Its Nice To Get Off Work, Get Tossed Into A Portal To A Mysterious Fantasy Land, Get Mistaken For A Ruthless

It’s nice to get off work, get tossed into a portal to a mysterious fantasy land, get mistaken for a ruthless killer queen, and then to top it off, have some divine, mysterious being tell you that your fate is linked with the destiny of the world for the next thousand years. No pressure guys. Just an avocado toast eating millennial here passing by. /flips table anime style/

“Are you telling me that my fate is intrinsically linked with the destiny of the universe for the next thousand years? […] Great! Awesome! No pressure there!” (MC dialogue)

“Holy shit. Holy shit!” (MC narration)

That is not something you want to tell a millennial, trust me..I eat avocado toast at brunch.

For those who didn’t want to give Alain’s route a chance and complained of poor organization and plot…I just wanted to say, season 4 was fucking amazing and pretty much wrapped everything up. You guys should really give Alain’s route another try, it’s organized differently from Helena’s route, but holds its own. 

“[…] He continues to shed blood in the name of a childhood love whom he cannot accept died with the birth of the Witch Queen. She tortures him time and time again, using his own heart as a weapon against him. Without your love, he cannot free himself from the Witch Queen’s cruel grasp.” (Libra dialogue)

“In all of time and space, this is the only timeline in which Alain’s path is intertwined with yours.” (Libra dialogue)

We get a reason as to why Alain is irredeemable in the rest of the Love & Legend routes besides his own. (Voltage, just go ahead and shatter my heart into a million pieces again after I had to spend a couple weeks piecing it back together.) When the goddess Libra is speaking of timelines/paths, I believe it’s parallel to all the other character routes where the MC falls in love with someone else. When the MC mentioned she wishes she could save them all, that’s just heart-breaking. So, Alain fans…I’m sorry, but expect more heartbreak in the other Love & Legends routes. Our garden loving pure boy will meet a tragic end in every route except his own. :*(

The narration/dialogue greatly improved in season 4 compared to season 3. Season 3 lacked a lot of poetic dialogue from Alain and the MC’s dialogue was a bit weak without Alain’s dialogue to compliment hers, but he recovered his poetics in season 4. Check out a sample of Alain’s poetic dialogue below!

“I have loved you since I first set eyes on you, and I will continue to love you through life, and past death. I will love you until the stars blink out of the sky and the moon loses her light.” (Alain dialogue)

I just wanted to say wow!? I know that stars don’t have an infinite life, but it sure does seem infinite in the eyes of a human. Thought that line of dialogue from Alain was pure poetry, and instead of saying that he’d love the MC forever, he compared forever to the burning stars and glowing moon.

The scene where they take a dip in the warm ocean under the moonlight and stars is one of my favorites so far in all of Alain’s seasons next to the rose garden scenes. A bit reminiscent of the scene with Alex Cyprin and the Astoria MC taking a dip in Olympus! Love those type of romantic scenes in nature! Highly suggest that heart scene, it was lovely and worth the hearts! 

“When he tips back I move with him,  and suddenly we’re floating together in the ocean. We’re quiet for a long time as we gaze up at the stars. It’s enough to be together in a moment when there’s nothing chasing us.” (MC narration, sample from moonlit swim heart scene)

Another heart scene worthy of your wallet is the Love & Legends MC being a fucking *badass* for leading the charge against the Witch Queen’s forces while casting magic strong enough to create a giant shield. You guys totally need to get that heart scene. It’s amazing and creates a strong finale for season 4.

“On my mark, the army marches out from the forest at my back.” (MC narration, sample from taking lead heart scene)

If the caliber Helena’s story was immeasurable like the infinite stars in the heavens, then Alain’s overall story thus far, especially season 4 is as beautiful as the moonlight casting a reflection of itself and the infinite stars into a calm lake. In parallel, Alain’s story, despite similar origins as Helena’s, has it’s own poetic beauty and for those who doubted his story, I urge you guys to give him another chance. You won’t be disappointed, season 4 was beautiful and a mix of emotions.

And, there ya’ go…that concludes my wall-of-text review for Alain season 4 finale! Can’t wait for season 5 for both of the ice generals, they are my favorites!

