After having bought the albums Life After Death by TobyMac, Live for You by Rachael Lampa, and The Story’s Not Over by Jeremy Camp, I thought last December, “Why stop there?” Thanks to K-Love radio, not only the main station but also their 40th anniversary Birthday Blend and 2000s stations, I have heard a whole lot more songs than just “The Goodness,” “You Lift Me Up,” and “Keep Me in the Moment.” Some particular ones helped me settle upon the following picks during the month in question.
Artist
Song(s)
Album
Steven Curtis Chapman
“Heaven in the Real World”, “King of the Jungle”
Heaven in the Real World
True Vibe
“Jump, Jump, Jump”
True Vibe
Kutless
“Not What You See”
Sea of Faces
Jeremy Camp
“Take My Life”
Stay
DC Talk
“Jesus Is Just Alright”
Free At Last (Remastered)
Hawk Nelson
“Take Me”
Letters to the President
Cochren & Co.
“Running Home”, “Parking Lot”
Running Home
Kutless
“Your Touch”
Kutless
Hawk Nelson
“Friend Like That”
Best of Hawk Nelson*
*I would have preferred Hawk Nelson Is My Friend, but I couldn’t find that album on iTunes.
It’s a lot for me, even though it might be rookie numbers to a true music nerd, but it’s not even half the journey. I decided to go through 33 albums, 12 singles, and 3 EPs by artists from The Imperials to Rich Mullins to Michael W. Smith to 4Him to Todd Agnew to MercyMe to Jonny Diaz to Austin French to CAIN to Brandon Lake and a whole lot of in between. Quite a journey it was, with moments ranging from pleasant surprises to minor disappointments.
iTunes is indeed my preferred medium, even though my current smartphone is a Google Pixel. I have the Windows app on my PC (Version 12.13.1.3 at the time of writing), where I can browse local versions of the M4A files and use VLC media player to convert them into OGGs. (It might be unconventional, but it’s good for mass conversions.) I tried at first to bring in the files as they were, back when I only had my first three albums and Beat Saber OST Volumes 1-5, but on the YT Music Android app using local files, only the ones off The Story’s Not Over would play any audio. (For the rest, the duration would increase normally, but the audio was absent.) That’s part of the reason for converting to OGG in particular, another being that the file format is preferred in the context of Clone Hero and Beat Saber custom maps. In addition, I have read on the BSMG Wiki that MP3s converted from YouTube videos tend to be more scuffed than officially purchased audio files, and I started really noticing this fact while continually listening to Christian music at work. (The wiki in question says nothing about M4A, but surely the quality of that file format can’t be any worse than that of an MP3, right?) It is certainly worth noting that the resulting files have no metadata (not even the artist name), but I can live with that.
Before I elaborate upon the Christian music in question, however, there has been a secular artist on my mind as of late. While I would typically just mention the name outright, I feel like it would be more fun to keep them unnamed until my full post is ready, in favor of dropping teaser hints to allow guessing beforehand. They are a J-pop group with four (at the time of writing) anime ending themes to their name, one of which is for a short anime but has DragonForce-like drumming. Their flagship album contains full versions for three of the ending themes, although its year of release is more recent than the air dates of the anime in question. Their other releases include one single and two EPs.
So, my roadmap for the immediate future is to reveal the secular artist next month (until which I will neither confirm nor deny any guesses in the comments), and then later on, not necessarily the month after, will come the Christian “musical journey.”
Due to a series of firsts related to a 20-year-old car, all I have to offer for this month is a little bit of real talk. For the past 8 years or so, I’ve had such good luck while driving—albeit with more than a few near misses—and now it’s all fallen apart. At least now I have a newer car (and smartphone), but one undisclosed source of stress remains until precisely next week (at best).
In the lyrics of NEEDTOBREATHE, “You can’t change without a fallout.” This has been the fallout I needed to start driving more safely: giving myself more time for dealing with a rather sucky commute, as well as leaving more room between cars so that traffic as a whole can flow more easily.
As someone destined to enter a great debate despite lacking social aptitude, the Holy Spirit has me thinking about the latest album that I have bought (two months ago): The Story’s Not Over by Jeremy Camp. This artist has had my attention ever since the days of “Give You Glory,” “Walk by Faith,” and “Take You Back”; particularly with his distinctive voice and catchy tunes. The reason I chose this album in particular is because the more I heard “Keep Me in the Moment” and “Out of My Hands” on the radio, the more the lyrics resonated with me. (I’m still as neutral about “Dead Man Walking” as I’ve ever been, but at least it’s somewhat catchy.) There was a little reluctance based on reading iTunes reviews about the artist being more pop-sounding nowadays, allegedly because “it sells better,” and yet here I am with another faith-related investment. If you ask me, the zenith of the album is tracks 6-10, which funnily enough start off with “Keep Me in the Moment” and “Out of My Hands.” (I can’t vouch for “Dead Man Walking” because of the vocal effects after the second chorus, as much as I like all the other differences from the radio version.)
To summarize “Keep Me in the Moment” in a We Are Messengers lyric, “We can’t enjoy the moment when we always want what’s next.” That’s one of the lessons I’m repeating internally to guard my heart amid the trials of this life.
Overall, of the three tracks I’ve mentioned, “Out of My Hands” is the only one of which I prefer the album version over the radio version. “Keep Me in the Moment” just isn’t the same without the high notes in the choir, whereas the first chorus of “Out of My Hands” really brings the atmosphere of the title in the form of echoing effects. It just makes me think of a seemingly infinite expanse of darkness with drops of liquid dripping from above, forming a thin film along a mysteriously illuminated ground.
“The Story’s Not Over” is the first of a trio featuring what I would call “powerful lyrics with powerful delivery.” My first thought when I first listened was, “This is one of a kind,” but the chorus is not unlike that of “When You Speak,” one of Jeremy Camp’s latest songs. Speaking of the chorus, whenever I listen to it, I can’t help but imagine Asuka Kudou dancing to it (see below).
“My flesh may fail me, but my future is secured.” The opening lyric of “Indestructible Soul” summarizes it well. Between The Story’s Not Over and Life After Death, I was intrigued enough by “You Lift Me Up” by Rachael Lampa (in no small part thanks to the K-Love Birthday Blend) to listen to her flagship album Live for You; through this, I found the song “Shaken” to be nothing short of a hidden gem, and lately I’ve been associating “Indestructible Soul” with the low-key “Shaken” lyric, “Faith, hope, and love will last eternally.”
