You don’t need to have a lot

Posted on by maegamisama

You don’t need to have a lot

Today I once again found myself looking at a NAS (Network attached storage). This always happens every couple of months when Youtube (yeah I need to cut back) decides to recommend me a video about them. Something about the idea of having a bunch of stuff backed up on hard drives with the ability to access it at any time is very appealing. Particularly to someone like me who has collected various physical media/ stuff for decades for similar reasons.

What stops me, apart from the steep price of all the hardware (close to 1k for something somewhat basic), is I’ve come to a point in my life where I recognize the waste in amassing stuff. Yeah it’s cool at first to have this stuff and it’s comforting to have immediate access it. However, what ends up happening with a lot of it is it just sits and takes up space. It adds to the clutter while not contributing much of anything.

Digital stuff, apart from the hardware, might seem like an exception at first, but imagine you download a bunch of content (I mean legally rip them from media you own) Let’s say at minimum you’ve got 10 shows and 10 movies to watch. Are you going to watch them right now? Maybe one of them here and there, but what about all of them? My guess is probably not.

Why? Those 10 series/movies aren’t all that you’re ever going to be interested in watching. While you’re trying to enjoy them, new stuff that you want to engage with is going to be coming out all the time. Even if you’re the most jaded media critic, it’s almost impossible that there wont be something at some point that will make you develop this massive backlog.

That’s ultimately what collecting media does. Whether it be physical or digital, it makes a backlog of stuff. I’d argue it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have a backlog, and unavoidable with the amount of stuff out there. However where I start to find some fault in it is when I’m spending both time and money to maintain access to that backlog. A point that isn’t hard to reach sadly.

Time is finite, and what we think we’ll do someday might not necessarily line up with what we’re actually able to do. Even in something where we have almost total control like choosing how we spend our free time, there gets to be too many things competing for it. We often tend to let a lot of things compete for it.

What then ends up happening, at least in my case, is I often suffer from choice overload/paralysis. I’ll have the time to sit down and watch an anime or play a game, but I’ll have so much stuff that I’ve acquired that picking something I actually want to jump into is a big barrier. The outcome of which, all too often, will end up being me not choosing anything and instead being distracted by something (Youtube nowadays, but social media posting also)

I don’t believe everyone has to necessarily be like that. I’m certainly working on forcing myself to do things in situations where I’m too indecisive (to mostly positive results), and certainly there’s an argument that you generally have to force yourself to do anything (The brain is said to naturally pick the option of least resistance) However, there’s something to be said about limiting your options in the first place.

The older I get, the amount I want to do grows about the same as it did when I was young. I would say it grows even more since I realized my mortality. At the same time though, I’ve also started to accept that I’m not going to get around to everything. Not especially when even the stuff I do accomplish never completely leaves the backlog (If I like it, there’s a chance I might want to experience it again) Some things I’ve had to start taking some time to cross things off my list without touching them.

It’s not always a permanent thing. What I’ve found is that the stuff you really want to do will end up coming back on your list regardless. Though there’s also been many things I’ve acquired that even upon feeling some remorse of getting rid of, I’ve not really contemplated since. Primarily because it wasn’t always staring me in the face any time I looked on my hard drive or shelf.

I think that’s a big part of why I’ve started to look a bit more negatively on collecting things for the sake of having access to them. It’s just giving yourself a bigger backlog that you have to look at when it comes time to decide what you’re going to do. Sure initially it gives you a rush to acquire it, but is it worth the anxiety it gives later? Not in a lot of cases, I feel.

Physical stuff comes with a cost of space and the environment. Digital stuff comes with a similar cost. Sure that thing you don’t buy now might not be easily (legally) available in a couple years, but you’re not necessarily going to have to deal with that. Even in the unlikely chance you do, well it’s not like your life inconsolable. It’s more like “God this fucking sucks..” and then later “Hmm what’s this?” as you find something else to take the place of it.

I think what I’m trying to convince people (myself) of is that at times you don’t need to have a lot. You don’t need to collect a bunch of stuff, as cool as it is or as good as it makes you feel. Rather you need to focus in and figure out what you’re going to prioritize so that you have less moments of indecision and more moments of enjoyment.

You don’t need that NAS media server. You don’t need a bunch of physical media. You don’t need to download/buy every visual novel you find interesting. You don’t need to buy every attractive waifu figure out there. Cutting back and not worrying about it would even be a healthier thing in the long run.

