Make Way For Youmu

TOUHOU 13, EVERYBODY!

Current mood: The awesomeness of this song.

"Hey wait! You already linked that song in the past!"

Yeah? Well, it's my favorite remix of my favorite of the two theme songs of my favorite character from Touhou by . . . one of my favorite remix circles. Come on, let me indulge in my fanaticism just a little.

So, new Touhou game. Back to basics. ZUN released the demo of UFO about two years ago. It's been that long since he did a back-to-basics Touhou title. I'm psyched just because this is the first time you can play as Youmu in a shooter since TH 9, and this will be the second game you can play as her that's not a fighter and not a Phantasmagoria style game either. And of course, this will inevitably lead to new characters and new music. Ready your word processor programs, paint programs, and Garage Band programs, fanboys!

Also, it seems with every new game, ZUN makes Reimu even more kawaii. Ah yes, delicious kawaii-ness; where would I be without my daily dose of cute? Since Reimu, Marisa, and Sanae return, the "cute girls" concept isn't in danger of fading away any time soon.

But that's not the only thing I want to talk about. This will be another one of my dual posts.

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Hey, reader! Do you like Evangelion? Do you like Evangelion fanfiction? Do you like Evangelion fanfiction that features Shinji and Asuka romantically involved with each other? If all three apply to you, then I have a goldmine for you, assuming you haven't found it already.

Jimmy Wolk, A/S hero.

He doesn't just write fics, he's an illustrator, too. He's currently doing a manga-style webcomic sequel to his most famous work, The Second Try.

Information for The Second Try can be found on tvtropes. (Too lazy to link; look it up there if you want.) Haven't read it all yet, but it's really good. I have read the one-shot The Price of Fame. You wanna know how good that is? You know how in literature classes, you read novels, as well as short stories, oftentimes are considered timeless classics, and sometimes, they really are timeless classics? It's good enough to feature in an English textbook is what I'm saying.

The beginning of his manga series, Aki-chan's life, has a Flash video that summarizes parts of The Second Try. It is a spoiler for some of The Second Try's plot, but the video . . . IT IS SO CUTE!

So yeah, if you need more Eva fanfic that isn't Nobody Dies, try that website.

ZOMG RANDOMNESS

My eyes have been really dry for the last two days. Folks, it's time I admitted something about myself; my eyes have low tear production. An optometrist confirmed this for me; my eyes just suck at producing tears to wash away dirt, or for when I'm listening to music by Key Visual Arts. Because of this, if I go too long without using eyedrops, my eyes become unable to focus on anything, or rather, if I try to focus on anything like words to read, or a screen to  play a game on, my eyes will hurt like crazy. Luckily, under normal circumstances, it takes months before this happens, and it has been months since the last time this happened, but it happened again recently. Because of this, I can't hang out online, write, or basically do any of my fun stuff that isn't music. Don't fear for me, though; I got better. My eyes are fine right now. Just a little reminder, it never hurts to have eyedrops, even if you don't have low tear production like I do.

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So I finally started reading some Star Wars novels. I won't say which ones I got just yet, though I will say this; could Han Solo be anymore of a kickass individual!? I mean, true, the heroes of the original trilogy were all classic badasses, but Han, I don't know how, but he steals a lot of scenes in the books I currently have. Also, I'm having a lot of fun seeing how the novels tie in with the games, as well as the movies.

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32 more days until Rebuild of Eva 2.22 comes out in North America, assuming there are no delays. However, since I plan to buy my copy from Amazon, and since it takes a few days before it gets to my doorstep, that technically is actually a few more days than 32. No matter; when it gets close to the time, I will watch 1.11 again, and I will read Nobody Dies until it arrives to psych myself up. Not right now, though; I got other things to concentrate on, but rest assured, I will prepare myself for it.

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I bought Halo Reacharound not too long ago. I just couldn't resist the Firefight mode. Oh wait, as much as I like Reach, some gamers complained about it. I heard a complaint that there's reticule bloom in Reach. There is, but it's not as obscene as the reticule bloom in the Rainbow Six games, so I say stop bitching and assassinate some Elites already. Oh, you wanna know what my favorite weapon is? The Fuel Rod Cannon. It's basically a rocket launcher that holds six shots per load. Great fun . . . when it's not being used by the Grunts in white armor. I swear, those are the fifth-most deadly enemies in the game, behind only sword-wielding Elites, shielded Brutes, the Covenant tank, and Hunters.

Mentor & Protege: Behind the Scenes

Notice: This entire entry contained unmarked spoilers for my fanfic Mentor & Protege! if you have not read it, click a different entry NOW!



There were some things about the PC-98 Touhou games that I think carried over to the Windows era. Only problem is, the canon is very vague on what that is, and ZUN seems to have disowned the PC-98 games entirely. So I wrote Mentor & Protege to make up for that. It's not word for word like the games, but it seems I did a good enough job about that. Now, some notes.

