Hellioning posted:

To be fair, anime ages are whack anyway.

And Banpresto's insistence on putting her in a lolita dress at every opportunity doesn't help...

ImpAtom posted:

Ryusei and Latooni are pretty close in age, the general gap in art style just does't do much for it.

The SRW OG timeline doesn't help as they have like nine major wars over the course of like five years but the characters barely change in art styles.

ImpAtom posted:

It's oddly the opposite actually. In the original OG2 her 'default' outfit was the dress, OGs backed it up to her wearing her uniform and such more instead. They've actually toned the dress back to the point I think it only shows up in a single attack animation now.

ElMaligno posted:

She is (supposed) to be 14 and he is (supposed) to be 18. Assuming a year or two have passed she is still underage. So Right now its kinda creepy. Once she turns 18 everything is fine and dandy.

TL;DR The 4 year gap is ok and not creepy, the fact that she is underage what makes it creepy.

KataraniSword posted:

There's also the fact that, honestly, neither of them seem that into it. Latooni might have a mild crush on the guy, but it's obvious that Ryusei has one and only one love in the world and Lat doesn't have enough engines and servo motors to even come close. She's a friend, but that's it.

And yet, multiple people on the cast try to shove them together at every opportunity.

Hellioning posted:

To be fair, those people tend to be Excellen and Garnet, who are Excellent and Garnet.

Wounded Land posted:

And ugh, I hate the Ryusei/Latooni relationship so much. It gives me all the creeps and then some.

Wounded Land posted:

"Gives me the creeps" is a bit strong. I don't like that Lat looks like a preteen and Ryusei looks like your typical shounen goon "basically an adult but technically a teenager". The other aspects I don't really care about.

Alacron posted:

I'd be there with you, but like others have said the affection is pretty one-sided on Latooni's part so it just feels like a girlish crush. If Ryusei showed any signs of being attracted to her I'd turn on it pretty quick but as it is it's just goofy, harmless sitcom bullshit.

Glazius posted:

Man, these must be some real trying times for Latooni. At least nobody's restarting a child soldier development program, for small enough values of "child", right?

Seyser Koze posted:

Yeah, about that.

Glazius posted:

Man, these must be some real trying times for Latooni. At least nobody's restarting a child soldier development program, for small enough values of "child", right?

Gyra_Solune posted:

i don't think they're ambitious enough

not until we start seeing psychic babies controlling the doombots

AtomikKrab posted:

About that...

MarsDragon posted:

quote:

An indescribable thing sits in an indescribable place and says indescribable things.

In a less indescribable place, Archibald announces that the sub will be heading to China next. Echidna and Yuuki both immediately question him, since there's nothing of strategic value at their destination. He responds that their destination is an archaeological dig by the LTR Institute; they're in the process of unearthing a Mechanoid, a giant robot built by the ancient Chinese people. Archibald claims to have learned about it in documents passed down from his own family since the early 20th century. Yuuki is skeptical, but Echidna agrees, reasoning that if the Mechanoid is real, Lemon will want data on it. She also volunteers to pilot on the next sortie, as Seolla hasn't been well since their previous mission.

Meanwhile, Carla is talking to Seolla about her devotion to the Divine Crusaders, which seems sincere - more so than Carla's, which is more due to gratitude towards Yuuki than a desire to avenge her family. She leaves when Cuervo comes in to give Seolla her medicine. During the ensuing conversation, Seolla tells him about the encounter with Latooni on the previous mission. He's concerned with the fact that Seolla shot at her (which may be due to too many adjustments), and with the fact that she told Arado but not him (which may be due to not enough adjustments). Seolla asks him to tell Ouka about Latooni; privately, he thinks that in Ouka's mental state it could be dangerous.

The Hagane is on temporary standby; during the downtime, Lamia tries to decode the disk Echidna gave her, only to discover that her decoder is damaged, meaning she'll be on her own until she can contact Echidna again to ask for a replacement. Instead she talks to Ryusei and the others. Ryusei is griping about being stuck on the ship while Rai is on leave to visit the family gravesite. Lamia assumes he's going to pay his respects to Elzam, but is surprised to learn that Elzam is alive on this side.

Rai visits Cattleya's grave, promising to return and say his final farewell once he's been able to lay their past to rest. He receives an emergency call from the Hagane; the Far East Base has detected the enemy submarine on course to China, and they're departing in immediate pursuit. He agrees to meet them en route.

Archibald and company arrive at the dig site, sending Professor Eri Anzai and the other LTR workers scrambling for cover. Carla senses something strange underground, as does Yuuki. Archibald decides that they'll unearth the Mechanoid themselves before pursuers arrive, using their weapons; when Yuuki and Carla points out all of the civilians, he just laughs and begins firing away, getting more excited as he sees the workers in terror.

The Hagane arrives a moment later and deploys units. Excellen immediately senses something wrong that she can't place, while Ryusei and Bullet sense something strange below ground, just as Yuuki and Carla did (but different from what Excellen feels). Archibald notes Rai's arrival with amusement, thinking that this is what they call irony...

quote:

As Excellen's condition worsens, Lamia picks up a distortion in space - but not her support, and not the enemies she's expecting, either. She yells out a warning about the enemy teleport signatures, and a moment later some bizarre unknowns warp in, unlike any robot they've seen before. Kyosuke and Excellen hear one of them speak, but nobody else on the team hears anything.

