Boop boop be doop!
Growing up on a wide range of cartoons in the 80s brought us wonderfully bad things like Thundercats and Silverhawks. I was enamored by shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Woody Wood Pecker. I also enjoyed the classics and developed that first cartoon crush on a scandalous Betty Boop. I can across this make up tutorial the other day and had to share. This youtube user’s channel, Jbunzie, did a fantastic job. Happy Friday.
Rise of the Tiger Clan
In this edition of Developer’s Journal we look at the 2nd draft copy of the history section of one of the three clans found in our forthcoming RPG Art of War. This focuses on the the rise of the Tiger Clan
Clan Family Names: Date, Huang, Khan, Lao, Luo, Luong, Ma, Sakai, Shingen, Sun, Yu, Zhang, Zhao
Common Tenets: Benevolence, Harmony
Common Concepts: Buxist, Youxia
Common Descriptors: Caregiver, Elemental, Fluid, Monk, White-hare
Clan Technique: Deflect Arrow, Ground Breaker, or Moon Rabbit Leap
The story of the Tiger Clan begins just as any other points in history where the oppressed bind together to stand against tyranny of any form. The clan comes from the former nomadic traditions of the vibrant communities across all of the Hanxia Plains. Farming villages that hold to seasonal festivals to celebrate the life of the common people. They believe in the practice of a balance of living in harmony with nature and each other.
They came into their own when the surrounding barbaric warlords threatened their quiet life with raiding and pillaging. Warlords living in the Wylds looking to expand their territory ravaged the land with constant displays of violence. Sending hordes of raiders to raze crops, demolish rival warlord’s villages, the slaughter livestock, enslave those who didn’t pay tribute and desecrate sacred shrines of the Enlightened Way.
It was the keepers of these holy places, the Buxist of the Enlightened Way, were the first to speak out against the imbalances of oppression. These monks of virtue trained in the use of chi, developed physical techniques to align with the mind to perform great feats of marvel. The Buxist taught the basics of these techniques to the local villages in order to help defend against the raiding bandits. They trained while they harvested and fortified their homes with the offerings that the Plains provided to them.
It wasn’t long until the warlord by the name of Black Jade heard of a village that learned the secrets of the balanced path and looked bend it to his will. Arriving in the village, Black jade, went looking for the senior monk that is said to have mastered shattering swords with his fist. To his dismay, the monk had moved onto the next village, leaving behind only his wisdom. Black Jade pressed the village elders for the location of the scrolls the he had left. Offering first with money, than protection from the other warlords, and finally he used intimidation.
Those that were present during the initial altercation are said to have been divided. Some stood in fear, unable to move, while others instinctively responded with flight. Then there were those that responded with a type of aggression of vengeance. Vengeance against those who didn’t follow the basic tenets of balance, those that followed corruption, power and tyranny.
Those that responded became known as the 13 Heroes of the Cleansing Jade. They traveled from village to village spreading their interpretation of the old teachings and training them in defense against invaders. These teachings united villages into larger communities that began to take the names of the heroes as their own. Bring about the 13 established families.
As news spread of the fall of warlord after warlord, so did the Emperor’s eye turn toward the plains. Rumors and fear of revolt spread throughout the court, and under encouragement of Kitsune Samurai of the court, the Emperor dispatched a royal military unit to suppress any threats of the empire. Upon arriving at the village of Lao, it seemed as though life was proceeding as normal. The troops of the Kitsune Clan attache were welcomed with loyal cheers. When village elders meet with the diplomats, they informed them that a resolution was already in hand, and all the Hanxia Plains villages remained loyal to the Empire.
As the royal army traveled to secure further territory from the savagery of the remaining warbands, they found similar stories with each village. The royal emissary called for each hero to return with the Kitsune Clan as honored guest to tell their story to the Emperor. Those that agreed, arrived in the capital to a grand ceremony with an audience to appear in front of the royal family. It was here that, the Emperor annotated each of them minor noble standing. He called the collection of heroes representing each village in attendance the Tiger Clan for their calm and fierce demeanor. All members of the Tiger Clan were assigned the duty of protecting the realm from injustice, preserving the code of BuXia, and keeping the kingdom in balance.
3 Sisters, 3 Bells. = 3 of 5 stars
Rating Summary
Art: 3 – Average
Story: 3 – Average so far
Dialogue and Development: 3 – quick development that could have been stretched over the first two books, to give more history of the characters.
Overall: 3 out of 5
“Juline Kenga’s life changes suddenly when the school she was living at is attacked, leaving only her alive. As his final act, the kung-fu master gives her a small bell from her father, a missing powerful sorcerer. Now Juline must search for her two half sisters, each who possess their own special bells. She and her sisters must use the secret of the bells to find their father and defeat Bai Wang, a sorceress on a sacred mountain who wants the power of the bells for herself.” ~ AnimeNewsNetwork (ANN)
*Contains Spoilers* Tentacle writes about events in the first volume of the manga. Don’t want spoilers, stop reading.
Still here? Let’s move on.
While browsing the local used bookstore for their fine collection of manga, this tentacle looked to break from its romantic comedy and harem-esque manga it finds itself consistently going back to by no fault of its own. It was looking for something different to break beyond the barriers of its comfort zone and expand into the universe of martial arts action manga. Something without too much top busting and cloths ripping fan service and something slightly focused on a good story with action.
