Two People Think I am Real Neat, Now I am REAL BEAT! (The Neat Blogger Award)

It’s Blog-tag week in Paradise! This week I try to resolve all tags I had opened during my little winter depression. Two of these were Real Neat Blogger Awards. Initially I planned to make this two posts during this week but it would kinda feel fillery! So I decided to Gatai my nominations. Sorry for the long post.. I have no potatoes. The oldest nomination came from Everything is Bad for You and more recent one came from Geeknabe! I would like to thank both these blogs for these nominations and like my last few posts. You can visit their websites by clicking on the cocktails below this textblock. I shall be breaking the tag 7 rule as well in advance because literally everybody I know has done these several times or has nominations coming up the wazoo. I will get creative with it instead.  Now have some cocktails and enjoy the ride.

The Real Neat Rules

Blog Tags have rules…most of the time,  so here’s a list of them.
1. Display the logo
2. Thank the bloggers for the award.
3. Answer the questions from the one who nominated you.
4. Nominate 7 to 10 bloggers.
5. Ask them 7 questions.

I will come up with seven new questions to keep the tag alive. So let’s get down to answer questions. Tags will be completely as will the amount.
We are in round 3 or 4 for most so those who don’t want this, I simply nominated pro forma. If you want to do this let me know in the comments and I will “randomly” add you to the list! Now Question Time.. there’s 14 so thats a lot! I alternate them between blogs.. because it’s fun!

Is there a game, book, or other work that you’d like to experience but that you can’t because it’s untranslated, not ported, or otherwise inaccessible?
(Everything is Bad for you)

The answer to this game is a lot more complicated than it might appear. I am not a big book girl so if there is a book in a language I can’t read, I am most likely not really aware of it. As for games , the official answer would be yes , I would love to play Mother 3, Captain  Rainbow , Seiken Densetsu 3 (A Secret of Mana game) but truth of the matter is I can. Plenty of fans around the world work hard to put out their fan translations of games we can’t otherwise play on the interwebs. While we can raise questions about legality and copyright with these works there’s also a case to be made for it to be fine. As long as the original creators or holder of the copyright does not take loss on this, I do not see the harm. As long as there is no way to enjoy a particular source trough official channels I will go about it another way and as soon as the game legit appears and I really like it , like Mother 3, I’ll buy it anyway. Among my geeky pals I have access to all consoles, except for Xbox one, but I don’t like anything unique on that anyway. I really believe if you REALLY want something you can get it. I even played Japanese games with a translator sitting next to me! Sometimes in life you have to cheat a bit! I always wanted a unicorn.. so I play Pokémon where I have 75, I really like riding coasters so I sometimes pretend not to have a heart issue. If you want something there more than likely is a way.

It is 2020, What is your favorite anime of the past decade?
(GeekNabe)

Well, my favorite anime of all time Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is of the decade before that so now I have to look up air dates of the ones that follow. Steins Gate and Kill La Kill belong to my all time favorites of this age. While I prefer the emotional journey and they pay off of Steins Gate in the end the slow start makes it so that I would re-watch Kill la Kill sooner.  Those two have a beginning and an end. School Live or Gakkougurashi might have been up there as well if I did not get one of those “and now buy the manga “ endings. Shovel-Kun was Bae. Still I haven’t decided which of the earlier two I like best. I really like closing line of Steins Gate. “Close your eyes” ..YAAAAAY! Yet Kill la Kill had so much amazing characters. It holds two of my favorite characters of all times. Yeah I can not choose! It’s a tie!
*Booo Pinkie!  Booooo*

What’s one work that really affected you or stuck with you in the last year, and why do you think it did?
(Everything is Bad for you)

