Welcome back to another installment in my never-ending Animal Crossing: New Leaf adventures! This week started with an unexpected surprise…

An Animal Crossing: New Leaf StreetPass, in the wilds of Brisbane?! I couldn’t believe my eyes! To be more exact, I brought my 3DS in to the University of Queensland with me one day and I picked this up somewhere along the way. Who could it be?

It’s Tirana of Elf Village! Considering I don’t live in Japan, I think it’s pretty amazing to have even gotten an Animal Crossing: New Leaf StreetPass in the first place. Given her name, I assume she’s a westerner who imported the game, rather than a Japanese resident visiting/studying in Australia. The above player card tells me she just started playing on February 25th and… has the same birthday as me?! That’s one uncanny coincidence!

Let’s take a look at her house:

Since she just started playing a couple weeks prior, it makes sense that she’s only done one house renovation and is pretty sparse with her furniture. I’ll admit, I’m a little embarrassed at the state my own abode is currently in… (I pretty much use it as a dump – one day I’ll decorate with a cohesive theme in mind!)

Just like last week, I had another entirely new interaction with one of my villagers. This week, Layla asked me to to sell her one of my shirts, but I actually had the option to give it to her for free! And give it to her for free I did. She was quite happy, even going so far as to call me a “saint”!

That’s one happy penguin!

The White Rabbit outfit I picked up in the Alice in Wonderland-themed village I visited last week was a hit with the townsfolk. According to Doremi, there’re rumors going around that I’m quite the fashionista!

Sometimes I can’t help but laugh at the goofy situations that play out. Here I just dug up a fossil, but Marilyn got her big noggin in the way of me showing it off.

I love this screenshot – Doremi’s got an the audience waiting for her to spill the beans!

This isn’t the first time I’ve walked in on two villagers hanging out, but upon talking to Rocky, I learned something very interesting about his relationship with Bunjirou…

Translation: “Sexy girl! Bunjirou’s visiting… (And just when we were finally alone…)”)

Cute flag! Also, what an odd town hall design… 

 

I grabbed the pattern for this one on my way out! It’s too cute!

  

This Exeggutor looks right at home in a lemon grove! For some reason I really like how the lemons mirror their big yellow faces.

A sleeping Pokémon blocks your path! What a great touch.

 

And finally, the iconic bicycle shop! 

That’s it for this week, but stay tuned for future updates! As always, I’m always open to answering any questions you may have about the game, so ask away in the comments. 

 

Fishing and bug catching remain some of the best ways to make bells!

One of the things that continues to amaze me about Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the sheer amount of content – and not just in the number of ways you can customize your town or number of items you can collect. The villagers have a huge range of conversation topics, and I’m still finding myself surprised by new in-game events. This time, Bunjirou (Lobo) asked me if I’d accompany him to Layla’s house. What could that be about?

Follow the leader!

Apparently Layla invited Bunjirou over but he didn’t want to go by himself! It turns out he left his wallpaper at her place (I imagine that would be a rather difficult thing to do…). I’m not sure if this is a new feature to Animal Crossing: New Leaf or not, but I’ve never had a villager ask me to come with them to another villager’s house for an errand before.

March 3rd was a Japanese holiday known as Hina Matsuri, or “Girls’ Day.” Shizue greeted me decked out in the adorable kimono pictured above in honor of the event.

As with all “minor” holidays, there was a themed board to take photos with, but I couldn’t really get a good shot because a. I didn’t have a partner (preferably male, as it’s traditional to have one man and one woman in these arrangements) and b. I still hadn’t realized that you can press the A button to take a proper photo with these things! I can’t believe I’ve been playing for months but I still hadn’t realized that! Here’s what it looks like when you take a picture after pressing A at one of these signs:

Ah, so much better! I’m pretty embarrassed that I only just figured this out, but I’m happy that I did.

I was surprised to receive a mannequin from Asami (Sable) one day after I stopped by for a chat. I’ll have to set it up in my house one of these days…

But by far the biggest event of the past two weeks was my recent trip to an amazing Alice in Wonderland-themed village! I have a ton of screenshots, so I’ll try to keep the descriptions to a minimum, but be sure to keep an eye out for all the amazing little details the creator put into making it:

Dream Code 3300-0238-8542 for those who have the Japanese game and want to visit!

All of the items I’m seen wearing in the above screenshot were picked up in the town, but since I went there in a dream I wasn’t able to take any of them back. My Designs can be saved and brought back with you, thought, so I made sure to grab the cute White Rabbit-inspired coat I’m wearing.

After 100 people visit your town, you can upgrade your train station! I don’t know if I’ll ever unlock that feature in my own town, though…

Eek! Creepy stuff! Not sure what this has to do with Alice in Wonderland, but it’s great. The little wolf head in the bottom left corner is actually the resident of the house.