Then comes my favorite song of the album: “You Don’t (feat. Social Club Misfits).” First of all, I just love the first half of the chorus. “Earth shakes, hearts break, things change, life fades away… Days end, stars (?) burn out like men lie, kings die, but You don’t.” It’s humbling to pair the statement “You don’t” with one or more of the verbs preceding it: “You don’t shake / break / change / fade away / end / burn out / lie / die.” Past that, while I used to scoff at rap in my teenage years, I’ve taken a liking to hearing testimonies delivered in a free-form lyrical flow (as before the final chorus), especially having heard Tedashii featured on a performance of “Lift Your Head Weary Sinner (Chains)” by Crowder. (It’s like the verses of “Bleed It Out” by Linkin Park, but with far less morbid lyrics.)
“Wilderness” deserves an honorable mention due to its atmosphere, but it makes me think of “King of the Jungle” by Steven Curtis Chapman (“The Lord of the gentle breeze is Lord of the rough and tumble”), which I prefer.
One might say that this was quite the little tangent I went on, considering the topic at hand. As for me, I’m not opposed to it in the slightest; rather, the whole impetus behind this post was to unleash some heavy thoughts and relieve myself in a way that a possible audience can behold. Think of it as a declaration of resolve to stay strong amid my circumstances.
(I am only moderately sorry for this title. More importantly, note that I have no DLC, and nothing except maybe Nel is going to convince me otherwise.)
Three months ago, the “-ish” I put in the title definitely holds up. I left off before Chapter 16/26 back then, which in itself might seem past halfway, but a final playtime of 260 hours (as opposed to just over 80) proves the opposite.
Still, my opinions from back then are largely unchanged (but how did I miss the opportunity to call Louis an abso-Louis-t unit?), except I don’t mind Hortensia as much now that I know she has the same English voice as Laphicet from Tales of Berseria. Speaking of voices, the only correct predictions I made last time are Lyn being voiced by Wendee Lee and Jade having the same voice as Kisara. I’ve also noticed since then that Merrin, Veyle, and Marni sound like Velvet Crowe (mostly pre-daemon), Marle from Puyo Puyo Tetris 2, and Uni from Neptunia (mostly when she whines) respectively.
In other news, I’ve caught wind that the voice of Chloé is the current voice of Minnie Mouse, and now I’ll never see her the same again. And now that I’ve looked up the voice actors, here are some other associations I find interesting:
Boucheron with Daruk and Yunobo from The Legend of Zelda. The former somewhat makes sense when I recall the line, “Daruk’s Protection is now ready to roll!”, and I could certainly hear the latter while playing through Tears of the Kingdom.
Fogado with Squares from PPT2. A surprise, to be sure.
Seadall with Dohalim from Tales of Arise. I’m kind of ashamed of myself for not getting this one, considering Dohalim is my favorite Arise character (not that that says much).
Yunaka is voiced by Laura Post. This is the most mind-blowing one of all, because she sounds little to nothing like any other Laura Post character I’ve heard: Arfoire from Neptunia, Primrose from Octopath Traveler, Catherine from Three Houses, Almeidrea from Tales of Arise…yeah, none of those. Granted, this might have something to do with how much I’ve denied the character.
Celica is voiced by Erica Lindbeck. Maybe because I never really paid as much attention to the Emblems as to the corporeal characters, this came as a surprise to me.
Roy with Artorius and Alphen from the Tales series. I would call this a duality, with one being dissimilar and the other being comparable.
Eirika is voiced by Kira Buckland. I would not have guessed this, but sometimes I get Rulue vibes when I listen closely.
Ike with Alfyn from Octopath Traveler. I get the similarities in the noises they make while swinging their weapons (Ike more so in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate), although I would have pegged Alfyn as the less mature one.
Micaiah with Ash Ketchum from the Pokémon anime and Manuela from Three Houses. By names alone, one might consider this more surprising than Laura Post as Yunaka, and the reason I think otherwise might just be because of my tastes. Still, it takes a close second, which I trust I need not explain.
While on the subject of characters, here’s what I think of the ones from Chapter 16 and later.
I suspected at first that Rosado was transgender based on his hair color and overall androgyny, but it turns out he’s a male whose gender is never questioned. Even though I would have preferred the alternative (for the sake of freshness), he’s still certainly among the better half of the characters.
Goldmary, on the other hand, is one of the worst. It’s one thing for her to be another cleavage character (which, in a similar vein to Yunaka, has me calling her “Boobsmary”), but she’s so conceited that it gets on my nerves. “Humble soldier of Elusia,” my eye. (That is one of her quotes when she enters the Somniel Arena. Incidentally, one of Hortensia’s is what I can only interpret as an impression of Kirby’s taunt in Super Smash Bros. Melee.)
All I have to say about Saphir is that she’s just like Flavia from Awakening, whereas Lindon is a better foil to her than Basilio was to Flavia (let alone Hanneman to Manuela in Three Houses). Lindon also has a sense of humor and an experimental brain going for him.
I’ve always considered Mauvier the type who didn’t deserve to wind up on the villains’ side, and surely enough, he became the first turncoat among the Four Hounds. That aside, he is the strong and silent type due to a cold upbringing, although I feel like his English voice is not very compatible with that personality. (By his appearance alone, I would have expected him to sound like Odion in Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series.)
Veyle, much like Marle who has the same voice, has a mild-mannered side and a naughty side, both of which I find about equally appealing overall. (I’m convinced that her harmful actions are the fault of Sombron and Zeworstgirl—I mean Zephia.) Moreover, even though she looks and sounds questionably youthful, her outfit has some serious leg exposure and even a visible inner underneath. (Not her Somniel outfit, though; one can tell when she sits at the south-side campfire that the underside of her casual skirt is obscured.)
Now, I’ll admit that I didn’t talk much about the other characters last time, but I did make a tier list partly to compensate for that.
(I don’t know why “The worst” decided to have a bigger font, but part of me likes it that way.)
Most of the picks here go in descending order from left to right, with bits of uncertainty in various places, although I cannot compare the Emblems to the other characters, considering how different they are.
Mid-June edit: I just noticed that Jean is absent from this list. I would put him between Amber and Anna.
One more thing to note about the characters: While units other than the protagonist do not marry each other as in similar installments (at best, a character’s epilogue will merely mention “someone” as their spouse, as in the case of Fogado for example), it seems that the Pact Ring can be given to any of them. With that in mind, I considered doing so to a female unit (namely Etie, Merrin, or maybe Veyle) as the female protagonist, but I ultimately decided otherwise because the prospect of being a straight male and playing as a queer female character just doesn’t feel right, the more I think about it. Thus, my final choice was Zelkov, considering my real-life preferences and how much I favor the character. (Regarding their A-rank support conversation, I have to say that when the female protagonist imitates Zelkov’s emphasis, it sounds like she’s acting out the role of a cartoon ghost.)
