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starseed-twenty · 2 years

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Mars signs and their energy 🔥

[I am being very biased here. 😂 I’ll probably write a more detailed/accurate one later.]

🦾 Aries Mars 🦿

So first things, Aries is in its planetary ruler here, so Aries feels very comfortable here, enough for a person to really see how Mars' natural traits can manifest. The aggression, the fire, the passion, the dominance. Ultimately, they make for great pioneers and initiators of something other people could still be scared or shy to do. With the good side though (their daring energy and ability to just be true to who they are), there’s also the bad side. They can be temperamental and pretty much apply pressure to those around them [to which I theorize that being based on them having pressure on themselves as well, so they just constantly live on pressure], but it’s never out of bad intentions really. They just like things hot, quick and straight to it. Additionally, one thing about Aries Mars... they know what they want. And they make sure to get it. You can never doubt that. So, pursuing you as a romantic partner is a challenge they don't mind taking on. They like it. Oh and they like their partners rather mature. It doesn’t have to be age-wise, but just how they act should be confident and seemingly experienced.

In the physical aspect of things, it's probably obvious then that they're likely to go hard in whatever physical activity they’re doing (but they’d have to be interested in it first, or else they’ll fight to not be the one to do it). More often than not though, working out, dancing, sex, yoga, playing sports, etc... These are all things they’re okay with putting their energy into, doing them vigorously.

🦾 Taurus Mars 🦿

Okay, maybe not all the time. But man I have to clap hands for their consistency. If they set their mind to what they put their energy into, they will put their real energy into that. And this is in all aspects; romantic, workplace, family, etc. They also like to seem flawless at doing the things they do, or at least look good. Yeah, they do care about their looks, even if they lie and say they don't. It's not even a bad thing. It makes them know how to have and put together aesthetics and beautiful visions. But you just have to trust them, cause they do it with ease and if time is on their side.

With physical movements, they move in a collected and prim & proper way. Whether it be walking, or working out, or dancing, it's all prim. And in sex, they’d like to believe they know what they’re doing, (which they actually do most of the time) but truthfully... they’re hoping you’ll lead the way. They also hope this way is a sensual one, a lustful and steamy one, nothing boring. But at the same time, they don’t want it to always be the case (steaminess on steroids), sometimes they really just want to relax and enjoy peace with you.

🦾 Gemini Mars 🦿

Can I just drag you guys first for a bit? Gemini Mars are masters of being passive-aggressive. One minute they want to just have fun, the next they want to be serious. One minute they want you to lead the way, the next they want to show you how to do it. Honestly, having to deal with them is like having to deal with a 9 year old. Okay, I’m done dragging. In terms of their vibe Gemini Mars are interesting creatures, and they like things spicy, they want something fun and thrilling. They just can’t stay long if it’s boring, they’re not about that life. This also means they can be very playful, both in a way where they can play jokes on you (so get away from them if you consider yourself sensitive) and also in a way where they’re not too serious and in-deep in the things they do. They just like doing things for the fun of it.

Physically, these people can actually do any activity all day long, especially if it’s interesting. They may even find a way to make working out interesting if they’re bored. More often than not though, they just like doing things if it keeps them busy (and then a plus if it’s enjoyable); training, dancing, sex, yoga, even walking.

🦾 Cancer Mars 🦿

The sensitive vibe? Yes, it's active. These people can be quite attentively caring, but at the very same time, they can be cold, bored or self-centered. Their moods are off the wall. But they mainly come from sensing their environment. If the vibe feels weird, they become weird. If it's good and feels like a caring one, they let out their caring side too. More than anything though, they can't go too long without being their nurturing self if you need comfort or emotional security (especially if you're their partner). Besides the whole attentive thing though, they are cardinal signs so these people can be great at starting things and making those things have an emotional effect on people (being ruled by the moon). However, they're fairly shy/relaxed, so their ways of initiating whatever they want to could probably more private than one would assume.

Physically, they're calm yet serious/alert with their movements. Whether it be working out, yoga, sex, dancing, playing sports, etc., they have humble and soft approach, that's also obedient and attentive to what's going on. They'll listen to the instructor if they're having yoga classes, or listen to their body and feel good about themselves when they're working out, and even feel out what you want as their partner when it comes to sex. They're just there, in the moment.

🦾 Leo Mars 🦿

Something I see about Mars in Leo people is that they can be dramatic, but a modest dramatic. It may sound like an oxymoron, but they have a melodramatic vibe that only shows to people closest to them. So basically they can just exaggerate what’s going with them and their life. But in a public space, they can be self-conscious, so they play it very cool. Like very cool. Like they’re the coolest person in the room. But my, they’re actually just holding down what they really have going on inside. Inside is a passionate vibe, a fiery vibe, a vibe where they want to walk up to you and tell you what’s what [which if they’re confident enough, they will, but this depends on other placements].

In terms of the movement aspect of things (dancing, working out, sex, yoga, etc.), I’m telling you right now, they are confident beings. And no one can convince me otherwise. I see the way they move. They aren’t afraid to show you what’s up. In a public space they may be different, but in private? One to one? Boy, they have it going on. They just believe in themselves, and that’s what make it cool.

🦾 Virgo Mars 🦿

Virgo Mars energy is a very composed, calm and goddess-like one. Their approach to anything is one that's met with a good energy that's subtle and flawless (or so they act). They also like to plan, but they are pretty on and off with how they do things (being a mutable sign), so the results of things can a bit different than what they plan. They're either shy or coy about putting themselves out there, or they just have fun and become smooth & groovy. When they're very sure about something though, they're stubborn about doing it until it gets done (they're still an earth sign). Romantically, these people can be very analytical. They sense and scope like no one’s business, from the present in how you’re acting and what they think you’re feeling, to the future for you and your guys’ relationship. Virgo Mars will just be in there observing and trying to scope out what’s going on.

With physical activities, these people can be very confusing. What makes them confusing particularly is that they are both shy and confident beings in displaying their energy and aggression. Okay, working out isn’t a problem for them (though they may not do it often). But whenever they are *in* the act of doing that physical thing, they get shy but pretend so much to be confident that they actually pull it off until they themselves feel themselves being confident as well. In a general sense though, they are shy, reserved beings.

🦾 Libra Mars 🦿

Similar to Aries Mars, Libra Mars know what they want (contrary to popular belief for fellow indecisive Libra). But with them, getting what they want take a bit of a different route. They don’t take the path of hot, quick and straight to it. But rather, they take things into consideration first before being anything is implemented (which can then lead to their indecision). In essence, they take their time. And I don't make it takes a long time. I mean they're basically careful and attentive to what's required for what they're about to put their energy into. They try make anything they put their energy into seem graceful, or at least cool and simple. With relationships and all, funny enough, I don’t see many of them being the type to prioritize romantic relationships. They actually like focusing on themselves and creating their lifestyle and building their image. However, if the opportunity presents itself and it seems like a good one, they are the most thoughtful and loving beings you could ever date. It’s just about you not taking them for granted.

In other, more literally physical activities, like dancing, sex, working out... they actually apply more pressure than one would think. They want to get the thing done. So being the cardinal sign they are, they’ll act on it and try to finish it [I think its because there’s not much to think about, all they have to do is just do. So things become easier for them, so they’re not slow, instead they get straight to it and try to do it all gracefully].

🦾 Scorpio Mars 🦿

This is where the devil comes to play. With a Scorpio Mars person. From romantic connections, to friends, to their professional life, things for a Scorpio Mars are just about looking at everything through a deep/occult lens. Doesn't necessarily actually devilish or dark or whatever, but just that it merely goes beyond what's simple. And what's fun is that they play it cool. But I'll tell you now - Be careful not to get trapped into the wicked ways of a Scorpio Mars, they're good at what they do. That is - their intuitive aura towards you if they see you in a romantic way, their sex, their calm yet powerful energy, and being quite possessive. These may all seem enticing to one who likes an attractive vibe like theirs. But... it can be toxic. And that's all I'll say.

Besides the romantic side of things, the way these people move is the most interesting way of all the zodiac signs. They seem like they're not trying to be seen, and that could be what they aim for, but something about them and the way they move tends to make people want to get drawn in to them. It doesn't have to be in a romantic/sexual way. But even just working, or physically training, or in family/friendly territory; their energy is subtle one, but touches people. It just happens. Don't ask how cause I don't know either.

🦾 Sagittarius Mars 🦿

"Ah man, so many ways I can use my energy. " They tell themselves daily. Suddenly, they're out having fun with friends lol. But only after them either procrastinating the things they need to do, or actually doing a number of things and feeling accomplished with themselves, so, of to the bar. Oh and these people a sly. They move in sneaky ways. And I don't mean doing wrong things behind your back or anything. I just mean you never actually know what they're up to or how they're really feeling or thinking about you.. they could care, or they could not give a single fuck [it's more often the latter though]. Either way, it's just one insane skill they naturally have.

In terms of physical activities and stuff, they really want something interesting. So they often dibble-dabble on everything at least once (whether it be a workout routine, Pilates classes, dancing on Tiktok), and then attempt to commit to whatever one thing seems interesting and can have great results. Until they get bored, and then it's a new cycle all over again.

🦾 Capricorn Mars 🦿

The most respected and most respectful Mars sign of all zodiac signs. These people have an aura that is attractive in a masculine way (even if they are females). When I say masculine I mean they seem ‘in control’ and protective, over themselves and over other people, in a healthy way. They're also smart and know what to do and when to do it, and when they do it, it's serious and it involves self-control. These people are big on self-control, self-respect and self-care. That's what makes them pretty attractive. And that’s what they’d like in a partner as well, but can also balance their rather masculine energy (so someone who has a soft and angelic aura, but is also serious and has self-respect). The little downside is that because of how highly they view themselves, other people aren’t viewed as highly. Basically people just really have to earn a Capricorn Mars’ respect, rather than them giving it away easily.

In physical aspects, these individuals always have a particular plan in mind of what they’re physically working for. Whether it be working out, or whether it be a nice sex appeal, or whether it be a certain dance for whatever performance, they just have a vision and they don’t want to let it go until they see it. So essentially, this can make them hard workers, in order to achieve what they have in mind.

🦾 Aquarius Mars 🦿

Probably the most focused and intelligent Mars sign there is. And with their focused energy comes with confidence. Like, these individuals are confident. But the thing is, their confidence isn’t loud. It’s the type where only when you get close to them, you feel like they look like they’ve got their shit together (they may be crumbling inside though, but they’ll slice their arm off before they show that). It’s not necessarily a façade however, they actually believe in themselves and want to surround themselves with people who believe in themselves as well. Oh and Mars is a bit of a selfish planet, so Aquarius being here doesn’t actually mean they’re the humanitarians they’re always classed as. Rather, they use the energy they have in themselves to motivate you. So when it comes to sharing, it’s tit for tat. You pretty much have to show them that you’re caring enough so they can see where the standard is.

