(CR) Lostorage conflated WIXOSS

[tuckersister]

Kiyoi better kick Carnival's ass. Tama hears a voice and she gets freaked out. I think it maybe Mayu's memories call out to her cuz she calls Tama "Shiro". She's the only one that calls her that.

Things will get even more messed up when Remember shows up. Kiyoi definitely lose to her need just by Akira but by psychologically probing her. Remember always play dirty keep that in mind.

If Remember turns out to be the one manipulating the Selector battles in Lostorage, I called it.

[Kazu-kun]

What pissed me off the most in this episode is how Yuzuki's attacks didn't do jack shit on Layla. The latter wasn't even defending or anything. It's like the staff isn't even trying anymore. She's got a plot armor so thick she literally doesn't have to do anything to win. It's so fucking stupid.

[Kurohane]

Originally Posted by IceHism

Man, people just lose the instant the key card is played. It's like they didn't feel like making more strategies and just wanted to lazy it out and get to the outcome.

Feels like the lostorage cast is a lot more important than the selector infected cast except for like ruuko tbh.

The original series was like that too. Most of the time you don't get any context to how the games are going. Didn't the company start giving outlines of the games last season on their website. Does anyone know if they're still doing that?

I don't recall Yuzuki and Hitoe getting treated any better in their own series. They both were used as examples of what happens when either losing or winning, and they didn't do anything in Spread, other then lose to Ruko to get her to Mayu.

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

Yeah. The show is clearly catering to the Lostorage characters. It's disappointing since it was the worst season.

It seems the reason Conflated even exists is to give Kiyoi, a Selector character, her closure.

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Well, it certainly looked like a quick 180 to me. Due to one lone short discussion with Hanna, Suzuko goes from passionately wanting to restore Chinatsu's memories to passionately wanting to stop Chinatsu herself from trying to restore her memories.

And not that long ago, Hanna was arguing about how memories have value. And Hanna has clearly accepted her own troubling memories, and has moved on in her life. So it seems like both Suzuko and Hanna are making wild swings in their opinion on restoring lost memories.

I don't like these big and quick opinion swings, because it makes key characters seem overly flighty and impulsive to me. It also makes the character drama of this show seem more half-baked to me. I mean, "Suzuko will fight to restore Chinatsu's memories" had great potential and some good emotional oomph to me. And now, it feels to me like the wind has been taken out of those sails. I currently feel like this season of WIXOSS is trading off slowly simmering, solid, straightforward character drama for lots of quick cheap drama. Characters can change their opinion, but I'd rather it be spread out more than this, because then it feels more real and engaging to me. I think of how Chinatsu's character arc was handled in the previous Lostorage season. It wasn't perfect, but it felt more slow-burning and hence real to me.

Yeah, it's weird. I mean Suzuko even initially trying to restore Chinatsu's memories is reverse of what happened last season, where she wouldn't even stop Chinatsu at that time from playing to erase her memories. Suzuko keeping her own memories was her fight. Even the new objective isn't much better because of the same reason above. However, I understand that she never expected to have this opportunity again, and that changes the situation.

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Kurohane

I fail to see how it's catering to one season's worth of characters in particular when it seems the reason Conflated even exists is to give Kiyoi, a Selector character, her closure. The story was conclusive enough last season at least regarding the main character.

Other than Kiyoi, the characters who are getting any screetime are Hana and Suzuko. In fact those tree are pretty much what can be called the main team, and now there's Chinatsu as well. Yuzuki, Hitoe and Ruuko have barely appeared at all and Yuzuki is already out of the picture. Hitoe is still around but unlike Hana she can't do shit without a LRIG.

So yeah, I think the original characters are getting the short of end of the stick overall.

[Shyni]

Originally Posted by Kurohane

Didn't the company start giving outlines of the games last season on their website. Does anyone know if they're still doing that?

They've done that since Infected.

The feature for Conflated's episodes are only up to episode 3 it seems.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by IceHism

Man, people just lose the instant the key card is played. It's like they didn't feel like making more strategies and just wanted to lazy it out and get to the outcome.