With all that out in the open, it’s time I moved on to the obligatory anecdotal part of this post. Skirmishes still suck on Hard difficulty, and no amount of Advanced class leveling has improved any part of it. Even when the “Suggested” level reaches Advanced level 20, the power level of the enemy units does not stop rising until all their stats are capped. They always seem to be two steps ahead of my units in raw power, which I would say is at least one too many. Still, I managed to finish the game with all base classes leveled to 20, all advanced classes leveled to 20, and all special classes leveled to 40, plus 15 extra levels for Vander, 7 extra levels for Saber (which, as a reminder, is the name I gave the female protagonist), 6 extra levels for the royals (and accidentally Rosado), and 5 extra levels for everyone else. It was mostly a matter of picking and choosing which skirmishes and training to attempt; the Tempest Trials lost their luster as my units started gaining advanced levels, due to the lack of gold yield and overall being too overwhelming for what they’re worth. (In other words, it went from being perfectly possible to steamroll the opposition, to having slim-to-none odds that my deployed units would even survive the first round.) I don’t think I realized until I started scraping the bottom of the barrel, so to speak, that training gives extra experience and extra gold: +30 experience per unit and at least 2000 G. As a stickler for balance (with exceptions for certain notable characters), I say that it certainly beats Silver Corrupted, and although the best Gold Corrupted maps start off with a 2600 G yield (two drops of 1300 G), both yields rise to 3000 G (with the drops being 1500 G) after a certain late-game Chapter (which I don’t remember by number), giving training an undeserved edge over all forms of skirmishes. The one catch is that training is unique to three locations: Firene Castle, Brodia Castle, and Solm Palace. Brodia is by far the hardest one to manage; I can only remember clearing it once, no less with crucial help from Alcryst x Lyn and Seadall. Solm is daunting until I find it possible to take over the north side of the map, form walls with my bulkier units (which is especially effective at/near the “Suggested” level cap, when the enemies stop bringing spears and tomahawks), and chip away at their forces as necessary. As for Firene Castle, which I sometimes call “my beloved,” my approach is to head north first and clean up the rest as they filter in.
If training is not available, two of the easiest places to hunt for Gold Corrupted are the Sacred Tomb and the Crossroads of Fate. Always make sure before anything that there are two Gold Corrupted, because some Gold Corrupted skirmishes only have one; a bummer to say the least. I recommend bringing anti-fliers to the Sacred Tomb (because non-flying units are prone to bottleneck tactics) and Covert units to the Crossroads of Fate (to take advantage of the woods where the player units start off). I have also managed to prevail in the Plains of Swift Winds by dispatching 6-Mov units to the easternmost set of tiles and assembling everyone in the middle of the west side of the map, although this is not something I expect to do again in the foreseeable future. Tullah Desert is improbable but feasible, and while I can’t remember the last time I’ve conquered Bandits’ Hideout, it seems feasible with a less flexible spin on the Solm Palace strategy. Arena of the Gods seems promising due to its lower enemy unit count, but there’s also the matter of having the right allied units, which I feel like I never do. (Granted, I tend to deploy retainers, royals, Lindon and Saphir in pairs, as well as the triumvirate of Kagetsu and the thieves.) At any rate, the thing about training/skirmishes is that every 3 hours real-time, one of them disappears and is replaced. If there are 8 symbols on the map and at least 24 hours have passed, all of the symbols will be replaced. Good opportunity to do something else, eh?
Another thing to note is that I try to avoid poison whenever possible, whether by taking a unit with enough Defense to take 0 damage from daggers (usually Louis, sometimes Jade x Roy, sometimes a unit engaged with Ike,* sometimes certain units with stone pillars from Corrin’s Dragon Vein, and rarely dodge tanking with fog from the same source), by using arts to break the dagger users, or by using Engage Skills to avoid counterattacks.
*Note that a Dragon unit engaged with Ike takes 40% damage from attacks thanks to Laguz Friend, and when the base damage is 2, it rounds down to 0. This has come in clutch for Saber during Paralogue 15.
Speaking of unchanged things, training up Vander is still just as hard as it’s always been. The compact axe is his best bet for dealing “guaranteed” damage, but he would have to pick up the scraps for another unit, a telltale sign of unreliability. When he was a paladin, I gave him a tomahawk and a poleaxe for the off chance of dealing a “heavy” hit from afar or to an opposing cavalry unit. The latter eventually became a hurricane axe because of his surprisingly usable Magic stat, and the former became a hand axe when his Build grew to a satisfactory degree. When he reached level 20 as a paladin, I reclassed him to a griffin knight, which might have to do with how his Speed is not as shoddy as before. At the end of the day, though, he has been hard-carried by adjacent allies, chip damage, and/or enemy affinities.
Skirmishes and stuff aside, I should mention some of the maps that I found particularly annoying.
Leif’s paralogue has the ballisticians with insane damage outputs, the pesky staff users in their back pocket, and the infinite stream of cavalry reinforcements from the east. To deal with all that, I leveled up considerably and brought a special set of units: Saber x Sigurd, Seadall, Hortensia x Byleth, Louis, Jade, Clanne, Framme, Jean, Ivy, Chloé, and Amber. (I don’t know if there was, let alone could be, a twelfth; this is all I remember.) Dancing was crucial in dealing with the ballisticians, the twins added much-needed magic offense to the team, and the generals were effective at fending off the cavalry. (Side note: Leif has special dialogue for when Ivy enters combat against him, presumably because she had his ring as the boss of Chapter 8.)
Celica’s paralogue, doggone, nothing says “infinite stream of reinforcements” like those stinking high priests, and getting overwhelmed by even one of them is a recipe for getting screwed over by the Warp reinforcement high priests that mobilize the phantom wyrms to the front lines. To make matters worse, I have witnessed one of the Warp users attack with Elthunder and use Warp on a phantom wyrm on the same turn. No freaking joke. If not for that bit of Elthunder damage and the extra phantom wyrm attack, Saber would have survived, and I would not have had to resort to the already-level-20-at-the-time Sigurd accompanied by Hortensia x Byleth and whatever else I don’t remember. Seriously, that high priest had no special skills or anything; they straight-up cheated. As much as I’ve used the term out of spite towards being hit or crit with less than a 50% chance / missing with an 80-99% chance, this rubbish was genuine cheating.
Chapter 25, guess what? It’s another source of annoyance by reinforcements. The particularly pesky ones are the ones that tail the player units to the boss. My first idea was to have Lapis and Jade stay back to dispatch them, but Lapis couldn’t last despite her exceptional Avo. Then, my Time Crystal charge count was practically exhausted, and it came down to a wild assortment of shaky hit rates and lucking out against the AI. In fending off the reinforcements, ultimately, I simply must accredit Timerra x Corrin and the Stone Pillars.