Physically? I’ve never seen these people being fitness fanatics much, so I don’t think they’re prone to working out. They just aren’t phased to look a certain way for other people. But they could do it for themselves and their health maybe. And for things that matter (money/work, family, their partner through sex, etc.), these are things they don’t mind going hard for.

🦾 Pisces Mars 🦿

Man I don't think there's a sign that seeks or creates comfort for themselves than this placement. They like and want peace. Life for them is moved through in a way where they feel like they have a lot of responsibilities and things that can be done, so they just want to relax and find a way to escape once in a while. Funny thing is though, they do fulfill a lot for themselves and manage to work at doing what needs to be done if there's even a hint of deadline (visible).. (contrary to them being viewed as lazy). The only thing about Pisces Mars, is the clinginess. This sign can attach themselves if they care about you romantically. As much as Mars isn't the planet of love, it does still rule energy and that energy can be put anywhere. With Pisces here, they put their energy into the relationship if they really like you, and can end up just making themselves comfortable with you in a great manner.

Oh, and with how they move (working out, sex, dancing, etc) - they don't. These mfs are lazy. But they'll give sex a nice try. Preferably if you're the dominant one.

#aries mars #taurus mars #gemini mars #cancer mars #leo mars #virgo mars #libra mars #scorpio mars #sagittarius mars #capricorn mars #aquarius mars #pisces mars #sag mars #cap mars #aqua mars

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ey3s-with0ut-afac3 · 21 days

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hii!!! could i request the outsiders (seperate) with like a theater kid reader

OH MY GOD YES OFC.

The outsiders with a theater kid!

(as someone who's so into films and acting, I love this.)

I'm gonna try to make these gender neutral and both platonic and a romantic relationship (romantic= pink, platonic=blue)

Ponyboy:

* I can already see him asking you to act out scenes from his books😭

* Absolutely admirers your confidence

* he's a good lair (as mentioned in the book), so I would assume he's a good actor and would gladly help you put with whatever.

* GOD, THIS BOY LOVES SEEING YOU PREFORM.

* he's 100 percent gonna let you do stage makeup on him

* he gets so giddy when you get on and off stage

Soda:

* Okay, lowkey, he thinks what you do is KINDA cool

* I don't see him as a huge theater person, but he's supporting you

* he's at least tried to do some sort of improve exercise with you once (if yk the freeze one thats what I'm talking about if not I can explain in the comments)

* Now, if you two are dating, this is gonna change a bit. He's more into it, just because you like it.

* Like ponyboy, he's gonna go to like every performance you have

* If you need help with a script, he'll be happy to call out you're line but he just can't read and perform at the same time with a straight face.

Soda trying to help

Soda:"VERONICA **giggles** OPEN THE, OPEN THE DOOR PLEASE**starts laughing**

Y/n:"What's so funny?"

Soda:"I just can't read it with a straight face😭😭"

Darry:

* Like the other brothers he's gonna TRY and help

* He's gonna stare at you like "🫥" when you use theather terms.

Y/n"It says I have to be stage front and with a 3/4 turn"*showing the script*

Darry:"wtf..🫥😦"

* He'll call out lines you missed but do NOT expect him to have any emotion

* He's gonna make an effort to come to youre shows but let's be for real, he's so damn busy

* He's let you do stage makeup on him ONCE

* like ponyboy said in the books, hes to busy to draw or read, so with this i feel like its more a you thing, he cant oay attention to it much but he trys!!

Steve:

* He has most DEFINITELY snagged you're script to read for fun

* He thinks it's nerdy but what ever

* If you asked he's would help call out or act out lines with you

*IM CRYING HES MAKING IT TO ALL OF YOURE SHOWS.

* he has gotten into your makeup more than once and ended up looking like Ronald mcdonald....

* He definitely zones out at shows, but he's gonna act like he saw everything... just let him get away with it😭

Twobit:

* 100000 percent enjoys the theater kid vibe

* I so think he would be a theater kid, and you two would be in a performance class. That's how you two met

* Please just let him read the script for his entertainment 💀

* Let's be honest, he's gonna show up to show a little tipsy, and you two will probably end up drinking after the show

* he lives for this shit. It's so entertaining to him😭🫶🏼

* Like Steve, he's gotten into your makeup

Dallas:

* Yeah no...he thinks it's nerdy

* if you ABSOLUTELY needed help, he'll sit down on his bed, you'll sit next to him, and go over lines

Y/n: "Heather duke...I forgot the line 🫥"

Dallas: *eye roll* "Heather Duke, no discernible personality, but her mom did pay for implants." He would call out call out from the paper script

* Like darry, he's gonna give you that. "🫥😦" Look, when you start yapping in theater, kid

* Okay, dating wise, he's a bit more open to the whole thing

* He's gonna go to your shows, but don't expect much. He's just not into it. He'll tell you that you did a good job, tho!

* He gets annoyed sometimes, but he doesn't day anything because he doesn't wanna hurt you😭🫶🏼

Johnny:

* He likes that you're confident. He knows he'd be scared to be up on stage

* He wants you to read the scripts like ponyboy reads gone with the wind to him in the book and movie

* He really only thinks about it when you bring it up

* He LOVES going to see you perform. It's so entertaining for him

* He would so tell you how good you did and what not after

* Dating him, I feel, would be a bit different. He would help call out lines, but that's really it. On top of that, I feel like he'd be nervous??

THANK YOU FOR READING!! Have a good morning/after/night🫶🏼

-Leilani

#the outsiders #the outsiders x reader #patrick swayze #darry curtis #dallas winston #matt dillon #two bit mathews #two bit x reader #steve rogers #tom cruise #johnny cade #ralph macchio #rob lowe #sodapop curtis

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devilheartsblog · 2 months

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Black Circle Musa AU (design & concept art)

The AU is in the name: Musa joins the Black Circle and becomes a Dark Fairy. Unlike Bloom she isn’t under a spell and joined them for her own reasons.

There she is!

I wanted Musa in this AU to be a mix of the Black Circle and a Dark Fairy. She’s an equal in the AU so I wanted her to have the same vibe as them. I had a hard time putting in red so when looking at the dark fairy references they leaned into purples, pinks and blues, which ended up making Musa’s look much better.

I wanted the wings to be smaller and there’s actually a reason behind it. Since she has dark magic it grants her the power to fly, hence why witches and wizards can fly without wings. But she’s also a fairy so she needs the wings for momentum. I love the purple wings sark fairies have so I kept it that way. Made the wings look like smaller versions of her Enchantix wings shape-wise.

First Concept:

This was the first design I came up with. Now usually I like the first design but I was struggling with her bangs and the outfit was too simple both in terms of the wizards and the Winx character design since general (I know about the later seasons’ dresses and yes I think they’re hella basic)

The wings and back are the things that stayed consistent.

Hair changes + Weapon

This one is less of design concept and more like light adjustments. I ended up keeping her regular straight bangs instead of the side-swept ones. I really wanted her hair to look like her season 3 cut because I miss it so much. Plus it could be her going back to being more tomboyish and hard on the outside rather than the softer version we got in season 4.

I feel like since she’s part of the Black Circle she needs her own specialty so she can summon a microphone as either sing into it for sound waves or swing it around for some gnarly damage

I also changed her top to have a zipper thing and become shorter.

Colors and cape (+ tiny Gantlos)

Aw look tiny Gantlos!

Anyway I decided to combine the zipper and the triangle cutout (don’t ask me how the zipper works, maybe it’s now a line) and I like it quite a bit. Her back is still exposed for her wings.

This is the point where I started messing with the colors as well. It was pretty hard combining red and purple without her looking a bit odd. I mostly envisioned her with Blue and purple gloves but I wanted red to be her main color.

And the bottom right is my favorite drawing. I like the pose and she’s showing off one of her powers. I was scrolling through some bocaloid shorts and it inspired me to give her fishnets. I also drew her boots and the design came together (except the colors whoch I figured out later)

That’s it for now, I’ll talk about the lore later. Thanks for reading!

#art #digital art #illustration #fanart #winx club #winx au #winx club musa #wizards of the black circle #here’s an AU I need to write about #i just really want a goth Musa man #she would rock the fairy hunter’s aesthetic ok?

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malacandrax · 4 months

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Hi! I absolutely adore your art and I wanted to ask if you had any tips/advice on how to get lineart in facial expressions right? You always nail it and I struggle everytime even if the sketch looks good :')

Thank you so much! HM! This is tricky- and kind of two questions, so I’ll answer it in parts. I think getting the essence of a sketch across perfectly into lineart is impossible and I rarely manage it, even if the result looks good, it’s still USUALLY different. Often I don’t do a real sketch and it means my lineart is more lively, because it’s got the energy of a first try instead of a stiff copy over a sketch? (though, I’m not certain I’d consider that ‘lineart’ as opposed to sketches in a solid pen?)

I feel like kind of a bastard showing this first one haha, you can be assured there were a number of undo's.

You can see that my lines are never really the same as the sketch, and I know a lot of artists myself included leave some of the thinking for the ink stage. However, some are really really tight in the sketch stage, and I think if you aren't confident with putting down solid lines then that way might work better. It depends though, and digital art has an undo, so.

I definitely gained line confidence through drawing straight in pen into my sketchbook, I like drawing expressions from ref over and over until they feel right lmao. (idk if this is good advice for all the time sketchbooking though, it definitely makes me less likely to try new poses or expressions from imagination because I can't erase)

-------- Some general things to consider- is your sketch fuzzy, is your eye reading a lot of loose lines as having potential- and dimension, and then narrowing it down to One Line flattens the finished version? Is your brush the same size, are you drawing in something thicker and losing the vibes because the lineart is thinner? Same vice-versa, are you losing detail because the lineart is thicker than the sketch?

Facial expression wise…I feel like choosing where to draw the lines is tricky and you have to really learn which ones work well with the opacity of a sketch, and Dont work well in a solid line.

Here’s a terrifying example LOL. Outlining everything on a face vs choosing which lines I think sell the expression. (The teeth are extreme but…) Often I put full cheek creases on just one side even if I know they would be on both, and just hint at the other side. It’s often a darker crease on the side furthest away anyway, so it works pretty good.

