Happy 4th Anniversary! 🎉
@twsttanoshii
Hello! If you’ve clicked on the link leading to this page, thank you for visiting! It’s your sleepy author 👋🏻 Hope everyone is doing well!
You are currently reading something that’s not about the story I’m writing and in instead an update letter about, well, me rambling. I was unfortunately away from the internet for a while (not of my own accord) and couldn’t scream in real time about
- The second Novelize
- The second and third Comicalize
- Episode 7 Chapters 5, 6, 7
- Fellow Honest & the Playful Land
- Predictions and other details
- Fourth anniversary new features
- The soundtrack CDs!
- et cetera.
First, however, I must talk about the most important thing!
1. Apology
First of all, I really want to properly apologise one more time for my long absence. I am very sorry for disappearing! I was unable to access AO3 or X/Twitter at all and I wasn’t able to update or access my accounts until basically today… As much as I wanted to.
While I away, however, I was working slowly on the story consistently, promise! That’s why everyone will be getting updates until we catch up to everything I added, because the words have been stacking up slowly for months. Usually the posting dates would have been regular, like once per month, but instead you will be receiving them every day!
Anyway, I am very sorry for being away and being unable to update. I hope the giant edit makes up for it a little, but I will be resuming regular in the near future!
Also, I want to thank the readers once again for not forgetting about this story while I was MIA. Thank you very much for reading! When I was able to check my account page for the first time like an hour ago, I was blown away because your support had made the numbers go up a lot more than I was expecting. I’d like to borrow this space and thank my readers for…
2. Milestone Corner
- 350+ User Subscriptions!
- 6100+ Kudos! (I’m kind of mad I missed the 6000th kudo screenshot lol) (but it was my own fault)
- 1500+ Story Subscriptions!
- 2,000+ Bookmarks!
- 453,000+ hits!
- 1,700+ comment threads!
I frankly don’t deserve the attention since I was away this whole time, and still don’t quite know what to do about myself, but for now I will just say thank you again! I’ll do my best to continue to make the story interesting in future updates.
3. Next Updates
While some… Troublesome things happened and I was unable to post anyway, I took a break by reading the second novel and editing earlier chapters. But then the second novel ruined my emotional state even more at the end… I really went in expecting nothing like a fool and came out with 1 HP left…
As alluded to before, there will be UPDATES DAILY that include all of the content I added to the story based on the second novel.
It’ll look something like this:
Chapter 8 edit: Today! It’s up now!
Chapter 9 edit: March 19!
Chapter 10 & 11 edit: March 20!
Chapter 12 edit: March 21!
Chapter 13 edit: March 22!
etc.
There might be a surprise lurking within these updates! Please look forward to it.
4. Updates After the Giant Edit #2
So after the rather traumatic event of losing my latest chapter, I Overblo—I mean had some trouble rewriting it and kept thinking that I wasn’t matching the original one’s information load LOL.
Also, the chapter loss was a symptom of my computer telling me it was about to die (which it did soon after) so I had to scramble to figure out a replacement.
Anyway. What’s important is, I changed the way my work is saved online after that traumatic incident (and changed the cloud service I back my folders up to). Also, I learned that I shouldn’t work on writing when flying around different time zones and connecting to internet services in different countries that aren’t friendly with Google. Which sucks a little bit, since those are the only times I’ve got some free time to be typing.
But enough of my excuses! I’m very sorry about the delay and for not being able to post on time. Good news is, the new chapter is shaping up again, so I hope to post it for everyone to read on
**Sunday, May 5th, 2024!**
Sorry about being so slow, but please look forward to it if you are still interested! 🙇🏻♀️
5. Twisted non-Game Events
While I was unable to chase it in real-time, Twisted Wonderland was doing a ton of stuff while I was away! This includes the Twisted Fes, which I of course didn’t get to go to in person but heard about on the radio show lol. Just recently, one of Crewel’s (voice actor’s) videos showed off Epel (’s voice actor) talking about Pomefiore’s plans for the show!
A few things I wanted to mention are
1. the Valentine’s gifts this year!
1. Everyone now has their own OFFICIAL fragrance, not just the image-fragrances made by third parties and only for each dorm! This information is being included in the story in my edits.
2. One thing that really tickled me was that I guessed one of the ingredients in Leona’s fragrance (sandalwood). I know it doesn’t matter but it made me really happy, I love guessing things! I didn’t guess Kalim’s right though… Darn it.
3. Looking forward to the message cards arriving in June again!
2. the second novel!
1. Look, not that the first novel was easy on the emotional front because you had to see Riddle’s inner thoughts. But do you understand how well Hioki-sensei wrote Leona at the end of his Overblot? The feelings that he went through? And then the feelings that I went through while reading it??? Basically, I felt like living at the bottom of Tartarus for a while with Phantom Ortho.
2. The good thing is, we got to see Riddle yelling at him. And we got to see me vindicated in making Ruggie so ruthless because boy did the novel and my brain join in unison on that part.
