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[texasianotaku]

Breakfast with Yang

Originally posted on Otome Amino

It is very very very cold in the United States right now. We knew it would be for this weekend, and so we planned accordingly when it came to staying inside and having comfort foods available. My husband went and bought some firewood before the long week ahead of us.

Some of the stuff that I think of when it comes to comfort foods is chicken and ginger congee. For those who don’t know, congee is a very versatile Asian rice porridge where different cultures and nationalities have their own spin on it. Some cultures will add a certain protein that another may omit, or some will have sweet vs. savory. At any rate, it’s widely and often consumed due to the ability to make it varied. You simply need a rice and liquid base.

Also, last week, I was able to shop at a Vietnamese market, which are fairly far away when it comes to convenience (or lack thereof). So my kitchen is full of Asian ingredients. 

And then, this week, my work schedule changed to where I no longer work Friday nights! This means more time for otome!

…And for blogging. :D

So, what does all of this have to do with otome? With all three of these factors coming together, why not make a meal fit for an otome character?

Namely, Yang from Piofiore: Fated Memories.

For those that have not played Piofiore, it is rich with descriptions of meals and food that the characters eat. One of those things is when the MC is staying with the Chinese mafia, about to partake in breakfast. Congee is a very common staple breakfast food with different ways that you can dress it so that you don’t get bored with it.

Here is your congee starter pack!

rice, ginger, onion, garlic

Obviously, we’re making a savory congee. Otherwise, if you’d like to make one that is sweet, omit the garlic and onion and maybe the ginger. Depends on the flavor profile you’re going for, but you could use it still if you’re going for something like a chai congee or even a pumpkin spice one. I haven’t tried those variations yet, but I just might have to with some coconut cream or something. BESIDES THE POINT….

For this recipe, I used a pressure cooker, but you can definitely make it on the stovetop! I’ve never made it that way before, and it takes longer, but it’s absolutely doable! Additionally, you can make congee with a rice maker alone. I won’t include those directions here because they aren’t tried and true, but they’re incredibly easy to find online.

I will also say, while you can substitute onion powder and garlic powder for the fresh onion and garlic, I do not recommend substituting ginger powder for the fresh ginger. You really cannot beat the flavor that it imparts on the whole thing. It is an absolute must when making the congee.

Here are some add-ins that I will be using for our breakfast with Yang!

As I mentioned before, this is a highly customizable meal. While I’m typically a “fresh ingredients” person, I really do think that the chicken bouillon is necessary in this recipe. It imparts an umami flavor that you didn’t know that you needed. It’s an easy ingredient to keep on hand, much more convenient than cans or cartons of more costly chicken broth or stock. However, if you’d prefer, you can definitely swap out the water and bouillon for chicken broth or stock.

Chinese doughnuts are also popular with congee or even by themselves! They are also mentioned at some point in Piofiore by their Chinese name, youtiao. You can try making them at home yourself, as there are many recipes online, but I was able to find them in the frozen foods aisle at the Asian market. It’s not one of the more common things that you can find in the frozen foods section; this past weekend was my first time ever seeing them frozen. You can also get them at Chinese and Vietnamese bakeries. When I was growing up, we used to cut them into 1-inch pieces and added them to the congee. But we also ate them on their own as well!

Also, if you will note in the screenshot of the meal earlier, the MC mentions “Chinese parsley.” Chinese parsley is also known as coriander or cilantro, so you would use that. Don’t go trying to hunt down Chinese parsley, because cilantro and coriander are the exact same thing. “A rose by any other name…” and all that.

The fried onions/shallots can be found in any Asian market and even some specialty stores, but if you can’t find it, you could definitely fry up some shallots or garlic to add as a mix-in. If I had to have only one mix-in, the shallots would be it.

My daughter loves quail eggs, so we added it to the soup. However, you could just as easily crack an egg in and mix it in or crack it on top for an easy effect. Eggs make a great addition to congee.

I also like to use rotisserie chicken to make this an even easier and quicker meal to make than to use raw chicken. I suggest saving the jelly-like goo to add to the soup as it imparts flavor as well as a silky mouthfeel to the soup. In case you did not know, that substance is gelatin. If you wanted to, you could also include the chicken carcass to extract more gelatin and chicken flavor, but I like to save them for other recipes.

I know it looks kind of gross, but it’s essential to the recipe!

However, if you are making this vegetarian, you can omit any of the chicken, bouillon, and anything else meat-related. To give it umami flavor, you can instead use soy sauce as a seasoning when everything is cooked, and you're ready to eat. However, with all of the chicken seasoning, you won't need to add soy sauce because it will be so flavorful in the end.

The next thing I made for the breakfast is Scrambled Eggs with Garlic Chives. This is not an original recipe. I got it from The Woks of Life  website. The recipe is hyperlinked, but following are pictures of the direction steps. This is one of my absolute favorite recipes. It's super easy to whip up, and it goes well with congee or simple rice with a little soy sauce. 

Garlic chives look very much like green onions, but they're much more mild in flavor and sauté very nicely. If you're going to use green onions instead, that's fine, but I would largely reduce the amount you use. It's an okay substitution, but if you're able to get the garlic chives, definitely get those. 

