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maiji: Armory Fan Club

[image: Cover for Armory Fan Club - a fanfic by maiji. Digital illustration of Dias and Claude back to back, smiling out at the viewer with swords crossed. The kingdom capital of Lacour is all around them in full festival mode, with blue skies, colourful confetti and hanging buntings. Below is a collage of assorted characters from the game in front of crowds of festival-goers. They are: two giggling women waving a fan that says "Lord Dias" with a heart; a woman holding a bowl and handing out flyers that say "CK" with a heart; a pair of blushing guards being amazed at how cool Dias and Claude are; Gamgee and an older Sufia hefting a sword in a scabbard; a laughing Precis; an annoyed Leon; an amused Granny Moor.]The Sorcery Globe is gone. The Tournament of Arms is back.And so are the two most acclaimed swordsmen in its history!Read Armory Fan Club on AO3This is me, having too much fun. (Note: The above is not Remnant Light Claude. I just needed physical descriptions that make it very clear Dias and Claude went through more eventful adventures after the end of the game, so I repurposed most of the design I came up with for that story. The main difference visually is that he still has his red headband instead of a leather headband.) I love how they made festival Lacour look in SO2R and I really wanted to capture that wonderful medieval-party-under-brilliant-blue-skies vibe! Everyone in this illustration is actually a character in the game. Read the story to find out who they are! Or if you figured it out because you obsessively talk to every NPC like I do, yay for you!While working on The Thesis, I made a silly joke about how in SO2R the Armory Contest (remake translation for Tournament of Arms) recovery room got reconfigured so there's only one guard who witnesses The Conversation between Dias and Claude, and now he's gonna be dying until the end of his shift to share the hot gossip. Next thing I knew, I had a fanfic word count of 1,500 that was climbing with great momentum. To the point where The Thesis almost ended up not being finished because writing this nonsense was more fun, and easier, than translating. Until I got to the fight scenes anyways. And then I was like "This needs a cover!" やれやれ… Armory Fan Club is basically me trying to pack in my thesis evidence of everything I think is great about Dias and Claude as a pairing, some metacommentary on fandom, and of course, my usual love for/references to lots of NPCs! The fan clubs in the story are all based on actual stuff from the game too. I took a lot of screenshots in my SO2R playthroughs so here they are! Spoilers for a bunch of people you can talk to during the tournament. This post does double duty for me saying a while back I'd post about the Claude fan club. There are Dias fans in here as well.[READ-MORE][Screenshot of Claude talking to a youth near the registration table. The youth stammers, "Mr. Kenny, I-I just want t-to say th-that you're…you're a real inspiration to me!"]"Isaol": On the cover, he's the soldier/guard on the right. Unnamed in the game, he's a friendly purple-haired youth pacing near the registration table. If you're Claude, every time you talk to him in between your matches, he grows increasingly impressed. His line in Japanese is quite ardent, but I didn't want to make him too over-the-top of a character in the story. He says: クロードさん、ぼくは、ぼくはモーレツに感動しています！ Something like, "Claude-san, I'm, I'm intensely moved/impressed!" Which I don't think fully conveys how intensely moved and impressed he is the way it does in Japanese, haha. モーレツ ("intensely") is probably 猛烈: fiercely, violently. So the English take on it is cute and nicely done to convey his awe of Claude's performance in the tournament.[Screenshot of Claude, Rena and Dias in the recovery room with the guard at the door. 1) Dias is leaving. Claude says, "Will I see you again?" 2) Dias has left. When you talk to the guard, he says, "The Armory Contest's ended. It was pretty good, wasn't it?"]"Garet": On the cover, he's the soldier/guard on the left. Unnamed in the game, he's the guard at the door of the recovery room when Dias goes to see Claude after the finale. He witnesses the conversation between Dias and Claude. Sure, he seems chill about it, but he's actually just putting on a professional front and the memory now haunts his dreams. I mean that in a good way. [Several screenshots showing Rena or Claude talking to a young woman with long dark hair, a red headband and a red dress. 