I just finished the comic ‘Facing Demons’ and I’m curious what other people think about it.
Personally, I don’t find Mizuki’s turn from the Hashimoto all that compelling. There have been a few voice lines and interactions alluding to it in-game but otherwise, I feel like we’ve never really got to feel the weight of his conscience as a double agent. Clearly, his alignment with the Hashimoto has been near life-long for Mizuki, but the little time we’ve spent with him has been at the very end of that and one comic alone isn’t enough to really send home the importance of this decision. It’d have been nice if I could’ve suspended my belief that this character might’ve had a crisis and found himself torn between the two, that would’ve made a really interesting journey to have had with the character before he ultimately came to a decision. But it seems from right off the bat that he’s been more sincerely aligned with the Yokai and it was a forgone conclusion. A shame, given his introduction as a more morally ambiguous character. His betrayal of Shion felt weightless, and all his talk of reclaiming his fate from her is entirely unearned - a fate we discovered she personally ‘owned’ like… only a page or two before? She herself is not even in the game yet. I can understand the eagerness to tell a story and wanting to skip to a preferred beat, but it doesn’t pack the same punch if you don’t give it the appropriate build up.
I suppose this could be said for a lot of characters, given the nature of how the story/comics develop. Perhaps I was mistaken to have been so invested… but given that Mizuki was one of the only actively treacherous characters, it felt very interest. Now every bit of bite of it has just fizzled away for me personally.
I agree
A character that doesn’t know where his allegiance lie because it has inner conflict between the person that raised and trained him and the people that showed him genuine friendship and affection is interesting. But we barely got anything from this interesting aspect and instead instantly just reveal that he does care more about his new friends than the Hashimoto. It feels like when a bad-guys character slow redemption arc that should’ve spanned 2-3 seasons, is condensed into 2 episodes.
Imagine if Sombra would’ve betrayed Talon within a year of her introduction to smuggle Sigma to safety to be treated by Mercy at Overwatch. And even that would’ve been more believable considering Sombra does seem to have a neutral stance and no real loyalty to Talon.
I guess we could take this as Mizuki a lot less naive and and a lot smarter than initially thought, but still, it feels, as you said “rushed”.
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Probably because his time bonding the Yokai isn’t shown, that’s why it feels like it. The comic was good, but it misses an important part of his journey toward self determination, and that was his time befriending Kiriko and her friends.
I mean, this whole story arc feels rushed. It’s one of the main complains with Undivided and it seems to be bleeding to the rest of the story. We spent 12 episodes on a romcom that mocked the title by making the community Divided and you’d expect that kind of storytelling would remain locked there to be forgotten.
Now the guy whose whole deal was being a double agent, NEVER got the time to be, you know, a double agent…
The whole thing is rushed. Genji getting kidnapped was barely allowed to marinate before he got rescued off screen. No struggle from him, no scene with Shion, no real effort to rescue him. Just a plot device for the sake of rushing through Mizuki’s development.
I’m sorry, but the current OW writers are just not good at anything but getting cheap laughs.
It’s because the rescue operation is supposed to take place in the paywalled version of Undivided, last chapter left in a cliffhanger when they arrive to Japan.
That said, with how Undivided’s pacing goes and the focus it gives on (also rushed) romantic relationships, I wouldn’t be surprised if somehow next episode went back with the young operatives in a ship talking about the mission they’re going to, while also somehow having flirty moments.