November Round-Up '24

Hard to believe it's already the end of November. The stress is unrelenting, due to things outside my control, an abundance of work, and so many other things, but we persist through it all with the help of fun events, cute things, and yummy foods!!

Thanksgiving was a few days ago, and this year I spent a wonderfully cozy time at home with Chris. We enjoyed watching the National Dog Show, seeing a slightly older Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade (I always love them because they're like time capsules of the modern day), and making a billion foods just for the two of us, among other festivities. This year I'm especially grateful for the kindness and support others have shown me; as you might know, it's been a very hard year on me both physically and financially, so everything from kind words to supporting my arts has been monumental. Thank you all very, very much!!

We got the Turducken Burrito and it was soooo gooood

This one of the holiday sandwiches we tried, the "Friendsgiving" sandwich from Ike's - yummy!!!

Speaking of the holiday season... I'm currently working on handmade Christmas Cards! I've already sold through my physical cards and plan to ship them out sometime in the coming week or so. For those who missed out or are outside the US, I'm planning to release a digital version with a collection of cute kitten designs so you can print them from home to gift to loved ones! Keep an eye out for those coming soon to my Itch page!

Games

My brain has been utterly consumed by love for Zwei: the Ilvard Insurrection (AKA Zwei 2). A super unique game with intriguing characters and gameplay, on top of an adorable art style very much like Nihon Falcom's other game Gurumin (which you should ABSOLUTELY also play). Zwei 2's dual protagonists - physical-damage pilot Ragna and magic-using vampire princess Alwen - have fantastic dialogue between each other and the world around them. I LOVE how many magical creatures are in the game, and everything about the game itself is just so dang fun!! You don't even need to play Zwei 1 to get the full story (though it's a great game too). It's utterly underrated and an absolute gem, please give it a look!!

Did I mention you can get an item to let you talk to animals?? Because YES

Chris checked out Helen's Mysterious Castle - an RPG-maker game specializing in its pure use of the program's assets, and the writing and gameplay are both super charming and cool. It was awesome to see RPG Maker pushed to its limits for what could be accomplished! It's a simple, short game, with much heart - I recommend it!

Ace Attorney Apollo Justice Trilogy has FINALLY gone on sale, so we picked it up! I was especially excited for this to come out not only because it contains one of my favorite entires in the series (Dual Destinies), but also one of my dear friends (Lisa!!!) worked on localizing it. We only just started the game - I've currently played through Apollo Justice's first case, but I'm looking forward to sharing more of the game with Chris!!

I played Shadow's campaign in Sonic X Shadow Generations last month, so the beginning of this month I did Sonic's story! The frame rate was good and the characters looked great, plus I thought the addition of finding chao in each level exciting, but they made Sonic SO much heavier than the original to where it felt cumbersome to play sometimes?? After finishing it I booted up the original on my PS3 just to compare, and sure enough the gameplay felt way better to me in the older version. Very strange to change that, but maybe they figured the weightiness worked better with the new Frontiers-style controls.

Anime & Other Shows

October actually began the newest Fall season of shows, but I didn't comment on them due to a focus of spooky times... and the fact that not a whole lot is catching my interest!! The only show I've watched consistently is Dan Da Dan, very much mostly due to its gorgeous animation (courtesy Science Saru). I would like this series a whole lot more if it wasn't so crass, but I do appreciate the occasional heartfelt moments that it has. It's not really a show I'd recommend to most people, but boy does that ending SLAP.

Due to there being a lack of interesting anime this season, we started watching one of my all-time favorites again: Wolf's Rain! Now to be considered a "classic," this show has a legendary soundtrack, beautiful storytelling, and an adventure filled with engrossing action. I've seen it many, many times, and it continues to touch my heart every watch.

Look Back's animated feature was excellent, showcasing the incredible energy and power of creative collaborations. It really shows the importance of making things because you never know just how impactful what you create is to others - a message that touches me deeply, as an artist myself. This is my favorite of Fujimoto's stories and I was very happy that it was brought to life the way it was.

Arcane Season 2 finally dropped, and overall I thought it was decent. I'm not a League fan by any means so I wasn't emotionally invested in the characters or story, but wow-WEE that animation!! I love the subtleness of the expressions, the variety of art mediums used throughout the show, and how playful the animation as a whole is. The story itself was alright, though you could definitely feel they rushed to fit everything they built from the first season into just a handful of episodes since there's no Season 3 coming.

I introduced Chris to one of my favorite little web series: Angel Hare! Despite being called "analog horror" I personally found it super comforting and sweet. I love the way the creators bring each season to life with a new form of "found media." They recently had a Backerkit campaign with plushies, a comic, a game featured in the show, and more - it seems like it was a super success so hopefully that means we'll be getting more of this adorable show in the near future!

We watched the Like a Dragon/Yakuza Live Action Show and it was trash. I was initially excited when they said they'd do a "fresh take" on the story, but I didn't think that'd include absolutely annihilating every character trait and backstory for everyone from the games. I'm genuinely confused as to why they'd even relate it to the game series because of how completely different everything about it was?? I wouldn't even recommend this as a generic crime-action show; the action scenes were mediocre, there was nothing heartfelt about the drama, and the characters were honestly a bit obnoxious. Incredibly disappointing - watch the Yakuza movie from '07 if you'd like media featuring the characters as they should be.

Majima was the only one who truly even looked the part of the character... sigh

Assorted media

Neopets, a website I've loved and interacted with for much of my life and is one of the biggest reasons I create what I do nowadays, celebrated its 25th Anniversary on November 15th! To honor it, I did a Twitch stream where I drew every Neopet species... and it took 5 hours!!! My wrists were in PAIN but it was worth it. I adore you, little digital creatures - I'll be playing this game as long as it sticks around.

I read Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees, a chilling mini comic series about a woman - secretly a serial killer - who lives in a small town having her quiet life suddenly thrown off-kilter when a second killer arrives. Beautifully painted watercolor panels featuring anthro animal people is what initially drew me in, and the story was so gripping that I finished the entire six volumes in the span of just over an hour. I'll be returning to it again in the future just to admire its pretty art - it's a good story if you want something short and creepy!

Do you hear what I hear? (*bells jingling in the distance*)

The holidays are here! I do plan on taking a break from streaming on Twitch about halfway through the month, so I hope the few streams for the rest of the year are enjoyable for those who join in - I have some fun stuff planned!! Despite my busy-ness, I'm trying to respond to direct messages as I get them, but please understand that it may take some time since I've got a lot going on... maybe you'll get to hear about it next time! I'm wishing you a warm and wonderful December!

Here's a cozy Jamma, the kitty who lives at my favorite shop: RATNEST!