Boil, boil, toil and trouble!

… and a graveyard in the basement, with dog house and all!

Blushing bride!

This mad tea party room was by far my favorite. Everything works so well together! I’m constantly impressed by the creativity exhibited by other Animal Crossing: New Leaf players.

Oh, and last but not least… Guess who I saw?

Mr. Resetti didn’t stop by to yell at me for not saving my game, but to thank me for building him a Reset Center. He certainly wasn’t his normal angry self! (I actually hadn’t had an encounter with Resetti in Animal Crossing: New Leaf prior to this)

Well, that’s all for this installment! As always, feel free to ask any questions about the game in the comments, and look forward for an update within a fortnight!

What’s this?! Why, it’s the triumphant return of Memos from Mamemura! Instead of giving some sob story explanation as to why I haven’t been updating weekly (though I will point out that I’ve done more than one Animal Crossing: New Leaf-related post in the interim), I’m just going to quietly resolve to do better in the future and move on to what you’re all here for: the pictures!

Week 11 started with a bang on the 3rd of February with a uniquely Japanese holiday, Setsubun. Setsubun marks the change of seasons from winter to spring, and it’s said that evil spirits come out during this period, much like Halloween. It’s traditional for a member of the family to dress up like a demon (oni) and for everyone else to throw beans at them to ward off evil, shouting the phrase, “Demons out, luck in!”

If you’re interested in learning more about Setsubun traditions, I urge you to check out the link above (it has some lovely photos, including different oni masks!). As for how this relates to Animal Crossing:  New Leaf, players have the opportunity to choose either a blue or red oni mask and have beans thrown at them by the townspeople. You can also buy a box of beans to throw at unsuspecting friends who come to visit!

It was a lot of fun running around and capturing each villager throwing their beans at me. Chuuko had particularly cute dialogue; you can see the little yellow beans scattered about in the screenshot above.

Soon after, the adorable Maiko-chan appeared in my village for the first time. What a cutie! I was able to send her on her way to another village, and to show her thanks she sent me her picture in the mail the next day.

I finally got my act together and erected this lovely “Yaranai ka?” sign (pun intended)! For some reason I get a big kick out of my townspeople gathering together to celebrate such a silly thing. I have a bit of a Kuso Miso Technique theme going on, actually, as I’ve also taught Shimoyake to say “kuso miso” as his catchphrase…

I also went on my first dream visit to a stranger’s town – the gal who’s in charge of the gorgeous room pictured above was actually featured in the post I did on my designs earlier in the month. Her work (including the lace pattern shown) is amazing!

And lookie here, another new villager moved into Mamemura! Layla the penguin actually came from a friend’s town.

Even more interesting than the fact that villagers can move out of your friend’s towns and into your own is the fact that they actually remember the melody from the town they previously lived in! Here Layla put on a little performance and sang Fuukou Village’s melody for me.

Would you believe this was my first time participating in the monthly fishing tournament? I only got 3rd place, but I’ll take what I can get! (I’m usually too busy on Saturdays to take part)

Oh, what’s all this?!

Why, it’s Carnivale (known as Festivale in North America)! What a fun and colorful holiday! The main goal of the day was to collect different colored feathers for the fabulously-clothed peacock shown above in order to get the special furniture series only available during the festival.

Let me tell you, collecting feathers is hard work… Pavé asked for pink, and after searching at least 30 minutes without finding a single pink feather, I finally gave up. Luckily I was still able to score a couple pieces of this furniture series along with a rare rainbow feather (shown above).

The best part of Carnivale was seeing all of the villagers dressed up in their colorful garb, dancing and singing the town tune. Lookin’ sharp, Doremi!

I guess Carnivale got everyone in high spirits! The above screenshot was taken a few days later – it’s the first time I’ve seen two villagers so cheerful together.

These past couple of weeks saw a lot of firsts, including the first time I managed to catch K.K Slider (Totakeke) off DJ duty. During these times, it’s possible to get a piece of music from K.K and request songs. Here’s a picture of the single I got:

It’s really catchy! Love the album art.

It’s always fun to see all the different ways the villagers interact with the player, as well as one another. I gotta say, it was a little unnerving to walk into Layla’s house to the sight of her and Doremi staring right at me… Perhaps I caught them at a bad time? (Oh, and check out the album directly below Doremi!)

I’ve made a lot of progress on the museum! Here’s a picture of a finished T-Rex.

Prepare for trouble?!

And as you can see, I’ve been having a lot of fun downloading my design costumes for my character to wear. In fact, the café outfit with the pink checked skirt that you see in most of the screenshots, along with the “museum curator” outfit and Team Rocket costume above are all my design items made by various creators.

Tune in next week for the first days of spring in Mamemura and a few dream world town visits!