Then there’s the final battle, which takes some getting used to. Be careful when to lift the barrier, because the same Player Phase when you do it is the only opportunity that you get to damage the boss before it creates a new barrier and summons enough reinforcements to occupy the whole militia. Healers must die, because they prioritize healing the boss if its HP is below maximum, and their healing is nothing to sneeze at. By the time I got used to this and just prioritized eliminating reinforcements instead of breaking the barrier, the reinforcements just wouldn’t stop coming in droves. Thus, after seeing the next stream of reinforcements, I just broke the barrier and went for a bum-rush that depleted two of the boss’s Revival Stones and about 2/3 HP, in no small part thanks to Goddess Dance. The entire battle took 4 freaking hours on a night that I should have instead spent clearing the Lightning Temple in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
(Note: I considered using books from the well to give Alcryst and Diamant each another Inherited Skill (Alacrity++ and Hold Out+++ respectively), but I have yet to follow through, and perhaps my stingy nature is responsible for that.)
I chose the final classes based on the following criteria:
At least one of every class (notwithstanding different weapon types, e.g. axe and lance paladins)
Each character with an exclusive advanced/special class sticks with it
Each other character puts to use whichever proficiency is marked blue
Sword: Lapis, Kagetsu, Bunet
Lance: Chloé, Louis, Amber, Goldmary
Axe: Vander, Boucheron, Jade, Rosado, Saphir
Bow: Etie, Anna
Dagger: Yunaka, Zelkov, Merrin, Panette
Tome: Clanne, Citrinne
Staff: Pandreo, Lindon, Mauvier
Art: Framme, Jean
One of every general (I like armored units)
Another martial master (otherwise, not many Qi Adepts to go around)
In part, this involved having Kagetsu remain a swordmaster, Mauvier a royal knight, Boucheron a berserker, Saphir a warrior, Etie an axe-wielding bow knight (which I mistakenly reclassed to lance-wielding at one point; what a waste of 2500 G…), Louis and Jade generals, Merrin a sword-wielding wolf knight, Rosado a swordless wyvern knight, Citrinne a sage, Clanne a sword-wielding mage knight, Jean a martial master, Yunaka and Zelkov thieves. I couldn’t resist making Amber a hero because he keeps talking about being one, Goldmary had too much Defense as a hero to not be armored (and the position of lance-wielding general is already taken by Louis),* Chloé was the only lance specialist left over for the halberdier slot, Bunet is the only sword specialist who deserves armor, Framme is the only art specialist other than Jean (as much as her Strength sucks), Pandreo’s and Lindon’s class swap makes their specialties S-rank (as pointless as that is), and Anna is simply more of a sniper gal than a bow knight gal.
*…and now, as much as I am loath to admit it, she is second only to Louis in terms of physical bulk. She might even rival him if you take into account that significantly higher Speed stat. (Alfred with Gentility is also a strong contender.)
Now, an explanation of Emblem choices:
Saber x Corrin has access to any Dragon Vein effect and 1 extra range on Torrential Roar. (I’ve found more use for the former, wanting to keep Saber on the down-low since I gave her the Emblem.)
Alfred x Eirika gets a 50% damage increase on the Ephraim hit of Twin Strike. And, as mentioned, Gentility supplements his already considerable bulk, just as Golden Lotus does against physical attacks in particular.
Alcryst x Leif gets Avo+20 when Adaptable kicks in, as well as a chance to gain 1000 G when defeating an enemy with Quadruple Hit.
Diamant x Byleth grants Str+4 with Instruct and Goddess Dance. (In the final battle, the former actually came in clutch for Jean to ensure a kill on one of the wolf knights.) Also, Divine Pulse is deserved compensation for Diamant’s low accuracy.
Timerra x Lucina, when using All for One, gets chain attacks from all units within 3 spaces (instead of 2).
Hortensia x Celica can warp up to 15 spaces (instead of 10) when using Warp Ragnarok.
Zelkov x Lyn has a range of 20 (instead of 10) with Astra Storm.
Veyle x Marth is simply because she was the last one to hold the ring before her recruitment. She recovers HP with the attack performed via Divine Speed, and her Lodestar Rush consists of 9 attacks (instead of 7). Also, while engaged, she is surprisingly cute.
Jade x Roy gains an extra 5 max HP while Rise Above is active.
Chloé gets no added effects from Micaiah as a Backup unit; I just had her equip that Emblem when she was a lance flier instead of a griffin knight, so giving it back to her was just for old times’ sake.
Jean x Sigurd has a 20% chance to break each target when using Override. (Believe it or not, this has happened against the final boss.)
Rosado x Ike gains an extra Res+5 when using Great Aether. I figured that this effect was the most compatible with Rosado of all my Flying units, the one with the lowest raw Resistance. (Also, Reposition is a particularly useful skill, especially for a Flying unit.)
Louis has Mia S, which comes with the skill Shove, as the unit with the highest Build in the army. Very scarcely do I use it over Swap, although the last time I did was actually during the final battle.
Since the royals have Dex-dependent skills for their exclusive classes, the Emblem Rings of those remaining all boost Dexterity to some degree.
Etie has Sharena S for Fortify Def, which suits her as a glass cannon who tends to take up the rear.
Yunaka has Seliph S for Battlewise, seeing as critical hits are her bread and butter. (The same can be said of Panette, but Yunaka is overall better at getting kills.)
Anna has Anna S because it’s funny. Yes, that’s it.
Amber has Deirdre S for Renewal, which pairs well with Brave Assist (as I have seen firsthand while Goldmary had the ring during her time as a hero).
Kagetsu has Alfonse S for Spur Atk, which admittedly worked better when he was a better dodge tank (with Armorslayer+1 x Dawn), but still helps ranged attackers who may or may not benefit from his chain attacks. (Breaking an axe wielder or doing chip damage to a bow wielder would be best-case scenarios to create such an opportunity.)
Bunet has Fae S for a Luck boost, which makes “Seconds?” more likely to activate.
Lindon has Olwen S for Dire Thunder, which pairs well with Weapon Insight. A critical hit with Thunder, now that’s what I call thundercooked.
As for the weapon choices, most of them serve to accommodate the Build stats of their respective characters. I won’t bother explaining the engravings, because most of them are byproducts of “seemed like a good idea at the time” decisions. (Side note: Why is Mini Bow+5 the best way for an archer/sniper/Alcryst to hit an adjacent foe? It’s so sad.)
