Author: Anne

No, Thank You!!!: A BL game with bears?!

While I was doing some research for my thesis (yes, really), I stumbled onto a rather interesting upcoming boys love game called No, Thank you!!!. Why is it so interesting, you ask? Behold:

Whoa, there! Who got chest hair and massive pecks in my BL game?! 

Now, please feel free to correct me if I’m wrong, but the above photo is probably the closest I’ve ever seen any from of BL media come to depicting a bear. And the man in the above image isn’t the only bear-like character in No, Thank You!!!:

These burly manly men are far from what you normally see in BL media, which generally feature lanky, often effeminate “pretty boys,” so who exactly is this game being marketed towards? Well, the official website explicitly states that it is a “boys love adventure game,” and it has been featured in a number of magazines aimed at BL game fans, so we can rule out the possibility of it being an advent-guarde bara game (bara being a term used for media with homosexual characters that is aimed at a male homosexual audience). The men above certainly look like they could’ve been pulled straight out of a bara magazine, though!

Of course, not all of the characters are bears –– the two pictured above are pretty standard BL fare, in my opinion (main protagonist is the one with the black hair), but the game’s’ premise is that all of the characters are actually semes (tops), which are generally considered to be the masculine/dominant men in a BL romantic pairing. This leaves me to wonder if the creators decided to inject a little bara into their BL game, as there are a small number of BL/yaoi fans that like bara, as well. Or, you could argue that perhaps they’re trying to hook in the regular bara-loving crowd. Either way, I love to see different types of characters portrayed in these kind of games!

A funny result of the addition of muscly men into a BL setting is that some more “traditional” fans will likely balk at the sight of body hair. No, Thank You!!! has covered its bases, offering a special “body hair on/off” button that allows players to change the on-screen hair levels instantaneously! How cool (and totally weird) is that? I guess everyone wins… except for some of the men:

source

You can probably tell what’s going on in the above mini-manga (aka 4-koma) without a translation, but in case you’re interested:
Panel one: CUT! “Okay, good job guys!”
Panel two: “Next we’ll do the without-body hair version!” “Okay!”
Panel four: “It––” “It––” “It––” “…was just a dream!”
Bottom: The body hair is up to you.

I’d be really interested hear from both bear/bara fans and BL fans about what they think abou this game! It’s scheduled for a Japanese PC release sometime this spring. If you’re interested in seeing more images/learning more about the game, head to the official site here (be warned, some content on the site is NSFW!).

Note: It’s come to my attention that my first example might be more appropriately be described as a “muscle bear.” I hope no one is offended by how I’ve used the term – I just wanted to point out that these are the most bear-like characters I’ve ever seen in a BL game, whereas bara media depicts characters that could easily be labeled as “bears” all the time.

Memos from Mamemura: Week 10

Things may have ended on a sad note last week with my favorite villager Frill moving out, but this week saw some new excitement in the form of a new villager and some multiplayer antics with a friend! And so, my Animal Crossing: New Leaf saga continues…

Whoever this new guy is, he sure has a lot of nerve to build his house so close to the station…

I’m always happy to get different species of animals in my village, so Bunjirou (aka Lobo) came as a pleasant surprise! It’s nice to see a familiar Animal Crossing villager face, too, and a cranky one at that! There’s something charming about the cranky personality. 
I finally saved up enough money to open up the dream center/massage parlor! Let’s take a look inside… 
Yumemi (which is actually the Japanese word for “to dream” or “dreaming”) the aardvark has the ability to take you to visit other people’s towns or have others come to your town through your dreams. I didn’t get around to setting up the new feature yet (lazy, I know), but look forward to next week when I’ll report back on my findings after visiting a couple of villages! The difference between this and normal online play is that you can visit anyone’s town, even if you’re not friends, as long as you have the code for their village. People are sharing codes for spiffy towns all over the internet, so I should be able to find a couple of good ones! Maybe I’ll even go to the official Nintendo town! 
Did you know that if a villager invites you over to their house and you talk to them enough times, they’ll ask if you want to buy any of their items? Well, Arthur wanted to pawn off his Chinese table on me… The very one I gave him as a present! And for 1,920 bells? That’s highway robbery!

