alatus_nemeseos | Recent Entries

So, I'd been wanting a new case for my Kindle for a while now, because although the one I had served its purpose pretty nicely, it was a bit tedious to use and to bring during my subway commutes: it was a hand-made (likely from that one aunt of mine that keeps sewing stuff for the rest of the family) cloth case completely detached from the device, so getting it out and back from my backpack was a little annoying. Plus, I also wanted to cry customising it and put my stickers to use for once, since I usually just save them up because I don't want them to get dirty/feel like I've "wasted" them...

After having considered all this, I asked my parents for a new one. We both started browsing for a bit, but trying to find one that fit the Kindle model we have was a bit difficult, since it's a bit old: a Kindle Paperwhite from 2012. We leave the matter on hold for the time being, then a few days after, my dad tells me a new model is coming up and so all the other ones are on sale, so he suggested we bought a new one for me to keep (because technically the old Kindle was shared between all three of us at my home, but I'd been the only one who'd been using it in the past years). I was a bit unsure since I technically didn't need a new one — the old model worked perfectly well, and its battery was also holding up well for a 14-year old-device — but in the end, I caved in.

Fast forward a week later, the Kindle arrives, and when I go set it up, my dad warns me beforehand that it's associated to his Amazon account... which confused me a little. Our previous Kindle had been perpetually in airplane mode ever since I started using it and all of the books in it were pirated. This is when I realized that most people likely use Kindle because they have actual ebooks bought from Amazon, or because they use the subscription... but that wasn't the worst part. The worst was when I plugged in my new Kindle to my Macbook, and a message appeared, saying:

"If you don't see the device in your computer or if you're using MacOS, go to (link)"

And that's when I start getting a bit pissed off. You're telling me I needed an external app just to add downloaded books? And that I *still* needed to register with an Amazon account to even be able to use it? Before, I just dragged the books directly to the documents folder or used Calibre to transfer them, but Calibre wasn't working for some reason, so I just gave up and added the books because it was pretty late and I had to go have dinner.

Over dinner, I look into the Calibre thing, because it sounded pretty weird that it didn't detect the device, and that's when I learnt that apparently, Calibre can only detect the new devices if there's not another program doing so. I tried it again standalone, and now it worked! This made me really happy. I immediately unliked my dad's Amazon account from my new Kindle (which deleted EVERYTHING I had on it! I didn't think it'd delete the downloads), added back all my books from Calibre this time, and good as new! The only thing left is a very annoying pop out saying that I should link an Amazon account, but it's easy to ignore.

Apart from that rocky start, I've been super happy with it. While the 2012 Paperwhite I had worked quite well, this one turns the pages miles faster and generally feels higher resolution. It's also lighter and a bit smaller, which makes it easier to carry and to hold. Also, it's green! I'm a bit tired of only black-or-white electronics, tbh, though I'm not too picky about it. I have yet to customised it, but I'm really looking forward to it.

I'm not gonna lie, I got a bit upset at family members telling me I should have gotten another model because "I'll be locked to Amazon", when that isn't true in the slightest, and it's something I also saw a lot online when I was thinking about getting a new ebook a year or so ago. It's definitely not the easy or conventional way to use one, but it can definitely be done, and I'm proud of having gone through the entire process by myself. Plus, while I don't mind sharing, it definitely feels special to have a device for *you* specifically: I also felt this when I got my first first-hand phone in 2022, which Is the one I'm still using to this day after two hand-me down phones that lasted quite a while. It's also just some anecdote I wanted to share after not posting here for so long (hello again)!

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: A3! – Muddy Hero

Lately, between one thing and the other, I've gotten pretty into a writing slump which also extends to expressing my thoughts (which is also why there's been less entries here.) There's a lot of reasons for it, but it's mainly because the thing I'm currently the most into (A3!) isn't something my friends care much about at the moment, and my summary entries took too long to write. I also don't have any Twitter accounts in which I feel I can spam about it for one reason or the other, and my fic writing time is still occupied by the minibang and another project, which doesn't leave me much time to let out my thoughts via fics as I usually do without feeling guilty about not working on the bigger pieces.

So, I thought long about it, and if Twitter and most other forms of social media frustrate me, I don't feel like I can write big posts here at the moment, and I don't want to overwhelm specific people either with my ramblings either, then why not note them down traditionally instead? I have this specific notebook I use for when I need to draft fics by hand for whatever reason (mostly because I'm stuck or don't feel like using my laptop for whatever reason), and while the lack of organisation is a bit annoying to me, I've been having a far easier time writing any sort of fannish thoughts there. I write there whenever I think of something, and that's it. I considered using my personal Discord server as well, but you never know when your account can be taken down for any reasons, so I've been more weary of whatever I send there...