Here's what they look like without the packaging:

Kind of looks like grass, right? Sometimes, they'll have small blossom buds at the top that are totally edible too.

This is what it looks like to have the eggs and seasonings mixed with the small bubbles, as called for in the recipe:

The water that you include in the mix helps with this. It probably took me about 30-45 seconds of rigorous mixing to get those bubbles.

This is the halfway point of sautéing the egg and garlic chive mixture:

So you may notice here that the chives look shiny, and that's because the egg whites are clinging to them. Additionally, it looks like the chives aren't cooking. They will.

This is what your eggs should look like by the end of it:

From here, it will take maybe only one more minute to cook the chives.

I rounded out the meal with pork baos, which are steamed buns filled with a sweet Chinese barbecue pork and these big ass apples that are often sold during holidays, particularly Lunar New Year, which was February 12th this year. 

And now, for the congee recipe!

CHICKEN AND GINGER PRESSURE COOKER CONGEE

Ingredients: 1 cup jasmine rice, rinsed and drained (at least 3 times) 8 cups of water or chicken broth 1 1-inch piece of ginger, peeled 1 medium to large yellow onion, washed 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced 4 tbsp chicken bouillon (optional) fish sauce (optional, to taste) sugar (to taste) freshly ground black pepper (to taste)

Suggested add-ins cooked chicken cilantro, chopped green onions, chopped fried shallots soy sauce (if not using chicken bouillon) youtiao quail eggs poached eggs 

Directions 

1.) Put first five ingredients (and chicken bouillon, if using) in your pressure cooker. Make sure to seal the vent. Set the cooker to HIGH and on 30 minutes. In the meantime, prepare your add-ins.

2.) Once the pressure cooker timer goes off, allow for the pressure cooker to natural release. That means to leave it alone until the pressure is completely released. If you do not have the time to do a full natural release, set your timer to ten minutes, then open the vent to release the remaining steam. 

3.) Remove and discard the onion and ginger. Stir the contents of the pressure cooker. If the soup looks too thick for you, add water until it is at a consistency you'd prefer. I usually add an extra 2 - 4 cups of water because I like my congee a little thinner. There is no right or wrong consistency. Go with your preference. 

4.) Once the congee is to your preferred consistency, taste to see if you like the flavor. If it is not salty enough, add more bouillon or salt. Soy sauce is used as a finishing seasoning, not a flavoring while cooking. Add chicken and quail eggs, and let the soup heat on low to medium-low to bring the proteins to temperature, as well to heat up the soup if you added water.  

5.) Make sure that your proteins are warmed and the congee is hot before serving. Add remaining suggested add-ins to your liking. 

Be sure to round out your meal with some nice hot jasmine tea or sweetened soy milk!

Be sure to let me know if you tried the recipe!

After note: I realized that I have become everything that I hate about food blogging by this blog. So sorry for the long exposition lolol

[texasianotaku]

Underdog Otome Devs and Pubs in the Switch Game

Originally posted on Otome Amino

It’s such an exciting time to be an otome player, especially if you’re a console player. Fairly recently, we received news that Aksys Games, the publisher that brings us Otomate games, will be bringing English localizations of Dairoku: Ayakashimori; Olympia Soirée; and Variable Barricade. If you haven’t heard me fangirl about it, let me tell you, I’m ultra hyped, especially for Variable Barricade and Olympia Soirée.

Nothing against Dairoku. My distaste for Bad Apple Wars really turned me off towards it, but I know I can’t fault the artist. I’ll still buy it when it comes out, but I’m not nearly as hyped for it as I am for the other titles.

As if that weren’t enough, PQube, who is more known for publishing localizations of visual novels; some of the more popular ones are Spike Chunsoft’s Science Adventure series (Steins;Gate, Chaos;Child, Robotics;Notes, etc.) and Kadokawa Games’ Mystery Brand (Root Letter, Root Film). I’ve played a couple of their other games, and let me tell you, Aksys needs to step up their translation game compared to PQube, because PQube is entering the otome Switch game (pun intended) with BUSTAFELLOWS.

real life gif of me flipping out upon discovering that BUSTAFELLOWS was going to be localized

Of all four of these games, BUSTAFELLOWS is the one I wanted the absolute most. Additionally, it is not an Otomate game; it is an eXtend game. eXtend is a much smaller developer than Otomate, with only four titles to date. The PQube and eXtend partnership is extremely promising in that PQube is really good at establishing relationships with multiples of developers (and maintaining those relationships); we could hopefully see Side Kicks! localization and port, dependent on the response that BUSTAFELLOWS gets from the West.

EVERYONE GO BUY BUSTAFELLOWS WHEN IT COMES OUT!!! 💸💸💸💸💸

Another reason why we should all be hyped about PQube entering the otome localization scene is that we are not limited to high quality console games brought to us by Aksys. Because PQube is highly involved (and having long standing relationships) with multiple developers, with the success of BUSTAFELLOWS, we could also reasonably hope for them to localize other otome games, such as Gensou Manège (MAGES).

