Holiday update – Re:Zero, Izetta, and other anime I watched this year

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Hi all, I’m finally back with a new post since I’m on vacation until after New Year’s and I wanted to say a few words on some of the recent anime I’ve watched…

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18 years of fandom – my Pokemon scrapbook

Credit to linked pixiv user

Art by とおい on pixiv

2016 is the 20th anniversary of my most influential franchises, one that has continually brought me joy for over half of my life and still shows no sign of letting up. The Pokemon Company has been celebrating “#Pokemon20” since the beginning of the year with various game promotions, special events, and exclusive store merchandise as fans celebrate the nostalgic days of Pokemon while also getting hyped for the next generation of games with Sun/Moon. Being the Pokemon fan that I am, and with Sun/Moon just a few days away, I couldn’t resist doing something special to celebrate my fandom on a personal level. So I put together a scrapbook of all the Pokemon paper goods I’ve collected over the years – pamphlets, stickers, flyers, postcards, bookmarks, CD booklets, VHS covers, TCG badge booklets, and anything else that could fit in a scrapbook…

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Yo-kai Watch review: is it the next Pokemon?

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Art by このかりん on pixiv

I’m off for four days this Thanksgiving weekend and didn’t have much planned, so why not finally have a new blog post after so long? XD As I explained in my anniversary post from last month, I haven’t been watching much new anime, but I’ll still be writing about something related today – the recent US release of the Japanese hit game series, Youkai Watch (localized as “Yo-kai Watch”). The game has been a big hit in Japan since its release in 2013 (followed by an anime series and sequel game) and was just released in the US earlier this month. I heard that it has a similar premise as Pokemon and is being hailed as the “next Pokemon” with how popular it became in Japan. Being the Pokemon fan that I am, I was really curious and decided to give the game a try once it was released in English. As of now, I’ve played about 30 hours of it (finished the main storyline and some side quests). So do I feel the series deserves the popularity it’s been getting, and will it really be the next Pokemon?…

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Why the Pokemon anime hasn’t “evolved”

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Art by 密原诺诺 on pixiv

It never ceases to amaze me how practically everyone I’ve encountered from my generation who’s into anime, video games, or other branches of so-called “nerd” culture have, or at least did at one point, an affinity for Pokemon. It usually wasn’t just the Game Boy games that were a part of their childhood, but the Pokemon anime as well. A lot of them have played all the main series Pokemon games that have come out over the years, perhaps missing one or two due to temporary waning interest, but the Pokemon games have a way of bringing people back with new updates and features they add to each generation of games. But unfortunately the same cannot be said for the Pokemon anime series. Unlike the games that get more innovative while maintaining the same beloved premise, the Pokemon anime has stagnated over the years with the same unchanging characters, the same episodic style, and the same formulaic stories. While it has gotten a bit better recently, it still pales in comparison to other long-running kids anime in terms of storytelling quality. So why has the Pokemon anime remained so resistant to change, which has infuriated adult Pokemon players who want a decent show to go along with the games they love? Today I want to examine the reasons behind this…

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A beginner’s guide to competitive Pokemon battling

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Like many Pokemon players, I started playing the games as a kid in the late 90s, before the competitive metagame existed. I first started taking note of things like EV training and IVs in the Diamond and Pearl era, but when I looked up information about the competitive side of Pokemon, I got scared away by all the mathematical equations and fan-made jargon I’d find on sites like Bulbapedia, Smogon, and Serebii. It wasn’t until Black 2 and White 2 came out in 2012 that I really wanted to give competitive Pokemon battling a try…and it turned out to be easier than I thought! As of now I’ve put in almost 600 hours of gameplay on my copy of Pokemon X, and 150 hours on my Omega Ruby, breeding competitive pokemon and trying them out on the Battle Spot and local tournaments. It does take a lot of time and experience to get good at it, but you don’t have to do any complicated math or spend hours and hours of tedious grinding in order to put together a decently competitive pokemon team, especially in the current 6th generation of Pokemon games that have made breeding and training the right pokemon much easier. So I wanted to put together this very beginner-friendly guide for any Pokemon players that are interested in trying their hand at the competitive side of the games…

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Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire review

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It’s been a blog tradition of mine to review all of the main series Pokemon games, starting with Diamond and Pearl in 2006. And now I’ve played enough of my copy of Omega Ruby to review these new games as well =)…

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A dose of Pokemon humor

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Don’t worry, this is the only special feeling meme on the post!

Lately I’ve made it a habit of saving funny anime and other related memes and pictures I come across on Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, etc., onto my hard drive for later use. It’s fun to not only chuckle at them myself a second time, but to show them to friends later on and brighten up their day XD I’ve amassed quite a collection of hilarious Pokemon pictures among them and felt it was time to share some on the blog…

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My 10 unpopular anime opinions

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Today’s post idea came from Artemis over on the Otaku Lounge (who got it from Guy Shalve…I love how post ideas get around the blogsphere!) It sounded like a fun topic to think about so I decided to give it a try…

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Fall ’13 reviews part 2 and my top 5 anime of 2013

I decided to combine the rest of my 2013 anime reviews and my list of top 5 anime of 2013 into one post. The winter 2014 season is already upon us after all, so I need to finish up all the 2013 stuff and start checking out all the new shows! XD So much anime and blogging to do and so little time…

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My 12 moments of anime for 2013

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As I’ve been doing since 2009, I’m once again participating in the anime blogsphere’s “12 Moments of Anime” project where we post our personal twelve biggest anime-related moments of the year throughout the month of December. As always due to lack of time, I’ll be posting my 12 moments all on one post here…

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