This last weekend we attended ConnectiCon, a con I've personally been attending since '06, and on J has been attending for a couple more years. Since '06, I think I've managed to miss only 1 CTCon, even years we couldn't attend the full weekend, we usually would hit it up for at least one of the days to scope out the dealers room and whatever events we could cram into the day.
This year we did the "Do we go at all? For a day? Two days? For the full three?" dance that happens almost every year and decided at the last minute to go for the full weekend and stay with some friends who's roommates dropped out, and I definitely don't regret the decision.
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Tanto Cuore, or Maid Dominion
Hello friends! Today I'm going to talk about a game you are maybe familiar with called Tanto Cuore. More specifically, I'll be talking about the first expansion, Expanding the House, which can be played either together with the original or as a stand-alone game (I've played it alone and with the second expansion, I haven't played it together with the base set yet, I only recently got my hands on the original set). So let me get on with my explanation!
Saturday, June 1, 2013
Hatoful Boyfriend: Sexy and Luxurious Part 2
A little over a month ago I managed to get myself wrapped up in
the infamous pigeon dating sim, Hatoful Boyfriend. Despite my absence in blogging about it, that doesn't mean I had stopped playing it! Just like I said I would, I got right back into that game and went after the remaining 4 pigeons, and wrapped up any loose endings I didn't get before, including the bad endings. I haven't had much chance to play it since I completed the "normal" endings, as I have been in complete rush mode in preparation for Anime Boston and simply didn't have the spare hours to devote to exploring the legendary BBL mode, but Anime Boston is over (sadly!) so there will be a third post about Hatoful Boyfriend in the future.
In interest of doing something a little bit different from last time, and largely because my screen shots are all on the computer that I installed the game on which is currently buried under a pile of clothes and craft supplies that ended up there in the aforementioned Anime Boston rush-mode, instead of a play-by-play of each pigeon I dated in my second round of play, how about a nice Feels Chart™.
In interest of doing something a little bit different from last time, and largely because my screen shots are all on the computer that I installed the game on which is currently buried under a pile of clothes and craft supplies that ended up there in the aforementioned Anime Boston rush-mode, instead of a play-by-play of each pigeon I dated in my second round of play, how about a nice Feels Chart™.
Thursday, April 25, 2013
Hatoful Boyfriend: Pigeon Dating Sim
Which one's the bird of your dream? |
First, let's set something clear! When you search around for places talking about it you get a lot of places featuring it because it's so weird (and don't get me wrong, it is totally weird) and it's usually followed by "WTF Japan?", but let's get serious for a second here in this conversation about pigeon dating, this isn't some sort of weird perverse game that was created to target some very specific fetish or something like that, it's a game that started as an April Fools joke a couple years ago that took on a life of it's own. It's not so much a dating sim as it is a parody of one that ends up very entertaining and even touching. There's no pixelated bird parts, and despite playing through 4 different routes, the closest I got to a pigeon falling in love with me was (Highlight the black bar for the spoiler) helping one realize his true form of Lord Pudi. This isn't some rule 34 game, made only to fill some completely weird niche you never wanted to know existed, it's a surreal parody that ends up being more than just an extended gag.
Cave sweet cave! |
For those who need to be eased into the idea of a pigeon dating sim, there's actually an option at the beginning of the game to enable gijinka portraits for each of the characters (except Okosan, who is based on the creator's own pigeon, in his case you just get a cartoon version of a pigeon in a suit), so you can sort of imagine them as anime boys throughout the game. But don't think this is some way to totally avoid the fact you're trying to date pigeons and make the game something that it's not (you know, a human dating game), because these portraits only pop up the very first time you meet a datable character, and the game repeatedly reminds you that you are, in fact, at a school for actual pigeons.
Sunday, April 7, 2013
Negima Sudden Death
Negima Vol. 1. When I bought this I was 16. |
The first manga I ever read was Love Hina. I started reading it somewhere around when they released volume 4 of it stateside (It was published by the fledgeling Tokyopop, starting in May of 2002, take note that means I wasn't quite 15 yet). This series was my introduction to manga, and my beat-to-hell copies of it still have a very special place in my heart. This was sort of my introduction to a lot of things, not the least of which was agonizing while I waited for the next volume of the manga to be published (in hindsight, they put out new volumes of Love Hina pretty fast compared to the pace Del Rey kept with Negima) When Love Hina finished, despite it only being a journey of less than two years, I felt... well like a space had been hollowed out of my chest. I should also say though that I thought the ending to Love Hina was great, and I was crushed by my feels. It was a glorious end to something that, to my still green 15 year old otaku mind was profoundly amazing.
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
An Otaku's Daytrip to New York City
Our first stop was Nintendo World, which Google Maps misleadingly told us it was in Rockefeller Plaza. This isn't exactly untrue, but Rockefeller Plaza is sort of a big place and the entrance to Nintendo World is actually a street over on 48th street. Our trip to Nintendo World was supposed to be a sort of "Well, we're going to be here anyways" sort of thing, but after the 40 minutes or so of walking in circles we were kind of invested in the idea of going there. Unfortunately for us, Ninetendo World is sort of a flashy tourist location that's really only fun to go to so you can say you went. With the exception of maybe a few specific Pokemon plushies that might be hard to find, there's almost nothing you can buy at Nintendo World that you can't buy at a trip to almost any mall, or even Walmart. It is Nintendo after all.
The one really cool thing about Nintendo World is the mini-museum on the 2nd floor that showcases some really interesting pieces of Nintendo History, including some really neat retro systems and games. My favorite part was what looked like the "display case of shame" that featured a virtual boy and some merch from the Super Mario Bros. movie.
Nintendo World isn't really a place you should just not go to if you're making a day trip to NYC and want to hit up some neat places, but it's really no reason to make any sort of special trip. In retrospect, we sort of regretted not just going to the Lego Store a few streets over instead.
Labels:
Anime,
board games,
caro,
comics,
manga,
NYC,
otaku life,
shopping,
travel
Monday, April 1, 2013
Ghost Stories
Aww just look at those adorable little racists. |
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