Arc Aura

Originally Posted by Kurohane

I don't recall Yuzuki and Hitoe getting treated any better in their own series. They both were used as examples of what happens when either losing or winning, and they didn't do anything in Spread, other then lose to Ruko to get her to Mayu.

Hitoe was literally a sacrifice in the 1st season, and I don't recall her winning even once. She becomes a Selector again by getting Yuzuki... and then loses to Ruuko.

Yuzuki won against Chiyori (super weak beginner) and... some random no-name girl?

Yeah, they weren't exactly strong before.

[Shyni]

I rewatched Infected and Spread last year and the main cast, despite their issues were definitely closer to ordinary people than epic hero savior material. I just don't see them getting very far when Mayu is no longer the main culprit, regardless of the execution.

[Kurohane]

Originally Posted by Shyni

They've done that since Infected.

The feature for Conflated's episodes are only up to episode 3 it seems.

Ah. Thanks for the links.

[tuckersister]

I'm not giving up on the theory that Mayu's memories is calling out to Tama.

[Incest Emblem]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Well, it certainly looked like a quick 180 to me. Due to one lone short discussion with Hanna, Suzuko goes from passionately wanting to restore Chinatsu's memories to passionately wanting to stop Chinatsu herself from trying to restore her memories.

That is not an example of a 180.

Recall the conversation between Piruluk and Koyoi in episode 3. The memories lost in the previous set of selector battles is not among the coin memories of this set. This means to restore Chinatsu's previous memories, someone must expend a victory wish.

By contrast, Suzuko's memories are all in this set's coins, so she gets all her memories back if she gets 5 coins.

If Chinatsu wins 5 coins, and she uses her wish to restore her previous memories, Suzuko still must win 5 coins. By contrast, if Suzuko wins, she can use her wish to restore all Chinatsu's lost memories, while Chinatsu need do nothing. Preventing Chinatsu from battling is merely preventing her from needlessly endangering herself.

And not that long ago, Hanna was arguing about how memories have value. And Hanna has clearly accepted her own troubling memories, and has moved on in her life. So it seems like both Suzuko and Hanna are making wild swings in their opinion on restoring lost memories.

Or Hana merely sees degrees in value and cost. She knows first hand the burden of regaining a troubling memory, and she sees how guilt weighs down Kiyoi. Her memory was not benign, but it was that of a child acting like an irresponsible child, and she happened to have caused her brother's death. By contrast, Chinatsu deliberately hurt people and, as far as she knows, erased them from existence while she was in high school. I see nothing wrong with Hana weighing the guilt from regaining the memories against the benefits of having complete memories, and concluding that it would be better for Chinatsu to remain an amnesiac.

[tuckersister]

Are the old cast older than the new cast?

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Incest Emblem

That is not an example of a 180.

It certainly looks like an example of a 180 to me.

I don't get the impression that they're trying to prevent Chinatsu from getting into WIXOSS matches primarily out of fear that she'll lose more memories. Given the timing of everything, it seemed to me that Suzuko quickly changed her mind on Chinatsu regaining lost memories, and so now wants to prevent Chinatsu from potentially getting them back through WIXOSS victories and a wish. That's the implication I think the show itself was making given the timing of everything.

Now maybe that's a mistaken impression on my part, and if so, great.

Or Hana merely sees degrees in value and cost. She knows first hand the burden of regaining a troubling memory, and she sees how guilt weighs down Kiyoi. Her memory was not benign, but it was that of a child acting like an irresponsible child, and she happened to have caused her brother's death. By contrast, Chinatsu deliberately hurt people and, as far as she knows, erased them from existence while she was in high school. I see nothing wrong with Hana weighing the guilt from regaining the memories against the benefits of having complete memories, and concluding that it would be better for Chinatsu to remain an amnesiac.

Hana's earlier defense of the value of memories loses some vigor, at least for me, if Hana makes exceptions like this one. It gives the narrative a bit less emotional oomph, at least for me (and emotional engagement has been one of WIXOSS' strengths in previous seasons, imo). This is regardless of what might be the overall best approach to take here from a pragmatic perspective. A battle between diametrically opposite viewpoints on memories strikes me as a likely more pathos-rich route for this story to take, even if it was to end in a synthesis between the two opposite viewpoints.