We have also received news that Hunex is porting a couple of their titles to Switch: Steam Prison and (recently announced) Ephemeral. At the time of this post publishing, it is not confirmed that Ephemeral will be released in NA/EU, but the Japanese game page does indicate that it will have both Japanese and English support. Ephemeral ~ Fantasy on Dark JP Store page

While these two titles are the only “premium” Hunex English localizations, we might be able to see their mobile games ported to the Switch as well. This is not an unprecedented move as evidenced by these other mobile games being ported to Switch:

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

             Published by D3 Publisher

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

ミ☆ Developed by Dogenzaka Lab ☆彡 The Amazing Shinsengumi Destiny’s Princess Men of Yoshiwara: Kikuya Men of Yoshiwara: Ohgiya My Butler My Secret Pets Secrets of Me

ミ☆ Developed by OperaHouse ☆彡 The Charming Empire Gakuen Club ミ☆ Developed by Hunex ☆彡 Dangerous Relationship Office Lovers Pub Encounter

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

           Published by OperaHouse

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

ミ☆ Developed by Ciagram ☆彡 Diamond Girl My Bewitching Perfume Princess Closet

ミ☆ Developed by OperaHouse ☆彡 Ayakashi Koi Gikyoku Kitty Love - Way to Look for Love Spiral Memoria ~ The Summer I Meet Myself Vinculum Hearts ~ Iris School of Wizardry Yumemidori Nostalgia

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

  Developed/Published by Voltage Inc.

｡☆✼★━━━━━━━━━━━━★✼☆｡

Enchanted in the Moonlight Her Love in the Force Kissed by the Baddest Bidder My Forged Wedding Our Two Bedroom Story Star-Crossed Myth

So as you can see, it wouldn’t be fargone to expect more mobile-to-Switch ports. Particularly, take note of Her Love in the Force; Yumemidori Nostalgia; and the three Ciagram games that are published by OperaHouse.

While Voltage isn’t a small fry when it comes to western localizations, it’s place in console gaming is relatively new. When Voltage started rolling out their mobile-to-Switch ports, it was uncertain the extent to which they would port. It was assumed that it would be their most popular games, so almost everything they have released on Switch thus far could fall under that. However, I do question the popularity of games like Love Letter from Thief X and Her Love in the Force as they are older games; I felt that way about Enchanted in the Moonlight too. So now, it just seems like they will continue to port their older titles that aren’t Love Choice.

Now wouldn’t that be something, if they were to port Love Choice as premium to Switch? 🧐🤔

I do wonder if we’ll see games like Irresistible Mistakes and Kings of Paradise ported to Switch. While I am uncertain about the L365 games that Voltage has planned to release to Switch, I feel almost certain that English players will see a port of Ayakashi: Romance Reborn once all routes are released; according to VNDB, it is slated for release in Japan next month.

Last to discuss is Ciagram and OperaHouse. It most definitely seems like OperaHouse is trying to establish a foothold into the Western otome gaming industry, and I welcome it. Yes, they’re not porting super high quality games, but they’re porting games, and the games are still fun in my eyes. Other developers and publishers are constantly watching, so if the response to any otome is strong with Switch, they’ll come to embrace localizing as part of their business structure.

Yumemidori Nostalgia just released on the Switch a couple of days ago. It’s one of the older OperaHouse games. One thing to note about OperaHouse is that all of their games had their initial releases as mobile offerings, so bear that in mind that it will not be the same caliber of quality that you would get from Otomate games. It was originally released as mobile in the spring of 2014 and is now seeing localization this year. One could infer that their next game will be Kaseifu-san! ~Tokimeku☆Ikemen Danshi Ryou~

OperaHouse has ported three Ciagram titles, and I don’t think that they’ll be stopping anytime soon. They have a multitude of mobile games that are already translated, so the only thing they’d have to do is to get it ready to port to Switch, whatever that entails. And as mentioned prior, that doesn’t seem to be a problem. With Diamond Girl, Princess Closet, and My Bewitching Perfume already on the Switch, I don’t see why Chocolate Temptation and Nightmare Harem, being two more of Ciagram’s more popular games, wouldn’t make a home on Switch.

Ok, but really really lastly.... I have a strong feeling that OzMafia will find its way to the Switch. Don’t ask me the where, why, and how. It’s purely my otome sixth sense…. Kind of like how I almost always knew that BUSTAFELLOWS would eventually get localized.

EVERYONE GO BUY BUSTAFELLOWS WHEN IT COMES OUT!!!

[texasianotaku]

My Fall 2020 Otome Backlog

Crossposted on Otome Amino

Back in May, I got this little bit of a wild streak in trying to write up my backlogs, but in a smaller, more digestible way. For example, instead of overwhelming myself with extremely lofty goals of these massive lists of games and routes I want to play, I made a list of games and routes that I could feasibly complete in a matter of four months (through to the beginning of fall). I took into consideration that since it was summer (and also that I’m home with my daughter in the middle of a pandemic), that I should be able to accomplish it.