I would also like to add that the best part of warriors is that they are the one kind of Backup unit that can wield a longbow, allowing them to chain attack from 3 tiles away without the help of Backup x Lucina All for One. (Imagine if their level 5 skill had anything to do with chain attacking. I personally shudder to do so.)
Lastly, I have come up with some pet terms to describe phenomena within the game.
Chloé Crit: A critical hit with a single-digit percent chance, usually with 90-100% accuracy. Also commonly pulled off by Hortensia and Merrin.
Laura Crit: A low-accuracy hit and single-digit percent critical hit in one. In one of my Solm Palace training sessions, Jade pulled off two in a row with a Steel Greataxe (68% hit + 5% crit), which left me delirious. (Named after Laura from Radiant Dawn, with whom I once pulled off a 69% hit + 1% crit.)
Crit Machine: Amber with a Killer Lance + Fates engraving. This was more of a pre-advanced thing, as nowadays his hit rates are unusually iffy.
Crit Queen: Panette with a Killer Axe, especially when Blood Fury kicks in. The Blazing engraving (which I previously let Anna use when she was an Axe Fighter / Warrior) has helped to amp up the percentage, but circumstances have me doubting whether it has changed my luck.
X Slayer: An allied unit that can defeat a particular kind of enemy unit in one fell swoop. (e.g., Citrinne and Ivy are General Slayers because of their insane magical prowess, although the latter is reliant on Nova. Pandreo is the Great Knight Slayer because his combination of Magic and Speed is just right. Fogado and Clanne are Wyvern Slayers because of their high Speed and magical weapons: radiant bow and Excalibur (the latter boosted by Nino S). Etie used to be the Griffin Slayer with her silver bow, that is until she got powercrept.)
Afterword
Even though I have beaten the game, there is still much that I have yet to do: Tempest Trial level 50 for all 6 maps, max-level donations, max-level support, playing gacha (ugh) for the remaining Emblem Rings, improving a personal database that I dare not share just yet because of its incompleteness, and that’s just to name a few. At the same time, I also have a heaping backlog with little if any room for the extra content in this game, so all of the above is indefinitely on hold. It’s been fun, but also, cheerio.
Whether I took too long to settle upon a topic or didn’t dedicate enough effort to writing about it, here I find myself at the tail end of the month, in a situation where even if I was close enough to finish by midnight, I’m just not in the mood.
For the past five years, I’ve had to move from one rental home to another every half-year or so, and where I moved in just today can frankly be described as the most cramped rental home so far. What’s more is that my PC runs louder, slower, and with more spontaneous freezing / BSoDs / shutdowns than usual, regarding which my first guess is that the thermal paste has worn out again, so I’m limited to portable devices until at least after I get more thermal paste to apply. (Best case scenario, this will happen tomorrow before lunch. I know that day is April 1, the one day to not believe everything you read on the Internet, but I’m not fooling. Anyway, I think the reason for the problem at hand is because the tower can’t stand lingering in my car for too long, even with the windows open on a cloudy and windy day.) Combined with tired limbs, a mildly sleep-deprived week, and having no shorter of a commute to work, it’s enough for me to throw down the towel for now.
Hopefully next month I won’t need a moment and will instead have a complete post in store.
Although this game came out last month, I didn’t bother getting it until at least two weeks after its release. My disinterest in it came primarily from thinking that I had dedicated enough time to Three Houses and that the new installment would be no better, but I caved to a few factors:
I felt like I was getting addicted to Pokémon Violet, hunting for shinies and spices, when I reached a point of feeling down on my luck. (In particular, I blame Flittle and Glimmet.)
I became acquainted with the popularity of Yunaka, yet her appearance and “Hiya papaya” shtick are thoroughly unappealing to me, so I wanted to find out for myself whether there was more to the phenomenon.
The female protagonist, despite stirring up controversy with her vivid color scheme, has a skirt and thighs that heavily contribute to her being the best modern protagonist in my opinion. (By contrast, I’m not nearly as fond of the male protagonist.)
Honestly, I owe it to representing Nowi so much as part of my internet persona.
And so here I recount my notable experiences with the first fifteen chapters of the game. I named the protagonist Saber because her red and blue color scheme brought Beat Saber to the most creative recesses of my mind. This partly ties into why I stuck with the female protagonist despite being male in real life: I would have named the male protagonist Beat, but I’ve already given that name to the Grafaiai that I used in Pokémon Violet. (…for a different reason, granted, but that’s beside the point.) In that vein, I named Saber’s pet Beck after Jaroslav Beck, the primary composer of Beat Saber. (It can also be interpreted as being at the beck and call of the protagonist.) As for the difficulty, I chose Hard “Classic,” using the latter term loosely because of my tendency to abuse the “Retry” menu option and the ability to reset the game, specifically to keep my units alive. (All I can say to justify it at this point is that it hits different.)
From what I can tell, Engage is essentially a cross between Fates and Three Houses, finding the middle ground between both games (for better and worse), laced with bits and pieces from all throughout the series at large. Now that I’ve gotten my “in a nutshell” statement out of the way, it’s time for me to do the same with what I consider the most annoying aspect so far. Based on how difficult it is to train Vander (the Frederick/Gunter equivalent of the game), I figured it would be best to level each base-class unit up to 20 before using a Master Seal (and save any Second Seals for when a unit reaches Advanced level 20 or Special level 40), but then there’s such a stark contrast between base units and advanced units that it takes 3-5 of the former just to deal with one of the latter, on average. This dilemma is especially evident in the power creep after Chapter 11, where hindsight holds that it pays to grind in abundance before Chapter 10, particularly with Kagetsu starting off at Advanced level 1. It also helps to not go through Chapters 12 and 13 too hastily, as they consist of silly gimmicks and more oddly high-leveled retainers (Pandreo, Bunet, Merrin, and Panette). Instead, now that I’ve unwittingly dug myself this hole, still about half my units are stuck at base level 17 (at the time of writing), and I’ve had no choice since they were “stuck” at base level 15 but to resort to Tempest Trial level 20, a three-map time sink that gets less fruitful the more the “Suggested” level of the average skirmish/training rises. (Chapter 16 is the point of the game that I call the “Advanced-pocalypse,” where literally nothing on the World Map has a “Suggested” level any less than Advanced level 1. Granted, Lyn’s paralogue claims to be Base level 19, but the last time I checked the map, I saw one base level 20 unit accompanied by a crowd of advanced levels 2 and 4 units, so I’m not buying that.) This and the routinely Somniel activities are the primary contributors to my 80+ hours of game time, I suspect. (Another insufferable aspect is being strapped for gold, which has once urged me to sell prizes from Wyvern Rides, and not having enough Master Seals to go around.)
(Note: The royalty + retainer pair recruit trios and the Somniel activities are the aspects I find the most comparable to Fates and Three Houses respectively.)
