Nayu's News #247 Unsolicited emails are entertaining

No idea who the author is for this awesome artwork that's on my laptop

This morning I went through emails, even checked my spam email which make me laugh. There's the usual asking for money, the notice of a tax repayment, a TV licence issue (I don't even pay it, my family does), a delivery issue with a company I do sometimes receive goods from but I know it's fake, various inappropriate emails to name just a few. A few real emails got caught up in there which wasn't so good, but I've rescued them. 

I am primarily a book reviewer but my inbox sees a variety of requests which again make me smile. I've had a company contact me because they saw one post of mine a long time ago about a car wash, so they want to tell me all about how to wash my car. I get many requests for mentioning new bands/singers - I don't even listen to mainstream music so why would I be interested? I spotted one about a multi-climate control thingy - like why on earth would I need that? Seriously people definitely don't read my review policy, something that unfortunately happens far too regularly in the blogging world.

I hope to schedule more reviews next week: having my mega meds tonight, praying the weather improves soon as my body hates all the rain and cold, and in theory I should receive my special supplements which turn out to have more of an impact than I realised this week - the hospital pharmacy didn't inform me of the delay so I am on reduced dose of one and zero dose of the other. Fun times.

I feel is is what would happen if Hatsune Miku was evil

I've been reading a bit, and gaming loads on Animal Crossing Pocket Camp, which has had a fun event on, Farm Together which has me working hard on an event because the prizes are so cute (will show pictures when I talk about it in a future post, Yoshi's Crafted World which I am for some reason trying to complete absolutely everything on (all the collectibles) which is fun to do, if a bit time consuming, Dragon Quest  Builders 2 got even more amazing than it already was (again it will have a post soon), Animal Crossing Wild World which I'm replaying for fun and just got a house upgrade (so my room is no longer super tiny), and I think those are the main ones. Due to get The Caligula Effect: Overdose today or tomorrow which I really want to get into. Think it's a JRPG, I know that it has an idol like Miku (but eviler) in charge of the word that lets people live out their school lives in virtual reality. When I'm better I promise I'll do more game posts, need to rest for now. I stupidly got excited when a newspaper online had the headline including blistering heatwave: unfortunately I do not count 16'C as a heatwave. That is merely warm. A heatwave involves temperatures of over 20'C! Ideally nearer 30. Should have known better from a tabloid. 

Love this fanart of a Muslim Miku, she still looks as adoable as ever!

 I usually put a saying or quote, but would like to mention a random Twitter user I follow which is about the life of some frogs (yes I like frogs quite a bit, not as much as cats). Go check out Sticky Frogs whose latest tweet at the time of writing this post included the follow image. I love the colours frogs come in, the shine on their body and their cute little feet as much as I love how prehistoric looking crocodiles are, and how the babies are super miniature versions of their parents, which in turn I love as much as super adorable furry kitten. My tastes are eclectic! *coughstrangecough*

Nayu's Gaming Time #9 Pokemon mania including my first crystal Pokemon!

This is what a normal Mudkip looks like.

Recently including most of last week I've played a lot of Pokemon while I got over my mega strong meds. It's been a brilliant distraction from the evil side effects, with me being able to stand the numerous screen changes without wanting to stop playing (I'm looking at you, Animal Crossing!!!). I love it so much! 

It's the perfect game for me. I can explore without thinking I'll miss an event or somewhere I'm supposed to be as you get told where to go, and how long it takes you to get there doesn't matter (like in the Atelier series, which I love but can struggle with the time element). It's possibly aimed at children (I don't know if it originally was), so it's not super complex like Final Fantasy, it is mostly really light unlike Kingdom Hearts. I get to dress up in it, although it's taken a while in Pokemon Y which I'm currently focusing on. I get to farm berries, which I enjoy doing in games. I can level up for hours if I want, or simply get on with the story. 