 Low and behold, I go to the recycle shop the next day and find Arthur’s put his Chinese table up for sale! Talk about rude!

Moving on from that drama, I met up with my friend Nel and visited her town over local wireless! It was a lot of fun, and I definitely got tons of inspiration for my own town (it’s quite evident that she plays much more than I do…). The above image is one of her, er, most disconcerting rooms, as its covered in her favorite character Manbe-kun‘s likeness.

She’s got the full mermaid series… 

And the full snowman series! How adorable!

She also has a number of themed rooms, such as this Japanese one… 

 And this creepy basement room! Eek!

Sumi lives in both our towns, so I wondered what it would be like to have a conversation with another town’s Sumi… She just acted like she didn’t know me! 
Nel’s even unlocked the cafe! Here I am drinking the Penguin (her town’s name) original blend. 

I didn’t even know there was bamboo in Animal Crossing: New Leaf! Clearly I need to read more up on this game, or I’m going to miss out. I love how she fashioned this area into a little hot spring getaway. Too bad you can’t jump in the water!
Finally, we sat and watched the “end credits” together by her town’s tree… For some reason it lost all its leaves! I don’t even think I’ve played enough to see the credits in my game… It’s fun to see all the names of the villagers who’ve lived there scroll by. The music that plays is quite soothing, as well!
I must say, visiting Nel’s town has really rekindled my interest in the game… There very well may be another reason for that, but I’m going to save that for an upcoming post! Thanks for reading, and remember that you can ask any questions you may have in the comments! 

Beat the Backlog Club: The Legendary Starfy Diary 1

As I mentioned in my Beat the Backlog Club announcement post, I’m cheating a little this month since I didn’t get the ball rolling for the BBC project until mid-January. As such, I’m plaything through The Legendary Starfy, a quirky platformer for the Nintendo DS that, admittedly, I started in December. Given that I only played a level or two in 2012, I figured it would serve as a good title to ease me into the idea of playing a game a month.

The Legendary Starfy is a relatively basic platformer, albiet a little easier than the likes of Mario or Rayman, as apparently it’s intended for a slightly younger audince. In addition, much of the gameplay takes place under water, which is generally a source of much frustration in other platformers. Gameplay is relatively straightforward, however, with Starfy using his star powers to glide effortlessly through the water and companion Bunston occassionally lending costumes that serve as power-ups.

While Starfy‘s cuteness hooked me from the start, the rest of the game has been a bit of a mixed bag. I don’t play many platformers and as such don’t think I can really articulate what I think makes some better over others, but something about Starfy‘s level design leaves much to be desired. Simply playing through them becomes a bit of a chore, especially since it’s all quite easy and the game makes it extremely clear where it wants you to go and how you should go about getting there. The kind of fun and excitement I had playing through Rayman Origins is, unfortunately, not to be found here.

Almost everything can be forgiven in a game this adorable.

In addition, the music is mind-numbingly awful. You can tell the developers wanted to go the “super-cute” route here, too, but it just comes off as being too sugary-sweet and overdone. As a result, I’ve been playing the game on mute virtually the whole time.

That’s not to say Starfy is horrible and that it shouldn’t be experienced, but I don’t think its charm lies in what traditionally makes platformers fun to play. So far, my favorite aspects of Starfy have actually been in the game’s characters and dialogue! We’ll see if that’s what gets me through the game, or if the gameplay actually gets better later on…

Are you playing a game from your backlog this month? Feel free to share what title you picked and chat about your progress in the comments!

Memos from Mamemura: Weeks 5-9

If you thought I’d given up on my Animal Crossing: New Leaf town Mamemura, well, you thought wrong! I decided to take a little break from the internet over the holidays (for the most part, anyway), but that doesn’t mean I stopped playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf. Weeks 5-9 certainly saw me playing less than previous weeks, but I made sure to stop by for my birthday, Christmas, New Years, village upkeep, and occasional villager schmoozing. But some drama certainly went down while I was “away” –– in fact, I’ve had not one, but two villagers move out over the past month. I think that’s a cue that I need to play more often!

