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rumynoirI doubt I’m the first one to say this, and I don’t think I’ll be the last:
If I played Tales of Vesperia when I was a teenager, I don’t think I would’ve connected to Yuri Lowell as much as I do now. In fact, I see more of my teenage self in Rita Mordio, which personally, is extremely frustrating knowing that I was so much like her when I was younger. ...Yes, that heavily, heavily includes the exhausting tsundere behavior that is so deeply rooted into her personality. If I could kick 15-year old me in the ass for being an utter brat, I would do it in a heartbeat.
...I digress.
Unlike most RPG-protags, Yuri is an adult. Most of his growing is already over and done with. He doesn’t have to learn about the meaning of birth like Luke fon Fabre. We’re seeing Yuri right in the middle of an existential crisis. He’s the type of character you’re going to see in yourself after you’ve lived a little. And by live, I don’t mean absorbing politcal, activism bullshit on twitter or social media. I mean gone out and got slapped around a bit by Real/Offline Life.
But before I get into that, we need to look at Yuri a bit closer:
( Read more... )Yuri & Flynn: Two Sides of the Same Coin
Jun. 12th, 2022 07:59 pmrumynoirI feel like I’ve been in this fandom long enough to see various opinions on the whole Flynn + Yuri relationship. You have the fans who adore it and just like them as fluffy as kittens, then you have people who want to see them butting heads 24/7. If you wanna go even further, you have the ones that absolutely abhor the ship and wish Flynn would break his fucking leg or something.
I’m a very “let ship and ship” type of person. If you don’t like Fluri, then that’s absolutely fine - what do I care? There’s a certain canon “Tales” pairing that I’m certainly not fond of myself.
What does have me rolling my eyes though, are the ones who claim Flynn and Yuri were never friends. That Flynn and Yuri hate each other. That Flynn and Yuri don’t understand each other. That Flynn and Yuri are happier when they’re over 9,000 feet away from each other.
Again: Opinions are opinions. But there’s this one scene I stumbled upon on NG+ that reminded me that FlynnYuri goes deeper than just “rivals” and “butting heads.”
( some salt included, oops )How Yuri Lowell Could've Been "Fixed"
Jun. 5th, 2022 02:33 pmrumynoir“Fixed” is a very interesting word choice here, since I don’t think Yuri has a whole lot that needs “fixing.” He’s popular for a reason and is different from most Tales of protags, but he’s also a main character who’s got a dropped character arc and honestly? He could’ve used it.
The main issue with Tales of Vesperia is how it had multiple writers. It seems to set up a political conflict of justice and light vs dark... before dropping that or hand-waving resolving it to make room for the Entelexeia and aer. Unfortunately, Yuri’s characterization is tied much more closely to act 1/part-of-act 2 than it is act 3. In fact, I dare say Yuri's purpose comes for pushing other characters’ development and screen time than his own.
( Read more... )rumynoirWhether platonic or romantic, I personally really enjoy the Yustelle (Yuristelle?) relationship. ToV is not a game that needs to check off romance on their list and favors the Found Family genre (which it handles very well), but there's something special about Yuri and Estelle.
rumynoir...character analyses + a dash of Flynn/Yuri friendship.
I’m mildly amused that some people portray Flynn as the “blue oni” to Yuri’s “red oni.” By this, I mean Flynn is commonly written/drawn as the calmer of the two, the more rational, the one who “looks before he leaps.” And yet, there are several instances in canon that point to Flynn as the one who gets more “carried away.”
First, let’s look at their motives:
( i must be the light when you're in the dark )