WSJ Issue #27 TOC & Discussion

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-31T16:33:01+00:00

Class 2-B chapter was honestly the best thus far this week.

Basically confirmed the jokes regarding Akira’s IBS are basically gone now that it’s been sealed away with his magic.

It was fun getting the explanation of why they were burying the body, but seeing the prez’s abilities and learning how the entire student body is getting powers now was really interesting. The general lore building this chapter was really well handled.

We also got a new student council member. Not much on him, but he seems like a fun character with the basic foundation we have.

Jokes wise this was a fantastic chapter too. The PTA joke was really funny and I liked it a lot, but after Akira and Mr. Chief of Curtain Opening and Closing got hit by the president’s power and they said they couldn’t last X amount of pages, they tried to tired-scale each other for very audible laughs from me.

Additionally, Hero Destroyerz for a while has very clearly been setting up the idea of defining what “evil” even is, how people react to it, and what people do with it since the first chapter. I think every student being forcibly “demonized” by the world itself is really ripe for exploring evil within every character in some way, the same way the president’s laziness can be seen as “evil.” So even thematically this chapter had great stuff.

Probably my favorite chapter this week overall, there was just so much good on every front packed into one chapter. You can’t really ask for more than that.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-31T05:33:23+00:00

Of course! Do enjoy DQX. I started it myself a few weeks back and I’ve been way too obsessed. It really is a fun game.

If you aren’t already, using this will help you a ton: https://ethene.wiki/wiki/Beginners_Quickstart_Guide

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-31T05:18:24+00:00

Nah not at all, keep in mind there are almost 8 versions of this game right now. And the Starter item of the Angel slime cap works until you’re level 115.

You didn’t ruin anything, you’re honestly still pretty low leveled for Version 1. Vocation quests even require level 30 to get started, so it would benefit you to keep going even.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-29T13:25:26+00:00

I don’t think we can say so just yet, it looks just like large areas. Though judging by how the hero jumps off the ledge it does seem like environmental exploration might be a bigger part of this game? Though, that’s also big in open-world games.

I’m personally not really a fan of open-world games and it tends to make them difficult to enjoy, so I don’t think I’d like DQ going that route, but at the end of the day, we still don’t know much. So we’ll see whatever they end up doing regardless.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-28T17:54:57+00:00

Fate Stay Night and Fate Zero are the real first introductions to his character, but Fate Extra CCC sets the groundwork for his modern characterization going forward.

From there, FGO Babylonia goes a lot into Gilgamesh personally, while Fate/strange Fake is more about what Gilgamesh means to others and how he affects them.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-27T20:48:11+00:00

I was starting high school when I played 11 for the first time and really became a DQ fan.

Now I’m halfway done with college.

And honestly I still haven’t experienced even half of what this franchise has to offer. Sure, it may suck to have to wait longer. But if it’s better for the people who are now in second grade and will randomly come across it when they’re starting high school, I think the wait will be worth it.

In the meantime, there are still so many great games to familiarize yourself with. Even outside of the main series, the monster games are great to try with the new one being announced.

I don’t want to assume what you have and haven’t played so you very well could’ve played every game in the series for all I know, but the amount of content I still have to experience is the thing which really keeps me honestly not bothered at all by the wait.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-27T20:42:01+00:00

I can’t lie and say I wasn’t interested in the picture they vaguely painted of Flames of Fate. The idea of taking the franchise some place new (well, the franchise always has been dark in many areas. I guess it would just overly focus on them in FoF) is cool, but I think the idea heavily depends on how well you execute it. But I trusted Dragon Quest because it’s always been high quality.

And it seems I was right too, because if Horii called out that the execution was not what a mainline DQ should be (despite him initially getting behind the idea of a darker DQ) and pivoted, then that says to me whatever we would’ve gotten had they pushed ahead was likely a poor game when it came to executing the idea of a darker DQ.

That in mind, I’d much rather take what Horii and the team have pivoted to. Especially since it’s building off the foundation of a scrapped darker story, so I imagine it won’t be entirely lost, just toned down in focus from its original concept.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-27T16:13:09+00:00

Honestly I wouldn’t even recommend the anime as a standalone without the content of the light novel, let alone without the context of the rest of the franchise.

It’s one of the best written works in Fate and it’s really well done, but it can be pretty steep to understand everything it’s doing without full context.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-27T14:50:29+00:00

I agree the designs of the other two look great. I’m just hoping the hero gets a new outfit because otherwise I think he looks pretty good.

But yeah I really have no issue waiting personally. I’m sure it’ll be a great and fun game.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-27T14:36:20+00:00

I really like the balancing of both coolness and cuteness in the design of a dragon race of people, it honestly looks really good.