Inktober 2018, Day 19, sketch of Orion Akatsuki from Starship Promise. I don’t talk about Starship Promise much, but I have played Orion’s and Antares’ routes up to season 6. My favorites would have to be Antares and Tyrian. I’ve never read Atlas’ route, so from the PoV of someone who knows nothing about Atlas, I enjoyed Tyrian’s route a lot.

Orion’s outfit was so hard to figure out…I usually only draw fantasy stuff, so this was really good practice for me. And, I figured out my weakness…it’s eyes and hands. I spent 1+ hour on the eyes and 2+ hours trying to figure out how to draw a hand holding a laser gun. Going back and forth between drawing a male character and female character is also challenging cause the hands are different. I think female hands are easier to draw cause it’s smoother. 

I realize that there has been a lot of negative vibes lately, so if you guys ever need a sketch of your favorite characters to cheer you up…I’m here for you. No matter how simple the request is, don’t hesitate to ask. You can just direct message me anytime or send an anonymous request. 

Now that Lucien and Runa have finished their pilot seasons, it’s time to share your thoughts! :)

Take this short survey about Sweet Enchantments, and let us know what you thought! As this was a pilot series, your feedback will determine its future and continuation.

This survey will only be up for a few days, so don’t delay!

Me: What Runa did to Kamila is unquestionably and absolutely wrong. Violation of consent is never okay, whatever the means to do it, and that violation is not the draw for the character for me. It is definitely a mark in the minus column for Runa’s appeal. But this is a fictional narrative, not real life. Fictional people are not real people, and are not actually doing any of the bad things they ‘do’. Fiction is under no obligation to be morally pure, and while there lots of room to say that Lovestruck handled this whole thing poorly and they should have warned for it better than their in-universe foreshadowing (not that Lovestruck has warned for anything else they should be warning for in other routes, but they should be doing that).

Me: However, the narrative, the MC and (in Episode 12) Runa herself all acknowledge what she did was wrong. Runa herself absolutely should have known at the start that what she did was wrong, but she only does when she sees it from the other side. This is the start of a redemption arc for her character, quite clearly, and they are also fairly clearly going to continue to address this issue in future seasons, assuming we get them.

Me: Furthermore, no one is a bad person for liking (or writing) a problematic character, or for liking (or writing) a problematic story. It’s fiction, fiction is not reality, and what people like in fictional stories are not indicative of what they are like in the real world. Thinking a fictional character could be redeemed does not make someone a bad person, because this is fiction. No real people are harmed in the creation of these stories, except maybe the writers/producers/etc if they work themselves too hard creating them on a quick schedule.

Me: As a piece of narrative fiction, Runa’s route is fascinating and engaging, and as a fictional character, Runa is also fascinating and engaging. I want to know more about her character, I want to know why it took her 25 years to actually understand that messing with people’s minds like that is wrong - that is not normal, and there is bound to be some really interesting shit in her backstory to explain that. Messy, complicated and morally problematic characters make for really, really interesting fiction to many people, and both Runa and her route promise to be that. (Also, on a much lesser and purely shallow level, Runa is hot and the writing is very hot - seriously, that kiss and then the foreplay in Episode 10? Infernos)

Me: Additionally, Runa is being targeted with some pretty selective prosecution. Even from the start, before the revelations in Episodes 10 to 12, people were attacking her for being 'rude’ and 'mean’ and 'bitchy’, despite a great many male LIs being allowed to be that without complaint before now. And Runa is hardly the first LI to have done a really bad thing - Renzei is a murderer, Alain and Helena are mass murderers who aided and abetted the Witch Queen’s many and sundry crimes and her genocide of the demons among them. And yet, loving those characters is seen as okay. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a bad word said about Helena’s moral standing. Yes, rape/sexual assault are a very special kind of evil, but also, mass murder. Helena is on a redemption arc, Alain is on one, and Runa is pretty clearly going to start one herself. But somehow, Runa in particular does not get the kind of passes everyone else does. Also, let’s just go look at the books in the Romance Section of your average bookstore or library, por favor.

