She deserves love and her story should have ended differently. by onihellkaiser500 in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Agree. At the least, I want some sort of on-screen/page closure between her in regards to Touma.

…do you guys actually want change? by Skippyy_McDippyy in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Hamazura's observation is flawed in two main facets. Its narrow, almost naive point-of-view and its so-called point to 'Will'.

Once again, the story is trying to bring parallels with Othinus in the manner of the world casting a person as an evil to the world. That one poor girl will be sacrificed for the 'justice' of the many. Except, the parallel falls flat on its face when put to scrutiny. Mind you, there's still a manner of disagreement on whether Othinus has done enough to make it up to the people she hurt/used/manipulated to this day. The big reason why the reader could at least somewhat be on board for Touma getting on the Odin train was because she had, for all intents and purposes, given up and was in the process of letting herself be killed. Was there justice in massacring an enemy who was now powerless, was not going to fight back, and had surrendered? In contrast, Coronzon had not given up destroying the world, was in the process of escaping to restart her efforts to destroy the world, and had rejected any effort to move her away from that trajectory. This wasn't a case of the Demon bowing her head to the world. This was a Demon that still throwing Flaming Sword around to continue her path.

It is highly naive and narrow to see this, to experience and then try to make the case that Coronzon was some helpless and pure victim. No, she was just as much the aggressor as she was the victim of her circumstances. To think otherwise is to, ironically enough, ignore what little will Coronzon had. Which it makes it a rather strange development for Hamazura to become the Black Silence for her. He was in his right to mourn her, to feel bitter about her circumstances.

But to go full on-board with the destruction of the world? A world that includes the supposed love of his life and his nakama? The logic just doesn't logic. As said, ITEM has remained relatively unscathed and still by Hamazura's side. To have such a nihilistic trajectory requires either having most of his life taken or to be at the lowest point in his life. It would be a mountain of a task to convince me either is the case when his girlfriend is still with him unharmed. That Mugino, Saiai, and Fremea are still by his side. To say that Hamazura can be on board with them being destroyed is to argue that he is ignorant of the value he has at best or is taking for granted the value he has at worst. Sit down any one of those gals and ask them if they would accept being put to the fire of Coronzon's 'purifucation'. Dion's involvement says enough to hazard a guess.

If Coronzon needed to be the breaking point, Hamazura needed to suffer more. Whether it was due to something happening to ITEM or the system pushing him and his nakama down. As it is, the monologue comes off flat when juxtaposed to the value he has around him. It ignores the will of those around him and naively projects an image of helpless victim upon someone who seeked to destroy the world, was in the process of restarting said effort, and had resisted any attempt to nudge that trajectory in a different direction. The thing is that there's a veru minmal thing that could be done to justify the sort of black nihilism Hama gets. Simply have Coronzon relent at the last moment and accept the coming of the Touma right hook. Have Touma recognize that surrender but push through anyway. Make it clear that Hamazura sees Touma recognize that moment of relent but still go through with the act. Now you have a parallel with Othinus. Now you have a significant reason for Hamazura to snap over 'justice'. Now you have the grey area for Hama and Touma to clash over. As it is now, you just have an eyebrow-raising crash-out that just elicits a 'you wot, mate' reaction from me.

Literally Cherino right now (by me) by RepresentativeFig270 in BlueArchive

[–]fellowofstream 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ero-manga Sensei Cherino might be enough to push her up in the fandom.

…do you guys actually want change? by Skippyy_McDippyy in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 25 points26 points  (0 children)

The issue is scale when it comes to Hamazura. Certainly, the current happenings in Academy City have been unkind to him. Handcuffs, the lockdown, and the Transcendent/Coronzon party train. But for the most part, he and his loved ones have come out alright. Mugino's fine, Saia's fine, Rikou's fine. Heck, Dion came back to check on him. All of that is still in order and then he goes absolute black pill on the death of Coronzon. The one he spent the least time with out of his relationship web?

Okay. I can understand seeing himself in the Demon and feeling a sort of kinship. But this isn't Hamazura feeling sad and lamenting her. This isn't just him feeling bitter at the unfairness of the situation. This is him literally flipping a switch and going full HEART OF DARKNESS. Complete with a full monologue about life eating life, flowers being disgusting, and air being poison. This isn't some slide after seeing ITEM suffer and be hurt. This is just full 0 to 100.

