#katrielle layton

CT’s back from the dead to analyze tf outta these images

Thank you to @call-me-rucy for making me aware of Level-5’s tweets with your post.

To open, I agree with @mysticpuzzleno001 that this desk very likely does not belong to Professor Layton. I also noticed the mug with the tea bag at first glance, and thought that it wasn’t the Professor’s style considering he’s a tea connoisseur who likes brewing loose tea.

I also thought that he’s not the type of person to keep mint gum lying around. No evidence for this, just that he never struck me as the type of person who likes chewing gum.

What else is in this image? There are a bunch of photos, and the only comprehensible one is of some buildings. I’m not sure what that thing with the recycling logo is, but it’s possible that it’s a pack of paper, a cardboard package, or a pizza box. If it’s a pizza box, that seems like the type of thing Al and Lucy might have in their office.

Lastly, I can’t tell what the shape on the bottom right is, but it’s outlined much thicker than the rest of the drawing. This leads me to believe that it might be part of a character, since manga artists, especially those working in black and white, want to make their simple, cartoonish characters contrast against the realistic and detailed background. Maybe it’s a shoulder with a short cuffed sleeve? The shadow implied that this shape is in front of/over the table, but it’s hard to tell what it is, especially with the angle of the drawing.

People have pointed out that this isn’t the Yard as it appears in any Professor Layton game nor LMJ/LMDA, but we’ve never seen the outside of the building in Mystery Room. I’m not sure how significant this is since they love to inconsistently redesign the Yard for no reason, but if it’s deliberate then it’d rule out Hershel and Kat as possible protagonists of this manga.

Who/what do I think it’s about?

Considering the overall tone of these drawings, I feel like they’re too serious and down-to-earth to be part of Katrielle’s world and more realistic than the Professor’s. Level-5 once said that they’re either done making PL games or PL’s adventures period (correct me which one), so if his years as a protagonist are over, I can’t imagine him getting a new manga.

Kat is predictable as a main character since the last two installments were about her, but her stories are always bright and bubbly, which doesn’t line up with the messy desk covered in papers and the rainy image of London. Katrielle doesn’t look at evidence and do paperwork, she runs outside and talks to everyone she sees on the street instead and gets right to the scene. The weather is also always uncharacteristically good in her world (someone’s clearly never been to London).

This leaves me with two possibilities. It’s extremely likely that this manga will be about LBMR. LMJ and LMDA both teased a LBMR sequel in Katrielle’s correspondence with Lucy in the game and Lucy and Al showing up at the agency in the last episode of the anime. The images of the desk and Yard match their story because, y’know, they work at the yard and their desks are typically covered in papers. They do their detective work in the mystery room rather than the field, and it’s in character for them to have things like bag tea, mint gum, and what is possibly a pizza box covered in yet more paper. We’ve never seen their Yard (seriously, does the Scotland Yard have multiple locations in the Laytonverse?), and this serious, realistic style matches the style of their game.

Second option. The manga isn’t about any of the three Laytons at all. They never said it would be. As an avid, unapologetic pusher of the Flora Main Character agenda, I’d love to see a new face solving the mysteries. I’m assuming this manga will be canon to the rest of the series, in which case I really hope some old characters at least show up. I want to see them again, and it’s quite frankly weird that we haven’t yet.

Overall, I think a “sequel” of sorts to LBMR is the most likely subject to the new manga. I might rb this post with updates when new teaser images come out, though, especially if my theory changes.

Secret game concepts I found after hacking Hino’s notes app:

• Professor Layton and the Unwounder Future
• Professor Layton and the Floridian Gentleman
• Professor Layton and the Quest to Bring Flora Back from the Dark Side
• Professor Layton and Don Paolo’s RealBackstory
• Y/N x Clive otome (they’re in need of money)
• Professor Layton and the Much Needed Character Development
• Professor Layton and the Background Artists Mustered the Effort to Google Translate Signs into English Instead of Writing Gibberish
• Professor Layton vs Apollo Justice; Ace Attorney: Battle of the Backstories
• Shitty Pavel flash game
• London Life 2 (now with aspects copied from Undertale for budget reasons)
• Emmy skin fortnite collaboration
• Professor Layton and Flora Won’t Stop Practicing the Dark Arts
• Professor Layton and the Semi-Canon Fanganronpa
• Lady Layton and the Ascending, Teasing Suspense of what the Old Characters are Up To
• Layton Brothers; Barton’s Assertion of Dominance over the Commissioner from the Anime
• Layton Brothers; the Deep Lore-Filled Origins of When Laytonverse Characters Started to Bleed After Serious Injury Instead of Having “#” Appear On Their Cheek