Since this post is going to be quite image-heavy, I’m going to try to keep the descriptions relatively short for the sake of brevity. And don’t worry, I’ll be going back to a weekly posting schedule starting next week! 

The first snow of the year!

One of my favorite things about Animal Crossing is watching the seasons change and enjoying all of the seasonal events. Since I can’t enjoy winter in Australia, it’s nice to be able to get a taste of it in the game!

The northern lights look surprisingly nice behind my Mermaid house!

My first snow woman of the year. I couldn’t resist getting another shot of the northern lights! The night sky always looks amazing in 3D, but it looks even better with all the colors shimmering in the sky. 
The salon (Shampoodle) finally opened! Of course, I couldn’t resist the chance to dye my character’s hair pink.

December 13th was my birthday, so I got to celebrate with my friends in Animal Crossing. Would you believe everyone who showed up at my party were villagers new to New Leaf? Chuuko the mouse held the party at her house, and Author the lion and Frill the sheep tagged along to sing and throw confetti. The above image was right before I blew out the candles, when the lights were still dimmed (yes, you have to blow into the mic to blow out the candles).

I love the feature that allows you to zoom/rotate when inside houses. I got a great shot of Chuuko there on the right! 
Playing bingo with a snowman. Look how dapper he is!

Winter Solstice festivities! As you can see, it’s only 12:44 pm, but it’s already dark. That photo would’ve been so much nicer if I had invited three people over to take it with me…

Soon…

Of course my December birthday was soon overshadowed by pre-Christmas festivities. Here I am sitting on the DLC stump Nintendo sent out for the occasion, along with various Christmas furniture (these are bought from Nook’s this time around) … and a Virtual Boy. It’s a Virtual Boy Christmas!

In Animal Crossing: New Leaf you can dress up in a Santa outfit and trick everyone into thinking you’re Santa himself, including Jingle the reindeer, come Christmas Eve. Talk to him and he’ll ask you to hand out presents to the villagers! The catch is that during the month of December the townspeople have been dropping hints as to what they want for Christmas… and you have to fulfill their wishes. I even took notes as to what everyone wanted, but I obviously wasn’t careful enough, as I delivered more than one present that was less-than-enthusiastically received. I can’t say I didn’t feel a little bummed when Doremi looked at the shirt I handed her and replied “Uh, this is okay, I guess…”
“Santa, you may have a beard, but you sure look like someone I know…”
Once you’re finished delivering the presents, you can return to Jingle to receive a Christmas wreath. Apparently he’ll mail you his photograph if you hand out the presents correctly, but, as I said, I screwed up big time with more than one of my deliveries! 
Not all’s sunshine and roses in Mamemura! Sumi (left) and Chuuko (right) got in some kind of row.
The New Year was preceded by a sad occasion… That’s right, my first villager moved out! I’ll remember you fondly, Chomoran. 
Well, not like I’m going to waste my tears on him! Time to count down to 2013! There was quite the assortment of different colored glow sticks and hats to collect. My favorite combo was the blue glow stick and the yellow hat, pictured above. 
Happy New Year!
What fun! Would you believe this was my first time ringing in the New Year with Animal Crossing? I did so as I was watching the ball drop on TV with my family, so I got my fair share of weird comments from them. 
Not long into 2013, Author invited himself over to check out my digs. He stood in this corner a good minute… Maybe he caught on to the surveillance camera I had installed?
I love how the camp site turns into an igloo when it’s snowy! I wonder who’s inside…? 
A chicken and a pot of soup! Unfortunately she (he?) didn’t decide to move to Mamemura to fill the hole that Chomoran left. 
Let’s play “Where’s Chuuko?”
To round off my month in Mamemura, I have some more sad news… 
Frill, my absolute favorite villager, is moving away! I’m shocked! I guess that’s what I get for not playing every day. I’ll miss her purple striped horns and fluffy black fur… And now I’m down two villagers! I need to step up my game in order to restore Mamemura to its former glory!
If you got this far, congratulations! Thanks for reading and I hope you’ll come back for more next week now that I’m back to my regular posting. Remember, if you have any questions about the game, feel free to shoot them my way in the comments!

