Rose Guns Days

I find the comparison between them quite shallow, really. If you want, I could copy paste the arguments I presented to Exetera in how they approach things completely differently. Hell, I wouldn't even have to spoiler most of it.

Please do so, it'll be quite an interesting read. I look at the comparison as being a much darker take on the original scenario with an even darker effect on the hearts and minds of those involved. Considering that the author was Gen Urobuchi, I'm not surprised. To quote in the style of 90's Home Star Runner, "Everything's all serious and stuff."

edited 14th Sep '13 9:53:56 PM by magnum12

First, the mood is fundamentally different between Madoka and Higurashi. Higurashi is largely light hearted and optimistic. Bad shit happens, but there's always the hint that it could and should be better than this. Madoka is dark and gloomy with failure at every step. Higurashi is able to insert humor into the story and build upon it to flesh people and conflicts out. After all, the central themes of the story are different: Higurashi is about trust and friendship while Madoka is about sacrifice.

Also, think about how their themes are even approached. For Madoka, in order, Sayaka sacrifices her future for Violinboy, Kyoko sacrifices herself to save Sayaka, Homura sacrifices herself for Madoka and Madoka sacrifices herself for everyone. Additionally, Kyubey sacrifices everyone against their will for a greater good. Now, how did these all turn out? Completely awfully, that's how, and for the same reasons: Lack of knowledge and lack of sincerity. Sayaka's motivation was selfish and Homura and Kyoko had no idea what they were getting themselves into. In contrast, Higurashi hates sacrifice almost as much as it hates impulsive behavior. The right move is always trust, but an outside force works against that. When people trust each other, the trust never backfires but rather an outside antagonist. The themes are different and the ways they're pursued are also different.

Also, one of the most important things is the characterization of both stories. Madoka has three important character and a handful of supporting and minor characters. One of the important characters is basically important for what she is, not who she is. A lot of them are superfluous except to provide details for the setting. Higurashi, on the other hand, needs most of its cast because it's a character story. When They Cry stories are all about who people are, what they want, what they're hiding and why they're doing whatever. As such, they get far more emphasis on their actions and thoughts than the cast of Madoka because Madoka speeds along on its railroad plot. Madoka is not a character story, Madoka is an events story. Who people are is only important in what they do and how they change events. As such, they're largely minimalistic and only present enough to fulfill some role and then be forgotten or killed off randomly. Bye Mami!

Also, I find the comparison between Rika and Homura to be pretty sketchy. Homura is the most important character and the source of the loops. Everything in the story is because of what she's trying to do. Rika is a largely passive character because despite being the center of events, she's not really the focus. The story is a Keiichi story and an ensemble piece more than it is a Rika story. There are similarities in how they both fail over and over, but two issues there. One, the reason why Rika fails is entirely different. Two, most stories with lots of attempts to change an event come across similar issues, especially in a groundhog day loop.

Similarities can be drawn between the two, but I find them fairly shallow and not particularly meaningful relative to a comparison between plenty of other stories. ...And now I'm trying to compare Higurashi and Madoka to Cross Channel and am getting confused.

Anyway, I scrabbled this together from the previous conversations and wrote it up quite quickly, so it's not polished and may not be as clear it should be.

edited 14th Sep '13 10:19:37 PM by Arha

Hard to say… it's not at all the same kind of story. It's more straightforward and more "realistic"/less over-the-top. The fact that the protagonists are adults may have something to do with it… I would say the story really takes of when Caleb's takes over city 23; the first half of Season 1 is just kind of okay but Alfred is just ridiculous as a bad guy. It gets better after he's out of the way.

What's interesting to me is the "political drama" aspect (I don't know if it's the accurate term…) with all the negotiations, cooperations and betrayals depending on each side's own interests, with a tinge of action and humor. Rose is a bit annoying in Season 1 but gets better in Season 2; Leo is fun to watch if you're not too ticked off by Invincible Heroes and the Wandering Dogs in Season 2 are funny and likeable. In fact by S2 there aren't any characters I dislike.