Too bad none of this good stuff will ever get localized

I now have the time to host more events cuz my workload decreased and also I am cringe and free. Huzzah. Anyway, I’m in dire need of a fun little gift exchange, so I thought I’d knock together a fun little thing to do. This is a festive, carnival-inspired gift exchange for artists and writers and whatever the hell else those creative types are doing nowadays.

You can pretty much write about whatever and whoever you want, providing it’s got at least Some link to Monte d’Or. Yeah, that includes Layton and Descole going for brunch or, idk, murder.

Anyway there’s a form, you get a nice mystery piece of art or writing about something you like, you get to show off your skills, it’s a win-win. Rules and information or whatever are in the form. You get the gist. Go sign up right now or your shoes are mine.

https://forms.gle/YqCsTjCY5VNG3mLu5

Submission Deadline: May 3rd

Final Deadline: June 15th

oh yeah congregation place ig > https://discord.gg/DWZGuhSA6V

#812 Katrielle (Layton’s Mystery Journey)

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Inktober ‘18 ~ Day 29

Puzzle solving time!

Layton: *bringing a plate of toast to young Katrielle* Here you are, my dear!

Kat: But Daddy, I want it in triangle shapes.

Layton:

Layton: That reminds me of a-

*one minute later*

Layton: *puzzle music playing in the background* How can we divide the toast into two equal halves with one cut?

Katrielle: It’s time. I’m finally going to find them.

Me: yeES

Katrielle: It’s time to find

Me: YEEESSS

Katrielle: sweets

Me:

Me: no, Kat, that’s not,

Just got into Layton series (especially LMJ) so have some stuffs I did for the past few days (人 •͈ᴗ•͈)

• 5-6th drawings are crossover with Niru Kajitsu’s “Shama”
• 7-8th drawings are based on fanfic “The Matchmaker” by @/harmonypon on AO3

Enola Holmes has big Katrielle Layton energy

Spoilers for both episodes

Somebody has pointed out that the titles of each episode so far have resembled titles of the games.

Katrielle and the Mysterious/Curious House / Curious Village

Katrielle and the Diabolical Dress / Diabolical Box

And the episode plots have also had ties to the games.

In Ep 1, treasure is found within a house, like in St Mystere. People are also thought to be going missing, like Simon in the Curious Village.

In Ep 2, characters were hallucinating people who weren’t really there, like Folsense. It also features two lovers trying to find closure after death, like with Sophia and Anton.

Bearing that in mind, I’m certain that Ep 3 is going to break our hearts, just like the Unwound Future did.

On another note, Ep 2 got me excited! It reminded me of a classic Layton adventure, whilst still leaving room for Katrielle’s unique style. Katrielle, you’re really proving yourself!

Today, I had the pleasure of attending AnimeJapan 2018, where the first episode of the upcoming Layton anime has been airing over the past two days. This post will be broken into three parts:

1) My overall experience (including photos of the Level-5 booth!)
2) My spoiler-free review of the episode
3) My spoiler review of the episode

So let’s jump right into it!

My overall experience

I arrived at Tokyo Big Sight at around 12:30. That gave me two hours to look around, before the episode aired at 2:45pm. Regardless, my priority was finding the Level-5 booth, and my heart leapt when I finally saw it.

Aaaaand I was even more excited to see these!

You don’t realise you need a giant, inflatable Sherl in your life until you get one!

I wandered around a little while before returning to the booth, where somebody I wasn’t expecting to see appeared.

The Queen herself!! I even managed to get a photo with her. (Sorry to break the immersion that I’m Alfendi. Sadly, I am not.)

That was such a nice surprise~

Anyway, 2:45 finally arrived! I’d been waiting in the screening area since about 2:15. While I was waiting, Katrielle came back, and I even saw a wonderful Katrielle cosplayer get a photo with her. Two Kats! Ernest would be swooning.

So, on the off-chance the Katrielle cosplayer is reading this: I’m sorry I stared at you, I wanted to go and say hi but I was already in my seat and I didn’t want to lose it. Also, your cosplay was amazing.