In 2019 I played the game Rakuen for the first time, even though it released in 2017, I got it gifted from someone buying a humble bundle. This game hit waaaay too close to home. I am beginning to cry about it even if just thinking about it. Unfortunately I can not explain this without spoiling it, but I guess that goes for this line of question in general, because we can’t really explain why something hit us without telling what it is about.
Rakuen is a puzzle-adventure game, in which you play a boy and his mother. You start in the hospital playing a boy with a paper helmet on his head.. you already got a clue what is going on here. When you know that Rakuen means paradise in Japanese you have a pretty darn good idea what this game will be about. The boy and his mother bounce back between the real world and a colorful fantasy world full with amazing creatures that seem like they have a lot in common with the other patients in the hospital, the grumpy bear looks a lot like that grumpy grandpa in room 101 and the little bunnything like girl seems a lot like that stubborn girl in room 103 and so forth. The fantasy world also leads to the memory of the patients in the hospitals, a “dungeon” of sorts were you piece their story together. This will reward you with the characters in the fantasy world singing parts of a song that allows you to defeat the evil and grant acces to Rakuen. I nearly mummified myself after vinishing this game. I cried that hard.

The characters are done so well, the build up to their story, while not subtle (if you ever had anyone in your life deal with cancer and know anything about medication applied it’s spelled out right from the first moment with a chart that boy can read0 it just feels so real, mixed with a bit of anime drama sure but darn. My own heart condition put me in such a place a couple of years ago, doctors basically had given up hope and I was very close to my game over. The right medicine came just at the right time and maybe a miracle as well, but the point is, I have been in that ward. This game nails it’s metaphors and it’s dialogues so well that I am sure the lead designer is basing this off first hand experience. From the ways the doctors talk to the patients, to the dialogue between them and the whole atmosphere in the place. It’s a dead-on match for reality. With its 16 bit graphics it might not look like much, but I could smell the hospital, I could hear the voices, I could even imagine the fantasy world for my own. It’s something you do when your in those grey or green halls. You look for an escape so this game made way to much sense to me! Thus resulting in me crying my eyes out.

What anime character left the strongest impression on you?
(Geek Nabe)

Kamina from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann. He has become a sort of guru to me. Our drill is the one that shall pierce the heavens, his catchphrase is something that inspires me to do what I do. As humans we can think extremely limited and Kamina is the one to teaches us to shatter that limits of what we believe in.  Kamina is the symbol of mind over matter. Whether it’s pulling an impossibly long katana from a scabbard, creating Gattai, where it should not be possible or inspiring the weak to rise above themselves allowing them to do something they should never have been able too. If you want something, just make it it happen. While Kamina’s teachings do come with the danger of being disappointed or dejected with how reality works he also shows us that at one point we kind of stopped dreaming. Before we dreamed of putting a man on the moon, exploring the seas and building walls to stop our enemies from entering (the china one.. I will not talk about the Trump one). Those feats seemed impossible but we made them possible. Nowadays we have to keep track of reality and keep things real to much. The age of the dreamer has ended but Kamina shows me that we still need dreamers. Sign me up! My pinknes is the one that shall reclour the heavens.

If you could revive one series what series would it be and why?
(Everything is Bad for You)

Firefly would kind of be a cheap answer here but of course I would love to see that again.  Yet in Geeknabe’s first question I already told I would have loved to see School Live come to a much more satisfying ending as well. Since I haven’t read the manga I would not know how the concept holds up over time though, so perhaps I would be better off choosing something what would have been awesome throughout. No Game No Life! was something I would have loved to see reach it’s conclusion. The world building was great, the whole concept was amazing and while the relation between our two protagonists was a bit creepy at times I would have loft to see this series continue.  No prequels, no reboot , I want this story to go on! I want to see how Blanc will will it all!.I would also not mind if Katekyo Hitman Reborn continued, I really would love to see how the Vongola Family would move to their next adventures. But yeah lets keep it at no Game no Life as my official answer.

Who is your Waifu?

The pool of gay girl, non lewd,  characters that I know of is kinda shallow. I would love a Tohru of my own but I would never take her from her Kobayashi. Their love is to nice with their own little Kanna.  I tend to stick with Dark Magician girl, there’s multiple copies so I don’t rob her from anyone, she has cute summon animations and is a magical girl which is a plus, but she still is kinda lewd and flirty. I am not a very sexual person so I do not know how compatible we are. Ideally .. if I could have any girl in the world and make her love me, as much as she loves love interest my ideal Waifu would be Ako Tamaki from And You Thought There Never Were any girls online. She is adorable, loves to roleplay, loves games, has a lot of pink stuff and she’s totally innocent.  She is also a Yandere type of character, with the right amount of craziness I look for in a girl. I bet she would love to play D&D with me as well. She looks beautiful as well, I love her eyes ,her hair and just her cute little mannerisms. Her online avatar even wears pink! She’s so perfect! Well except for her being in love with a boy….
So I guess I am waifu single?