I honestly only learned to ink in the last few years and it's been a struggle to go against my painting roots haha, I’m sure other more experienced artists have better tips than me!

#mal talks #long post #oofa doofa #sorry I have no idea if this actually answers your question

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stemmmm · 3 months

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Stem's Thoughts on Harvest Moon 64

(that other title's too long so i'm cutting it down now)

Harvest Moon 64 opens on a scene of your character walking around the street, speaking to everyone in the village who’s come to the event. You quickly piece together that this event in question is actually your grandfather’s funeral, the same grandfather who’s farm you’re about to take over. This little scene beautifully sets up both the tone of the game, and immediately shows the player that this iteration is far more focused on the story and characters. HM64 tells a story about the lives of many people in a small, dying town. It is a story about life, and it is a story about death.

A short disclaimer before we dig in: I played this game before the idea to write these essays cropped up, and have not replayed it since then, so this will be mostly vibes. I will try to do my research to make sure I’m not straight up lying though. (Also all of the images in this one are from google because I don't have a means of getting images from my N64 other than photographing the tv screen and I'm not doing that.)

What’s new!

HM64, also called Harvest Moon 2 by HMGB2 and nothing else I’ve ever seen, is the direct sequel to HM SNES. It’s not a sequel in the usual way sequels are, where you’re continuing where you left off with the same character, but in that every main character is the descendant of their equivalent in the previous game. It’s not important to the story, in fact if you don’t already know this, you probably wouldn’t notice anything past some similarities. I played this game before I tried out SNES and it still took me a minute, plus having it directly pointed out to me to get it. Maybe I’m oblivious, who knows.

Gameplay-wise, this iteration is home of a few series firsts: For one, your house can be upgraded to have a kitchen! You can't cook though, only collect recipes. You can also get a greenhouse where you can grow crops year-round. Sheep are introduced as barn animals that produce wool. You receive a fishing rod you can use whenever you want, but as far as I understand, the timing is nigh impossible unless you’re playing on a CRT (I am not, and never managed to catch a single fish). There’s a mine you can access in winter for something to do while you can’t grow crops (there are fall crops, but not winter) where you can find about two key items and garbage otherwise. Tool upgrades are no longer done by magic, but by leveling them up through use! Which I think is very neat and feels very natural, like you’ve just become more proficient with them as a farmer through practice. Characters can now come to visit you on the farm at random times, for either special story events or just to say hi! Your farmer can get sick from working too hard in bad weather, just like your animals, and there’s now medicine for that, just like your animals. And there’s inventory menus that I'll discuss at better length later.

What’s the same is… Most things in a basic sense. You’re on a farm with a dog, planting crops, raising livestock. You can make friends with folks in town by talking to them and giving them gifts. The livestock mechanics, as far as I could see and as far as I’ve been able to understand from online forums, are exactly the same as they were in SNES, the exception being there’s no wild beasts that can kill your animals but they’ll still get sick if they aren’t fenced overnight– and they’re not going to eat any grass unless they’re out overnight anyways.

As for your farm, you’re set up with the usual: a small house, a barn, coop, and fodder silo, a wood bin to store debris cleared off your farm, and a big messy field that you have to clean up before you can properly use it. It starts with three new additions though; a doghouse, a bowl that you can feed your dog with by putting edible items in there, and a mailbox that you’ll occasionally receive letters and notices in! They’re small additions, but very, very charming. The one thing that’s been removed is the toolshed, now replaced by a tiny toolbox by your house.

The world outside your farm is like an enhanced version of the SNES map. Imagine the town and forest now have one or two extra sections tacked onto them, one in the town for some extra housing, and a couple in the forest to let you explore the mountain more and get you deeper into the woods. The mountain still has a cave in it (this time with Harvest Sprites, who have been removed from your farm) and a summit you can climb to for certain events, but it has been upgraded with little wild animals that wander around and can be picked up and shown to people for a few friendship points, if they like the animal. (This applies to your dog too, there’s a well known exploit to max out Karen’s friendship in one day by repeatedly showing it to her in the bar where time is stopped.) The crossroads zone is also expanded by having three new areas you can travel to– the ranch that you buy animals at, a vineyard that’s more of a story-area, and a beach that mostly comes into play for a couple of summer festivals!

On the visual side, this game is the series’ first venture into the new frontier of 3d graphics… kind of. The artstyle is made of isometric 3D models that are rendered into flat sprites and then projected onto the TV as if that’s not what’s happening. The game even lets you turn your farm around in 3D to face different directions, but it’s locked to only let you play in specific angles. Changing the direction made me forget where everything was and get lost on my own tiny farm, so I never touched that mechanic.

Due to the dramatic artstyle shift– not only being in 3D but also presented at a 45 degree angle, the game becomes a fair bit harder to play than either of its 2D predecessors. The controls are just a little clunky, and the bizarre shape of the N64 controller really doesn’t help. This makes the tedium of farming a little irritating to do, since it requires pretty precise inputs done over and over for every extra thing you’re trying to grow. Fortunately, you're not on the hook to ship everything before 5PM comes around like in SNES, so you get to move a little bit slower. The fickle farming experience also gets a little help from the new inventory menu that can be accessed anywhere and any time. It has multiple inventory slots for both tools and items, each type having a dedicated section so there’s no need to prioritize carrying tools versus turnips. Unfortunately, this actually ends up being a little more cumbersome than useful, as the menu takes a little longer than is comfortable to open and is pretty clunky to use. I mostly avoided it unless I was bringing gifts to people. But the addition of an inventory opens up the opportunity for something else which defines this entire game...

Key items– a set of unique, unsellable items –are most frequently found in random, secret places around the farm and town, and they give you a reason to scour every inch of the place. They can also be given to you by NPCs when you gain relationships with them, which is convenient because their entire purpose is to help you get even better relationships with each of them, and maybe even unlock little stories with characters. For example, there’s a music box you can dig up in your field that can be given to any of the girls for a decently sized relationship bump. There’s also an old weathervane in the shape of a chicken that you can find in the little mine. If you give it to Rick, he’ll tell you that it was a precious thing that belonged to his grandmother as a cute scene to deepen the town’s lore and connect it to the first game. Key items quickly become the most important and sought after things in the game because they act as a vessel to deliver that which the game is all about: stories.

Lots of people in a little town

The narrative premise is exceedingly simple: you need to fix up your grandfather’s ruined farm and make a new life for yourself in this town within a certain amount of time, just like its predecessors. Except, this game is a lot bigger than either of them, and it didn’t fill all the extra space with new things to grow on your farm. In my entry on the SNES game, I mentioned that the introspective style of writing turned the repetitive farming gameplay into something more like meditation on things going on in the town. This game takes that idea and runs with it! The town in this game may only be slightly bigger than it was before, but it has a lot more people in it, and every single one of them has a lot more to say, more to do, more festivals to go to, and more story events to take part in. There's even a new photo album that fills in with images for reaching special events or succeeding at certain festivals! Your given goal may be to successfully revitalize your farm, but that rapidly stops being the reason why you want to play. Farming is only a means to further the narrative of the town.

Story events are no longer a reward for reaching the highest heart level with a girl, but instead something that happens naturally in the world as you make better friends with people, or if you just happen to be in the right place at the right time. The world doesn’t only consist of you living it and things happening to you. Instead, you end up being a fly on the wall to other people’s conversations and life events, and you get to see how those events change the people around you. People will begin to say different things, go different places, live different lives without your input at all– often much better lives, as everyone in the town is pretty deeply troubled, whether they seem like it or not.

There’s an added depth, too. While the characters in this series have always been defined by their conflicts (in the first game, every big cutscene with each girl was exclusively about their major life conflicts), this game takes it further in multiple ways. Characters have conflicts with their families: you as the player have a conflict with your parents who can take you home if you fail to farm well, Lillia and Basil have conflict over their marriage and the fact that Basil leaves for half the year, and Karen’s family situation is…. A lot. Then, there are characters at conflict with things much more nebulous, like the Mayor who tells you that the town is going to die out but he can’t find any way to save it, or like the young boy Kent who wants to be a farmer just like you, but through a series of events is forced to learn that life isn’t so simple, people can’t just do whatever they would like, and it takes very hard work to get to do the things you dream of. And then there are conflicts that aren’t even necessarily conflicts unless they run into your long-term plans.

Instead of only having a bunch of girls in town who exist only as your prospective marriage candidates, there are also five boys in the town who will marry those girls instead of you, if given the chance. Like in SNES, there are 5 levels of hearts that the girls can have for you. Unlike SNES, each one of these hearts has a corresponding event you can have with the girl where there’s a chance of her liking you more afterwards, if you say the right things. In addition to that though, there are just as many events coming from the other side of the story, rival events that trigger if you happen to be good friends with the boys.

My favorite story by far is that of Harris the mailman who falls in love with the librarian, Maria, from just seeing her handwriting on the outside of all the letters that she would write. I frequently saw him in the bar at the end of the day and he would tell me the woes of his love, saying that he just needed to work up the courage to finally speak to her. Then one day, I happened to be outside of the library when he and Maria met face to face and she handed over a letter addressed to him. No longer did he sit in the bar forlorn every night, instead all he would do was excitedly tell me about Maria, and then when I visited the library, Maria would tell me about Harris!

While I’m on the subject of these characters, I think it’s worth going in a little more depth on who these people are past the grandchildren of the characters from the last game. See, you may be familiar with names like Karen and Kai and Gray, etc., etc. from a little recently remade game called Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town, which is a modern version of Friends of Mineral Town on the GameBoy Advance, which is a port of Back to Nature on the PlayStation. These are not those characters. At all. While the basic elements of these characters are intact– Popuri is cute and childish, Ann is a workaholic, Maria is shy and a little oblivious –nothing else is the same. They all work different jobs and marry different people than they are paired with in later entries, and in my humble opinion, it all works WAY better in this game, probably because of the fact that these characters were designed for this specific context!

As an example, Popuri’s exasperated mother, Lillia, runs the flower shop and Popuri was named by her father, Basil, who loves plants. She’s childish and sweet and loves flowers, but can also be a complete brat. She eventually marries Gray, Ann’s brother, who lives on the ranch run by his father, Doug, who struggles to understand his children. Gray is an angry young man who seems to have a particular dislike for you, but you don’t learn why until you discover he was a promising young jockey until he got a bad injury and had to give up the sport.

Am I gushing a bit and letting the game design part fall to the wayside? Sure probably, but I can only gush because the game does a brilliant job of making a cast of characters who, while simple on their own, have interconnected lives that come together to give every one of them so much more depth than they would have otherwise. It all builds a narrative, and while narrative design is definitely something different than game design on its own, this game is far more about the narrative so it’s impossible to not focus on.

