Confessions of a Closeted Otaku

Okay, I’m back!

It took me a while to figure out what I should do the next blog on; I then remembered that I had a few things that I can finally mention here.  We’re closing in onto the beginning of March (Already?! OMGWTFBBQ)  and I have a things lined up for the next few months.  But first, some of the things you may have missed.

I’ve been meaning to recap the games that I’ve played in the last few months or so.  There’s only two that I remember and I think I might have replayed a few other games (like Persona 4 and FFXII).  One of the two new ones I played was Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days on the Nintendo DS.  The game focuses around Roxas, the mysterious character who was introduced in Kingdom Hearts II.  It takes places during the time in which Sora, Donald and Goofy finish the story in Kingdom Hearts and are in Castle Oblivion during KH: Chain of Memories.  For those who didn’t play CoM (like myself, since I didn’t have a Game Boy Advance when the game was first released), 358/2 Days shows everything that happened during that game’s storyline: how some of the members of Organization XIII were dispatched (and defeated by Sora) and everything that happened after Sora is put to sleep.  In the game, you play as Roxas and go through his first 358 days as Number XIII in the Organization.  We see a few familiar faces from KH II including Axel as well as a new character named Xion.  She is very mysterious at first but we get to know her as she becomes friends with both Roxas and Axel and her significance in the game.  The game is good and all, but for me it was hard to take the game seriously since there are a few scenes with both Roxas and Axel talking to each other in private.  There’s only scene in particular in where Roxas asks Axel if he knew about love and the meaning of it (very weird, I know).  I’ve talked about it with friends and we came to the conclusion that there has to be crazed Roxas/Axel fans who write that stuff into the story… ;x

The game that I’m currently playing right now is one that I mentioned a few months ago only now it’s with the North American release – Ace Attorney: Investigations.  I played the game in Japanese (which is REALLY hard with my limited knowledge of kanji… ended up having to use a walkthrough) and knew that I had to get the game in English.  In this installment of the Ace Attorney series, you play as everyone’s favorite magenta-clad prosecutor Miles Edgeworth as you break out of the courtroom and go to the scene of the crime and investigate your hearts out, all the while seeing Edgeworth run and scream, “EUREKA!!” at the top of his lungs.  A number of recurring characters are here including Detective Dick Gumshoe as well as some new faces.  Also in some scenes if you look really closely, you’ll spot some old favorites just hanging out (perhaps maybe a defense attorney of the spiky-haired variety?)..

I also played my first game of the New Super Mario Bros. Wii about a month ago.  I know for me, Super Mario is very dear to my heart and I remember the days of playing the old school Mario games on the Nintendo and the Super Nintendo.  So I was more than excited when I started playing; I just love everything about this game: awesome graphics, gameplay and the return of past Super Mario characters and baddies from past games.  One of my favorite games is Super Mario World and I remember spotting that caterpillar baddie (the one that’s nice until you step on its head) and then seeing its, um… larger cousin?   I have yet to play this game with other players which I’m sure will be both very interesting and very, VERY violent.  The only thing that bugs me is when you have to rescue Toad on certain levels which means having to find him in one of the blocks and carry him to the end of the level.  Stupid Toad… making my life difficult as usual…

One more thing before signing off: I’ll be partaking in my first Artist Alley event! If you’ll be in San Diego in early April, come on over to Anime Conji, San Diego’s very own anime convention!  It’s their first year and they’re working very hard to put together an awesome show.  For more information and to register, check out their site over at http://www.animeconji.org/index.html .  I’ll have more information on my Artist Alley appearance as it comes in..

That’s all for now… as always, I’ll always looking forward to your anime/manga/video game recommendations as well as anything else related to those topics.  See you all later!