With all that ranting out of the way, I feel inclined to share two particularly stressful happenings that I have experienced in the main story.
Chapter 11: This is the (first?) chapter where the Draconic Time Crystal (Divine Pulse equivalent) is stolen from the protagonist’s possession, so “Every decision counts” indeed. A cavalier at the home stretch wound up with the Leif Emblem, fixing to jeopardize the rear guard and having a nonzero chance to crit Chloé and Saber, the only two units who could work towards averting the crisis. (The crit chances were single digits, but from my experience with the Fire Emblem series as a whole, I dare not put anything past any opposing units.)
Chapter 13: I bum-rushed the bosses too hard, not realizing that I was out of Time Crystal charges, and wound up having to make some risky plays. Jade landed a Tomahawk hit with ~47% accuracy, Clanne had to get at least one Chain Attack from Saber or Panette, and most of all, Amber had to get up-close and personal with the Brave Axe user. He had an 80-ish hit rate and a ~27% crit rate with his Killer Lance, while the opponent had a ~57% hit rate and easily 2HKOed. Amber needed a crit and got one, but he also got hit, meaning that he had to dodge twice during the Enemy Phase to survive. Miraculously, he did.
Now, since I’ve already touched upon Yunaka and the protagonist, it’s time to get more detailed about the notable characters of the game. Starting with Yunaka, the best way I can describe her personality is like Akira Kogomi from Lucky Star. Between that and her ostentatious appearance (which makes me tend to call her Boobaka), I’ve made it a point to deny the character, but what I can’t deny is her prowess on Avo +30 tiles. (Terrain Avo bonuses are doubled for Covert units like thieves, and her exclusive skill boosts her crit rate on such tiles.) Honestly, though, the crit bonus is the only aspect of her I prefer over Zelkov, the cooler thief character with a penchant for *emphasis* and an easier time avoiding attacks during Enemy Phases. (It’s also worth noting that thieves like those two are good for opening doors and chests.)
(Boucheron is what I would call the polar opposite of Yunaka: likable as a character (specifically the resident himbo), but his prowess as a unit leaves a lot to be desired.)
Speaking of mature-looking characters who are totally not my type, Ivy is like the second coming of Camilla, being strikingly similar but thankfully more low-key. The only other thing I have to say about her is that her line, “Have a nice flight,” sounds similar to Iris Heart from the Neptunia series.
That brings me to voice resemblance suspicions. I’m 99% sure that Clanne sounds like Pit from Kid Icarus and that Lyn is voiced by Wendee Lee (because she sounds just like non-HDD Blanc), but everything below is guesswork from a guy who refuses to look up the voice actors until after finishing the game.
Etie sounds like Mythra from Xenoblade 2. Also, I consider her an A-tier character for her orange hair and her uniqueness as a female. (Speaking of uniqueness, Seadall also breaks the mold as a male dancer, or so I find on account of Olivia (Awakening) and Azura (Fates).)
Citrinne’s line, “I claim this victory,” reminds me of Erica Mendez.
I have a sneaking suspicion that Céline sounds like Flayn from Three Houses.
Jade sounds like Kisara from Tales of Arise, although she’s more comparable to Samus Aran as a character. (Long blonde ponytail, tall and slender, wears armor in battle)
Lapis, my favorite character and possibly the actual cutest character in the whole series, has some Erica Lindbeck vibes, particularly in her victory lines.
The wildest guess of all, since Louis (honestly one of the absolute units in the game) resembles Azama (Fates) in Kellam’s (Awakening) armor, could he be voiced by Matt Mercer?
Back to the topic of sex appeal, Chloé is certainly not lacking on that front, but somehow I like her style enough to not mind as much as in the case of Yunaka and Ivy. (Part of it might be a resemblance to Therese Alexandrite from Rising of the Shield Hero, and perhaps also the oddity of the foods that she likes.) Hortensia, on the other hand, ain’t it. (She and Alfred are whom I would call two of the most annoying characters in the game. And speaking of annoying, Zephia is like Aversa (Awakening) but somehow worse.)
I think that’s about it for now. It’s been a long and grindy road, even what I imagine is not very far into the game, but somehow I’m engaged enough (not sorry) to consider it a worthwhile time sink.
First things first, as promised, the time has come for me to clarify my decision to abolish Poké Monday. To be honest, I’m tired of the gimmick, now that I’ve stripped it down to once per month, making it a lesser counterpart of Serebii‘s Pokémon of the Week. I also cannot deny my declining interest in the Pokémon series as it stands, which has begotten a lack of motivation to do this every other half-month between Monthly Musings. Now, that doesn’t mean I’m entirely through with the concept. Considering how many of my Monthly Musings (especially this year) turned out half-baked, my mind hatched the idea to dedicate future cop-out months to an alternative: Aleatory Alliance. The idea is to generate a series of random numbers (using random.org, naturally) to make a team of six Pokémon for a randomly chosen metagame. No matter their synergy or how scuffed they turn out, take them or leave them, for their juxtaposition is inevitable.
With that settled, on to more general matters. I used to go by Vouivre Critique on more platforms than by any other nickname, but I hereby conclude that this moniker has long overstayed its welcome. Allow me to explain the basis in an anecdote: On Black Friday weekend, I purchased an Oculus Quest 2 that would arrive the following Thursday. I already had an Oculus account to link to it, for reasons relating to my profession, but the name of it contained part of my last name, a piece of information that I will not freely publicize on the Internet. With that in mind, I felt inclined to come up with a new one to maintain my anonymity while not being as lofty as my other usernames. As I pondered, the usual Vouivre Critique and my Switch username Myga Drive came together in Vouiv596. (The “Myga” part of my Switch username is short for Mygavolt, the French name of my favorite Pokémon, number 596 in the National Pokédex. As for the “Drive” part, it originated from Mega Drive, one of my favorite anime characters, yet it can also refer to how much I drive my car, the drives in my PC, or the drive I have when I put my mind to anything.) I propagated this succinct username to my Twitch, Twitter, KnowYourMeme, and Discord accounts, as well as the Gravatar account behind this very blog, prior to scheduling this post over five hours in advance. (However, I have no inclination to change any of my Google accounts or MyAnimeList username, as I like them the way they are.)
Considering the above changes, I’ve been contemplating using my Twitter account for more than just letting WordPress drop links to my blog posts. (Those don’t even get many clicks anyway.) The sort of shouting in the nether that my Thought Dumps tend to constitute are just what I envision as prime microblogging content. (For instance, I could talk about an anime I just started watching, e.g. “Komi Can’t Communicate feels like witnessing the trials and tribulations of another me.” Or a video game I just started playing, e.g. “Beat Saber fills the Guitar Hero-shaped void left by my last controller that kicked the bucket. Not only that, but it’s a better workout and offers a user experience like no other.” I could also try finding uses for memes that I never bothered sharing for whatever reason.) I mean, I have been advised something to the effect of putting my sense of humor to better use, as well as not worrying so much about what other people think.