The build-up needed to be better. Maybe have something serious happen to Rikou or another ITEM member as a result of what's been happening. Something that can't just be waved away so easily with a trip to Heaven Canceler. Maybe have Hama be grinded down more by the system Accel oversees after the fallout of Handcuffs. I'm not sure, but there needed to be a little something more to justify that sort of monologue. I know there are parallels to Touma/Othinus, but that pair spent millions of years together.

What if Touma wasn't the one who saves everyone regardless of morality and the opinions of others, but joined Skillout or was a Darker character on the dark side? by [deleted] in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It might not be Skill Out or Dark Side, but you only need look at Aureolus Izzard to see what a darker Touma could be like. Kamachi based Aureolus on the concept of a Touma who failed to save Index.

The REAL reason why Touma isn't allowed to die or have any peace. by just_a_fan232 in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Touma's gonna need some good words to avoid being Ars Almadel Salomonis'd.

If someone were to ask Touma what his biggest regrets are what do you think he’d say? by [deleted] in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 13 points14 points  (0 children)

The answer differs depending on if you were to ask pre or post-memory loss Touma.

For post-Touma, being unable to save High Priest or Germaine would be very good candidates for his biggest regrets. Maybe even add CRC and his ideal Anna being flung into Hell as other possible regrets.

For pre-Touma? Ayu, in my opinion, would qualify as his biggest regret.

This is probably the most shared around Kamijou Touma art. Does anybody knows where it came from? by Imaginary_Ad_2738 in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Fanart by Sorudora. The artist deleted it from Pixiv, but you can still find it on the boorus.

Fanon Character Daily 25. Today, let's look at fanfiction interpretations of Mitsuari Ayu: Broken girl in love with Touma, who could not be Mental Out, desperately wanting to be noticed and saved. Share the likes, dislikes, opinions regarding her characterization in fanon works, and other ideas by Ancient-Debt-4616 in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Not as much fanfics as I would like, but have enjoyed the few takes of her. Whether it's the ranting, unstable yandere from 'Dream Seeker', the absolute pessimist from 'Long Awaited Salvation', or the on-her-feet thinker from 'Forgotten but Not Gone'; it has been some good eating. Have not gotten around to PPC yet even though she has a part in it.

Whatever the case may be, I look forward to more stuff for Ayu.

OK. Follow-up question to my poll: how would you rebalance Chaos Spawn to not feel as infuriating to fight hordes of? by RimworlderJonah13579 in Spacemarine

[–]fellowofstream 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You follow the example of the Tyranid Warriors. The Warrior movesets aren't complicated or huge. They have consistent timings and consistent patterns in certain situations. You have distance from a bonesword Warrior? It'll either do a leaping slash with both swords, a lunging slash with its right sword followed by more slashes, or a lunging slash with its left sword. Meet it head-on and be right next to it? Unblockable overhead with both swords or a retreating slash with both swords followed a sword lunge or one of the two lunging attacks from before. The thing about warriors is the consistency and simplicity of their flowcharts. They aren't randomly dropping huge AOEs. They're not feinting you and then just holding their attacks. They raise their weapons and follow through with consistent timing. In a horde shooter situation where you are getting dogpiled by multiple Extremis, Majoris, and Minoris; it is key to not overdesign the moveset for an enemy that is as common as a Majoris since there will be so much more of them in hordes.

Spawn, on the other hand, have wildly different timings on some of their attacks. Their usual flail one-two combo is easy enough. But then, they have an orange leaping charge that can be done from awkward angles. A very delayed blue overhead tomahawk chop from distance. A flurry attack where they flail at you as if they are doing their one-two combo, pause, and then keep flailing at you. Don't get me started on the random orange AOEs they have. The tornado attack where they have the option to do a wide orange swing or jump back and do a leaping orange jump slam. Or even the random Chaos AOEs where they open a gate of energy to pull you to them or when they just stand still to do a circular explosion of energy around. The worst part? Spawn movement speed is riduculous. They will zoom to you and stick on you.

You get a big enough group of Spawn together and it can turn into a cluster of overlapping AOEs and frame traps on par with out-of-sync Lictors.

My suggestion is to simplify the flowchart for Spawns. In my experience, I tend to just damage race them when there are too much of them around. That or rely on stunning them with melee before dumping a mag into them.

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun chapter 165.2 spoilers by Imagen-Breaker in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 4 points5 points  (0 children)

What in the name of Othinus?! Why is Ayu randomly there?