Update: I just realized I don’t have any Valentine’s Day pictures! Unfortunately the holiday isn’t really celebrated in Animal Crossing, so all I got were some chocolates from Shizue-san and a few villagers I’m close to. Sorry about that!

I’ve been hinting in my recent Animal Crossing: New Leaf posts that a number of factors brought me “back” to the game after a bit of a hiatus over the winter holidays, but I’ve been keeping one very important influence tightly under wraps. In the interest of not spamming everyone with too many Animal Crossing: New Leaf posts all at once, I decided to hold back on revealing my wild card, but with the wonderful news that the game will be hitting North America on June 9th, I thought it high time I share what’s got me so excited!

What’s that you’ve got there, Goldie? Hold on…

It’s an Animal Crossing: New Leaf guide book! Would you believe my friend Nel gave me one of hers What a wonderful present! I can honestly say it’s one of the most adorable books I own, and now I don’t have any excuse not to do research on in-game items or how to build snowmen properly.

Would you believe me if I told you that it’s literally bible-sized? (not that I’ve held many bibles…) Well, take a look at how it stacks up to my other Japanese game guide books:

There you have it – it’s larger than the Final Fantasy 20th Anniversary Ultimania File 3: Battle and totally dwarfs the Harvest Moon: Friends of Mineral Town guide!

Though there are a number of Animal Crossing: New Leaf guide books on the market, this one is well-known for its intuitive cataloging system. For one, it displays all of the villagers by species on the first pages:

Ack! Why are they all so cute?!

It also has a great section where it tells you all about what you can do over the course of a year, month by month! Holidays, fishing, bug catching… they all have their own specific sections, but I love how I can turn to the current month and quickly see what’s in store for me:

Each individual section is neatly – and adorably, I might add – organized. Here’s just one example from the first page of the segment on Brewster’s Café:

Oh, and the book also comes with special exclusive QR codes! My favorites are the Shizue outfit and the various Nintendo-related designs:

The book even has a section on holidays that it claims will be exclusive to other regions! It specifically says players may need to trade with people from other regions, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that that’ll be possible come June 9th (I want you all to come visit my town!).

More items from international holidays:

The guide book also comes with a mini book that you can carry around for added convenience  It’s much smaller and just lists all of the furniture, bugs, fish, fossils, etc. in the game. Check out this adorable cover:

And here’s a sample page. So many items!

And last but not least… swimsuits!

That red and white striped one will be mine someday…

And there you have it! I couldn’t be happier with this book, and it never even crossed my mind to purchase one for myself. Many thanks again to Nel for the wonderful present, and if anyone wants additional photos or has any questions, feel free to ask!

I mentioned in my last Memos from Mamemura post that I’d rekindled my love for Animal Crossing: New Leaf after a bit of a slump over the holidays, and let me tell you, I am 100% back down the rabbit hole. What could be responsible? Well, for one, I’ve discovered the realm of “My Design” blogs!

An old-school Dragon Quest-themed town!?

They even have tiles for towns and castles! (source)

My Design, of course, refers to the ability to make custom patterns for everything from shirts to sign posts in Animal Crossing: New Leaf and share them via QR codes. There are literally hundreds of talented people all over the internet creating all manner of amazing and adorable things! It’s hard not to be impressed by the sheer talent these people possess. Here are a few of my favorites so far:

Adorable, and very pink! (source)

Look at the detail they’ve put into the scarf and camera! (source)

This is just perfect for Valentine’s Day (source)

So many gorgeous dress designs! (source)

The creator of this one did both the lace pattern and dress! (source)

These Ghibli-inspired designs go wonderfully with the mushroom furniture (source)

There really are so many amazing blogs and sites; it would be impossible to list all of them here. But, for the curious, I highly advise going to this page that catalogs the highest-ranked Animal Crossing: New Leaf My Design blogs and check out some of the top hits! Alternatively, this site is chock-full of links to anime/game-related My Designs.

Unfortunately, it’s hard to say whether or not these  will be compatible with the English release of Animal Crossing: New Leaf. The Gay Gamer tells me Denpa Men QR codes made in Japan were not compatible with other regions, which is a little disheartening, but hopefully Nintendo realizes the importance of players being able to share their creations and doesn’t restrict QR code recognition to copies of the game from the same region. But, even if they aren’t compatible, I have no doubt an ample English QR community will arise with just as much talent as the Japanese one! We’ll just have to wait and see…

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…

 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.

And the full snowman series! How adorable!

 And this creepy basement room! Eek!

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!

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!

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!

“Santa, you may have a beard, but you sure look like someone I know…”

Not all’s sunshine and roses in Mamemura! Sumi (left) and Chuuko (right) got in some kind of row.

Happy New Year!

Let’s play “Where’s Chuuko?”