The problems

The trouble with these events is that I nearly missed the chance to see that letter be exchanged. You have some control over the progression of the events, because you have to be decent friends with the boys in order for them to trigger at all, but unlike the girls who have a handy visual signal of how much they like you, the boys have no such thing, so you can’t really know if a new event is ready to fire off. There’s no way of knowing where or when they’ll happen either unless you look it up, and even then you have to get lucky because sometimes they just don’t trigger when you want them to. I had a lovely moment in my game where I managed to accidentally catch a cold from working too hard in the snow and lost a day to being bedridden, followed by the New Years celebration which takes a day away from you, then followed by Kai and Karen’s wedding– something that I had missed multiple events for and therefore had no idea was coming, which also took a day from me. After that three day chain of no work, I think I was extremely lucky my animals didn’t get sick and die.

This chain of events led directly to me never speaking to Gray again, even though he was the boy I was most interested in, because I wanted to marry Popuri and there was too much risk of him getting to her before I could. The reason why I didn’t go into more detail about the relationship between those two when I was talking about them earlier is because I straight up don’t know it, I couldn’t risk giving them a chance to get together.

The thing is, even if I hadn’t forced Gray and Popuri’s cutscenes to stop, I still wouldn’t actually know what their relationship is like, because I have not beaten this game. I know what the ending entails and I can reasonably expect I probably would not have gotten an excellent one, but I’m sure it still would have been fine. I stopped playing the game entirely before I even managed to get married. Why? Because I couldn’t get any of Popuri’s heart events to trigger. I had her hearts maxed out and had a blue feather ready to go in my pocket, so I could turn on the game and marry her right away anytime I wanted to. But I wanted to trigger the little events, even if they’re just a couple seconds of some pixels talking to me on a screen. They’re cute. And it made me sad that I couldn’t see them for some imperceptible reason. So I stopped playing and didn’t pick the game back up.

I don’t remember how close I was to the end of the game, I know I was at least in year 2, but I don’t even remember how much longer the game is after that. Probably a good amount. I had definitely gotten most of the events you could get at this point, since multiple other characters had gotten married, and the farming wasn’t something I really enjoyed so I can’t say I wasn’t at least a little bored by this point, but I wasn’t frustrated with the general mechanics of the game. The days were long enough, but not too long, that I had just enough time to go anywhere I wanted and do what I needed before night came. I could still talk to characters and go to festivals and play minigames. But I didn’t want to, because the game wasn’t doing what it seemed like it was supposed to for some arbitrary reason and that frustrated me enough to make me stop. When the fun of a game is found more in experiencing special events rather than anything else, the player feels cheated out of their good time when those events are too hard to find or can be missed outright, and that’s exactly what I experienced.

Parting Thoughts

The ending, according to what I've read, is very similar to the SNES endings, in that you’ll get different results based on all of the different things you’ve done. Whether you’re married, how many crops you shipped, how many animals you have, how well liked you are by the town… I imagine it’s not quite the victory lap that SNES’s ending was with its little cutscenes, since apparently all you get are comments on how well you performed by various people in the town, but it still seems nice and rewarding! At least like more of a reward than whatever the hell GB1 was trying to do. It seems like a perfectly good ending that it would be nice to see myself someday.

Despite all my troubles with this game, I believe HM64 is still the best one out there– at least that I’ve played yet. The events are plentiful and the content is meaty. The repetitive day to day dialogue still has the simple breath of life that SNES did, that manages to make the most out of a small amount. Don’t get me wrong, this game came out in 1999, I’m giving it a lot of praise but the characters still repeat the same line to you every day, and they still freeze in place until you leave the room. It’s revolutionary, but this is comparing it to a game on the literal Super Nintendo. Absolutely pick up this game to try it out, but keep those expectations tempered. That said, I never picked up this game nor knew a thing about it until I was well into my 20’s, but the moment I started playing, it hit me with a wave of nostalgia as if I’d known this game my whole life. At least to me, the look and feel of the game were like coming home to a childhood I never had.

Will I pick up this game again with the intent to beat it? Maybe! Hard to say for sure when I’m trying to play decades worth of games and write about them at a comprehensive level. What I do know is that this is exactly what I want more farming games to be. It’s a game that has thoughts about life, and about death, both good and bad. And I think this is the perfect context to share those thoughts.

#hm posting #harvest moon #story of seasons #harvest moon 64 #hm64 #m.txt

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prettyrealm · 3 months

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itzy yuna as a bestfriend

overall:

first of all, yuna wants her bestfriend to be super pretty and attractive, she does her very best to provide emotional support to others so she wants someone who can handle her trauma dumping and provide heavy emotional support in return, she tends to hold herself accountable in her friendships and takes them very seriously, she won’t neglect you, she’s not the type to leave you on read for long periods of time and she’ll make sure you two don’t spend too much time apart even if she’s extremely busy. she wants to be there through everything and hold onto you through ups and downs, she wants the friendship to feel meant to be, but at the same time, she’s very guarded and holds herself back as she’s been betrayed by a friend before and fears it happening again. she’s the type to continue listening to your troubles, even if they’re “annoying.” Like, if you keep going back to your shitty ex knowing you shouldn’t, but still keep needing to vent, she will listen to you genuinely. she’d pretty much be happy to help you through any emotional mess. she also has a problem with lying to keep her friends happy though, like she won’t tell you to straight up dump your trashy ex if she thinks it’s hopeless anyway.

strengths:

she will be the #1 most comforting person to talk to. “everything is gonna be okay” and many compliments. she’s very good at saying what you want to hear. she won’t say anything to hurt you. she’s the type to not give advice at all actually and will let you do what you want and support you through your good and bad decisions. she won’t push her opinions onto you. she’s a big spender. let’s say there’s a super expensive and fancy restaurant that she wants to go to, if she knows you can’t afford it, she’ll pay because she wants to share that experience with you. she may even have sort of a motherly vibe, she wants to take care of her friends for a long time. she wants to be in almost constant communication and won’t ever make you feel unheard. if she’s on tour or working a lot she’ll be sure to text you whenever she can. extremely willing to do things she doesn’t like as long as her friend does, “if you like it, I love it.” If you’re yuna’s bestfriend you will genuinely feel loved by her.

weaknesses:

she’s not much of a girl’s girl - at all, she’ll listen to your problems, but she’s secretly judging you hard and may even vent to other friends about you even if she isn’t telling you directly what she thinks, romance >> friendship - as much as she’s there for her friends, her love life will always come first, she definitely makes herself come across a lot nicer than she actually is to your face, she tends to build up resentment and won’t ever communicate - she gossips instead, (considering her love life comes first, if she’s dating, she would 100% be complaining about her besties to her partner), she’s a very big liar, she really wont ever tell you what she’s really thinking. she’s shallow - she wants her friends to be young and pretty like her, she’s okay with earning more money than you, but you have to be on the same level of her socially and appearance wise.

what type of friendship does yuna want?

she wants a bestfriend that has the same beliefs as her (if she’s religious, she could prefer friends to be of the same religion), she likes being the one people feel they need to go to, she wants to be able to ask anything of you and for you to just do it. like, if she says “hey, l need you to make a fake account and stalk my ex on instagram” or if she needs you to lie to someone for her she needs to know she will be able to ask you to do that, she needs a lot of reassurance that you’ll stay by her side and not leave or betray her, compliments and saying nice things to each other is super important to her. I think to her, friendship is more about feeling emotionally happy in the moment, so her actual opinion of you and your actions doesn’t matter, therefore honesty and being up front isn’t that important. it’s about making each other feel good when you’re together, and feeling supported when you communicate and need each other. to yuna, that takes precedence over everything else.

#first ever as a bestfriend reading 🥳🥳#tarot #kpop tarot #kpop readings #kpop #celebrity tarot reading #celebrity tarot #piano tarot #tarotblr #itzy yuna #yuna #as a bestfriend

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shadamyheadcanons · 10 months

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Been thinking a lot about this and wanted your thoughts. Isn't it strange the only character shown to not be openly afraid or judgemental of Shadow is Amy? I think the only one that comes close to that is Rouge but even then

A lot of characters are easily intimidated, scared of, not trustful or even judgey of Shadow a lot of the time. Which given some past actions and his general vibe is understandable but it never seems to apply to Amy

Even when she mistook him for Sonic she wasn't immediately scared afterwards just confused and later encourages him to save the world because she believes that he is a good person deep down. It's especially prominent in the Sonic takeover video, like when it's revealed that both Shadow and Amy enjoy Taylor Swift?

Sonic is surprised that Shadow the Edgy boy likes a pop artist and treats is a semi big deal. Amy meanwhile is just happy they have something in common, not even a 'oh that's surprising coming from you', just general happy they share similar music tastes

I might be thinking too deeply into it but it occurred to me that Amy never treats Shadow as someone to be scared of and treats him as no different from anyone else right from the start.

Tbh, I don’t think it’s strange at all. It’s standard Amy behavior. Metal Sonic is a scary robot who kidnapped her as a kid, but she still helped him without hesitation in that Sonic Mania short, even after he startled her. Gamma was an armed robot who was keeping her in a cell, but she didn’t show any fear toward him; she stood up to him to protect a Flicky, then befriended him immediately. She saw Silver nearly murder Sonic with incredible powers she’d never encountered before, and she still jumped in front of him to protect Sonic anyway. The werehog was big and scary, but not only did she accept Sonic in that form, she hugged the werehog the first time she saw him and showed no discomfort about it, merely expressing confusion at having hugged the wrong person even though she actually got it right that time.

She just doesn’t see anyone as a monster. And while that’s wonderful and wholesome, it’s a little worrisome, too. Rouge likes and trusts Shadow, but I don’t think she’s unaware of the extensive damage he could do. Omega probably feels the same way. That’s the wise way of looking at it.

But Amy? It’s not just her faith in the goodness of others, it’s straight-up naiveté. Her upbringing was rife with violence, kidnapping, danger, and death, and now she doesn’t know what’s normal. This is the same girl who somehow waltzed onto Prison Island with the intention of casually rescuing Sonic from a high-security prison by herself. If Tails hadn’t shown up, she easily could’ve died! She’s honestly lucky she’s gotten this far without being seriously injured or worse.