Thanks to both catching Pikachu, and trading I've got Bulbasaur and Charmander, not Squirtle in

I've a bit of an idea how I hadn't tried it the 20 years it's been made over & over, but I can assure you I'll be playing it for the next 20 years and more! I'll post more in the future, but know that I'm in love with all the Pocket Monsters! Some give me the heebie geebies but most I find utterly adorable, even if they aren't obviously cute. Do you like Pokemon? Which are your favourites? Yes I love Pikachu but there are so many more and oh I have my first shiny Pokemon!

This came up in a google search, so not my gam play, but my Mudkip looked like this before it evolved - its pink! (& the sprite remains blue in the game which is only how I realised it was special)

Got the different coloured Mudkip from an online trade, and couldn't work out why it wasn't blue until I remembered about the uber rare crystal Pokemon. You can Google it, but basically they are different colours, and the possibility of catching one is so slim it's insane. I'm surprised someone gave it away in a simple trade, definitely very blessed to have it on my team as Mudkip can get to mega evolve, so I'm leveling it up as fast as I can.  And all the other cute ones. I am trying to go through the story, as I have some of the other games to play, so I can be a completionist later. I want 1 pokemon of each type with a high level, which I haven't yet got, so I'm working on that as I go along. If I can beat a trainer easily I know I'm at a high enough level. If I struggle, even when I switch Pokemon types, then I know it's time to level up. 

That's it for today's Pokemon talk - I've other posts to write and don't want to bore those of you who don't game. I think you can understand how much I love Pokemon right now! 

No idea who this cutie is, but love her hair!

Nayu's Gaming Time #3 Animal Crossing New Leaf fun!

Sorry for fuzzy pic, unsure whether it's because I used my tablet camera or that taking pics from games is hard...if you have the answer please let me know!

Moving on to happier things I'm having a blast gaming lately. Cold weather = I feel bleh = I need quiet but distracting activities, hence gaming. In Animal Crossing New Leaf the snow covered trees are starting to become green again (at least I think the green vanished when the snow properly arrived. I've been chasing a lot of snowflakes to give to the snowmummy in exchance for Frozen-esque furniture, but I don't think I've got a bed yet. The snow lasts until February 13th so I've still got time to fulfil that dream. I've got pretty much every other piece of the awesome set 

The predominant other set in this pic besides the ice set is the sweet set.

When I have more time (possibly this week if I can become less addicted to the Hatsune Miku games & the Disney Magical Castle games) I'm going to be rearranging furniture in my 4 houses - yes I have 4 characters for myself simply to store my insanely large in-game wardrobe and furniture. Will be creating themed rooms! I've slowly expanded my other 3 houses (My main one is maxed out both in room quantity and size) a little so I've got a bit more space to put everything. I tend to do Animal Crossing when I'm feeling particularly rough as it's simple enough not to require much thought, and this below freezing weather doesn't suit me at all. 

I recently got this super cute dress which works nicely with my character's light blonde hair and funky boots. I haven't enough time to show you anything else, but I hope you like this snippet from my gaming life! 

Nayu's Gaming Time #2 General chat on 3DS, Aikatsu! & Animal Crossing New Leaf Games

Being a huge Aikatsu! fangirl I've put Aikatsu! Stickers on my 3DS! from the left there's Yurika, Aoi, Ichigo, Mizuki, Ran, Kaede, Sakura, & Otome. Aikatsu! Aikatsu! (those words only makes sense if you know the show...)

Happy Sunday everyone! Today I want to share my progress with my still kind of new Japanese Nintendo 3DS.

Example of menu options in Animal Crossing New Leaf

I love it! I think I'm braver in checking out new menus because I don't understand the language as well as English, and I'm going on the basis that it's almost impossible to mess up either the system as a whole or the individual games. Since in English if you want to do something drastic like delete game data you get a few dialogue boxes asking if you're sure & really sure, anything that I do in Japanese is fine so long as there's only 1 dialogue box! 

