Sailor Moon Crystal First Thoughts

I won’t be making one of these for every episode, but now that the first episode has aired (I will probably make another at the end of the season which should be about a year from now due to the Bi-Weekly schedule), I wanted to at least give some opinions on it after watching the first episode. I did stay up until 6AM to watch as I was just super excited and hyped.

This won’t be long as I mostly just want to summarize some opinions, but in short, I actually really enjoyed it. I have some concerns, but I’ll get to those shortly. I didn’t mind the CG transformation at all (I would say the only thing that seemed off was her arm at the very start of it and how long it seems to be which worries me a bit on how much will be packed into each episode. Neither bothers me enough to take away from my enjoyment however), though, that could be because I tend to be less picky with art stuff in the first place.

It was nice to see Usagi’s original voice actress back, but her voice was so much more expressive than any of Usagi’s facial expressions which I really don’t fault the VA for, but for some reason the lack of emotion the artists did with Usagi’s face. And mostly just when her eyes were opened–she seemed much more expressive when her eyes were closed which seems really odd? I’m hoping they were just worried about making everything look nice and this will be improved a lot later.

I also noticed a lot of stuff I was hearing didn’t really feel like it was being said. A lot of translations felt more copy and paste versus implying the context which made it seem a bit rushed? I don’t know tons of Japanese (mostly random words and phrases), but I did see other people saying similar. One of the bigger ones to confuse me was when one of Usagi’s friends was talking then looked up and said something else that was translated as if she was responding to something someone else said and I’m still confused. I have an idea of what was meant, but…

Anyway, I really love the new opening a lot. Both the song and the actual opening are great. I do not care as much for the ending, but I tend to be more picky with ending songs so… My only “complaint” against the opening was some of the editing with the subtitles. For whatever reason, the individual lines for the characters are kind of forced together and it’s especially bad with Makoto’s and Minako’s lines are they list Minako’s first and Makoto’s second and it seems they just translated them as one full sentence versus two different lines.

And on some final notes:
1. While I think the roses around each new character introduction is a bit odd/sudden, I also think they and all the art inserts (Ending, Title screen, Middle of Episode ones) are super pretty.
2. It does seem to be more Manga-based which… I have mixed feelings on. The Manga felt kind of rushed for me and I didn’t care too much for the end of the first season (Usagi killing herself with a sword–just felt too sudden to me among other things). Not that I preferred what happened in the Anime’s ending (so much death T~T), but the latter definitely pulled my heart strings more than the former where I wasn’t entirely sure what to feel. There are things I liked about the Manga more than the Anime (such as explaining why the focus on Japan/where each general was while a different one was “working”, SuperS is much better, No Seiya trying to hit on Usagi when she already has a boyfriend, and Usagi’s romance with Mamoru are just a few examples), but the actual pacing was very disappointing to me.
3. Haruna’s completely different color palette, Shingo’s much lighter hair color, and Mako’s lighter hair completely throw me off. The first two more so than Makoto’s, but I’m not entirely sure how I feel about these changes yet.

Now to just try and be patient for the next episode T~T 2 weeks to go… I don’t know if I will watch them again live/simulcast, but it will definitely be what I look forward to each day. The next one will be airing the day after my birthday so yay~

Yay! My Pikachu Plushie is here :D

So, I placed an order at the new Pokemon Center site when it reopened and to my surprise, my Running Pikachu plushie actually arrived today!

runningpikachuplushie
Now relaxing on my monitor

He’s really soft and about 6-7 inches long. I was also really happy as the tag was just wrapped around his leg with an Elastic Bag versus the usual way things are tagged which is nice. And the tag is really cute too:
pikachutag
I can’t wait to see what they have in store next week. Still looking forward to when the Special Delivery Pikachu plush will be up for sale!

Pokemon TCG Online

Every so often, I play the Pokemon TCG Online. I first played it in Beta as a way to still collect cards which I don’t really do anymore in real life (except for occasional favorites) and also out of fun for dressing up a cute avatar.

Recently, I noticed the Pikachu Collection Box and the fact that the avatar shop and stuff is finally up and working on the game. Which also helped me realize I’ve missed out on a lot of stuff. Thus, if anyone has any of the following and would be willing to trade anything for it (I will tell you right now, I probably don’t have anything of worth to offer, but I’d be willing to discuss!), please let me know. My username in the game is Jenemi.