I’m sure Shadow loves that she doesn’t fear him and truly values her for that, even if he doesn’t say so, but he’d worry about her, too. I can picture him thinking, “She clearly has no sense of self-preservation. I’ll have to look after her to make sure nothing happens.” Maybe he already does. It could figure into their interactions at Cryptic Castle in ShTH. This sweet girl takes one look at him, of all people, as terrifying as he knows he is--on the darkest story routes you can take, no less--and she says, “Friend? :D” before running off alone into a dangerous, haunted castle to save a child and a Chao. So he follows her. Because she clearly doesn’t know how to stay safe. And she’d be safer by his side than pretty much anyone else’s not only because he’s as strong as you can get in this universe, but because he’ll go farther than anyone else to protect the ones he loves. He knows how it feels to lose someone important, and he won’t let it happen again. It’s time someone put Amy first!

Still can’t figure out how Sega made these two characters so perfect for each other *by accident.* Most movies I’ve seen can’t craft things so well even on purpose.

#ask #waituntilwinterr #not a headcanon #shadamy

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rockmiyabideusexmachina · 3 months

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2024 Megaman Valentine's Day/White Day Contest Results!

Hopefully this post won't feel too rushed; it certainly is rare for me to get contest results posted before 2 days have passed. Once again, I thank everyone who drew something for this year's event, as well as those who helped spread the word. Even with a smaller turnout, you guys still made it really hard on me to choose winners. All your art is deserving of praise! I wish I could afford to give you all some prize money! While I am posting this right now a little late into the evening in my time zone, I will be sending all the winners a message about your prize winnings soon enough, later tonight. If you don't see something right away, just know my message is on the way, within the next few hours. After the break, you will see all the pics and this year's winners!

As usual, after each entrant’s name, there will be a link to their entry, too, just in case the inserted images don’t load for you. With a smaller turnout this year, everything has been uploaded into a single imgbox gallery folder. Should be alphabetical by alias for each category, with the first 7 images for Cat. 1, and the last 4 images in Cat. 2.

[Full entry gallery]

CATEGORY 1 (Talent): Black and White Day

For this category, participants were tasked with creating an image celebrating White Day, with the requirement that their art mimic the "rubber hose" art style from around the 1920's. All entries needed to use a black and white or monochrome palette. 1.) HikariLux [Entry] [GB Alternate] $175 Winner!

A cute scene with Rock presenting Alia with a ring that was made even better by adding an alternate original Gameboy palette pixel version of the same art. That added creativity made an adorable pic stand out even more, to give two different retro vibes to your art.

2.) @eulogysinger [Entry] $100 Winner!

As an overall scene, your piece felt the most like it was screencapped straight out of a 20's cartoon, so I give you your props on getting your style to match so well! You can feel the movement with the curve in the Big Snakey's necks as Snake Man slides on down to Toad with his candy bouquet gift.

3.) @sylviidaee [Entry] $75 Winner!

Sure, because of all the Axess storyboard posts I've been doing lately, this trio is probably in my mind more lately. But animating your piece to give it that added life, as the guys bonk each other with their gifts for Mariko, helped boost your entry into the top 3! LOL at the fish crying when Masa gets bonked. And again, style-wise, great job pulling off the rubber hose look.

And the rest of the wonderful entries in alphabetical order by alias: Kaitlin.EXE [Entry]

Y'arr, that Pirate Man be takin' the girl and a pricey pearl wit 'em. But I bet once Diveye the Sailor Man eats his seaweed, that Pirate has a few punches coming to him. Retro Splashy's design is so cute! Totally a fun scene and creative takes on all three.

Komito [Entry]

Like a vintage Norman Rock(man)well painting, the diner scene truly gives off the retro vibes, from the checkboard floor to Big Boy waiter Rock in the background. Love the touch of Splashy's straw curving into a heart shape as she longingly stares at Blues.

@wennastudio [Entry]

I get the vibe of Axl imitating Porky Pig here, saying "That's All Folks!" to end the episode, as he pops out before the fades out. And since you are alphabetically last, it makes your piece even more fitting to close out this category's pics with this cute piece!

CATEGORY 2 (Humor): Showing Some Skins

For this category, entries needed to contain a character wearing an out-of-place holiday-themed skin or outfit that was not Valentine's Day-related, while in a Valentine's Day scene or setting. Being the humor category, the more it makes us laugh, the better! 1.) @aurantia-ignis [Entry] $175 Winner!

🎵Zero the Snowman was a jolly, happy soul...but are YOU happy, Ciel? I love how Zero took White Day this literally to don this amusing snowman outfit. And out of all the entries for this category, you pulled off the absurdly humorous costume the best.

2.) @drewblossom [Entry] $100 Winner!

It might just be a simple party hat, but I mean, Bass isn't wrong. Subtle, but I was amused! The heart shaped speech bubble was a nice touch to help sell the dialogue's punch line as well.

3.) AbilityField [Entry] $75 Winner!

Clever way to show the rush in changing between events, as RiCO is in part Valentine's skin and part Celebration skin dress that are digitally switching. ViA has it much easier throwing on a coat. It's always easier for the guys to get ready, as they say.

4.) Miralie [Entry]

While Zero and Iris are dressed for the day, X's date does sort of have that Halloween vibe to her, as a witch. While Axl is clearly enjoying Singles Awareness Day...or doing his best Stuart Smalley impression by giving his Daily Affirmation that he's good enough, he's smart enough, and doggone it, Reploids like him.

#Rock Miyabi's 2024 Megaman Valentine's Day Contest #Rockman #Megaman #Mega Man #Fanart Contest

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sarah-cam · 9 months

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This is the same anon that just messaged about Jeremiah/Conrad! I forgot to add sort of in the analysis Jelly/Bonrad and why you think one is "better" analysis-wise or even personal-preference-wise 😊

alright i’m going to start this with just my personal preference and then get into an analytical side. a lot of my opinions on the ships revolve around my opinions of conrad vs jeremiah, because a lot of the reasons i don't like jere have to do with jelly (that post is here)

again, i want to start this by saying that if you ship jelly that’s awesome for you but to be blunt lbr y’all are delulu if you genuinely believe that bonrad won’t be endgame 😂

jenny han spent several years and three books building the relationship between belly and conrad, and now two seasons of a show where not only are belly and conrad ALWAYS the underlying relationship, but conrad is imo clearly the lead male over jeremiah. he continuously has storylines outside of his relationship with belly, vs jere's focus pretty much only revolving around that so far. she’s not going to change the endgame… she’s just not 🤷🏻‍♀️

first things first — i don’t choose the ship, the ships choose me 🙏🏼 it’s pretty simple and probably is for a lot of people, i just get all the tingly feelings and that’s that

from that first slow motion walk up, the chemistry was CHEM👏🏼IS👏🏼TRY👏🏼ING👏🏼!!! lola and chris have such amazing chemistry in every single scene, even when they don’t even say anything, and that chemistry is romantic straight from that very first scene

and i will admit, lola and gavin have good chemistry too!! (lola honestly has such great, unique chemistry with every other actor) even though i have my issues with it, the scene between belly and jeremiah on the side of the road DID hit me in the feels. the issue for me though is that the vibes i get are just not romantic in the same way as it is with conrad, its bestie vibes. at the very least, they start the show with bestie vibes and romantic vibes "develop". it just feels forced in a way, especially since belly and conrad is just always there.

i should be able to see it - you shouldn't have to tell me. most notably, when trusky goes on that weird rant about their "vibes" when they were literally just standing next to each other, worrying about conrad, and jere was rolling his eyes about conrad being depressed over belly. they constantly talk about their "ESP" but when it comes time to show how well he knows her, it's not even just that he doesn't know her favorite candy is sour patch kids - he literally doesn't know that she hates swedish fish

taking some points from my conrad/jeremiah analysis, i don't like the way jeremiah is manipulative and constantly makes belly feel guilty for being happy or simply just existing next to conrad. rolling his eyes when she seems a little jealous of sophie and when she has a little smile when she learns conrad was staring at pictures of her, constantly eyeing them when belly worries about conrad in "love fool", interrupts them with an angry look when they talk in the store in "love fest", brings her up in his fight with conrad also in "love fest", keeps giving nasty looks in "love triangle" when conrad gives her his sweatshirt, the stuff with the candy, and when their hands BARELY touch at the motel. in that same lane, i just feel like he invalidates her feelings a lot, shames her for loving conrad, and dismisses/shuts her down when she tries to talk about it (which was funny when lola said in an interview that jere made belly feel more heard 😂 she's fighting for her life out there)

the episode with his narration was PAINFUL. i'm sorry but he gave off the biggest incel vibes. everything he said revolved around hating on conrad or victimizing himself, like "doesn't she know i would treat her so much better?? doesn't she know how much i want to be sitting next to her?? conrad had no right to date her after ignoring her for years." IT WAS GROSS. and also, not true. jere said himself that he started liking her after she 'turned pretty' which... i don't even believe. he only started liking her after he saw her almost kiss conrad. he is supportive of cam cameron and encourages their relationship. he's only jealous of conrad.

to conrad, this isn't a competition or a game. and if it was, he would voluntarily lose if it meant belly would be happy.

and in case you were still doubting the iconic soulmatism that only occurs in the ultimate endgames - here ya go!!

tropes: i found an amazing list laid out here and picked out some of the best ones

all girls want bad boys

anguished declaration of love (more so the 3rd book so it hasn't happened yet)

childhood friends/best friends to lovers (yes because conrad is ALSO her best friend)

childhood crush

everyone can see it

first love/first guy wins

i want my beloved to be happy

settle for sibling

single-target sexuality (conrad only ever loves belly and lbr she only ever truly loves him)

unrequited/secretly-requited love

music: like... come on... it's pretty clear (and before you bring up delicate, don't: "this ain't for the best" "we can't make any promises")

lover, "can we always be this close forever and ever?"

the way i loved you, "and i never knew i could feel that much"

this love, "these hands had to let it go free and this love came back to me"

false god, "we'd still worship this love"

august, "for me, it was enough to live for the hope of it all"

back to december, "it turns out freedom ain’t nothing but missing you"

last kiss, "i never thought we'd have a last kiss"

invisible string, "all along there was some invisible string tying you to me"

sweet nothing, "i find myself running home to your sweet nothings"

snow on the beach, "time can't stop me quite like you did"

exile, "we always walked a very thin line"

when the party's over, "i've learned to lose you, can't afford to"

drivers license, "how could i ever love someone else?