Denpa teki na Kanojo

Posted on by maegamisama

Denpa teki na Kanojo

Many years ago, I was in an online chatroom where people were discussing their favorite anime. At the time, I arrogantly considered myself something of an anime expert, and I assumed that everything mentioned would be stuff I had watched or at least heard of before. That was until someone brought up Denpa teki na Kanojo and made it out to be the most obscure thing ever.

I remember writing it down somewhere, and later I remember downloading it to my anime collection. At the time however, things kept me from engaging with it, and I just told myself I’d get to it later. Fast forward to 2026 where I’ve since deleted or watched much of what was probably in that collection then, but for whatever reason never touched Denpa teki na Kanojo.

I honestly couldn’t tell you why it took me so long. It’s not really a long series at 2 episodes. Even if they were double the normal length of regular anime, it was still only about 4 episodes worth. Given that I worked through other OVAs and most recently Takopi’s Original Sin, I can’t really explain why. Except maybe I forgot what it was initially about and mostly kept it because I had labeled it as “obscure” from long ago.

I picked it up, primarily because I’m started to run out of room on my external where I keep my anime, and as something that I recognized as being around forever (as well as recently finishing Takopi’s original sin) I thought “Hey only two episodes, I can finish these and delete them off my hard drive” Seems sensible right?

Before I explain the premise of Denpa Teki na Kanojo, it might be helpful to explain what denpa is. Denpa with it’s original meaning is electromagnetic waves, but is more often used in the anime/manga sphere as a term for shit getting weird. By shit I mean people going crazy and creating an unsettling bizarre atmosphere.

If you search up the title on Google, you’ll see it somewhat naively translates it as the Radio wave-like girlfriend. I probably don’t need to convince you that translation makes very little sense. The girlfriend in this case is more delusional/crazy. It’s also worth noting that while kanojo is used for girlfriend, it can also just be a term used for “girl” Which actually could fit this anime too (as it’s not just the “girlfriend” suffering from delusions)

The premise is a girl, Ochibana Ame, approaches a delinquent, Juuzawa Juu, claiming she knew him in a past life where he was a king and she was his subject/servant. He sees her as crazy and wants nothing to do with her, but soon after is caught up with a serial murder case that he begins to suspect the girl is somehow involved in.

I’ll avoid going into much more than that as it’s a short series and any more I feel would probably be too much info for anyone hoping to go somewhat blind. All I will say is there’s some dark subject material, and you might want to steer away if you’re somewhat sensitive to things. It’s not what I’d call a super gruesome show, and I think it can be really cute at parts, but it’s definitely along the same lines as something like Takopi’s Original Sin where you shouldn’t go in expecting it to be sunshine and rainbows.

I personally loved it though. I could somewhat be biased as I often find I love denpa stories, especially ones that involve cute girls. This one checks both boxes splendidly. The only real downside is that there should be more of it, but sadly the light novel series only has 3 volumes and been left unfinished for decades now..

Goodbye Social Media

Posted on by maegamisama

Goodbye Social Media

Maybe you’re a friend, a mutual follower, or just someone who stumbled across my hopefully defunct social media profiles. In any event, welcome. Here you can keep up with what I’m up to if you’re interested or find other means to contact me if you ever want to get to know each other better. This is basically the bare minimum I felt I had to do before I could start to feel comfortable with the idea.

To understand why, you have to know why I used social media in the first place. It wasn’t because I secretly wanted to be idolized or out of lack of other stuff to do. It was out of an old desire I had to meet people online. A desire that stretches back as far as the late 90s when I was an awkward emotional teenager.

You see, I grew up and live in a very rural part of a rural state (Wisconsin). While it’s certainly nice for my anxiety to live away from a lot of people, it sucked for trying to find true connections. Especially when my interests didn’t line up with the typical person. While people have increasingly become more open to things like anime and computers now, back then it felt absolutely nonexistent (It still feels that way today from time to time, but that’s more from me not getting out much)

I relied on the internet for much of my teenage years to form relationships. It started with IRC chatrooms and evolved into Final Fantasy web forums. By the time social media rolled around, I wasn’t as much of a teen anymore and had gained friends. College also gave me many avenues in which I pursued and obtained many relationships (Some of which exist to this day)

However, college only lasts for so long. Eventually I found myself back in this place where it’s a 20 minute drive to get to the local city, but there’s nothing there you care for. While I don’t plan to be here forever, hopefully, the opportunities to get out right now are not great. It’s not so bad, but it is incredibly lonely.

