Halloween Party Starters

Halloween Party Starters

Send a symbol for a thread revolving around the following scenario…

👹: Let’s summon a demon/use an ouija board for fun! 👺: Someone is willing to do anything to sabotage others and win the costume contest. 💀: Oh god. Is this for real?! There’s a dead body – who did it?! 👻: I swear I’m not lying! I saw a ghost in the bathroom! 👽: I had a supernatural encounter! Don’t believe me? I’ll show you where it happened! 👾: All right, what horror movie should we watch?! – No that one’s stupid. 🕷: This party is boring, let’s liven it up by moving to a graveyard. 🍬: WHO STOLE ALL THE CANDY? COME CLEAN AND I’LL LET YOU LIVE. 🎃: That Jack-O-Lantern didn’t wink at you, you’re clearly high and freaking out, calm down. 🌚: Wait, it’s a full moon?! Oh shit – uh, um, I – I’ve gotta go DON’T FOLLOW ME! 🌩: Oooh, it’s a dark and stormy night. Time to tell ghost stories! ⚡: Oh no! Why’s the power gone out?! Someone go into the basement and see! 🔮: we’re just watching tv/a movie/playing video games – oh god wait why’s it glitching is it haunted?!

Alisha vs The Scattered Bones... So Many Problems

Dazzling animation aside, the more I think about and watch this scene, the more ridiculous and problematic it looks. To think so many issues can be found in the first episode of an anime this visually spectacular baffles me even as I write it.

[WARNING: It’s long]

Since when did assassins attack their target when - in this case, she - is heavily guarded and armed herself? With all the research Rose is so proud of doing regarding her targets, you’d think they’d be in tune enough with her schedule to know when and where she would be most vulnerable to attack. Here, in this scene, she is in control and absolutely capable of fighting back. Rose apparently likes making things difficult for herself. They could have easily just snuck into her bedroom at night and slit her throat, as they attempted to do later with that dick prince. 

Why are they attacking in daylight, where their dark clothing counts for practically nothing? This really pertains to the above problem about attacking Alisha while she has means of defending herself. Assassins, at least by modern ideas, do their jobs under the cover of darkness as much as they can. Rose and her guild do the same, as we see with their attempt on the dick prince’s life, and in their espionage work. They’re not the assassins of old that attacked people in broad daylight in front of public eyes. If they didn’t, then wearing matching uniforms and coating themselves in black would be entirely pointless and only be to their detriment. In any case, they really did not make the most of their oh so fearsome powers of stealth as assassins did they?

So it appears the reason they all had to jump in out of hiding in the first place is because some guy fucked up and can’t hit a motionless target to save his life. We’re supposed to believe these assassins are feared? The knife sailed past her head by quite a margin, and was that really inteded as a killing blow, because it almost looked soft. I wouldn’t trust a dagger thrown from on high to take out a target - an arrow would be far more effective if that was the plan. Or was that knife throw intended to miss, as in the case in their game debut? If so, the entire thing was cocked up from the very beginning. There is zero benefit to alerting your target - the target you intend to KILL - to your presence before striking. And before you mention ‘oh but they have their honour, they couldn’t just attack a helpless target’, I’ll remind you how Rose drove a knife into the leg of Lunarre, a member of her so-called ‘family’, who was outnumbered and not hostile towards them, simply for speaking up. I’ll also remind you how they were almost killed Bartlow (game, manga) despite him being necessary and important to Ladylake regardless of his many bad deeds, only stopping when Alisha reminds them of the political, economic and even social impact this would have. In short, they are not as honourable as they like to think they are, nor is their honour-protecting reasonable. Here it costs them a mission.

Combining all the above problems, no damn wonder they have trouble fighting Alisha and her guards head on. With only daggers and nothing else at their disposal, once disarmed (and they inevitably are) they’re up against the wall with nothing else to do but retreat. Not only was Lunarre no match for Alisha (thanks Rose) arguably none of them were. Their weapons are best designed for their line of work - quick, silent and stealthy killing, not drawn-out combat. They seem to have forgotten they are assassins, not soldiers or warriors. And from what I’ve read online from weapon enthusiasts, a weapon with a longer reach, like a two-handed or one-handed sword, would be a far better match against a spear. As this scene made clear, the assassins and their daggers/shuriken were not cut out for extended close combat, especially not against spears. In Episode 3, Alisha wields a dagger, and so her battle with Rose is at least even-matched and can go either way.