I didn’t complete the entire backlog that I had set aside, and that’s okay with me. I found that it was nice to have a directive instead of trying to blindly decide on my next route. Additionally, I feel like following the goals that I had written down in my last backlog blog really helped me with my focus and quite possibly allowed me to finish even more routes than I would have had I not written them down. It may or may not be really the case, but I feel it is. I think that this is something that I’ll want to continue to do seasonally to help me with tackling the monster that is my otome backlogs.

This is the list of routes that I successfully completed from my summer 2020 backlogs.

Abraham Van Helsing (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Arsene Lupin (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Azusa Kuze (Wizardess Heart) Comte de Saint-Germain (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Episodes 3 and 4 (A3!) Impey Barbicane (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Jaehee Kang (Mystic Messenger) Joel Crawford (Wizardess Heart) Karma (Cinderella Phenomenon) Kei Okazaki (Collar x Malice) Kent (Amnesia: Memories) Lupin’s Gang (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Matheus (Beastmaster and Princes) Mineo Enomoto (Collar x Malice) Rod (Cinderella Phenomenon) Satoru (Bad Apple Wars) Souji Okita (Hakuoki) Takeru Sasazuka (Collar x Malice) Toichiro (Ayakashi: Romance Reborn) Toma (Amnesia: Memories) Twilight Common Route (Ayakashi: Romance Reborn) Victor Frankenstein (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Vincent Knight (Wizardess Heart) Zen (Mystic Messenger)

Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get to these routes. I did not take into consideration that Collar x Malice was as long a game as it is. I like to listen fully to the voice acting, so it does take me longer than usual to push through a console route with voice acting than it would take me to play a game with no voice acting. Also, I’ve learned that I have difficulty playing PC games because of the personal setting aspect. I’ve recently set up my office due to starting school again and have found playing games in my office is more conducive to playing PC games in general.

707 (Mystic Messenger) Aiji Yanagi (Collar x Malice) Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome Finis (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Herlock Sholmes (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Jumin Han (Mystic Messenger) Kageyuki Shiraishi (Collar x Malice) Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice Main Route Obey Me Main Route White Mask (Bad Apple Wars) Yoosung (Mystic Messenger)

These are the games and routes that I transferred over to my fall backlogs that I never got around to during the summer. The only ones I omitted were 707, Jumin Han, and the Obey Me Main Route. I’ve found that Mystic Messenger isn’t one of those games that you can play in one go, at least for me personally. Also, I don’t have much motivation to play them because I wasn’t too particularly impressed or touched by Zen or Jaehee’s routes. Additionally, of all of the joseimuke games I play, I’m the least interested in Obey Me’s story line than Mr. Love or A3! So that particular game’s plot is on the backburner for me as well.

Aiji Yanagi (Collar x Malice) Fashioning Little Miss Lonesome Finis (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Herlock Sholmes (Code:Realize ~ Future Blessings) Kageyuki Shiraishi (Collar x Malice) Mr. Love: Queen’s Choice Main Route White Mask (Bad Apple Wars) Yoosung (Mystic Messenger)

For this section, I'll be talking about the new games and routes that I'd like to play and complete by the end of fall (December 20th). Each subsection within this category has a small exposition as to why I'm adding this to my pretty full list of games to play during the autumn season.

I really, really, really love both of these games. I feel like they both need more love, especially Ayakoi. Neither are strongly romantic, if at all, and I think that's a lot of the reason why they don't get as much play as some other games. I base this off of their sales numbers compared to games such as Mr. Love: Queen's Choice and Obey Me, which have made an explosive amount of money.

I have this tendency that if I don't need to read it immediately, I won't. And such is the case with both of these games. I have only played three routes on Ayakoi and am now behind on the new Act 2 episodes for A3!. However, my goal for this season is to simply complete the event stories that I haven't touched yet. That's eleven for Ayakoi and 8 for A3!. At least with A3!, I'm afforded the time to catch up since they are not doing events outside of the gachas (which I'm not counting here) and reading promotion for the Act 2 Episodes. I'm not too far behind, though, because I actually have been acting against character and making the effort to read the event stories as they come out.

I've been playing Ciagram games pretty chill for the past few months. I started Cinderella's Happy End when it first came out with the LOG app ("Love Stories and Otome Games for Girls) back in May. It's a simple game that doesn't require checkpoints or stat-raising. No avatars. Just 5 tickets a day, with the potential to gain an extra 2 tickets by viewing ads. I'm not exactly sure why I gravitated so much to this game. I think that maybe I needed a slice-of-life game in my routine. By now, I've completed the three other routes, and Kyosuke is the very last one I have to complete. 

As I've mentioned before, I've been playing Ciagram games really chill. In the past, you would've probably seen me playing 5+ of their games at a time. Now, though, I just don't want to do it. I think it's getting more stressful in my old age. 😝At any rate, with my full completion of Cinderella's Happy End coming up soon, I set my sights on Chocolate Temptation next.

There are a few reasons as to why this particular game as opposed to any. For the past couple of years, if I had some time, I'd play the ads on a lot of the Ciagram apps. I kept accruing story tickets, and back then, the tickets didn't expire. Now that it is on the LOG app, I've transferred those tickets as well as tickets to a couple of other games to the app, and now I'm sitting on 650+ free tickets. I need to use them by March 2021, so both Chocolate Temptation and Nightmare Harem are moved to the top of my list of Ciagram games to play.  