That’s about it for this final Monthly Musing. I will continue blogging monthly as I do, just that all future posts will be spared the gimmicky subtitles that characterize my legacy blog posts. (The normal ones, obviously.)
On one hand, it’s been only two months since my last Loaded Month. On the other hand, I genuinely can’t think of a specific topic that I’m not saving for a later date. Therefore, I’ll just make this a simple progress report.
I finished up Tales of Zestiria about halfway through the month, and I’m almost done with the X (the anime), which may or may not be the final push in inspiring a review of Berseria and Zestiria.
Cinq du Soleil: Nouveau, my latest creative writing WIP, is about 2/3 through 1-3 out of 1-7. Hopefully I can finish strong by the end of the year?
Last month, I mentioned wanting to do an All Badges speedrun of Phoenotopia: Awakening sooner than later. In retrospect, considering the Phoeno-versary to which I originally wanted to commemorate the run has already passed, I’m thinking there’s no rush. Maybe I can save it until the anniversary of the PABCAB trailer? Maybe some time later? Preferably no later than the anniversary of PABCABX.
On a whim, I started reading Seirei Tsukai no Blade Dance (the light novel), fixing to give that series the same treatment as Juuou Mujin no Fafnir. Currently, I’m up to Volume 9/20, Chapter 4/7, i.e. not even halfway done. I somehow don’t remember when I started, but if I had to guess, I’d say it’s about a month’s worth of progress.
When I’m reminded of the manga series Gabriel Dropout, as I was early in the month, it makes me wonder: Why is Satania the fan favorite? Where’s the love for Raphiel? I mean, each character in the main quartet has her fair share of charms, but I personally find Raphiel the most appealing because she’s a big girl, yet not the flaunty type of big, and she is proficient at smiling to conceal her negative emotions (e.g. indignation, emotional pain) and uphold her reputation as one of the top angels in her class. (Also, I identify as a Christian, so I’m a bit biased towards the angels.) Piecing together her lesser popularity with how much the Haganai fanbase hates Yozora (another favorite character of mine), I suspect that such characters are viewed as naught more than bullies. Me, I consider each a necessary evil at worst, if only out of sympathy for the character in question and/or out of spite towards the characters they normally mess with. (In the case of Haganai, my character rankings lie on a spectrum with “cool” on one end and “whiny” on the other. Starting from the “whiny” end, my order of heroines is Maria, Sena, Kobato, Yukimura, Rika, and Yozora. Specific aspects of Yozora that I like are her black hair, no-nonsense attitude, and inner modesty.)
Where did all this come from? Well, on this train of thought, I felt the urge to use creative writing as a means to express my appreciation for the character type in question. I did mention having come up with a new story idea at some point (and heck, I came up with another one since then), but I ultimately discarded both in favor of sticking to the premise of Cinq du Soleil. That said, the current Cinq du Soleil has no room for such a character until too late in the story for my liking, and considering how long it’s been since I started out and how much more media I’ve consumed since then (Remember when Trinity Seven aired?), I sometimes look back and can’t help but regard it the way I regard the 3D series of Pokémon games: as an experimental work. Not that I intend to discard it any time soon, but I want something less along the lines of Trinity Seven: with as even a gender ratio as possible, less plot armor, fewer Deus ex Machina moments, and less blatant inspiration from Japanese media (namely in character nomenclature and arbitrary use of katakana, but not so much on the front of perverted elements). More importantly, I suspect that the story has too many happenings to explain logically except after the fact (if at all) and that most of the characters therein are self-insert and/or lacking in personality.
Based on the above, and to finally disambiguate the title of this blog post, I hereby publicly announce that whenever I resume writing stories as a pastime, I will prioritize an upcoming side story named Cinq du Soleil: Nouveau. (I was tempted at first to discard the “experimental work” (but not the D&D spinoff thereof) and reveal all my planning ahead as a sort of grand finale, but I decided based on the existence of Cells at Work: Black that such measures would not be necessary.) I intend to make this side story a “filtered” version of the original, maintaining most of the lore with a few bits and pieces while addressing the concerns I mentioned earlier. For example:
The titular troupe (replacement term for “party”) still has a Sumire and an Aka, but their surnames are Ohzora and Mitsurugi respectively. The other members are named Guy Dupont, Ella Armstrong, and Magnus Armstrong. Ella is Magnus’s sister and will be the character to embody the Yozora/Raphiel archetype (leaning more towards Yozora). And hey, now they’re actually “Cinq” without any exceptions.
As for the Lunar Brigade, Midori Hanamura is unchanged, Ao’s last name is now Yukihiro, Dealer has a new secret name, and the other two members are Lyman Thorpe and Eugène Dupont. The latter is Guy’s brother and similar to Oda Koroi.
Lastly on the character front, the Chief Elementals of Water, Earth, Flora, and Spirit have new names (and the former two have different genders): Sho, Theresa, Allison, and Spencer.
As inspired by So I’m a Spider, So What?, I’m considering making educational environments integral to the world of Solluna (and, by consequence, the protagonists), that way I can be more upfront about the mechanics that I previously tended to formulate as I went. This, I feel, will be a key step towards making the story as logical as it can be: putting more “why” and “how” into all the “what.”
Speaking of doing things as I go, I suspect that my writing style differs from chapter to chapter, considering that my pace has been logarithmic, so I’m hoping that I’ve lived and learned enough by now to show improved consistency.
For the time being, this is all I have to report. Look forward to the follow-up.
Last month, I said that I would finish collecting all badges in the Steam version of Phoenotopia: Awakening and maybe record a Zero Trial run of the game, but guess what? Just as the wind blows, I find myself once again dithering among hobbies.
On one hand, I’ve taken up writing Steam guides for Phoenotopia: Awakening, doing all I can to lighten the workload of Pimez (who is renowned as the number one Phoenotopia fan, yet thinks of me the same way). Unfortunately, the process has been riddled with writer’s block, so it took me a week or so just to make a guide on the controls and upwards of one month for a walkthrough of the main story, which I merely intended to make an improved version of a walkthrough that I had already written last year.
