Today’s quite a day for people who love Assassin’s Creed; artist @glambertiluvu is endowing us with an awfully cute chibi-Naoe picture to get any fan going “awwww.” That small, big-eyed replica of the hero from the Assassin’s Creed Shadows game looks ready to jump out at you, blade hanging oversized from her arm, and a whole bunch of larger-than-life personality behind it.
And, like, this artwork on Twitter-not even a word before about Naoe in full ninja getup although mostly minus that cute chibi treatment-you know: boys and girls with ginormous heads, disproportionate bodies, and eyes that seem to swallow half their face. The whole composition is exuding this vibe of “I could crush you but rather hug you.” And honestly? We’re all in for it.
It’s so funny that the tweet is just hours old yet there’s already crazy engagement. Like, where are the replies? Did everyone just sit and stare blankly at the screen admiring the tweet? Sometimes, art stabs so deeply that it is almost suffocating- and this maybe just could be one.
Usually, you can expect something like “SO CUTE” or “TAKE MY MONEY” in the comment section, but none of that. Just retweets and likes building like autumn leaves.
This masterstroke was done by @glambertiluvu, popularly known for her rich imagination and very colorful anime-inspired artwork, almost chibifying even those gaming icons.
Apart from Final Fantasy, Genshin Impact, hers is very much an imagined Pinterest board of gamers. But this Naoe piece? Perfectly catapults the chef’s hat. It takes her stealthy essence while making you wanna pinch those cartoonish cheeks.
A few things: Naoe would be one of the two protagonists in Assassin’s Creed Shadows (formerly AC Red) that you can actually play. She’s the shinobi that’s all about doing things in feudal Japan while Yasuke is pretty much your muscle. Unfortunately, the game comes out only in November, but when the fans are treated to fan art like this, that’s the only way to hype things up in the cutest way possible.
If any, chibi art breaks the archetype of typical AC mash-up by depicting hoods that bounced in stealth and shadows. As in, what would Ezio Auditore look like air-assassassinating a guard with half-bubba proportions?
The franchise grit against this type of squishy art created quite a nice cognitive dissonance. The same reason went for Solaire, because he would’ve owned it in any happy-go-lucky situation within a Dark Souls meme with the text “\\[T]/.”
Nothing on whether @glambertiluvu has intentions of dropping more AC chibis (Yasuke when?), but considering how this one popped off, bet your bottom dollar there will be a horde of fans clamoring for an entire feudal Japan squad. Or even a keychain or sticker set? Ubisoft merch team, take some notes-we’d swipe our credit cards faster than a hidden blade deployment.
At this point, though, it’s just this piece reminding you that, even in a franchise about stabbing templars in the neck, there is always space for some wholesome heart-melting creativity. Now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll stare at this picture for about three hours pretending that we don’t have a backlog of actual AC games to finish. Priorities, people.