That being said, I also think that Chinatsu now has a good enough support structure around herself that she can probably emotionally withstand regaining her memories. It would probably be a harrowing experience, likely similar to what Hana herself experienced (or even a bit more extreme as per your points), but I think Chinatsu could come through it, and with a better understanding of herself and her past and her relationships. Such knowledge is often of great worth, in my opinion.

Speaking personally, I would not want to lack memories to the extent that Chinatsu currently does. Even if this shielded my mind from some very troubling memories and the possibility of great guilt, I wouldn't want to knowingly lack memories to the extent that Chinatsu does. Maybe it would be different if I wasn't aware that I was missing memories, but Chinatsu is in fact aware she is missing memories. I think that's a factor to be considered here. Chinatsu can't be truly blissfully ignorant, because she already knows there's big gaps in her memories. We can see in this latest episode how uncomfortable she is with not knowing people that she has past experiences with. Uncomfortable, and maybe even a bit distraught over it.

[Kurohane]

Originally Posted by tuckersister

Are the old cast older than the new cast?

They're around the same age I think. They're all in high school. Ruuko and the others were in middle school during Infected and Spread.

[PhoenixRising]

Originally Posted by Kurohane

They're around the same age I think. They're all in high school. Ruuko and the others were in middle school during Infected and Spread.

Yeah, all of them are around 16 or 17 at least.

[tuckersister]

ep6 is great despite the Selector battle ended unfinished. I'm finally glad that Ruuko/Tama decide to join in again. Tama turned herself into a LRIG on her own which actually not surprising since she and Yuki are the "first". Remember doesn't seem far behind.

Carnival is definitely a scrapgoat boss. Remember is the real main antagonist who is working with Eternal. A lot of theories points to it. First, the second Selector Battles deals with memories which is connect to her name. Secondly, Kiyoi was the ONLY former Selector that was in the second battle. Finally, she was indirectly reference many time in Lostorage.

[Jan-Poo]

Hmmm, considering it's all but certain that winning will let you recover the memories of someone else, wouldn't it have been smarter to let Chinatsu win?

Also I wonder, what exactly is the condition to make a human LRIG got back to be a human? Even supposing Ruuko wins Yuzuki back, how is she going to make her a regular girl again?

[tuckersister]

Tama and Layla are similar in some extent. They both do like battles. Hence their Selector Battle with each will be meaningful.

I expect Tama's Coin ability to as broken as Carnival's (something like Mimic since she is catlike). I looking forward in seeing the return of Lv5 LRIGs. Currently Tama and Kiyoi are the only ones that have it.

[PhoenixRising]

Originally Posted by Jan-Poo

Hmmm, considering it's all but certain that winning will let you recover the memories of someone else, wouldn't it have been smarter to let Chinatsu win?

Also I wonder, what exactly is the condition to make a human LRIG got back to be a human? Even supposing Ruuko wins Yuzuki back, how is she going to make her a regular girl again?

That might've been a double-edge sword if Chinatsu had won, since she hasn't recovered all of her memories about the battles yet and she's definitely in a weakened state because of it. She'd also probably have trouble going up against Carnival, especially if Carnival torments her about her past.

I imagine the condition is winning either way. Since Ruko will need the power of the White Room to restore everything to normal.

[Kazu-kun]

This show went to shit so hard. They should fire Michihiro and bring back Okada.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

This show went to shit so hard. They should fire Michihiro and bring back Okada.

I still like this show a bit more than you do, but I'm starting to agree with an earlier point you made - the Lostorage cast is getting the lion's share of the focus and the original Selector cast is kinda getting shortchanged. Nowhere do I feel that more than in this latest episode. It truly feels like Ruu and Tama are just along for the ride, while Hitoe and Yuzuki are just jobbers to prop up the new masochist girl. The core focus is on the Lostorage protagonists and Satomi Carnival.

Now, I largely like the Lostorage cast, but this handling of the original Selector cast definitely leaves a lot to be desired. I'm seriously hoping that at least Ruu/Tama will get to shine and shine brightly later on.