3. the Twisted Radio and Itou Kento’s Good Boy shows
1. I don’t know how many people listen to these, but there are two Twisted “radio shows” they put on once in a while. Like every month when there isn’t a Twisted Channel on Abema? Anyway, if you can understand Japanese, I strongly recommend you check it out! Right now Itou Kento-san’s show has most of its videos delisted on YouTube but the Twisted Radio should be in a playlist on the Aniplex channel.
2. The thing I want to talk about is the video they uploaded at the end of 2023, where Sebek’s voice actor was host to a host of major workers on the project. We sort of read about this in Toboso-sensei’s third year anniversary interview for Apple Japan, but this particular video was over 40 minutes of really interesting information about how the game is created! I highly, highly, highly recommend it.
3. What I wanted to mention most from the video was Hioki-sensei!!! I’d hunted online everywhere for more information on this author but there was just… NOTHING. But this time they made the genius move of inviting her and I was so happy because we got to hear her talk about event story creation!!! For the longest time I wanted to know the way she writes the personal stories and the novels, which she’s responsible for. Basically she’s the secondary writer in charge of the not-main story. And there was a goldmine of info!! We also got to hear from the lead composer and the lead background artist, and in fact, we even got to hear from the f4samurai lead producer!! They all seem like they really really love the game from the bottom of their hearts, which is great since we listeners love the game too lol.
4. Also the Twisted cast loves the game and the characters, you can just hear it from them chatting non-stop on the radio show. There is even Midorikawa-san who is what they call a ガチ勢 (hardcore player)
5. I always feel so impressed that the Twisted cast of voice actors all are actually really interested and involved in their roles and the game, which is something you don’t necessarily see about other mobile games. They don’t HAVE to love their role that much. (Of course not every single voice cast SERIOUSLY loves the game, and they don’t have to either.) I think the only game I know about that has this kind of actor enthusiasm is freakin’ FGO though lol. And even then, it’s the developers sitting in the talk show events, where Twisted’s events are more like conversations between the two actors.
6. But it’s really helpful for me to hear about each voice actor’s own views on their character, and how much they’ve grown and changed as their character has grown and changed. For example, every time I’m always wearing the biggest grin when Epel’s voice actor talks about his dog (he named her Epel), and Vil’s voice actor talking about Vil from his unique perspective as someone who does a lot of musicals is super interesting. Also Ruggie’s and Jack’s voice actors had a great cut-out section on Crewel’s (Itou-san’s) latest video that seriously made my day to listen to. I could go on, but I just love this show and highly recommend both of them.
4. the Fourth Anniversary Abema channel!
1. I just knew they were going to announce a Grim Master Chef card when they started off with making cakes! Also don’t you think he’s the cutest in this SR since he loves food that much?? Thank you Toboso-sensei.
2. One day there will be SSR Grim Club Wear: Gourmet Research Association, and I will be very happy on that day. His Platinum Jacket SSR is already cute enough…!
3. All the new quality of life features are a real life-saver, and they’re doing a past viewing feature for events they’ve already rerun too! This will be so much easier for new players to join now. Everyone should play the game!!
6. Twisted Game
So at least they didn’t end the story on the way-too-ominous Fey of Maleficence again this year (though honestly this time was kind of close… I almost flung my phone through the window when THAT scene happened). But there’s all sorts of things that are being foreshadowed this time that might affect the entirety of the game story in the future. All I know is, there is absolutely no way we’re not getting an Episode 8 or beyond. Which means I’m re-planning a few things heh heh.
Your author makes plans, then Toboso-san laughs I guess. But honestly, following every release in real time is much more interesting to me as an analyser? predictor? because of all the interesting theories we scramble to come up with between sessions and events. To be honest, they really give us a ton of little details in Event Stories and the Main Story. There’s so much information that my little brain is always very happy
7. The Second Novel
1. I have a lot to say about this novel, and no, it’s not because it ruined my emotional state for a while afterward!!!! I swear!!
2. One thing that both I and probably the official writers KNEW was that Leona tends to hide everything he can possibly hide, so looking back at Episode 2 in-game, it’s way too hard to tell his own thoughts during the process of his “crime”. That’s why a lot of people though Episode 2 was weak and couldn’t understand Leona’s actions, which the game could not illustrate by design. I think that was also sort of the point because Leona’s smart enough to hide himself so well that all the outside world sees is something that doesn’t make sense to them. But he’s also just 20, so sometimes his skill and smarts come back to bite him in the butt. (Having now outpaced his age I feel old lol)
3. Anyway, something amazing about the novel is that it digs directly into the perspectives of Leona, Ruggie and Jack without their permission. You also get such a detailed look at the Overblot in its description and the horror of it that it just feels stronger than the 2-25 and 2-26 chapters of Episode 2 in the game. And lastly, you get to dig into Leona’s monologue that he wouldn’t ever tell another soul. So basically this novel was just instrumental in gaining a deeper understanding of him especially, because you won’t see it in the game ever. I don’t think any other novel will reveal so much previously completely unknown information about a single character in the series… Anyway, after being able to access the internet again, I saw that I was far from alone in this opinion and basically everyone was just dead after reading it for a while lol. I get it.