What I miss most compared to When They Cry though, is the emotional intensity. There are some intense and/or sad scenes (like the Cliffhanger of Season 1 or Rose's near-Brainwashed and Crazy behavior early in S2), but still nothing as heartwrenching as the end of Meakashi or End of the Golden Witch. Yet?

Strange detail, I've read all but 2 chapters of the Season 1 manga so far, and I haven't seen Jeanne and Julie. Not even once. It seems like a weird choice to flat-out remove that part of the story ò.Ô Maybe they are in the first chapter and they just removed the "intermissions"…

edited 15th Sep '13 9:43:21 AM by Lyendith

I don't think my "prophectic joke sense" has waned. There was another incident this year involving Ni No Kuni Wrath Of The White Witch, a game that I got for my birthday. While playing, I decided to have some fun via a dark sense of humor, creating gag theories heavily reliant on revelations of Awful Truth. For example, (this one is a major PMMM spoiler so its in tags) If a wizard succumbs to despair, they become a witch. Guess what happened to Cassiopia in a literal sense and Shadar in a metaphorical sense?

What this means is be careful when I start cracking jokes, and don't be surprised if my cracks about S3 come true .

Edit: Just had another 6th sense jokes incident. This time jokingly wondering that since Flonne is a ditzy otaku that believes herself to be a Magical Girl Warrior, would PMMM be an effective way of trolling her? One month later, turns out she has a magical girl transformation.

edited 20th Oct '13 10:36:42 PM by magnum12

Wow… I totally randomly stumbled across this while searching for RGD manga chapters. Yes, the Season 3 manga has already begun. I wonder how things work between 07th Expansion and Square Enix… do they have a special contract to immediately adapt all their series or something ? Anyway, for those interested, it's available for free on the Gangan Online website (the big red button).

Also, the Season 2 manga begins directly in 1948, meaning that the Season 1 manga will cover the entire 1947 part, unlike the VN… it seems more logical to me actually. That mid-season time-skip felt a bit weird. But that means the Season 3 manga probably doesn't start at the same point the Season 3 VN does… oh whatever, I'll read it anyway X)

edited 15th Oct '13 11:57:07 PM by Lyendith

Do let us know if anyone succumbs to despair in anyway during S3. The dark side to my sense of humor has just the perfect snarky comment put into "overwatch" for just the occasion.

Reason 2 is out (that's what they call the chapters for S3 it seems). No despair yet, but the situation doesn't seem quite as pretty as in S2… of course since I don't know what happened in that "War of Soy Sauce" thing, I can only guess.

As usual, I like all the new characters so far. Alan looks like a fusion between Battler and Leo at first, but he has his own character, thankfully. And quite a funny one. The whole situation with hit not telling Yuki that he works for the mafia to not aggravate her, yet Yuki herself taking part in a meeting between mafia leaders, including Alan's very boss Rose is a bit funny too. And a bit sad at the same time. Alan has a bit of that "sympathetic loser" vibe around him… And I'm not sure but I have the impression Richard's views are diverging more and more with Rose's…

It also seems Stella is gonna have a bit of character development, that's nice.

edit: At last, the Witch Hunt patch for Season 2 is out!

edited 26th Oct '13 8:05:00 AM by Lyendith

Season 3, Reason 3 out. Yet a new character is introduced: Major Gabriel Kaburaya, who is Butler's superior, "in charge of the counter-measures against organized criminal activities" (or some lengthy title of the sort). Apparently the higher-ups don't taste Butler's shenanigans with Primavera and Chinatown, though I don't get what those shenanigans are, exactly… Kaburaya has a bishonen façade◊ but doesn't look like someone to be triffled with.◊ I already like him.

Oliver, Nina and Charles cooperate with Alan and Keith in an assassination plan, but said plan is interrupted when it turns out the target is supported by… oh no… —.—" Alfred Akagi. Please, R7, just make him a minor annoyance this time around.

Something bothers me in these chapters… I didn't see Rapunzel anywhere, yet…

edited 6th Dec '13 11:42:35 AM by Lyendith

Continuing my solitary RGD reading.