M&P is divided into four story arcs. Chapters 1 through 5 is arc 1, chapters 6 through 10 is arc two, chapters 11 through 17 is arc three, and 18 to 20 is the last arc. The chapters themselves are rather short. It's best to read M&P arc by arc, not chapter by chapter. So my discussion will be arc by arc.

Arc 1 is based off The Story of Eastern Wonderland. I wanted to explain exactly why Marisa wanted to become a witch. Since I decided to make her a child, (age eight at this point) I thought, why would a kid wanna become a magician? It dawned on me, maybe she just simply loves magic. Lots of people do, but how many of them get to actually do it? This did present one challenge for me, how to write believable dialog for kid characters. Hollywood is infamous for this; no one except maybe Spielberg actually knows how kids think. I tried not to make her dialog or that of Reimu or Alice's too complex, but, even though they're pre-teens, they're not toddlers either, so they can communicate on a somewhat detailed level at the same time.

Then came Mima. I decided to make her Marisa's mentor, and I also invented the ability to write by using her fingertip as a pen! (Hey, it's Gensokyo. If girls can fly and shoot magic missiles at an early age, who knows what else they could do.) However, I wanted to make Mima a villainess. She really wants to, that's right, Take Over The World. Why though . . . I don't know why. I came up with the scheme for her to teach Marisa just enough magic to keep Reimu distracted, so that she could assault the Hakurei Shrine, take the Hakurei yin-yang orbs assuming that's possible, and also destroy the Boundary, so she could conquer the rest of Earth. This of course backfires because Reimu is much more powerful than she appears, despite being unable to fly. In my opinion, chapter 5 is my favorite chapter in the entire series. It turned out MUCH better than I thought it would. I chose not to include certain boss characters, because I just couldn't think of anyway to create a background and somehow make them relevant. Lastly, Mima does a noblewoman's laugh.

Arc 2 is based off Phantasmagoria of Dim Dream. I'll be honest, this is my least favorite of the story arcs. Most of the characters have next to no storylines, and I ended up axing a good amount of characters, well, I did that in all of the arcs, but it's especially noticeable here. Even then, I didn't wanna slack off. In one of the duels, Marisa fires thin lasers, then wishes she could fire a much larger laser. FORESHADOWING! Also, I saw the cutscenes from the actual games, and I saw that Chiyuri's gun was a Flash Gordon-esque blaster, although in my description, it sounded more like a revolver. I did like writing the scene of how Marisa bested Yumemi in battle, if only so it foreshadows the "Melee" battles later in the timeline. I did sneak in a backstory for Kana, because after listening to my favorite remix of her theme, I got the impression that she led a hard and tragic life before she became a ghost. I also said that Marisa is descended from youkai hunters, although I'm certain every human in Gensokyo is. I then tried to explain Reimu's background, considering that the Hakurei clan has lived for several generations in Gensokyo, even before the Boundary was established. I'll admit, I don't know very much about Shinto. I'm not Japanese, I don't come from an Asian background, I don't know anyone in person who practices Shinto, and my research on the subject was contradictory. Do shrine maidens have to stay virgins, or is that not an issue anymore? We'll just assume the Hakurei clan is very conservative in that regard. I also introduced an OC stand-in, Misao. (She's named after the in-universe anime character Satou liked in Welcome to the NHK. Can you see how my media consumption influences me now?) She can't be Reimu's mom, because the Hakurei believe one child must pass down the genes, and the other one must bear the yin-yang orbs, but an Auntie seemed fine. Of course, her appearance and behavior is basically just like an older Reimu. I will say this, Misao raised and taught Reimu from her age of 5 to 11. Fun fact: I have Reimu's mother's personality fleshed out, but we won't be seeing her anytime soon. Word of warning, she's nothing like Reimu nor Misao.

Arc 3 is based off Mystic Square. Here, we meet Alice. I establish why her first name is Alice. (Basically, Shinki is an Anglophile.) later on, I kill off (possibly) Mima and Shinki and also Yumeko collaterally. This was something I planned from the start; just like how Rowling planned for Dumbledore to be killed off later in Harry Potter. When I brainstormed M&P, I was trying to figure out why fan-favorite characters like Mima and Shinki never appeared in the Windows games. The most plausible theory was, "Maybe because they DIED!" I don't know how a spirit or a goddess dies, and knowing Gensokyo, they're probably just chillin' in one of the Hells right as I write this, but they blew themselves up good in their confrontation, so much so, that they have yet to be seen by any canon characters up to the present. However, there is one thing not even I am not sure of; was Mima right in claiming that Shinki also wanted to conquer Gensokyo? Was Shinki an angel . . . or a conqueror? Either interpretation could work. Whether you find her saintly or villainous is for you to decide.