On the other hand, which I would call my primary source of writer’s block, I decided to get Xenoblade Chronicles 2 early this month (a week prior to the Nintendo Direct, might I add) and immersed myself in Bravely Default II the day it came out. (Between the two, I also tried out the Project Triangle Strategy demo (which I like to call Octopath Tactics); looking forward to further development, and Hughette is just my type of character (succinctly Shamir on a griffon).) In regards to the former video game, as much as I enjoyed my experience with Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition last year, I was reluctant to bother with the sequel—partly in favor of my backlog (namely Phoenotopia and Neptunia), and partly because I judged from what little I knew that the story would involve a formulaic harem. This judgement was naturally defied; Rex is not as meek as I expected, Pyra more interesting, and the cast certainly more diverse. (I find Mythra the most attractive, but Tora is my favorite character. In Xenoblade 1, I (generically) like Shulk.) Also, the game mechanics are fresh compared to those of standard RPG sequels (e.g. Bravely Second, Neptunia 2/3), and it doesn’t immediately tie itself to the previous installment. As for Bravely Default II, it’s everything I hoped for, particularly after experiencing the Final Demo (in which I (painstakingly) managed to defeat Anihal within the time allotted). I’m only up to Chapter 1 at the time of writing, but feel free to have a gander at my WIP Job Compendium, perchance to get an idea how far I’ve progressed. Obviously, it will be difficult to balance these two RPG sequels, but…challenge accepted.
At least I managed to normalize my sleep schedule, primarily by letting go of late-night game shows (as I’ve exhausted them at this point) in favor of the new episodes that Game Show Network has to offer in the afternoon. (Specifically: Master Minds, Get A Clue, Chain Reaction, and People Puzzler on weekdays.) I think remembering to have three square meals a day also contributed to getting my head straight.
(By the way, if this seems a little rushed, that’s because it is. I did mention having writer’s block in constructing Steam guides, and it plagued me here too.)
(This is technically a Loaded Month, but I’d rather not name it as such because my last Loaded Month was literally two months ago.) I don’t think I’ve talked about it on this blog, but my YouTube channel (EchecCritiqueMisc) has a video walkthrough playlist called PHST, which I created as a 100% speedrun tutorial of the original Phoenotopia. In that vein, a fan of mine (never thought I’d say that) suggested to me that I should make an Awakening counterpart of it, so I put out a trailer last month.
This trailer shows off the possibility of winning the second Katash fight under Zero Trial conditions (and the end sequence too, as a bonus), thereby getting the Dark Wings badge at the same time as Zero Trial (and Victory by proxy). It truly is harder than it looks, even without mentioning the battles that precede it, but it has potential to save at least fifteen minutes in the All Badges category of the game. Speaking of which, the new series will be called PABCAB, meaning “Phoenotopia: Awakening – Briskly Collecting All Badges.” The use of the term “briskly” instead of “speedrun” denotes that I intend to record the walkthrough before I start running the category—contrary to PHST, a product of experience with the category it entails. Now, the takeaway is this: When I said PABCAB was going to be “a long time in the works,” I wasn’t kidding. In fact, because of how hard it has been to find recording opportunities, especially with a family ordeal that happened at the tail end of the month, I…unfortunately have made minimal progress.
Therefore, I’m back to playing other video games, and I managed last week to complete Neptunia Shooter after 12.5 hours overall.
My inexperience with the genre and commitment to Phoenotopia: Awakening inhibited me, but now I’ve moved on (300k and damageless be darned) to Super Neptunia RPG to finish catching up with the series, so it is now likely that I will publish a finalizing review next month. On another note, I got Kid Icarus: Uprising as a side purchase with a GameCube-style Switch controller. Not only does the game feature anime-style dialogues that have always had me enticed, but it also plays like Star Fox Assault, and I like it that way. I also recently downloaded Pix-O-Mania, a Conceptis app that presents irregular Block-a-Pix puzzles in a level-based freemium format like Pokémon Shuffle, right down to the twists like stroke limits, time trials, concealed numbers, bombs, and darkness. And I gotta say: as much as I fancy myself a puzzle pro, 8-28 took me ages to three-star.
Changing gears, I’d like to talk about the anime of this season. Ever since catching up with Fire Force, I’ve further broadened my horizons by dabbling into some of the other series. (Call it a withdrawal of sorts, the likes of which compelled me to watch Shield Hero right after Bofuri.) The following are listed in the order I got into them, which also happens to be ascending order of appeal.
Assault Lily: Bouquet – I think of this as Madoka Magica meets Unlimited Fafnir, although it has yet to introduce an antagonist on the caliber of Kili. That said, I find Moyu to be a charming character and Miriam to have notable voice work.
Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear – The synopsis mentioned a girl making a gimmicky decision to become overpowered in a virtual game, so of course my mind went to Bofuri (which I get that I’ve been mentioning ad nauseam, but I just can’t help myself). In this case, the protagonist (Yuna) is more mature, willingly gets herself trapped in the game world and watches over the children thereof (instead of testing her mettle in competitive events). Thus, it doesn’t lend nearly as much to the action as to the “cute girls doing cute things” aspect.
Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle (Maoujou de Oyasumi) – Syalis in this show is similar to Yuna, becoming a menace to her environment in order to enjoy simple pleasures in life. Yet, Syalis is imprisoned in a demon castle, rather than trapped in a game world, and has but one pleasure: sleeping through the great many days that her hero will take to rescue her. In an unusually literal manner of speaking, she dauntlessly goes through hell to satisfy her needs as a sleeper, which vary every time she wakes up. It’s just comical how she defies the expectation of being a damsel in distress with her antics that baffle the demons every time. That said, she’s so cute when she sleeps, perchance an icon in rethinking the value of sleep.
All in all, this anime season is a solid one, albeit not as much so as Winter 2020. Not only are the series not quite up to par (on which note I’d like to add that Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken is what I would call “surprisingly good” like Ping Pong the Animation), but the weekly episode timings are not as fluid, what with Assault Lily: Bouquet, Pokémon ’19, DanMachi 3, and Fire Force 2 all falling on the same day. (Winter 2020, by comparison, had me watching no more than two episodes per day of the week.)
And one more thing: Although I have moved from the residence where I’m used to having a personal TV on which I can watch game shows while doing computer work, I’m now at a residence with another such TV. (Since the one time I reviewed game shows, I’ve solidified my opinion on Snap Decision, Match Game, Master Minds, Winsanity, and Divided. The former two never really stuck with me, but the latter three are entertaining. To put Match Game in an analogy, given that America Says is boneless Family Feud, Match Game is none Family Feud with left beef.) However, it’s a small CRT with no HDMI port, so I can’t route my capture card into it if I want to record Nintendo Switch footage; instead, I have to relocate the HDMI from one of my desktop monitors to the capture card, another one of the multitude of inconveniences hindering the production of PABCAB. (Funny how I came around full circle in this conclusion.)
Vouiv-review 
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