Japan Envy: Funghi (Nameko) x Hello Kitty

Anyone remember the Touch Detective series for the Nintendo DS? No? Well, if you don’t, don’t feel bad, as they pretty much went unnoticed by most of the gaming populace. Funnily enough, however, the cute mushroom “mascot” of the game, Funghi, or Nameko in Japanese, has recently taken the nation by storm, and I highly doubt most of the people consuming the plethora of character merchandise actually know where it came from.

Funghi’s gotten so popular, in fact, that he’s spawned a strangely calming little mushroom cultivation app for mobile devices, as well as a match-three-esque puzzle game that you can play a sample of online here. Very soon, fans will even get to play the puzzle game on their 3DS’s! So, while Touch Detective drifts into the unknown, Funghi’s superstar status continues to propel him forward. It’s funny how some things take off unexpectedly, isn’t it?

Funny how a game based solely on the popularity of a minor
character is celebrating developer Success’ 35th anniversary

Of course, any cute character that’s anyone gets a Hello Kitty crossover at some point or another, and Funghi is no exception. Spurred on by my recent acquisition of a copy of the December 2012 issue of the Japanese version of Seventeen magazine, I thought I’d share some of the weirdly adorable Hello Kitty designs featured in its pages. I think it’s pretty obvious by the two page spread and the fact that the free pouch that came with the issue is plastered with Hello Kitty x Funghi that the collaboration has proben to be quite popular with the young female crowd!

Even the bag the freebie comes in is cute! I wonder what the significance of apples is, though… (you’ll see more of them later)

Side A of freebie pouch

I always found it a little creepy that the sound Funghi makes is “nnf nnf”…

Side B of freebie pouch

Closeup of the decal on the front. Apparently this marks the first time Hello Kitty has appeared without any clothes on. And what on earth is that thing in the middle?

Two page spread featuring Funghi x Hello Kitty merchandise. Be sure to click on the image to see a larger version!

My favorite thing about the Funghi phenomenon is all the different Funghi varieties there are! I especially like the fuzzy purple Funghi-wearing Hello Kitty shown above.

I should probably actually read the descriptions surrounding all of these illustrations, because I have absolutely no idea what apples and pharaohs have to do with Funghi. Either way, it’s pretty cute!

Finally, here’s but a small sample of the Funghi x Hello Kitty merchandise available in Japan.

Food for thought/Additional information: 

  • Success, the developers of Touch Detective and Touch Detective 2 1/2, did Zoo Keeper and Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja for the DS! 
  • Not only can you buy Touch Detective and Touch Detective 2 1/2 in English on iOS devices, but Mushroom Garden/Funghi Gardening Kit and Mushroom Garden: European Winter are available for both iOS and Android devices for free! Go check them out! They’ve taken Japan by storm, and I, too, have been sucked in by the charm of Mushroom Garden: European Winter (I think it has something to do with the snow)
  • The Funghi mobile games are done by a company called Beeworks Games, who also happen to have a Facebook page where they post far too many cute Funghi pictures
  • Alternatively, you could go to the main Funghi website (Japanese only) if you wish to truly understand the reach this weird little mushroom character has

Introducing the 2013 Beat the Backlog Club

Confession: I buy a lot of games. Okay, you all probably knew that already, but it’s time for me to own up to my massive, unwieldily backlog. Well, that day – I mean, year – has finally come, and I’m going to invite all of you to join in my pain plan! The task, should you choose to accept it? Play (and beat, if possible) one game from your backlog every month for the entirety of 2013.