I'd like to go back to the blog properly at some point with other kinds of entries as I've said before, but for now, I think I'll focus a little bit more on analog journaling. The more I think about it, the more all these thoughts could just be posted as tweets, but the one thing about posting on social media is that I have the expectation of it getting some sort of attention, which makes me sad whenever I'm completely ignored, a thing that doesn't happen when I write things down on a journal: if it's going to be something just for me, then I don't have to worry about the potential attention (or lack thereof) it'll receive. This is also the same mindset I had on a very self-indulgent AU for one of my favorite joseimuke a few years ago, and I ended up writing almost 40 one shots for it, spanning approximately 76k words, and only my partner (and co-author, lol) has seen them to this date, so I think it'll work!

Current Mood: frustrated
Current Music: A3! OST – miroir

Long time no blog... I've been on a trip and busy with other things in the meantime, so I suppose this is a good chance to catch up with what I've been doing this month regarding my fandom activities!

I am, of course, still reading A3! I'm already done with Part 2 and have moved on to 2018 events. I wasn't sure if I should keep doing the entries on it since I read faster than I can sit down and write down my thoughts on it, but I might do one big entry for the Main Story, at least. I've also recovered the Japanese account I used for a month or so during the pandemic to read Part 3 voiced more easily, since it never got to A3EN. Setting it up to work on Bluestacks was a bit tricky, but I made it work, thankfully! The last event I read was the one themed around the moon rabbit with Misumi and Chikage, which was a bit of a filler (not said derogatorily... it just means the plot is ten times simpler than play events, and those aren't as complicated either, but they do move the plot/character development forward) but nice to read regardless.

I've started watching a bit more of anime again... The one I've been focusing on the most has been Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, which I caught up with a few days ago. To tell you the truth, the beginning felt quite more promising than what's happening right now... I still like it, but it's constantly introducing new characters and plot points to the point it doesn't really build up the main plot? I understand it's based on real-life events and it wouldn't make sense to change it a lot, but considering they made it into a story, I feel the approach to it should be quite different... There's still three episodes left, though; maybe it'll improve by then. I've also been rewatching the first season of Love Live Superstar in preparation for Liella's concert in Madrid next month, which I'll be attending! There's also BSD Wan S2, but that's much more lighthearted (though I still haven't watched this week's episode... whoops.)

Gaming-wise, I've gotten addicted to the Rhythm Paradise series... My cousin let me play Groove with him when it came out, and I had such a fun time it made me remember my old DS still had it installed from the bunch of games my dad put on the card when I was little, and I started playing through it little by little. When I finished, I was already immediately figuring out how Dolphin worked to emulate Fever, LOL. I'd always dismissed these games before despite being an avid rhythm game fan because I thought they were too easy/simple, but oh how wrong I was... It was, in fact, one of the rhythm games I had the most trouble with in a while, especially the DS entry! Remix 3 felt completely unbeatable, and I didn't know you could use the café to skip the mini games you had trouble with, so I really thought I'd be stuck for a while... Though I think the difficulty comes from the use of the touch screen, because I have way less trouble playing Fever or Groove (which I recently bought. Still on Remix 11, iirc.)

Other than that, nothing much to say... I successfully finished organising an fandom exchange over on Twitter with my partner, as well as a birthday zine for another character with a friend (we held the event in April, but zine-making was worse than we thought and couldn't release it until August... Needless to say I'm never making a zine on Canva again, doesn't matter if it's scrapbook-themed or not...) Now all I have left is to work on a fic for a minibang due in November and a commission due the beginning of next month, but the truth is that I've been struggling with writing a little, likely because all I do is write things I "have" to write one way or the other, because before those I was stuck working on the fic for the exchange I mentioned earlier... I don't think I've written fan fiction other than those three pieces in the entire summer... I just can't figure out a good pace to work on both serious pieces and self-indulgent ones, because the ideal would be working on both daily...

Anyway, even taking all of this into account (plus the fact I'm going back to university in two weeks... Last year! Scary!!), I want to keep this blog up and running, of course! I've been thinking about bringing back my weekly/month logs of whatever I watch/read, even if they'll likely be more empty than those I made a few years back. Needless to say I've also been checking the site daily despite not writing as much! Nice to see everyone again :)

Current Music: A3! – Real Luck

And here's the last of the first part of the Main Story entries! I'm actually pretty late in writing this since I've already moved on to Part 2, but I want to keep writing the entries even if just to keep part of my thoughts archived.

