretty much all of FE11). There isn't a clear-cut religion like in Elibe, where we have St. Elimine's teachings and churches and what not. But even in places that do have religion mentioned (Elibe), there's nothing about an afterlife.

So do they just sit in the ground and decompose?

As many know, I am a mythology geek. I have books and books about it (and I've read them all, cover to cover, many times). Sailor Moon, believe it or not, introduced me to Roman mythology and from there it went to the Greeks, the Egyptians, and so forth. But my mythological loves are the Greeks.

Fitting for, say, Archanea, where there are Greek influences in places (such as the empire of Archanea) and for places where there is a huge influence on military (Macedonia/whatever the localised name is, Grust to an extent). For the military places, you could also have Norse influences (warriors went to Valhalla just like warriors went to the Elysian Fields). Or, hell, Valhalla could be the Elysian Fields, just a different name.

For Archanea, for "My Sins Won't Leave Me", I chose the Greeks, but that's just my personal preference. I like their afterlife. Warriors get rewarded, people who did nothing end up doing meaningless labour for eternity, and evil get punished. The Gods aren't on earth, though (for the most part), and prefer to rule from the heavens, and a lot of things are dictated by fate and what the Gods want.

So essentially, everyone is a plaything. Like the Sims. They control some more than others. They seem to love Marth, for example.

And by "love" I mean they love to torture him.

(Sounds like me.)

But at the same times, while the major influence is on the Greeks, there is the whole 'atonement' angle. Off of the top of my head, I can't think of many religions where atonement for one's sins are a huge thing, except some sects of Christianity. You won't get into Heaven if you don't atone. Being sorry isn't good enough. If you're guilty, you should feel guilty, and it should eat away at you until you prostrate yourself before God Himself and spend the rest of your life paying for your crimes.

That sort of thing. AFAIK, Catholicism ~~isn't that weird yet~~ isn't one of those sects (it has its own problems), but those type of things are out there. I just don't know the name of them.

So these things influence the story and play a huge part.

Just wanted to hear everyone's thoughts on this matter~

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[meta post] crazy!marth isn't as far of a stretch as my mind wants to make it

2011-04-06T10:13:00Z

I did start that evil!Marth thing yesterday. I haven't touched it at all since. Originally it was just a derpy idea I had, but Mark really wanted to see it, so I decided to go for it. Like, she was really, really excited for it. So you can thank her for unleashing this monster.

Man, I almost typed 'monater'. Clearly I watched too many bootlegged, badly translated Pokemon Crystal playthroughs.

For those who know how I write Marth, this is outside of my 'comfort zone'. I'll call it that because I can't think of anything better to call it. I don't write crazy!Marth, partly because I don't think he's crazy. He is, without any doubt, mentally screwed up. He is not derpy FE1 or FE3 Marth. I never liked that characterisation of Marth anyway--the whole naive-and-knew-little-about-his-country-and-the-world thing bothered me, because he is a prince and should, at the very least, know the old legends and folklore, especially about dragons and Anri and things. The other thing that was a major issue for me was that he didn't react to anything. Compare FE1's version of Marth finding out his mother is dead to FE11's. They are night and day. The game script for FE1's version is like, two pages. They just seem to go, "Oh, Queen Liza is dead. TIME TO GO KICK MORE BUTT!"

( In Which Jayden Psychoanalyses Marth, with bonus Hardin and Nyna stuff in there too. )

Wow, this got really, really long. Leaving this public in case anyone wants to read it who isn't on my DW.

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sailorvfan10 @ 2011-04-05T03:15:00

2011-04-05T07:15:48Z

So raphien is going to make a voice post as Jigglypuff, xirysa's doing one on dance...

As Xirysa mentioned in her post, there was talk of someone doing a voice acting post.

WELL.

THAT WOULD BE ME.

I don't have all of the stuff done yet--I have stuff from Aria of Sorrows, I have Marth's speech from FE11... I want to do some stuff from Chrono Cross and FE7 too. Something with a lot of female characters I can choose from because my male range is, uh, limited. And I don't distort my voice or do anything weird with it. I added an echo effect for the one thing for Soma so people would know it was his thoughts, but otherwise? Yeah, nothing. No auto-tune, pitch changing, nothing.

Aside from do-overs, this was all done in one take, with the dialogue all done on the same track. 'Cause I'm beast.

All files are in .mp3 format, so they can be played in, uh, anything that plays it. And I provided the script so you can read along if you want. Everything was recorded with Audacity. The first Aria scene was done with my laptop's built-in mic, but I didn't like all the background noise, so I switched to my noise-canceling USB mic (aka the one that's duct taped together because it broke, but still works) and it worked better.

Some files may have spoilers for their respective games. Proceed with caution.

Castlevania: Aria of Sorrows
( Four scenes as voiced by Jayden und Verwelkt. )

Fire Emblem 11
( Chapter 17 [end] as done by Jayden und Verwelkt. )

So, uh, I bought a book. It's about Victorian ghost stories. I didn't get it yet though, but I'm sending out for it today. Bought it from here, which is a shop thing run by pillowfight. So. Derp.

I have my hamster up here with me, in her hamster ball. She was in her cage staring up at me when I went to get an envelope ~~and bumped into the door because I forgot it was closed~~ so I put her in her ball and she's rolling around in my room. It's cute :3 She's never been up here before so she's pretty active, exploring all over. So yeah.

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