Aaaaand that’s about it! I managed to see a lot of other stuff too, but it’s not really Layton related.

Spoiler-free review

The episode was fun to watch, and I liked seeing Katrielle again! While have some issues with Layton’s Mystery Journey, I love Katrielle herself, so I’m excited to see what else the anime has in store for her.

I’m not a huge fan of the art style, though. I wish they’d kept the same animators that the game had, or used the company that had worked on the movie. Sometimes the anatomy was a little funky, especially for the eyes. I mean, here’s Ernest from the game:

And here’s the anime:

It just doesn’t feel right.

I also feel like the new characters introduced in the episode lacked the unique, Layton art style, and looked a little generic. But I acknowledge that this way is probably cheaper, and I’m just grateful we have content, honestly. I think that the anime is going to give us the answers to some big questions, and that’s more important to me.

The episode covered one case, and it wasn’t too fast paced. Having said that… I don’t speak Japanese, so maybe it was. We’ll know when it gets subbed!

Spoiler review

Plot overview based on my limited understanding as somebody who doesn’t speak Japanese

A man (the same one from the trailer) arrives to the Layton Detective Agency and Ernest answers the door. He is very worried and asks for Layton. Ernest lets him inside. Katrielle has not arrived yet, but when she does, she kicks open the door and accidentally topples the man over.

Excited by her new client, Katrielle grabs her notebook and gets ready to talk to him. He again asks for Professor Layton. Katrielle gets annoyed and tells him that she will handle his case. Unfortunately, the man keeps pushing for Professor Layton (though Ernest tries to warn him) and Katrielle snaps, beginning to yell at him. It seems she is still trying to prove herself as a detective, which will be a really interesting thing for the anime to explore.

The man starts to explain the case, where his family went missing. I think there was also something about his house being haunted, but I’m not sure. Katrielle is ecstatic and they rush there right away.

The house is very large, and Katrielle and Co. are impressed. Katrielle comments on the man’s tie clip, which turns out to be a symbol of his family (I believe). Before they go inside a neighbour (?) turns up, who the man does not like. Katrielle notices that he has a similar clip on his sleeve.

They search around the house and the man discusses his brother, who he doesn’t seem to get along with. Sadly, I have no idea why. I wish I spoke Japanese.

They go into a room, which has a Mona Lisa knock-off painting on the wall. Katrielle realises that the floor near it is dusty. Combined with other things she  noticed, she realises the truth of the case. At least one of us did!

In her typical way, she gets Ernest to touch the painting. He tilts it slightly and shoots down a trapdoor slide, where they can hear yelling from the man’s family. The family dog pulls one side of the rug, then the other, making the room go back to normal, so nobody would suspect there is a trap door there.

Katrielle and Co. go down the shoot, and the man is reunited with his family. Out of nowhere (seriously, I have no idea where he came from) Inspector Hastings appears. Katrielle appears to make a cheeky comment about how she solved the case before him, and he is embarrassed.

In the room there is a door with the same symbol as the man’s tie clip. He uses it as a key and the door opens, to reveal literal bars of gold.

(At this point, I was very confused.)

Katrielle says some things, and all of a sudden it is revealed that the neighbour who the man doesn’t like is his long lost brother, and the trapdoor has now put them under his house.

It also seems like the man had a bad relationship with his father, and possibly left him on his death bed???? I need so much context, and only subtitles can help.

Anyway, the brothers became friends again, Katrielle solved the case and everybody was happy.

But there’s one more thing I’d like to talk about.

The opening (big spoilers!!!)

The opening is cute. It features Katrielle, Ernest, Sherl, Emiliana, Hastings and the Dragons, so we can expect all of them to appear at some stage. Heck yeah, I need more Emiliana.

I also believe there is a hint coin reference, when Katrielle is examining a hat and a coin falls out!

Regarding Katrielle’s necklace, the opening shows her choosing a charm for it out of a box she has, so I guess it depends on how she’s feeling! It explains why she is shown with at least two different ones.

Also, that bottom one is a biscuit. Bless you, Katrielle.

And there is one more very major thing that the opening revealed (and this is the biggest spoiler of the entire post). My heart leaped when I saw it.

There is man standing back to back with Professor Layton, his eyes also covered. His outfit is blue, including his blue hat.

And I’m 95.6% sure we all know who that is.