Despite being just as long as other parts, this arc of the story feels a bit longer than others, and I think that's because they don't really start rehearsing for the play until Chapter 15 or so (aka, until Tsumugi and Tasuku sort things out.) I think they made good use of their time regardless and gave every character enough focus. It's also cool that they made use of the fact this was the last part for now to start developing their conflict and clash with the God troupe that will for sure become more relevant in Part 3, though I still have a long way before I get there...

Tsumugi: one of my favourites within the troupe... I still really like his arc. Considering how it looks he's become more dubitative after failing the God troupe's auditions, I'm pretty curious if his younger self was much different than now... I doubt so, but I'll definitely have to look into it in card stories or something.
Tasuku: he's much more blunt than I remembered... He's one of the characters I care the least about, but I really like his interactions with the rest, so I'm pretty confident I'll appreciate him more this time around.
Hisoka: once again, my fave character within the troupe is the one that does the least, lol... It was actually a bit frustrating to see him be so underdeveloped, but he does get a lot more talkative the more event stories I read, so I can't be too mean either.
Homare: man, I forgot how hard his arc hit... I thought my days of relating to him were over, but the fact that even I got confused at the same situations as him speaks volumes...
Azuma: I've also found myself liking Azuma more this time around, but much like Omi, I feel like most of the thoughts I have about him are related to Nocturnality —his focus event— rather than the main story, so I'll talk about them once the time comes.

I also forgot how gay the Sympathy for the Angel play was... They made it so Raphael was also in love with the girl, but for a second I thought his only love was Michael LOLLL. I'm surprised by how much the anime changed scenes: I remembered the scenes with Tasuku and Tsumugi after the latter ran away were super dramatic in the anime, and dramatic might be an understatement, actually, since the original game just has them talk things out in the theatre while the anime had them on a bridge under the snow LMAO.

Next up is likely my thoughts on the 2017 event stories, or at least the ones that caught my attention the most to bring them up! There's a lot of "filler" events (hat aren't necessarily bad, but don't give me much to work with in these entries, so I'll likely be skipping those.

Current Music: A3! – Under the Moon

It's time for the Autumn troupe! I feel like I'm going to have a hard time writing these up as I continue to advance the story on my own, but entries will become more manageable once I finish updating on the Main Story, since the Event Stories are much shorter.

I thought this act would be slightly deeper than the other ones because I remembered that every character got one "focus" chapter in the form of their portrait, so to speak, but it was still pretty balanced. At the cost of having those, the plot was otherwise just focused on their relationships in typical A3 fashion, as I've mentioned in the two previous entries. This time around, however, I did feel like the balance didn't play completely on their favor: while the scene where Taichi finally confesses he's the one that's been sabotaging the troupe on the God troupe's orders does come off as emotional and has a decent build-up in the previous chapters (with Taichi's only lines being "..." for the three chapters before this one), the change in tone between scenes was just too... abrupt? And I couldn't really get into it, which was a shame, since Taichi is my Autumn troupe fave and I really liked that scene.

Now, moving on to the characters, as usual:

Banri and Juza: actually, I think speaking of the two in tandem makes much more sense considering their rivalry was central to the Act. They're very clearly writing as foils and I don't know why I didn't appreciate them more until now... On the one hand, you have Banri, who acts like he doesn't really care about acting and only wants to provoke Juza into retaliating while putting no effort whatsoever on his own acting (which he's aware of, because he was avoiding admitting Juza's portrait was better than his for quite a few chapters, lol); on the other hand, you have Juza, who's been wanting to get into acting forever and who puts more effort into it than anyone else in the troupe, even if he's arguably the worst actor among the five.
Taichi: my Autumn troupe fave! As always, what little we saw of his character act hit pretty hard. There's something about characters who really try to be popular and loved by everyone that just tickles my brain in a certain way, because I feel a similar way towards 18TRIP's Akuta, who has a similar conflict (yet a much more enthusiastic personality, and Taichi is one of the biggest extroverts in A3!'s cast, so...)
Omi: we don't actually see much of his story here, but he's also a pretty good character... It surprised me a little how he opened to Izumi, out of all people, but I guess it makes sense since he's been in Mankai for a little longer than the previous three characters. I have more to say about him, but that tackles what was seen in the The Stranger event, so it'll have to wait.
Sakyo: I've always liked Sakyo, but I found myself liking him much much more in this re-read! I wasn't expecting the 30-something to be the most gap-moe-y character out of these, but between him liking shoujo manga, popping bubble wrap and having been in love with Izumi since they were children... Yeah, that's surprisingly cute for a yakuza leaders who's otherwise yelling at the others to get their shit together, lol.