The internet, I believe, once had the potential of bringing people together. I still believed this even in the early days of social media, although I felt like the focus shifted too much from quality to quantity. Though as time went on, I realized what I wanted and what it provided were getting farther and farther apart.

All the rage-baiting, the AI slop, the bots.. It’s now reached a point where my addiction to it takes more dopamine than it gives. I thought for a while that maybe I could suffer through it, wade through the bullshit, and maybe find someone… But the more years that go by, the more I realize that’s not very likely. It’s only really making my life worse.

That’s not to say I didn’t find good people, but despite any desires I might have to be a bigger part of their lives, social media never gave a good way of doing that. Even if someone followed you back, while exciting, often didn’t lead to many one on one conversations. Maybe occasionally they would comment and you could have a bit of a rap with them, but there weren’t really the chances to take things beyond that. Most people already had their own lives and friend groups, and things like social media were meant for more superficial things.

I’m not trying to talk shit about anyone, honest. I just came to feel like social media, instead of giving me a tool that could help bridge the distance to forming relationships, only really gives you a few surface level connections. And that is the only thing a lot of people seem to be looking for. It provides a means of validating yourself.

It should be obvious, even if you don’t necessarily full agree with my assessments, that feeling this way is more than enough reason to want to quit. Yet, even I have had my doubts, which is why, despite trying many times, I’ve always come back. However, there’s only so many times where you can come back before you have to realize there’s nothing changing.

Maybe there was a different way I could of approached social media that could have gotten me what I want. I wont deny the possibility. I will say that it’s impossible to find out what that is continuing on as I have been. Thus I’m giving it up in hopes it can help me with my productivity and happiness. I’m also giving it up in hopes it forces me to explore other avenues to hopefully meet people.

If you read this far and are inclined to get in touch with me, I still use Discord (maegamisama) That most likely will not change. I should also note that not all social media is affected, but that I am putting restrictions on most.

More specifically, I wont be visiting Blusky or Twitter again. Blusky is a great place, people-wise, but still operates on some of the bad features or Twitter. Twitter is not a good place at all and I hope Elon Musk loses it all one day (maybe I’m a bit spiteful) Basically I’ll be avoiding anywhere that’s about posting to the void that’s not this blog

Reddit I’ll still allow when it comes to looking up information because sometimes that where a lot of my solutions to questions come from. I might also look to keep up with visual novel news (until I can figure out a better way of keeping up to date with things)

Youtube will be music and occasionally watching streamers I like. No more Youtube shorts. While they’re not social media like Twitter, they’re definitely more dangerous to productivity.

In short, this is where I will be from now on. If anyone happens to stumble across me or you knew me from any of those places I left, please feel free to reach out with the resources I provide here. I’d still love to get to know you and potentially be friends 🙂

New years; new me?

Posted on by maegamisama

New years; new me?

Last time I updated was about half a year ago? I know I wrote up a huge thing about turning 40 and in it I seemingly made the decision to work towards going to Japan. However, there’s been a few snags in that idea since then. The primary one being I don’t want to leave my cat alone for that long of a time. Something that probably seems crazy to some people, but meh, I’ll still probably go to Japan soon, providing global shit doesn’t hit the fan, but it will be for a much shorter period (a month or whatever the maximum is for visiting)

I’m still intending to focus on Japanese. It’s very much a life goal at this point. This year I’ve made a semi-resolution to consume 10 substantial things in Japanese. I was mostly thinking of visual novels for this, but novels, light novels, and games would also do. Possibly anime and manga too depending, but I want it to be something bulky enough that I feel it’s something notable.

Right now I’m in the midst of a couple VNs in Japanese, although I’m not 100% sure whether I’m going to count them or not. I technically started reading them both last year (and not just like in December either, some I started halfway through 2025) Though if I say they don’t count, then it makes me more inclined to drop them and start something new. I guess maybe I can judge them based on how much I have left and give them percentage credit? That’s probably the best course of action

I’ve also been half considering adding learning to code into my new years resolutions again. I say again because I’ve attempted to do so a couple times, and while I do have some skill with it, staying consistent is not one of my strong points. Not to mention that it’s easy to get frustrated when you spend so much time on something and still feel no closer than you were before (I struggle with that a lot with Japanese even)

The big reason I’m considering coding though is I’ve yet again developed the itch to make a game. Not just something you can simply put together in an engine like RPG-Maker, but a game with mechanics that would require something a bit more capable. Though whether that holds up is another matter. Not to mention there’s a lot of other skill sets needed for a game which kind of makes things uncertain. In any event don’t expect anything out of this.