The reader meets Yuka here. I made her smug, arrogant, but not excessively so. She ended up being rather minor, especially since she vanishes before the climax, but she is important for one thing; teaching Marisa the Master Spark. The mini-hakkero is a pretty obvious reference to Chekov's Gun, (Fun Fact: Chekov's play, "The Bear" actually features a gun, but is never used. Was he a troper when he was still alive?) I had a short scene with Rinnosuke, but only a short scene. (This is Gensokyo! Men are insignificant!) I realize I broke canon (possibly) by having Marisa know the Master Spark then, but hey, the fans were pleased.

One last thing, Alice suffers Unholy Hell in her early life. Her original parents got killed when she was only a few months old, and her foster family got incinerated by a spiteful spirit, and yet, she becomes well-adjusted after moving to the Village. I have read in my psychology textbook that a child, if he or she has a strong enough support system, can become resilient to tragedy and hardships, and I'm certain Alice was no exception to that rule. Despite being a youkai, she was welcomed to the village with open arms. Or maybe not . . . Max Knight's fanfiction projects do a better job of portraying Alice during this time period than I did. (Seriously, read his current Adaptation project if you haven't.)

Arc 4 is not based off any one game, but in the time between the two eras. There was a 4 year gap between the releases of Mystic Square and The Embodiment of Scarlet Devil, so I figured it would be four years. Chapter 18 features a conversation between Misao and . . . Yukari. OF COURSE! Hey, I wasn't kidding when I said Yukari's the real star of Touhou. Well, in this, Misao reveals that Reimu wants to establish rules that eventually become the Spell Card rules for dueling. Notice throughout this entire series, unlike in A Touhou Fanfiction About Nothing, that the duels do not use any spellcards, and that sometimes, people get seriously injured, possibly even killed. Yukari even said in Eternal Blossom that in her early life, it was unusual for a danmaku duel to not end in death. At first, Yukari refuses, but then Misao counters that Yukari's lucky that the Hakurei clan hasn't died off yet, and that with these rules, the Boundary has a greater chance of survival. She then accepts. As for how all the people in Gensokyo eventually came to accept the spell card system, uh, fill in those details yourself. I'm more concerned with writing gripping plots than minute details.

Chapter 19 shows how Reimu finally learned how to fly. Alright, in case you couldn't tell, it was Misao who tied the ribbon on top of the gate. She took Yukari's hint of how she raised Ran, by teaching her without her realizing it. (Alluding to Yukari's status as a trickster mentor.) Also, Marisa and Alice realize how awesome it is to be a kid in Genoskyo, in that they could live by themselves away from humans if they desired.

Chapter 20 shows Reimu and Marisa behaving like how they do in the Windows era, and A Touhou Fanfiction About Nothing for that matter, as well. Reimu is less easily irritated, and Marisa now says "Da ze!" randomly. Not only that, I came up with a good motivation for Alice to make a sentient doll. Will she succeed? Only time will tell. And yes, in case it wasn't painfully obvious enough, that was Remilia and Sakuya talking in the epilogue. Fun fact, this is the only chapter in the entire series that contains a pop culture reference. Marisa claims that good witches strike it out on their own at age 13. She read it in a book. Soooo . . . the human village in Gensokyo has the original Kiki's Delivery Service children's books? How . . . interesting.

Lastly, I did not arbitrarily set the series to end at 20 chapters. I know better as a creative writer to do that. I was considering making it 21 chapters long, but it ended at 20.

I was considering making an arc set during Lotus land Story, but I decided against it. I had conceptualized Marisa fighting Elly, then Elly saying, "By the way, another girl beat me earlier today. She was about your age, had long dark hair, and wore red-and-white clothes." Marisa would blush in fury, shout "REIMUUUUUUUU!" and charge Yuka's residence. She would then meet Reimu, already fighting Yuka, and Marisa learning the Master Spark then, but I decided against all of this because it would just drag the story out more if I did.

Reimu's role from The Highly Responsive to Prayers is alluded in the first arc, but not elaborated. I think I'll write that eventually, but only as a story arc in my project of character backstories, because it would be a good backstory explanation for Reimu.

I'm a writin' machine

I have finished A Touhou Fanfiction About Nothing . . . for now. Now I can concentrate on other fanfics!

Another progress update, because I know my fans (all eighteen of you) care, so here's another production update!

Ask Rachel Alucard: I got a chapter in the making. I also have the epilogue that Rachel hinted about in the past. If I go too long without a proper response, I'll end the series with the epilogue. Basically, it goes like this, if I want to write about Ask Rachel Alucard, but if you give me nothing good enough, I will concentrate on the finale. If I finish the finale, well, I know you'll like the finale, but then that would signify that Madam Rachel is bored of blogging, and you don't want that, do you? Luckily for you, I got a great idea for a chapter currently in the making.

Help Us, Professor Kokonoe. I got a chapter in the works here. I don't have a finale. Even if i should end Ask Rachel Alucard, I will not discontinue Kokonoe, not anytime soon. I could potentially make the Kokonoe series even more interesting than the Rachel series, oh just you wait.