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 When it comes to music, do you prefer songs with vocals and lyrics or instrumental pieces, or do you have a preference at all?  If you prefer one type over the other, why do you think that is?
(Everything is Bad for You)

I am not a big music person , to me music on it’s own is a bit generic, it is a modifier to other things, like how salt and pepper season your dish, music can season your movie or game, or even your blogging.  I prefer instrumental songs vastly over the ones with lyrics. For how I use most music having lyrics is a bit detrimental. I cant blog while hearing people yell other texts than the one I am typing, During Tabletop roleplay it harder to talk or understand each other.  Strangely enough I really like it when someone puts lyrics to to instrumental song though. The best example is the ONLY song I seem to talk about. The Duck Tales Moon theme. Disney in a master Stroke interwoven this theme in Della Duck’s history. The song has evolved over the years and has become not only a part of a game, but a  part of the franchise, in seasoning that has surpassed the ages. It feels as a reward for enjoying the instrumental song we eventually we unlock the lyrics! Woop woop! Unlockables!

What is your take on fans’ acclaimed Top 3 (Naruto/Bleach/One Piece)?
(Geeknabe)

Bleach is still in there? Really? I mean if the Bounto Arc did not kill it I certainly expected the Fullbring art to kill the love. The ending of the manga felt insanely rushed and the introduction of the kids was very horrible. That being said there is nothing inherently wrong with standard shounen like this, in fact I do think it is an requirement. The Top 3 is a gateway drug that leads people into anime and manga so I am glad they do what they do. Without them I would have never met my friends. I may have outgrown them and I am not the biggest fan on how they are written in this day and age but we do need them. I’d feel these 3 are the second step of anime. The first being Pokémon/DBZ/Sailor Moon, and the competition shows like Beyblade, Yugioh and Medabots. The first step  doesn’t draw you into anime but makes you appreciate it, the second step.. brings you into the fandom. I don’t even think these shows are too bad. They just feel somewhat bland to me and in case of all three their pacing is not very good.

When was the last time you bought a magazine, newspaper, or other form of print media?
(Everything is Bad for You)

I bought Is This a Zombie Part 3  about nine months and honestly I paid quite a bit too much for it. I feel most printed media that is being sold is too expensive. We have too many options that are just so much cheaper Living in a 23 square meter studio, printed media oftenly becomes clutter to quickly. As a dutchie I oftenly pay to much for a manga.  Dollar prices are euro prices even if there is a significant exchange rate, if the price is in pounds however we do pay the exchange rate plus we round it off to “round” numbers. Magazines are outdated, rarely am I interested in an entire magazine but instead would have bought it for one or two articles, now I can read those online.  Though I do miss the physical sensation of having something to read in my hand I do not feel that is worth giving up that night in town, or skip dinner for a day for. I either have to recycle the magazine, create shelf space for a manga or save up news papers for a month until I can put them to the street. While I would love to have printed media if I had money and space right now..as is there are cheaper and more practical alternatives.

What Advice do you have to new Bloggers ?
(GeekNabe)

I have to do a post on this as well in the next tag so be sure to watch that one as well. So let’s advice something here that is not in tommorows one. I guess here I would like to say to all you new bloggers out there is to find your community yourself. WordPress isn’t magic to gain followers you will need to follow others as well, be social, leave a comment. Blogging may seem like it’s a single player game but in reality it is an MMO. Blogging is a social activity. We do care about your opinion but we might not be able to find you right away.  So don’t be a stranger and say hi. So many other wonderful bloggers will help you grow and expand your blog, like how these tags do so nicely.Be part of WordPress, Blogvinn or whatever type of media you prefer, don’t just be the boss of your own little domain.
Don’t get obsessed with the number game to start with , but yeah as a blogger you want to be read otherwise you’d just write in your diary. To be read, be seen, do not be a lurker we mostly are positive persons with the same hobbies as you and we would love to hear your ideas but we also want to share ours with you.