By far my biggest resolution is probably to give up social media. I’m going to make a separate post about this, because I’m going to link it on my various social media profiles before logging out forever, but the general plan is to quit before the week is over. It will mostly be a Twitter/Blusky thing with some restrictions on Reddit and Youtube. It’s nothing I haven’t attempted before, but I do feel I have a firmer resolve to actually stick with it.


This year I plan to also start de-cluttering by getting rid of some of my possessions, and to stop acquiring as much stuff as I had previous years. I still expect that I’ll buy unnecessary plushies and still have quite a collection. However, I hope to have things feeling a bit more curated. Not to mention that keeping off social media should stop the temptation from acquiring most stuff.

I guess for other things I’d like to mention, there’s media I plan to engage with this year.

Starting with games, I’ve got a few different goals.

FFXI

For FFXI, which I started up again a year ago and subsequently quit a few times, I will continue to play. I accomplished quite a bit in the past month, and I feel like I’ve finally gotten my character to a point where I feel like I can play more casually (ie: I don’t feel like I need to be on all the time to try to catch up with anyone. I feel like I can just progress at more casual rate)

I’ve decided to focus mostly on the jobs of COR, WAR, BRD, and GEO right now. I’m not permanently retiring MNK, THF, SAM, or BLU, but given these jobs seem the most desirable/useful, they’re what i’m going to focus on. I have decided to retire SCH though because I don’t think I have the inventory to manage it and I’m reluctant to invest in more wardrobes for it (Not to mention the main reason I was doing it was because I wanted to solo the CoD htmb which I’ve already gotten everything from)

I’d like to do Odyssey and Omen more as that’s where most of the stuff I want comes from now. Ideally I’d like to find an odyssey climb/unlock group, but the one that started on my LS seems to have fizzled out before it even got going. Omen would be nice to find a group too

Specifically the things I want/need:

Odyssey

  • Mpaca gear (Arebati clear required) – primarily for my mnk
  • Gleti’s gear (Ngai clear required) – knife for my cor (maybe) rest for my thief?
  • Ikenga gear (Bztavian clear required) – gear for my cor (Although I think my current stuff might be better than most of it, I’d have to double check)
  • Bumba RP for Nyame – probably the thing that would give me the most use, but also the thing I’m furthest away from
  • RP for other gear..

Basically Odyssey is the one place I have the most work to be done, but also the one place I have the least idea of how to tackle it

Omen

  • Nusku Shield (Glassy Craver) – I did promise to help a LS mate with this, but I also find myself wanting one. More specifically for the range set I’ve been trying to build to be more useful in Sortie.
  • Dingir Ring (Gin) – For my leaden salute set. Apparently better than archon ring (which i’ve been unsuccessful at getting from the arch dyna lord)
  • Niqmaddu Ring (Fu) – DD ring for WAR and MNK primarily (though it might also see use on SAM if I work on it)
  • Regal Necklace (Ou)– Biggest priority of Ou drops I want.
  • Regal ring (Ou) – Probably the next Ou drop priority for me.
  • Regal earring (Ou) – I think around the same priority as Regal Ring. Though honestly I’d be lucky to get anything of these three anytime soon
  • BRD job cards – I need some job cards to fully upgrade my AF set to plus 3.
  • WAR job cards – Same as above

Misc goals

  • RP Rostram – I feel like my COR would be so much better with it
  • Get master level 30 on BLU – Mostly doing this for some strats I saw for getting other items I need
  • Gere Ring – Odin htmb drop for MNK/THF
  • Freke Ring- Not a huge priority but it’d be nice for Geo (again Odin htmb)
  • Cor Empy +3 – Working on a full set of plus +3 empy for cor first from sortie
  • Geo Empy +2 – Admittedly probably more impactful than my +3 for Cor, but I don’t feel like doing much with Geo until Idris
  • Idris – Speaking of, I’m one coalition away from being able to do this. It should happen SOON ™ Once it does, I’ll be more gungho about going after stuff GEO needs
  • Warrior Relic unlocks – Need to get my warrior some Dyna W1 clears. Though I’m hesitant to do so until I’ve at least finished RPing Rostram
  • Win Mog Bonanza –Yeah like that will ever happen