I could still also go for more slice-of-life otome. Seriously, I feel like there is a distinct lack of it in the past couple of years. And the art for Chocolate Temptation is among the more pleasing than many other Ciagram games.

I've been steadily playing through the routes that I haven't played on Wizardess Heart. It's not one of my favorite games, but I'm in such dire need for SWD content since they've officially decided to stop updating their still standing games with new content. 😭😭😭 Despite how they have perceptively done us otome players wrong by removing the bulk of their content from mobile game stores, I still have a soft place in my heart for them and will still be a champion for their content.

Guy's route is the last route that I have to play in the Day Class series, excluding all of the sequels that they did. I haven't yet decided whether I want to move forward this fall with the remainder of the Night Class routes I have yet to play. I'll probably take a break until the winter to start back up with the 11 remaining routes I have for Night Class.  😪 

I'm already exhausted thinking about it.

My completionist heart wants me to finish playing all of the routes available in SWD's The Niflheim. I played most of the routes on the standalone before it shut down back in March. I have extra diamonds on my alternate Story Jar account, so I wasn't in a rush to finish JJ and Philippe's route. Of all of the routes, I had the least interest in theirs, so I stopped where I did for a break. I have Jean listed because he's the canon, but I already played his route on the standalone; he's just there because it feels like Niflheim Academy follows as if he were to be the canon for that AU story as well.

 I'm pretty excited about playing these two indie PC titles, Ebon Light and Seduce Me: the Otome. Seduce Me has long been on my to-play list, and I've seen a lot of hype about Ebon Light. Apparently, on the Otome reddit page, it's their indie game of 2019. Tbh, even given the new circumstances of my PC habits, I probably wouldn't have chosen these games as my first games to play on PC, that other PC games held priority. I'm very thankful to the OA Book Club for giving me the push to prioritize these over other games.

I first heard about Piofiore when it first came out for the PS Vita from a friend of me. She effectively built up some hype, but not too much because at the time, I didn't know that it would get localized. I was super psyched when Aksys made the announcement that they would localize Piofiore. I love the mafia-theme as well as the time setting, regardless of whether is is the Taisho Era or the Roaring Twenties. Would the Roaring Twenties apply outside of the US? Idk, but I still romanticize that time period and really like it.

The only reason why Piofiore holds greater precedence on my backlog than Café Enchanté though, is just because of the release dates. Had Café Enchanté released earlier than Piofiore, I would have had that on my to-play list sooner than later. I'm hyped for both games. Realistically, I don't see myself starting Café Enchanté until near the end of the year, and that's me being ambitious. Despite that, I've still preordered both games.

This is another game that would've probably taken me forever to play had it not been for the OA Book Club. We've progressed through two routes, and due to the reading schedule for the remainder of the game, we'll be able to finish right before the long-awaited fan disk, Evermore, releases at the end of November.

 While I'm not dying over Cinderella Phenomenon, I'm floored by the amount of work that went into it. And for the developer to offer such a high quality game for free is astounding. The story is very creative and well-paced. I'm not sure if I'll be playing Evermore shortly after; I suppose that depends on how I feel when I completely finish the game.

 For the past year and a half, maybe two years? I've been working my way through the routes on SLBP. I'm sitting at seven routes remaining that I have not completed at least one ending (excluding Act 2 and Unification). I was a little conflicted about who I should play in this backlog round, but a dear friend suggested I play Saizo for a trope that I love. And she's been wanting me to play Shingen for a long time because he's her best boy. She may not tell me that she wants me to play him when I make my decisions, but I know that she dies a little inside when I tell her the next route that I'm playing. 

...But then, Kojuro's Act 2 Splendor was just announced. 😬 Even though I'm not a huge fan of avatars, there's something about an early completion challenge that brings out the event loving trash that I am.

Did you know that you can still access some of the Shall We Date? premium games that were taken off of the mobile stores back in March? 👀👀👀 As long as you still have the app on your devices, you can still access the content. This applies only towards the premium games that you had to pay for. The free to play games went offline almost immediately. RIP Modern Cinderella, I'll never forget you. 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

I was able to save these games by recording them on a high speed, but since they're still currently available to access for me, I'd like to go back to record and read them with the sound. This applies to Castle Break and Guilty Alice.

For My Sweet Prince and Ninja Love, I still had them on my iPad and hadn't updated the thing in years so that I could retain the stories. It's time that I finally complete these games so that I could bring my iPad to the 2020s.

If you know me, this one is kind of no-brainer. I usually play IkéSen and IkéVamp routes completely within three days of release, dependent on the story boosting times in the concurrent collection events that they do. Theodorus bears mentioning simply because his route is coming out soon, like a week from when I post this blog.

I will say, when IkéVamp first released in Japan, Theo was the very first I had my eye on. His character design is top notch and hits all of my favorite aesthetics when it comes to 2D boyfriends. However, as time passed, I kind of lost interest in him because of his penchant of calling the MC a dog in Dutch and his sadistic ways. I'm generally not a fan of sadists or LI that treat MCs as an animal. I am hoping, though, that he proves me wrong and I go back to thirsting for him like I did when the game first released. Come ask me again in a week.