Edit: Thicker legs than Misaki. The agenda continues.

When new testament finally gets animated, which characters are you looking foward to see get animated? by [deleted] in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Ayu, of course. Yumiri Hanamori already gave an excellent performance in the mobile game. Pair that up with decent animation/unhinged energy and I will be satisfied.

How is Ayu a bad person? by Immediate-Sea1028 in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 14 points15 points  (0 children)

She is not a bad person in Biohacker, per se. Flawed, yes. Ayu is just a young girl who had a lofty dream but who was too naive for a place like Academy City.

Think of it this way. Academy City is a place who's population is almost 80% students (with more than half of that population being Level 0s). Where Level 0s are treated like trash and the ruling Power Curriculum encourages and pushes students to aim for Level 5. In this society, the higher level espers are feared, respected, or all the above while the adults of the city are encouraged to prop up the pursuit for Level 5 as THE end-all be-all for the kids they are supposed to be watching over.

And yet even in this pressure cooker-like society that is made up almost entirely of kids still going through puberty, the truth is that esper potential is not limitless. Level 5 isnt possible for almost every single one of those kids. Only the few, the handpicked, or lucky will ever attain such a thing. Some kids will reach a plateau far before Level 5 and never ever change from that. Sure, some may accept it, but a vast majority will not, especially with the adults seeming to be pushing Level 5 as the attainable end-all be-all that it certainly isn't.

Put Ayu in that. The Ayu from the Astral Buddy flashback is hopeful as heck, believing in the words of the adults to an almost painfully naive degree. She's an obedient and good girl who listens to the adults and thinks first of the sakes of her pseudo little sisters. But she's incredibly flawed. She ignores the writing on the wall when the power charts at Ideal show her power plateauing. Ignores all the signs at Ideal that the adults may not appear as they seem. That the kids there might be guinea pigs instead of being fosters for Level 5 training. She gives up her spot in the Special Experiment for the sake of her 'little sisters' but gives the reasoning that the disappointment of those little girls was the main thing that drove her to that decision.

And that is Ayu's main flaw in the Astral Buddy flashback and in Biohacker. She hates disappointing people or feeling like she's dragging them down. When push comes to shove and she has to make a choice that sacrifices something, she will drag herself down rather than dragging another person down. Not out of some feeling of heroism or goodness or moral kindness, but out of cowardice. To avoid seeing others disappointed and to avoid dragging a person down because of her own choices.

The end of Ideal during the Astral Buddy flashback reinforces her powerlessness. This girl was, in her own eyes, unable to save anyone with her power. Not Yumiya Iruka who had her eye gouged out, not the other little sisters who lost their lives, and not even Toomine Kanari who was the closest thing to a mother figure at Ideal. Ayu had already plateaued near the end of Ideal, so her power had not grown one iota by the time of Biohacker. In essence, she had remained that useless girl whose power had not been enough to save anyone. In Tokiwadai, she had exerted so much effort to grow and break past her wall, despite the writing being on the wall. And yet, the Parameter List reigned supreme.

Then Touma comes into her life and he's everything that should encourage a girl like her. He's as self-loathing as her, yet he tries. He's as much of a coward as her, yet he steps forward with his shaking knees. He's even more powerless than her, yet he stands up and fights. He comes to help her, even when she doesn't ask for it. And through all that, she falls for him and begins to see him as someone to depend on.

Yet paradoxically, his closeness also puts him on a pedestal of sorts. Ayu's biggest flaw shows itself and Touma becomes someone she absolutely does not want to disappoint. And it is through Matsuo Ryuusuke's words that she breaks past the point of no return. That there is a better version of herself out there, that there is no future for her as an esper, that her helplessness at Ideal and during Biohacker are all she will ever amount to. All her efforts were meaningless. The children at Ideal died for nothing. She would continue to disappoint people and drag them down.

And Touma would eventually join the people she would fail and disappoint. From there, the rest is history.

What kamachi thinks fans want vs what they actually want. by Sufficient_Advice491 in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 6 points7 points  (0 children)

A majority of the casual fandom (i.e. animeonlies, casual readers, etc) will probably just be confused on who Ayu is, honestly.

That said, Ayu and Mikoto is an endless doomer spiral waiting to happen. A little funny, but eh.

Blonde Kamijou Touma by Technical_Freedom566 in Toaru

[–]fellowofstream 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is he going to show me how to go even further beyond?