My Passionate Love Affair with Kabi Nagata....'s Work

Before we begin, I would like to say that this post covers deeper subject matters than what usually shows up on the blog: self-harm, alcoholism, hopitalisations, depression, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and more. I won't get too into details with certain things, but please be aware that these well come up. There's also a letter at the end to the author you can skip once you get there as it's technically the end of the article.

That being said, welcome back and enjoy.

 

For Our Honoured and Respected Kingsglaive

It took me a long time to finally set aside some time to watch this. And before I go into the review, let me just say this: this movie is gorgeous. And that is its biggest highlight. There will be some spoiler talk in here, so if you're still interested in the movie, I would say to skip this review. Or only read this if you still plan on watching the movie with the intent of drawing your own conclusions of it.

The movie came out last year, 9 July 2016 to be exact. 2016 was a huge promotional year for Square Enix. They had this, Brotherhood, the Audi R8^*, A King's Tale, and a tonne of other things to help promote the actual game. They were very, very busy, but out of all that, we're going to, of course, discuss the movie.

For those who don't know, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV (henceforth known as "Kingsglaive") is a feature length CG movie by Square Enix. The development team behind the film is actually Vision Works. People might know them as the team that made Final Fantasy 7: Advent Children, which is one of my favourite adapted movies. The movie tells the political story of King Regis, his counsel, and of these people known as the Kingsglaive, who are a group of refugees who lend the power of the Crystal to keep the country of Insomnia safe during these wartimes.

The total runtime of the movie is 110 minutes, and I will say it again.

This movie is breathtakingly beautiful.

Pour Me a Yuri!!! on Ice

Yuri!!! on Ice is unequivocally one of the most popular anime to come out in Q4 2016— if not this entire year, honestly. Most of the reception has been incredibly positive, and there have only been a few nitpicks here and there about the overall theme of romance within the show itself. ……But honestly, a lot of it is unnecessary discourse. Also, Congratulations to it being the first anime I started and finished in the past… year. Thank you to Anne Lee over at Chic Pixel for the 48 hour CrunchyRoll guest pass, so I could watch the finale yesterday!(๑¯♡¯๑)

I've been interested in figure skating for years; it's been a silent interest of mine since childhood [I'll be posting about another one before the year is out, hopefully] and has always been one of those fantastical things that I never thought I could actually indulge in, in spite of already playing several sports back then. Figure skating is one of those sports that focuses so much on technique and encourages a stylised and personal approach to elegance. Despite the silly costumes, the competitors are fiercely loyal to their craft and incredibly disciplined. When I was growing up, figure skating wasn't really on the radar of many people around me. It was solely considered a feminine hobby, if it was even regarded at all, so it's nice to see something like this become so popular and bring fans of the sport, new and old together.

But enough about waxing poetic about ice knives and silly leotards, what about the show? Well. I'm glad you asked.

Ultimate Ultimatum: DATE OR DIE!!

It's been a bit since I've talked about an indie game that I was super stoked about. And this year, I have two! One of which I will tell you about right… n–

Date or Die!! is a thrilling visual novel where the main theme revolves a dating reality game show where everyone plays for keeps. What's to keep? Your life, of course! The game consists of a colourful LGBT cast and a dynamite, sadistic host. To quote the creators: "In terms of inspiration, think Flavor of Love and The Bachelor meets Danganronpa!" Boy oh boy. I can't wait for the full version of this.

Aaah Nostalgia – New Retro Arcade: Neon

If you haven't guessed already, I live vicariously through Dan's YouTube channel.

Huzzah, and thanks for making it through another personal, quote-unquote emotional personal post previously. If that entry no longer exists, you dodged a bullet. Let's continue!

Now That's Incredibox

Look at what I discovered at literally three in the morning. There's this incredible music web site called Incredibox, and I instantly fell in love with it. I mostly talk about things that I really enjoy on this blog, but truth be told, it's really hard for me to instantly like something, especially for a long time, but I really feel like this has something special.

Incredibox is a way to "express your musicality". Their words not mine, and in truth, I think it's pretty genius. You get a choice between instruments, percussions, effects, choruses, and beats. You drag and drop what you want onto a guy that slides on your screen, and bam! You get to hear the results in real time. Each musical choice you make has a different loading time because it's going to sync with the other choices you made in your mix track.

