21 minutes ago, llamaman88 said:

O-Ushi better have plot armor! I need more Kuon!!

Plot twist - all of Kisada's children die fighting the Shadowlands horde. Kisada survives and goes darkside, blaming the emperor for his children's deaths and not providing the supplies needed to defend the wall. The Dragon are not marching to reinforce the Crab, but to stop darkside Kisada and his followers.

50 minutes ago, AtoMaki said:

I think it was just some poor writing. Tomonatsu's gender should have been clear from the beginning.

How? Samurai armor + mempo, how should the gender have been clear from the beginning?

11 minutes ago, McDermott said:

How? Samurai armor + mempo, how should the gender have been clear from the beginning?

Maybe because of the emphasis on the other characters, even the 'minor' ones like the family daimyos? Only Tomo-chan's was seemingly kept hidden till the reveal.

I wouldn't call it poor writing. It didn't matter, and I don't really recall much emphasis on other character's genders, and outside of Kisada and his kids, I don't know what the gender of anyone else in the story was.

I just don't know why it mattered at all what gender the samurai was in that moment, or even afterwards. The dead samurai being a girl wasn't Kisada's takeaway, her youth was. Her being someone's child, being the next generation of Crab. Cut down in her youth because he lost focus and was ambushed. And it could be one of his own children next time.

44 minutes ago, llamaman88 said:

I just don't know why it mattered at all what gender the samurai was in that moment, or even afterwards. The dead samurai being a girl wasn't Kisada's takeaway, her youth was. Her being someone's child, being the next generation of Crab. Cut down in her youth because he lost focus and was ambushed. And it could be one of his own children next time.

Definitely - I think it plays up his difficulty trusting others abilities. I feel he will have difficulty letting go of leadership of the clan because he is the only one who is strong enough, smart enough, and level headed enough to protect it and the empire - unlike his children who all have their faults and weaknesses.

In this situation an Oni burst into the scene and he immediately withdrew from command to personally knock it back. The moment he lets another person take over that fight, so he can get back to leading - they end up dead...

He certainly doesn't want to take his eyes off the wall, or leading the Crab clan lest they suffer the same fate the second he turns away...

While they did the gender obfuscation and reveal, I don't think they really played upon the "It's a girl" aspect - I think it was more about her being reminiscent of his daughter, and in fact all of his children because of her age. Can he trust his children to survive and lead the clan when he lets go?

I think Shosuko hit it on the head, with not a single one of his children being as well rounded and capable as Kisada. I think as a Crab I would prefer O-Ushi as the next champion, but Yakamo is clearly the heir, and probably makes for a more interesting (in a blood, guts and conflict kind of way) story.

Like Shosuko and llamaman have said, I think the impact on Kisada wasn't about her being female, but that she was a young Crab samurai-ko, just like his daughter, and that with his age, he'll have to rely more on his children, and it could lead to a situation like this, where he finds them dead in battle.

4 hours ago, Kubernes said:

Maybe because of the emphasis on the other characters, even the 'minor' ones like the family daimyos? Only Tomo-chan's was seemingly kept hidden till the reveal.

Those were people Kisada knew, on the wall, prior to the attack. Tomo was a random bushi in full kit in the midst of a confusing melee.

9 hours ago, YasukiKaito said:

I think Shosuko hit it on the head, with not a single one of his children being as well rounded and capable as Kisada. I think as a Crab I would prefer O-Ushi as the next champion, but Yakamo is clearly the heir, and probably makes for a more interesting (in a blood, guts and conflict kind of way) story.

He clearly *thinks* he is the heir. Or has a deep seated issue where he needs to act like he is 100% confident he will be one, making sure everyone else around also know it, while he isn't so sure in reality. Would explain his bombastic attitude and overconfident front. Kisada calls him his "eldest", not "his heir". O-Ushi looks like best Champion material, yeah, with Yakamo and Sukune as her Right and Left Hands.

