God Liveblogs

Thanks for giving me some more info! I’ll look at the system doc once I’m further along in Epithet Erased, juuuust in case some minor mechanic might spoil me for what to expect in the series.

‘Anime Campaign‘ is an amazing title! Although Epithet Erased doesn’t really seem so, uh... animesque? It certainly feels a little inspired by some of the common shounen tropes, but from what I’ve seen doesn’t really have the, I guess, Feel of an anime yanno?

Y'know, I knew that little tidbit but my dumb brain keeps on glossing over it like it has nothing to do with what I'm watching. So thanks for the reminder!

Elo/him But less jokingly, I don't really care what pronouns anyone uses for me. I grew up on the old internet where you were taught that giving out any identifying information was dangerous so that kinda stuck, even for something as harmless as that.

Also, I kinda like the idea that I am a nebulous, formless thing that other people can ascribe features to, like a coloring book but you’re doing it blindfolded and only receiving directions from someone who’s not even paying attention and may or may not be purposely giving you wrong answers because you ate their last slice of pumpkin pie in the fridge. I kinda lost the plot there but I hope you get what I mean!

I think it’s official, Giovanni is my favorite character who isn’t Molly. Current fave list from descending order is; Molly, Gio, Indus, and Mera, with the rest of the minions not getting enough screentime/personality to make the cut and everyone else being below the line. Though this episode seemed to focus a lot on the dynamic between Molly and Giovanni, with Molly’s home circumstances being explained in there as well.

I’m feeling conflicted about Sylvester, on one hand he’s a smarmy bastard child who caused Molly to cry... on the other hand I’ve never been correct about first impressions and we still don’t know a lot about him. I’m gonna reserve judgement on him until more is revealed, same with Molly’s sister.

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Molly and Giovanni have a heartwarming evil bonding moment against adversity! But Doctor Dream here isn’t letting up!

Gio, what is that face.

... How can you use that again when no one is drowsy? Do you just need to hit them once with a sheep and you’re good to spam it over and over?

YOU FIEND! TURNING THEIR COMRADES AGAINST THEM?!

Please! Come to your senses! Remember all the fun times you shared with Molly and GioGio!

How dare you use bears to bring harm to Bear Trap herself! Though, it seems like he’s still using Molly’s fears here...

Dang! The military promotion point system fails yet another competent soldier!

Yes! Knit them more bandanas! It must work!

Alright, I know Sylvester is being a terrible horrible no-good child, but this is no Greek myth so blinding him just might be a bit much.

Would that do anything? Can Molly make it so that it would Dumb him if it hits?

Well, now that you’ve said it like that... Yes.

Come on Sylvie! Haven’t you heard of the phrase, 'Teamwork makes the dream work’?

I can’t believe what I’m seeing. I know I said something similar to this earlier, but I just was not expecting it to actually be used, and in such a silly fashion... I love it.

...I’m making the same face Gio...

Get this child some self-confidence, and therapy...

Honestly Gio, right now, you are!

Giovanni is a man of many talents; Villainy, Soup-making, Signing adoption papers, Teleporting and Baseball!

He swings!

He hits!

And a homerun!

...Because balls of yarn don’t make good projectile weapons?

If psychologically tormenting a child is you being “nice”, than what is you being mean?! I have a feeling he’s gonna soon transform, he’s kinda got that primal stance goin’ on...

Or maybe not? What could his ultimate attack be? Manifesting his own dreams?

Must... resist.. the urge.. to make a Dragon Ball Z reference....

... Either I was right and he’s manifesting his own dreams... or he just had an aneurysm.

Well, considering your ultimate attack is throwing soup it kinda tracks.

Don’t pass out in the middle of a battle?

Light fills the stage! Rumbling grows in the distance! The battle is not over!

Where’d the skirt come from?! And why does he have a stethoscope? I’m feeling more and more that Sylvester isn’t a real psychologist!

Well, my previous theory is pretty much out the window. He goes to sleep and dreams he is bigger so that he turns into a bull-man? At least that’s my current understanding of what’s going on here...

