September is Ultra Despair Month!

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At the end of every month, I suddenly realize a whole month has already gone by and it’s time to announce the next Community Game-Along theme. I then proceed to scramble to the complete 2015 theme list I wrote many moons ago to refresh my memory and write up a post like this one. This month, however, when I turned to my handy list, I was shocked and awed to discover that I had some kind of telepathic foresight to deem September Spike Chunsoft month! Why, the heavily anticipated Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls comes out in September! Talk about awesome timing. Let that be a lesson to you all that sometimes things just happen out of sheer dumb luck, but there’s nothing stopping you from basking in the glory of a job well done anyway.

Sunday Spotlight: Final Fantasy Recipes

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Happy Sunday, and thanks for checking out my newest column, Sunday Spotlight! I’ll be using this space to highlight other bloggers, creatives, and otherwise cool people that I think you should know about. If you’re a fan of the kinds of things you see on Chic Pixel, you’re definitely going to want to check out the folks I’ll be showcasing here!

This week, I want to tell you about Final Fantasy Recipes, an awesome Final Fantasy food blog that isn’t quite what you’d expect. Instead of modeling food after the characters and icons from the Final Fantasy series, this blog instead seeks to create recipes that might reflect what the inhabitants of those worlds actually eat! As the Final Fantasy Recipes about page states, it attempts to serve as a bit of an anthropological survey of the Final Fantasy games. How cool is that?!

From the Festival of the Hunt Stew to the Narshe Spiced Wine, each recipe comes with an image and quote from the game that inspired it. I haven’t had a chance to try one of the recipes out for myself yet, but I am really impressed by this different take on game-inspired cuisine. I’ve got my eye on the Zozo Pub Soup – it looks relatively easy to make, but still sounds quite delicious!

Let me know if you end up trying any of Final Fantasy Recipes‘ recipes! Are there any other game-inspired food that have made their way on to your dinner table?

Chic Pixel’s Ultimate Otaku Shopping Guide

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It’s hard to be an anime, manga, or video game fan and not live in Japan. While our friends in the land of the rising sun have access to all of the latest merchandise, exclusive collaborations, and tie-in events, we’re left high and dry, with only an internet connection and a credit card serving as a gateway to the nerdy items we crave.

Admittedly, things have come a long way since I was a young Japan nerd! Now there are tons of online retailers that ship Japanese anime, manga, video games, figures, and virtually anything else otaku-related all around the globe. In fact, there’s almost too much choice! When you’re after a specific item, how do you know where to turn?

Introducing Kyoukai no Shirayuki, Gatchaman Crowds Artist Kinako’s First Otome Game

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Among the many announcements at Otomate Party 2015 this past weekend, Kyoukai no Shirayuki (officially subtitled as Nämlich Shirayuki), an otome game coming to the PS Vita in 2016, may very well be the most exciting. Well, if you’re as big a fan of Kinako, an artist best known for her work on Gatchaman Crowds, as I am, that is! It’s the first otome game with Kinako providing her illustration prowess and is partially based off of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. So far, it looks simply gorgeous. Check out the teaser trailer below and read on for a full translation and rundown of the characters!

15 Niche Journalism Worksheets Review

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Lauren Orsini of Otaku Journalist knows a thing or two about niche blogging and journalism. Not only does she run a successful blog of her own, but her work has been featured on sites such as CNN, Kotaku, and she’s published two books with tips on how to get into niche journalism. Now, her latest publication, 15 Worksheets to Plan, Build, and Bolster Your Niche Journalism Career in 15 Minutes or Less, offers concrete templates for beefing up your resume and taking your own brand of niche journalism to the next level.

The Odin Sphere: Leifdrasir Famitsu DX Limited Edition is Utterly Amazing

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Odin Sphere is one of those games that, while I think extremely highly of it, I’ve never actually finished it. Unlike my usual excuse of “well, I just got sidetracked…,” I can actually pinpoint the terrible slowdown the original PlayStation 2 version of the game experienced as the reason for my inability to complete the game. As you can imagine, I was thrilled when the HD remaster Odin Sphere: Leifdrasir was announced for a January 2016 release on PS3, PS4, and PS Vita in Japan. Not only will the game look gorgeous, but the new version should totally fix the slowdown problems of the original!

Though preorders for the Japanese version have been up since shortly after the announcement last month, the official website has only just unveiled the store-exclusive preorder bonuses for the game. Now, normally I am not a fan of these kinds of deals, but for my beloved Odin Sphere, I’ll make an exception. I may even make an exception and preorder my first Famitsu DX limited edition… I mean, just look at some of the amazing stuff you get:

Coasters?! A a Kitchen Pooka mug?! Not only that, but the extra special limited edition, exclusive to the Japanese store Ebten, will also include an A2 size tapestry, a desktop calendar, and a 3D LED crystal featuring the adorable Alice and Socrates (preview images not yet available). All preorders of the game also come with a special art book, and the Famitsu DX limited edition is no exception.

The Odin Sphere: Leifdrasir Famitsu DX limited edition will set you back ¥14,615 regardless of system for everything, or ¥11,534 for everything but the 3D crystal. I… may have already ordered the crystal-less PS Vita version. The game itself is retailing at¥7,980, clocking in the cost to get the additional tapestry, calendar, coasters, and mug at ¥3,554. That’s not so bad for all those neat goodies, in my opinion!

If you’re desperate to get your hands on this limited edition, keep in mind that the game has already been announced for an English release sometime in the future. However, I’d say it’s highly unlikely that items such as the mug, coasters, or 3D crystal will be made available elsewhere. If you’re ready to spring for this amazing set like me, you can either the preorder version with the crystal or without the crystal using a forwarding service such as Tenso to order from Ebten. I have a guide that walks you through the whole process. Happy shopping!

Japan Envy: Pikachu Nebukuro Collection

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Banpresto has just announced their latest Pokémon Ichiban Kuji, and if you can’t tell already, this one’s a real doozy. The series is titled Pikachu Nebukuro (sleeping bag) Collection, and features pikachus in a variety of Pokémon-inspired sleeping bags. As if it weren’t cute enough, the website even opens with an adorable short story that shows how the pikachus ended up with such an adorable sleeping arrangement! Read More