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Happy 25th Birthday!

August 9, 2014 by chikorita157 9 Comments

It seems like yesterday since I turned 24 years old. Like last year, it has been a calm year thus far except for the couple big snowstorms. Not to mention, I have been focusing primarily on learning new vocabulary and Kanji from playing video games and memorizing them through flash cards. I am still planning to tackle grammar needed for JPLT (will focus on N3 next year) with the references I have since there are apparently not many good advanced level textbooks unless you want to learn from one that is only in Japanese.

As I turn 25 years old, I have a feeling that 1/4^th of my life has already passed by me although I look younger than my actual age. During those years, I have been focusing mostly on education. After the fall semester, I will finally complete my master’s degree and find my first job. I have high hopes that I will get a good paying job, but it won’t be easy. Once I get a one, I don’t expect things to be drastically different depending on the workload. In fact, I will be able to cover more types of content and be able to attend Anime conventions. Not sure which one I will go to, but Otakon is a good possibility since it’s only about a 3-hour drive from where I live. I’ll figure it out once I get there.

With that, feel free to say Happy Birthday in the comments below. I will be streaming games today and tomorrow, so feel free to watch on Hitbox, if you want.
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Summer 2014 Vacation Update

June 24, 2014 by chikorita157 3 Comments

Since summer started a few days ago, it’s time to share what will happen in the next 11 days (June 26 to July 7th). As mentioned in a Summer Anime Preview post I made earlier this month, I will be going on vacation to the Midwest yet again. Since this month as been rough for me with my blog having traffic woes and such, which cause my motivation to write posts to go down slightly. It’s probably best to take a short break to prevent myself from burning out completely. Hopefully, I will come up with more ideas for future editorial posts once I come back. (Image Source)
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Mari Okada Considers Reviving Miuna After Being Moved by TwitchPlaysPokemon

April 1, 2014 by chikorita157 Leave a Comment

Manaka Lives thanks to the Helix Fossil, who regained her feeling to love along with her Ena!

Toyko, Japan – In the recent episode of Nagi no Asukara, Miuna sacrificed herself to save Manaka, which left viewers with buckets of tears, especially those who wanted to see her with Hikari. After several days of fans morning over her, Mari Okada announced that Miuna would in fact not have to live life as a wooden maiden for longer. The main reason she changed her mind is because she was moved by the emotional journey of Red being controlled by thousands of people in a stream known as Twitch Plays Pokémon. In this adventure, the main character revives a Helix Fossil after beating all the gym leaders with some sad happenings such as a bunch of Pokémon being released and of course, political fights over democracy and anarchy. After watching the players finally beat Blue, the Pokémon League Champion, she couldn’t bare seeing the extreme sadness of the viewers again after they were heartbroken by the ending of AnoHana, so she did something that is extraordinary to give Miuna a happy ending, use the helix as a deus ex machina!

Mari wants to resolve the hardships the Sea God was facing by having Hikari and Manaka bring back the precious Helix Fossil containing the spirit of the girl the sea-god loved. While Miuna suffered for these years since she had to sacrifice herself during the 2^nd Ofunehiki festival in order to save Manaka, perhaps with the revival of the Helix Fossil, the sea-god might reconsider and release her in place of the fossil. Time will tell if Miuna is allowed to return to the surface.

Still, Lord Uroko, who refers himself as a scale of a sea-god declared that April 1^st will be an unofficial holiday named “National Helix Fossil Day” in honor of Miuna making her sacrifice so that no one will suffer the same fate like Manaka did initially. Of course, the sea-god reunites his love in the form of a female Omanyte. He should be proud of this decision since Shioshishio won’t have to suffer a horrible fate. The balance is finally restored between land and sea!

Chikorita157’s Anime Blog turns 5 Years Old – Reflecting on 5 years of Blogging

February 17, 2014 by chikorita157 8 Comments

It seems like yesterday since I started my Anime blog back in February in 2009. Today, this blog reaches yet another important milestone of turning 5 years old. While the 5^th year had some ups and downs, I still enjoy writing about Anime and even Japanese language video games. (Image Source)
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Anime Blogosphere Pokemon Tournament and 12 Days of Anime

December 6, 2013 by chikorita157 4 Comments

As 2013 comes to an end, I want to share what special things I have planned for December. (Image Source)
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Happy 24th Birthday and Behinds the Scenes of Blogging

August 9, 2013 by chikorita157 10 Comments

Before I knew it, time flew by so quickly. During that time, I finally graduated college this year and experienced the worse power outrage last fall because of Hurricane Sandy. Even so, this year was a rather peaceful one as I focused more on writing about Anime, and diving into intermediate level Japanese language studies despite my up and downs. The question is, how I will manage my time as I head to grad school? I probably do more of the same, with a few adjustments.