Series of Touhou character backstories: One chapter is already in the making. It may involve either Eientei or the Moriya family. Any character whose backstory I haven't already explored in another fanfic could potentially be listed here.

Sequel to Eternal Blossom: I finally started writing it! It is currently . . . 45 words in length! A masterpiece, to be sure! Too bad that's enough to justify posting it online. I will say this about the sequel; it will answer a very fundamental question about Gensokyo, one that I don't think I've seen anyone attempt to answer, ZUN or otherwise.

Endless Number of Possibilities story inspired by Heaven's Feel: I'm making good progress on this one; 1100 words and counting. However, it's not anywhere close to completion yet. I will say this, though; it will be the most macabre thing I have ever written.

Endless Number of Possibilities story that transforms the entire Nasuverse into something entirely different: haven't started writing it yet. Just an idea in my head.

Endless Number of Possibilities story that will involve a lot of shout outs and awesomeness: This is what I'm mainly concentrating on right now. 2700 words long so far, and that's just the first chapter. This is one I could even revisit later down the road. If you want a teaser do the following: picture the Nasuverse as I know it. Now, picture the Nasuverse . . . with this playing in the background.

Endless Number of Possibilities chapters set in reality: Oh, I can't disclose any information on these. That would be cheating.

So that's what I'm doing on the fanfic front.

A few things of note

First of all, it has come to my attention that parodies of Star Wars are everywhere. It's true.

Like this.

In fact, even I have a parody. For instance, I know the truth about Darth Vader. I'm pen pals with George Lucas, (not really, just pretend I am for the sake of the joke) and I was curious about the ending of Revenge of the Sith. A lot of people, not myself mind you, since I loved Revenge, but a lot of people felt that Vader shouting, "NOOOOO!" was out of character. I asked him about that. Apparently, there was another detail that pushed Vader into doing that. He even sent me the script of how that scene was supposed to play out.

{Vader} Where is Padme?

{Emperor} It would appear, in a fit of rage, that you killed her.

(dramatic pause)

{Vader} Oh. I suppose I should be more careful when wielding the Dark Side of the Force. (new beat) No matter. I will simply seek out a new wife to satiate my possessiveness.

{Emperor} (laughs) That would be a fruitless effort. Since your battle with Obi-Wan, you have lost nearly all of your extremities, including that one.

(dramatic pause)

{Vader} NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

(Today's lesson? When your best friend has the high ground, don't try to take him down, especially if you're on a planet COVERED WITH FUCKING LAVA!)

Alas, Lucas and the execs did not want to push an R rating, so we got the scene we got today.

See, even I can write a Star Wars parody!

Speaking of parodies, it appears that I, Heraklinios, and Shadow Draygon are not the only people on the net who poke holes in Blaz Blue. Video game series are not immune to abridging, like this one!

Okay, let's get the bad stuff out of the way; most of the voice-acting is subpar. However, many (not all) of the jokes are funny, especially if you know anything about Blaz Blue.

One last thing, a new thing. Anyone seen the movie version of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World? I just did. It's really cool. Even if you're not a video game nerd, it's very fun.

Sith Happens

I'm a Star Wars fan for life. I know, you wouldn't get that impression, seeing as how 95 percent of my posts here are about video games and/or products of Japanese pop culture, but like I said in one of my earlier articles, despite all the hate the franchise now gets, I refuse to abandon Star Wars.

However, there is something I've been lacking. An aspect wherein The Force was weak . . .

I've seen the live-action movies. I liked all of them except Attack of the Clones, and I consider the original trilogy to be the best multi-film series ever. (In your face, Godfather!) I also played many Star Wars games as a kid and as a teenager. The first Knights of the Old Republic is my favorite original Xbox game (yes, I know there's also a PC version; I even own a copy of both the Xbox and PC version, but most of us associate KOTOR's success with the Xbox, so there) and Jedi Knight: Dark Forces 2 was, for a time, my favorite fist-person shooter of all time. It dethroned Duke Nukem 3D . . . but could not stand before the might of Half-Life, but regardless, I've played some of the games.

As you can see, I have branched out somewhat with the Expanded Universe throughout the games. I've played the game version of Shadows of the Empire, and while flawed, that was the first game that felt like an authentic Star Wars game. I've played the first Rogue Squadron, and while that game was hard, it made for a fun rental. I've played Jedi Outcast, and while I don't like it as much as Jedi Knight, you have to admit, being able to kill Stormtroopers by merely running into them with your Lightsaber is a hoot. KOTOR 2 is a buggy beta, but I like how your moral choices affect not only you, but also your party members. I've played Republic Commando, which was an amusing diversion. I played the demo version of X-Wing Alliance, and while that game was really complex, it was pretty good, too. I own Empire at War, and while I wouldn't call it a great game, it does demonstrate just how much of a task it would be to manage an army. (Oh, but crushing Rebel scum with an Imperial Star Destroyer never gets old.) There are others I'm probably forgetting, but yeah, I've played some of the games.