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Is there a holiday you don’t get to celebrate but that you wish you could?
(Everything is bad for you)

I have nagged about not celebrating christmas enough so let’s take it in another direction. The Twelfth of January will be Kiss a Ginger Day a holiday that has been a tradition in like 28 households across the world since 2009. On this day you find a significant ginger in your life and give them a kiss. Unfortunately I shall not  be participating because of my super powers. My super power allows me to be so panda that any act of lewdness or more than platonic affection for one reason or another doesn’t happen. Besides that I do not know any gingers I could kiss on the cheek platonically, without being whacked with an Umbrella. I’d wish I had a ginger to kiss because I do sorta like ginger girls, especially if they also wear glasses. On February the 5th we celebrate World Nutella day, which I also won’t be joining. Even though I do like Nutella I can’t really afford premium brands like that, let alone eat it for an entire day. On that day I am not particularly hungry anyway because on that same day there is “Shower with a Friend day” A day to raise awareness for chlorine contamination and water spillage. I bet a lot of people can combine those two into something lewd but I will not be covered  in italian chocolat paste and then be forced to shower with a friend. I’d take just the Nutella..because I have no work.. I better pick up store brand… and there you go! Question answered!

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What anime would you recommend to your friends that have never seen a single episode in their life?
(Geeknabe)

That totally depends on if the friend is  legitimately interested in viewing one of my past times or if they want to check it out to laugh at me or see if there is really squids that violate people. A genuinely interested friend, I would start of with something fairly normal yet special, like Erased or Your Name or School Life if they like  certain shows on tv or movies in the genre. People who joke about anime and laughingly ask me to put something on for them so they can see how weird and stupid it is I show Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro Chan, Akikan,  Cat Soup or FLCL. You do not mess with my passions, if you think I am weird, I shall create a drill that will shatter your mind on how weird exactly I am! Who the hell do you think I am! I am a person who watches girls whack a guy with a guitar on the head and pull robots out of it.. see soda cans wage a war of love and see a cat bring it’s brain dead relative on an adventure! So never ask me to show you anime to mock me! I will Girl und Panzer your ass and force you to watch through it all! and that is if you catch me in a good mood. Teehee!
Erased really is a good show for most normies though I think. It’s a nice plot with enough anime charm put in it.

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If you had to create a new holiday, when would it be and what would it involve?
(Everything is bad for you)

Well first of all you get a jar of nutella, rub it on a friend than you go shower together… wait…………that already happens…frizzlesticks! Kidding aside if I had to create a holiday it would be all about you.
During Christmas we spend time with our family, with thanksgiving we are grateful for all the things we have received, during valentine’s day we honour our love, we have days for our war heroes, our deities, Be it god and jesus on easter, Mohammed Allah or the Shinto Gods. Even the Flying Spaghtti Monster is celebrated, during Talk-Like-A-Pirate-Day on the nineteenth of September Pastafarians honour their god.  Yet not a single holiday focuses on the most important person in your life … YOU!
I’d create a holiday where everyone buys a little present for themselves. Be it a spa day, be it your favorite piece of chocolate. It’s celebrate by doing you. If you want to check in a hotel and eat a toblerone from the hotelbar while wearing their bathrobe and watching sappy chick flicks away from your family or getting liquored up in a bar with all of your mates. Whatever gives you that perfect little moment of happiness. It’s a day where being selfish is allowed.. just for once!  Holidays always teach us to live for others, to donate too charity to give others the largest piece of chicken. One the first of may , I may order tapas just for me, I may treat myself to a luxury bath bomb or I may stay in bed the entire day. I matter on the first of may!

