Tagged by @docholligay , so here’s my response to the questions:

Three Ships: I’m not really a big shipping person in general; most of the time I’m happy to go along with whatever’s presented by the work and not pursue it much further. Occasionally though, there will be something that really catches my eye. Here are 3 ships that I have actively sought out fanworks of: Kumiko x Asuka (Hibike Euphonium), Velvet x Magilou (Tales of Berseria), Cloud x Aerith x Tifa poly trio (Final Fantasy 7).  

Last Song: Kakusei covered by Hoshimachi Suisei (original song by Superfly)

Last Movie: The last real movie I watched was Kajillionaire (Directed by Miranda July), excellent film about a family of con artists and how messed up your relationship with your parents can be. (The honest answer to this is the newest Code Geass movie, but that’s much more like the latest episode of a show than it is a standalone movie.)

Currently Watching: Not much, really. Haven’t watched any western TV shows for quite some time. Of the seasonal anime I’m following, The Aquatrope on White Sand (PA Works) looks most promising. Summary: Fuka leaves Tokyo after failing to make it as an idol singer, and on a whim books a ticket to rural Okinawa instead of going back home. There she meets Kukuru, a young girl desperately trying to keep her local aquarium afloat in the face of it’s poor financial situation, and decides to work to support Kukuru at keeping her dream alive. It looks good so far, though I have absolutely zero trust in any anime to end well right now, thanks to the Wonder Egg fiasco (I am still mad at that show). 

Currently Reading: Current book I am reading is A Memory Called Empire, by Arkady Martine. A Sci-Fi book examining the effects of cultural imperialism - what it looks like when a nation becomes so omnipresent that they affect all of your country’s decisions and values out of economic necessity. Pulls a really neat narrative move in the first couple chapters that really helped get me invested in the main character.

Additional Shout-out to Look Back, a recent one-shot manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto. A really moving read about art (manga specifically but it applies well to writing or other creative endeavors too); why we make it and what it can mean to people. It is free to read on Viz’s website, and I highly recommend it if you have the time (it is 145 comic pages).

Currently Craving: Ummmm, a thematically satisfying conclusion to an ongoing piece of visual media that showed promise in its early episodes? (I thought about Wonder Egg Priority earlier and am still mad)

Not tagging anyone, but if someone does see this and wants to do it, feel free!

The main event here is the meeting between Luna-T and Pluto - a chance encounter while both of them are chasing after Saturn and her Mech. Luna-terra is wholly outclassed and knows it; she’s chosen to play the part of the realist, and in space where ideas are gravity are power, that means that Pluto’s unfettered idealism leaves her with too great of an advantage. Luna-T fails to make an argument that convinces me her side is right, so I had Pluto win the conflict here.

I had Pluto go up against Luna-Terra first, but before the mission starts she has a conversation with Mars; it’s clear that they were all together during the first conflict, and Pluto continues to be terrifying in her magnanimity about everything.

As the last part of the Intro sequence, we get the mission select screen, where we choose which character we will interact with for the next story segment. We also have a comms section, for talking to various non-main characters, and a mail tab for various text logs. 

Pluto’s main contact appears to be Mars, a fellow Cradle’s Graces pilot who is already engaged in the conflict. The big takeaway from their conversation is that Mars is unhappy with Dr. Nix for making Pluto take on so much responsibility, while Pluto is unhappy with nothing, ever. 

It’s interesting that Dr. Nix seems to be an adult figure, as Cradle’s Graces is described often as “the children who were left behind in humanity’s forays into space” and things like that; he(?) seems set apart from the rest of the orginization

After Pluto lays out her own views on the situation, we get a summary of the positions of each of the three factions:

The Memorial Foundation is done with space, and wants to focus only on earth

Cradle’s Graces is done with earth, and wants to live freely in space

Celestial Mechanics wants to discard their humanity and then ???; they don’t seem to be concerned about where they do this

They also describe a previous Cold War against an Existential Threat - I suspect it will never be made clear exactly what this threat was, as humans are generally pretty good at creating their own problems.

After the activation sequence is finished, the game enters this scene of Pluto, who is in a dialogue with herself / her mech / the scene’s narration / all three at once maybe? 

This scene lays out a few things:

1. Pluto is scary and powerful, possibly because she does not recognize limits to her own actions

2. In this world, Gravity and Culture are the same thing; to have gravity is to have a worldview, and to promote a way of thinking is to create gravity

3. That picture where Pluto is sticking out her tongue is super cute 

It turns out that the text from before is Pluto’s perceptions syncing with her Ship-Self, the Krum Macula, during it’s first activation. The whole sequence plays out with Dr. Nix (who appears to have created the Krum Macula) working with Pluto on the startup, which Pluto executes perfectly, while she downplays any exceptional performance on her part. 

I’m starting the game as Pluto, the princess of Cradle’s Graces, which is the faction that wants some of humanity to stay in space, and Pluto is the one responsible for making that happen. 

The second picture there is the very first thing you see after you select Pluto - a full wall of text about perception and embodiment with absolutely no context (I love things like this, stories that play with presentation and are intended to leave you confused, at least at first)

Also, if anyone is following this, please assume that I have only seen as far into the game as I have posted about - I would really hate to be spoiled on any of this! 

Heaven Will Be Mine is out!!!!! I’ve been looking forward to this game for years now, I’m so excited! 

We Know The Devil, this team’s previous game, meant a lot to me for a couple reasons, and was also really good, so my hopes are high for this one. It’s about the romantic/sexual interplay between 3 women fighting in a conflict over Humanity’s future in space - in 1981 - in giant robots! If it’s anything like the last game it’ll take a lot of thematic and aesthetic influence from robot anime while constructing a unique, highly metaphorical world.

I’m going to try and make at least one post per mission in the game, so that I have some record of my experiences. Posts will be tagged with HWBM spoilers and Heaven Will Be Mine if anyone wants to blacklist.