But I have never read any of the novels. Other than Nintendo Power's printing of the comic book version of Shadows of the Empire, I've never read any Star Wars literature. This is strange, because I knew people in grade school who read some of the novels, one of my friends told me about the novels, and my high school library even carried a few of the books, and yet, I never checked any of them out.

I find my own lack of faith disturbing.

Well worry no more, for I just took advantage of Amazon's 4 for 3 deal earlier today, and got me some Star Wars books. When they arrive, expect me to talk about them in due time.

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Getting back to what I normally talk about, I'm about to wrap up A Touhou Fanfiction About Nothing. There's one last chapter to update. After that, I want to concentrate on other writings, including my Nasuverse fics.

You may join in the jeer at the end

Well, it happened. I finally did it. I sampled the anime version of Fate/Stay Night. Granted, it was for research regarding the latest chapter of Ask Rachel Alucard. But yeah, I've seen the most popular version of FSN now. And here's my recommendation:

DO NOT WATCH THE ANIME VERSION. READ THE EFFING VISUAL NOVEL INSTEAD.

I mainly saw the anime clips to finally hear the official voices. I sampled both the English and Japanese dubs. Overall, they are . . . mediocre. Some voices, I like; I like Shirou's voices, I liked Kotomine's voices, (played by Jouji Nataka and Jamieson Price, no less!) I liked Archer's voices, I liked Gilgamesh's Japanese voice, (didn't sample his English voice.) However, I must give a shoutout. Saber's voice, in both English and Japanese, is. Ab. So. Lute. Ly. PER. FECT! Kate Higgins sounds exactly as I imagine Saber to sound in my head. Man, if every character sounded as good as her, this would rival a Bandai dub. Alas, it doesn't.

My first complaint, and the reason why I did this; Tohsaka's voice. Here, let's have Rachel start it off for me:

"For instance, yes, this Rin has the same voice that I do, yet . . . I find it extremely difficult to believe that a mortal as young as her would speak with the refined quality that I speak with; I would almost think that someone of her background and personality would be a little more brash sounding."

And now let me rephrase that in my own words:

Why. The hell. Does Tohsaka . . . sound like Mid-Atlantic genteel? WHY!? And remember, she has the same English voice AND the same Japanese voice as Rachel! They all sound identical! But it doesn't suit Tohsaka at all! I always imagined her sounding like a bratty teenaged girl during her "tsun" moments, and even when she was calm, I still never pictured her sounding that noble. And yet . . . FSN predates BB, so Rachel's voice was based off a complete and utter mis-cast in two languages . . . that sounds perfect for her! My head is imploding!

Oh, but that's not my only complaint. Sakura Matou . . . is forcing the moe a little too much in both dubs. Despite first appearances, she is not moe, damn you! I sure as Hell didn't picture her sounding like a moeblob during the climax (narrative climax, thank-you-very-much) of Heaven's Feel. Also, Lancer sounds really awkward in English. And Ilya sounds a little off, despite being voiced by the great Stephanie Sheh in English. (Wait, she also played a little German girl in Kurokami . . . STOP THE TYPECASTING!)

Though to be fair, the voice-acting is not as intolerable as Code Geass'. Oh, but that's not my only complaint for the anime!

-The animation is nothing special. The intros for the games look better. Though, to the anime's credit, the characters designs are almost as good as the originals.

-I figured out why everyone outside of Beast's lair hates Shirou so much; he is poorly characterized in the anime! He's literally nothing more than an incompetent idiot who thinks girls should be girly. NONE of his depth from the VN were evident from the clips I watched. FAIL!

-The tv series is based off the Fate route. Too bad I don't like the Fate route.

-The censorship. It was bound to happen, but it does remove some of the punch of the VN.

Okay, okay, the anime, based on what I saw, wasn't abysmal. Believe me, I've seen a lot worse, but I now know why my associates at Beast's lair have disowned the anime outside of the soundtrack. (The anime's soundtrack is really good; yay!)

Now, as for the jeer in today's entry? The anime of FSN was made by Studio DEEN. The only other anime of theirs I've seen were Fruits Basket (one of the shittiest tv shows in existence), and Axis Powers Hetalia, an alright show, but man, is it weird. Unfortunately, there is nothing in their track record that would score higher than a 6 out of 10. Now then, join with me.

(deep breath)

DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN!













MENDOZAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

(Oops! Wrong reference.)

More on Agent Aila: Genesis

The website that has the download for AAG, as I'm now gonna call it, has a number of reviews written for it. Most of them are positive. One of them said some things that I agree with.

