[Meme] Zen?
Ion
I'm topped by Jesii and adorable children, OF COURSE I LOVE ION. Actually, though, the first time I started playing Tales of the Abyss, I -- well, I loved him like I did the rest of the cast, but he wasn't the character that pinged me. That was Anise! Ion was just the plot-important-but-probably-minor NPC who got to be cute with her.
I only got up to Akzeriuth that time, then I got Tales of Legendia for my birthday and got distracted with playing that and apping Senel. It was a year before I started Abyss again, and -- something was different! I LOVED ION SO MUCH RIGHT AWAY. In his first major appearance, in the Cheagle Woods, Luke starts whining about getting stuck with protecting him because yeah, they can't just leave him there to die but come on, how annoying. And . . . all Ion cares about is that Luke does choose to protect him, so he gets all gushy about WHAT A WONDERFUL NICE PERSON SIR LUKE IS. It was so hilariously, failingly cute. Then much, much later when you find out his backstory, and realize why what Luke did meant so much to him, looking back at that scene becomes heartbreaking and touching too and. Awww. ;;
I love Ion because he is just such a good person, and he cares so much about everyone despite having an upbringing that made him feel worthless about himself. And I love the characters who fight for what they believe in without actually fighting. Ion isn't a total subversion of the damsel-in-distress: he's very passive and obedient the many times he's kidnapped and made to do something, he admits without shame that he's relying on his Guardians to rescue him. But he also defies the Order, runs away and secretly cooperates with the "enemy" to prevent war, sneaks off in the midst of that to help the cheagles, and suggests negotiating with deadly wild animals like it's nothing. It's a mixture that I like more than a total subversion.
And I love his relationship with Anise. It is SO CUTE and then -- surprise! -- turns out to be pretty messed-up. And yeah, I kind of hated Anise when stuff was revealed EVEN THOUGH SHE WAS STILL TIED AS MY FAVORITE CHARACTER (it was weird okay. I got over the haet!!1). But even though some see the screw-up as unforgivable, I think it fits right in with the theme of the game. And him and Luke, and Sync, and s-sob this is getting long and I'm getting tired with four more to go but they all just make me love him more. (On a tangent, I also think it's awesome when he's included in the "girl talk" skits.)
Anyway. Ion becomes more and more of a backburner by the month, and I think this was bound to happen -- it gets hard to be a Jesus all the time, and it can be redundant. But I thought about dropping him, and it made me really sad. I knew I would not feel better in the long run if I did. I still love playing him when I do. I feel like there's still a lot I can do with him, and like eventually I'll cycle back to playing him a lot again. That's just how he is. Need to thread more with cast. LOVE CAST.
Toki
Is another Jesus, so yeah. But I loved him even before I knew that! Actually, I started reading Amatsuki not knowing anything about him except that he was probably not very interesting. I mean, if he'd been interesting, someone would've apped him already.
HAHAHA. I WAS SO WRONG. By the end of the first chapter I thought he was pretty okay and was curious about the glimpses of his detached take on the world. The early prank (and failconfession) of his amused me, and then in chapter 5 his FLIRTING CAME UP and he SPARKLED AND DEMONSTRATED ON HEIHACHI and it was LOVE. I was sold even more when he fled in embarrassment at Kon pointing out how unnervingly good he was at it. F-fail, Toki. ♥
Toki is the character I love the most of the ones I have -- and probably my favorite character in anything, right now -- but it's always the hardest for me to explain why. Maybe it's because there's just too much to say. I call him a Jesus all the time, but it's actually sort of simplifying him to say that. Because while he generally likes people by default, jumps into doing Jesus-y things and can't help but want to help everyone when they ask for it, he has some thoughts and decisions that are . . . more selfishly human than say, someone like Ion. And there are contradictions. He says in the beginning that he never really cared about anything because the world didn't seem real to him, and he has less of a problem adjusting to Edo because of it. But he has fears and doubts about getting involved in the conflict in Edo, and it reaches the point where he decides he isn't going to sacrifice life in his own world to end the problems. It still hasn't been explained how all of these fit together, but you can tell that it's going somewhere really interesting.
And then there is his dork side and sudden mood changes that I continue to love. "[Heartfelt comforting of crying little girl]--OH NO I'LL GET SNOT ON MY HANDS!!!" "OH MY GOD WHAT IS UP WITH THAT CARRIAGE IT HAS A TORSO COMING OUT OF IT THAT IS FUCKING CREEPY--It's so nice to meet you, you're so beautiful~ ♥ [sparkle sparkle]" Just. LOEV TOKI.
