Sasori

So far the Funato arc has been a bit of a hit and miss for me. It does some things pretty well. It focuses on the ninja world rather then going with yet another moon ninja and most of the enemy have some nice exotic weaponry to match their pirate theme.I also liked Metal Lee a lot more now that he actually has screentime. I don't like the pacing though. I only skimmed through several episodes since the time in the small village and mister simp having like 3 different encounters made several episodes just drag. Especially because the more interesting looking Funato only get like one fight. I also can't help, but role my eyes a bit at Boruto in the recent episodes. Because yes they do establish that the Funato are people too...but they have such a annoyingly high and mighty victim complex that any talk of 'chains of hatred' is kind of anoying. 'muh sea' aside, they spend most of their time robbing and killing people. So them crying when someone hits them back doesn't earn them many symphathy points with me. Shame they seemingly Complaints aside I do like the direction the current season is going in.

All that flexing Raphael did kind of reminded me of this wario boss....I wish I did't remember that. Other then that. Every golden deer member looks good at worst and great at best. Some like Lysithea and Lorentz are being a little safe, but other then that I like it. Ignatz got some nice armour and Marriane grew out her hair even if Ferdinand did't.

Nothing much came out recently so i've been passing my time with Yugioh master duel. Its my first going back ever since a brief dable in the ds games and I must say...I did't have as hard of a time getting back as I feared. Its certainly a lot faster and with different kind of cards, but when you get a deck going its not too hard to adjust. A big plus is the massive, massive amount of archetypes the game has. It has that pokemon charm where you can own your own thing. The downside is that sometimes your opponent takes FOREVER to vomit his entire deck and extra deck on the field in one turn.

Its not really the Roy alt I wanted, but its a Roy alt and his art is top tier. So all in on that unit. He seems to be able to completely dunk on Feddelgard so thats a nice added bonus. This is the second time Cecilia has a banner theme I did't want her to be in, but she'll be easy to get so I might as well try for her. But a 4 star, seasonal red tome? What sorcery is this? The last easy to get was Lorentz crappy tome if I recall correctly. Ceclila being my fallback unit means I have some chances to get Sophia too. no complaints there. I like Lilina too, but she will probably be my skip for this banner.

For most units I don't think its too much of a problem. They share their roster with POR and they still get banners. So normally it would be fine, but I do think FEH has a bit of a lack of interest to the fe10 exclusive cast. Pelleas is a pretty major character, but it was years till he came around. The dawn Brigade isn't even in yet at all. Maybe they feel they don't have a 'big hitter' unit. If thats the case then perhaps it wasn't the smartest idea to cram every single Laguz royal in two banners. All of them could work as a banner star, but maybe they don't feel the weaker units could carry a banner.

One of the characters does look a bit like Sophia, but i'd be surprised if she is on this banner. Her Halloween banner has been pretty recent and while popular, I don't get the impression that Sophia is popular enough for two alts in one year. For that same reason I also think we won't be seeing Igrene. Even if she and Astolfo would make for a good Yuno/Zealot of this year. I do think that is almost definately Larum and that would be a upgrade over her rather tame base form. I've been wanting another Roy for a while, but...I'm hoping he'll get a banner thats not this one.

Nothing too exiting on this map. I did give some extra fodder to my Siegbert and Forest. So they got a place to test it out on. @Landmaster@SatsumaFSoysoy @Diovani Bressan @BoaFerox

Trump and Dimitri? Is it because both have silly blond hairstyles? Because I can't imagine Trump saying any of the things Dimitri does in his final conversation with Edelgard in the Bl route. Anyway I don't think there is much common ground between any of the three house leaders and popular politicians irl. Mostly because Fire Emblem doesn't go very deep in their politics, but also because many characters don't really check all the boxes. Rhea for example is both very Authoritarian and strictly religous which fits many modern right wing parties. But i'd say she is comes across as someone who believes the church/state should provide for its citizens. Being more involved with social programs, giving aid to disaster victims. But for fictional examples i'd say Edelgard has a lot of common ground with Gustadolph from Triangle strategy. Both want to break the status quo and both want to ensure that it is merrit and not religion or social status that determines your worth. So they want to give the people more oppurtunity then the ridig status quo provides, but both also seem to be a bit lacking in the compassion department. Edelgard isn't as sociopathic as Gustadolph about it, but she too thinks that if people fall it is because of their own failings. With her just basically just shrugging when Dimitri asks about the people that aren't strong enough for her world.

I'd say summer banners actually do a pretty good job of keeping things fresh. I know its mostly fanservice, but I think they do a good job of displaying a lot of individuality in the designs. You have characters like Sylvain who look really punchable, while Caspar looks more gladiator inspired and Lorentz...is Lorentz. Same with the females where someone like leonie has a appropriately good looking, but modest outfit while someone like Camilla has more of a Camilla outfit. But I do think Feh is liking their patterns a bit too much for their own good. Halloween being dragon exclusive or there always being a Macedonian for spring means its a little less fun to speculate about banners. I even did't completely got taken off guard by Kyza being on the new years banner because thats the banner they use to up the beast quota. And I also feel that sometimes they just don't take advantage of their holiday and have some fun with it. Why don't we have a scaredy cat like Boey or Lysitia for Halloween yet? Or someone having a absolutely miserable time in a spring banner because they have hay fever? But those are more minor gripes. They only banner I am really tired of is the Christmas one. I always hope none of my favourite characters get on that banner because they just got put in the same boring red santa suit. Its very boring visually and them all being armours does nothing to help me like those banners more.