1) To Rena she says: "Hi, I'm Lucy! I saw Claude performing out there. He was sooo dashing! Is it okay if I have a crush on him?" 2) To Claude she says, "Hi, I'm Lucy! I saw your match out there. Is it okay for me to have a crush on you?"]Lucy: A girl with long dark hair pacing the left side of the arena. She was my fave tournament audience NPC when I was little. No matter whose story I played, every time I ran around the colosseum I would talk to her just to see her ask for permission to have a crush on Claude. Of course she would be the president of his fan club![Screenshots of Precis cheering Claude on during the tournament events. 1) Ashton, Precis, Claude, Rena are outside the castle entrance after Claude said he wants to enter the tournament. Precis is saying, "Oh, go ahead, go ahead! I can't wait to see your studliness in action!" 2) Precis, Rena, Ashton in the stands during the tournament. Precis and Ashton (and Gyoro and Ururun) are looking shocked/slightly freaked out. Precis is saying, "Claude's absolutely the dreamiest! I can't believe what's happening!"] Precis: Okay, Lucy aside, Precis was definitely Claude's #1 fan at the Arms. Everyone in your party says nice things, but she is by far his most vocal supporter from the get-go if you have her in your party. Her comments always crack me up, and the SE/SO2R translation is really funny.[Screenshot collage of Claude talking to a group of four young girls in the colosseum. They say in turn (doesn't matter which of them you talk to): "We're..." "...members of the..." "...Sir Glorias Fan Club!" "But he lost in the first round.]The Lord Dias Fan Club: Formerly the members of the Sir Glorias Fan Club. A group of ladies standing around the left side of the arena. Sir Glorias lost his first match, so obviously they need a new obsession to cheer for. If you try to pickpocket them, you'll notice they're all carrying portraits of Dias. Easy shift of allegiances. [Screenshot of Rena on the way back to her seat in the colosseum just in time to see a woman in the audience screaming in Japanese, "Ah! Dias-sama!"]"Lord Dias": You can only see this lady in a Rena story if you don't have anyone else in your party other than Claude and Rena. She just says "Oooh! Dias!" in English. But the "Dias-sama" in Japanese slayed me. The guy next to her is a Claude fan, you can see the full dialogue here.[Screenshot of an NPC in the corner of the bar saying "Dias was incredible, but I was more intrigued by that Claude kid."]More Claude fans: There are a bunch more NPCs in the tavern who were really impressed by Claude. I inserted most of them into this fic, so let the above gentleman represent them all.[Screenshots of Dias at the Front Lines observation deck, Rena talking to two soldiers near him. 1) Dias is not in the party yet. The soldier closest to Rena is saying, "Oh, wow! It's the Armory Contest champion." 2) Dias is now in the party. The same soldier is saying, "The Armory Contest champion is just at another level. You can feel an aura different from normal people."]More Dias fans: A couple of star-struck Dias fans at the Front Line Base. Or rather, one star-struck Dias fan and his patient long-suffering buddy. The soldier on the left squeals a lot more in Japanese (the "Oh, wow!" is actually an excited "Wa wa!"), and his friend on the right is like "wow even you tell the truth every so often", implying that this guy has been going on at length about a Dias sighting before this. It's too bad you can't make Dias the leader at this specific part of the game even when he's in your party in SO2R. Would've been hilarious to see a different response from the soldier when Dias himself is talking to him.[/READ-MORE]There are more fans in the game that I didn't screencap or fit into the story. But if you play SO2R, keep an eye out for them, and have fun talking to everyone before, during and after the tournament!Also, I totally didn't expect this to line up - at least in my timezone - but happy birthday Claude!! (January 23, Space Date 347 - or year 2433 if I didn't mess up my math).