This year, I played every route on Amnesia except Shin, whom I completed back in 2018. My friend and I played this together, and if it weren't for her, I probably wouldn't have picked it back up again, or at least any time soon. So I have her to thank because it quickly became one of my favorite games that I played this year. We're wrapping up our playthrough of the game with Ukyo, who you can only play once you've completed all other routes. Right now, I'm on Day 6, and I'm still wondering what the hell is going on. I'm looking forward to a wild ride, just like the rest of this game was. Since I played Shin so long ago, I might even replay him.

No outro for this blog. I've got my work cut out for me. ✌️

[texasianotaku]

Walkthrough: Miyabi (Ninja Shadow)

Name: Miyabi Game: Ninja Shadow Developer: NTT Solmare ~ Shall We Date? Platform: Mobile (iOS and Android); FaceBook Pay Type: Freemium Series #12: Encounter With the Underworld Role: Leader of all ninjas Style Type: Cheerful (feather) Release Date: September 8, 2020 Walkthrough Status: Complete Extra Note: Final route for Ninja Shadow

Image Source

Chapter 1: 8 scenes

1.3 (They seem to get along well, though.) (best) (I wonder what their relationship is?)

1.5 Encourage Makoto to take one. (best) Convince Sir Miyabi to stop.

1.5: Get 5x story tickets for first time completion of part 1.5

1.8 Talent-n-Skills Checkpoint: 5+ points 1 hour to get Miyabi’s True Feelings - Part 1 x1

Chapter 2: 8 scenes

2.2 (I can’t think about him right now.) (best) (Could he be resurrected, too?)

2.5 GET CG

2.7 “I understand.” “It’s heartwarming. I’d expect no less from him.” (best)

Chapter 3: 6 scenes

3.2 Answer as noncommittally as possible. Change the subject. (best)

3.5 Go looking for something fancy. (best) Return to Meiko Salon for a bit.

3.6: Avatar Checkpoint

PREMIUM: Bewitching Arabic Eyes (+40 Cheerful; 5 jade) GET CG, Miyabi x 1, Simple Kimono (Miyabi) x 1

NORMAL: Bewitching Arabic Lamp (+20 Cheerful; 4 jade or 500 koban cash)

Chapter 4: 7 scenes

4.3 Try to ignore Ichi for the time being. (best) Continue worrying about Ichi.

4.5 Let him flee without comment. (best) Remind myself that I am here as Sir Miyabi’s assistant.

4.7 Talent-n-Skills Checkpoint: 1,100+ points 4 hours to get Miyabi’s True Feelings - Part 2 x1

Chapter 5: 8 scenes

5.3 Stand and watch Sir Miyabi. Help convince the Shogun to stop. (best)

5.5 Start by offering Sir Miyabi a piece of tempura. Hunker down and polish the whole bowl myself. (best)

Chapter 6: 8 scenes

6.3 Talent-n-Skills Checkpoint: 4,400+ points 24 hours to get Miyabi’s True Feelings - Part 3 x1

6.3 “Next time I will be more prepared.” (best) “I won’t fail him again.”

6.7 “Then how about if you lie down in here?” (best) “Then maybe we should end the party.”

Chapter 7: 7 scenes

7.3 Apologize. (best) Keep my mouth shut.

7.4: Avatar Checkpoint

PREMIUM: Bewitching Arabic Hair (+110 Cheerful; 30 jade) GET CG

NORMAL: Bewitching Arabic Hair Accessory (+70 Cheerful; 20 jade or 2,000 koban cash)

7.5 Encourage Ritsu to continue. (best) Act as if it isn’t true.

Chapter 8: 8 scenes

8.4 Try to persuade Sir Miyabi. Give the Shinsengumi instructions. (best)

8.7 (I might have chosen to do the same thing.) (The technique is forbidden for a reason.) (best)

8.8 Talent-n-Skills Checkpoint: 10,000+ points 24 hours to get Miyabi’s True Feelings - Part 4 x1

Chapter 9: 8 scenes

9.2 Stop Risui. Rely on Sir Miyabi to prevent it. (best)

9.4 (His wounds need to be cared for.) (best) “Risui, please don’t treat him roughly.”

Chapter 10: 8 scenes

10.1 Talent-n-Skills Checkpoint: 16,300+ points 24 hours to get Miyabi’s True Feelings - Part 5 x1

10.3 “It’s not right for you to die.” (best) “Wanting to sacrifice yourself isn’t right.”

10.7 Leave the store in his care. (best) Stick to minding the store myself.

Chapter 11: 7 scenes

11.2 “You should take all the time you want.” (best) “The ninja group is great.”

