Season's End
This week marked the big ending for my visual novel, as I finished the finale of the New Coimbra arc which dogged me for such a long time.
We Finished 5!
"Aloha."
It took a bit of time, but I finally finished Episode 5! Truth be told, I finished 5 a long time ago, but after re-reading the final fight scene, I thought to myself: maybe this could be done a little better. Truth be told, the VN format doesn't really favor fight scenes, and without time to commission new CGs, it is going to be a difficult fight uphill. There was always going to be a huge amount of doubt about the more "serious" parts of /Conspiracy/ Girls, I think I sprinkled the right amount of comedy for people who see through the trick to make it work.
Even if you don't until the very end, I think it still works too! A really big part of writing /Conspiracy/ Girls is that it works either way; you can see it both as a comedy and tragedy at the same time. It's really two parts of the same coin.
As a famous card game designer once said, "restrictions breed creativity", so I had to figure out how to make the final fight look good, while working with all the limitations in mind. First thing I did was to go around the block looking for ways to convey action, which led me down the rabbithole of making all the dialogue shorter and snappier. I also reduced the number of cut outs to things happening outside as the episode was going on for FAR too long, and the cut outs also considerably slowed the pace down, so they had to be removed.
Of course, fixing the dialogue along doesn't completely fix the problem if the final fight being a little underwhelming, so I started thinking again. The characters moving around doesn't really convey action, how about some VFX instead? I remember that Umineko did that too. That was the answer I was dreading, because that's more hours in photoshop, but off I went! The final result was pretty good, combined with more modern techniques it makes for a pretty engaging scene now! I quite liked it and the final twist of the knife, and I hope that whoever is reading /Conspiracy/ Girls feels the same way too! (maybe~)
Lycoris Recoil Ending
"Eh. Doesn't this mean that Fall is already over?"
I don't know how it happened, but I finished the climax of my visual novel at the same time that the GOAT show of the season, Lycoris Recoil ended. Pretty glad they didn't completely massacre Majima's character. I was thinking that they would totally kill his push, and I am glad the director didn’t just make him a pansy jobber.
Throughout the show, I took a LOT of cues from Lycoris Recoil on action scenes, but sadly I am much more of a comedy writer. Maybe I need to watch Die Hard and action flicks to get a sense for choreography.
I think the premise, worldbuilding, characters of Lycoris Recoil were really SPOT ON. The dystopia setting really makes me think, and I don't think I would have continued the show if it was just that, Chisato and Takina really made Lycoris Recoil, Lycoris Recoil. It didn't end with a sappy ending, it surprisingly ended on a positive note, despite loads of predictions that it would end in a tragedy. Shinji being a crazy villain is surprisingly played straight, and just like in /Conspiracy/ Girls, the assassin girl just can't stop jobbing! Overall, it's been a very long time since a show really tugged at my heartstrings the same way that Gridman did, so sasuga A-1 pictures.
Make It Count!
Only a bit more now…
While I would have liked it to release the book on the 5th, national day is a good day to release the book too. I've also been granted a week free from editorial business, so I can fully concentrate on writing, scripting, and just that. Nothing else.
With the hardest part in 5 done, the rest should be smooth sailing now. The finish date has been pushed to the 20th, but I think it is good for the book. Ep6 will be shorter than normal to wrap things up, but I've been given a single week to wrap everything up nearly with a bow tie, so I'll keep fronting!
Last Scene
Last time I reached this point, I think I went on too much of a celebratory trip, so this time I'll be a little careful about where I put my passions. It does prove that it takes two weeks at least to produce an episode, without question, without reduction. So I'll have to put in double time to make sure EP6 comes out great!
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