Anon · 1mo
i'm going to address this thread as someone who largely disagrees with (most of) it
https://x.com/kusanagicanary/status/1856000705917530420
the tweet you quoted wasn't even about it being a 2-parter. it simply stated that there would be no after-talk for the event. unless the radio show explained that the story will be a 2-parter, i'm going to call bullshit at your main claim
"first and foremost--this specific point is a narrative built between ena and mizuki. this is their plotline from 4 years ago that is specifically between these two. the story cannot move on until the two of them reach a resolution with each other and themselves" true. but the intimacy of the secret died the minute kanade and mafuyu were informed from mizuki that she would be talking to them about her secret at a later date. you also missed the whole point of nightchord's stories, which is about finding solace in each other. yes, you may argue that kanade and mafuyu had their own personal conflict to resolve in order for mafuyu Specifically to move forward. but that would not have been the case without mizuki's and ena's help. the same is true for mizuki. kanade wasn't the only person who saved mafuyu. in the same way, it would be unfair to expect ena to be the ONLY person to do all the work when that's what niigo has never been about. it's true that they can't move on unless mizuki and ena themselves resolve their conflict. but ena can't do it alone. and putting ena at the spotlight without the other relationships that mizuki cherishes (even if these will only support ena's resolution on how she would reach out to mizuki) would be doing a disservice to mizuki's importance to so many other people. that's largely why people speculate kana5 (especially considering how kanade's been so left in the dark with mizuki's vague statements on how she was "saved" by her. and she's already caught mizuki in the act of deprecating herself); ena's already shown that she struggles to empathize with others (secret distance with meiko). she NEEDS the push from the other important people in mizuki's life in order to know how to reach out to mizuki in a way that doesn't set her off. she NEEDS output. and she's not getting the output needed to understand mizuki's position in one event
"kanade and mafuyu are blatantly not aware of what is going on between the two. and frankly, they shouldn't know. do you think it would help mizuki to have her agency to come out taken away even further? do you think it would be incharacter for ena to air mizuki's secret publicly?" you are acting like ena can't find a way to keep mizuki's secret WHILE informing kanade and mafuyu about what happened. this outlook just completely diminishes not just mizuki's relationships with other people but also the fact that ena's love and care is not limited to mizuki. kanade lost the people she cherished three times. do you not think ena is going to consider that? there are so many ways for her to tell kanade and mafuyu what happened to mizuki without touching on mizuki's secret. they can be aware without knowing the root source of it
""but its non canon, why does that matter" it's about the vibes. seriously. i don't know how to phrase it any better than this, but these things would actually hurt fan's moods, immersion, and lower the overall reception of events. both ingame and out of game" and all the other statements related to this. i think it would hurt more for the fans if the story is resolved in a way that mizuki would act like all that didn't happen. and i will admit it's clpl's fault for extending the influence of mizu5 to the menu lines. that's a poor choice that did not take into consideration the reception of the fans. it's a double edged sword, really. but i'm going to play devil's advocate here. if everything went back to normal and mizuena's conflicts were resolved, where would the story go for them? for mizuki? because yes she's been accepted by the people she loves. but what's in it for her after? kanade's + mafuyu's + ena's arcs have been prolonged for so long and yet you can't even allow for mizuki's to be same (not saying that she has to be dark and empty forever. but she's not going to go back to being as happy as she used to be. it's kind of like mafuyu all over again). that's already on the fans for not understanding the gravity of mizuki's situation and why the lack of immersion is relevant. and this split / conflict has been hinted since pre-release of the game (i've been a fan since the month they hinted at the characters. i latched onto mizuki the minute they dropped the character profiles for niigo). you can't expect the actual fall to last for two months when it's been over-emphasized across all official content
i'm also going to plug in this user's thread: https://x.com/kanachez/status/1856368152927486011. you're literally a killjoy and i don't think it's right for you to shut down other theories this rudely when people like us are coming from a place of KNOWING that ena isn't the only important person in mizuki's life. because again, we understand that niigo has always been about mutual help and support. just like mafuyu couldn't have run away without the help of the other three, mizuki's conflict isn't going to be resolved with JUST ena. ena can be at the forefront (and she should since for so long until mizuki told kanade and mafuyu that she has something to say to them, ena was alone). but she cannot do it without seeing how it affects kanade and mafuyu and knowing how else she can reach out to mizuki in a way that doesn't worsen the discord between them. there's basis for us inasmuch as there is basis for yours.