Reason 4 is out, and I'm really liking Season 3 so far. This time we follow Yuki's point of view, who appears to have genuine feelings for Alan (romantic or not, it's not yet entirely clear)… it didn't really look that way to me at first. This Mr And Mrs Smith-ish plot with Alan (where both are clueless about each other's secret life) is pretty well done so far. Oh, and Hsiao-Lan spoke. Didn't expect that.

Ryukishi is constantly walking on eggs by putting forth Chinese-Japanese hate as a theme, but he manages it pretty well. The fact that Yuki is actually Chinese, and linked to the Golden Dragon adds a bit of tension to it through her relationship with Alan.

edited 11th Feb '14 4:01:03 AM by Lyendith

... 4th post in a row, huh. That's starting to look a bit sad, but whatever...

I managed to get my hands on the full Season 3, yay.

And boy, it loses no time getting to the main point. In the first half-hour of S3 troubles regarding the soy sauce appear, the Wandering Dogs discover yet another plot, and Rapunzel talks in Chinese with Hsiao-Lan after having, yes, remembered who she was, and apparently being not too happy about it.

I think that's the first time I see a plot-crucial dialogue entirely written as a Bilingual Bonus...

Now I don't know whether it's a deliberate effect or just excessive Character Shilling, but Charles, Nina and Oliver's fixation on Rapunzel is becoming a little creepy to me. They can't do a thing without thinking or saying "it's all thanks to Zel", or "it's a pity that Zel isn't here", or "we can't have Zel laugh at us if we fail". Americans say "What would Jesus do?", the WD say "What would Zel do?" They almost sound like drug-addicts in withdrawal... but maybe I just have a twisted mind.

It's all the more jarring when I read the beginning of the 1949 part in the manga, where she hasn't been mentionned even once so far...

But well, other than that it's starting great. There are some nice new BGMs too.

edit: OK, so Zel's name is Hotaru. She's an assassin sent by the GDS to infiltrate Primavera. And her life sucks. Very much.

Now that's sure to bring some serious emotional conflict. I didn't quite expect this turn of events.

edited 12th Feb '14 9:22:00 AM by Lyendith

I really need to actually finish reading this, damn.

If it can give some assistance to my monologuing, feel free.

Still progressing; Season 3 chapter 5 finished. Next chapter will be the end of 1948 I guess. On the Wandering Dogs' side, enthusiasm is renewed; on Rose's side, things are getting… depressing to say the least. Her "operation soy sauce" failed spectacularly, and even if her assassination by Hotaru failed, Primavera is basically dancing in Wang's palm now. The GDS could financially crush City 23's Japanese colony whenever they want. Rose seems to almost be losing hope in her own people…

This is quite disturbing to read to be honest. It's a bit hard to know how much is the characters' view and how much is the authors'. At times I'm like "no just, no", other times I'm like "uh, sad to say, but that's true", and other times I'm like "R7, do you have a grudge against your country or something?" Because the metaphors describing the Japanese people are often really harsh. And yet the protagonist desperately wants to preserve Japanese culture… thus either I have the feeling that I kind of agree but I don't like it, or the feeling that I disagree but I kind of understand the view… either way I don't really know on what foot to dance regarding the whole political aspect of the story. :/

At times I find some Unfortunate Implications in the fact that Chinese seem to have the role of the "bad guys", but in the end, there isn't really any "bad guy" in this story… only sides defending their own interests and worldview… and a young woman whose illusions are crushed in the process it seems… but it's not the end, things are going to get better for Rose! I… guess…?

I really like Hsiao-Lan by the way. And Meijiu. And Wang. Yeah, my favorite characters are the Chinese ones for some reason... I'm also starting to really like Rose in her development. She still has her flaws of course, but she doesn't spend her time whining about them like in Season 1. She has become a character I want to sympathise with, like a protagonist should be.

edited 20th Feb '14 5:24:56 AM by Lyendith

Tha 2nd paragraph there...... that bit about the politics being unnerving and uncomfortable might be the point. Of course its a hot bed topic that supposed to be unpleasant to even touch. Much like pulling a thick, woody splinter out of a juicy infected wound. Attempts at creating Nausea Fuel are blatent and for my own amusement at in inevitable squirming. Have fun with that....or not.