Another thing I've taken note of in this rewatch is that Tsuzuru really does like the "two people running away together away from their usual lives/circumstances"... Sympathy for the Angel (aka the Winter troupe play that comes after) does deviate a little from this, but otherwise, the plays have been pretty similar at their core. I'm guessing this was on purpose, both because they were all meant for the Main Story and to show that Tsuzuru is still not as experienced as he could be with scriptwriting, even if he's already pretty good. It's also crazy how much Mizuno influenced him, but I haven't gotten to A Clockwork Heart yet, so I can't say much apart from what I remember. Anyway, next is the Winter troupe!

Current Music: A3! – SEEDS

The question I received for today was "Is there anything 'silly' you used to be scared of, which you aren't really bothered by anymore but still understand where past-you was coming from?", sent by

zavodilaterrarium ! Thank you so much for the question!

Hmm... I've been thinking for a while, but nothing comes to mind. I was about to say something along the lines of, I don't know, running through a hallway at night as fast as I could thinking something could get me, but admittedly, I still do that, so... Lol. It's just as Deltarune says: things in the dark look quite different, so I think it's normal to be scared.

With that, AMA July wraps up for me today! This was pretty fun, which means I might try to do some more ask games here! I know about the Friday Five from other journals, so maybe I'll hop on that for a while.

Current Mood: accomplished

The question I received for today was "what would your dream vacation be?", sent by

nautastellaris ! Thank you so much for the question!

I love vacations! From a realistic point of view, I think the vacations I enjoy the most are when me and my family stay in a hotel by the seaside and spend the entire day going in and out the beach, the pool and going on walks at night by the seashore... It doesn't matter that I can technically do that now considering I live closer to the sea now, it just hits different when on vacation! Once again, it's what me and my family have been doing since forever, and I like the familiarity.

However, on the less realistic sense... I'd love to visit Japan, especially Yokohama, as it shows up in two games/shows I currently really like (18TRIP first and foremost, but also Bungou Stray Dogs!) I really want to go there and get to do all the things I keep seeing on shows/JP side of Twitter in regards to oshikatsu, as well as buying merch that would otherwise be too expensive with shipping overseas/not worth the price LOL. But the way there is too long and expensive, and my JP is pretty poor. If I ever go in my life, it'd likely be just once, and I don't want to go without speaking the language and being fully able to enjoy it, so yeah LOL. Attending a concert would also be fun, but most of them are Not made for foreigners (in terms of applying for tickets), so whoops.

Current Music: A3! – Träumerei to Kuuhaku

I'm back! I've actually finished the first part of the main story as of writing this, but I'll be making separate posts on each act so the posts aren't kilometrical, lol.

Unlike Act 1, this story didn't feel as much in line with the Summer troupe-typical comedy, but it definitely had more of an upbeat flair that suited them well. I also don't think the stories need to match up 1:1 with their acting style, but it is a nice touch... It made me laugh nonetheless, though. No wonder why Tenma and Yuki were chosen as the leads when their banter is that funny...

Now, as for my thoughts on the characters individually...

Tenma: he was one of the characters I was the most impressed by, actually! I'd come to reduce him to a very dumbed-down version of how he actually is, which I'm pretty ashamed of... He's actually really perceptive of others, he's just been used to doing everything individually/on a self-contained matter which leads him to always try and be perfect... and to not really know how to deal with others on a personal level/be naïve on certain things at times. He's a very competent leader once he got past that, though, and I'm very excited to read more on him!
Yuki: I didn't remember him being so foul-mouthed LMAO. I'm fine with this, though, because it only made his exchanges with others funnier, in typical Summer troupe fashion. Knowing his backstory, it's pretty obvious that he acts overly defensive because he's been made fun of in the past and doesn't want it to happen again... he's so very 14...
Muku: my favorite from this troupe! He didn't do much here, sadly, but I still love him all the same. Looking through old messages from my first read back in 2020, I'm pretty surprised I didn't find him too similar to Juza (his cousin) at all, when I caught that really early on this time around.
Misumi: I thought a lot of his backstory was in the main story, but it was actually in his events, namely Captain Sky Pirates...
Kazunari: he doesn't do much, either, but I keep forgetting how much the jab Tenma made at him hurt on a personal level, lol. It's crazy to think that wouldn't get expanded on until much later, in the event in which he's the lead...

