Oops didn't realize I'd left the thread hanging on stream 17!

[18] Jakuri's Big Day Out

[19.1] Hug Power

[19.2] Dreamy Way

[20] Hibernation

[21] Frightfur Tantrum

[22.1] Internet Problems

[22.2] Pier, Reviewed

It's not as much as it looks, given some of the streams (most of the streams) got split vod wise due to terrible internet, but yeah! We hang out with Jakuri, doing a bunch of synthesizing with her, do her first dive wherein we are subjected to her anime-trope drenched fanfiction, and then go to Kanakana Pier to meet God! Turns out Frelia is a sleepy sleepy girl, and the baddies use her to sing Hibernation, almost killing everyone and downloading us into a Lotus Eater Machine, which we defeat with the power of maybe almost killing our sister. The end result of THAT is that Chester and friends are all brutally injured- though Chester lives- and we have to fight a giant horror plushie that Jakuri correctly calls out as cute. With the people of the world saved, we are now left with... a dying world, and a bunch of unconscious plague victims. Uh oh! Thankfully, after a quick return trip to Kanakana Pier, we find Implanter, the song we need to reboot Infel Phira! That all leads us to yesterday's stream...

Zodi Streams: Ar Tonelico 2 [23.1] Continue All The Downloadin'

Zodi Streams: Ar Tonelico 2 [23.2] Lets Both Be Pope

Video Length: 22:40 and then 3:18:50

In this exciting episode of Ar Tonelico 2, we attempt to download Implanter to Luca... only to discover, doi, the Infel Phira hard-reboot command song is written in Pastalian code, so only an IPD can sing it... meaning Cloche, who is barely capable of standing. We attempt to go to the Grand Hell Hill to do this, only getting waylaid by more crafting and diving with Jakuri, then by Targana's unending desire to have a destined rival sword fight with Croix! After some discussion he says this duel will happen in Cape Dice... a place that exists not on any map, because it is a place Croix and Targana created as kids together, in their secret base they referred to as "our Metafalica". Once there, we engage the erstwhile tsundere in pitched 1v1 rpg combat- thankfully tuned to such a way that this is actually doable, it is more or less scripted- and as the world rumbles in "oh right the world is ending" Targana falls to his death. We reach for him, grabbing hold, but he insists he dies, and we fade to black... as Croix says this is stupid because no you don't get to die you have to live and make up for your mistakes dangit! With Targana saved, we are now free to sing Implanta... but that'll be for next time.

I do want to take a bit of an aside here to talk about how much I do like Targana as a character concept. He's ludicrous and silly and his thinking that our wanting to sing Implanter so people don't die means we also want to take over the government is wildly off base... and ultimately it's all just in service to his destiny rival want for Croix. And I can't really blame him- even if it's been ten years, even if he was nine when it happened, I have to imagine looking back at those boyhood memories of going to a special paradise just for them, to hang out and train and have fun, telling each other secrets and vowing service to one another, that's gonna put them ideas in your head in retrospect. I hope one day, now that he gets to live, Targana can calm down a bit and find a guy he can settle down with and not be quite so ridiculous with.

That is to say, I don't have any illusions that the game actually considers him gay, especially given this is a game of its era in more ways than one (the manga adaptation apparently has him end up with Cloche in a terrible example of pairing the spares) but the fact that the idea of it is brought up in universe is kind of novel. It's a common trope to read into the destined rival character that oh, they're definitely crushing on each other, their obsession with each other is due to unresolved sexual tension. It's a good ass trope to read into stories, especially when the actual canon love interests barely get even half as much effort thrust towards it. What Ar Tonelico 2 does though, which is interesting to me, is have it so that no there's actually quite a lot of support and reason to believe Croix would be in love with Cloche and Luca, so one can read his and Targana's rivalry as just that, despite the clear tension in it from Targana's side... but then they make it clear that no no you're not seeing things Luca can tell this boy is suffering from some gay-adjacent yearning and has no idea how to express it. Even if ultimately we don't get anything more than that... that's more than some series bother to do!