maiji: low effort SO2R comic

[image: very scribbly pencil-like digital doodles. Transcript below.] Ronixis (laughing and cheering with crew and then pointing authoritatively at Claude): let's check this planet out! whoo whoo claude you're coming with meClaude (concerned): with all due respect Admiral I don't think that's a good ideaRonixis (sad and pouty and pointing his index fingers together, with Kurtzman and other crew members unruffled behind him): boohoo but I'm old let me have my funClaude (unamused): .........[several hours later]Ronixis (sobbing): CLAUDE!! CLAUDE!!! IT'S ALL MY FAULT...!!Science Officer: With all due respect Admiral it sort of is [sometime later in the Shingo Forest](Equipment Menu showing Claude has nothing equipped except for an Ugly Accessory. Next to it is Claude in the Shingo Forest wearing nothing but a belt and holster with the phase gun, looking down at himself and screaming in alarm, with a mandrake-like Ugly Accessory acting like a censor for his lower half. There is also note saying that he must still have his phase gun.) [much later in Arlia Village]Claude (lying face down on the ground and either crying or drooling): oof... oogh... my stomach...Westa: Rena. quick, while the Hero of Light is stuffed and can't escape!! we'll make sure he saves Expel!!Rena: Got it, Mom!! Yes, I started another SO2R game to fill in some gaps in the Flavour Text documentation.1) I was saying to my friend who is an orange, you know, the opening of Claude's story does seem like Claude's recklessness is what transports him from Milocinia/Milokeenia to Expel, but it's also interesting that you later discover (in flashback) that he actually didn't want to go down and recommended against it. The conversation between him and his dad is pretty much what I summarized above. I'm not even kidding.2) I was going through the menu to make sure Claude came with Dexterity/Nimble Fingers and was like "oh yeah [because this isn't New Game+ anymore], I'm completely naked." Then I found an Ugly Accessory after a battle. This accessory does nothing, but I equipped it on him anyways since I was in the screen and had nothing to do. It seemed like it could provide some level of modesty.3) While adding to my Flavour Text notes, I laughed at how I had captured this Camp Menu reminder-hint from the equivalent part of Rena's story on what to do at this point of the game.[Screenshot of Ellipsus text doc that reads: After stuffing Claude full of food - Rena is running! Rena: I need to tell the village chief about the Hero of Light!chat message at 3:39PM: it's like they stuffed him so he can't get away]Westa's brilliant plan all along. I do believe my sis and I used to periodically crack this kind of joke back in the olden days of PS1 SO2, actually.I can't believe this is my first art post of 2025, haha.

maiji: The legend of sporty eyes

[Screenshots of a chat between me and my friend who is an orange. Transcript follows.] me: what does スポーティ meanlike I know it's "sporty"but are there connotations beyond just what the english sporty means orange: Nope, as it says on the tinIt's used a lot to describe stuff I guess? Like sporty style refers to people who wear athletic clothing as a styleBut yeah it really is just sporty lol me: what are sporty eyeslol orange: what lol A hilarious conversation that took place mid-last month. Then we forgot about it. Then we came back to it this past week. I've been periodically running into fanart and comics of Claude C. Kenni from Star Ocean 2 with the phrase スポーティーな瞳 ("sporty eyes"). I can count the instances on one hand, but specific enough that I was like, ?? My Japanese isn't great (though it's much better than when I was a little kid), and I couldn't for the life of me understand the usage in context. Like, there was a vague sense of it being used for a particular reason, but it also seemed rather nonsensical, like something was missing. orange, whose Japanese is excellent, was also baffled. She was like, "Is it maybe a reference to something from the game??" and I was like, "Not that I'm aware of?? The only time I can remember anyone talking about Claude's eyes is the priest in Arlia's church and I'm 2000% sure he doesn't say they're sporty lmao". Then we moved on to other things. Anyways, I recently encountered another illustration with this, and orange had the brilliant idea of… looking it up, haha.Explanation on Nicovideo.jp | on PixivSo basically, it's a Japanese meme that came from a circa 2001 four-panel gag comic appearing in Vol 7 of the Star Ocean The Second Story gekijoh books. As it says on the cover, this is part of the Enix Supercomic Gekijoh series, essentially officially-sanctioned fancomic anthologies. Which I actually owned in my other life, I just couldn't read