JRPGs (and adjacent)

Trails from Zero – I started this last year, and while I enjoy it it’s not really what I’d consider a game that I’m super motivated to find out what happens next. The way I’d describe it is more like a comfy anime. I just enjoy watching the characters interact for a bit and then I’m usually good for a while. A little disappointing when I know how much others consider it peak story, but maybe I just haven’t gotten to the real hook yet (Then again trails in the sky was similar feeling for me)

Xenoblade X- Technically a replay, but despite buying on Switch I haven’t touched it. At first I had been waiting for the Switch 2, and then I was waiting to see if there’d be an upgrade to it or the other Xenoblades (if so I was really ready to commit to a xeno replay) However since neither of those happened, I kind of shelved it.

Unicorn Overlord – I’ve been interested in this, and I actually got the game on sale around Christmas time. Though my main issue is that last time I tried it (before I owned it) I didn’t really care as much for the strategy RPG elements (I’m actually not a huge SRPG gamer apart from a few series)

Looking it up, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of info about JRPGs coming out this year. Though I see there’s a Utawarerumono game coming out that’s supposed to be a sequel to Monochrome Mobius, so I guess I’d also probably like to play that. There’s also the DQ7 remake, but whether I play that is up in the air (Though I would like to make some headway into a Dragon Quest game this year, maybe I’ll finally do the DQ3 remake)

Other games

Resident Evil Series – I was never very interested in Resident Evil until I played through the remake of 4. I know the other games are quite different, but it got me interested enough in its universe. I was also looking to potentially play 9, which has jumped up in priority due to the reveal that Leon would be playable again. I’d like to at least do all the numbered games before I commit to it though.

Pirate Yakuza – I like Majima and I got the game when it came out, but I didn’t really feel in the mood for it I guess. Despite that, I hear it was pretty good, and I’m anxious to sort of get back to the Yakuza world a bit. Not particularly as excited for Yakuza 3 remake. The one actors past misconduct aside, I always found 3 and 4 of the series to be the weakest to me. I’m really holding out for whatever they put Ichiban in next

Dispatch – I did buy this after hearing a lot of hype. Still haven’t sat down with it. I might play it on Steam deck before I go to bed soon.

anemoi – This is a visual novel, but I’m counting it. It’s a big one that I’m looking forward to. I’ve always loved the visual novel developer Key’s titles. Summer Pockets, their last big one, became a huge part of my life. While I’m trying hard not to have the same expectations of this game, it’s hard not to have a moderate level of hype for this

Slay the spire – I’ve been getting back into Slay the Spire again on my tablet. Though I guess the second game is also supposed to come out this year? I might migrate to that if it seems interesting enough and I’m still on the kick

GTA6 – I guess? I really like the game genre of games like Grand Theft Auto and Saints Row. Games where you commit crimes but there’s also an element of humor/ridiculousness to it. Though the ridiculousness has kind of been lacking in more recent GTA in favor of more realism and bigger budget. Which I’m not a huge supporter of at all, but regardless I’ll probably still be tempted to check it out as there’s not much being released in this genre anymore it feels like (I guess because no one wants to compete with GTA)

Looking at a list of upcoming games, the only thing that stood out to me as a modicum of interest was the Fatal Frame II remake. I probably missed some, but I wont know until they come out.

Potential replays

This is the section where I talk about games that I might potentially replay

Grandia and Grandia II – Technically I never finished Grandia. I don’t think I even got past the half-way point. I put it in this section however because when I thought about trying it again (from the start) I also immediately wanted to replay Grandia II (A game I did beat and loved immensely, though that was back when I was a teen) I think it’d be great to do both, and maybe even try the other ones out

Lunar 1 and 2 – The remaster came out and I bought it. I just need to sit down with it. Which I hope to do soon

Breath of Fire II III and IV – I’ve wanted to replay these games for a while, but I’ve been holding off on the chance Capcom ever came to their senses and released a collection. While I still have faith they might do this eventually (especially given their track record lately), I don’t know if it’s really worth waiting for anymore. Especially as it’s hard to imagine them doing much to improve them

Star Ocean 3 – It’s a game I don’t exactly remember a lot about aside from not liking the twist at the end. I always hear people fondly talk about it as one of the “good” Star Ocean’s though and that’s made me want to revisit it. I’d also like to give it a try with the undub, but I’ve been having issues with getting thatt working on my Odin 2 portal. So it might not be something that comes about before the others.