For this birthday post, I will share behind the scenes on where I do my blogging. I do most of my blogging in a separate room, which has my desk with a LCD monitor and a screen. Since I’m busy all the time, my desk is unorganized and it’s pretty embarrassing. While I do most of my web surfing and browsing at this desk, I also do my blogging and web surfing at college and when I’m on vacation, in the hotel room. Since these places usually have Internet access, I no longer have the excuse to go on hiatus.

messy-desk — This is usually where I make most of my posts.

As for the computers I currently use, I have two Macbook Pro laptops. The one on the left (Takanashi Rikka) is my main one, which has a faster Intel i7 Quad Core CPU, 16GBs of RAM, 750 GB Hard Drive, Matte Display and nVidia Geforce GT 650m graphics. The right is a 2010 model, Takamachi Nanoha, which replaced my lemon laptop.

With that, feel free to say Happy Birthday in the comments below. As always, my parents are going to take me out later for a special meal. (Image Source) ¶

Summer 2013 Vacation Update and Marathon Plans

June 21, 2013 by chikorita157 2 Comments

While my post on my Anime Music Tournament nominations is nowhere close to completion, I feel the need to share what will happen late next week and how it’s going to affect my blogging for 11 days. As some might know already, I’m going on vacation starting June 27^th until July 7^th to the Midwest, namely Chicago and mostly dull Wisconsin. I will also be making updates on Twitter and uploading photos to flickr during my vacation.

Even though I will have Internet all week through hotel wireless and my iPhone, I know that some reviews are going to get delayed because I will be on the road. Because of this, posts for the last episode of Gargantia and Photo Kano will be delayed a little, but I will try to get them up. As for the Neptunia Idol game, which released recently, I will write a review on that once I finish the first play through, which will take some time since I have to translate dialog.

With that out of the way, here are the two shows I plan on doing:

Love Live School Idol Project
AKB0048 (first season, from Episode 3 to the end)

I will watch as many episodes as I can while I’m in the car and then write a full review. Of course, revising it will take some time so don’t expect it right away once I finish all the episodes.

In addition, I will be making a “ask me anything” post where you can ask questions as long it is related to blogging, Anime, or video games, which will stay stick to the front page until I come back. I will check them every day as they come in, so please keep it civil. With that, I hope everyone have a nice and fun summer. ¶

Frustrations with Blogging – The Call for Feedback

April 19, 2013 by chikorita157 12 Comments

Just recently, I have been feeling down because I haven’t received any comments lately for my coverage of Spring Anime compared to last year. I know I haven’t been commenting on other blogs since I have been busy lately and have been addressing that. Even with that, I still haven’t received any responses or any likes at all since Monday, which might be an indication that my writing needs improvement.

I know that other bloggers are in this slump and I’m not the only one. However, I want your feedback so there will be more interaction instead of complaining about it. I still want to blog as I still have a lot of ideas I want to write about, but I have lost motivation to write posts as I feel that nobody seems to care about what I’m writing. Because of that, I want to use this opportunity to see what I need to improve on content wise such as my writing quality in the comments below. Also, if you have any ideas on what ideas I should write for editorials or what improvements I need to make for episodic posts to make them interesting. (Image Source) ¶

Special Update

April 1, 2013 by chikorita157 7 Comments

I decided that Anime is too good, so I’m going to stop blogging about Anime. Instead, I’m going to become the most famous alchemist in the whole world by making stuff like weapons and food. It’s going to be totally awesome…

But yeah, I should get back to making stuff… If you are wondering what I will be making through alchemy, just read more below. (Image Source)
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Chikorita157’s Anime Blog turns 4 Years Old – Humble Thoughts

February 17, 2013 by chikorita157 5 Comments

Believe it or not, my 3^rd year of blogging was a pretty good year. While I didn’t win the 2^nd Aniblog Tournament, at least my match came a bit closer compared to the first one that happened in 2010. In addition, I explored other means of content besides writing episodic and editorial posts. Aside from that, there were some real life events such as Hurricane Sandy, which prevented me from blogging for a few days. Despite the difficulties I face while more Anime blogs died in the past year, I pushed on and now have reach the fourth year of blogging.

Since I reached my fourth year of blogging, where do I go from here since I don’t show any sign of dying anytime soon? Well, I’m pretty much doing more of the same since I’m satisfied by how things are going now. On the other hand, with Grad School is on the horizon, I might have to adjust what I blog and probably stick to weekly editorials and stuff. When the time comes, I will figure it, but it all comes down to proper time management.

With that, I thank all my friends, followers and readers who supported me for all these years. Let’s make the fifth year a strong one!

Raw Statistics: 1140 posts, 2655 Comments, 54 Completed Series (No visitors/page views statistics as Piwik sort of broke on me). (Image Source)