There's so much to talk about. WOW! We might as well dive under the covers for this one.

Prince Not-So-Charming, Galavant

Aaaaah— What a charming little show. It's really hard for me to do a review about Galavant. I know just that it's one of my favourite shows right now.

One of my roommates, M, was the one who told me about this show. She was on YouTube browsing around and came across some of Galavant's first season clips. She told me about it, and we looked it up together. The first season is available on their YouTube, but each episode is $2.99. Considering the first season is only eight episodes, that's actually not bad at all.

Rotatio: Just Keep Spinning

Let's talk about this new game I'm really into. It's called, very simply, Rotatio.

I'm always in the market for more mobile games. I'm always wandering around with my iPad, and I have a terrible case of idle hands. I think I found a game that's frustratingly good enough to keep me occupied.

The game is very simple. You just need to pass your ball through each gap to clear the stage. The catch to that is that the ball moves pretty quickly. There are balls on either side of the gap that will cause you to fail if you touch them. Even if you pass them, they linger for a second or two, so be careful not to hit them during this time as well.

App: PEAK

It's been a while since I gave you guys an app recommendation, and the sad thing is that I've had this sitting and waiting since January. You have no idea how long I've been putting aside writing this review. But you know, much better late than never in my case! -nervous laughter- Ahem. Continuing on.

I've been trying to get more use out of my iPad these years. Since I've gotten my [semi-defunct] smartphone, I haven't been giving it the attention it deserves. I still use it for a few games (like Blendoku) or crying over the fact that SYMPHONIA no longer works. But I shall cry no more, because I've added PEAK into my ranks.

Let's Watch: Vampire's Kiss

I don't do a lot of Let's Watch posts, because I tend to write my reviews after I watch the movie. But in this case, there was no way I could possibly wait to get this one out there.

Vampire's Kiss is a 1988 classic starring Nicolas Cage. If the name isn't familiar to you, then surely the infamous meme face is. That image alone should tell you about the magic you're about to see here.

Brace yourself. This is going to be a long post, and there are spoilers ahead. (Duh.)

Warning for spoilers, repetitive superlatives, and being overall link heavy.

The first ten minutes of the movie are unabashedly entertaining. The acting goes from stuck up to drunken at the drop of a hat (and the slur of some words). The movie begins with Peter Loew (Cage) stretched out on his therapist's (I wanna say, vinyl) couch, talking about some woman he just wanted to "get the hell out". His therapist (a distant cousin of Rue McClanahan) has a case of the scratchy throat, and the camera slowly zooms in on her.

They're playing the pronoun game because we don't really know who "she/her" is that either are talking about. Loew takes a moment to stare off into space, and then there's a really abrupt jump to a booming club. You can really feel the 80s.

ONAF 2: The Egg-Wakening

Welcome one and all to Flumpty Bumpty's. If your light's turned off, then you're safe. If your lights are on, then they'll come find you~ and rip you a brand new face.

As expected, ONAF is incredibly warm and welcoming.

Welcome back to Mr. Flumpty Bumpty's Animated Emporium of Delightful and Exciting Terror. That's not what it's called, but I'm sure it'll be added in the fine print. The above lines are actually from the song you hear in the beginning once the game starts. The song is there in lieu of a phone call, but as always, it's a hint on how to proceed with the game.

One thing that I didn't point out in the last post is that One Night at Flumpty's has a good chunk of Easter Eggs (this time pun not intended). You'll see them on the desk in front of you as you play the game. In this second installment, they are all over. As always, I must deliver a warning. In this second one, to your immediate right is a dissected Piglet. So that's a constant thing to look out for.

Flumpty Dumpty is Hunting Us All

Since the second part of this game is out, I really wanted to talk about it because boy am I enjoying myself. The wild and crazy success of Five Nights at Freddy's gave birth to many spinoffs. I'll admit, while a lot of them aren't good, I admire them for trying. I admire them for being able to put out an idea. However, the most amazing spin off of the FNAF series - hands down - has to go to One Night at Flumpty's.

Let's talk about this.

One Night at Flumpty's was created by Jonochrome and is completely animated. It's not a modeled game. It is animated, y'all. That is worth its own merit right there, but it continues on. In the beginning of ONAF, you get a typical phone call. But it's not from some mysterious phone guy. It's from dear Mr. Flumpty's himself. Here is the phone call transcribed:

Hi~ I'm Flumpty Bumpty.  I'm an egg. I'm immune to the plot, and I can transcend time and space. Also, I'm coming after you~ You can figure out the rest. Have fun.

