Never Gonna Give You Up
“Schizophrenic asset tummy… erotic… (ToT)”
- Actual Reactions to Avalon Reveal
Welp, we made it to the end of the week. For the last few bits of /Conspiracy/ Girls to be finished, there's not much writing, but a whole lotta talking to artists to get stuff done. As always, I say that more can be done (if I am not grinding the Duelist Cup). Ehe. If there's a theme for this week it's that I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel and I'm not gonna give up a single thing.
We Always Moving Forward
Surprisingly, EP4 was done really quickly this week, which makes sense, since EP4 was the last episode I fully worked on with modern techniques. Now there's only two episodes left, and at a rate of 2 weeks an episode, I am locked into the release date of Oct 4, so the final checks, art, and uploading to Gaben will have to be done... now!
One interesting thing is that I am currently watching Lycoris Recoil for ideas on how to finish EP5, and 6. In an anime season, usually this marks the midpoint of the story where the heroine beats a mid-boss and the first arc ends. For Lycoris Recoil, it's Chisato getting into a fight with MAJIMA-SAN! and almost losing, and also setting up the Alan Institute plotline. The question of "will they ever recover the guns" is not really so much resolved as "the guns are in the Joker's hands". It's an interesting way to setup future arcs, and since I adore the two dorky main characters in Lycoris Recoil so much, I definitely will be watching for future looks.
Understanding film theory and the basic structures of a film (or story) beyond the usual three act structure is pretty important to making an anime. /Conspiracy/ Girls will stop at the EP6 mark (because I am just one man), and I think that's a satisfying point to stop when Madison BTFOs the glowies and sets up a future arc. Even if Lycoris Recoil stopped at EP6, it still told a pretty complete story.
Why Two Artstyles?
As usual, a fair bit of my time was spent on dealing with art. The deadline is fast approaching and I can count on my fingers the last few pieces of art I need to complete the story. With about a little over a month of time left, I have enough time for three more pieces of art, which is just enough.
I've always debated with myself the whole "use two artstyles" narrative trick. Should I have used it? Wouldn't the story still make sense if we had one single artstyle for the whole story? What I really didn't want was a Shkanon solution to my story, so people who are obviously pretending to be someone else are distinctively marked out (at least for this arc). Even with this distinction, I still hid quite a few poisonous narrative tricks, so I'm still pretty sure that it won't be so easy to crack.
So it really boils down to a visual thing. It would be one thing if the characters were ugly, but I made sure that everyone was drawn as prettily as possible, in both artstyles. It is in the whole "cunny, conspiracies, and children's card games" part of my schtick after all.
I can guess that in the future someone is just going to comment: "Morganna looks OUT OF PLACE in the story!" So does the whole of the Shadowthrone. Why YES, that's the WHOLE POINT! You aren't really supposed to take Madi-san's delusions seriously, so any talk about witches and so on should be ignored (cackle cackle). It's also my answer to Umineko's Shkanon theory: different people see different people differently.
If I went at it again, I definitely would still use two artstyles. I think it's something that makes /Conspiracy/ Girls unique, even if it does feel a little strange in some places. I hope that the readers will like it and the small twist that comes with figuring out things for themselves.
A Little Tired
“Write the damn book, Pegasus!”
“Mmm, but Keith-boy, it’s Duelist Cup week. Don’t you want to play with your Swordsouls?”
“JUST. DO IT.”
I'm rushing the deadline, so I do feel a little tired out this week. It's been a long time since I've had this feeling where I am pressed for time to finish stuff. A month and a half seems so far away, yet there always seems to be so little time to do everything I want for /Conspiracy/ Girls. I also don't really want to change my vision of having a (mostly) linear visual novel and add in weird gameplay elements just because.
If I do, most likely for a phone release, it will be Danganronpa-style tiny mini-events; another option is to have it work like an Azur Lane event; it won't change the narrative fundamentally. (at least for this arc) I DID plan for this arc to be literal games journalist mode, so people who don't know can enjoy this as a movie, and people who reached the truth in Umineko can see a vividly different story.
We're No Strangers to Love (Or Fatigue)
“I gotta admit, Kat really did a great job at catching the whole American Eagle thing.”
My breath is running short in the mornings, am coughing a bit due to fatigue, but it's a good feeling. I won't give anything up this time, not the geimu, not my girls, and definitely not children's card games. Release is soon. Very soon. We WILL make it on time...!
Written 220815