Thank you for the long and thought out reply! It is genuinely appreciated.
"it simply stated that there would be no after-talk for the event." I think you missed the entire second half of the tweet I quoted. "There will be no after-talk for this event. The after-talk will be held after the next Nightcord event."
This is saying that the after talk is being merged with the next after talk. It's effectively going to be one giant one to tackle both the climax and the resolution. I don't really know how to tell you this any other way Anon but the event just kind of ends there right after the big moment (understandably so). I apologize that this is pretty difficult to explain.
"the intimacy of the secret died the moment Kanade and Mafuyu died the minute were informed from Mizuki that she would be talking to them about her secret at a later date."
This is just not exactly true and you extended Mizuki's statement to include more than it really does. The intimacy of it is still there when the only thing Kanade and Mafuyu know is that "Mizuki would like to talk to them at some point and will contact them when she's ready" Why? They don't know. About what? They don't know. There is still an intimacy in that the only person who knows what's going on and that Mizuki is hiding a secret is... Ena.
It was a little too long to quote any part in specific, so I'll just be addressing it all at once, but I don't disagree at all with finding solace in the four of each other being what Niigo is about. I agree with that. I don't know why you'd assume otherwise of me when I have never stated anything of the sort. I still think expecting this specific "issue" to go into a longer extended arc is shooting yourself in the foot. My tweets were primarily aimed at the folk who I've seen think this plotline will not get any resolution whatsoever for an incredibly long time and Mizuki will stay absent and will take up the entire next year of Project Sekai's content. In fact, I've seen people write that this would take up the next 6 events which would extend long past the next year either. Which to me is flat out insanity. Unless that's you, in which case, yeah, target audience I guess. This game is going to keep moving forward whether we like it or not.
I've trimmed down a few parts of my own post because I'm just not really replying well but what I'm getting at with immersion is that they cannot host the Colorful Live if Mizuki is just MIA and depressed 24/7 lol. If they do it in character with the current depressed Mizuki, it creates an awkward vibe and doesn't make sense for Mizuki to just be dancing around with Niigo like that during this period (and FYI, the lives do feature in character content...) and if they do it OOC, it's going to also create an uncomfortable vibe and break immersion in regards to "current events" (not sure the right terminology.) Fan reception is soooooooo extremely important to these type of games.
"if everything went back to normal and mizuena's conflicts were resolved, where would the story go for them?"
shrug emoji. That's up for Clpl to decide, really. There's a billion different routes this game could go after this event, and there's technically a billion different routes for what next event does too. My PERSONAL guess, is that next event is going to resolve Mizuki/Ena specifically, and a future Mizuki event at a point in the distant future will resolve anything further with Mizuki/Kanade+Mafuyu.
I did read that thread before you sent me this even, and I even consulted friends for differing viewpoints. I think OP took it too personally. I don't think it makes me a "killjoy" to point out that people have blown this up much too far and expectations are ballooned beyond any sort of reason. If you disagree with that sentence specifically, I have nothing else to really say. Sorry we don't see eye to eye.
Being honest, your harsh tone seriously throws me off. I've been working on a response for about two hours flat without doing anything else in the mean time, and I genuinely mean that I found it rather uncomfortable to reply to and I'm not going to hold a further conversation at this time for the sake of my own boundaries. I hope you will understand. Let's be respectful to one another, OK?
However, I would still like to see you during November 30th, at any rate. I did think this was an insightful perspective and I don't regret responding. Let's see how wrong I am or how wrong you are.