So first, Avatar related items:
MUST HAVE:
Charizard Collection: Great Ball Pants
Charizard Collection: Silhouette Shirt
Pikachu Collection: Costume Hat Thank you to whoever completed this trade! <3
Anything to make the Mega Audino deck that won Pokemon Worlds 2016.

MAYBES: – I’d really like these, but not enough to actively pursue them right now.
Charizard Collection: Great Ball Hat
Charizard Collection: Great Ball Jacket
Charizard Collection: Great Ball Shoes
Charizard Collection: Silhouette Jacket
Charizard Collection: Stoke Pants
Pikachu Collection: Agility Shirt Thank you! <3 Pikachu Collection: Costume Pants
Pikachu Collection: Electric Jacket Thank you to whoever traded this and the above! <3 Santa Hat
Mewtwo T-Shirt
White Pokemon Black White T-Shirt (Also know as Emerging Powers-Themed Shirt)
Pokemon Day T-Shirt
Luxury Soccer Jersey
Charizard Collection: Knit Cap
Elf Hat

Finally, for those more in the TCG reign of things… there are some TCG stuff I am looking for!:
2 Vaporeon Cards (One has 110 HP, Muddy Water, and Spiral Drain. The other has Spiral Drain and Dual Splash and 90HP) – Thank you to whoever completed this trade! :D
Pink Munna Coin
Pikachu Silhouette Sleeve
Pikachu Silhouette Box
Gold Pikachu Coin
Deoxys Silver Rainbow Coin
Green Shaymin Coin
Blue Totodile Coin
World Champions 2013 Box
Silver Chickorita Coin
Silver Pikachu Coin
World Championships 2013 Coin
Red Diamond Pearl Coin
Eevee Silhouette Sleeve
Eevee Silhouette Deck Box

But yes, again, if anyone would be interested in trading with me, I’d really appreciate it!

That said, I do not battle on the TCG Online game–like with my Pokemon games, I only do the Single Player mode stuff. I prefer just using what I like versus actually making the SUPERMOSTBESTCOMPETITIVETEAMFOREVERYTHING and thus, usually do not do well because that is the mind set of most people nowadays.

Tomodachi Life: Finally, Switzerland!

So, I’m pretty excited as I finally had some Miis pick Switzerland to go to using a Travel Ticket. Not just that, but I learned a group of friends can actually go on a trip too:




As for why I was so excited… Well:

This was the last Treasure I needed that I could get by myself. The only two I still have I need to get through StreetPass from either a letter from my campers sent off or a gift from a Mii who camps here so…

Besides that, I’ve mostly just been trying to save up money. There’s a lot of expensive items in the game and I also want to take more Space trips to get the other Space Suits so… Plus, I’m still working on getting people together as well. Our most recent couples are Kuki and Wally:


And Shinichi and Marinna:

Peach and Mario are continued to be set-up but haven’t gotten together yet:

Couples together are still going strong as well:




And Akina and Syaoran had their first child–Baby Kaylee:

Finally, Professor Oak discovered some Giant Licorice:

Note: I received the game early from Nintendo. Thank you, Nintendo! :D If you are interested in Tomodachi Life, you may want to look into picking it up!

Tomodachi Life Free Demo on the eShop tomorrow [For North America]!

So tomorrow, June 2nd (or if it goes out at midnight EST, later tonight for any timezones earlier than that), a free demo version of Tomodachi Life will be out for those of you in North America to download :) If you’ve liked my entries and/or my videos, but still aren’t sure if you should pick up the game, then I’d highly recommend trying out the demo!

IMPORTANT NOTES: This is slightly different than the Move-in Version. The Move-in Version is only gotten through a code from someone who has bought the game. (Those who bought it physically will have it in the game case, those who bought it digitally will have it on their digital receipt)

The differences are:
1. You can only play 20 times
2. There is no Panda Suit reward at the end (Don’t worry, you can still get the Panda Suit ingame through normal play–just need to hope it shows up in the Clothing Store)

So if you’re still on the fence for the game, please try the demo! It’s free so there’s no reason not to! :)

Tomodachi Life: Campsite FINALLY Unlocks!

So, Celeste grew up today and due to sending her off to see the World…


…Pink Sea Island’s Campsite unlocked! It’s empty at the moment, but we can still watch the cute puffy clouds go by:

Until I StreetPass someone who can get her, Celeste will be waiting at the docks.