Oh no. He means business. Note that the "Have fun" is accentuated by some creepy laughter, so yes. He's going to enjoy himself.

And All the Kingsmen

I'm not going to lie. When this originally came out, I didn't hear a single thing about it. I had never seen a trailer; I have never even heard about it. I didn't even know it existed until about February. I was on tumblr when I started seeing some gifs of one of the characters. I just thought it was cool but didn't really trying think too much about it.

Which is strange, considering how awesome it ended up being.

Kingsman: The Secret Service is one hell of a film. It's incredibly fun, over the top, and just the kind of movie to get me back into cinema. It's a spy film in its greatest form. It pulls no punches; it has great villains, and of course, its gadgets are amazing. It pays homage to, makes fun of, and amplifies the average spy film all at the same time. It's a multifaceted wonder, and personally, I'm impressed.

I love spy films, and I love action films. I love seeing wild adventures, nonsensical villain-hero banter, and some sort of dramatic tension. Kingsman definitely delivers on that while at the same time spin kicking some expected spy-stereotypes out of the window.

The film has a great cast of people, and the delivery is honestly fantastic. As far as the individual characters go, it's very easy to pick your favourites and to get attached. The main character Eggsy (yup) comes from a broken home, and there are moments where domestic violence is discussed/witnessed. It explains why he's so hardheaded, even though he's an incredibly bright kid.

Sam Jack does an incredibly job of playing a somewhat dorky, lisping villain. I love this type of villain! I love the way that he acted it out, and in case you didn't realise: the word of the day is 'love'. It's such a strange emotion to feel, but I'm really passionate towards this film. I think my one complaint with the film would be that the cinematography can get really blurry during some of the exciting parts. Well, really, it blurs up during the church scene. It does invoke the proper mood of high paced, very intense, and caught up in the action. But I'm greedy. I want to see clearly with my already bad eyes. Keheheh, other than that, I don't have any real beef with the film.

I want to hear different opinions though. I want to know if there's anything you felt was missing or left you wanting. For me, I found it to be a purely fun, over the top, stylish, cinematic tale. I'm really glad that I went to go see it, and I suggest that you go check it out too.

Beautiful, Chaotic Metropolis

Life! That's all I have to say about my lack of updates. But as is my style, I'm going to be working backwards with you for a moment.

I've seen a couple of great movies lately, but I want to talk about the most recent one I saw a few days ago. Its name is Metropolis. I've seen gifs of this movie (specifically of this blond crying) on tumblr. I've made a mental note of it, but I never made an attempt to go look it up. Sometimes, I just flat out forgot, but I was given the opportunity to correct this repetitive mistake!

A Narcissus' Adventure

You know what's hilarious? I forgot I had this review in the works. I have dropped the ball!

This is why Fridays were invented.

Narcissus teaches you how to love and trust yourself more through the power of frustration. Strangely enough, it's almost masochistic enough to work!

What took me about this came is that it's not just a platformer that I'll usually play. It really works with and against your mind, if you're playing single-player. By choosing to fly solo, you'll have to control the black and white avatars on your screen simultaneously. It sounds a bit tricky in theory, and it gets a little bit worse when you actually sit down to play. With local co-op, you can out your friendship on the line and build up your social link through trial and error. (Wait, that's not the same game—)

All in all, I really think that Narcissus is worth a few rounds. It's a great mental exercise and an approved way to test ones attentiveness and reactions. Also, if you're into mind-numbing torture fueled on by your internal pride and competitiveness, this'll be good kindling for that fire.

I love a game that I can play on my Mac, and this is definitely one of those I go to touch in on from time to time. It's a very simple, straightforward game that does increase in difficulty as you go. It even has an nightmare-style mode, because why not, amirite. It's just some extra fuel to keep your inner narcissus going. The best way to learn to love yourself is to watch a monochrome inverted version of you plummet into nothingness.

View the official home page and check it out on Game Jolt. Warning: an ad and the game will autoplay on the Game Jolt link. Don't click if not prepared/muted.

Let's Take Our Hunter Exams!

