Bro this is such a great take on Akechi and Sumire's characters actually you're so right holy shit.
Ykw ykw im just gonna post a rant I made on Discord, Ahem:
Akechi is kind of the embodiment of parts of the thieves that make them, well.. Shitty thieves. Parts of themselves that inconvenience other people, or make them difficult, or otherwise present a reason that they might not be worthy of their power. The version of the thieves who got caught up in their own justice and fame.
And weirdly enough, I feel like Sumire kind of has a similar thing going on, but with parts of themselves they find pitiable. The version of the thieves who seem helpless without Joker to motivate them, children crying out for help.
Longer rant under cut
Akechi is the Ryuji who views everyone with inherent mistrust and hostility, because people who should’ve been good to him have hurt him before. Sumire is the Ryuji who lost a feeling of fulfillment from his sporty hobby after a traumatic event and wants that back more than anything.
Akechi is the Ann with a childish streak, for whom the only reason they didn’t murder their least favorite person in the entire world was out of a desire for him to just suffer far worse than that, who has grand dreams of fame. Sumire is the Ann who is socially awkward and blames herself for every tragic happenstance and who wants to prove herself to everyone.
Akechi is the Yusuke who was used as a pawn by his abusive father and settled into that life because it was just comfortable. Sumire is the Yusuke who wanted that life back more than anything, because things were normal back then.
Akechi is the Makoto who was willing to insinuate Ann was responsible for Shiho’s attempt just to hurt her, who played into a system she knew was cruel because as long as she swam with the current she wouldn’t get hurt. Sumire is the Makoto who so so desperately wishes she was her older sister, who feels she’ll never escape from her shadow.
Akechi is the Futaba who believed her life ended after her mother died, that she’ll never recover from that, she was too far-gone. And Sumire is a Futaba who was told she was right. And her only way out is for Joker to fix her. If not him she’ll take anyone really.
Akechi is the Haru with a sadistic side festering beneath her smiley, soft exterior, thoughts of vengeance brewing against the man who ruined her life. And she just has to keep it down, be a good girl, be polite. Sumire is the Haru who’s learned to stop fighting, because the person she is, is not and will never be good enough. She just falls into the same routine she’s always been in, because what’s the point in trying if she’ll always fail, or if no one will listen.
Extra notes on TOTK about things I don't quite like and I need to fix because that game has wonderful ideas and mechanics but the story just needed an extra pass or 2.
The sages, WHO WERE THEY? Like, I genuinely cannot understand what each one was supposed to be going for. They have 0 character, at all. And every time we see their cutscene it's just Zelda saying the same thing four times. We know Zelda, Rauru, & Mineru (though Mineru is kinda bland, like we see more of them but what we see is all just plot moving forward. Mineru feels a bit more like a prop than a character is what I'm saying.) The 4 sages for each region? I can guess nothing about them.
So, I want to make one small change. Instead of each cutscene being when Zelda asks for help, it's a moment of Zelda and the Sage, like, bonding. Doing something together as Sages. Maybe Zelda would put together something of a paraglider and go scouting with the rito sage. Maybe she would mess with Zonai tech and blow stuff up with the goron sage. And if seeing Zelda directly ask for help is so important, they could show it at the end. Otherwise the message at the end would be, "I wanted to help save her time, but now I cannot do that. So please accept my secret stone and save Hyrule in my stead."
Just a little, tiny mention of why Sheikah tech isn't around (and perhaps a junkyard of it) would be very nice. I would say the shrines and towers probably sunk back into the ground once the champion beat calamity Ganon, since they no longer served a purpose. The guardians were all demolished, too many painful memories for Hyrule to move forward with them still around. The Sheikah slate was reconfigured into the purah pad. Basically, don't remove a core piece of the world you established in the last game without some explanation.
Fix up the weird scrambled timeline of the fake puppet Zelda. Like, we know from the dragon's tears that this isn't Zelda, so just edit NPC dialogue after the last dragon tear. They're still chasing after this puppet Zelda cause guess what, it's actively hurting people! So they gotta stop it.