Using that theory has worked well, I've discovered how to see how many hours I play on each game (So far Animal Crossing New Leaf is in the lead, but post Ramadan Aikatsu My No.1 Stage is catching up rather quickly!) I'm not sharing that information yet. If ever. Because it's a lot! I game when I'm tired and ill, which is a lot, so I guess overall it's not that bad. Some details shall remain secret for a reason! 

Animal Crossing New Leaf Japanese cover

Not all my hours are accurate. Due to weak hands I also play on a family member's 3DS - theirs is in English, thankfully. I clock up several hours a week game time on their console. It makes it a good thing that my yummy fruit (special fruit? it's yummy fruit in Japanese) trees keep producing yummy fruit which sell for a higher price in my family's town, as they save me having to catch loads of bugs and fish, which is fun but takes time. 

I did purchase a super cute background for my 3DS - it's My Melody! 

(not quite my 3DS which is black)

It's a bit more exciting than a plain background. There are Aikatsu! backgrounds, but I wasn't 100% keen on how they looked - I love Aikatsu! but sometimes the pictures just aren't to my taste. 

Speaking of Aikatsu! I am slowly getting to grips with both Aikatsu! My 2 Princesses (or whatever the odd title is) and Aikatsu! 365 Idol Days. My favourite is Aikatsu! My No.1 Stage because it's all about the singing. All I do (for 3 different style of auditions) is the dance sequence, which involves pressing the right buttons at the correct time while the original songs play. There's the outfit choosing too which is so much fun! 

The other two Aikatsu! games are slightly different. They aren't all about the song and dance. There are other mini-games which are needed to level up and gain different dresses. Some of them are ok, some are really cool, and there are the ones I struggle with. I can't remember off the top of my head which of the following games are in each game - I'm not taking the time to figure out. 

But in either Aikatsu! My 2 Princesses and Aikatsu! 365 Idol Days there's a modelling mini game, where you walk down the catwalk and press buttons according to what comes up on screen. I'm not 100% sure what I'm doing. I understand the waving the correct hand when told to, and why getting lucky stars are important (they have something to do with being successful in the audition), but I'm not entirely sure about button pressing for different poses. Before I start I know what type of game it is (pop, cute etc), yet during the show I do see/get asked to do a pose that isn't the main type: if it's a pop game I can get asked to do a cute pose. I just don't understand it all yet. I nearly gave up on the game because I found this so hard, but after many fails I'm finally improving enough to pass most of those auditions. 

The other audition I majorly struggled with was the one where it's a back and forth conversation with Sumire (so probably Aikatsu! 365 Idol Days). I contemplated giving up the game as I couldn't figure out how to know which answer to pick (first I had to say whether the line on screen was for me or Sumire, then I to pick 1 of 4 reactions to said comment). O.O 

I didn't understand it at all! And it was a main audition. However, in one of my random button pressing I discovered the huge secret to passing this type of audition - you get the answers beforehand! I was hugely relieved to see them, and I wrote down what I thought I needed to know (which was mostly right, it turns out I needed some of the key words which I only wrote part of), and voila, I finally passed one of the auditions!!! Success. As much as I love Sumire, I'm going to stick with mostly the singing auditions, as they are the ones I prefer ^o^ 

Outside my house! Yes I do have a halo, new today (it's a hat)

As for Animal Crossing New Leaf - there is so much to the game I'll leave it til next week. Until then here's a look what my house has looked like with expansions and exterior upgrades! I'm trying to collect the Mermaid set: I've got the mermaid fence, the mermaid door, the mermaid postbox, a sweet wall, a different roof). 

This photo took so long to load I'll show you the rest of the front room next time!

Inside I've got the mermaid wall & floor, screen, chair, chest of drawers, lounger, wardrobe (about half for both inside and outside). Unfortunately you can only get mermaid gear on the Island, and lately neither my island nor my family's Island has given new mermaid goods. I guess maybe I was just lucky so much appeared at the beginning. Hopefully I will get more of the collection soon. See you next week!