Xenosaga 1-3 – I hesitate to list this because despite wanting to, it’s a very ambitious undertaking. Can’t really guarantee that I wont drop it and just go and replay Xenogears for the dozenth time.

Xenoblade 2-3 – Same as above, although I have more desire to revisit these. Not so much the first game, which I find to be okay but generally overrated (That will got some people salty I’m sure) I had been hoping for a Nintendo Switch 2 upgrade but I don’t know now. If they do happen though, I’m sure it’ll boost the priority of replaying these

Suikoden V – I don’t know if I will, but there’s a pretty good chance I might replay Suikoden V. It’s kind of up there with replaying Xenogears. Just something I can find myself doing at any point.

Of course replaying things often comes with a mood, and there might be something I suddenly start up instead.

Other media

When it comes to other media, there’s a lot of stuff on the backlog. Although I’m not quite sure what I’m feeling. I’d really love to get some more anime, tokusatsu, manga, etc done, but if you asked me which I’m excited to dive into, it’d be hard to name one. Not because I’m not interested in anything, but more because there’s nothing really grabbing me over the others, and listing them all would be exhausting

I guess I’d like to get back into reading the Monogatari books again. Finish that series so I can form an opinion about it. Maybe catch the anime adaptations if I think I like it that much. I’d also kind of like to read the Hinamatsuri, Fruits Basket, and Claymore manga since I own the complete series of all three and probably shouldn’t let them sit collecting dust anymore.

I’ve got plenty to keep me occupied regardless. Anything notable I complete will be posted about on here (I also intend to post here regularly when my social media exile starts in earnest) Not going to tell anyone they should check regularly, but if you like to know what I’m up to, you might want to start checking regularly 🙂

Hopefully this year some other things happen too. I’d like to meet some new people and start working towards some kind of life outside of just keeping myself alive and not bored/depressed. Though with the way things have been going politically and with AI, I’m not super hopeful at this juncture

Cartagra [Finished]

Posted on by maegamisama

Cartagra [Finished]

I finished Cartagra HD in Japanese today.

I played the original version in English when it released in 2014. I had already become a fan of Innocent Grey via Kara no Shojo, and being starved for anything similar, I bought this game upon release. I don’t remember too well what my specific impressions were, but I do remember thinking it was pretty good.

Upon the release of the second Kara no Shojo game, and as time passed, my evaluation of Cartagra declined somewhat. While I would still call it good, I often found myself recommending it more for what it did for Kara no Shojo rather than on its own merits. In fact I remember at several points mentioning that it was rougher and more focused on sex as a detriment to it.

For a long while after the second Kara no Shojo game, there was a large void. From 2013, when the second game came out in Japan, there was radio silence for many years. It wasn’t until 2020 that Kara no Shojo finally got its masterful conclusion.

In 2021, I took my then acquired Japanese skills and set about rereading the first two Kara no Shoujo in order to read the third. It was a perfect time as the first and second game had both received revised editions. Upon successfully making my way through them, I finally got to read my most anticipated piece of work Kara no Shoujo the Last episode.

The Last Episode was beautiful. A masterpiece. So much so that I instantly bought all the Kara no Shoujo games and soundtracks at the time, and spent many months just constantly replaying the same tracks.

In 2023 it was announced Cartagra would be getting an HD edition. While I wasn’t immediately champing at the bit to read it, I was nevertheless interested in picking it up for my collection. I figured at some point maybe I’d even replay it. I bought it and stuck it on my shelf.

It didn’t enter my mind until I started hearing things about Kara no Shojo 3 finally coming out in English (This time rebranded as The Shell for the west) I remembered I had a copy of Cartagra HD sitting around and I thought “Yeah, this would be something easy for me to read”

Again I don’t remember much about my initial experience with Cartagra, but upon starting it, I was blown away. While I realize that much of that has to do with stuff being added (the game has opening sequence and is in HD), there was a lot of old familiar stuff I had forgotten about like the music. It enraptured me.