Lastly, bring back gerudo vai set I will not REST until that set has RETURNED sure we have frostbite armor but COME ON it was in the previous game it would not be that hard.
I need more people to write Aigis and Ryoji as friends, post-game or in some canon divergence au. They are made to be opposing forces, to clash for the fate of the world, but the purpose designated for them by their creators is not the purpose they chose to follow. They become friends in both because and in spite of what they are, because who would better understand their struggles? Neither is truly human, but they are both people. People who doubt their own humanity. They validate each other's struggles in a way no one else could, before affirming that yes, you are a person, you worked so very hard to be a person and I recognize that struggle and say that it is ok if you don't understand all the nuances of humanity right away, I won't judge you, because I am the exact same way.
Yes, Aigis initially saw Ryoji as dangerous, and he was, but I want them to grow past that. I want them to be able to look back at their first clash and think about how much they've grown since then. I want them to tell each other that the fact that they feel remorse for the lives lost is a clear sign of their newfound empathy for others, and that yes it's difficult, grappling with those feelings, but they should face them head on for the sake of those lost lives. I want them to come to see the other as one of their closest friends, the one they can turn to whenever they need.
Aigis and Ryoji should be friends, because they chose to be more than the enemies they were when they first met.
I've been doing a lot of sketching of this specific character, trying to get a design I like. Idk if I'm quite happy yet, but have some more Link
Smh I thought I was supposed to die at the end of the game, credits are rolling and I am not, in fact, dead. How dare I be misled so, either by the game faking me out or by the internet.
Panel redraw for funsies! Still not great with human anatomy, but I love these lads too much
WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M NOT COOL ENOUGH FOR YUKARI?? I'm going to riot and return to the only person in this entire school I respect, uhhhhh what was his name again? Scott the woz?
Back at it with my bullshit (writing self-insert smut)
I know almost nothing about ace attorney but I feel like one of my friends would appreciate this
Has tumblr seen this I think it’s very important for tumblr to see this
Thinking about LU Four & Shadow again. Because I'm obsessed.
So of course with a lot of Shadow meets the chain fics Four de-escalates the situation pretty fast and Shadow's welcomed as another party member, but I've been thinking. What if Four doesn't do that? What if it's early enough in the adventure that no one trusts Four & they insist on attacking? Or, what if Four doesn't even try, because he doesn't think de-escalation is even possible because of what they've said?
What if Four and Shadow run away together? Become a 3rd party in this adventure?
What if Four can't.. or just doesn't speak up when the chain attacks Shadow?
I want this fic so bad if you can't tell.
Ryoji Mochizuki palace where it's not Tartarus but actually a Cathedral.
Everywhere you look, it's dedicated to the Great Seal. Stained glass windows made in their image line the walls, statues carved into a familiar teenager hung by chains. Their story is depicted like a religious text, with Ryoji himself as the devil. There to trick the seal into pursuing the full moon shadows, to lie his way into being the seal's friend, to tempt the Great Seal away from delivering salvation to the world. It does not matter that Ryoji was missing his memories, that he was doing whatever he could to help his dearest friend, he was always a monster. One that was unworthy of the Seal's forgiveness, of their mercy.
Ryoji's shadow can always be found crying in front of a depiction of the Great Seal. He begs for someone to please take their revenge, to punish him for what he's done, it's all his fault, he killed the Great Seal, they would still be alive if not for him. He cannot let you take his treasure, he cannot let you take away his guilt. When you fight Ryoji, he appears as a grotesque replica of the Nyx Avatar. There is no more elegance, no more ethereal beauty to be found in Nyx's Appraiser, he is simply a monster.
Ryoji's treasure is the protagonist's evoker. A representation of how they fought to save the world, and how they accepted death to do so. Ryoji could not accept that death, so he clung to it. He clung to their memory instead of facing them himself, because he felt too much guilt.
Name: Ryoji Mochizuki
Location: Gekkoukan High School's rooftop
Distortion: Cathedral of Grief