Is it so wrong to believe that the leader of the Crab clan is upset to see one of his clan members die? He isn't distant, he just is tired of seeing the death of members of his clan after countless battles and now even younger people are dying like his children. He doesn't seem to fear death because he has faced it so long and been on the wall for so long, but he is concerned as the battle at the wall grows that it will be a large toll and take away from their future. I think that we are being overly cynical if we think that Kisada is jaded, in my readings he was very concerned with protecting his people. He didn't want to stay to the last man, he didn't want his son to keep fighting, he didn't want senseless death. He only wanted to make sure that they saved as many lives in the best way possible. Sure many died, but it was to save many more and he was trying the best he could. He is caught between duty to his clan and their lives and duty to keeping the Shadowlands at bay and duty to the Emperor. He cares for his clan members lives and yet the Emperor seems to not care at all. Maybe his major conflict is that he is tired of having to be the one to lose lives and give duty to everyone else when no one else seems to care.

Okay expletive keep saying that the quote from this story that 'Do you think the Crab need glory' means that Hida Kisada will have low glory. But he then talks about what Glory can be used for.

Maybe he will have only 2 glory. But I am saying it here while it stands matters is that he will have 3 because he understands the power of it.

*EDIT

well. I was wrong

On 7/5/2017 at 6:07 PM, Tonbo Karasu said:

Any bets that the Crab samurai-ko with an otsuchi that we've seen the art for, that was denied being O-Ushi, is Hida Tomonatsu?

Do I get to gloat just a little now?

Seeing Hida Tomonatsu's art... I doubt it was a gender reveal that effected Kisada lol

11 minutes ago, shosuko said:

Seeing Hida Tomonatsu's art... I doubt it was a gender reveal that effected Kisada lol

I'am now actually even more sure that it was the writer's trick to throw some sweet shock and character-sympathy ("Kisada is shocked as so should be you!") into the mix. Considering the art there was no reason whatsoever to keep Tomonatsu genderless until the reveal. Unless she wore a different kind of armor in the battle.

23 minutes ago, Tonbo Karasu said:

Do I get to gloat just a little now?

Go ahead, get it out of your system.

18 minutes ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

Go ahead, get it out of your system.

Called it!

After giving it a second thought, I think Kisada's Big Flaw might be simplicity instead of indifference. He is a "1+1=2" guy ho is not aware that this is not always the most efficient way to get the desired result. Sometimes, you gotta pull a {\int_0^\infty}\dfrac{x^{k-1}}{\gamma(k)\theta^k}e^{-\frac{x}{\theta}}~dx to get that "2".

1 minute ago, AtoMaki said:

After giving it a second thought, I think Kisada's Big Flaw might be simplicity instead of indifference. He is a "1+1=2" guy ho is not aware that this is not always the most efficient way to get the desired result. Sometimes, you gotta pull a {\int_0^\infty}\dfrac{x^{k-1}}{\gamma(k)\theta^k}e^{-\frac{x}{\theta}}~dx to get that "2".

Uggh ....math.....please just stop.

1 hour ago, Kuni Katsuyoshi said:

Uggh ....math.....please just stop.

I'm not even a Crab, and that string hurt my head just looking at it...

I'm calling it: Hida Kisada will be the villain.

I just wanna give FFG kudos for getting out good and early that, "a character can be dead and still be playable in the card game."

Worried about evergreen champs? Don't be!

4 minutes ago, Kitsu Seinosuke said:

I'm calling it: Hida Kisada will be the villain.

Too soon

Especially with Shoju and the Phoenix Masters unheard from.

Or Shinjo AlfredENeuman (or whatever) for that matter

Villain is such a subjective term. If you are in the corrupt bureaucracy that's prevent his soldier from getting the proper support than you better believe he's gonna be your villain.

7 minutes ago, phillos said:

Villain is such a subjective term. If you are in the corrupt bureaucracy that's prevent his soldier from getting the proper support than you better believe he's gonna be your villain.

I don't really expect ANY kind of 'story arc' villain at this point.

Hopefully never, but maybe later