i'm kind of stuck between two places because i think the non chronological branching way of telling the story is really interesting especially for a story as twisty as this, and then i also think it's a bit of a weakness because several character's stories seem to rely on you caring about things that you've been given no reason to care about.

so far my favorite characters are yuki, ryoko and natsuno. i also like okino, ei and iori. juro's friend who is manipulating his memories also compells me but idk enough about him to say either way.

my complaints are twofold, one is more self explanatory than the other.
1. diversity win, this japanese imperial soldier is gay
2. megumi being this blatant homura akemi expy is... uniquely frustrating in a way that's hard to describe, because they are so on the nose about referencing madoka at every turn so far in her story

because it also feels so unearned. they had one scene together where juro was like "hey i have feelings for you, i'm going to go fight in a giant robot" and megumi was like "but juro juro juro juro juro juro juro if it's for juro juro juro" and then she proceeded to never say anything else.

my opinion on that might change, i'm still pretty early in, but also girl he doesn't even like you

there's a lot of stuff that will kinda build out from where you are now but lol poor megumi got the short end of the stick on her story so much imo

mm in general it seems like a lot of the romantic writing is a bit of a mixed bag.

frankly LOL

there's two ships im very fond of but the plot itself is more convincing than the romance

the others im positive neutral or can just. take or leave

LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I will come back to be insane about this after my alarm goes off

phainein: i met your girl. she's like a sickly victorian orphan full of rage and i love her.

ISN'T SHE THE GIRL OF ALL TIME!!!!

it's so fucking funny because she looks so sad and pathetic and then you realize she's shaking all the time because of the suppressed rage

she's perfect, truly

ryoko: as soon as my headache stops killing me and i remember what it is that i was mad about in the first place it's over for you fuckers

forgive and forget? no. resent and remember

also played another five hours of this game yesterday and tomi and ogata both shot up in my personal rankings. tomi is like a little Chihuahua to me.

yeah i was really frustrated by gay fascist boy when i played

especially since to my understanding the game isn't like... doing anything with it or giving him an arc it's weirdly uncritical about that aspect of him

loved p much everything else going on

ogata is so unfair bc i distinctly remember being so filled with ennui at the prospect of going thru his story that i put it off until i had literally no choice and then was immdiately hooked not 5 minutes in

clockworkbrain: i think the concept of like... a japanese imperial soldier being flung into a future long after they've lost the war and having to reckon with all the many things that have changed as a result and the atrocities committed against japan (hiroshima & nagasaki get brought up) vs the many atrocities that the empire was committing (that never get

brought up lol because of course they don't), and having to reckon with the massive cultural shift and westernization of japan for better and worse, it could be interesting if they did it right (which would be VERY difficult). but no instead it's just like "he's a good, loyal guy he's just a nationalist who wants to win ww2 with the power of giant robots"

yeah i mean it's all execution and they missed the ball and fell on their fucking face in the attempt. i'm not sure they even tried that hard.

if i wanted to put up with a gay fascist i'd just read mishima.

you know

i think if i could just write off the whole game i'd be less annoyed but when i really do really like it otherwise it's just

blugh

yeah definitely.

it definitely comes off to me like a consequence of..... ig trotting out old tropes and character archetypes w/o thinking critically about them because so much of the game is about kamitani intentionally creating a pastiche of the pop culture of his childhood in the 80s

in some interview or other he describes 13sar as a mosaic of everything he's ever loved and sometimes that's good and sometimes it's like ummmm. king maybe take this one back into the kitchen and cook something else

yeah, exactly

yup

it's very like... i dunno. i think there has been good japanese sf that's sort of been people who lived through the war asking themselves if there's anything good or worthwhile that can be salvaged from that history? space battleship yamato exists. but like

i think that requires at least some thought and care that i don't think kamitani was really interested in bringing to this

like i don't think he's a chud i just think he got too hyped up and nobody told him no.

yeah kamitani is more xcited about like. dumping his cool toybox of batshit scifi story concepts on the table in front of you and both of you going hogwild

w/o going into spoiler territory there are definitely some emotional beats and character moments that really did not work for me bc of that lacking thought and care

on another note

there is something kind of comical about the way that these kids just describe their "dreams" about one another in explicit detail and treat that like it's normal.

juru: hi iori, i had a dream that you were our homeroom teacher except you were wearing a black leather catsuit with a plunging neckline and you were stacked as hell
iori: woah! cool!

god shiba's fucking scary.

YEAH. HOLY SHIT

i was just talking to best girl miwa-chan and then he suddenly appears and says "you can't get away from me " and sends me right back to the start. it's super creepy.

even after replying this game so many times it still gives me the heebie jeebies

also God I'm so glad everyone immediately and correctly clocks miwa as best girl

shes so sweet

also in megumi's route i love that she and ogata clock megumi as sus. and then when megumi shoots iori, she's like "I knew there was something weird about you when you started having conversations with the gate!!" "You can't see Fluffy?" "Oh my god... she's even named it!!!"