With the latest turn of events, Archibald decides to call off the operation and retreat, leaving our people to deal with the unknowns. Tetsuya is about to order pursuit, but Daitetsu countermands it when the unknowns turn on the ruins; we'll have to wipe them out before anything else can be done.

quote:

Aboard the Hagane, Dr. Anzai tells the crew about the expedition's search for the Mechanoid. Supposedly the Mechanoid is an ancient machine built to fight a mythical evil; given the timely arrival of the strange unknowns and their interest in destroying the ruins, it may be on the verge of awakening. That would explain the DCs' interest in getting their hands on it, although supposedly the Mechanoids choose their own pilots. With the enemies gone, Eri will be continuing with the dig; Irm promises to put her in contact with his father, who should be able to help with the investigation.

Later, Daitetsu and Tetsuya discuss the mounting troubles. The captain has a feeling that another war on the scale of the last is brewing - if not something even worse still.

Latooni has been analyzing the destroyed unknowns, and they appear to be biological. The voice that Kyosuke and Excellen heard is a mystery; perhaps the enemies broadcast some kind of signal that only the two of them could receive, but what would it be? Kyosuke thinks of the shuttle crash they were both in, but there's little to go on as yet. Instead he turns to Lamia to ask how she learned about the teleport signatures; clearly she knew about them, even though they're of a type the Hagane hasn't detected yet. She unsuccessfully tries to play dumb, and when Kyosuke comes out and asks if she knows of somebody else with this technology, she makes a hasty excuse and runs out.

On the submarine, Archibald makes contact with Mitsuko Isurugi Rose, who hired him to acquire the Mechanoid. It turns out that she's already made plans to acquire the robot from LTR directly if they manage to unearth it, to his mild annoyance. Meanwhile, she isn't at all interested in the Federation's R-Blade, despite having requested the Wildfalken specifically, suggesting that the Earth Cradle has more surprises still to be revealed...

AradoBalanga posted:

I want everyone to pay attention to Cero's conversation with Seolla, because this is Cero's character as presented, but not what Banpresto wants you to see and react to the character. Banpresto wants the player to see Cero as a remorseful (and reluctant) follower of the School's leaders, clearly shaken by the acts he committed in the past but still adhering to how the School treats issues with their experiments out of moral conflict. The problem is the writing and presentation, which presents Cero as a gigantic hypocrite that you are supposed to feel sorry for because he shows signs of moral conflict instead of outright villainy. Take Cero's reaction to Latooni being alive. He first responds by showing remorse over not giving her a proper name, but then two minutes later decides to use "adjustments" (read: drugs and psychological tampering) because Seolla is conflicted about keeping this information from him and is visibly troubled by this revelation. That is not someone you are supposed to feel sorry for; instead, Cero winds up literally being Tempest Hawker 2: Moral Conflict Boogaloo. A person the player is supposed to feel bad for because of tragedy and/or moral conflict, but in the end, is just as irredeemable as the worst villains in the game because of their actions.

Compare Archibald, for a moment. He is clearly cunning and amoral in his actions and gets thrills from murdering the innocent, among other sociopathic traits. This whole intro scene is to let the player know that Archibald is unhinged and flat out batshit crazy underneath a facade of collected calm and cynicism. Banpresto knows what they want Archibald to be, and just goes wild with the character. There is never any doubt or wavering in how he's presented to the player, and there's some morbid entertainment found in his sick and twisted actions (mostly thanks to his "I'M loving BATSHIT INSANE HAHAHAHA!!" portrait being a thing of beauty). With Cero, they flip flop back and forth so many times on his behavior that by the time the School plot ends, you don't care what happens to him and feel like Banpresto has trouble writing villains you're supposed to feel bad for.

As for Archibald's past, sadly his ancestors did not cross paths with Professional Nazi Annihilator BJ Blaskowicz, although the whole Chokijin mythos could easily be inserted into a Wolfenstein spinoff that I now want to see happen. The short, mostly spoiler-free version is this: his ancestor Jabez Grims found the Chokijin in China and wanted them for himself, so he and his butler Otto tried to control them by overdosing the robots on opium (just roll with it) because of reasons we'll get to later in this game. The plan ultimately failed (both Jabez and Otto died), and Jabez was posthumously thrown under the bus by the British government for his actions, resulting in the Grims family being disgraced.

AtomikKrab posted:

Well lets see... he tried to mind control a ROBOT, with opium, I'd toss him under the bus even if it worked.

quote:

Rai: (Cattleya. It'll be a while before I can come back here, like my brother. If... If I can lay the past to rest, I'll bring your flowers again. Then, maybe I can say farewell for real. So, until then...)


Archibald: "Oh? The SRX Project's R-2. If Raidiese, second son of the Branstein family, is piloting it... heh heh, such an ironic turn of fate."
Yuuki: "You know that pilot, Major?"
Archibald: "Yes, quite well. Though we've never met."

quote:

Aboard the ship, Eri Anzai thanks the crew for their timely arrival, introducing herself as the chief archaeologist for the Lost Technology Research Laboratory. LTR's main focus is the excavation and investigation of "O-Parts," artifacts that don't match the technology level or culture of the region where they are found.

AtomikKrab posted:

Well lets see... he tried to mind control a ROBOT, with opium, I'd toss him under the bus even if it worked.

quote:

"By the way, on our way here I fed a baby to a puppy. Then I set the puppy on fire. Did I tell you I've taken a liking to black tea? Yes, the color puts me in mind of the ashes..."

Alacron posted:

drat, that BJ Blaskowicz comment made me wish for a SRW game that was set in WW2 but... what series could you possibly use there? Cyborg 009 maybe?

ImpAtom posted:

It would be a little hard when 90% of the cast is Japanese!

Rigged Death Trap posted:

Whats the pop culture/media representation of WW2 in Japan anyways?

Is it as binary as how Nobunaga Oda is represented? (Iirc Oda is either a great uniter or literally the devil in pop culture.)