Epithet Erased Episode 2

Chaos Chaos! Bear Trap just straight up forcibly non-existed an innocent sheep, Giovanni's freaked out, I'm freaked out, and Sylvester is still on the attack!

Drat! Now we're going back to the, less critically acclaimed, Day at the Museum!

Hey, Sylvester? Can you help me with my recurrent insomnia? I want to skip counting sheep and just get blasted in the face with an ovine every night before bed.

Oh, he has an actual amulet with a swirl on it, is that what he's been using to sleep people?

Why is everybody in this entire building trying with all their might to stress this poor kid out?

Please tell me someone just threw a glob of flame at Sylvie and not that Molly’s worst fear is being caught in a fire.

Looks like it is Molly’s fear... but Giovanni can see it too? Are they both asleep right now and sharing Molly’s nightmare?

Nice! Finally! And I can say with confidence now that these cards do not tell the whole truth, as he can do way more than just lull people to sleep (and also that DR. is quite clearly penciled in, we both know you never got your degree MR. Sylvester Ashling).

Also I wonder if Molly’s fear of fire has anything to do with her mother’s death :[

Gio. PLease give her a calming bowl of soup, she needs it right now...

Cover her up in your cape or splash some flame extinguisher soup or something! Sylvester is going HIGH up on my hit list for this.

Throw the Murder Soup!

Giovanni is the Team Dad everyone wants and deserves!

... Is... Is he going to *teleports behind you*?!

Molly has acquired one (1) found family, now she must catch ‘em all!

... Please tell me it’s the bears! I don’t know how Giovanni is going to use them to escape but I want him to.

Gio. When you leave this museum you need to bring the Banzai Bears with you. This is non-negotiable.

YES!! I’m actually gonna need to go back and check out if he did the same thing in the fight with Mera... Holy Cannoli he actually did! Now that’s consistency!

Well, you were carrying another person so it makes sense that you made it half the distance.

You can tell by that fierce gleam in his eye that Corporal Other Bear will let no-one past him!

That parenthetical isn’t describing what she said, but just how she is.

HRRGHH, MY HEART...

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Giovanni counters Sylvie’s cheap shot! And now he plots on how best to best his opponent in the ring!

Wow, Giovanni’s friendship rank levels up quickly! Normally it takes three/fourths the Hero’s Journey for your party members to unlock their secret move.

... How does filling up your LIMIT meter relate to Soup!?

Honestly Molly, at this point I’m just letting people do whatever they want with their powers.

Just built different I guess?

Y’anno... if Molly Dumbed down his attacks, he could use one of his dummies (sorry, valued minions) to build up his critical so he could constantly dish out souped up attacks and is that pun why he can do that?

WAIT I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO SAY YOU ALREADY HAD A CRITICAL SAVED UP! also that counter in the top right is adorable.

All right, I don’t know if I shared this thought before but I think I have a theory about SiIvagunner here. His Epithet is probably something like Sleep—or more abstract like Dream—as all of his attacks have just been that, however he very clearly becomes a Minotaur in the opening. Now we know magical artifacts are a thing and Sylvester is interested in them, so what if him transforming into a bull-man is in actuality the effect of a curse or something with nothing to do with his Epithet? And while I’m this far out here I have an addendum to this theory. Sylvester’s real form is the Minotaur! Where he is cursed to turn into a child! It fits with him being a psychologist despite looking Molly’s age, him throwing a tantrum when people call him a child, and feels like a JelloApocalypse kinda twist. And now that I said it watch as it’s proven wrong later...

PLease no! not the spicy jambalaya soup!

Wait, Giovanni can actually use the Adds to increase his critical counter! Though, that’s a weak grenade if it only hit two of them...

Sorry Gio, but I think there’s not much Molly can do here. Her Epithet, while pretty powerful, doesn’t have any direct offensive ability against multiple enemies, also she’s twelve.

Quick! The sewing needles! Go for their beady sheep eyes!

Why are you giving the child a gun

Molly’s anxiety levels must be going through the roof right now.