I think that, for this part of the Main Story, I'm going to get pretty repetitive because, once again, it's all on the same wavelength/story vibe. A3! was geared towards people to play on the train on their way to work and to generally be a lighthearted game, which I think they achieve pretty nicely. Instead of charging the story with metaphors or complicated relationships, they lay it out clearly for everyone to follow, and leave the most metaphorical/parallels to the plays themselves.

Current Mood: busy
Current Music: MORE MORE JUMP! – Fun

The question I received for today was "Are there any particular pieces of media you feel are underrated in some regard, or that you generally want more people to enjoy? It can be a game, music track, drawing, show, etc.", sent by

zavodilaterrarium ! Thank you so much for the question!

I've always been of the opinion that people need to take the idol genre in earnest without nitpicking it so much. Sure, I've watched my fair share of boring idol shows and some tropes have been done again and again, but I feel like they're constantly held to a higher standard that other genres aren't subjected to. People constantly say that an idol show has to constantly criticise the industry for it to be realistic, but what if the idols aren't part of the industry like in Love Live? Besides, most of them almost always criticise some aspect of it. MORE MORE JUMP's story in Project SEKAI is all about the challenges they face as an indie group that's slowly trying to go pro once again. IDOLiSH7 is absolutely full of industry bullshit, especially with TRIGGER and ZOOL in Parts 3 and 4 of their story, with fabricated scandals to put down groups, toxic management, and more. Even more comedic anime like If My Fave Idol Made it to the Budokan, I'd Die makes some of those critics while still keeping up with the comedic flair. This is also why I've always hated how Oshi no Ko was considered the pinnacle of idol anime... because it isn't! It's not an idol anime! It's a mystery/drama set in the entertainment industry, but since it was "dark" and "didn't shy away from the dark side", it was endlessly praised by everyone... until the whole incest drama (oddly enough, S2 was what made me warm up to it.)

Other than that, here's some things I'd love for everyone to like more!

Literally any joseimuke mobage that doesn't have an English server: A3! (it had one, but it shut down), IDOLiSH7 (this has a pretty good anime, though!), Promise of Wizard, 18TRIP, Helios Rising Heroes... and also the audio dramas Fragaria Memories and Paradox Live! The list goes on and on... I'm glad Ensemble Stars and Twisted Wonderland got more recognition after their English servers, but the others deserve some love, too!
The two main Space Channel 5 games. Amazing music, even if the setting is quite wild. I discovered it way earlier than other rhythm games (such as Project Diva) thanks to my mom and it made a pretty big impression on me. I'm really sad it's been taken off modern platforms...
The manga Girl Crush. It's about a girl trying to become a K-Pop idol to impress a guy, but that quickly fell apart once she faced with her rival and started becoming much better for herself and to surpass her. The characters are insanely solid: I read a manga with extremely boring female characters before, so I was blown away by the ones in this manga. It also has a bunch of chapters so far! I don't know how this ended on my Plan to Watch for me to read this year, but I'm glad it did.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: A3! — Super Ultra Easy Mode

So, while my partner visited me this summer, we met up with my childhood friend of +10 years to get some bubble tea and hang out. I'd actually introduced them before during the pandemic, but this was the first time they had a proper conversation besides a few VCs here and there and extremely brief greetings at a few conventions. Precisely on the topic of the pandemic, she told us about she'd been getting again into this joseimuke the three of us liked a lot that year: A3!. This was also the first joseimuke I'd ever read, so it's quite nostalgic. Life happens and I got into other stuff, and so I never kept up with it beyond 2021, even though some of the songs stayed in my playlist forever and I still remembered what happened in the stories to an extent.

In the end, we ended up talking so much about it that it made me want to read it all again, and after listening to most of the old songs once we got home, I decided to finally start! The English server of the game (which was how me and my other friends were able to easily get into it) has unfortunately shut down since then —something that I was already well aware of—, but fortunately there's people who have archived the translation on YouTube, as well as a previous fan-translation from when the English server didn't exist. It's actually quite a shame that it shut down, since it had one of the best translations in the genre.