While she’s there, I can still talk to her. She also has a special stat page.

You may be sending them off, but they are still a character in your game in a way so don’t feel too bad about it.

One thing I was surprised to also unlock was the Quality of Life thing:

Hopefully 34 stars is good.

Anyway, while Celeste looks pretty similar to Marina growing up, I managed to catch several things I hadn’t seen them do with Marina before. I don’t know if more actions are unlocked as you get more babies or if I’m just unlucky catching stuff, but here’s a few things I unlocked:

More photos:


These are the last 3–once she gets older the poses change in all the photos a bit, but the background and what’s going on stays the same.

Playing with Blocks:

And in a Sandbox:

Plus reading time:

And other cute things:

I also finally did the cute “flying in the air” Babysitting game.

I normally only babysat when the baby was crying (whether they asked or not) so I never tried when the baby got older and wasn’t crying.

Plus a bonus note on how she gets older, she does a bit more–such as now being able to build a tower with her blocks:

And actually making something in her sandbox versus just digging:

I also got a couple of pictures shortly before the announcement that she was all grown up:

You can also check out Celeste’s baby video and the news announcing the above below:

As for other news…

Piper should be old enough to go off on her own tomorrow.

It was Usagi’s and ChibiUsa’s birthdays yesterday.

Jennifer lost an item which was found by Rachel:

The Ballet Manual is still rather popular (and one of my favorite inventory items–dog is my most favorite though):

Carlos and Cooking Mama had the first Baby Boy on the Island and named him William:

And Brock could not stop dancing:

Note: I received the game early from Nintendo. Thank you, Nintendo! :D If you are interested in Tomodachi Life, you may want to look into picking it up!

Tomodachi Life: New SpotPass Item!

So, the new SpotPass item being given out is the Uncle Sam Outfit:


It comes in Red, Yellow, and Fuchsia. If it’s following the same pattern as the last items, it should be around until the 15th of the month. It costs $100.

And remember, since it’s the first of the month there is a new monthly interior in the Interior Shop–Ice (ironically enough). Since June started Summer, I would expect September to start Fall and that will be the next time all the “Seasonal” tabs update.

Note: I received the game early from Nintendo. Thank you, Nintendo! :D If you are interested in Tomodachi Life, you may want to look into picking it up!

Pokemon Orchestral Concert Tour

pokemon-symphony-169

So, I’m pretty excited as a Pokemon Orchestral Concert Tour was announced! There’s no date yet for New York, but I’m sure hoping there will be soon :P

I loved the Legend of Zelda Symphony of the Goddesses so I’m already really hyped up for this and currently listening to Pokemon soundtracks and medleys out of excitement. There’s just so much they can do and I’m so happy T~T

I can’t wait <3 Semi-hoping I may be in Washington DC in August too just because it'd be really neat to be able to go to the first one! (Also, it's neat that they are doing it for the Championships :) I've never been good enough to ever go to one of those, but I bet it's still a lot of fun to watch live. I enjoyed watching the stream of last years.) (and even if I do go in August, I'd probably want to still go to the one in NY too. Eeeee just so excited T~T)

Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii (The World is Still Beautiful)

I know I tend to talk a lot about video games, but this is a hobby blog and I do have other hobbies too! (You know, if you couldn’t guess from the occasional baking posts). Anyway, moving onto the actual subject at hand… I’m incredibly picky when it comes to things. It’s hard for me to say I like a genre because there’s really a lot more to it than that. In fact, the only games I was ever suggested that I ended up really loving were the Ace Attorney and Professor Layton series–where a friend got me the first three games of the former and the first game of the latter to get me to play. I’ve bought every other game since. As for Anime, I’ve only been suggested one which I really liked–Gosick. Any other suggestions have always been rather hit and miss for me.

For Soredemo Sekai wa Utsukushii, my curiousity was piqued after seeing these gifs of a scene:



Top Gif made by Izutsushi on Tumblr

I can’t tell you why exactly they piqued my curiousity, but they made me go and look up what exactly the Anime was and the brief information I could find made me want to actually watch it.

My general rule with Anime is to always watch the first three episodes as that gives you a good idea of what the Anime is about. If you’re still not interested after three episodes, you can stop. So, I started watching and despite some issues with certain lines, I found I really enjoyed it. All the characters have a lot of personality and characterization so even characters you may only see once have some kind of mark on you.