This entire scene is equal parts chaotic and hilarious.

Good lord they are going to smother you with their fluffiness.

Everyone, do it with me once again, *Clear’s throat* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH—

Just wait until they get a taste for blood!

Maybe they see you as one of their own, Molly? What with the fuzzy hoodie and fluffy hair.

Dear sweet jumping jelly beans THEY CRAVE HUMAN FLESH!

Quick! Get that combo going or else we’ll be nothing but bones!

...I know I said to get the combo, but I thought it would be more than just a crit on one enemy... Molly, maybe you can AOE Dumb all the sheep? Don’t worry about hitting Giovanni, he can’t possibly be meaningfully affected by it.

Just need to hit them one thousand and three hundred more times then!

Un-Summon them? It wouldn’t be too much of a stretch for ‘Dumb’ to do that, right?

Molly, sheep are supposed to put you to sleep, not the other way ‘round! Wait a second, how could an Epithet like Sleep summon sheep? I know the connection sheep have with going to sleep but at what point does it become too far of a reach for the domain of your Epithet? ...Y’anno, I’m just going to go back to ‘let people do whatever they want with their powers‘, it’s at least more funny that way.

Yeah, same! She just quietly obliterated that sheep like it was nothing! It was honestly a little frightening...

Molly, please don’t phrase it that way, it makes it sound like you could do that to anything and I can’t emotionally accept that.

Oh okay, good. Gave me a bit of a scare there. Question though, how did you know you could do that? Is it a feeling that all Inscribed get from their Epithets or something?

Nice, didn’t know I get that answered so quick. I guess some Epithets are more suited for summoning stuff too, and also Molly’s sister has an Epithet too! Honestly a lot to unpack in the last few sentences.

Stopping off here for now, but man, this has been a filling session, what with Molly finally opening up about her family troubles, though to be honest I thought that was going to be held over our heads for a little longer, as well as Giovanni's character being a lot more fleshed out.

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With uplifting music in the background Giovanni starts to tell Molly what it truly means to be... a minion of evil!

Well, as the main character, you are MORE important than everyone else, but let’s just go one step at a time.

Gosh, Giovanni starting to make me want to be one of his minions, maybe he’s not a bad cartoon villain... maybe he’s a great cartoon villain!

Meanwhile, Molly is in the corner, taking notes.

I’m sorry, you can try to be intimidating but you’re captions are not giving you any credit by calling you Sylvie.

Was it really necessary to climb into one of the exhibits just to stand at a higher vantage point, oh what am I saying of course it was.

WHAT DID YOU SAY? I’M SORRY I CAN’T HEAR YOU FROM ALL THE WAY OVER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THIS LARGE ATRIUM!

You are literally trespassing right as you are saying this.

It’s two children against one, so he’s clearly outmatched!

You’re right, when even the caption refer to you as a ‘boy‘ why DO you even bother?

So, more dust... the question still stands, is this his Epithet at work or just some other power you get once you obtain an associates degree in psychology?

... Gio, where do you live where snow is yellow? and please tell me you didn’t eat it as a kid.

Drat, my joke was yoinked!

Is Molly going to remember bumping into this kid at the start of this whole mess? And if so, is she going to ask him why he pixie dusted her? Cause I’m still wondering why Molly is here in the first place.

Oh! Scratch that, she immediately connects the dot’s to realize they are under attack right now! Man, so far Molly is the most competent of Giovanni’s minions.

Naw, he’s just in fact really boring.

Holy Moly he’s going Super Saiyan!

What.

OH, he’s literally just filling the air with the smell of good soup to counteract the sleep powder.

Yea, surprisingly soup’s pretty versatile.

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Two episodes in and Molly is going to start opening up about her obviously abusive home life; I’m not sure if I’m mentally prepared for this...

‘Used to‘? This already doesn’t sound good.

WELP. I thought that was the case at the start of the show, after her father was revealed to be abusive scum, and only thought otherwise when her character card said her mom made her the hoodie she wears, so, yeah...

