figure skating as an introduction. the animation of ryuji getting angry at missing the taxi. promise list. hideouts only friends know about. "now, girls, let us begin..." joker's idle animation in battle. walking through the rain. "life will change" blaring on the last day of a palace. every variant of beneath the mask. "no matter where you are, no matter how long it takes, you'll always have me. take care. if you ever need me, just say the word, and i'm there." getting lost in the train station. violet and joker's showtime. talking to maruki about life. morgana reminiscing. saying goodbyes properly.

original p5 came out when i was in highschool, just like the thieves. my life during this time was hell, and i dont think itll ever get as bad as then. i couldnt focus on anything but wanting to die, so i skipped out on playing this game. but i really shouldve played this then, because this is a hilarious game. so fun, yet so stupid. it feels like what id write back then; a silly little story where the kids win against the adults that were hurting me so. it wouldve annoyed me to play, sure, but laughter is infinitely more precious, and this is the dumbest game ive ever experienced. it truly is a game for kids, written by adults in their purest, younger forms; it wants to have fun but not think of consequences. this is a shallow piece of candy. shoji meguro, thank you for the best music in the series.

-opera house
-"Wah-ha-ha! Did you think a little thing like the end of the world was gonna do me in? The earth tried to shallow me up once or twice, but I just pried its jaws open and climbed back out!"
-final boss + "dancing mad"
-ending cutscene
-"...and you"

a little b-horror treat. in between "short" and "average" length, or maybe it was just good pacing that made it seem like it went by so fast!
akane's route is the only real sour part of this, and even then it's not necessarily bad, just very cliche and predictable.

just don't get too excited for any gore to make you scream. the guro is really limited to hentai scenes and that's pretty much it. i thought our titular character would be way more of a menace, but he's not -- it's not a bad thing, just don't get overhyped.

kiika best girl

there's a cool understanding of what this is, not just a sequel but a maturing of derek and angie from rookies to veterans, that is shown through the OST.

for some context: i consider the first game's "normal operation" music one of the most amazing pieces of video game music ever. not just because it itself is a great scary tune, but because it serves its purpose of being tense, not overwhelmingly horrific. atlus knew the gameplay of trauma center was something unlike anything anyone had really ever seen before, and you have to remember that the touch-heavy games on the DS were usually pushed as casual, family-friendly difficulty romps. "normal operation" is a genius track, emphasizing that this game was about to get crazy and it wasn't for the average person trying to kill time.

a lot of the first game's OST is horror slanted, but this one's is much more techno and electronic. it represents a confident derek stiles, and i love that! you're no longer a scared little himbo, you're a superhimbo!

gameplay has been refined and is way more forgiving, but... it plays way slower. this is the biggest flaw in it -- it's too easy for the wrong reason. everything just feels like slow-mo, and the surgery patterns are meant to reflect on this by being much more forgiving and simple. there's a lot of recovery you can do in surgeries in this game, and it does kinda suck since that aspect doesn't really work itself into the whole "you've honed your skills in trauma center 1, now prove yourself in 2!" vibe i just praised this one for having... but whatever.

story is all over the place once again, but i appreciate it being much less random. emilioooo ;_;

"IF YOU SAVE ME, I WILL FIGHT YOU AGAIN, AND I WILL KILL YOU. I'LL KILL THE PEOPLE THAT ARE PRECIOUS TO YOU FIRST, AND THEN YOU. AND YOU WON'T BE THE LAST. I'LL CONTINUE TO KILL EVEN AFTER THAT."

a mysterious game that came from the future.
this was noriaki okamura's big directorial debut, but unfortunately the depth just isn't there.
it feels uncomfortable at parts just how little is given to you plotwise in what is clearly trying to be something grounded in morality. there's a bad end just for deliberately destroying every single building and making sure all survivors end up dead -- something that is not possible unless done on purpose, to which leo says "i was... just playing...", and that's fantastic! but nothing past this extremely interesting detail is really given to the player to latch onto, and the game ends up becoming what i would assume it didn't want to be: an action game instead of a cinematic action game, a la mgs.

atmosphere, sound effects, music, and visuals are all top-notch. this is a konami game being produced by kojima, and all the assets are amazing. i can only imagine how this game felt to play on launch. it truly must've seemed otherworldly -- and im sure the intense care that went into the battle system both feeling and looking great was not by pure coincidence. the game features an awe-inspiring OP, "kiss me sunlights", a beautiful classical piece that only emphasizes the feeling of starting something you've never experienced before. you would think this is where a konami game being produced by kojima and directed by a man that has worked closely with kojima would put in some over the top anime cg cutscenes, at the very least custom visuals to match the epic swell of the music -- but half of the opening is just the regular mecha battles you do in the game. it's why i get so emotional watching the opening to ZONE OF THE ENDERS; i can truly feel how proud they were of the gameplay. how it looked, how it felt, how it immersed you into jehuty, how it immersed you into fighting. i consider this game to have one of the best OP's for any video game ever. in spite of this being an obvious cheese-fest of gundam and general mecha anime, they did not go crazy. there is nothing they could've created for the OP that could beat what they had already made in-game. and that's wonderful to me.

ZoE is a little strange and all over the place, but i think its soul is genuine.

"Boy, will you answer one stupid question?"
"Yes, what is it?"
"Was I strong?"
"...It's hard to believe that I'm still alive."
"Is that so?
Thank you.
...
Beautiful. You knew how beautiful the stars really are."