4. So basically, read the dang novel, especially all the scenes with the Savanaclaw three in it. It’s worth it.
5. And they released the Tamashina-mina event that same year before the novel came out, and it was Leona’s birthday around the same time the novel came out, can you believe it? Someone at D-6th and f4samurai REALLY loves Leona Kingscholar or something.
6. I’m beginning to recognise Hioki-sensei’s writing style for the characters. I’m almost 100% sure that she wrote the Tamashina-mina event, a lot of Leona’s/Ruggie’s Personal Stories (including the birthday SSRs), and of course the recent Playful Land event with Fellow Honest. She’s actually really good at fleshing out the depth of each character by adding from the game, and she writes characters like Leona and Fellow with a special flair that puts me in very much physical pain reading about them. (Come to think of it Rollo was the same…)
- (does this say more about me than about the novel? but seriously, the descriptions were actually hard to get through this volume)
7. Actually I think Hioki-sensei might write most of the Personal Stories while Toboso-sensei writes the “main story” i.e. Episodes 1 to 7 plus the two Beans Day events. I’m guessing at the very least Hioki-sensei does Rook’s, that is a very “Hioki-style” character (I’m just guessing now).
8. The novel seems a lot more sombre compared to the game. This probably has to do with Yuuya-kun (the protagonist) being ah, delicate, but other characters like Riddle and Ruggie seem to have an edge to them lacking in the game…
9. Riddle took centre stage as the ally this novel, and he had a lot to say, but there are also few people who are as strict on themselves to display their growth with actions and only actions, not talking back or retaliating against the words that follow him. Riddle is so cool this novel, they showed him off so well!
10. Cater is the MVP!!!!!
11. Apparently, Vil and Leona rank higher in Yuuya’s brain (or Hioki-sensei’s brain?) in terms of beauty compared to Malleus lol. I don’t know if that’s the official beauty standard in “the world” but this novel uses every second of space with Leona present to compliment his appearance. Leona’s likeness to a lion in terms of temper, but also in terms of beauty is illustrated many times, and you get to see him run the gamut between seeming far more mature for his twenty years and, well, just read the novel i cry. They really didn’t spare any attention to this
- It’s sort of like how we got to bathe in Idia’s gamut of emotions in Episode 7 Chapter 7. You go from laughing to crying to WHAT?! They know exactly what they’re doing in this game lol. Idia fans, are you still breathing after the latest Episode? (I’m not, Gate to the Underworld! lol)
12. The Savanaclaw students love Leona even more than I expected, so I went the right way the first time by making them love him originally LOL. Leona seems to be a very popular dude, or maybe his charisma really is that strong. Heck, even Riddle talks about it in the novel.
13. Anyway I’ve never seen a novel fill in so much information that was at once following so much along the same lines my brain is going… But also sucker-punching me with so much emotional damage. So pls read the second novel, thank you.
14. Hopefully you will see how I am able to incorporate the second novel into my edits soon!
8. The Comicalizes
1. I’m waiting for the conclusion of 2 and 3 before I purchase the comics in bulk, but I wonder what made them alternate between Savanaclaw and Octavinelle? Were the Mermen fans a little too vocal? lol.
2. Also, I couldn’t have been the only person who thought Mito Yuuta-kun’s last name was pronounced “Sanzu” at first, right?? At least we know the whole ominous last name thing is still going strong.
9. The soundtrack CD is finally being produced!!
1. Remember me asking for this like three years ago? Well it’s FINALLY HAPPENING! 149 songs across 4 CDs, and 4 hours and 36 minutes of music! The lead composer also wanted a soundtrack very much so I’m very happy for me and them, hooray!
2. It says there will be (1) background music, (2) the theme song, and (3) character songs.
3. Wonder if there will be the “full version” of the theme song? If so, I want to analyse the lyrics for foreshadowing HAHAHA.
Okay, I think I’ve run out of things to talk about right now. Here are some notes that won’t fit in anywhere else.
- I am seriously looking forward to the conclusion of Episode 7 and then Episode 8+!
- Also I’m looking forward to pulling for Fellow Honest this Hallowe’en since we got Rollo Flamme last year. Please give us an actual age for Fellow and Gidel, please!!!
- Please let us pull for Crewel, I’m begging you Aniplex…
- Watch Episode 8 have limited time runs for Idia, Silver and Malleus, I bet you they’ll do it like they did with Lilia/Sebek/Ortho this time. By the way, Ortho is OP AF, highly recommend. Pairing Lilia and Sebek’s armour SSRs is also OP AF. Ortho’s Cerberus Gear single-handedly helped me to ace the Magical Assault Practicum with Crowley and I didn’t even have to level SSR Crowley up at all.
- Could you imagine SSR Silver: The Dawning Knight or The Daybreak Knight with a lightsaber sword? I think I would faint on the spot lol
If you read this far, thank you! And sorry about being missing for a while!! I hope you enjoy the content I will be adding soon.
That’s all for now!
—writingerror