The Other Side of the Fourth Wall

If you frequently watch stories that feature reporters or the news media, you may notice that they are rarely portrayed positively unless they're the protagonists. The reason boils down to the fact that in those cases, they aren't the protagonists, and can easily serve as a convenient obstacle for the protagonists or a straw man that the author can bash. The one thing these portrayals have in common is that the media doing its job(or what the author sees as its job) is never enough to solve the problems the heroes face. In many stories, the heroes are the underdog in an uphill battle against a powerful enemy, and having the news media be on the antagonists' side only helps further that perception. By publishing stories that show the heroes in the worst possible light, the news media can help turn public opinion against the heroes, leaving them even more isolated in their quest against the enemy. The villains can show their power by commanding the media to do their bidding.

In many works of fiction, especially those with large casts, some characters inevitably end up being hated for various reasons- whether because they're annoying, poorly written or utterly despicable without being entertaining. My Hero Academia's Minoru Mineta is a shining example of what TV Tropes calls "The Scrappy," named in honor of Scooby-Doo's infamous Scrappy-Doo. If you haven't heard of Mineta, he's part of Class 1-A of U.A. High School, a school that trains would-be heroes. His Quirk, or special ability, is Pop Off, which allows him to pluck sticky balls from his hair, which he uses to restrain his foes or allow him to climb walls. In terms of personality, he's a rather egotistical, somewhat lazy and extremely perverted source of comic relief. This post will discuss why he's a textbook example of a hated character. Mineta The Pervert As you may guess, Mineta being a pervert- and little else-  is the main reason why so many people dislike hi

Writers are generally advised to "show, don't tell." This is by no means an absolute rule, but showing what you want to convey rather than telling your viewers about it has many advantages; it's more organic, has more respect for readers' intelligence and can often communicate more. This will look at Special Chapter 3 of Bloom Into You, as an excellent example of subtle storytelling. Sayaka is waiting for Touko at a train station when Chie Yuzuki(whose name is not provided in the manga) happens to run into her. For context, Chie had asked Sayaka out when they were going to Tomosumi Middle School together, and they had briefly dated. The two grew distant after Chie advanced to the high school division, until one day, Chie broke up with Sayaka, saying that they were no longer kids. Sayaka was deeply hurt, and ended up transferring to Toomi East High School. Sayaka is surprised (but clearly not happy) to see Chie, as shown by her facial expressions, and a brief flash

Video game have various terms and lingo that you'll pick up on if you become familiar with them, from those specific to certain games to those that concern genres or the entire medium. One of the key concepts for role-playing games is experience points and player levels. As a bit of context, this post comes in response to the news that the upcoming Paper Mario: The Origami King will not have an experience points system. I will discuss that game later on, but will begin with a discussion of the system. How Experience Works Experience points is a remarkably simple feature. Every time the player characters defeat enemies or performs other actions (such as practicing skills or completing quests), they will earn experience points. After characters gain a certain number of experience points, they will level up and become stronger. Leveling up often increases a character's base statistics and/or grants new abilities. In most cases, the experience requirements for lower levels are fair

Turn-based RPGs can vary greatly in terms of game mechanics, but most have at least a few common elements. They tend to require you to think carefuly about your decisions and to use your party member's varying strengths to the fullest potential. As you can imagine, the most difficult and least enjoyable parts of the game tend to be when you only have a single party member. I will provide a general analysis of this trend, and may later take closer looks at individual games. The first and most obvious reason is that there's no safety net. If your only character's HP falls to 0, the game is over. Few early game enemies present much of a challenge, but if they attack in groups, your character is unlikely to be able to withstand the enemy's assault for long unless the enemy misses often, or you can kill them in one hit. Some early game enemies can inflict status effects that cause you to lose control of your character (sleep, paralysis, confusion, etc.), and the battle can q

This post, like the one I wrote about Persona 4's Priestess Social Link , will provide a synopsis and analysis of a Social Link and the character involved. This one will focus on Rise Kujikawa, Persona 4's Lovers Social Link examine why the decision to return to the idol singer industry is consistent with her character arc. For context, Rise is the third person to be rescued from the TV, and the first one who is not in any way connected to Mayumi Yamano's murder. Her Shadow is born out of an identity crisis as an idol known as "Risette," and resolved once she accepts that the Shadow is a part of her, too. The Rank 1 event involves Rise asking the protagonist to show her around town. It's possible to study with Rise before this, but there's no benefit to it apart from the opportunity to improve your Knowledge and prepare for the upcoming test. Like with Teddie, Yukiko, Kanji and Naoto, there's a significant gap between when you meet Rise and when her So

You may notice that many isekai plots are rather formulaic, especially the "tensei isekai" variant that involves protagonists being reincarnated in another world. I decided to let you try your hand at making your own. Here are the questions to fill out. You can make the answers relatively ordinary, or make them as silly as possible. Like most Mad Libs, it's most fun when you're reading them to one or more other people (who don't know how their answers will be used), who offer their own answers. Give your character a name, preferably a Japanese one, and decide the character's gender- male, female or nonbinary. The character will henceforth be referred to as " Protagonist ," or the pronoun "they" and its variants, which can be altered as appropriate. I know Mad Libs generally don't explain where each answer comes in, but this is a special case. A number. A job ; "student" or "unemployed" counts. A cause of death , the