Edit: Did you just say despair? Dang, my ability to predict the future via my sense of humor is as sharp as ever. Well, as promised, its "Overwatch Time".

You know how Guile's Theme goes with Everything or Modok's Theme goes with Trolling right? Well, I present to you....."Nux Walpurgis Goes with Despair." Play it as Rose starts to lose hope.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XN426dP4WGw

Warning: Do NOT read the comments. The actual context of this tune is a MAJOR spoiler.

edited 20th Feb '14 4:30:24 PM by magnum12

Huh… I don't know in what scene this song plays, but we're not quite in that level of despair yet. More like "end of the day and start of the evening" despair. But it's likely things will only go downhill from there… I'll be sure to play this when they hit rock bottom.

On another note, I still have no idea how to do a "straight flush" in the mini-game… ò.Ô … maybe by hitting all the cards in order?

edit: Finally finished the 1948 part! All is well that ends well, everyone laughs, victory is achieved!

…… for about 10 minutes. While Zel's father was freed and Yuanhong was defeated (and apparenly died soon after), Primavera still more or less complied to GDS' demands (disbanding of the Japanese Workers' Alliance and lowering of wages), only in a less humiliating way… and Sun Tzulung makes his appearance, taking back control of the GDS over the Elders' council.

I didn't get everything − there was a part with many difficult words − but basically, Primavera launched a quick operation on Chinatown to destroy all the warehouses where the fake soyce sauce was stocked. To give the impression that Rose provoked a conflict with the GDS out of jealousy and greed, and thus egoistically sacrificed her compatriots' well-being… basically, she accepts to play the role of the bad guy, if it allows her to protect the Japanese community in the city, waiting for the new generation to grow up and reprise her ideals. Or I think that was the plan…? Some mafia families from other towns were also involved in the plan, but that's the part I had a hard time to follow.

Whatever Rose had in mind didn't work at all in the end. And I hardly see how it could have. No matter how you look at it, she had to chose between the plague and the cholera, and apparently took a third, slightly less bad option.

Nevertheless, Rose looked totally badass in that confrontation. I didn't think I would ever say that about her…

Also, no wonder Zel doesn't appear in 1949: she leaves Japan with her dad not to cause any more trouble to Primavera (since they are still searched by the Chinese military). The Wandering Dogs are disbanded, and Oliver, Nina and Charles each go their own way after bumping fists in a moving scene… that is ruined when they remember their stuff is at the music shop and that they have to go the same way.

Well, in true RGD fashion, the mood is still surprisingly light, considering how shitty the situation is becoming.

In 2013, Julie meets with Toratsugu, her new stalker personal bodyguard. Quite a funny guy. It's a bit refreshing to see Julie having, well, a character. Until now she was just "the journalist listening to Jeanne's story", so seeing her interact with someone else and having funny reactions doesn't hurt.

edited 24th Feb '14 9:43:38 AM by Lyendith

Started the 1949 part, and boy, the manga version is actually very compressed. There are quite a few details and entire scenes that are skipped… the search for Davis Degawa is almost a mini-arc in the VN. It also seems the 2013 part has its own story arc now, although it's still secondary.

I really love how the brawls all over City 23 are described like a happy festival where all the participants drink merrily together after the "party" is over. The contrast is really well described, and makes Alan's character all the more funny.

On the bad side, I still find the Wandering Dog's Leitmotif quite irritating, or rather, distracting. I can't focus on the reading when it plays. Also, why make Nina go back to being a lady of the night… even for the sake of network building, I don't know, that's a bit sad…

Ah well, pursuing. Finally seeing Butler again… which hadn't appeared in a long while now that I think about it.

edited 1st Mar '14 8:42:45 AM by Lyendith

Still moving on, with the end of the "Davis Degawa's hunt" mini-arc…

Wow… considering how the 1947 climax was depicted, I didn't expect to see this kind of scene in this series. Alan shows up in Davis' hideout passing for one of Alfred's henchmen, they have a funny conversation… then he pulls out a gun, eliminates all the bodyguards, and Keith shoots Degawa dead when he tries to escape. Then his mistress, completely horrified, pulls out a gun and tries to shot Alan in the back. Keith shoots her dead without batting an eyelid. Mission accomplished, a quiet little guitar music plays, and both Keith and Alan have huge smiles on their faces.