So, seeing as I've already logged me reading some Project SEKAI stories here and that A3! is a game, after all, I thought it'd be appropriate to jot down my thoughts here! But first, I'd like to write up a brief summary of what A3 is about, reusing one I wrote in Spanish a few years back for one of my IRLs:

After receiving a certain letter telling a certain Yukio Tachibana to come to a play, Izumi Tachibana, his daughter, pays a visit to the theatre company his father left behind, who went MIA eight years ago: Mankai Company... which is in the brink of being demolished because of lack of founds, profit and actors in spite of its former glory. However, once the curtain rises, she finds a lone boy acting on stage called Sakuya Sakuma. He's all alone (well, he does have a parrot acting with him) and he isn't really good, but... he's got potential! After that, Izumi is determined to pay off the company's debts and prevent it from disbanding by assembling its four troupes once again, based on the four seasons and each specialising on a certain genre.

Nothing lasts forever, but the things we live affects us just as much as they affect others we become entangled with as we slowly open up to them. A3! is a story whose characters have distinct personalities yet get together thanks to their shared goal: put on plays that touch other people's hearts.

Without further ado, let's get into it! My log ended up being quite long, so I'll put it under the cut.

( Read more... )

The question I received for today (yesterday, actually) was "if you could have any and all the clothes you wanted (with no space, price or other concerns), whether from a shop or custom-made/tailored, what kind of style/colours/etc. would you prefer? A little bit of everything, or mainly a couple of themes, and which ones?", sent by

zavodilaterrarium ! Thank you so much for the question!

If I got this chance, I think I would like to try a little bit of everything, actually! Lately clothes (and everything, tbh) is getting more and more expensive by the minute, and while thrift stores and all exist, it does make it significantly harder to find things that suit you, and figuring out various outfits in your style takes a good while... As for specifics, I think I'd just like a bunch of different shirts with different colors and patterns, because it's definitely what I've been inclined to buy the most lately but have to refrain because I have too many, lol.

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: 18TRIP – Hana

The question I received for today was "if you could pick any scent to make into a candle, what would it be?". sent by

nautastellaris ! Thank you so much for the question!

I also have no clue about this one, honestly... There's a few scents that I do like such as, I don't know, new book or chocolate, but thinking about it, I don't think they'd make for good candle scents... I think that, rather than creating new smells, I'd rather be able to replicate scents I've smelt before, even if it's pretty much impossible.I think It'd be fun to reminisce using a scent as a base, so to speak.

Current Mood: happy
Current Music: Mecano – Hijo de la luna

The question I received for today was "What character(s) do you relate most to and why?", sent by

asuraid ! Thank you so much for the question!

More often than not, my favorite characters are those I relate to, so they're quite easy to guess. Nonetheless, over time I've recognised quite a few types of characters that I end up relating to most of the time... Since I've been very into Deltarune lately, I want to bring up the "tied down by what others want of them/certain expectations which usually make them people pleasers but slowly breaking out of it" kind of trope thingy, under which I can place a few... Noelle and Ralsei from Deltarune or Sougo Osaka from IDOLiSH7. There's also those who are also people pleasers but driven by guilt, such as Kanade Yoisaki from Project SEKAI or Atsushi Nakajima from Bungou Stray Dogs, to mention a few! Again, I could probably go on, but it'd make for a pretty long entry compared to others from the AMA, and also it's a bit embarrassing to expose myself like that, lol.

Current Music: DELTARUNE OST – Attack of the Killer Queen

The question I received for today was "What is your favorite artificial flavour (banana, grape, vanilla)? If you have none, just your favourite flavor in general", sent by

asuraid ! Thank you so much for the question!

I had to Google what "artificial flavours" entailed because a few of those sounded like actual flavours to me, lol, but I'm assuming this is talking about when things are artificially flavoured instead of just naturally, right? In that case, I'd say that strawberry and orange are my usuals, esp strawberry.

Current Music: Fragaria Memories – Kotohana Sunset

The question I received for today was "do you prefer amusement parks or the beach?", sent by

nautastellaris ! Thank you so much for the question!

Growing up and living in a town by the seaside, I think I've always preferred the beach and will probably continue to like it for the rest of my life. Amusement parks are good, too, but it's been a while since I last went to one of them. Another reason why I think I prefer the beach is because it's more of a... casual visit, so to speak? You can go all out with all the beach gear and spend the entire day there, but you can also go out for a walk nearby and have as much of a nice time. I love walking along the beach!

Current Mood: sleepy
Current Music: BAE – AmBitious!!!

After saying up until 1 AM yesterday, I finally finished the game! Once again, a LOT has happened. I thought it couldn't get worse than Act 4 when going into Act 5, but I was proven completely wrong. Some parts were a little difficult to read as well because of how distressed Siffrin was narrating, but I enjoyed all the differences in dialogue once again. And speaking of dialogue... you can't go over Act 5 without mentioning the "distressed" version of the friend quests... They're so heartbreaking on both sides... When you had to actually zone out during Isabeau's dialogue or else it'd loop because Siffrin was genuinely not listening I audibly gasped.