Time for some late replies @MagicCanonBalls And it really is Hapi's dream map. A lot of dragons she can one shot..and a medeus that she could't. He really can take a beating. @Landmaster: This map seemed to be tailor made against Elise. Not only does everyone have a truckload of res, but they even got trenches. Still did't stop them though. I see I wasn't the only one with the dragonslaying daggers. Also I did't know you could have negative orbs. You learn something new every day XD. My team actually performed worse against the clerics then I thought they would. Them not being on horses this time around made it harder for Raigh to deal with them. @Diovani Bressan I was quite pleased with that crit quote too. Though it would have been better if I made Lugh deal the finishing blow. Ah well. And nice clear. Marth is a very good Medeus killer, but having mini Marth kill him seems a lot more challenging to pull off. Not soon enough. Poor LRoy has been powercrept in every single way and is really waiting on that refine. I also wonder when he's just gonna get anything new since even a alt has been years.

Good. They where a total pain. I thought I was well prepared for this map. Two dragon slaying units and two null c disrupt for those annoying healers (The melancholy one especially needs to take a hike), but things turned out to be much more of a challenge then I thought. Lugh surprised me in making such a big dents in the different dragons while Roy and the other orphans did their usual tanky role. I din't mind cheesing Medeus since he's so obnoxiously designed. If he's not fighting fair then I don't have to either. @BoaFerox: Ah yeah its hard to be anti poison damage if you can't get to activate the skill first. That was a nice clear. Odd to see Edelgard carrying just a normal brave axe, but it worked. @SatsumaFSoysoy.Wonderfull thumbnail as always. Llucina got quite the glowup with her refine. She did great getting rid of all those mages and healers. Lmarth took down Medeus like he was nothing too. @Landmaster @Diovani Bressan @MagicCanonBalls

@BoaFerox: Yeah Hilda wasn't really prepared for the Tana's. Nice to see her get one shotted @Diovani Bressan: The quickened pulse was a little overkill, but I thought why not give him his special line.

I was originally planning on having Tailtiu face off agains Hilda...but I haven't pulled her in centuries. Next plan was to have Azelle and Lex beat Hilda up, but that clear was a bit too easy. So now its children going on a Hilda hunt. @Landmaster: Mirabilis is really tanky so Hilda must have packed quite the punch. The rest of the map was much less of a threat to the Elise's though. @Diovani Bressan: Nice clear. Your Mini Marth was a bit more succesfull with that armor unit then mine. Actually all your mega Marths are a lot thougher then mine @SatsumaFSoysoy @BoaFerox

The Fe7 banner I want 1. Curse lance Vaida 2. Athos (Red mage with a special Forblaze) 3. Demote Renault (Bringing a good (and new!) inheritable staff and having some nice fodder. No day 1 skills with a meh support c skill. 4. Ascended Ninian (Not a dancer, but a combat dragon. Or a dancer coming with Ninis grace.) Limstella as the GHB. She can work as a blue mage since she has bolting, but Fimbulvetr is more of a wind thing and we are lacking in green mage ghb's. So she'd be a green mage. Preferably with a prf. The banner I expect 1. Sword Cav Isadora (Busted prf, great skills) 2. Axe Harken (No prf. Mostly there for fodder) 3. Guy (4 star unit with no prf, no fodder and lame stats) 4. Ascended Lyn (another bowlyn . No Mani Kati) Lance flier Vaida as the GHB. Without a prf obviously.

But of course odd def wave is the 4 star skill and the speed stat is super ackward. They really worked hard on making Scatach as unapealing as possible. Impressive As for Hilda getting her prf. Well she is from the rare empress class and she's a fairly important boss. So it makes more sense for her to have one then your avarage GhB. I still would have given that prf to Arthur though. Along with a horse.

@Diovani Bressan Oh Nice clear. I thought Nanna would block desperation with her weapon/skill, but appearantly its only her own follow ups that can't get negated with skills. As for Atlena and the red sword. I think it is because the sworie actually did zero damage and that glimmer treated it as such in its calcultation. Its just that flashing blade slapped a +5 onto it.

