Didn't get quite as much progress as I would like, but I figured that after almost a month it would be okay to drop an update, because it will still take quite a while to finish.
I don't really want to make this sub an art blog so just yell at me if you think it's just better idea to leave it at sketch and final version.
source ( originally from bilibili )
Well Sarah always has a heart, but this one also carries extra big one.
Pretty sure I will finish it, just not yet sure how. Still don't really feel like committing to any art style.
However I do love showing the girly part of Sarah. She is the cutest.
I suppose it isn't a bad idea to make recap, if by any means there are people here who want her, but don't play the game anymore, or don't pay too much attention for the clues or media.
While our girl was in the livestream, they only talked that even "Primordial Nightmare" lacked something to be considered "Enchainer". Curious, but I wouldn't read too much into it.
More importantly it does seem that Carole is making another appearance, assuming she is that drone or speaks through it.
And also Remielle's story will include more information about old Void Hunters, which may give us insight into Vike, the piece of s**t big robot that left her to die.
There is still little to nothing about Mayor's/Creator's plotline or herself, so I expect mostly silence from this chapter as well.
Interestingly, we also learned that Truvia ( Proxies schoolmate, the blacked out girl in the academy photo ), is High Ambition's head's daughter. That evil looking guy with Youkai being her father certainly makes things a lot more interesting.
Last but not least, the guy from the photo, Serpico, seems to be alive despite all and through the bangboo gang managed to get Remielle inside of RSC. Not sure if that has any importance, but maybe when they explain how he is not dead, then we may learn a thing or two.
I will update this post if I find something, but feel free to also shotgun your ideas.
Unknown author. Not sure if the only source, that the reverse search points at, is the author.
it's too cute to not be shared, so if anyone finds the author I will update the post.
I made it for her subreddit milestone, but it's cute enough for everyone to enjoy.
Few days ago our r/SarahMainsZenless community has reached 1000 members! Congratulations and big thanks to everyone who made this possible!
This was a real rollercoaster of emotions, but finally I can say it's presentable. Sorry that it took so long.
There are still things that I am not really too happy with ( most notably the hair and it's shading ), but I guess those are the things that require real confidence and mastery.
Skip to the second half if you are interested in only EN voice acting, but I've included JP too, because it's very easy to hear, and makes the chance of random VA sharing very unlikely.
I've been talking about it a lot, so with reddit now allowing easy integration of videos, here it is for those who couldn't use imgur and such. Also conveniently in other subs people finally start to see Mayor for who he really is.
A quick recap what I think is going on:
City did run the dubious orphanage near hollow, and for whatever reason either she was experimented on or was born special.
We don't know, we know that she was extracted by the act of that orphanage being closed ( possibly to get rid of evidence? ). This by logic makes her HSO presence as child soldier.
What happen after that is not exactly clear, she is seemingly betrayed by HSO, and conveniently ends up in the cult, where she discovers that she is dangerous. All while the HAND denying she ever existed.
In S1 I do think that she was not any sort of mastermind, but mostly used by Mayor. The sound clip wee hear makes that very plausible.
Given how happy is he with his 2.5 gains, and those weird things around Yixuan, it's not impossible to assume he was on board with her sacrificing herself too.
Obviously assumptions are being made, so we can't know for sure, but so far it looks somewhat promising.
It's increasingly clear that Sarah is fighting against the same thing as we are.
Of course "her" solution is not acceptable, but that brings me to another point.
That ZZZ offers so many viewpoints at the same thing.
Bringer, who was probably directly mind controlled, shouts about using the powers that are available if humanity embraces hollows. And when he blows himself up, hating Carole and her students, he stilll laughs at Phaethon's efforts to find a "real villain".
When we fight Isolde, she is undergoing some sort of trial perhaps? Her attitude is "let it happen, nothing can be worse than now". But all we see in the fight is rage and regret. Carole's students are now witnesses, not enemies. There is zero hints that she would give up the world to the hollows.
Then we hear story about Sunbringer. Her story is the most familiar one. Humanity betrayed her, she is saddened by what happened to it. Possibly connecting to those Soviet like overlords, that we can read about. It's a mystery how far did she went, as we have conflicting information. But her objective isn't to stick it to the bad guys like Isolde, but to give everyone a world, where everyone is equal.