Year of the snake, year of the backlog! (source)
I figure the only way I’ll ever really make a dent in my overflowing collection of games is to buckle down and force myself to play things, so that’s going to be the ongoing theme of 2013. “2013: Year of the Backlog” has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Of course, you don’t have to literally join me, you could do so in spirit or just follow along as I chronicle my journey and laugh as I try to cram a 20+ hour game into the last weekend of every month (I’m going to pray, for my sanity, that it doesn’t come to this). But, if you’re a fellow game hoarder and have a looming backlog you’d like to conquer, by all means, make it your goal to play at least one of them! The more the merrier! It is a club, after all. (Speaking of which, my friend and fellow blogger The Gay Gamer unwittingly pledged his membership with his recent “Bye-bye backlog” post, so we’re already at a whopping two members) 
There will be just a few (loose) rules: 
1) Each month you must start a new game
2) The game must be one you already own
3) Play as much of the game as you want during the month, but try to push yourself to beat it! 
4) Share your attempts to clear your backlog with others! This can be on social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook), your own personal blog, or in the comments here! 
That’s it! Easy, eh? I really want this challenge to be a fun way for everyone to knock a few games off our backlogs without feeling pressured to reach any certain goals. I plan on writing weekly update posts to keep myself honest about my progress, so I encourage anyone who’s interested in giving the Beat the Backlog Club (or BBC, for short!) a go to comment with your own progress when those posts go live. 
And if you think 12 months sounds a little too overwhelming, why not just start with one and see how it goes? The most important thing is to have fun – I know I won’t be losing (too much) sleep over it if don’t make my monthly goal.

Just a small sample of games I own but haven’t played.
Most of the Wii games were acquired during my trip to the US. 
But a backlog-beating plan isn’t anything without a list of potential game candidates, right? Luckily, I’ve come prepared! Here’s just a sample of some of the games I’m thinking of tackling over the course of the year: Harvest Moon: A New Beginning 3D, Sin & Punishment: Star Successor, Rune Factory Frontier, Ghost Trick, Nier, The Last Story, Muramasa: Demon Blade, Gravity Rush, Fossil Fighters, Atelier Annie, Sakura Wars: So Long, My Love, and The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. 
You know what? That looks downright daunting. Some of these games may just be too long to even attempt to complete in a month, so this list is definitely not set in stone. If anyone has any suggestions as to which of these might be most doable in month (I’m thinking ~20 hours long), please let me know in the comments! 
But since it’s already mid-January, I’ve already gotten started on this month’s backlog pick: The Legendary Starfy! Okay, I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking you heard me talk about attempting to beat Starfy before, right? Well I did, and just recently, at that! Unfortunately I found myself overwhelmed by other things over the holiday break and didn’t even really attempt to play it or Ghost Trick and Atelier Annie as was originally planned, hence why they’re now on this list. I hope I have enough motivation to make it through them during this challenge! 
So, who’s with me? I know it’s a little late in January already to start playing a game, so if you’re interested in joining in, how about choosing a game you played for a while but never got around to beating? Look forward to an update from me next Monday, and happy gaming!
“Play those games! That’s an order!” 

2012 Year in Review: My 5 Favorite Games

I’ve never been that fond of Game of the Year lists; I find that the vast majority of gamers and gaming outlets tend to focus on the same popular titles that, in all honesty, I have absolutely no interest in. On the other hand, some people out there do have good taste, as is evident by Journey receiving a slew of GotY praise, so not all hope is lost… and I can definitely understand the appeal of rounding up one’s favorite games from any given year for the sake of comparison, so to that end I’ll be joining the bandwagon (albiet rather late) by naming my five favorite games of 2012. But don’t expect any Walking Dead or Mass Effect 3… This is Chic Pixel, after all!

A quick caveat before I continue: This list, of course, only contains games I’ve actually played. There are probably many more titles I’d probably consider including if I’d had the opportunity to play them over the course of the year! 

Also, I have to give props to Tiny Cartridge for inspiring me to add silly gifs (when available) for my picks. I take no credit for the idea! 

Pandora’s Tower
I really hesitated putting this on my list since it only came out in Japan and PAL territories, but it was by far one of my favorite games of the year, so I’ll make an exception. The story, which really only focuses on three characters and centers around the relationship between the protagonist Aeron and his cursed love interest Elena, is a breath of fresh air from epic RPGs spanning continents and have dozens of people to keep track of. Gameplay, while occasionally hair-pullingly frustrating (particularly the boss battles), makes great use of the Wii’s motion controls for Aeron’s chain-whip weapon, which is both used to fight enemies and traverse through the environments. Add in the fact that there are even some mild dating sim elements that had me raising Aeron and Elena’s affection levels in order to unlock a variety of endings, and I can confidently say that Pandora’s Tower will go down as one of my favorite action-RPGs of this generation.