The so-called ‘family unit’ of the Scattered Bones abandon one of its members (Lunarre) and leave him to fight Alisha alone, despite being (to quote Rose) ‘no match’ for her? From what I could see there were two other members besides Lunarre, one of whom being Rose, unless she was just watching it all from the shadows. They disappear almost immediately after he engages with Alisha, and for all appearances they retreated into the trees at that moment as there is no sight or sound of them fighting the guards in the background. As a result, when Lunarre is inevitably disarmed and rendered helpless, he is utterly at the mercy of Princess Alisha. Rose tells Lunarre to retreat, but neither he nor Rose has the means of protecting him if Alisha decided to cut him down. She could well have done, and at this point Rose does not know Alisha’s character enough to know she won’t kill him, otherwise Rose wouldn’t have bothered asking the princess why she didn’t do it. Rose should have called for Lunarre to retreat the moment she and the others disappear. Of course, he could have ignored it, but it would have made more sense. This problem can come down to lazy writing, Rose canonically not giving nearly as much of a shit about Lunarre as she claims to (in the game), or a combination of both.

Tying in with Point 5 - ALISHA SAW LUNARRE’S (UGLY-ARSE) FACE. Even MORE reason not to let her get out of the woods alive! A dead princess would tell no tales, guards included, and having them being able to describe and recognise one of her assassins is a ramification no assassin organisation worth their salt would risk. If they weren’t so horrifically equipped and outmatched, with practically everything including the environment dead against them, they would have the means to make it happen. Unfortunately, they had a damn big reason, but no means. 

Alisha’s BODYGUARDS entirely disappear from the scene the moment Lunarre starts attacking her. You could argue they’ve got their hands full with the other assassins - but there were only three assassins. Rose is already in a tree when Lunarre is attacked and subdued by Alisha, so it’s safe to assume the other assassin retreated also - so where the fuck were Alisha’s guards while all this is going on? They weren’t exactly having trouble with their opponents, and at this point in the scene they only have one, who retreats. And since no bodyguards are present to defend their princess... why the fuck does Rose not move in for the kill right here? Her and Lunarre against a lone Alisha would have a greater chance of success and, as previously stated, Alisha has seen Lunarre’s face so she kinda HAS to die at this point. Nope, the guards just come running back after the assassins leave. At that point Alisha should’ve gone “I COULD’VE BEEN KILLED WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU? YOU’RE GUARDS, YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO GUARD ME!” She doesn’t, however, do this.

Lunarre turns into a hellion and pointlessly fucks off instead of trying to finish what he started. What was the point of that? Presumably he became a hellion because of Rose’s ‘no match for her’ comment - though a little build up and clearer showing of this would’ve been helpful blah blah blah - and he later expresses interest in killing/eating Alisha himself, faithful to his game personality... so why the fuck doesn’t he do it right there and then when Alisha is right there and caught off-guard by his transformation/behaviour? God everybody is this scene is so stupid it hurts! Everything is so obviously happening because ‘it looks cool’ rather than ‘it makes sense because x’. Not even the pretty animation can disguise it.

OK rant over. Time to play some Zestiria XP I might rag on the anime and aspects of the game, but I do love it - and that’s why I think I make these posts. It pains me so much because I still love the characters and the story of the game regardless of its flaws, and to see it given such a disservice in the anime adaption while at the same time given amazing animation just pisses me off so much.

Decided to colour code my icons depending on the verse.

Examples include (but not limited to):

Normal verse (Game/Anime etc.)

Berseria AU verse

Legendia AU verse

Seraph verse

/Heading to bed now, all replies owed in my drafts for tomorrow ;)

On my way to work. First day nerves -_-;;

I am the one thing in life I can control I am inimitable, I am an original                                                                                                                                                                               He has something to prove                                                                                                      He has nothing to lose

| Seraph | Alisha Diphda beloved by Koi-chan