I think I figured out why I like AAG's story so much; its plot bends to the will of the characters, not the other way around. Not only that, the story emphasizes characterization and world-building more than plot, which . . . sounds a lot like my own writing style, if you think about it.

I have encountered some bugs, though. One of them made the game unwinnable, forcing a reset. Another time, I got a character to perform two actions during a single turn, even though you're not supposed to be able to do that. (Good Bad Bug, everyone!) There are a couple of other niggling programming errors here and there. I suppose it's the nature of the beast; I encountered bugs on Master of the Wind also.

And one last thing; most of the female characters suck. Except for Erin, the girls die a lot faster than the male characters. Now, I know, in real life, women are generally physically weaker than men. (I said generally; there were some girls in middle school and high school who completely kicked my ass at P.E.; I'm just referring to raw physcial strength right now) However, it's to the point that my party only consists of certain characters. Oh well, it's an RPG; you have to fight pragmatically to win.

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I wanna discuss something else, about the art of writing. I wanna talk about crafting dialog. I mention AAG has good dialog; it does. Despite a few grammatical errors, it's fairly realistic diction, with different character voices, a distinct lack of technobabble, (take that again, Xeno games!) lack of cheesiness, (you know, the kind of cheesiness that still gets games and comics stereotyped as "kids' stuff) and despite being in a dark setting, is not excessively vulgar either. All good stuff.

But what makes for good dialog, anyway? Most people aren't sure. Many people can agree that having distinct character voices, or different ways of speaking for different characters, is a must. Notice in my Touhou fanfics that Suika and Suwako have a much more excitable and childish manner of speaking, while in contrast, Youmu is much more calm and elegant in her manner of speaking. That's a given. A common mistake many writers make at first is not knowing this. You can see this in really bad fanfics, where every character talks like the author in real life. I even know a fanfic author (I won't name any names) who is guilty of this. Imagine an epic like Fate/Stay Night, only every character talks like a 20 year old stoner Californian dude. Dude, do you, like, see the problem with that, man, like, totally? Yeah.

However, beyond that, it's hard to judge what is good dialog and what is not. Many writers I know in real life saying crafting good dialog is the hardest thing to do. I personally disagree, for I've been practicing creative writing for nearly 11 years now, and I can tell you that writing dialog is not the hardest thing. However, other people are not so experienced. One challenge I've noticed is this. Take some people who are said to be good dialog writers, like, say Quentin Tarantino. I like Tarantino, and despite how vulgar his movie's dialog is, it's actually really good, and, in truth, there are people in real life that are like that, cursing and all. However, oftentimes, his characters speak in such a "cool" manner; always able to say something witty, make a relatable pop culture reference, have a big speech prepared, and so on, that, at a certain point, you realize that you know you're watching a movie, because nobody sounds that "cool" in real life 24/7. Joss Whedon, as much as I love him, can also lapse into impossibly cool dialog at times, but he is otherwise another master of dialog.

Other times, dialog doesn't try to be "cool", but tries to be mundane, to hopefully simulate real life more closely. Many "serious" films attempt this, as do many serious works of literature. Some people, however, say that this style of dialog is "dry", and "bland", and "lifeless". Sometimes it is, but other times, you don't question it, because you're too engrossed in the story to notice. For a recent example, look at the film Inception. If you haven't seen Inception, do it, because it's a modern classic. Unlike the Tarantino and Whedon stories, the characters in Inception don't speak in snappy one-liners, and usually don't have huge speeches backed up in their heads. Instead, you have expository dialog explaining dream concepts, a line about waiting for a train, the importance of being able to improvise, et cetera. This all works, however, because if there really were people who could jump inside people's dreams like in this movie, and if they were professionals about it, this is how they would do it. For this, Christopher Nolan is to be commended. (Why was he not nominated for Best Director at the Oscars this year!?)

And then, there is what I call over the top dialog. This is like "cool" dialog, except it doesn't pretend to be realistic, and instead just indulges in hamminess. About the only people who talk like this in real life are energetic little kids. This is one reason why many people for the longest time did not take video games, comic books, and children's cartoon shows seriously, for their dialog was often written in this manner. (And sadly, there are some people today who still have this attitude.) Everything is awesome! People shout out names of their abilities! There must be a pun for everything! Lots of people scoff at this manner of writing, but what about franchises like Gurren Lagaan? Devil May Cry? Metal Wolf Chaos? Could you imagine anyone in these series speaking in a subdued manner? No! Of course not! It would be unreasonable! Hence why I love Sgt. Frog so much.

And here is the dilemma, which style is the best? My answer? All of them. However, it depends what kind of story you're writing, what kind of characters you have, and what you intend to achieve with your story. I guess that's why people have such a hard time writing dialog.

It . . . Is . . . Done

I have finished it.

I have finished Mentor & Protege.

My greatest accomplishment in fanfiction yet.

Of course, I have been toying around with the idea of writing an arc that details The Highly Responsive to Prayers. I may really do it, someday. But for now, party time!