Toki is my easiest and most versatile character to play, and I've gotten so many positive comments about him, which still amazes me because I'm like HOW DID I EVEN GET SUCH AN AMAZING CHARACTER -- AND I'M DOING IT RIGHT?! I will never stop being glad he didn't get apped by any of my other castmates who were thinking of apping him first, because it seems like we all wound up playing the character we love the most and are the best at ♥♥♥ CASTMATES. I have never thought once about dropping Toki and never will.
Roy
I had wanted to app Roy since last May. The OMG MUST APP moment came when he did his horrible impression of Frey on the battlefield, got scolded by Zerase for Doing It Wrong, changed his tone and told off Alenia while STILL DOING IT WRONG IN A TOTALLY DIFFERENT WAY. I put down the controller and just. Laughed SO HARD. And decided I was going to app Roy.
But I didn't, because I realized, Roy doesn't work right if nobody ICly knows who Frey is! I needed a Frey to double app with, and I didn't have one or know how to get one. I was actually okay with that, but I kept thinking, "Man, it would be really great if I were able to app Roy someday." Half a year later, just when I'd given up and decided I'd work on an app for Miakis (my other favorite character) for next counselor round, Shiouji said that she wanted to double app some character with someone, but she didn't know who. So I PMed her and said "YOU'D APP THE PRINCE IF I APPED ROY, RIGHT?" And she was like ".....Y" And then she got us a Lyon! And here we are now!
Honestly, even though I'd wanted to app him for ages, I'm not as attached to Roy as I am to my other characters. I love him, but I would have little problem dropping him if Frey and Lyon wanted to drop. I don't plan to drop him any other way, but . . . I dunno. I guess it's because he's mostly a crack character. He can be hard to play sometimes, especially as "Prince Freyjadour" (I drop those threads all the time, I'm sorry, it's not you it's me) -- wait this is a zen meme. I am zen with him because he's a minor character in canon, so I can just bring him out when I feel like it and it's no big loss if I don't? And to make up for it, the threads I do have are some of the most fun ever.
Lyserg
Umm. Lyserg is new, and I can't actually say I'm zen with him yet. Or rather, I can, but I'm worried that I can. I don't usually settle into new characters easily, but for someone of mine who hasn't made an intro post yet, I've been having some long threads. This is good! He's even talked to some non-castmates more than once already, which has always been a problem for me before. I'm nervous about getting him right, but I'm still having fun with him. I phrased it that way and not the other way around because this is a zeeeeen meme. I AM HAVING FUN. THIS IS GOOD.
My app/love story is . . . well, I like apping. I realized this after I got Roy. So I wanted to app someone new, and oh hey we had Shaman King cast again! I could app from Shaman King! So I started re-reading it and browsing ahead, ran into Lyserg's intro chapter -- and started spazzing. "I REMEMBER LYSERG AND JEANNE AND THE X-LAWS I LOVED THEM ESPECIALLY LYSERG OMG!!!" I was no longer apping for the sake of apping, I was apping because I NEEDED THIS CHARACTER. You other people reading Mankin in the chan? You would not get him before me! >E
This was the first time I was able to read the manga all the way to the end (lol "end"), and if I hadn't thought of apping Lyserg right away, I definitely would have by the time I finished. Like with Toki, I could not love him more. He's introduced as the cute, cheerful type who suddenly turns out to be tragic and ruthless and misguided, and that in itself is kind of a ping for me -- but those characters usually either have their major conflict with the main characters solved after the first battle and join them for the rest of the series, or turn into an antagonist who doesn't get redeemed till they die (if ever). Lyserg does neither, and I love the result. He's really loyal to two sides at once, even if he claims to consider the X-Laws the most important; he doesn't take the things he dislikes about them as a reason to reject either. Not even when one of those things is brutal murder that makes him cry. Instead he tries to stand up to them and keeps loving them for the good they can do, and it's kind of twisted and sweet all at once.
I also love the characters who start to question their beliefs without completely giving them up. Lyserg still instinctively goes :D about the idea of killing Hao, still thinks it's necessary, but now he knows it won't be an altogether happy and justice-filled occasion when (if) it actually happens. And so he's willing to do things like bathe with him until the right time comes. lolol.
And superficially, Morphine is socute and pretty and sparkly >: (FYI, if who've only seen the anime? LYSERG DOESN'T ABANDON HER IN THE MANGA and in fact, specifically says he couldn't.) And Big Ben Wire Frame is really cool, okay.