The premise is essentially that Livius, the King of the World, has asks for one of the daughters of the Rain Principality to be his wife for them to keep essentially living as they are (versus being conquered). Nike is “picked” and sent off and it’s about how the two find an understanding and emotional bond with one another. Even though it probably sounds overly romantic, it has a lot of humor as well and is presented well. It’s also one of the few Anime I’ve personally seen where the boy is the younger one (Livius is 15 during the events–12 when he is crowned King. Nike’s age is never said, but I’d expect her to be around 18) and also a good amount shorter (which is due to the age difference, but still). And while there is some “fan service” (something I’m personally not fond of in anything I really watch. I just don’t see the appeal.), it’s more aimed towards girls and never anything that bad (I believe the “worst” they show is butts and both were men).

It’s hard to really explain why I enjoyed it, but there was something really special seeing how the two eventually truly fell for one another and I constantly found myself looking forward to the next episode. I’m really sad it’s now over (but at least Sailor Moon Crystal starts this Saturday) and I REALLY hope it gets another season when the Manga gets further along. I’m happy the series covered the first arc too versus ending at kind of a weird place when the drama is only starting (I’m looking at you Gakuen Alice and Skip Beat!. The former’s manga ended recently and should hopefully be getting a sequel considering how it ended while Skip Beat!’s is still going). Regardless, it had a very conclusive ending which while I am happy for that versus weird cliff hanger thing, makes me wonder if they will bother with making a second season or not.

But seriously, LOOK AT THEIR HAPPY FACES:
tumblr_n7z5ppFMCN1sc8g9wo1_1280

Aww T~T

The art style is really pretty to me. While I don’t care much for graphics in video games, I can be overly picky with art style in Anime and Cartoons (such as the new Powerpuff Girls show… it’s just too jagged T~T). CardCaptor Sakura is one of my favorites, but I never could get into Tsubasa because I felt the art style was just too “lanky” so to speak. That said, I can sometimes get over it–I did eventually read the Manga despite the Manga’s art style not appealing to me much and in my opinion, it got better as it went too. (Similarly, Detective Conan while the style never bothered me improved a lot both in the Manga and Anime as it went).

I wish I enjoyed the music in the show more. I want to specify that I mean more towards the vocal music though–all the Background music is great and fitting and I would completely listen to a soundtrack of just the background music. That said, I found the opening and ending themes just okay. I felt no need to listen to them after the first couple of times. Similarly, “Tender Rain” the main insert song is… I was never that fond of it–it was an okay song as well, but it being played so often, even if I understand why, actually made it kind of annoying. I really enjoyed the slower version Nike sang in the last episode though. I also loved her grandmother’s Farewell Song which I actually found really beautiful and that was the first vocal song in the series for me to really fall in love with. I would buy the soundtrack just for that song too. The entire scene it plays is incredibly heartwrenching and it just adds so much to it.

Anyway, if you like Anime with romance and bickering and stuff in it, I’d recommend at least looking at it! I’m going to continue looking forward to the manga for now as like I said, I really hope it gets a Season Season. I definitely think it deserves it.

Tomodachi Life: Because I am that happy about the outfit I just got

I’m still trying to get couples together, but it’s not going as well as I’d like and I’m running out of ideas for what to do. It doesn’t help that a good amount of them don’t even know the other and it’s rare that even when someone wants to set them up that they know both… Regardless, sometimes I get to try…

…but it rarely works out. It doesn’t help that Miis will only suggest 3 people for another Mii to meet with randomly out of who they know which makes things ever harder.

Despite that, Brock and Setsuna got married as did Victorique and Kujo:

Babies were also born! Jennifer and Zero had Celeste:

And Trent and Tomoyo had Piper:

I also got to see things I never really noticed when Marina was a baby such as the family having lunch and Celeste in her little high chair and this cute walking encouragement scene:

Also I love seeing different camera angles for things:

Anyway, it’s felt like ages since I’ve gotten something I’ve really wanted from a Mystery Bag so I was very happy to get this!:

I still really want this dress:
princessdresstomodachilife
But that’ll do for now.

I even watched another performance of Maybe Honey (incase you forgot how much I love it) to see how the dress looked:


If only I could remove the applause T~T

Anyway, looking forward to the two babies growing up and traveling the world! (And unlocking the camp site)