(insert cool Touhou music of your choice)

I only have one chapter planned for ATFAN, so after that, I can concentrate on my other projects.

I will discuss my ideas further, just for fun.

-The series of shorts chronicling the origins of Touhou characters that I haven't already mentioned is being made right now. Don't expect them to be as fluffy as ATFAN or as heavy as Eternal Blossom though; in terms of tone, expect them to be at the same level as M & P.

-The sequel to Eternal Blossom has still not been started yet, but it will explain a few things that make Touhou what it is.

-I have another concept for my Nasuverse fic. You wanna know what it is? A story within the machine that will be . . . the most troperrific story that I will ever write. Curious? You should be.

-And of course, more entries for my Blaz Blue series. Oh man, I got this really great idea for Ask Rachel Alucard dancing in my head right now.

Well, I'd write more, but I'm still playing that game I downloaded. Alter Aila Genesis is fuuuuuuuun!

LATE EDIT: Too bad the game is buggy as fucking hell. I can't get past a certain point because of it!

More hits from RPGMaker!

I have recommended two freeware games in the past that were made either partially or entirely by an RPGMaker program: Barkley: Shut Up and Jam Gaiden, and Master of the Wind. (Waiting for that final release, guys.) Today, I have a third such game to rec.

Alter Aila.

I'm playing the remake, Alter Aila Genesis, since its final release is very recent. (Man, what timing on my part!) It's great!

It's a dystopian cyberpunk world where you and your party must escape from a setting slightly reminiscent of Escape from New York. You navigate in a 2-D plane, which is unusual for an RPG, but it makes navigation very easy, and it's hard to get lost. The graphics are decent; you can't expect much from an RPGMaker game in this regard, but they're reminiscent of SNES games. The cinematics are still images interesperded with well-placed sound effects. The character designs are okay; they resemble anime art from the late 1990s, (one of your characters looks like Vash, minus the goofy smile) but it fits. The music is cool, very techno-ish.

But there's two things about this game that stand out, one is the battle system. It's similar to the battle system used in Final Fantasy 4 through 9. There is no MP, but rather, your characters have action points, or AP, and something called EX, which doesn't refer to experience points. (Though there is EXP in this game.) In battle, every command you use consumes AP. Some of your more potent abilities also consume EX. These charge up throughout battle depending on how you use them, but be careful, because enemies can negate one gauge or the other through special attacks. (Then again, you can do the same thing to them. Enemies also fight under the same rules you do.) Judicious use of AP, EX, and items will win battles in this game. AP and EX reset after every battle, so you don't have to charge them up with items.

The other thing is the story. Now, I know, I've written in the past of how tired I am of people assuming that RPGs have to have good writing, or else they suck. I still believe this; RPGs are not like point-and-click adventure games or visual novels; their mechanics enable them to be fun to play even without the framework of a narrative. With that said, RPGs tend to have more interaction than most other games, and as such, it's easier to craft a good story for them, and guess what? Alter Aila has a good story! It's got a lot of typical sci-fi elements to it. Psychic powers replace magic, robots and mutants try to kill you around every turn, the city I'm in in my current playthrough is very similar to Taris from the first Knights of the old Republic. But the characters are interesting, the story is not bogged down with 40 minute long cutscenes, (take that, Xeno games!) the dialog is neither cheesy nor awkward, and . . . it's just gripping. Despite having simplistic-looking cutscenes, they're very effective.

So do yourself a favor and check it out.

More summaries

I have more summaries on the way of my reviews on MAL. Check it.

Sgt. Frog

Intro: Only concerns the Funimation dub.

Story: It's Pinky and The Brain, IN JAPAN!

Artwork: Average and kiddy-esque, but not bad.

Music: Like the credits songs, but that's it. Rest is forgettable.

Voice-acting: Todd Haberkorn IS Keroro! A superb English dub all-around!

Characterization: Basic, yet very lovable for the most part. Giroro is awesome.

Enjoyment: It reminds me of my favorite American kids' cartoons; what more could I ask for!?

Last word: Kero kero kero kero . . .

Neon Genesis Evangelion (original tv series)

Intro: It's good . . . and it's not good.

Story: really interesting . . . for the first 18 episodes. Why did they drop the action scenes? They were outstanding!

Artwork: The oldest anime that I consider beautiful. Bow down before Hideaki Anno and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, bitches. There is repetition, however.

Music: Very retro 60s, and pretty good, too. Oh, but guess what? I don't care for "Cruel Angel's Thesis"! How does such an average song earn so many "Best J-pop opening EVAH!" rewards?

Voice-acting: in Japanese: SUGOI! In English: OW! MY BALLS!

Characterization: FUCK this show's version of Asuka! Otherwise, superb for the most part.

Enjoyment: It can be really good, but really crappy at the same time.