11.5 Ask Risui where we’re headed. Go along with his fancy act and run. (best)

11.7 Avatar Checkpoint

PREMIUM: Bewitching Arabic Dress (+220 Cheerful; 70 jade) GET CG

NORMAL: Bewitching Arabic Shoes (+140 Cheerful; 45 jade or 5,500 koban cash)

Chapter 12: 8 scenes

12.2 “I’ll miss reading your tabloid.” “You should have great success in Edo.” (best)

12.6: Avatar Checkpoint

PREMIUM: Bewitching Arabic Port Town (+360 Cheerful; 120 jade) GET CG

NORMAL: Bewitching Arabic Flowers in Vases (+240 Cheerful; 80 jade or 11,000 koban cash)

12.8 Smile and tell him it’ll be okay. (best) Point out that he has Shimmon to rely on.

Sweet Ending: 5 scenes

5x story tickets 25x jade 200x Power Recovery Item Navy Captain Hair x 1 (+130 cheerful) Navy Captain Clothes x 1 (+180 cheerful) Navy Captain Boots with Socks x 1 (+80 cheerful) His Navy Captain Clothes x 1 (+180 cheerful) His Navy Captain Boots x 1 (+80 cheerful)

Normal Ending: 3 scenes

5x story tickets 10x jade 100x Power Recovery Item Medieval Maiden Clothes x 1 (+100 cheerful) Medieval Maiden Shoes with Tights x 1 (+50 cheerful)

Previously posted on Otome Amino

Please forgive the poor resolution on the avatar images; Amino does not allow for good transferral of resolution

[texasianotaku]

My derpy name plate for JP class. 😬😂

The first is in hiragana. The second is in katakana, which would be the proper way to go.

[texasianotaku]

Supplemental Lesson: AIUEO/Hiragana

To hear the sounds of hiragana:

Start at 0:55. You can stop at 1:50 for what I am learning at this time, but you’re welcome to continue listening on to get a feel for the rest of the hiragana sounds.

BE ABLE TO PROFICIENTLY WRITE AIUEO: Each character has a stroke order. Be sure to follow the stroke orders to correctly write the hiragana

Source Link

VOCABULARY: These are the words/phrases that I needed to learn for the next class:

Ohayō gozaimasu: “Good morning.” Used until 10 AM - 12:00 PM

Konnichiwa: “Hello.” A standard informal greeting used between 10:00 AM - sundown

Kombanwa: “Good evening.”

Oyasiminasai: “Good night.” Usually said before going to bed or parting at night at late hours outside of the home

Sayōnara: “Goodbye.”

Dewa/Ja mata: “Well then....” An informal farewell when parting from family or friends

To view the correlating blog to this supplemental lesson: https://texasianotaku.tumblr.com/post/178045558007/the-first-lesson-aiueohiragana

[texasianotaku]

The First Lesson: AIUEO/Hiragana

My first lesson was actually two weeks ago from today, but I waited to late to start this blog. 😬 As time goes on, and I get into the rhythm of blogging and taking classes, I definitely don’t plan on having these blogs so closely posted.

Prior to joining this class, I had no expectation of being able to start this fall. I figured the class would be full–and it was–and put myself on the waiting list. Maybe a week prior to start of the class semester, I was informed that I was able to start. So commence to scrambling to find the funds to pay for the class, as I had not earmarked any for it, and to gather my materials. Plus, there was a little bit of waffling on my end whether or not I wanted to start this fall or in Spring 2019.

It took very little convincing on my end as it would get me closer to my JP otome playing goal.

PREPARATION:

The book that we’re using for this class is: 

There is also a “kana” version, but that is recommended if you had any prior knowledge of Japanese.... which I did not. Fortunately, as a member of Amazon Prime, I was able to get the text book pretty quickly.

Also, due to the nature of the writing, I bought myself a graph paper ruled notebook for notes and practice.

THE CLASS:

I have this thing about time, that whenever I arrive anywhere, I’m typically one minute early or one minute late. This was one of those times where I was a minute late. A part of me was panicking because it was the first day. I thought that the school was closer to where I lived than it really was, and I had to battle evening traffic. 

It wasn’t very clear cut where I needed to go, but fortunately, I had the name of my instructor. I found my way into one class and was told to go to another. This ended up being helpful to another student, who was sitting in the wrong class.

Upon arrival, the set up wasn’t a classroom style. Instead, it was two picnic tables pushed together and 5 other people as well as the instructor around it. The only seat available where I had some space was near the instructor, and I sat down.

The instructor’s name is Rei, and she’s originally from Tokyo. She looked to be about 25-years-old, and she had a strong accent. She admitted to us that it was the first time she was teaching the class, and you could tell that she was a little at a loss of where to start.

Eventually, we got to the rote awkward introduction of yourself, and of course, I would be the first one to get called on. And instead of having a beautiful or practical reason for learning Japanese, my nerves get the best of me, and I admitted that I was an otome otaku.... to a degree. I said games, but later, I mentioned Hakuoki. I’m sure some people from the class may have looked it up by now.

Other students’ reasons included: wanting to visit the country; an interest in Japanese culture; being able to communicate with long ago friends from when she lived in Japan. My favorite was how one of the guys wanted to learn Japanese because his wife is Japanese. They have a 3-year-old daughter, and she wanted her father to read Japanese books to her.

After the awkwardness ensues, we refer to the book to learn different greetings, such as:

kombanwa = good evening ohayō gozaimasu = good morning (to be used prior to noon) konnichiwa = hello; generally used between morning and evening

*extra note: as I am just learning, I am using romaji–or romanized Japanese–in order to not get the stroke orders wrong. You’ll see what I’m talking about when I get there.

