xanithofdragons

Somehow or another, I've been spending my last few days with some of the most awesome people I know, yo, preparing for Acen next week and everything. Today I went shopping. There was some manga I was so excited to see that I went ahead and bought it. I bought volumes 1 and 2 of Ōoku by Yoshinaga Fumi, since I trust anything by her to be quality work and since I had already heard about it a little on the internet because of the movie they're making for it. I'm really looking forward to seeing the movie, especially after having read it. Nino playing Mizuno. <3 It's so exciting to know who he'll be now. The decision made in the translation to have them speak in such an old form of English kind of jarred me at first, but I got used to it while reading... ^^

I also bought volume 1 of Bokurano by Kito Mohiro. That was especially exciting for me to happen upon, since I hadn't even heard that it had been licensed!

Edit: Apparently I was so tired last night that I completely forgot to mention that I also bought Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey. So yeah.

And now to finish with a meme:

Ask me my fandom-ish Top Five of whatever. Anything. Doesn't matter what, really! Then I'll make a new post with all of the Top 5 asked.

So yesterday I was reading TVTropes and came across Sengoku Basara. Sengoku period + hot-bloodedness + periphery demographic appeal for the ladies = I watched the entire anime series. I really enjoyed all of it. I don't even know what to say, where to begin. I'll definitely have to watch it again. Even though I don't usually play action games it made me want to check out the video games themselves, although there are (currently!) geographical and language barriers to that.

For the lulz: http://www.translationparty.com/#6316732 I really love Translation Party.

Another thing that I have to be excited about is that I was able to find a P4 fanart of the main character in the girls summer uniform that I've seen in icons a couple of times that I really liked thanks to innovade. <3

This has somehow just been a really good night.

I've been on fall break from college since a little after 11 am Friday. My parents picked me up Friday evening, we stayed in a hotel that night, and came home on Saturday. Lol, I told my parents that I was excited to buy the Persona remake for PSP, since I hadn't gotten a chance to go to a video game store since it's come out and they let that be the first thing we did once we got back in town, even before getting to the house. ^_^ They really are good parents. I sometimes wonder how I feel about them, since they tended to get on my nerves a bit, although I do think they did a pretty good job of parenting. Now, probably since I've been in college and haven't been around them so much that it gets annoying, some of the less favorable things don't matter so much. College is such a wonderful thing. ^^

But yes, Persona! And the complete two-disc soundtrack! <3 The music has been really good in what I've played so far. Gameplay isn't too hard to figure out, and the story seems interesting so far. It's still early for me though, so I know hardly anything still. Slowly learning more about the characters seems like it will be pretty interesting. ( early spoiler ) I have quite a number of games I need to finish. Oh, how I let these things pile up...

It's been fun playing Persona, but I've also gotten bored at times. There's so little to do compared to when I was at college. I've been procrastinating on homework, so there's still that to do... ^^ I also miss my college friends a lot, too though.

As for other interesting things I've done over break so far, I went to a Renaissance festival on Sunday and got a bit of jewelry, and I watched an anime called Time of Eve today. There are only 6 episodes for now, and the first 5 are all < 20 minutes, so it's super short. It was kinda a sci-fi story with a slice of life feel involving relationships between androids and humans. I thought it was pretty moving and hope that more episodes get made sometime. I might check out the director's other works.

( Devil Survivor Day 5 )

I've been reading a lot less tenipuri the past couple of days since I'm a little nervous about starting the national tournament arc. Lol so weird, when it was so hard for me to stop a little while ago.

I finally bought Devil Survivor yesterday. I'm only early in Day 2, and for now, so far so good. I was a bit worried that I wouldn't be able to grind, but luckily, free battles are readily available and don't spend any of the in-game daytime. The music and art all seems good to me. The battles are difficult to do well, but I haven't run into anything super difficult yet. Even though I know hardly any of what's going on, the story seems interesting to me, and I'm curious about all of the characters and their backstories. I can hardly wait to figure out what's going on behind the scenes. Gosh, and find Naoya again. Bahhh, Naoya, SO MYSTERIOUS. (And handsome, can't forget that, pffft.) I really love how the game described that: "His handsome face." Oh the subtext. ^_^ The Laplace System and the death clocks are pretty cool. Especially since we can kinda defy it and change things.

The Devil Auction feature is super fun! I totally use it more than I need to, but it's okay since I have so much more macca than I probably need from all my free battling.