Now here's something that comes as a surprise.

Before I switch my tumblr accounts, there had been a lot of hype for Hunter x Hunter. Over the past six months or so, I saw a lot of people talking about it (and Fairy Tail, actually). HxH was something that I had heard about here and there over the years, so I knew the name "Gon" but nothing else. Seeing the characters on my dash without context was always amusing and slowly gained my interested, but I never took the bait. It was always on that "Okay, I'll put it on my list" list, but I never thought I would actually fall into it.

That is until my roommate decided to take the plunge, and I'm so glad I jumped in as well. Oh, my dear sweet boys. Because I started, I won't be reviewing this like I did Daily Lives of High School Boys. Consider this review more of a stream of consciousness if anything.

Six Steps to 7th Heaven: Million Year Mud

It's been a while since we talked about these, hasn't it? The last one was the Moroccan Clay mask, which was painfully good (and smelled awesome). This one, though, I used sparingly because so many other things took precedence over a thirty-five minute face routine. Regardless, it was eventually finished, and now that everything is right in my small world again, we can finally talk about this.

Pictured above is the Million Year Mud mask. I don't believe I indicated the last mask's purpose, but with the Million Year Mud mask, it's a revitalising face mask. It works with all skin types, and it definitely gives your skin that extra boost.

It's two main ingredients are rhassoul mud and juniper. The colour has a grey-blue presentation. When I took a sniff, I realised that this was... really clinical. When applying just under my nose, it definitely lingered with me. The smell wasn't outright repulsive, but much like the Moroccan Clay, it was very powerful. Unfortunately, it was intense and reminded me of a clinic room. Well, at least it's clean.

First Impressions: The Evil Within

Hey, guys. How've you been? It's been hard to get around without my laptop, but I won't let that get me down. I'm gonna load you down with blog posts until I run out of content. Again. Now, won't that be fun? Prepare yourself for a lot of game talk, and to set that pace, here's my impression of The Evil Within.

I know. I know. This game came out October 2014, but this game hit me like a hurricane. I actually avoided it initially because it didn't seem very interesting. Well, that is interesting enough to play. I finally gave in because of tumblr. More and more people started talking about it, and okay, fine. I finally gave in. Thanks to the community center, I actually got to play it for myself. And I'm pretty glad I did.

Six Steps to 7th Heaven: Moroccan Clay Mask

Again, apologies ahead of time for the photo quality. My phone has an [un]surprisingly bad camera. I've been trying to get my skincare routine back on point. I usually use the face wash that I got from e.l.f a while, while back, but I wanted an exfoliating mask—something that went deeper. I browsed around and ended up snagging a deal.

The site that I visited is called 7th Heaven, and they have a good deal of masks there for purchase. I wanted to choose just one or two, but they have a special where you can buy six masks for $12. Not bad, so I went for it. Ohohoho, am I glad that I did. I got these on Halloween, and now almost a perfect month after the fact, am I sharing my find with you. I've great timing. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

All Abroad the Aliexpress

Y'all, this article has been in the making for a little while now. It's been a bit of a struggle trying to figure out how to put this into words, because it's a bit of a two-parter.  I recently bought a new phone. I seriously wanted it, and I guess you could say that I just ended up spoiling myself. I'm an adult. ...Dammit.

Now, usually one would make this decision in person to get a feel of what they want and also because phone shopping can usually be done at cell service retailer, like T-Mobile or Verizon. Usually, and I wanted to buy an HTC in person, even if that meant I would have to get a contract plan. [Ech, I'd much rather not if I can prevent it. I grew up on that MetroPCS, you feel me.] But, to put it briefly, I remembered that I had a number of phones saved in my bookmarks. I still have flip phones saved—Japanese, mind you, but flip phones nonetheless.

My phone of choice ended up being from Aliexpress. I heard a lot about the web site, and I've visited its parent site, Alibaba, a lot over the past couple of years. I've explored and wondered about the sellers there. It is a giant marketplace, and since I'm a habitual eBay shopper, I already know how important it is to look into a seller, their reviews, and their wares. I've heard pretty good things about the site overall, but that was only recently. It's like the site is up and about, but what made me suspicious is that no one really talks about it. It's just there, and the sellers have a lot of traffic and varied reviews.

While suspicious, I still ended up investing a lot of money when I bought my phone.