This is very close to what Sarah sees, and neither of them do even hint the idea that the world should destroy or transform the humanity. They still have the wrong solution, but their reasons are now almost innocent.
But then we have another viewpoint, Lockspring.
He, like Bringer, seems to be of the idea that humanity must be changed. Bringer's vision is to give everyone the monstrous power, where Lockspring wants all the humans to have no power at all.
He's insanely hypocritical and patronizing. To him all of the people that suffered so much are merely data points. He complains that people are controlled by their emotions, yet he lets Sarah's despair to do work for him. He even fosters it by fuelling that idea of Creator being a salvation. He complains about humans sacrificing each other, yet his plan is built on sacrifice Sarah and hoping to sacrifice Shunguang too.
The point of this comparison is to show that they know how to create nuance and that Sarah isn't doing things to screw us over, but because she genuinely believes that it's the right thing to do.
But what about those screenshots? I think that's where the plot is absolutely heading.
Helios Academy is turning out to be some sort of doomsday related child experimentation platform. TOPS were revealed to be unapologetically believing in complete subjugation by the elites.
And our "friend" Mayflower did his share of evils. In fact she knows first hand who he really is.
What she doesn't know that the solution was most likely left behind by the same people she fights against. How incredibly useful she was to them, despite all.
Lockspring said that the true rebirth cam be only achieved by temporary destruction. He probably meant that her barely surviving through whims of powerful meant that she saw the solution. But the reality might be that her despair is the thing that needs to die.
Indeed, if they show us that Sarah didn't perish ( which is our current, assumption, but nothing in universe confirms that ), then without her despair and with support of others she could be able to help dismantle the power structures that sre destroying the world.
There is also the question of og Sunbringer, what really happened, because her successors don't seem to be all that righteous anymore. Perhaps even becoming parasites as well.
In any way reason for this random dump is to give you the idea, that Sarah, despite looking purely as an antagonist, is actually on our side. Her solution is wrong, but she was brutally funneled in it.
It shows that her line wasn't throwaway and that there is still plenty of what wasn't told yet.
Whether and how they can deliver still remains to be seen.
Amazing post featuring a great duo, apparently user @Yidhari_Timely won a raffle and wisely used the prize for requesting our lovely colonel.
Go and support the artist✌️:
The original post, kindly requested by @Yidhari_Timely:
Figured out that the sketch posts are barely visible in thumbnails, so I will be using thick outlines for them.
I finally want something that just looks unquestionably happy, but my stupid mind always wants to take. That's where the scar comes in.
Still not quite sure what would be her hairstyle if she was "free". I would love to hear your opinion, how you would imagine unburdened Sarah. To me undoing the braids feel like the answer, but I wonder how much does it stray from her intended look.
Small Sarah in alternative universe where her friend is Tomoko and she gets to be just a normal girl.
Tomoko Kuroki is from Manga "Watashi ga Motenai no wa dō Kangaetemo Omaera ga Warui!"
Outside of superficial similarity to younger Sarah, she does also have a bit of a problem finding where to belong and how to be herself.
I would kinda want to do a background ( a floor or futon on which they sit ), but I also want to get it out so this place isn't too empty. So maybe one day.
I do love both of those goobers.
This is going to be a bit dry and boring post, and not much new, the primary purpose is to make things I've already mentioned in comments more readily available and for everyone to make sense of them.
Disclaimer: while I do know some Japanese, this is going to be from Chinese and rely on machine work. I have high confidence however that this is where the language models are especially useful. I am not asking them for translation, but explanation.