Me: Fictional characters who do things like Runa have absolutely gone on to have redemption arcs and are much beloved by thousands, tens of thousands, maybe hundreds of thousands of fans. In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Willow Rosenberg raped Tara, wiped her memories and messed with her head, and yet Tara/Willow is held up as a shining bright example of a canon wlw ship, and stands out as some really good early representation. Regina Mills (From Once Upon A Time) raped the Huntsman for (if I’ve got my math right) 38 years, and then murdered him when he showed interest in Emma. She’s also a mass-murderer and a whole lot more, but many, many, many very good people love her character and her story arc, because she and it are compelling, and she did get redeemed. Besides, Runa’s route is head and shoulders above those mainstream TV examples because both BtVS and OUAT pretty much tried to ignore and sweep under the rug the rape as a particular act of moral wrongness, and never touch on them again, whereas Runa apologies for it, knowing the apology can’t, won’t count for much, and openly acknowledges that she did a bad thing when she charmed Kamila into a relationship, and has a storyline that doesn’t seem ready to abandon this topic any time soon.

Me: At no point, however, have I said, that people are not allowed to not like Runa’s route. Runa is obviously not for everyone. People are allowed to be upset, bothered, triggered or just not like Runa. People are allowed to have the hard line that Runa’s violation of Kamila’s consent is a sin they just don’t think someone can walk back from. No one is obligated to read Runa’s route if they don’t like it or it upsets them or worse. No one has to agree with Runa’s fans that a redemption/growth arc is possible and desirable. What people are obligated to do is to let people who do like Runa and her Route enjoy it without saying or implying that they’re terrible, awful, no good, dirty, bad people for daring to like it. You are obligated to be a decent human being to other people, and not call them rape-apologists over a fictional narrative.

Me: Also, it would be nice if you tagged your hate properly and didn’t engage in an active campaign to have Runa/Sweet Enchantments canceled, because those of us who do enjoy it would like to get more of it and would like to see the issues raised in this season addressed further and in more detail as the story goes forward. Plus, there’s all the other SE routes I and others would like to see, which we can’t get if SE gets canceled completely.

The Hardcore Haters: YA’LL ARE DEMONS IF YOU THINK RUNA IS REDEEMABLE! I have no sympathy for you rape-apologists! You just like her because she’s hot! Violation of Consent isn’t sexy! #CancelRuna! You Wanna Romance a Rapist! You’re ALL TERRIBLE PEOPLE!

Me: It’s like we’re not even having the same conversation, is it?

Because so many of you are excited about this idea, we have decided to make some more concrete designs and maybe even program a little game. And because this would be a cool community project, we are asking you for ideas! The game needs a name first, but you can also contribute ideas about the Love Interests, the story, the world or anything else related to the game. And if you like to help with writing, drawing or even programming, just talk to me or @ja-lin

A Concept for a new Lovestruck series

Something I was talking about with @ja-lin for some time and I wanted to share our ideas with you

-the MC is a passionate gamer

-by some kind of magical accident, she gets sucked into the game and all her favorite games melt together

-the LI are her favorite video game characters who are stereotypical for their genre (Action-Adventure, Horror, Shooter, Dating Sim, Jump ‘n Run, RPG etc.) and the world itself is made out of different genre typical locations

-the MC is super badass and uses the power of video game mechanics and nerd jokes to survive, while the LI are probably just confused all the time

-the conversations between characters of different games would be hilarious

-the MC and her Love Interest need to go through different levels and fight bosses to bring everything back to normal

-ACHIEVEMENTS

A Concept for a new Lovestruck series

Something I was talking about with @ja-lin for some time and I wanted to share our ideas with you

-the MC is a passionate gamer

-by some kind of magical accident, she gets sucked into the game and all her favorite games melt together

-the LI are her favorite video game characters who are stereotypical for their genre (Action-Adventure, Horror, Shooter, Dating Sim, Jump 'n Run, RPG etc.) and the world itself is made out of different genre typical locations

-the MC is super badass and uses the power of video game mechanics and nerd jokes to survive, while the LI are probably just confused all the time

-the conversations between characters of different games would be hilarious

-the MC and her Love Interest need to go through different levels and fight bosses to bring everything back to normal

-ACHIEVEMENTS