( P4 spoilers for 3/20 )

In non-video game news, there was a young possum in my house yesterday, eating our cat's food. Due to our difficulty in getting it out of the house, my brother discovered that both our township and our county don't appear to have an animal control service. Lucky us. Eventually, my dad was able to pick the possum up with a towel while wearing two sets of gloves and get it outside, but still, why don't we have animal control? Also, my mom got to laugh at the rest of us and our lack of experience in dealing with wild animals where they aren't supposed to be since she grew up on a farm and has had to chase possums out of a chicken coop on more than one occasion.

I've been on spring break since Saturday, and I suppose it's been going okay. My friend Ian and I started our spring break off right with our murder mystery party. We had plenty of people who had to cancel at the last minute or who simply didn't show up without telling us why at all, so it was a bit hectic, especially since Ian and I hadn't quite prepared everything we should have had ready. The murder ended up happening so late that some people had to leave before the murder was solved, and they didn't correctly solve the murder, although that was probably partially our fault for making it someone so unexpected whose motive wasn't apparent. Plus, I kinda distracted everyone by bringing up the wills, making them all think the murderer was someone who was in one of the wills, but all in all, everyone had fun, so I'd call it a success. We're probably gonna do our next one as a post-AP test fun time extravaganza, if we can find the time to plan it all. Oh, and I really enjoyed doing some of the character background info, so I was thinking about posting some of them up on here.

I went to a doctor yesterday for, I think, the first time since junior high, mostly for a physical for college, but I actually also have a minor health concern, so I had to have fasting blood work done. I did that this morning and threw up after the blood was taken, but I'm feeling fine now.

I've also been playing P4 some. ( Potential spoilers to Dec 3? )

I still haven't worked on any of my homework for the break yet, but I've got time. (Except not... AP tests are so soon T_T)

It's snowing lightly right now, and I want it to snow heavier, all day and all night so I maybe won't have to go to school tomorrow. If I have to go to school anyway, then I hope my school will at least ice the parking lot... My parking spot is a bit far from the door, and walking on ice is not very much fun. I know my school doesn't care about our health and safety when I'm surprised that there's actually any salt on the parking lot!

Anyway, I've kinda given up on posting much about what I did over my winter break, since it's now been a week since it ended. ^^ I will, however, tell about some of my Christmas gifts. As for video games, my parents gave me Mana Khemia: Alchemists of Al-Revis, which is pretty fun. I really like synthesizing items and using the grow book and exploring dungeons, but I'm not actually all that interested in the plot and most of the characters. I'm kinda just going through the main plot and the character quests (or whatever they're called) so I can do my syntheses and maybe find out things about the characters to be interested in. I think I'm right in the beginning of chapter 5. I'm most curious about Vayne and Sulphur, Zeppel, and Roxis. I chose the Japanese voice acting instead of the English, kinda just because I could. I'm like the music in it, even though my family seems to always be a little shocked by the music. The opening song sounds like so much of an anime opening, lol.

My parents also gave me Disgaea DS, which I haven't played for so long that I don't really remember how far I am. The plot is pretty hilarious, but I'm not overly fond of the player turn and enemy turn battle mechanics. It's tolerable, but it takes some getting used to.

I've still been playing Persona 4 quite a bit. I'm close to the end of October, just a little bit away from the cultural festival. I have the Emperor, Strength, Sun, Justice, and Hierophant social links maxed out so far. I did the drama club version of the Sun this playthrough and ended up not liking Yumi, so she's the first girl I rejected and probably not the last. ( spoiler spoiler ) If I decide not to date her, I'll probably date Chie because her social link has been pretty cool. ^_^ I'm enjoying the hanged man social link, and I kinda hope to max it out. For some odd reason, I want to believe Naoki is gay, and I have seen no evidence to the contrary. Thus, I declare, Naoki is gay, unless it can be proven otherwise, to the contrary, forsooth!

Other notable gifts include: 4 GB flash drive, House M.D. Season 3, Howl's Moving Castle Daft Punk cd Musique, a burned copy of live recording cd (a cheap, but still very good gift from my oldest brother), some clothing, some manga, some Anne McCaffrey books, and a $10 Border's gift card that went a long way when combined with $10 I had lying around on a going out of business everything at least 40% off sale ^_^

On the note of the sale, my mom decided that I should receive $50 for a scholarship-related thing, so I got to buy even more manga. Although that Border's went out, there's still another one fairly nearby, so my book-and-manga-buying needs are not unsatisfied. (There's also a Barnes and Nobles even nearer, but it's not as good...)

By now, it looks like the snow has stopped for now, so I probably will have to go to school tomorrow. I should probably just check the week's weather somewhere, (so I can know when it'll be raining at midnight so I can watch the midnight channel!) but whatever.

