Kaito Origin Stories: a Test of Loyalty and the Path Forward
Lore forum
Posted on Dec. 19, 2021, 9:41 a.m. by DemonDragonJ
Here is the first installment of the story of Kamigawa: Neon Dynasty, and it certainly was very exciting.
I am glad that I read the books of the original Kamigawa cycle, so I understood all of the references in this story. I see that the Hyozan are still around, and their current incarnation is highly reminiscent of a Yakuza gang. I see that the Umezawa family still exists, which means that Toshiro likely had children, before the Myojin of Night's Reach brought him to Dominaria, and I fully expect that Satoru shall be a major antagonist in the story of this set. I also hope that Eiko, Tameshi, and Light-Paws shall have cards in the set, since they are all important to the story.
Many players speculated that Tezzeret was the emperor, but we now know that that is not the case, but, since Kaito mentioned seeing a "man with a metal arm," we can presume that Tezzeret is somehow responsible for the emperor's disappearance. The fact that the writers have not yet revealed the emperor's identity means that she (it feels so weird to use a masculine title for a woman) must be someone very prominent who has already been seen in the story, or else, there would be no reason to keep her identity a secret.
What does everyone else say about this? Did you enjoy this story, and are you excited for this new set?
And sorry to double post, but I'm super excited for the new set. The lands look amazing, and I hope they don't end up being limited supply and hard to get. All in all, I love that they are branching out into new worlds, not just in minor flavor, but in total build.
December 19, 2021 10:30 a.m.
I went back and finished the story, and I feel like maybe I was being overly critical. It's probably just the kind of thing where, it's not for me, and that's fine. So, I just wanted to apologize because I felt a little bad after what I said about the writing, and maybe I was just in a bad mood : )
I hope people enjoy the story and I'm excited to read more about the other characters in this really fun world they're playing with.
Niko9 says... #2
Thanks for posting this, it's fun to check it out. I'm having a little trouble getting into reading it, but maybe it's something that I'll come back to and love.
My initial reaction is a little meh though, if I'm being honest. I feel like if they want to do a really tight story on this new character, it would be more engaging to give him a big personality. As it is, it's 100% following a sneaky guy character who is good at all the sneaky guy things. It just seems like a really fun and unique setting, but they are writing it like blade runner fanfic. Which, I love me some blade runner fanfic, but still.
The writing is also slightly stilted. That style can be really great, but as a guideline, breaking single lines from the paragraph to emphasize them only helps the piece if those single lines are interesting.
Again, it could be something that I really enjoy after one more coffee : ) And I mean no offense to anyone involved in the story. I just think it could have been written as a noir, or written as an anime, or written him as a mischievous ne'er do well, or written as any one distinct thing that makes it feel alive, but it feels almost generic sci fi. Just a little. Just my thoughts : )
December 19, 2021 10:27 a.m.