After finishing it, the one thing I’ve got to say is that I’ve completely reevaluated it. Before, I would have said that it was a good thing to read for Kara no Shojo, but now I would say it stands on its own. I would even go as far to say it stands right up there with the best entries in Kara no Shojo. It’s a masterpiece. Or at least the HD edition is.

Apparently it’s getting a Switch version. I’m not sure how that’s going to work as while it can definitely work without the ero, I don’t know how they’re going to go about the more violent looking parts. Still I’d be willing to recommend it if that’s the only version of Cartagra HD we get or if that’s the only thing people will read. It’s that good in my eyes

Lazarus

Posted on by maegamisama

Lazarus

It’s not often I keep up with seasonal anime. Sometimes I’ll watch an episode or two of something, but usually I’ll fall off due to getting distracted by other things. It has nothing to do with the quality of the shows, but rather when I have to wait a week for a new episode, not to mention finding a way to watch said episode, I tend to get lazy/forget about it.

I picked up Lazarus after hearing it was from the same guy who did Cowboy Bebop and was being associated with Adult Swim (not sure if they helped finance it or what) Right from the get go, you can kind of tell they were trying to go for another Cowboy Bebop thing. A team of misfits with one cool Spike like guy.

I have to admit that I’m somewhat disappointed. It wasn’t bad by any stretch, but it felt a bit undercooked. I was really digging it for a couple of the episodes, but about when I learned it was only going to be 13 episodes (I think around episode 8 or 9) it felt like they were cramming things into episodes to get to the end faster.

It feels like a waste because I did think the cast was quite good and had some interesting dynamics together. There was a lot of room to flesh them out more into a really loveable cast. However, each member of the 5 member team gets only one episode exploring who they are, apart from the main guy Axel who has his circumstances told slapdashly in the last couple episodes.

I do really feel like they had a good series on their hands. I think it just needed more. A full 26 episode season (or I guess that’s two seasons) like Bebop and Champloo had. Make you really love the characters, and then they could really raise the stakes with the last couple. They wouldn’t even have to change much, though I do think they really could have made how everything resolved better (Too many coincidental stuff)

Alan Wake 2

Posted on by maegamisama

Alan Wake 2

I wound up getting into Alan Wake after buying Alan Wake 2 on sale for super cheap. The first game, which was also super cheap through Steam, was a fun time. I didn’t care much for the gameplay, but I was intrigued with where the story went. I held off on starting 2 after I finished it though because I was going to try to get the entire lore (which involved playing a different Alan Wake game and Control) However, I decided to abandon that as I was not enjoying the other Alan Wake game (American Nightmare) and wanting to close the book on Alan Wake for a while (I’ll play Control sometime for its own merits)

Alan Wake 2 was a let-down.

I didn’t mind the idea of Alan Wake 2 getting darker than its predecessor (to start leaning into the horror idea) but the game relies a bit too heavily on jump scares. During particularly tense moments of the game, it can give you these flashes of people screaming. Sometimes you can predict them, but the times when you’re really invested, they can just pop you up and take you right out of it (Nothing usually happens after you see those scenes) They just feel crammed in to try and make the game feel like it’s scarier than it actually is.

Gameplay is not especially smooth. Clunky is what I’d describe it as. Even playing on the easiest difficulty, I felt like it was tripping me up more than enhancing the experience.

The story, where it goes, leaves a lot of stuff open. What worse is that you need to apparently finish it on New Game+ to get an ending that explains things a bit more. While I generally liked a lot of the ideas, the atmosphere, and the characters, it just felt anti-climatic in the end. More questions about this world they’re in and what’s really true. I could accept that maybe it’s not the end of Alan Wake’s saga but it really doesn’t even feel like an ending for the second game until you beat it again (Which I feel is kind of bad) There’s a reason why they do it that way, but there are better ways to do it than making people play through the same game again for only a few bread crumbs.

My overall grade for this would probably be a C. I was thinking I might play Control right after while playing, but now that I finished, I’m sort of Remedy’d out for a bit, I think.

Divi-dead (JP)

Posted on by maegamisama

Divi-dead (JP)

I was first introduced to eroge in the late 90s at the precocious age of 14 via an old IRC chatroom I used to visit (that ironically was made for RPGMaker but mostly became a hangout for people who liked RPGs) They were often passed around and referred to as “hentai games” From there I sought out every “hentai game” I could find.