That's what kids these days call Mood Dissonance, I think… ò.Ô

And now Alfred is showing some surprising Hidden Depths to boot… what's happening in this Season, seriously?

We get a nice scene between Sun Tzulung and Meixue. I expected him to be the cold, calculating leader type but he seems to be a pretty nice guy actually… kind of the opposite of Gabriel Kaburaya.

Said scene is, for some unexplainable reason, magnificently absent from the manga. That's an odd choice, sence it's the first time we see Tzulung in a non-telephonic scene, and he's a fairly important character… another thing removed in the manga is Toratsugu's intervention to tell us that Wayne had three kids afterwards − and Toratsugu's character altogether. But, the man shows up before we know who he married… it's implied that it's someone who already appeared in the story. My speculation goes towards Claudia. Just cause. I'm also pretty sure Stella and Keith will end up together before long.

Anyway, this Season is getting better and better. The new characters being much more interesting than the WD probably helps. But damn, it's long to read… I think I'm already above Umineko E4's playtime, and it seems I'm not nearly at the end…

edit: Well, when I said "before long"… they make a cute couple, really :þ

And now, Season 3's last chapter is titled "When the Rose Dies"… now that's reassuring… I have a feeling this is going to end on a horrible Cliffhanger like Season 1…

Between Kyrie and Gabriel, R7 seems to have a thing for white-haired affable sociopaths…

edited 8th Mar '14 10:49:11 AM by Lyendith

Aaand, Season 3 finished.◊

… okay, I think I can play Magnum's music now; though Gabriel's theme brings plenty of despair by itself… Rose was shot, and most of her bodyguards killed. Yūji (Richard and Stella's 2 year old nephew) was shot and is on the verge of death. Stella was shot and earned a Monty Python reference. Alan and Meixue were saved, but now Primavera's execs suspect the GDS to be behind the attacks. Gabriel laughs, and even Butler is utterly disgusted by the plan. Now that Richard is the new temporary leader, the organisation will become more violent.

And a certain someone says hello in The Stinger.

It's a bit of a shame that we don't see what became of Alan and Meixue after the climax. Especially since Primavera as it is now is unlikely to accept their relationship.

Anyway, this is by far the best of the first 3 Seasons overall. There are things that I didn't like so much, like the WD having a bit too much of a "shonen hero" vibe for my tastes, Gabriel's rather basic motive for what he does, or the narration directly adressing the readers on a few occasions. I'll put on hold whether I agree or not with the series' message because… I'm still not sure what it is. I'll wait to see the conclusion for that. I don't really see what R7 intended by depicting a situation that is pretty much the polar opposite of today's Japan.

1949 had its share of questionable statements though, and I'm ill-at-ease with the very… well, Japanese view about leaders and democracy that seeps through the story. It seems true that the Japanese tend to be in a "let politics to politicians" and "people need a leader to guide them" state-of-mind. Though that's not an exclusively Japanese issue I guess…

Nevertheless I still find the passages about the differences in mentality between Chinese and Japanese interesting − notably how their conception of "forgiveness" isn't the same at all.

And R7 is still incredibly good at depicting human relationships. That's really a good part of what makes me love his stories.

edited 11th Mar '14 2:39:55 PM by Lyendith

All I can say is....... CALLED IT!!!

Let's see, people died, it hit the fan, all in Season 3. I'd say my witty comment 6 months ago (9/9/2013 I believe) became 100% true.

LAST SEASON START!!! Show me what you've got, RGD!

So, right from the start Gabriel offers his "«help»" to Richard to find the heartless culprit who stole his beloved little sister, as he knows all too well how painful this is. After feeding Richard a story about his past that is − almost − entirely true, he tells them that, of course, the culprits are Sun Tzulung and his right-hand man Lee Meijiu, as Primavera had already "guessed". With the support of guys from the GDS's Elder Council who were overthrown by Tzulung. Everyone swalows the story and Butler can't say anything. Gabriel's Magnificent Bastard-ness just went up another couple notches.