SHE'S SO GOOD

okay so i've finished all the stories except for hijimaya miura and gouto.

here's my tierlist

megumi slightly grew on me when i thought about how hilarious it is that she just arrived at juro's house and proceeded to be like "i do the cooking, i do the cleaning #tradwifegoals" and he proceeded to be like "what the fuck are you doing in my house"

TETSUYA IDA CONTAINMENT ZONE

WHEEZES

he's a very interesting character to me

he is just also

The Worst

megumi becomes much more likable when you realize what a pathetic failgirl she is

so glad to see ryoko as one of ur best girls tho. you are so correct

all bias aside i rly do think her route is the one that most effectively makes use of 13sar's gameplay structure

i do think juro suddenly being like "i might not be juro izumi..." "sad megumi noises" "...but i still am in love with you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" really cheapens both of their narrative arcs. megumi letting go of izumi and accepting kurabe as like, an individual person with a right to exist is kind of dulled if he's then like "don't worry, you can still be

my housewife, who does the cooking and the cleaning" "i do the cooking i do the cleaning"

YEAH a big part of why i really disliked megumi my first time around was because of that conclusion but on repeat playthroughs i can't really blame her for it

and yeah i agree on ryoko's route being one of the strongest!

i sort of get what they were TRYING to do with juro's route where like... everyone is trying to force him to be the juro they want him to be but ultimately it's juro's choice to reclaim his past and to decide for himself how that shapes his future

yeah and like

i wouldn't even mind if they left it on a "maybe"

and that comes in the form of him reclaiming both izumi and kurabe. i like all that on paper, but the execution feels very much about having a cake and eating it too

especially because if the framing was even a little different i would be soooooo into the idea of izumi's love for megumi being SO strong that he still remembered it even when the rest of his memories were completely erased

and part of reclaiming his past involves coming to terms with and reclaiming those feelings

but again, execution wise, it just kind of comes off like a bit of an asspull

megumi and juro's routes are also two of the only ones that happen completely concurrently, and during JURO's route, he has VERY CONFLICTED FEELINGS about her.

it's soooo weird because for the most part, juro's fear and discomfort around megumi feels really authentic and real

thinking about when he goes over to shu's place and ends up basically begging him to be able to stay over for even a little longer bc he's that afraid of going home

like he doesn't hate her or anything, but he's frustrated by her presence in his home and the way she keeps trying to coddle him, while also clearly still caring about her enough to be deeply hurt when he finds out megumi only really cares about izumi

yeah!

it's ???

and he very specifically doesn't trust her when thinking of who he can go to about shiba, because he (correctly) assumes that megumi also wants to change him back into juro izumi, it's just a different juro izumi

a lot of the 13sar stuff that kind of falls flat feels like it comes from that like. idk. insistence on forcing the endgame ships regardless of how natural or otherwise it feels for them to actually have those emotions

forever enraged about how they make my boy amuguchi act when yuki is on screen lol. He Would Not Fucking Say That

like it's frustrating because, again, if they just left it at a "let's start over, and maybe we can see where it leads", i'd be fine with it (still not really my cup of tea ship-wise, but it would work), but instead they jump right to "I'm in love with you!!"

GOD

amiguchi would be in A tier but oh my god leave her alone

I FEEL LIKE AN INSANE PERSON WHEN I TRY AND EXPLAIN IT BUT WHENEVER HE STARTS ACTNG LIKE A FREAK AT YUKI I'M LIKE. WHO IS THIS.

that's a whole ass lesbian you dumb kid leave her alone

i am so deeply in shu/ryoko hell that i sometimes Forget how bad his actual canon ship is and then i remember and have to go eat drywall again

right lmao

my ryoko ship from the beginning was ei/ryoko or yuki/ryoko.

yuki/ryoko is sooooooooo good

i know the former gets siblingzoned in canon but i'm a truther

i care ryoko & ei as sibs soooooo much purely because the side material the devs talked about in an interview makes me so wibbly

i will fish it out when you're done bc it's spoilery but there is some extremely good freak ass little girlboss ryoko content in it

yeah regardless of the context their relationship is sooo......

i'm constantly so about what it must've been like for ei to see ryoko in such a state

especially when she started being aggro and hostile towards him. hell and misery on planet claire

especially with ryoko being so confused that she thinks - yeah

ei really had front row seats for every step of ryoko's downfall and at every opportunity he wanted to help her but failed.

i think he should be able to hit morimura and gouto with bricks. imo.

once ryoko is done hitting them with bricks

points a brick at amiguchi

"sorry man i know you're not ida, but you're the closest substitute"
"that's fair"