Right now, lying on the computer desk, is PERSONA 4!!

I just got it today. I'm so excited. I had to help out with this adopt-a-family thing and then pick up my bro's gf from work, but right after taking her home, I went to GameStop and picked it up!!

I was pretty excited this weekend when I looked at my physics syllabus and saw that we had a test today, meaning we didn't have any book problems for homework, just reading. So I did the reading Monday so I could play Persona 4! I don't have much Calculus homework left, and that's not due 'till Friday anyway. Thus, my only real homework to worry about is to look over Macbeth and Hamlet more, but my English teacher moved the in-class essay over those back to Friday instead of Thursday, meaning I don't have to worry about it so much.

So I'll probably start playing P4 as soon as I decide on a name for my main character. ^_^

Just checked my grade on the physics test. Not all that good, but better than what I've heard other people got on it. Plus, I did an extra credit opportunity the teacher offered us for this test, so I guess it's all good.

Tonight, I pre-ordered Persona 4! HUZZAH!! Now to wait for December 9 for the game, the cd, AND the artbook! Elation!

I pre-ordered it at a nearby Game Stop, while with my brother and his girlfriend, and she pointed out that they had a really good used dvd sale: buy 2 get 4 free. I noticed they had two of the .hack//SIGN dvds, both for under $10, but nothing else that I wanted. While looking at these, my brother wanted us to leave and look at it later, but I wanted to go ahead and get the two dvds. He went out the door while I was taking the two dvds to the counter, but then the guy at the counter said I get get a used game for free with the dvds, since they had a sale on used games too. I didn't find anything I really wanted, although I noticed a used copy of Tales of Legendia would've only been a little pricier than the more expensive of the two .hack dvds. For whatever reason, the guy at the counter really seemed to want me to get something free, so he gave me some Naruto dvd they had gotten for free anyway. Anyway, my bro's gf and I were in the store for a good while after he left, and after we went out, he seemed kinda upset. I wasn't too worried, though, and he seems fine now.

Persona 4 aside, there's another game which I'm actually currently in the process of playing...

( Spoilers (this time major ones) through Zaude and a little after )

Which comes out today in Japan... And on December 9th in North America. Thus, I already have a Christmas list 2 items long: Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World and Persona 4. Tales of Vesperia will be added if I don't manage to save enough money until August. I should probably check how much new Xbox 360 games cost. Speaking of buying video games makes me sad that a local gaming store went out of business back in late June, so I'll have to go to some store that's part of a boring old chain of stores to buy games in the future, sigh~

Tangents aside, I'm suddenly interested in finding out information about Persona 4 because I've played Persona 3 (maybe I should see if I can manage to find the two before... or not) and because someone else mentioned it recently. This post will contain my reactions to information I can get off of Wikipedia and the official English site about Persona 4. Because I'm sure you're ever so interested in my opinions about info from the intarwebs.

It appears that it will be set in the countryside, hmm. I guess that means I'll get to have fun running around the countryside, woo! "suspenseful countryside murder mystery" Ahaha, and because it's the countryside, the police will be too incompetent, so a random bunch of teenagers with supernatural powers will have to figure it all out!

"Glasses (given by Kuma) play an important role in the game..." I think I'm going to like this game... Endless fanservice to all the fans of glasses characters, perhaps? Or maybe it will just be for certain characters? It's at least for certain that the main character has a pair. Either way, I'm happy about this piece of info. We have to destroy cards to summon personas? I have to wonder how that will work. Do the cards regenerate or do we have to carry a bunch of cards so that we can use a new one every time we need to?

So it seems that you can go into tv at midnight. Going into tv is an interesting enough tool, I suppose. It would also seem that the high school from Persona 3 will make an appearance... Ooh, Chihiro'll be back. She was one of my favorite Social Links from P3, sweet!

It's kinda disappointing that the only pictures of any of the characters available on wiki is on the game cover. Oh well, I'm sure there will be images eventually. Most of the characters seem interesting enough from the cover and the brief descriptions, but, but...

One of the characters is a STUFFED BEAR!!! He starts out as a support character and then can later be used in battle? Wow, good job Atlus, for coming up with something that ridiculous.

And gameplay will be similar, blah blah blah.

Well, that's all for now, as it seems all the official English website has to offer is some video, and my computer seems to be having trouble playing videos online. I'll restart my comp and try again.

Edit: Restarting the computer works wonders! I just watched the video on the website, and found a link on Atlus' forum to the 17 minute long Japanese trailer. It seems like the characters you'll get in battle will all get glasses. ^_^ Also, that is one weird stuffed bear.