On the other hand Alan collapses from his wounds and is taken care of by a shady doctor in Chinatown, still unconscious. Of course, as the only man from Primavera who knows that the GDS isn't behind this, the plot had to take him as far from Primavera as possible. Tzulung has already guessed that the culprit isn't from the mafia, but can't determine who would be insane enough to pull off such a plan. But he already knows where this is going…

On a side note, I really like how the characters' real names are dropped one by one, always in an appropriate context. I don't know if we will learn the names of everyone by the end of the story, but every time we learn one gives a pleasant feeling. Now I'm still not sure why they all insist so much on calling themselves by Western names… it wasn't really touched upon in more than in a few quick lines…

edited 12th Apr '14 8:29:58 AM by Lyendith

Pursuing. Just finished chapter 4 of 1949.

We seemed to enter a transition stage where everyone was proceeding with their business. Rose was secretly transfered to a hospital out of Tōkyō. Hsiao-Lan has found the guy who forged a letter "proving" that the GDS was behind the attack; already dead of course. Tzulung has more or less understood that only the US army could pull of such an attack. Alan has woken up. Lil' Yūji too, undergoing a MIRACULOUS RECOVERY (the expression must be hammered like, 10 times by 10 different characters ò.Ô We got it Ryukishi). Richard, Cyrus and Keith are all happy, mocking him for not wanting to drink his medicine and giving him the purine he loves so much. He coughs, which makes Keith laugh a bit. Then he coughs again. And again. Blood. From his mouth and nose. With blank eyes. And dies a horribly painful death by poisoning.

"My birthday is my luck day, you know." ^__^

… okay am I still reading the same series? °口° This is brutal even by R7 standards.

edit: Pursuing the monologue. A development that I was expecting to happen since Season 2 but thought wouldn't happen in the end, finally happened: Richard denies Rose's methods and takes over Primavera, gaining a rather weird Leitmotif in the process. The 1949 climax starts off exactly the same way as the previous two… except the situation is kind of reversed. In his revenge, Richard sets up a plan that looks a frightening lot like Gabriel's plan, and calls Meijiu and Tzulung to a "friendly" discussion, so that Keith can shoot them both dead. With the added sugar that Richard will even sacrifice a few of Primavera's youngsters, one of them playing his double, to pretend that they were attacked too. Things happen, and it's not Meijiu or Tzulung that end up shot, but Meixue. Alan and Meijiu are now in the exact same position as Stella and Keith with Yūji in Season 3, with Keith savouring the irony (though of course he doesn't know that Alan is there)…

Another detail that gives quite a weird feeling: in the mini-game we attack with the Chinese and must defend against Primavera.

It's funny and yet dramatic that Primavera's interpretation of the situation, despite being completely off, actually makes perfect sense if you think from their point of view… it's really well done overall. The downside being that Keith has become somewhat one-dimensional compared to Season 3. I hope he gets better. He will have to anyway.

We also get more shonen hero stunts and speeches with Oliver, but that's not really the most interesting part. =[ Well, the situation he's in is interesting, but his constant bullcrap about becoming a wolf and impressing his Goddess Zel is getting a tad annoying.

edit 2: Ryukishi… do you intend to let at least a few characters live by the end of the story? I'm starting to get a bit worried. °口° That last one leaves a bitter taste in my mouth for some reason… I would have prefered Meixue to live longer and be developped instead of being killed off like that as just "Alan's girlfriend". I have the feeling her potential as a character wasn't fully exploited… as for Oliver however, the shock was genuine. There was something that almost felt like a Deconstruction in his death. You wanted glory, have a big name, accomplishing huge feats to be acknowledged? If you had to die, you wanted it to be as a wolf? Well, you'll have nothing of that. You and your fellow youngsters sacrificed yourself for nothing, and you all died like rats, like pawns that were thrown away.

War isn't pretty. Mafia isn't pretty. There is nothing glorious about it. It's a good thing to nail this down, considering the story seemed to sometimes forget it, especially whenever the Wandering Dogs and their shonen shenanigans were involved.