The ending was also incredible. Not to draw comparisons, but I'm pretty sure the author was inspired by Omori on this one, because the final boss fight was so similar, lol. That being said, I thought that making the actual last fight from the POV of the enemy (Siffrin) instead of the good guys was such a nice touch.... The loops got him to the point he really didn't think he could go back with his family members... Oh man... I do wonder what would have happened if I had attacked, which I wasn't willing to go because it was clearly not the right path to continue the game, but I am curious so I might google it later.

Funnily enough, even though I did almost all the hidden quests without even looking up a guide, I missed the whole Loop thing, and I thought the creator wanted to keep it ambiguous first and foremost and that's why they didn't expand on it... until a friend told me I should have done a certain thing to get a secret boss fight with them, lol. It would have required me to play the entirety of Act 5 again, though, which I'm not willing to do at the moment, so I just watched a gameplay in YouTube, and... I was right!! Loop created Siffrin!! I can't believe I got it right with such a vague lead, but I suppose there weren't many other characters that could have written the diary. It's still an unexpected turn of events, though. No wonder why Loop is so infatuated with this Siffrin!

Now I'm very intrigued about the prologue game, Start Again, but the itch.io description says it might not work on Mac and it's not on any other platform, so I guess I'll be watching a gameplay for that one if anything, oof... All in all, this game was really good, and it really hammers the message of relying on others instead of trying to go through everything alone, as well as the feelings born out of feeling disconnected from where you came from (which wasn't shown just from Siffrin, but also through other characters like Odile.) My one and only complain is that the music still felt pretty repetitive after all this time, though I really liked the tracks during Acts 5 and 6.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: BTS – Serendipity (Full Length Edition)

I've seen a mutual do this, and while I initially skipped on it because I don't think I have enough followers here to make it worthwhile, I suppose I could give it a try, anyway, so here it is! Feel free to ask me any question (or questions; the more the merrier, honestly) and I'll be answering them throughout the month. I'll also try to get back to any other mutual who has posted this but haven't replied to, which I believe is everyone because I'm a little unoriginal whoops.

8. do you prefer amusement parks or the beach?

nautastellaris
9. What is your favourite artificial flavour (banana, grape, vanilla)? If you have none, just your favourite flavour in general.

asuraid
10. What character(s) do you relate most to, and why?

asuraid
11.
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13.
14.
15. if you could pick any scent to make into a candle, what would it be?

nautastellaris
16.
17.
18.
19.
20. if you could have any and all the clothes you wanted (with no space, price or other concerns), whether from a shop or custom-made/tailored, what kind of style/colours/etc. would you prefer? A little bit of everything, or mainly a couple of themes, and which ones?

zavodilaterrarium
21.
22.
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24.
25. Are there any particular pieces of media you feel are underrated in some regard, or that you generally want more people to enjoy? It can be a game, music track, drawing, show, etc.

zavodilaterrarium
26.
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29. what would your dream vacation be?

nautastellaris
30. Is there anything 'silly' you used to be scared of, which you aren't really bothered by anymore but still understand where past-you was coming from?

zavodilaterrarium
31.

Current Mood: tired

Hehe six-seven. Anyway, a LOT has happened since last time I wrote here, and it's only been two days. I completed Bonnie and Isabeau's friendquests, as well as the version of them in which you've hung out with all of them without looping forward. It has a nice change of pace and I liked seeing all the changes in dialogue, such as the classroom scene in which Mirabelle actually explains why she fumbled the class she was asked to give. Somehow, each time I explore the House from beginning to end, I end up finding new dialogue, plus the change in the characters being called "allies" in the menu to "family members"! The found family here is seriously so cute.

Also, from Siffrin slaughtering the Sadness at the beginning of the game and scaring off the rest to him and the King trying to say their country's name (I did see the King coming, but I wasn't expecting Siffrin to be from the same place, too. I thought they'd keep it more ambiguous than that) to Bonnie's face being obscured when you interact with them after the King kills them and you loop back... it's gotten quite more grim... The Bonnie thing made me jump, and it wasn't even that big of a deal, lol.

