#godhelp

I love this anime, it's in my top 3 and the protag is my fav character. Why did they ruin it so fricking much?

The series had so much potential. The 3 heroes could have become better, recognized Naofumi or even died, 3 good tropes. (Also angst. Imagine Naofumi being left alone as the Legendary Hero, and the world doesn't dare to kill him to summon new ones, because at this point killing him is 1. Impossible 2. The dumbest desicion ever. So he collects more daughters (maybe sons even) and spread them across his world to the point when The Shield Gang was waaay better than the 4 Heroes. Man I need to write this).

Naofumi could continue to explore his and other worlds, gaining xp and knowledge, being known as a God across dimensions.

L'arc's world troupe. Their cooperation, Kizuna's and Naofumi's research. Glass's help. Man that was good.

But nooooo, they added like 30 background characters who "play a big role" (I mean really? The tiger girl being Naofumi's "shiled"? Girl he's THE SHIELD HERO. You can't possibly level with him or the shield, go learn archery or something). Ost dying in a few episodes, the Pierro girl....

The other heroes became even more shallow. Motoyase lost his mind, Ren unlocked the Cursed Series after realising after MONTHS that this world is not a game. That troupe could've been way better.

The King's flashbacks and his obsession with the tiger girl.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Not to mention the ENORMOUS amount of plot twists. A mistical rogue? Ren! A mistical archer-gladiator? Itsuki! Puff! RAPHTALIA IS A FUCKING PRINCESS OF SHE WAS WANTCHED THIS WHOLE TIME.

Here are thoughts of today, in no special or edited order.

Melodies are one of the hardest things to come by. I spent most of my writing time today trying to write a really good melody – one that grips you by the heart, one that reminds you of something, one that settles you into memories, sitting down on the back-porch with someone with whom you’ve been at war, but you are calling truce for a night because it’s Christmas. I wrote a melody and chord progression that were cool, a very creepy sound with a Joan Baez-esque vocal. But I knew it was not right for this song. That alone is big progress for me – to have something that’s cool and to admit that it’s not right, and to leave it alone. So much of the time, I am trying to write something that will catch attention, not paying attention to what sounds the song is asking me to find in order for it to express. The more I’m writing, the more I am realizing this process is relational. I can’t coerce the song into being, I can’t trick it and give it a face it doesn’t recognize itself in. The amount of specificity required, the degree of honesty with yourself and with the song and with the Out There, the amount of attention required – all of these were matters I didn’t even take into hand at all when I was writing before. That, most likely, is why I did not enjoy the writing process very much.

A leading direction for this particular piece is the song “Danny Boy” as the opening phrase “Oh Danny boy” came to mind, out of the blue and suddenly, when I was writing the lyrics. It seemed significant, so I included the first line of the “Irish” standard (which I learned through research is a collab – the tune is set to an Irish standard but the original lyrics were written by a British lawyer and songwriter). The melody of “Danny Boy” was something I was listening to a lot when trying to write a melody today. I was primarily listening to Johnny Cash’s version of the song and was plunking out the melody on the keyboard to see what key it was in and to see what the intervals and shapes of the melody were. My question was, “How in heck do you write a melody that makes you cry?” As I was singing, I was crying – there was no other music or accompaniment other than my plunking out the notes. Even when I wasn’t singing words, just singing the melody, I was crying. How to get there? I want to understand the rhythms, repetitions, patterns of a melody that really make a human feel.