Among them was a game called Divi-dead. Despite not being a big fan of horror (I’d been freaked out by very mild horror films/games before) I found the art enticing enough that, despite it being over 100 megabytes (in an age of dial-up), I ended up downloading it as soon as I came across it.

Make no mistake, it was a pretty creepy and gory game, but I found comfort in the visual novel interface. Being able to control things made it much easier to stomach the unnerving parts, and thanks to that I was actually allowed to become interested in the story itself. A story which was pretty wild.

Years eventually went by and I forgot most of what happened in the game. Somewhere in the mid 2000s I looked it up again to find out that apparently the translation had been pretty bad, and when I started learning Japanese, I thought it might be fun to actually reread it to see if I could get a better handle on the story.

Well that’s exactly what I did. Now I cant claim I understood everything 100%, but I did read through it again recently (obtaining all endings)

It was good. I can’t say it held up as well as it did when I was younger, simply because I’m not as driven by hormones (Back in the day the art was pretty enticing) Though I do really like one of the concepts behind one of the endings (which I believe ultimately inspired stories I would write later as a teenager)

The game does kind of suffer from the whole “Check everywhere for the spot you need to go for the next scene” loop. It also has no previously read text feature. Thus, I ended up forgoing a completely blind playthrough and instead followed a guide for all routes.

Best-girl is Sachiko

Sakura Moyu (JP)

Posted on by maegamisama

Sakura Moyu (JP)

It’s been a while since I last updated the media thread on here. While I can attribute some of that to my usual laziness, most of it is because it’s been taking me longer to finish up a few things that have been sitting on the back burner. Sakura Moyu is one of those things

To give you an idea of just how long Sakura Moyu has been on the backburner, all I can say is that I stalled it around the time I started Final Fantasy XI back in December. I couldn’t tell you when I started, but it was around then I was maybe a little under halfway through the true route. I didn’t pick it up again until after I finished Expedition 33.

Sakura Moyu is a VN from Favorite. The only other Favorite VN I had played prior to this was Hoshizora no Memoria, which I found to be good, although I can’t say I remember a whole lot about it (I played it back when there was a fan translation and before I knew Japanese) I picked up this one from the numerous acclaim it was getting from people (lots of people rating it 10/10 and calling it kamige)

It took me a while to really get into the title. While I’m not unfond of moege/slice of life in visual novels, my interest in this one lay less with the heroines and more with the fantasy side of the story which involves magical girls that vanquished a great evil to have their wish granted. Something that gave me heavy Madoka vibes in a way.

Though I hadn’t been drawn to it for the heroines themselves, I will note my initial interest ranking: Hyori > Haru > Kuro > Chinatsu because of the contrast in how I eventually found their routes.

I remember it taking me a long time to hit my first route. I chose Chinatsu first. Both because I thought it best to get my weakest interest out of the way, and because it was the first option at the main route choice.

Chinatsu surprised me. I didn’t expect to like her as much as I did, and I had no idea she’d become my favorite heroine. I don’t know if it was my lower expectations or that I found her backstory to be more moving than the others (probably a bit of both) However, it definitely stood out a lot to me. Kind of long, but I could forgive it by the end of it given how much it made me tear up

Hyori’s route, on the other hand, was a huge letdown for me. I loved her personality and voice, but everything about her route and any of the affection she had for the MC felt undercooked. Not to mention there’s a large part of her route spent dealing with a different character that only has a little relation to her. It just felt like there needed to be so much more

Haru’s route was a lot better, thankfully. It did the thing where it dealt with other characters similar to Hyori’s route, but at least in this case it felt like she was more involved. Her backstory was also pretty strong and tragic

The true route was somewhere between Chinatsu and Haru’s route for me. While I liked it overall, it drags on for way too long. Though I really enjoyed the epilogue.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

Posted on by maegamisama

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

I decided I didn’t like my initial write-up of Expedition 33 and have decided to rewrite it.

The game is excellent.

My first time through, I rated it well, but honestly, I didn’t truly get it. I dodged most of the time, and character battle mechanics only half meshed with my brain. It was enough to reach an ending, and while I enjoyed it, I felt like I had to keep playing.

When I started my second game, I decided to parry only, and from there the experience actually went from a “good game” to an excellent one. It’s hard to explain why, but trust me when I say that if you’re not doing parry only, you’re not really experiencing the best the gameplay has to offer.

Up there with the best JRPGs, unironically