You know you have unhealthy coping mechanisms when even a child is confused at your actions. Also, Sister, so it’s not just Molly in this boat and by the sounds of it her sister is older yet somehow not as mature as her in this situation... must take after her father, then.

I also feel a little bad for Giovanni here, I have no doubt that he was not expecting this when he sat down for a powwow with the new minion.

This is honestly a difficult situation—at least with the information we’re getting here—the family does need someone to run the storefront so they have income, and doing something drastic like closing up the shop and switching livelihoods might have made landed them in a worse spot (maybe, I don’t know the economy of this fictional world yet) so, ideally, they should band together as a family to pick up the slack the mom’s death left, or at least her father should shoulder it himself. However only Molly seemed to actually do anything and now she’s been pin-holed as the toy store’s manager.

All in all, everything in that sucks.

I really hope she doesn’t blame any of this on herself, though her tone and the way she’s talking about it seems to show awareness of how unfair all this is, which is good.

Also, two years is a long time, long enough for

Oh yeah, she is fully aware of how what fresh bull (sorry sylvester) this all is.

Listen, I still don’t know how your dad, who is chaperoning the museum trip, just forgot that you were here!

How to Communicate with Children by Giovanni Pottage.

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Giovanni continues to make ninja noises when Molly asks a question...

Kid, what gave you that idea? Was it; the way he loves his minions, him immediately adopting adding you to the team, his love of knitting and ninjas, or his ability to make delicious soup?

Stop being an actual factual tsundere and open up your heart to the fact that you’re a big softie Gio!

...

Case in point to him being such a big softie, he could have just left it at the threat and I don’t think Molly would ever bring it up again, but no, he immediately reneged and spilled the beans to a small child he has known for less than a day.

Behold, a villain!

Yeah... Gio, you do realize this sounds like a ponzie scheme?

OH YEA IT ACTUALLY IS

AND HOW DO YOU KNOW WHAT MULTI LEVEL MARKETING IS?!

I hate how this actually makes sense.

That’s what I’m asking!

Now to be fair, she’s like, ten, and also a business owner.

“Run“ is one way of putting it, another is “Childhood Indentured Servitude“

Literally every moment he is on screen, Giovanni becomes a more nuanced and likable guy and he may soon top my list of favorite characters in Epithet Erased.

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I have more than half a mind to start every new liveblog with this image...

Well, if it’s complete, where’s the cool guy? (At this point I’m just cyber-bullying fictional characters)

I do appreciate Giogio incorporating Bear Trap’s theme with their secret hideout.

I’m sorry Molly, but that is clearly not the face of someone who cares about the rules.

PLease let this be foreshadowing an improvement in Molly’s home life, Mr. Jello Apocalypse I beg you.

“Except for the rules of drama, we follow those every chance we get.“

You can tell from the menacing (ゴゴゴゴゴ) look on their face that they mean business!

We already have one monkey in a suit, so obviously this circus is gonna need the bears to be dressed up, too—I elect we give them fezzes.

It’s somewhat concerning how similar of a wavelength this child and grown man are on.

It kinda is a bit, saddening I guess?, about how somber Molly can look at times—especially right after having a moment where she actually acts her age.

Gio, first of all you don’t need to LORD over a kid while talking about tailoring, and second I am not surprised you have a sewing kit on you as well, ya definitely need to repair your cartoon villain costume after getting bodied constantly during all your battles.

.............. Hey Molly, do ya mind if I borrow one of your sewing needles, just need it to, fix a stitch, on this doll I’m making of your father... But yeah, I’m hoping beyond hope that he is just extremely clumsy as well as neglectful, and not an alcoholic. There’s not much chance of that is there?

Giovanni, please, give this child some peace of mind and raise her spirits by talking about your shared hobbies.

Giovanni! How could you look at Molly’s :3 face and not divulge all of your secrets!

Oh, I suppose that is why people call you a knit-wit? because of the knitting?

What do you mean Molly? I’m certain he’s mentioned how crafty he is at least ten(10) times now!

As expected from the MASTER of all things SOUP.