I don't know if anyone else mentioned it, but it feels like the bite had an extra meaning to it. It seems like it's was large enough to "overwrite" the piercings of her ex's both as a show of dominance and to make sure she was the one who is remembered. Plus, who enjoys being reminded of your girlfriend's ex's anyways?

last edited at Mar 6, 2019 9:02PM

^ Technically, yes, but Sun/Moon was the first time it was explicitly stated you cane from a different continent altogether.

^ Arguably Calem was the last "memorable" male trainer (the last good one was Lucas. fite me.)

Calem had the benefit of being the first customizable trainer in the series so he basically got a free pass in the design department. Sun (w/e the hell his name actually is) would have been an alright character, problem is every single one of his clothing options sucked, big time. There was absolutely no way to at least not make him look like a dorky 13 year-old or a bronzed douchbag. Made me regret my tradition of taking the male trainer every gen for the first time ever.

Jesus, someone save her! She's going to drown!

Oh hey, already? Is this show even out yet? Did I miss the premier?

I've seen that YouTube video of the Scottish female trainer complaining about exp. share way too many times. I should be able to quote it off by heart at this point, but I don't speak Scott.

Err... selfcest?

I'm genuinely curious, I haven't actually finished the game.

last edited at Mar 4, 2019 10:15PM

Good. Good. Give in, Aki. Let the yuri flow through you.

^ While I do understand what the show writers were trying to do, and I can also totally understand how others can make justifications for it, and have it make sense, that doesn't mean I can agree with the decision.

The caveat to fan interpretations is that anything can be justified with enough effort. Fictional universes always come with their own rules, that is a given. They don't even need to follow the rules of the real world to be believable, they just need to follow their own. This is also known as the suspension of disbelief, not necessarily important, but interesting to know. These rules can be bent and twisted and flipped around and they would still be fine, but the point where it breaks is the problem.

My issue with the Penny situation has roots in my issue with the new direction for RWBY as a whole, so here we go I guess.

RWBY up to this point had been a fun action filled light hearted romp of pretty girls breaking the laws of physics. It was also a cliche storm of weirdness, and that's fine. There is nothing wrong with an avalanche of cliches. Cliches are fun, they're expected, they're forgiven because "holy shit that girl ran up a wall with magic and decapitated bird monster with a huge ass scythe!" That's fun right? If this followed real world rules, would we ever get to see that?

So this universe introduces a new character. This character is a robot. Robots in other fictional works are essentially immortal. Robots can be dismembered, and crushed and tossed around, but as long as their memory is intact, they'll be fine, more or less. This universe has used this logic before, that's how other universes do it, what reason do we have to think there is a change?

So, this character is destroyed in a way that in other shows would be a "flesh wound" for that character. That's what we expect. So we wait. And then nothing happens. This character is treated like any other human character. Dead is dead. That is sad.

Okay. Cool. But why though? Why didn't she get a second chance? Was her being a robot completely irrelevant? Was the lesson here "All life is precious, even artificial ones?" Okay. Cool. Still doesn't explain what happened. If there is one, why wasn't it given, in universe, even if it was much later? "Because death is dramatic," still isn't an acceptable answer because it doesn't address the fact she is a robot. I'm all for subverting expectations and sudden genre tonal shifts, but if it breaks that suspension of disbelief the plot twist isn't worth it.

edit: that was... way more words than I thought I wrote... if a mod has issues with what I've just done I am 100% willing to paring this down or deleting it outright

last edited at Mar 2, 2019 7:31PM

Some of the best found and fan comics are the ones that feel almost canon

^ Exactly this. What point is there in having a robot or Android character if you don't make use of the fact they can be rebuilt? What was the point of her being a robot at all if we were meant to take her death seriously? If her death is supposed to be final why not just make her character human from the start? I thought it was some set up to have her "dramatically" show up the next season.

based ticcy and her forbidden love of stolen pudding, why we gotta kinkshame?

last edited at Mar 2, 2019 11:57AM

@Midnightgunner They're super heroes. Like, with super powers that they use to fight super villains. It's in the job description.

@juanelric I thought it was Camilla and Hinoka from Fire Emblem

Black and white background. I get it.

'Futari Monologue' meets '90’s X-Men'

I love it. Smashes glass Another!

...depicting the symptoms is just one part of understanding the topic, while actually showing us how to overcome them is a whole other beast, and that's where I have no faith in the author's ability or, indeed, willingness to execute. I have already expressed in this thread my discomfort at the apparent mixed messaging of this manga, where we are seemingly expected to root for Neeko on one page, but to point our fingers and to laugh at her illness on the other. That is what makes me think the story will never reach a satisfying conclusion.