This gif never gets old (source)

Style Savvy: Trendsetters
Oh, Style Savvy: Trendsetters. I may have only started playing this game mid-December, but it quickly rose to the top of the 2012 release pile. Who ever thought a fashion game could be so fun? Style Savvy: Trendsetters is a beautifully polished game with a wide range of customization options that will delight any aspiring fashionista or fashion-conscious nerd (that would be me), but it also injects a healthy amount of shop management into the mix to keep prolonged gameplay compelling. Not only that, but the localization is surprisingly good, and I found myself laughing out loud on more than one occasion! Style Savvy: Trendsetters may not be an epic RPG or artsy social commentary, but it’s chock full of content and by far one of the most fun games I played all year. Really, what’s more satisfying than convincing a customer to buy a horribly ugly outfit that just about breaks their budget? (What? That’s how it’s meant to be played, right?)

Journey
When I first played Journey for review earlier this year, I started out very skeptical. Early reviews applauded it as this mind-blowing experience, but when I got to the part about it being only two hours long, I just couldn’t believe it. How could a two-hour game change anyone’s life? Well, after giving the game a go, I can definitively say it has not changed my life in any way, but it has definitely opened my eyes to the impact a succinct, purpose-driven experience can be. Countless articles have been written about Journey already, so I don’t feel the need to ramble on about this particular pick, but suffice it to say I’ve played through the game three times, got my white cloak and first platinum trophy (okay, it’s not that hard), and cried every single time I’ve reached the summit of the mountain with a companion. Sure, I may be an over-emotional sap at heart, but I think the fact that Journey remains such a compelling, thought-provoking experience even after multiple playthroughs truly speaks to the beauty of the game.

No spoilers here, I just couldn’t resist using this gif

Zero Escape: Virtue’s Last Reward
I was late to the game when it came to 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, but when I finally played it, it immediately became one of my favorite DS titles. The gripping storyline and intriguing characters kept me right on the edge of my seat all the way to the end, so when I heard there was going to be a sequel, I couldn’t be more excited. Though sequels don’t always improve on the established formula, Virtue’s Last Reward fixes all of the issues I had with the first game while maintaining the same suspenseful story and interesting dialogue that made 999 such a joy to play –– in fact, I may even like Virtue’s Last Reward‘s story more than 999‘s! I certainly wouldn’t complain if we saw more entries in the series (I believe they’re already working on a 3rd game), as I’m confident Chunsoft will be able to up the ante even further in future installments.

Tokyo Jungle 
Tokyo Jungle is, by far, the strangest game I played all year. If you’d told me two years ago that I’d be playing a game in 2012 that involved all manner of animal from Pomeranian to dinosaur running around the streets of a post-apocalyptic Tokyo killing and being killed, I would’ve called you crazy, but I’m happy to say that’s exactly what Tokyo Jungle delivers. It’s certainly not the most polished game on this list, but it wins major points for originality and downright awesomeness of concept, as well as being the most engaging multiplayer game I played in 2012. There’re few things more fun than taking down horses with cats and trying to outrun lions with a troop of beagles, and while the survival mode and its roguelike elements may have gotten slightly repetitive had I played it alone, being able to team up with my husband was an absolute blast. The fact that games like this are still being made gives me hope that there will always be a place for weird and whacky titles alongside the Call of Dutys and Halos of the world.

And with that, I can say I’ve officially brought 2012 to an end! Though I can’t speak for the more “mainstream” crowd, fans of the niche and odd really had a great selection of titles over the course of the year. Of course, if my “12 Games I Still Need to Play from 2012” list is any indication, there’s still a lot left for me to play! Thanks for sticking with me and putting up with my weirdness over the course of the year, and here’s to a grand new year filled with blogging, video games, and manga! (hopefully a little more manga)

Feel free to weigh in on what you think of my picks from 2012, but keep in mind that I am Very Serious about this topic and will not accept any opinions that are different from my own! Just kidding.