We are then informed that we will be learning hiragana as it is the most commonly used. Katakana refers more towards western words, and obviously kanji, which is similar in form to Chinese characters, is the most challenging and complex to learn. I’m sure it will be at least a year before I’m exposed to that in an institutional environment.

So, we go over the sounds of the hiragana.

One thing to note is that we shouldn’t think of Japanese in terms of an alphabet but in character sets. So, between hiragana, katakana, and kanji, Japanese has three character sets. We also shouldn’t think in terms of letters when it comes to characters. Each character has a distinctive sound.

Fortunately, for the English speaker, Japanese is atonal, meaning that there is no variance in each sound. Japanese is fairly monotonous in comparison to say like, Vietnamese, where each sound makes or breaks what you’re trying to say.

Below is your hiragana character set.

We worked on the sounds for the monographs above. For the purposes of learning JP, a monograph is going to be a singular character. So think of the hiragana above as monographs. We’re gonna keep things simple and introduce digraphs after we have learned this portion.

After working on the sounds, we wrote our names in Japanese on cards to be used as name cards. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take a picture of my derpy name card, but I will definitely share it the next time I’m able to take one. 

Lastly, we worked on some popular greetings, as I mentioned above!

And that does it for the first lesson! For the next week, we needed to learn how to write: a, i, u, e, o and 6 greetings. If you’re interested in following along, I will have a separate blog post for this and subsequent lesson posts under the title of “Supplemental Lessons: <insert lesson>.” So for this particular blog lesson, it will be called “Supplemental Lessons: AIUEO and Hiragana.”

Thanks for reading! Itterasshai!

To view the correlating lesson to this blog: https://texasianotaku.tumblr.com/post/178045938067/supplemental-lesson-aiueohiragana

[texasianotaku]

Introduction and Why I Want to Learn Japanese

Hey, y’all! This is my first post to record my journey in learning Japanese. I read on some website that creating a blog to keep oneself accountable is a good way to learn, so here I am!

I was a little reticent at first, and I’m highly doubtful that I’ll gather a large following, but nothing is more cathartic than writing. And I’ll jump right to it.

Why do I want to learn Japanese?

To answer this question, I have to start way back, about two or so years ago. I used to passively play a mobile app called Kleptocats.

It’s one of those free to play (with in-app purchases) games that really kind of pass the time. In it, you can purchase extra cats, rooms, etc. And of course, as with most freemium games, you can view ads to gain in-game currency.

One of the ads that I was seeing frequently was from Cybird’s Destined to Love. 

It’s a mobile app where you, the protagonist, is thrown back in time to the Bakamatsu Period of Japan (approximately 1864) and find yourself romancing members of the Shinsengumi, the police force of Kyoto. This is an oversimplification of the politics of the time, and to fully write about it would take up this whole blog. 😅

Anyway, I would see this ad constantly; it may or may not have been at least 50 times (I’m leaning towards it was). I finally folded and downloaded the app. And that was my introduction to otome games.

Wait, what’s an otome game?

An otome game, or otome gēmu, is literally translated as “maiden game.” An easy way to understand it is to think of it in terms of a “Choose Your Own Adventure” that involves a female main character, or MC, who has the choice of romancing a wide variety of men. This is normally referred to as a “reverse harem.” So basically, it’s a visual novel with choices and involves romance.

So why do I want to learn Japanese again?

Fast forward to August 2018. By then, I had played a multitude of otome games, primarily on mobile. I finally decided to take the plunge and purchased a Playstation Vita. It took a lot of agonizing as it seems to be a dying console, but I felt it had enough incentive to purchase as there are 12 or so localized (translated) titles.

I started my foray into console otome gaming with Idea Factory/Aksys’s 7′sCarlet....

AND I WAS HOOKED.

I did a lot of research on other localization projects. While Aksys Games (a gaming company well known for localizing otome games) had a big year in 2018 with 3 otome releases in the West, they only have 1 slated for 2019. XSEED Games will also be releasing London Detective Mysteria sometime this fall.

TWO KNOWN LOCALIZATION PROJECTS FOR THE WEST WAS NOT ENOUGH!

I toyed around with the idea of learning Japanese and looked into ways that I could learn it. Fortunately, in the area that I live in, I was able to find Japanese classes, and I signed up for them!

I know that I could’ve self-taught, but truthfully, between work, having a family, and volunteering activities, I needed something structured and that I had a financial investment in, in part, to hold me accountable.

And this is where we are. I’m learning Japanese to be able to play more visual novel games, particularly otome. Of course, I have an interest in visiting Japan, but gaming is my motivating factor.

I will be posting about my progress in learning Japanese, as well as resources that I use and anything of help. I’ll also be writing about games that I play. 

If you are learning Japanese, this blog might be a simpatico kind of thing, and maybe you could be learning along with me! If you stumbled on this blog, I’d love to know why you’re learning as well!

Regardless of how or why you’ve found your way here, I hope that you enjoy coming along this journey with me. Until next time! 😚