when playing the fontaine AQ i didn't personally interpret furina's arc as being exposed as a fake since she and focalors are still elements of a single being, despite being independent in the consciousness and personalities, and thus furina was still by all rights the hydro archon. capitano and focalors/furina do share some similarities individually (though their dynamics with mavuika and neuvillette respectively could not be more different), but they can only be so similar when natlan was just overall written better. however, i completely agree about how heartbroken everyone appears to be over capitano's sacrifice compared to previous deaths, and more so than focalors i would compare the response to signora's death, which was legitimately just poorly written and timed for shock and wasted an entire character.

capitano's death seems to be suddenly dredging up disappointment about underdeveloped/underutilized harbingers when so far he, arlecchino, and dottore have been utilized the Best in regards to their respective roles, while signora and scaramouche were wasted and childe continues to just be a guy who flails around like a wounded osprey, as he should. capitano differs from the rest because his role is attached to mavuika and that is a level of importance that people didn't want her to have. you've unfortunately hit the nail on the head that a woman's sacrifice for a male protagonist's development is simply the rightful way of things, but when inverted, that principle is cruel and unjust and bad writing lmao

the "we lesbians" part as if i am not a lesbian is the cherry on top but i also love the projection of insecurity assuming that i would feel threatened by kafka interacting with women the way y'all are threatened by her being explicitly attracted to blade. as if it's my fault that you are so deeply insecure about having shit taste that you've been throwing a year long tantrum because someone as smart as i am isn't telling you that you're right or acquiescing to whatever popular slop you dumb bitches shovel into your rotting traps. enjoy at least two more years of genshin with one playable dude per region and me winning because i get to enjoy the cast correctly!

i literally haven't even watched arcane and don't plan to for a very long time but when neuvillette starts gassing the people in fleuve cendre and poisson and talking about them like they're degenerates then maybe we can talk about what's too problematic :) not my fault he and navia did a better job of addressing complicity in class warfare in a single conversation than caitlyn did lol

considering that i'm not the one calling myself moral i think you might just be grappling with a sense of moral inferiority on top of stalking me and scrolling through tweets of my cats just to find something to use as fodder for disliking the pairings i like for being better than yours

they're very difficult to compare since i think their stories serve vastly different purposes, so it often depends on which point each game is in its story. star rail feels a lot more Dense in terms of how much worldbuilding goes into the main storyline, particularly because the divine beings are a lot more enigmatic than those in genshin, in which we interact with gods like they're regular people. star rail's portrayal of morality is also a lot more layered in my opinion, and the only characters whom we are supposed to see as blanketly bad morally are those who represent the ipc (yes, even the ones who are sold as lovable to us).

on that level, i think genshin's story is probably a lot more universally relatable, since its themes are much more representative of current social climates in ways that are (or should be) obvious, whereas star rail requires a bit more prerequisite understanding of narrative devices to truly make its points. inversely, i think star rail does a better job of critiquing macrosystems and topics like disability and capital that affect all social demographics, whereas genshin is better at highlighting social stratification on a micro level, such as class differences within a specific culture or nation (although fontaine was a categorical failure on that level). going back to relatability, i think genshin's cast often feels more resonant on a personal level, since their experiences are a lot more applicable to our lives than characters in a hyper-advanced universe spanning galaxies.

tldr tho i think both games are very earnest in what messages they're trying to send, despite being held back by both a gacha format and deeply ingrained racism and xenophobia (which isn't unique to these games but feels more noticeable given the caliber of their storytelling), so i tend to go back and forth on which i gravitate towards more! although part of me is still biased to a game with dehya in it :x

my dearest pie you never have to apologize to me for sounding weird i'm so touched and moved and hiding bashfully in my blubber and neck fat. if i do end up watching arcane it likely won't be for quite a while, since i don't trust myself to not get argumentative or heated when it is still as popular as it is and thus has so many #Takes floating around. when i do, i'll try my best to share my thoughts either on twitter, bluesky, or tumblr depending on which feels safest for me, but you'll definitely know if i'm watching it bc i never know how to do things quietly.

again i'm so so touched and i didn't think anything i say has that much impact but i'm so glad the impact has been positive. i hope you feel the same confidence and love for your own thoughts and words as you enjoy ekko and all of the chungi :')