Also, I feel kind of sad for those guys who were playing the doubles of Richard and Tzulung. They died and, like, nobody gave a shit about them. Nominal Importance in full force I guess…?

And now I'm getting to a scene that I was unadvertently spoiled about when I watched the Last Season opening. Oh well.

edit 3: Holy… crap… I think that duel on the harbour might be the best scene in the series so far. Even the mini-game, where you alternate attack and defence between both characters, completely serves the narration here, more than in any scene before.

And only after that the opening credits finally roll. It was about time. >.<

edited 20th Apr '14 6:38:33 AM by Lyendith

At last, 1950… this is it, the last straight line.

• God, I love this opening. TT^TT
• The transition is pretty… abrupt ò.Ô I thought we would at least see a conclusion with Jeanne and Julie commenting the events, as usual, but nope, we jump directly to the next interview, in a very un-RGD-ish fashion I would say. But well, it still works fine.
• Rose is obviously not stupid and realizes that something is fishy with everyone telling her to "rest a bit".
• Aaand finally, Leo is back in City 23, in a hilarious retelling of the first scene of the series. Strangely, even though he was certainly not my favorite character in 1947, I kind of missed him…
• I had a feeling I was going to love young!Jeanne, and that's no longer a feeling. She's tough, frank, good-spirited and a ton of fun. Kind of an adult Mion, with her own awesome personal touch.
• I was a bit amused by the Contrived Coincidence of Leo and Rapunzel coming back on the exact same day, and briefly bumping into each other literally minutes after Leo meets Jeanne. The magic of narration!
• Tequila Matoba is going to be an annoying character. Hope we don't see him too much.
• Rapunzel is still her Sue self, but the reason she came back kind of makes sense I guess? If it can give the Wandering Dogs a more autonomous purpose than what they had in Season 2 and 3, I can buy it. Charles and Nina seem to have moved forward pretty well after Oliver's death, although I guess the story will come back on that at some point. Also, they can drink alcohol now, so I guess Rapunzel is really 20 years old? That's a bit of a shock, dunno why…
• Leo is apparently not a big fan of what Primavera has become… I certainly prefer his perplexed reactions and doubts to the uncaring perfectness he showed in 1947. Well he still shows it, but it feels… more nuanced. It helps that for the first time I think, some parts are narrated directly from his point of view.
• Uh-oh… Keith has contracted the "traumatic white hair" syndrome. It looks very weird.
• A Rousing Speech that doesn't sound narmy. That's pretty hard to do.
• Still not a trace of Gabriel and Butler… we haven't seen them for a while now.

edited 21st Apr '14 2:30:47 AM by Lyendith

Pursuing…

• Butler is back! And he's… not doing so well.
• Alan is described as feeling incredibly good when he was in China and even thinking about starting a new life there, among his new family… and after a full year in this environment, he still doesn't speak a word of Chinese. Nope, sorry, there's a limit to how incompetent one can be in foreign languages.
• Alan and Meijiu start a plan to get Butler out of the army's HQ, and make him meet with Richard. It fails spectacularly, but they get an important piece of information.
• Hsiao-Lan's expressions and gestures when mooncakes are involved are the cutest thing ever put in a VN, period.
• Jeanne's background is finally revealed. Unsurprisingly, she isn't your average bread-shop employee.
• Meryl asks the Wandering Dogs to search for Rose's hideout. Richard soon learns what the kids are planning and asks Alfred to erase them.
• Charles is surprisingly cool as a card dealer. ò.Ô
• Okay, Nina, where did you get your driving licen… oh wait, let me guess.
• Alfred and Leo meet again! Now is the time! Finally the two rivals will have their return match in a… heated battle… okay it's over in one blow.
• And thus the WD meet with Leo and Jeanne, heading for Shizuoka.
• Quite an awesome casino scene. Our little team manages to establish contact with Wayne. All the pieces are slowly falling into place. Richard soon learns what Leo is planning and asks Keith to erase him; or rather, Keith proposes himself.
• Oh, and Gabriel is still a bastard by the way. He seems on his way to become the biggest Karma Houdini in history… I'm not sure I would want that though.
• An internal struggle is starting within the GDS, at the worst possible moment, close to Stella and Yūji's death anniversary, with Richard already preparing to start the war.
• And 2013!Jeanne informs us in advance that things are gonna get bloody.