Last word: Just read the manga or watch Rebuild instead; they correct most of the flaws. This didn't make me an Eva fan afterall, but you know what? I like tv Eva more than Gundam 00. (ZING!)

Clannad

Intro: CUTE GIRLS! AS FAR AS THE EYE CAN SEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Story: Too slow for comfort, but gets really good towards the end of the first season, and maintains that quality throughout the second season.

Artwork: Weirdly enough, not as good as Kanon. BUT THE GIRLS ARE SOOOOO KEEYEUTE!

Music: downloadthesoundtracrightnowevenifyouhateclannadthemusicistimeless.

Voice-acting: In Japanese: above-average. Mamiko Noto, Kikuko Inoue, and Ryotaru Okiayu are simply wonderful. In English: uh . . . . mediocre. Tomoya and Nagisa sound just as good, but, this dub sucks compared to Air's and Kanon's, and those were by the same studio! And no one pronounces the names correctly! What the hell happened, ADV/Sentai!?

Characterization: Way better than Air's. And also one of the best casts ever. AND ONE OF THE CUTEST CASTS EVER, TOO!

Enjoyment: If you're patient enough, you'll love this. The best of the moe phenomenon today!

Last word: The last part of the first season and the second season make it worth owning. Not the Best Thang Evar, but still really good too. (I still need to finish the VN version, though.)

Eden of the East.

Intro: Only based off the tv series thus far. Please wait for the movie releases to see my final thoughts.

Story: Extremely original and captivating. Thrilling, funny, and not too slow either. Now if I just an ending . . . (Where're my movies, Funimation!?)

Artwork: Unusual character designs, but it works. Backgrounds and animation are top-notch.

Music: I like "Falling Down", but that's the only real highlight of the soundtrack.

Voice-acting: English dub is very good. Insert stock gushing of Jason Liebrecht as Akira.

Characterization: Really good. Not out of this world, but still really good.

Enjoyment: Taut, sophisticated, intelligent . . . otakus will hate this . . . and people like me will love it.

Last word: Wow, this surprised me. I now proudly own it on blu-ray!

Akira

intro: God, I hope this was the result of a manga not being do-able on film, otherwise, this is a "classic" anime, and you all know how I feel for most "classic" anime.

Story: Random acts of senseless violence, and psychic powers . . . . I just summarized the entire movie right there. How pathetic is that?

Artwork: I love the animation detail and most of the backgrounds, but I freakin' HATE the character designs! This is a poor effort! Also, some of the coloring sucks.

Music: Okay. The ending intrumental is soooooo retro 80s.

Voice-acting: In Japanese: Sugoi. It helps that they recorded the lines before animation. The Geneon dub is . . . okay. (How come most of Geneon's dubs were never as good as Bandai's, despite hiring many of the same actors? Is this why their American branch is dead now?)

Characterization: Uh, what characterization? It was just a bunch of people savagely fighting and killing each other, kinda hard to squeeze in character development.

Enjoyment: How do I enjoy that which I consider the worst anime film I've ever seen in my life? Even Princess Mononoke was better than this, and I consider that to be the nadir of Ghibli's output!

Last word: FUCK Akira! Fuck the ending! Fuck the hype!

Trigun

intro: A "classic" anime I do like. Hold on to your butts.

Story: pretty good. A nice mixture of humor, action, and drama.

Artwork: Really good for a 90s series. Not top-notch, but still holds up.

Music: Excellent. I love the intro and ending songs. And especially Rem's song.

Voice-acting: English voices are . . . a mixed bag. This is not a superb dub, because I freakin' HATE Meryl's voice, and most of the minor characters are over-acted. Most of the other characters sound pretty good, though.

Characterization: I like Vash, Wolfwood, and Legato, and . . . that's it.

Enjoyment: I loved the action sequences, and the show itself is fun to watch.

Last word: I know, I didn't think it was awesome, but go ahead and see it if you haven't.

Princess Tutu

intro: Real Men Watch Princess Tutu.

Story: beautifully constructed. A fairy tale full of light and dark, good and evil, and everything else a viewer could want.

Artwork: uhhhh, average. I like how expressive the characters' eyes are, though.

Music: It's classical. Good classical. Using good classical music has worked for American cartoons for decades, and it seems it works for Japanese cartoons, too. Excellent.

Voice-acting: The English dub is one of the best ever. It almost feels like it was originally made in English, despite being originally done in Japanese, and being set in a Germanic country. Okay ADV, I don't automatically think less of your dubs anymore; congrats.

Characterization: You know how Disney's fairy tale-esque movies have unforgettable characters? So does this anime. You can't help but admire Ahiru AKA Duck.

Enjoyment: Well, it's my favorite shoujo franchise, and I said it was one of my favorite tv shows ever; how much do you think I enjoyed it?

Last Word: I dethroned Darker Than Black on my MAL page for this. Yeah, I think you would like it.

Doing these are fun.