deja vu, "she thinks it's special but it's all reused"

never really over, "just because it's over doesn't mean it's really over"

steal my girl, "we want the same things we dream the same dreams"

i'm kissing you, "but watching stars without you my soul cried"

little things:

conrad was the only one growing up that ever included her

they have their own handshake in the volleyball game (vs belly teaching jere her and taylor’s)

he gets her meaningful presents (junior mint, glass unicorn, infinity necklace, bouquet of candy)

he always knows and gets her favorite things (muffins, candy)

they call each other all the time

he gives her his sweaters even when she says she's not cold, because he knows she doesn't mind the cold but likes being cozy

pictures of the two of them are constantly showed (belly's phone, her room, the polaroid)

conrad is the leader but they also look to belly as a leader too (deciding to throw the party, boardwalk, team belly/team conrad)

conrad cheers for steven to fight milo but breaks it up as soon as belly tells him to

always worrying about each other (conrad jumps in to defend laurel from adam when belly gets upset, she always looks to him first when something bad happens)

he can tell that she's awake in the motel because she isn't snoring

they have the same dream of the future (coming back to cousins)

and most of all, susannah, laurel, AND steven ship it 👑

parallels:

first off, the flashbacks typically mirror what's going on in present day and almost every flashback is of something important with conrad

the pool scenes with belly swimming while conrad has his feet in

she dreams of him kissing her in the beginning of s2 in the same way he kisses her when they are in front of the fireplace

they continuously have important scenes on the beach

he picks her up the same way the last time they were on the beach as a couple and the first time since their breakup

her wearing his cousins rowing shirt and then still having it, wearing his sweater/sweatshirt, wearing his t-shirt even when broken up

she brings up how he helped her with trig during 'shoot your shot'

he always plays with her hair/brushes it from her face

the infinity necklace and junior mint always being there

constant parallels to staylor (i made a post about them here), jenny has literally said that steven is taylor's conrad

quotes:

conrad - "i'm glad that it was me" "i do want you" "you're it for me" "my chest physically hurts to not be able to tell her that i'm in love with her" "i don't think i could ever get over you" "[you're cold-hearted] for everyone else maybe, not for you"

belly - "you were great" "being with you is all i'ver ever wanted" "i want it to be with you" "there's only you, there's only ever been you" "i was in love, steven, like, out of my mind in love" "he made it so hard not to love him" "i loved conrad longer and truer than anyone in my whole life" "i'll probably never love anyone like that again" "i would've fought for you" "i don't regret any of the times we were together"

laurel - "for belly, conrad is the sun, and when the sun comes out, the stars disappear", saying that a cozy campfire (jeremiah) is not enough compared to fireworks (conrad)

steven - "conrad's her soulmate"

susannah - "i knew it" "take care of him", the letters she's writing in her last scene

foreshadowing:

most obviously, infinity - like it's pretty hard to argue with. also, when conrad explains infinity he compares it to a racetrack, and at the boardwalk him and belly cross the finish line of the racetrack together

dancing - all of the times belly dances, it's with conrad. the deb ball dance especially foreshadows a first dance at a wedding

venus - it is an evening star before it disappears, and then it returns as a morning star. conrad disappears from her life before returning

belly flops - conrad is always holding her under the arms, by her heart

rollerblades - belly talks about her feelings for conrad being tucked away like her rollerblades, which came out of storage in s2

staylor - belly and taylor's conversation about forgetting first loves and then taylor immediately ignoring that and getting with steven... she's so real

deja vu - belly constantly sees things that remind her of conrad, especially when she is with jeremiah. the song literally plays while she's in the car with him. like again... "it's all reused" 😂

names- isabel susannah conklin and conrad beck fisher... talk about fate amirite

lighting - the motel scene... enough said

#this is so long and i could still say more 😂#answered #anon #bonrad #anti jelly #anti jeremiah fisher #the summer i turned pretty #tsitp meta #this is why as much as i say conrad needs to get far away from them #i will always be a bonrad endgame truther

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meimi-haneoka · 1 year

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Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card Chapter 74: Comments + JP-ENG translation differences

Here we are, welcome back everyone!! End of the month, time for another chapter leading us into this exciting finale for Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card!! I want to start this post with a little foreword before diving into the chapter itself and the eventual translation differences ✨ I just wanted to say that I write this post with a sense of pride but also with even more sense of responsability compared to the previous months. You've probably stumbled upon my recent report of the latest CLAMP Space, where the authors have talked about CCS Clear Card, and their support/blessing to "people addressing the translation differences in their monthly posts on their blog, because they felt uncomfortable about them". Although they never straight up gave names, I certainly feel like they were talking about blogs like mine. And so I'm humbled (and even a little nervous) to be able to keep doing this, since I've wondered multiple times if it was even proper for me to write these posts every month, as if I was leading a crusade against the official English translation. In fact, I'm not. And I hope that's clear enough. When the ENG translation respects the vibe and original intention coming out from sensei's words in the manga panels, like this time around, I always make sure to say positive things about it. But try to understand me, the irritation runs deep because these are years of translation differences accumulating and at times even changing the perception of the story. And then, you stumble upon English speaking fans on the internet who got the gist of the story wrong or disrespecting/failing to appreciate it because of such translation mistakes (we go from Sakura calling Syaoran "Li-kun" in one of the earliest volumes, to Kaito saying that he wanted to give magic to Akiho, wtf??). And I think it's such a pity. It's not fair. The fandom deserves to know what the script is trying to say with a meaning as closer as possible to the original one. I hope I'll be able to help in that regard, for what's in my possibility and with my limited skills, till Clear Card will be over. ✨

OKAY, now let's cut the chatter and see what happened in this chapter!! I'm happy to say that this time around, translation-wise, we don't have anything impairing the correct understanding of the plot, just nuances! As usual, before starting, we can't skip the gif of the month!!

The Color Page

Oh my gosh! Sakura! You look amazing here!!! Such a fierce stare!! She looks just like a powerful and respected magician and OMG THEY GAVE HER A BLACK OUTFIT!! JUST LIKE I'VE BEEN ASKING EVER SINCE THE BEGINNING! I don't know, maybe the veteran followers of this blog can remember, but I've always wished to see Sakura in a black costume/dress in Clear Card 😊 She looks stunning...and what's more, she's once again with the gears and clocks decorations, just like in the period of the Clockland play. But, heheh, this time the clock looks different. The big clocks that were featured during the Clockland chapters (with Sakura + Syaoran, Akiho and lastly Kaito) were often "strange". They all had the same design, the one with SyaoSaku was "regular", but the ones next to Akiho and Kaito had their numbers either in messed up order, or straight up wrong (what kind of clock got '0' as the only number?). I had already assumed by then that they had a significance we had to decode along the development of the finale. This one in this color page, however, really looks like the most classical clock with roman numerals. The order of the numbers and their position seems correct. So could this be a sign that Sakura is about to restore order into this mess that Kaito's desperate wish created? The text on the JP version is the classic incantation to release the Dream staff from the key (we haven't heard it in a looooong time because she manifests her staff immediately, by now!) I also want to point out that we *still* don't have any announcement of "Clear Card ending in next chapter" or "Clear Card ends in 2 chapters!" like it's custom in these serializations, so I can say with confidence that Sakura won't surely be over in chapter 75 (at the beginning of July) but probably not even in chapter 76 (at the beginning of August). Are they aiming at chapter 77 (beginning of September)? Double 7, it's a lucky number for CLAMP ✨ For those worried about "3 chapters aren't enough to finish this!!", please consider that it's not so much about the number of chapters, but the amount of pages. This chapter for example is already longer than usual, 35 pages. That's what really matters, and we could get even an epilogue or some additional pages in the volume version! And now onto to the actual chapter!

An Important Discussion

Yukito, Nakuru and Touya are leisurely spending time at Yukito's home, with a funny scene of Yukito feeding some mikan to Nakuru (and she seems delighted by the cozyness of Japanese kotatsu!). Suddenly, Touya announces that Sakura is coming over. Yukito worries about how it's getting dark and that maybe it'd be better to go pick her up along the way, but a grumpy Touya says there's no need for that: along with Sakura are also coming Syaoran, Akiho and even Tomoyo. Yukito and Nakuru can't help but being surprised, and Nakuru wonders "The all-stars are coming? What's going on?" 😂 I found so hilarious the use of the term "all-stars", which in Japanese usually indicates a whole cast of a performance composed of famous actors, and sometimes it's applied to sports team too. But the room temperature drops immediately when Yukito looks at Touya, with a very pensive face, and it's immediately clear that something serious happened and Sakura is coming to discuss that. Touya might not know exactly what, but as we can see, he's already got a feeling.

Sakura and the kids arrive, apologizing for coming so suddenly, and they sit down, all with very serious faces (save for Tomoyo. Tomoyo never loses her calm composure 😆). Sakura starts dropping the bomb immediately: "I want to talk to you about something very weird" and "I want everyone who knows about the Cards and magic to hear this". Sakura is dead serious, and she informs Syaoran (sitting at her left side) that she's just told everything to Akiho shortly ago. She also tells Kero and Suppy to come out of her purse, for the second time (since the first was halted by the rewriting of the forbidden magic) putting an end to the farce of Kero constantly needing to act like a plushie in front of Touya!! Remember when the fandom used to point out that it was weird that Kero kept hiding from Touya, despite saying himself at the end of the Sakura Card Arc (after Touya gave his powers to Yue/Yukito) that he was perfectly aware that Touya knew everything about them? That really felt like a "plot hole" (maybe at this point the only REAL plot hole) for the longest time, and I am honest when I say that I had already given up hoping to see an explanation for it, wanting to treat it like a "glitch" in the narrative and using suspension of disbelief to overcome it! Well well well, CLAMP surprised me again! Cause in this chapter they actually tried to give an explanation to that "discrepancy"! And of course, being this about Kero, the explanation is rather silly (confession - I didn't understand Kero's reasoning very well, but I'll give my interpretation of what he said): Kero saw that even after that event, Touya didn't try to interact with him and thought that maybe he didn't consider him a cute and gorgeous magical creature, but rather something else....(was he butt-hurt?) Suppy of course is spitting fire cause why the heck did we need to keep pretending to be plushies?? and Kero's reply is "Because I thought it'd be fun pretending to be plushies together when you came over!". Now, if you remember how difficult and taxing it was for Suppy to force himself to stay still, you can understand why he's so mad! 😂 Touya says, quite annoyed, that he simply didn't try to interact with him because he thought that Kero was getting a kick out of acting like a plushie! I feel like sensei have quite reached and almost broke the 4th wall with this scene, because Sakura here says something that I'm pretty sure many of us have thought in regard to this "discrepancy": "I did wonder at some point why you kept that up despite I was telling you multiple times that I had the feeling my brother was onto you". And it's true, we've seen that in volume 4! Well, to me it felt like a stretch, but eventually we got an explanation for that situation so I guess it's better to leave it behind us! 😂

Cause we have more important matters at hand. Sakura places her phone on the table, showing Eriol & Kaho in videocall!! NOW all the "stars" of this show are present! 😂 So Sakura starts her recount of the most recent events, saying "It's really weird...but I swear it happened". After everyone listened to Sakura, of course they're all surprised. Nakuru wonders if there's any magician who can really have the power to "rewrite" a world...Eriol says that as far as he's heard, there isn't any magician among the living ones who has that degree of power. However, if said magician had access to a "medium" able to use the "forbidden magic", then it's another story. And that's the Book Sakura told them about. Sakura confirms that the one who told her all of this is the Guardian of the book herself. And then, to Akiho: "The plushie shaped like a bunny that you cherished so much was the temporary form of that Guardian. You named her 'Momo' ". Here I have to point out that the way the ENG translated it infers that Akiho remembers about Momo ("You know that stuffed bunny you loved so much?"), but actually in the JP version it's mostly Sakura informing Akiho that she used to cherish a bunny-shaped plushie, cause Akiho has no recollection of it. In fact, right after, she answers "But that's the title of a book I really love so much!". THERE IT IS! I've mentioned this many times in my social media accounts, and even lately in my "literary references" post here on Tumblr, but it turns out this simple answer by Akiho kinda confirms that she might really have named Momo after that book. And it's not only a beloved book because of its story, but also the one she was reading when she met Kaito for the first time. I've always thought that having her most beloved plushie named that way, and having precisely that book when they met for the first time couldn't have been unrelated. So I'm really happy for this scene here and I hope it'll get eventually confirmed better later.