Not a bad banner, but its a pretty safe skip for me. I've never cared much for the gen 2 freed siblings..or most gen 2 characters for that matter. The only thing of note is that I find it weird how they made Arthur as Vanilla as possible. Maybe they just don't like male cav mages in the general pool since they kicked Azelle of his too. At least Azelle had a prf though, while Arthur just gets a basic tome. While I think infantry swords need a bit of a break after the deluge we got of them, I'll be making a exception for Scatch. The guy is been overshadowed by his much more marketable twin so much that i'm totally ok with him being in the game. It is also really silly how they did not give him his family's astra. As a 4 star demote scatach is already doomed so why not make him a bit more appealing with a good special? Its not like he'd break the game when there are a million godswords around. As for Ascended Ishtar...I am not the biggest fan. To me the idea of a ascended hero is a hero thats...well Ascended. A Joshua who took on his responsibilities as king, a Idunn who is getting better. Heroes that improved a lot. Ishtar never did so in her game so I don't see how she'd 'ascend' without going into 'what if fanfic' territory.

I would't mind seeing a kid Roy alt. He both had that mage dream of his and it got mentioned a few times that he was more carefree in the past. Both would be nice to see...and he really just needs a seasonal alt in general. The last he got was some crappy bowcav that aged like milk. I also would have prefered it if Jill was on the baby banner instead of some of the units we got. I think a hyper patriotic and fierce little military lady would have made a nice contrast to the more mellow Jill that we have now. Or a Laguz like Lethe, Ranulf or Janaff. If only to see how they would look when they transformed. For me its actually the opposite. One of my favourite things about seasonals is to see characters in a way I haven't seen before. So i'd feel a bit dissapointed if half of the banner would be characters that i've already seen as a kid. Same reason why summer Gaius, Cordelia and the fates royals did very little for me. Now I do hope mini Dimitri and Mini Edelgard get in, but i'd like it better if they where placed on a dancing banner. I think their backstory gives them a good enough excuse to be on there.

@SatsumaFSoysoy : Thats a unique background song. Good to see Bravica going on her usual killing spree again. All the fodder there or not Orochi still did some pretty nice damage. @Landmaster: I see I wasn't the only one who thought that absurdly fast axe fight was a total pain. Nanna herself seemed less of a problem. Getting casually one shot by notElise. @MagicCanonBalls I had hoped it would go to a clean 60 def, but I think that it'll be at 59 with full merges. But anyway nice clear. Mini Merric looks pretty fun, which is nice because he'll be my forma pick. I did hear Priam was a little bit 'meh', but he still cleared house with the first wave of enemies.

I'm mostly happy with this years baby banner. Boyd is finally in the game even if its as a kid and Ike/Soren/Mia are a bit on the safe side, but they are all good picks so i'm not complaining. I wasn't expecting Soren to be all growls. Its Ilyana that I find to be the weak link on this banner. Normally i'd say that its nice to see a 'normal' character in a banner such as this, instead of them always going to plot important characters. But Ilyana is already in the game twice and its Ilyana so we already know she is going to say nothing that her previous forms did't already say in every voice line.

Triangle strategy and some other stuff meant my heroes activity and reply game weren't at their highest this month. But I returned just in time for the GHB. @BoaFerox: A clean one shot on a bloated abyssal boss. Thats some firepower. The Orphans got a break this month and instead its Altena keeping her little brother safe from any girlfriends. A bit more warping then usual, but this map started to annoy me, so teleporting seemed like a good way to save some time. @Landmaster @BoaFerox @Diovani Bressan @SatsumaFSoysoy

Ah...I might need to stop looking at trailers when i'm still half alseep XD

Nanna looks pretty alright. I probably won't pull for her, but the art is nice and I like that she can counter dodge and has null followup in her weapon. I'm a bit surprised she comes with the ladyblade rather then the earth sword though. I do hope that after Reginn, Otr, Caeda and now Nanna the next canto unit has near trace in their kit rather then having Canto slapped on in their prf stuff. I actually have a good collection of far trace fodder lying around, but near trace as a skill is a lot harder to come by. Only summer Ashe and Bridal Catria at the top of my head.

But Regna is probably seen as wise and benevolent because he reigned over a long period of peace that him and Symone where responsible for creating. He seems on good terms with the other countries and he probably helped with the Roselle in Glenbrook as well. Meanwhile the corruption seemed to be mostly invisible and things kept working. Unlike after his death where the royalist's just become openly monsterous and don't really care who knows.

I think fates did a good job at having visually distinct looking countries even if they did't quite get the war reasons down. Or expand on those countries in any way other then their visuals. Hoshido is of course the obvious place to name, but I also think they did well with the other nations. Nestra for example is still European styled, but there is no place that looks like it in Fire Emblem. Izumo doesn't quite have the same vibe as Hoshido and there is also the wind village with its more desert and rock inspired culture. Of course the problem is that Fates had absolutely zero interest in any of these places. Nestra has no playable characters or anything of importance after the chapter ends. Its a place that might as well not exist. The wind tribe and Izumo are hardly any better either. So I'd say that other then drastic deparatures they could also try different European styles for their countries. Greek, Venice, etc. Or a more Arabic nation nextdoor. But for another type of war I could see a roman/'barbaric' setting work. With the lord being part of the roman empire and starting out invading the 'simple barbarians' before turning sides against the agressors and fighting the more 'proper Fire Emblem empire' roman baddies.