Arguably, as I've taken a day or two to think it over, that may be the point of this series. Depicting Neeko's relapses and outbursts with such genuine emotion and accuracy means the author definitely has a degree of familiarity. Whether it's off hand knowledge from an acquaintence who was actually willing to share their experience, or they have personal experience with the subject is both unknown and unnecessary. What matters is that I have full confidence that Neeko's plight is genuine.

That said, there is a dilemma inherent to depicting severe social anxiety so accurately.

On one hand, Neeko is a fictional character in a fictional setting that we emphasize with and we want to see improve and get better. On the other, anyone experiencing the same things Neeko is knows that if it were that easy to solve they probably would have done it by now, and if she were to quickly and suddenly get better out of nowhere it would be disrespectful to the people who are actually suffering.

There's a delicate balance and the author is really towing that line. The times where Neeko's dysfunction is treated like a "joke" doesn't actually feel disrespectful to me, at least, not totally. It's just accurate to how most people are treated. If it makes you feel uncomfortable, it's supposed to. Neeko is misunderstood and that's fine. The author is making a point that this is Neeko's life and this is what people feel.

My personal issue, and I hate taking about myself and do it rarely online, I'm only using myself as an example, is that Neeko is too empathetic to me. Her life almost feels like I'm reading a personal biography (with some notable exceptions, of course. I'm not a cute anime girl living in Japan, for one.)

While I'm glad a peice of media exists that helps others understand what people like me are going through, it's really hard to continue reading and remind myself of my own issues constantly.

@SushiKnight Don't you mean Marth and Better Marth?

I dunno how to add a synopsis or even request one, but I can attempt one here until one is added:

Girls Frontline is a Chinese mobile game where one collects real life heavy weaponry that have been turned into cute anime girls in a similar vein as Kantai Collection or Azur Lane. The girls this time around are based on real life guns and firearms.

The game itself takes place in the near future while humanity is still recovering from a zombie alien plague, World War 3, and and a rogue omnicidal AI.

Due to dwindling resources, manpower, and huge advances in AI technology, wars are mostly fought with Tactical Dolls, or "T-dolls," which are civilian model androids that have been retroactively fitted with fire control chips and outdated weaponry, and are operated by PMCs who are hired to fight on the government's behalf.

You are a newly minted human commander of Griffen & Kyuger, one of founders and leading forces in T-doll research and development. However, things having been awfully quiet lately, with WWIII more or less over and Sangvis Ferri, the rogue AI, keeping mostly to themselves, you are assigned to the middle of bumfuck nowhere Russia fully expecting it to stay that way.

Meanwhile, The AR Team, a small group of elite T-dolls are on a secret mission, following reports that Sangvis Ferri has suddenly become active again, when they are discovered and things quickly go tits up. Trapped behind enemy lines and cutoff from immediate back up they send out a distress signal calling out for any friendly units in the area...

or tl;dr you collect guns that are also cute anime girls and build a team to fight evil scantily clad murder bots in the middle of Russia.

That work for you?

last edited at Feb 22, 2019 11:16PM

^Pretty sure there are R18 Persica x Helian and G11 x HK416 doujins floating around though I don't know if either of them have been translated yet.

There is one doujin already on here, University Frontline.

I personally no longer have any faith in the author's actual understanding of the topic they tried to tackle with Neeko, so while I do think Aldehyde will try to set up a better future for Neeko in the end, without a proper medical understanding of the actual needs of people with severe anxiety and depression, any "better future" they come up with will be based on false assumptions and ultimately even more aggravating.

You say Aldehyde doesn't understand, but someone on MangaDex who claims to be an actual therapist seems to disagree. At the very least, they say that Aldehyde surprisingly nails several symptoms of actual mental conditions in Neeko.

https://screenshots.firefox.com/TsZYvVRve7vKSIoo/mangadex.org

You don't need to be a therapist to understand Neeko. Everything she experiences I also experience regularly to near 100% accuracy, and I'm also fully aware I'm only one of millions of people who go through the exact same thing as me. And somehow, that thought isn't as comforting as everyone tells you it's supposed to be.

last edited at Feb 22, 2019 3:27PM

Mami is my spirit animal

Jesus fucking christ. "Comedy."

These hit way too close to home, why do I keep clicking on these expecting actual comedy?

AN-94 likes what she sees and takes what she wants.

Jiro's just like my cat