Sakura takes Akiho's hands (she'll do that a lot this chapter and I simply love it) and reassures her about something that I was SURE she was going to say:

JP: "The fact that we became twins is an effect of the rewritten (world), but the fact that you are an important person to me didn't change at all, Akiho-chan"

I've preferred putting the JP version here because once again we have the usual stuff that I complain about lately: Sakura in JP used 大切なひと (important person) to describe her relationship with Akiho, and this is absolutely coherent with all the previous times. In ENG they used "you're special to me", but the adjective "special" in Japanese (特別な) in relation to a person has been consistently used in the latest chapters to describe the person Sakura is in love with (and not only Sakura). So they shouldn't have used that adjective in particular. They should stick to the literal translation. Especially cause that "special person" will come up in a few pages. I know I sound pedantic with this separation between "important person" and "special person", but I mean, CLAMP sensei are consistently keeping that distinction so I'm convinced the translation should do its best to keep it, because it's a guide to lead the readers among the relationships of CCS. Which sometimes can be quite complex.

Touya teases Sakura again with the sis-con joke, and Yukito teases him back by saying "Are you talking about yourself now?" (I love how Yukito always teases the big and grumpy Touya 😂they're really made for eachother). Tomoyo comments that it's been "a sight for sore eyes" (the term used in JP is 眼福, ganpu, and it's used when you see something precious) to see Sakura in the role of the big sister and Akiho in the one of the little sister. Akiho is moved by the fact that, despite everyone knowing the truth now, nobody shunned her or rejected her presence, and exactly like I imagined, I'm 100% sure Sakura will keep thinking about her as a sister (not a blood-related sister maybe, but surely with the same importance of one) even after everything will be solved later. Cause the bond between her and Akiho was never a fabricated thing, but always been genuine from day 1. Even if they got close in such a short period of time, it's just what happens normally in real life too. Sometimes you bond very tightly with people over a short period of time, cause you feel you're so compatible.

So Sakura continues. She says that for this reason, she wants to bring (someone) back. She's convinced that what the Record Card showed to her is not everything. She feels like there is someone who is missing from both what the Record Card had shown to her and from this rewritten world as well. Syaoran is confused, "they're missing, and yet you're sure they're there?". Sakura understands that confusion and says "It's weird, right? I can't really explain how I know it, but I just do." And then, towards Akiho: "That person....is your special person, Akiho-chan". There it is, the infamous "special person" again. It's clear what Sakura is meaning here. "This is the person you're in love with, Akiho-chan". Of course Akiho's face cannot be any other than a dismayed one at hearing that. And then the pain comes, all at once, piercing her heart and leaving her speechless. Sakura says that the Record Card wasn't showing anyone with Akiho in one of the scenes, and yet she saw her extremely happy. That was enough for Sakura to know that someone was indeed there with Akiho.

I'm Always Searching For Someone

We're shown one of the most important scenes for anyone liking Akiho and Kaito (and their bond), the night that Akiho was so brave to confess her feelings to him through a covert (and very local) way, claiming that "the moon is really beautiful". And in the same occasion he accepted to spend some time strolling and talking to her. It was clear from the moment that scene happened that it would've become important later. And the readers who know what happened and what we lost are feeling probably the same pain Akiho is feeling right now, only that she's unaware of what is causing it. Akiho says "I'm really happy to live with you, Sakura, and everyone in the Kinomoto household, but...I've been in pain. Because I'm always looking for someone who's not there...". So Akiho did feel the effects of that void. The void that only your most important person can leave when they're gone. It's just that, we've seen her being so happy with her "new" family, and yet exactly like most of the fandom imagined, that didn't really work to fill the void Kaito left. It's impossible to fill that void because that person is just irreplaceable. This scene of course stabbed my heart but I had imagined that we would've seen it sooner or later. Sakura gets more confident with the confession of what Akiho's been feeling, and tells her that she thinks the one she didn't want to lose and the one who rewrote their world are the same person. "So I'm going to bring them back". Sakura announces with a smile, but Kero just wonders in dismay how she's going to do that. Sakura believes that the pocket watch in Akiho's possession will show her how. As if on cue, Akiho takes it out of her purse and places it on the table in front of Sakura's phone, where Eriol and Kaho can see it. They recognize it's a magical artifact specialized in time magic, but they also recognize that in order for a magician to be able to use it, they would need to have a tremendous amount of magical powers. Akiho suddenly panics. It dawns on her. I think the mental connection she's made is "if Sakura wants to use this to bring my special person back, she would need to achieve an amount of magical powers that could put her in harm's way". Aside, of course, from all the other dangers that a "mission" like that could pose to our heroine. And of course she'd never be okay with that. But Sakura reassures her. "You aren't making me. I want to." Sakura explains that both when she was dealing with the Clow Cards (and we see a scene of the Final Judgement, the one where Kaho gives her the Moon Bell) and when she was transforming them into her own Cards (they show us a scene from the last battle with Eriol), she was able to overcome her troubles thanks to all of the people who loved her and cared about her.

Sakura, JP: "Therefore I want to do what I can for my important person, too"

Again the use of 大切なひと (important person) in relation to Akiho. I think this panel in particular is pretty important (and the big font indeed suggests so). I feel like it's the core, the heart of Clear Card Arc. Sakura, whom until now was accustomed to be cherished and pampered in a protected environment by her loved ones, is starting to take the first steps towards self-assertiveness and maturity. Sometimes those loved ones would overdo it with the loving, and ended up depriving her of her own agency. Sakura is finding herself, she's starting to trust her instincts and capabilities more and more, and that leads inevitably to a question: "what do I want to do with these gifts life gave me and blessed me with? What can I do to give back to the Universe all this love I'm receiving?" Searching for her self-identity will inevitably make her step out of her comfort zone. She'll take risks. Even on herself. She'll need to assess situations, make decisions. And here she decided that she wants to use her natural gift (her magical powers) to help someone in need. Someone important to her. Someone dear who lost someone irreplaceable and lacks the means to bring him back. Sakura decides to step in, help her "sister", doing exactly what she herself told her during last chapter: if I happen to be good at something that you can't do, I'll help you out. That's the beauty of being all unique and different.

I've seen people often wondering what's the purpose of Clear Card Arc, if we really needed to this arc and such. Well, to me the answer was made manifest in this chapter. 🙂

But back to our story, Tomoyo understands that moment has finally come, so she says that maybe she can't use magic, but she felt it was best to bring along with her a certain big bag (that we all know what contains, right??). She also says that she had the feeling she had made an asymmetrical costume before, but when she went to check, she realized she hadn't made it yet...

Listen to me well, because this is the solution to the mystery of the cryptical thing Ohkawa sensei said in relation to one of Sakura's costumes, during the latest CLAMP Space! Basically, she hinted that there was a reason why we hadn't seen Sakura wearing officially (for a Card battle) this costume yet, and that we would find out why soon. I know the ENG translation here talks about "complementary outfits" (referring probably to how Tomoyo will later reveal complementary outfits for both Sakura and Syaoran), but that only shows that they misunderstood the word アシンメトリー (lit. Asymmetry). Tomoyo here was literally talking about asymmetry because the "costume she thought she had made, but didn't find in the end" was precisely the one Ohkawa was hinting at during the latest Space, the one Sakura was trying on in chapter 36 and 37! Tomoyo had a sense of deja vu, about having made an asymmetrical outfit before, but actually couldn't find it because...well, the forbidden magic had removed any reference to the Clear Cards! (including, apparently, the costumes!) So that goes to show that Tomoyo, despite not having a crumble of magic, was also subjected to the deja vu and weird feelings of "discrepancy" that such rewriting of the world would cause. But hold on tight, cause another reference is on the way!

Tomoyo continues saying that while she was sewing the sleeve of the outfit, she had the strong feeling that this costume would turn into a very special one. And what do we have here? OH YES, it's THAT sleeve, the one we've been waiting for so eagerly! The one that Sakura saw in a dream with MCF once! Sakura back then asked to MCF if they would meet outside the dream when she'd be wearing that outfit, and MCF only cryptically said that it would be "the beginning of the end". Considering now we know that MCF has been mostly a byproduct of Lilie trying to communicate with Sakura and inadvertently messing things up, I do wonder about that MCF. Was Sakura, by any chance, actually was supposed to see Kaito and she saw the robe instead, because of Lilie? Or is that an actual member of Akiho's clan? Only this finale can tell us the truth. Sakura will certainly meet someone, with that costume.

Sakura thanks Tomoyo, always so ready to show her support, and she does something very sweet, as a result of regaining all of her rewritten memories: she tells Tomoyo that she'll do her best to come back without getting the costume dirty, but if it eventually starts fraying, she knows that Tomoyo will be there to repair it.....yeah....doesn't it remind you of something?? Of course I bet any Tomoyo fan knows very well what scene Sakura is referencing with this line....

