Since Christmas comes in about another week, its time to share the second part of 12 Days of Christmas (Days 5-8). (Image Source)
8. Free
When this show aired back in July, it was definitely something since it was the first show that featured a mostly male cast from Kyoto Animation. While some parts of the blogosphere and the fandom were filled in rage and even go so far by stating that this show is the death of Anime because “fujoshi” is invading male space known as Anime, I pretty much ignore them. To me, while there were a good amount of flaws that bothered me, especially Rin being a complete jerk, it’s just a decent show of four boys who are enthusiastic about swimming, nothing controversial.
7. Ore no Imouto 2
Compared to the first season, which I enjoyed quite a lot, the sequel was an amazing train wreck to look at. Besides my preferred ship (Kyousuke and Ruri) being sunk by Kirino, it just shows how much of a backbone Kyousuke has, which is basically none. He essentially rejects every girl who would have been a better match for him in order to pick his little sister.
To make matters worse, the series finale shows how hopeless he is as seen in my review. He is in love with his little sister, Kirino despite the amount of abuse (verbal and physical) he receives and how much society looks down at these relationships. He even marries her in the end in a fake wedding. On the other hand, I have to give them credit. At least they didn’t copped out and say that they are not blood related unlike other shows!
6. Japanese Video Games
Basically, this is all the games I bought and played in 2013 (excluding Totori, which I got in 2012)
In August 2012, I received a Playstation Vita for my birthday, but I didn’t know how much potential it will have now. This year, I spent a good amount of time playing various Japanese games and less on localized games so that I can practice what I already learned in my Japanese self-study and it paid off. While some of the games I bought already got a release or have a future release (Atelier Arland ports, Escha and Loggy and Neptune Idol PP), there were a few games that never got a localized release for some reason such as the Tales of Hearts R, which I enjoyed a lot.
Playing these games allow me to get a feel of how the Japanese language is used outside of Japanese textbooks. While the readings in textbooks are important as they touch upon grammar and various situations, these readings can get tiring to read since they are always about school and stuff. Next year, I probably won’t spend nearly as much on video games (except for Neptune Re;birth2 and/or Noire spinoff game) as I need to focus some attention on JPLT N4 and that I already have a big backlog of games that I need to finish.
5. Pokémon X and Y & Pokémon Origins
2013 was a great year to be a Pokémon Fan because Game Freak has done a lot to please its fans and hype the release of X and Y. In October, they released a movie length special called Pokémon Origins, basically retelling the adventures of Red and Green from Fire Red and Leaf Green Pokémon games. While the story feels rushed, I still enjoyed it. To top that off, Red uses a Mega Stone on his Charizard to Mega Evolve it into Mega Charizard X, which looks awesome despite Charizard being an overrated Pokémon.
As for Pokémon X and Y, these games are probably my most favorites compared to previous generations since it featured 3D battling and trainer customization. The latter is probably the most anticipated feature for me because I always wanted my character to look cute in twin tails and a schoolgirl’s outfit. The same can’t be said for males as they have a weak selection of clothing and hair options to choose from.
While the story feels weak, besides the 3D environments and customization options, I also liked some of the mechanic changes Game Freak did to make IV breeding a bit easier, buffing up older Pokémon (e.g. Fairy Type) and of course, making weather-starting abilities only last for 5 turns opposed to forever. Moreover, one can battle with 6 Pokémon over Wi-Fi without having to level up to 100, which basically regained my interest in Wi-Fi battles.
Next Time (in the next 4 to 5 days): Illya Prisma, Gargantia, Neptunia, Little Busters. ¶
I’m so jealous of anyone that can read play Japanese video games.
Where did you pick up the language?
I just picked up some text books and do some practice by writing some sentences, doing the textbook worksheets and making flash cards (I used a program called Anki to memorize all the vocabulary). Hiragana and Katakana with a little effort is easy to memorize and write, but Kanji is the hardest part of any Asian language, not just Japanese.
The books I used is Genki I and II and “An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese” from The Japan Times. It will cover up until N2 in the JLPT. There is also a complete grammar guide which can be viewed for free here: http://www.guidetojapanese.org/learn/grammar . I hope this answered your question.