Now I'm going through the House again and finding the books on Wish Craft. I like that this game forces you to go back sometimes, but I find it ridiculous how sometimes the characters don't look enough at something that DEFINITELY looks suspicious and related, because it wasn't time for them to do so yet. I found the books in the House, but since Siffrin "doesn't know enough about Wish Craft", I have to go back and inspect them again, which is a little annoying.

Speaking of wish craft... I think the "Sad Diary" found behind the big locked door is related to Loop or Siffrin. One might be inclined to say it was the King, but that makes no sense: the door in the House were locked by the residents themselves, and it has a lock in the language everyone has forgotten, which the King forgot too when he got to Vaugarde. So, despite the room having objects related to stars and astronomy in general, it's not about the King this time. The diary talked about someone looping too, and making someone else to keep them company or something? So I wonder if Loop created Siffrin (or the other way around? Less likely...) Sounds quite farfetched, but it would explain why they're helping him.

I hope this Act is a bit shorter, or at least that it doesn't require me to backtrack much. I enjoyed all the side quests, but they got quite tedious at times.

Current Mood: tired
Current Music: Fragaria Memories – Charcoal White

Oh wow, that escalated quickly. After many more tries before I changed some memories to have initial buffs to save my ass, I beat the King! I was certain it wouldn't be the end of the game, but I wasn't expecting it to loop back... like that... I'm guessing the reason why Euphrasie was so affected was because everyone is still forgetting that one country that gives them a headache whenever they remember, and there's a door related to that in the House... In fact, I'm beginning to think the King was actually the monarch to that place: he asks Siffrin whether they "remember" or not, and when you kill him, he says something about not being able to say a certain name, which I assume is about the name of his country. Putting into perspective, it really sounds sad to have forgotten about a country you used to rule and presumably love... Maybe that's also why he wants to freeze Vaugarde in place.

Other than that, the little quests you get per character starting Act 3 are so fun. I've only been able to complete Odile and Mirabelle's so far, but I liked them both. I already knew about Mirabelle being aroace from posts I'd seen online and one of my friends talking about it, but I had no idea Odile was half-Vaugardian. Both of their conversations with Siffrin were really nice, even if I'm not used to characters being that open about their deepest conflicts — it wasn't like they revealed everything, but still shocking, lol. All in all, I like the focus on found family and friendship this game has, though there's still some unresolved romantic tension here and there... mainly with Isabeau and Siffrin. He was definitely about to confess, wasn't he? I wonder if he'll do, and what will Siffrin reply.

Right now, I'm focusing on redoing all the floors (with or without keys, it depends) to find the little things I'm still missing. I've done Floor 1, but I'm missing part of Floor 2 because I was lazy and more parts of Floor 3, I think. I also want to try to run away from the House next time I defeat the king, because it seems like talking to the Head Housemaiden does more harm than good.

Current Mood: restless

I've made it all the way to the King in these past few days! I have to say that backtracking and having to unlock doors so many times eventually got tedious, but I suppose it's a good way to make you relate to Siffrin. Plus, you get to discover a lot of new things in Dormont the more you loop back, including all of the NPC conversations: the Blind One having an item you need for a bomb in his house, the Daydreaming One and all the confusion with their sister... I wonder how it'll evolve. There's also the plot line of Siffrin slowly overcoming his... aversion? I wouldn't call it that, but him trying to stop flinching whenever someone tries to touch him.

The battle against the King is, thankfully, not too difficult, but I underestimated the five-turn cooldown of Mirabelle's shield and didn't calculate well with his attacks, so I had to give up on it for today. It also took me long to notice that his hands were actually making the Rock shape and revealing he's weak to Paper — I thought he'd simply be resistant to all forms of Craft! Next time I play, I'll beat him for sure, though there's a lot of story ahead still.

Current Mood: okay
Current Music: MyGO!!!!! – Utakotoba

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yaksha's reminiscence

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Cheating the system

Analog Journaling

I'm still here!

Re-reading A3! #4 — Act 4: Once More, With Feeling

Re-reading A3! #3 — Act 3: Portrait of a Punk

AMA July 2026 – Day 30

AMA July 2026 – Day 29

Re-reading A3! #2 — Act 2: Summertime Survival

AMA July 2026 – Day 25

Re-reading A3! #1 — Prologue, Act 1: The Show Must Go On!

AMA July 2026 – Day 20

AMA July 2026 – Day 15

AMA July 2026 – Day 10

AMA July 2026 – Day 9

AMA July 2026 – Day 8

In Stars and Time Log #8

Is it too late to join AMA July?

In Stars and Time Logs #6 & #7

In Stars and Time Log #5

In Stars and Time Logs #3 & #4

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