When Sakura told Tomoyo she repaired her torn costume with the Repair Card in chapter 40, Tomoyo expressed the wish to be her the one repairing those costumes, with her own hands. Because she had created them specifically for Sakura, so she would also want to be the one to repair them in case they'd get damaged. Basically telling her "I made these with all my love for you, and I'd prefer that a Card didn't take my place even when needing to repair them. I want the costumes that you wear to be made completely by my own hands". Always reminding us that making something with your own hands for your loved one is the greatest proof of love for any character in CCS (which is something I find truly wholesome and beautiful). Sakura here shows to have understood and accepted that wish fully, therefore acknowledging Tomoyo and her feelings. Tomoyo is uncharacteristically surprised for a second, and then with the happiest smile she confirms that of course she'll be there to repair it!

Sakura looks at her brother Touya, who only grumpily tells her to respect the curfew. Sakura is confused because they never had a curfew time at home, but her brother replies "Come back before dad gets worried. That's our curfew". (in ENG there's an additional part here, I guess to fill in a bubble that would be left empty) Sakura confidently replies "Got it".

Nakuru is all giddy, excitedly announcing that they decided to go to war and they need to decide the formation!! Suppy mocks her, telling her she's talking as if she were playing one of her warring states games (in JP the term used here is 戦国ゲーム - sengoku game - and I've found there's a specific game called indeed Sengoku, but it seems the same term extended to indicate all the war games set in the Sengoku era), but that doesn't deter Nakuru, who says that if she gets chosen, she will certainly participate actively (here the ENG uses game language from what I can see - not an expert - but good job!)!!

Sakura's plan is different, though. She says that tonight she'll be going only with Syaoran. She knows that if everyone could go with her, she'd feel more confident and reassured, but...

Sakura, JP: "If I want to find Akiho-chan's most important person, I have the feeling that it'd be better for me to go with my most important person"

Here we go. We temporarily leave aside the "special person" terminology to go back to the more famous and loved "my most important person" term, to indicate THE ONE person someone loves the most. 一番大切なひと (ichiban taisetsuna hito). The term we all learned because it's been so crucial to indicate the person someone was in love with during the old arcs of the story. The term Sakura eventually used for Syaoran at the end of CCS volume 12 to finally give a "definition" to the love she felt for him. Now she uses it to define Akiho's feelings for Kaito. This is "the" term that takes precedence over all the other terminology used, and also goes to show how important and solemn the moment is. Sakura's intuition tells her that in order to find Kaito, Akiho's most important person, she should go with Syaoran, her own most important person. This is probably because her magical intuition (let's remember that Sakura got the power to see the future) grasped that her bond with Syaoran will be absolutely pivotal in order to have a positive outcome for the mission they're about to embark on. They will probably have to put that bond at work....maybe to explain, show, help someone understanding something that he still doesn't seem to grasp perfectly? Or rather, a stubborn refusal to understand it, which caused them all to be in this situation they're in right now? What's for sure is that if Sakura and Syaoran manage to find Kaito, and if they'll also manage to free him from the Seal of D. + the artifact with all the magical books that Akiho had engraved in herself, their job won't certainly be over like that. Kaito needs to talk to someone. He needs to understand many, many things. Some of those things, Sakura and Syaoran can at least try to introduce them to him. Because while it's true that Sakura wants to bring him back for Akiho, she also needs to make sure that coming back is also Kaito's wish. Because they can't force him if he isn't 100% convinced himself. I'm sure this is a very important thematic for CLAMP, respecting someone's self-determination. And since his state of mind, last time we saw him, was that he was perfectly expendable and that he was absolutely not necessary in Akiho's life, they need to change that perception. And there's also the fact that, despite being so different, Kaito and Syaoran are pretty similar in several aspects too. So maybe the role Syaoran can have in "communicating" with Kaito could be very important and impactful. Maybe that's what Sakura's intuition was trying to tell her.

Here, the ENG translation decided to translate that "most important person" with "favorite person". I have definitely turned up my nose at seeing that (why not leaving the iconic term?) but in the end I decided to relax because, at the end of the day, the result is similar. It indicates a person for whom your preference and importance is above everyone else. What really *mattered* in this scene - and lo and behold, it seems ONLY the English and Portuguese versions got it right (let me know about the Chinese one, cause I can't read that one) - is that Sakura used the same term to describe what Akiho feels for Kaito, and what SHE feels for Syaoran. "I am aware that this missing person is for Akiho an existence of the same importance Syaoran-kun has for me. Therefore, I will do everything in my power to bring them back, because I fully understand that kind of bond and I understand the void they leave in your life when they're not there" She knows, to some degree, what it feels like to miss your most beloved person, due to the period she had to spend apart from Syaoran. And they could still have phone calls and writing letters. Akiho's situation can only be worse. Sakura's understanding of that bond is also what causes her intuition to suggest her to go only with Syaoran. It's all connected. So it's of utmost importance that the translations use the same term when both talking about Akiho and Sakura. Then, about this scene, we could also say that it was a beautiful demonstration of how much Sakura (but also Syaoran) has grown up, now fully confident to declare in front of everyone that Syaoran is THE most important person in her life. Without blushing and without any drama. It's just a fact. After all they've been through, I think Sakura can feel confident enough in her relatinship with Syaoran, and there's no shame nor embarrassment in stating that aloud.

The people present here can only accept and show their support, and Eriol encourages Sakura to follow her intuition (remember the whole discussion about listening to the stirring of your heart, the so-called intuition? Yeah, a great lesson from Mama Yelan which will also be applied to another character soon). Sakura tells Kero that if she needs him, she will certainly call, and the guardian beast reassures her that he'll certainly hear his master's voice, same for Yue.

Then, lastly, Sakura takes Akiho's hands and holds them tightly. They share another sweet forehead touch (seriously, I love them so much ❤️). Akiho is worried, so worried, but also very resolute. She wants this as much as Sakura does. Sakura tells her that there'll surely be a moment when she'll request Akiho to do something only she can do, and asks her to please wait here with everyone till that time comes.

I'll admit it, I was really disappointed when I've read this scene the first time around. Not only because I had imagined all kinds of scenes in my head (included Akiho wearing one of Tomoyo's costumes) and they shattered that possibility (but oh well, I am prepared to that), but also because I feel like this isn't a good choice from a character development POV. I understand it, I really understand it, this is Sakura's story. She's the one who gets to shine in the finale. And we've talked about it before, there's no doubt that Sakura in this story goes through a journey to find her identity and what she wants to do. So now it's time to let her do that. But Akiho has been slandered for the whole manga, accused of all kind of things because of prejudice, and one of those was "she's weak and passive, she does nothing". Seeing her "on the sidelines" once again, when we're talking about rescuing her most important person, feels extremely off. Letting someone else do "the job for her" doesn't even feel like Akiho.

Then, as hours passed by, I thought...

Maybe Sakura wants to take care of the first part of the mission, because it'll certainly be the one where it's most likely to encounter some magical danger (dragon-chan???). And Akiho wouldn't be able to defend herself from that, devoid of magical powers as she is. She could potentially end up risking her own life. And then all of this would've been for nothing. And then I thought, wait, maybe Akiho knows that. She knows it very well, since she's a girl with a pretty good understanding of herself and her own limits. And this is certainly a limit she does have. So what she can do is to wait safely at home, as hard and painful as it can be, for the REAL, big moment when her presence will be absolutely necessary. Sakura said it with great confidence so it's 100% sure it will come. Therefore, as an Akiho fan, I will swallow this pill and wait together with her. 🫤

But the chapter isn't over yet, as Touya and Yukito go outside in the garden while Sakura and Syaoran get dressed for their departure! Yukito teases once again Touya, telling him that his face is scary and that Sakura's earlier statement ("most important person") must have caused him "damage" (still seemingly talking in game language). Touya of course doesn't reply, so Yukito continues, giving finally confirmation to the suspicion I've been having ever since this "rewritten world" started: Touya did notice something was off. He didn't know precisely what, but he knew it had something to do with Sakura. Yukito also gives us the opportunity to see just how kind and generous Touya is: he purposely didn't go back home often because he wanted to reduce his presence around Akiho as much as possible. Not because of negative feelings, quite the contrary: he was worried she'd get even more hurt if she established a bond with him, only to end up finding out that they weren't really brother and sister. (Meanwhile, we see a very cute panel of Akiho talking to Kero, Suppy and still in videocall with Eriol and Kaho!) And then, to follow the leit-motiv of this chapter, very centered on calling back stuff that had already happened in the original world, Touya says that he won't allow anyone to hurt his close ones (they used "family" in ENG, but the word 身内 can indicate also friends and such, the common characteristic is that they're very close). Got the feeling you've already heard these words, especially with the use of the word 身内 ? Yes, of course, it's vaguely the same threat he made to Kaito back in chapter 54, during the double date! 😂 Hmmmm, I have the feeling that if they manage to bring Kaito back (of course they will!), someone will want to have a word or two with him....let's hope he'll just stick to words! 😂 Jokes aside, it's very heartwarming to see how even Touya warmed up to Akiho, and took her under his protective big brother's wing! In fact, Yukito can't just miss the new opportunity to tease him (stop flirting so shamelessly in front of us, Yuki! 😂), telling him he's so overprotective for his sisters!!

The two lovebirds have finished changing their clothes, and we're all left staring at them agape, together with Nakuru: they look stunning, in their complementary outfits!! Sakura even got heels ❤️ And yes, dear readers, as already hinted when Tomoyo was speaking, this is IT, THE costume with THAT sleeve that appeared in Sakura's dream! It is the biggest indication that it's finally time for the last confrontation. Both Sakura and Syaoran look so resolute and ready to make a mess of space and time to bring Kaito back!! 😂 As many have noticed, Sakura got her Dream Staff with her, despite the Clear Cards have disappeared: my theory is that the Key was never removed by the forbidden magic, only the Cards, or maybe that the key came out now that Sakura got her memories back.

And this is where the chapter ends, with another huge cliffhanger!! Will we see Kaito, next time? Being a chapter number ending in -5, and being in the very last volume, I expect big things from it! Chapter 75 will be published on CLAMP's Youtube channel on July 1st, while the relative Nakayoshi magazine will be released on July 3rd (by the way, we'll have Sakura ONCE AGAIN on the cover and ANOTHER Sakura furoku!!). As usual, when I have less translation mistakes to talk about and more space for my feelings towards the chapter, I go overboard! Another freaking long post 😂😂 So I'll just leave you here, as usual I'll wait for your asks in my inbox! Bye Bye!!

#card captor sakura #cardcaptor sakura #clear card arc #ccsakura #ccs spoilers #translation differences #chapter 74 #Sakura Kinomoto #akiho shinomoto #Syaoran Li

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