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What is your opinion on fanservice in anime ?
( Geeknabe)

I am gonna assume this means boobies and jiggly butts, because I have no problem whatsoever with the other kind of fan service.. like you know Goku who has Gohan’s old hat or the power pole on a shelf, or A jojo character doing the pose of an older jojo character to show their lineage.. I love that stuff.  As for the jigglies I do not care much about them, if it makes people happy I do not mind giving up a second or two from my series for a jiggle animation, it means nothing to me. As long as it’s not detrimental to the show. High School of the Dead if for example annoyed me to no end. All those weird shower scenes with the teacher added nothing. I think the second episode of Fire Force also added a scene like that but that got better ever since. Keijo for example I really quite enjoyed because the fan service is in favor of plot advancement. I can even appreciate jokes where a female character is saved by her physical qualities. However scenes that are just about boobs or butts or sexual innuendo I do not care about at all. While I can get attracted to a personality, like Ako or Dark Magician girl kinda do.. I would not feel the same at all if I just saw a drawing. In real life or anime, a naked woman slipping on a soap bar with boobs flopping around doesn’t really tickle my fancy.

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I could have a house filled women without clothes and I would not feel a thing. I find clothes a lot sexier than flesh as it expresses much more personality I know something of that person. Attraction to me is about forming a bond and I would need to see someone interact with me, A woman D cup, without clothes sitting on my couch, watching the tv would make me less aroused as as an A Cup girl in a winter coat winking at me and beckoning me over.  So I do not get fan service or it’s appeal at all, its visual stimuli without an invitation. Like if someone shows me a picture of a Kobé Steak, with a 1000 dollar bottle red wine, foie gras and other stuff. I won’t really get hungry by that because it’s not going to happen, not in a million years. Show me an add for the pizza place next door and I just might be hungry..and still not for that picture but for the actual pizza across the street. I just do not find fanservice sexy at all, nor gross or demeaning so as long as I get my content from the episode I am fine. Otherwise it’s just as annoying as those overly long One Piece Flashbacks

Seven Questions

Now for my seven questions, these will put you in the shoes of some famous anime characters or worlds. Let’s see if you all can roleplay a little! Please do not answer any of these questions with “I would not do that..If I make you roleplay an evil character , you are still yourself…but EVIL!

1. If you could do the fusion dance with any character from anime, who would you fuse with and how would you be called when fused

2, If you gathered the seven Dragon Balls, what would be your wish?

3. What would be your Devil Fruit if you had to eat one.

4. If you were Shou(ette) Tucker and you had , a boy/girlfriend/lover , a best friend or a single parent which one would you use for a chimera and would you fuse them with a dog, a chicken or a cow? Also WHY!?

5. If you got a Geass that could save ONE but only ONE character in Code Geass from death which one would you save?

6. If you were Maximillion Pegasus, which blogger his/her parents soul would you steal to make them do a collaboration with you?.

7.If you were a homunculus in Fullmetal Alchemist, what would be your Sin and how would that relate to your abilities.

Nominations

So yeah who to nominate? Last time I could use a song but this time I can’t. So I use a random word generator to make a random word appear and tag a blogger that I think matches the word the best.
Here we go

Word 1:  Wagon
Nominee: Hikari
Reason: Wagon… Station Wagon.. Station.. Otaku Station
Yep I am really amazing at this!

Word 2: Pluck
Nominee: Crow
Reason: A Crow is a bird and you pluck a bird
I also considered  Krystallina for this but I don’t think you can pluck a penguin

Word 3: Fossil
Nominee: Inkisbane
Reason: He said he was really old

Word 4 :Stock
Nominee: Krystallina
Reason: Penguins might not be pluckable but I bet you can make a very nice stock out of them.

Word Number 5: Equinox
Noiminee: GeekGirlJoy
Reason: Equinox sounds like a perfect name for a robot

Word Number 6: Reserve
Nominee; Irina
Reason: All the quality booze has Reserve in the name.
I know she probably has way too much tags to deal with but who knows

Word Number 7: Conversation
Nominee: Blerdy Otome
Reason: In Otome games it’s all about the conversation.

Wanna join these people in the questions? Let me know in the comments!
See you in more taggy stuff in the next one!