most of it when I was a kid. I actually remember this comic too! The creator, Sakamoto Taro, has a very distinctive inking style.The comic is titled "Sporty Eyes". The joke involves Noel and Bowman wanting to sneak peeks at Chisato and Rena changing, but Claude, instead of being unobtrusive, boldly/blatantly pops up from the bottom of the window to look. This references two things:  how on PS1, character portraits animate in from the bottom of the screen (which they amusingly brought back in SO2R, if you choose to make the status screens display the original PS1 art, possibly in part because of this meme); and  Claude's bio that appears in the instruction manual, which inexplicably closes with the following line that apparently also left Japanese fans scratching their heads:「サラサラとした金髪とスポーティな瞳が印象的。」Roughly, "He has silky blond hair and sporty eyes".  [Screenshot of a chat dialogue. Transcript follows.]me: hmmI'm gonna see what they did in the english ps1 manual translation lmaoI think we still have the gameholy crap not only do we have the game we still have the receiptpurchased from worlds biggest bookstore lmaoooo*I'm dying I completely forgot there were bios*which closed 10 years ago, RIP World's Biggest Bookstore Here's the relevant page in English.[Photo of the English PS1 game manual on top of an open PS1 game box with disc 1. The booklet is open to a page with the official PS1 portrait of Claude next to a panel of text. Transcript follows.] Introduction of Characters In this game, different characters may join your party depending on how the story develops. There are many characters other than those introduced here. Seek them out. Claude C. Kenni One of the main characters of this game, Claude is a newly commissioned Ensign of the Earth Federation, and the eldest son of the hero, Ronixis J. Kenni. Although Claude does have respect for his father, he is struggling to forge his own identity. He is noted for his frizzy blond hair and an impish gleam in his eyes. Sex: MaleAge: 19Birthday: January 23/Sign: AquariusHeight: 175 cm(5'9")/Weight: 68 kg(150lb.)Good at: Being late, troublemaking.Likes: Food (all kinds), computer games.Dislikes: The profession of Federation officer. [Screenshot of a chat conversation continued. Transcript follows.] me: it looks like his bio got cut off thoughall the other bios end with the characters favourite kind of guy or girlI do remember reading a translation of a japanese bio that I think had itサラサラとした金髪 became frizzy lol orange: That is the total opposite haha This was the original Japanese profile, which I looked up by using the quoted line. I had to wade through a lot of explanations of sporty eyes in order to find it. The bio: https://ameblo.jp/beki-0313/entry-11205371725.html The other details: http://toss.velvet.jp/media/change-system/triple/cr.htm このゲームの主人公で、地球連邦軍の新任少尉。英雄ロニキス･Ｊ･ケニーの長男*である。父を尊敬しているが、反面、英雄の息子として自分という存在がかすれてしまっていることに苦悩している。サラサラとした金髪とスポーティーな瞳が印象的。 得意なこと: 遅刻，サボリ，格闘術**好きなもの: 食べ物全般，コンピューターゲーム嫌いなもの: 連邦仕官という職業，勉強全般好きなタイプ: 活発で，明るくて，元気な子 Roughly (aiming for more literal translation, following Japanese word order where possible): This game's main character, Earth Federation forces' newly-appointed Ensign. Hero Ronixis J. Kenni's eldest [only/first-born] son. He respects his father but, on the flipside, as the hero's son his own existence is fading/blurring [being overshadowed] which distresses him. Smooth gold hair and sporty eyes is the impression [he has]. Good at: Being late, slacking, martial artsThings he likes: Food in general, computer gamesThings he dislikes: Being a Federation officer, studying in generalThe type [of partner] he likes: Lively, cheerful, energetic girls *The English translates "長男" as eldest son, which is technically correct, but in Japanese it doesn't necessarily indicate there are other children. On the actual screen where you choose Claude as your protagonist, he's described in both Japanese and English as the only son of Ronixis J. Kenni. You can see it here in this comparison of PS1, SE, and SO2R intro screens. The original Japanese text can be seen in the screenshot of the ameblo URL linked above, which says "一人息子" (only son). (As a point of interest—fans of SO1 may recall that Claude's mom, Ilia, is actually Ronixis' second wife; his first wife died of an illness well before the beginning of SO1.)**格闘術 is specifically hand-to-hand combat/unarmed martial arts, which reinforces the idea that Claude only started using swords after arriving on Expel.The end of the mystery (aside from who came up with "sporty eyes" and why it's in the bio like that. I have theories. lol).Also props to the translator several decades ago who probably struggled with how to render "sporty eyes"; you did your best. But a few things sure got left out, haha.