Nayu's Gaming Time #1 My Japanese 3DS arrives!!!

Shiny toy which is sucking up most of my free time (including anime time too!)

If you follow me on Twitter you may have noticed that almost 2 weekends ago (around the 11th June) I tweeted to let you know that a new shiny toy had arrived! It is the reason for the introduction of a new type of post. I've got a Japanese Nintendo 3DS, not an English one. This is because I adore music idol themed Aikatsu! anime, and there are Aikatsu! 3DS games which are only in Japanese. I understand enough Japanese to play the Aikatsu games, and since it is my top anime and a major obsession I decided against the English version just so I can experience what players in Japan do. I bought some Animal Crossing Games too. 

My back cover - Ichigo & Mizuki from Aikatsu!

My front cover with the girls from Aikatsu: from the left there's Yurika, Aoi, Ichigo, Mizuki, Ran, Kaede, Sakura, and Otome. I decorated mine with stickers instead of ordering a pretty cover for it!

This new type of post will be all about my experiences of the games, particularly from the view of a not fluent in Japanese gamer, as there seem to be very few English reviews/thoughts on the Aikatsu! series. I've stumbled across one, Joeker Straight Flush (which has nothing to do with card games as far as I can tell) 

who does have an imported Japanese 3DS and adores Aikatsu! I am getting in touch with them to see if I can a) have tips on the parts of games I struggle with & b) fangirl over Aikatsu with someone who speaks English. 

I've got heaps to say already, with some useful game tips as well as how to access and buy from the Japanese Nintendo eshop, but for now I'll show you the games I've got and extremely condensed initial first reactions. I got my Japanese 3DS from Amazon UK, and found loads of bargain games on Ebay UK too.

Aiktasu 3DS games

There are a total of 4 games, which I ordered, and these are the ones that have arrived so far. Both are in Japanese, use the card system in the arcade game too. 

Aikatsu! 365 Idol Days 

3rd game to be released, 

2nd game I played, 

Dance rhythm game

In a nutshell you create your own character and get to train as an idol alongside all the main characters in Aikatsu! series. It's super fun, was the 2nd game I played, and currently doesn't quite have full marks since I'm struggling with 2 types of audition. More on that soon! 

Aikatsu! My No. 1 Stage 

4th game to be released, 

1st game I played. 

Dance Rhythm Game

Absolutely amazing! No deadlines like Aikatsu! 365 Idol Days, you can level up loads without playing the main story, you can download lots of songs for free play, you can combie outfits, team up with the main Aikatsu! characters for auditions (once you've become friends with them) - this  is living the the Aikatsu! dream! Both gam

Animal Crossing 3DS games

Animal Crossing New Leaf 

Japanese version

Newest AC game 

2nd AC game I've played 

Life simulation/slice of life game

I have played previous versions so know what it's about. However, so much more has been added to it! You can play with friends which is hilarious, do all the usual fruit picking/fishing/shaking trees and hitting rocks for money. It helps knowing the main actions in the game, because there's a fair amount of text and a lot of words I don't know, but use my Japanese dictionary when I need to (sometimes just ignore what people say unless I have to do something!) 

Animal Crossing Happy Home Designer

Japanese version

Newest AC game (joint with ACNL)

3rd AC game I've played

Life simulation/slice of life game 

This is a new spin-off, focusing on designing rooms/buildings for the villagers. There's a huge amount of Japanese I don't know at the beginning, but I'm getting by slowly (have to be quite alert when I play it, so it hasn't had much game play). However, designing my home in ACNL & previous versions was always my favourite part, so being able to do soley this is amazing! You don't have your own home, it's quite different from ACNL but very cool all the same! 

I'd love to hear if you like this new range of posts, and obviously if you have played the games I chat about please get in touch!