Here is the list of points where the English ( and from it other western languages ) deviate from original text in it's meaning.
| EN | O supreme and sacred Creator... By thy blessing and thy call, I lay forth this offering. |
|---|---|
| CN | 至尊至圣的源初之主啊…… 受汝赐福与感召， 献恶浊之物为祭。 |
| Note | CN text include evil/tainted/impure offering or sacrifice. This is one of the most problematic omissions and I have no idea why is it not there. |
| EN | Obliterate the vows of traitors, the avenger's cries, the defiler's lament, and the mourning of the dead. O mighty Creator, hear my plea. |
|---|---|
| CN | 请湮灭殉道者的誓约，复仇者的狂语，裹挟者的叹息，悼亡者的哀哭，垂听吾等虔诚卑微的悲愿。 |
| Note | Not only this erases the humility of the original, the last part is much more loaded in original. It's both collective, self degrading and the word plea by itself removes the sorrow. |
| EN | Sarah, my most faithful servant... thou hast come to the very brink of my advent... |
|---|---|
| CN | 「莎拉，吾最忠诚的奴仆啊，汝已导至吾将临未抵之向……」 |
| Note | 奴仆 is very demeaning bordering slave, which is completely lost here. |
| EN | cough... cough cough... Hello? This... This is Sarah... Special Investigation Squad, from HSO of HAND... |
|---|---|
| CN | “…咳…咳咳…这里…这里是 H.A.N.D. 对空部特别调查小队…莎拉…” |
| Note | The EN text strips that of professionalism. In CN her identification is still by the numbers, even in this extremely stressful situation. The addition of "Hello?" seems to be the biggest problem. |
| EN | ..Oh... if gods truly exist... in this world... Please... hear my plea... |
|---|---|
| CN | …神啊…如果您真的存在…请您，回应我吧… |
| Note | The CN reads closer to "O God... if You really exist... please answer me." making it much less awkward in the situation, and much more desperate |
| EN | The blood of the Creator flowing through your broken body is the best proof that you belong here... |
|---|---|
| CN | 你破碎的身体中的「属浆」血液，就是你属于这里的最好证明… |
| Note | Technical term is replaced directly with just plain English word. The in universe term in brackets denotes an alignment or attribute. In other words it's not about her being revived by Creator or receiving a transfusion, but about lasting anomaly. |
| EN | Tread carefully. One step further, and you may shed your mortal sins. But the gate to the final domain does not open without refinement... |
|---|---|
| CN | 要谨慎，再往前一步。虽脱离了属世的罪孽，但通往终域的界门，并非没有荆棘。 |
| Note | In CN the part with mortal sins is already in completed state. The word refinement that is somewhat loaded in the universe does not exist in original. There it just states the difficulty, "is not without thorns.". |
| EN | I know. Deep inside my body, my soul, lies the seed of evil I've long refused to face. |
|---|---|
| CN | 我知道，在我的内里，我的身体，我的灵魂中，隐藏着我所不愿面对的恶的因种。 |
| Note | CN makes it much more clear that the object is a root of evil, not evil itself. Instead of lies a passive construct "there is hidden" is used and most importantly the tense of her response is completely wrong. CN is closer to "which I am unwilling/cannot bear to face". Where the EN text may give the idea that she did change her opinion and embraced evil. |
| EN | Creator, who has shown me the conclusion... I have fulfilled your promise. |
|---|---|
| CN | 早已将结局昭示于我的始主啊……我已达成您的谕言。 |
| Note | The promise is strange even in English, the original uses something closer to a decree. Almost as if they wanted to make her look like she expects anything in return. Even the conclusion and word shown are a bit weak here. it damages the reading that this was fated. |
There is also quite a bit in 2.2, where some of the meaning is a bit distorted, but this I feel is much bigger problem structurally as it potentially completely removes the main motivation of the character and give it strange almost transactional mood. If anyone knows the language and can dispute the problems that model language analysis failed to identify I would very appreciate that.
I do have more ZZZ oriented picture coming too, but even if it's also lighthearted, I needed something more simple, something just free. For mental reasons...
I always thought that Sarah is a bit like what would happen if you took a hikikomori and forced her to do bad things, so I always wanted to see her in that kind of role.
I did chose Tomoko for many reasons. Not just for superficial similarity, they do have surprisingly quite a bit in common. And as much as most find her cringe, I absolutely adore her.
This one took quite a bit of stock footage to get some things right and Sarah is barely recognizable here, because it's not just her teen version, but also with hair undone. I don't really care too much about that, though. Guess I also like placing the arm to support the body too much.