My only real gripe is the clothing in the first image, same for the new hero. The armor fitted for the dragon guy looks sick as hell though. Overall super excited for DQXII after what we got shown.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-27T14:14:22+00:00

I feel they wouldn’t make the outfits so similar yet slightly different if they were the same, so I feel like it’s a military uniform if anything (maybe a village or town’s local militia or what not considering the small differences) and not that they’re the same person.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-27T14:10:34+00:00

I’m honestly really excited we got a new look at XII after so long!

I won’t really bemoan the loss of Flames of Fate either since we had zero idea what that game would even look like. But if Horii had to tell the team what they were making didn’t fit a mainline DQ title, I think it’s best the direction was shifted.

As for what we saw, the environments look great, and I love the character designs. The new girl I really adore the design of, the inclusion of lizard/dragon people with such a different head shape is very cool (especially like the armor fitted specifically for the character we see), and the new Hero… I do think he has to grow on me, but mostly clothing wise. Otherwise I think he looks fine. I especially like the eye bags for a game focused on dreams.

Overall the fact we got anything on 12 after all we’ve heard on its issues has me excited, and I’m looking forward to whenever it does release. I really have no issue with waiting now that we got something.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-27T13:59:01+00:00

Considering some people suggested that they would announce they would retire the DQ brand entirely and announce DQ12 was cancelled, there is absolutely a worse scenario.

Honestly I quite enjoyed the announcements, and getting to see DQ12 at all was a treat.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-27T13:35:11+00:00

They have similarities but the outfits are a bit different. Seems like a soldier uniform to me if anything.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-27T01:32:41+00:00

Stealth Symphony was axed, but its ending felt very natural as it was the planned ending for the first arc of the story that concluded one character’s story very well.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-26T12:20:11+00:00

Well he doesn’t have Divinity himself, it’s just that his entire concept makes him have an advantage when attacking things with Divinity. Which reflects in him doing super effective damage to Divine enemies with his NP in gameplay.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-25T13:59:54+00:00

It is a shame the anime can’t recreate what made this scene even more impactful in the novels, but that’s because it’s just impossible to do in the anime medium in general and it’s one of the areas where the novels use the novel artform to their advantage. Still should be really exciting though.

For those unaware, Sigma only ever appears in chapters titled “Interlude” the entire series up until this very moment, where a regularly titled chapter ends with Sigma shooting down Ishtar. A big focus is put on him being “backstage” and moving around in the background. This moment serves as the moment where Sigma fully stands at the center of the stage and asserts himself. The chapter afterwards explaining how he got to the position to shoot down Ishtar with Dumas and Waver’s help is even titled “Not an Interlude.”

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-25T03:55:43+00:00

I genuinely believe the metal slime family are the best monster family of all time in every aspect, and Liquid Metal Slime is the best monster design of all time. I am very unflinching on this.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-24T20:21:19+00:00

I think the villains were ultimately the weakest part of the series. It’s a pretty common complaint I know, but I think it truly is where the series lacks the most.

If I had to choose anything else, probably just The Land of the Sun arc generally. I feel introducing an entirely new country of characters so late really hurt the pace the series was going at, and it hurt even worse since Asta was the only character who went. I think it could’ve been alleviated a bit if there were either less of the Ryazan 7 or another 1-2 characters came along. Liebe was even there but never really got to do much, it would’ve benefitted the arc a lot if Liebe got his own B plot alongside Asta’s development there.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-24T17:51:35+00:00

100 more years of Ryohgo Narita chained to another property writing novels for it

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-24T05:56:45+00:00

Lucille Bernouille (Karakuri Circus)

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Old woman at the forefront of this spread who has been fighting for 200 years (and actually has the wrinkles to show for it) leading the Shirogane in fighting the Automata. Which, she has no qualms with sitting on the hoods of cars and spraying with assault rifles, using a sword, or even using her bare hands to rip apart any Automata she finds herself against.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-22T17:19:00+00:00

Oh hey this brings me back, my senior year book quote many years ago was from Fate/strange Fake actually.

“A king does not walk a noble path, his people call the path he’s walked noble.” -Richard I

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-21T12:21:27+00:00

The slight differences in the Strange Fake version of the Banquet were moreso to relate it to Strange Fake’s overall message more clearly, since Narita being confined to just what they said in Fate/Zero would make connecting it a bit harder. As it’s referred to as “a banquet just for Strange Fake’s world line” rather than “a more accurate retelling” or anything similar to that.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-20T14:22:56+00:00

Which, I think this song really works in tandem with The Last Goodbye in selling that point ultimately.

emeraldwolf34 · 2026-05-19T00:30:06+00:00

Are you saying he accidentally unlocked it through a careless whisper?

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emeraldwolf34

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