edit:

• The "seduction diversion" scene is funny but, since Nina and Zel don't really have the appropriate sprites (especially Zel), it looks a bit weird… it would be more convincing in manga or anime I guess?
• Ah yeah, that's the only stunt that was missing in Leo's repertoire. The Scope Snipe, with a little help from a parasol (it makes sense in context… err, more or less). Keith escapes unharmed, his pride doesn't. Especially when he realizes he could have avoided Stella's sacrifice by using a similar trick… ouch.
• And, finally, the final chapter starts, titled Rose Guns Days. By the way it was… not a good idea to use instrumental versions of the openings as BGM. Replacing the lyrics by a guitar makes them sound kind of awkward and unpleasant…
• James bribes Maurice, and even Keith into betraying Richard. They're not amused. Sorry James, you bit off more than you could chew…
• And Meryl manages to survive Richard's purge to join team Rose. With a well-filled bank acount, which doesn't hurt to get the GDS' support.
• Hsiao-Lan, you're not supposed to undertand Japanese, you know?

This is gonna be a looong chapter, but it's exciting.

edited 27th Apr '14 5:55:12 AM by Lyendith

Finished the 1950 climax. … this is weird to say, but despite being the least violent of 07th Expansion's stories (…?), RGD has quite the high bodycount in the end.

• First, Maurice is killed by the Wandering Dogs, just in front of Oliver's grave.
• Rose lectures Richard a bit about the legitimacy of a leader. In that disturbing RGD way: by explaining that the leader's ideal being right or wrong is irrelevant if he isn't acknowledged as a leader, and that this is what Richard lacked more than anything. Then Rose's gives an explanation that I didn't fully get, but enough to make me reflect on it… democracy may allow evil people to access power, but if that happens, everyone is responsible, or something…
• Then, Leo loses a real fight. Cyrus is shot in the back by Rose just before he can finish him off.
• After what Alan and Keith fall to their death… except Hsiao-Lan kicks them in the air in a desperate attempt, allowing one of them to survive. Probably not the one she wanted to save.
• Then Rose asks Jeanne to "kill" her, the same way she herself "killed" Caleb. Yeah, I don't think for a minute that Rose actually died in that scene… since, well, there is no need for that.
• After the fight is over Richard is informed by Butler (whom Gabriel had carelessly let loose) who really killed Stella and Yūji. He dies rather pathetically in his fight against Gabriel.
• And finally, in a not-at-all surprising twist Butler kills Gabriel himself, making it look like Richard did it. He mentions something about his little sister Ange - yes, that's really her name − being… (killed?), which Gab apparently knows nothing about. Err… Meijiu mentionned that Butler having a little sister was a precious piece of information… could it be what I imagine…? I prefer not to think about it…

This was a perfectly executed climax overall. Even though I kind of saw most of the developments coming (I feel like the story is deliberately written that way, anyway), I still had the chills.

Now this isn't quite over yet, and I'm entering the last part of the story…

edited 27th Apr '14 4:28:49 PM by Lyendith

Finished!◊ I… think? ò.Ô

This is a weird and pretty frustrating ending I must say. Not so much for the final reveal, wich again was easy to predict, but rather for the overly open nature of the ending. Many of the characters are a huge case of What Happened to the Mouse? and several questions are left unanswered.

What happened to Butler's sister? What became of the Wandering Dogs? What did Keith do after Alan's apparent death? Who was it that Wayne married? What happened with the GDS afterwards?

I thought there would be some kind of bonus epilogue to clarify all this, but the only bonus is the reveal of all the characters' real names in the credits, and an announce for Higurashi Bou. :| Maybe I missed something or there is a secret epilogue you unlock by doing a high score… I don't know. Because of this I don't feel like I've actually read the end…

edited 28th Apr '14 9:29:15 AM by Lyendith