While pursuing the aisles (yes, plural, it’s great to have manga supported locally nearby), a staff member came up to inquire if this tentacle needed assistance (sure enough, it did). Commenting on this middle-aged otaku’s shirt, the staff member proceeded to ask questions of interest to help narrow down the subject matter needed for choosing the proper material to start this exploration into action and adventure.
After narrowing down the selection, she recommended an easy read with a compelling storyline to start the travels. The choice was between the two: mecha or martial arts. As a martial arts film fanatic, we chose the later and proceeded through a few title before settling on the first volume of what could be a fun series: Shaolin Sisters.
The opening scenes feature Juline Kenga, martial artist and heir to a sacred martial arts clan. She is off on excursion to a nearby spring to bathe before a morning of training. The art in this section is standard to the classic semi-heavy lines of manga illustration, taking into consideration of the properly illuminated areas to offer a bit of early fan service in the first few pages. While we don’t mind the fan service, as it is a staple in all genres, it was a bit early and one should know it is the only part here in this first chapter that is presented. Hopefully, it doesn’t make a consistent appearance in the series, but it serves the purpose of getting the reader’s attention.
Minor rant over, we move on to find Juline being found by servant of the clan that was sent to answer a summons from the master. As it is in many stories of many young masters of the martial arts, she is late for an important training. Without much delay, she readies herself and rushes back to the training hall excited to begin practice.
It is during this time of her morning dip, that the old kung-fu master and all members of the clan are under assault of one of many antagonists, King Baiwon. Baiwon looks to collect three artifacts said to hold magical powers to aid his rule of the people. When Juline arrives, she finds everyone, but a few survivors, that have been outright slaughtered off panel. Including the injured and slowly dying master who then informs Juline of her past.
The master informs Juline of her past and that her father has left her a present. A single bell that is said to be infused with magical abilities. He tells her that it is one of three bells given to each of the owner’s daughters, and that she was one of these sisters. The dying master entrusts her with the bell and the knowledge that she now must find her two sisters, who each maintain similar bells.
In succession the manga moves pretty forward in her travels to find her sisters. When she gets closer to her first sister, Kaline in a nearby village, their bells ring out for each other. When Juline tells Kaline of her story, Kaline is hesitant but joins her in the quest to reunite the three bells. It fast forward even more quickly and we find the third and final sister with the last bell. When in close proximity, all three bells ring out with Juline telling her story. While Seiline, who is a pirate captain does not believe her two sisters and says they must prove their worth. The challenged has been accepted by Juline and will face the eldest sister Seiline in combat to prove her connection of a common father.
This is where the first volume of Shaolin Sisters ends, just before the family duel. Is this first volume interesting enough to continue the adventure into the next book? That’s a great question this tentacle is struggling with. It has potential to take off, but the fast introduction, development of character and story does not hold its attention. What can be said is that it is a jump into the action type of story and moves at a pace readers will like for a fighting manga. It should be a quick series to finish. Volume 2 currently sits on the nightstand but hasn’t been picked up yet. Maybe this weekend. Will everyone be kung-fu fighting?
Let’s sum it all up out of 5.
Art: 3 – Standard. Good solid lines and proportions of the characters are not distracting. Nothing outlandish.
Story: 3 – It could be an interesting read, it just moves a little too quick for me.
Dialogue and Development: 3 – quick development that could have been stretched over the first two books, to give more history of the characters.
Overall: 3
In this tentacle’s free time it makes RPG supplements or hires freelancers to do so under the company name that you can find in the widget to the right of your screen (click the logo). Now we have made several different type of products, mostly focusing on the Pathfinder Compatible system. This tentacle originally wanted to create an Asian fusion campaign world inspired by anime, Three Kingdoms of China and the Warring States of Japan.
This project was originally called Project BuXia and was to be developed for the Pathfinder d20 system, but as things went along the mechanics didn’t feel proper for world setting. So we started to look at other gaming systems. One was Savage Worlds, which offers a free from character development and would be fast and easy to jump right in. The issue was multiple types of dice. This tentacle wanted to keep the system simple. Multiple dice served their function for the system of Savage Worlds really well, but we didn’t want players worrying about having to keep track of different dice.
We looked at OVA: the Anime Roleplaying System from Wise Turtle Games. It uses a d6 base and already has rules centered around anime fun. This tentacle loves this system, and everyone has d6s lying around from either Monopoly or Yahtzee. However trying to squeeze the world we wanted into this system felt forced. So we tried again.
We looked back at past systems to find Big Eyes, Small Mouth 3rd Edition. A classic system using an updated rules from the Tri-Stat System which we loved using growing up. Again it had everything we wanted and the game is designed for the Anime/Manga RPG fans alike. Expanded skill sets for customization of characters and templates for anime influenced build outs. The ability to scale the dice to the power level you wanted is great from GMs and Players alike. Our issue was the point build numbers were to large and as this tentacle fleshed out the world it wanted to create, we realized this was too anime. Our flavor text and world merging ended up more based on the martial arts films and samurai tragedies of the movies.
This shifted our focus to drop the anime feel and focus on a rich dynamic setting. We wanted to keep the original goal in mind of having a simple system using the same die type and no more than a handful of them. The game mechanics should be simple, open, and easy to understand while offering enough character customization to have in depth backgrounds. So we looked at the base rule set of the standard Tri-Stat system and found our answer.
A simple 2d10 base mechanic system with a modified point build structure for character and rules. We came up with a house ruled system we call BuXia. This gave rise to the writing the introduction to the book (soon to be kickstarter) Art of War. The opening (unedited) text is below. It includes a brief introduction, theme & tone, along with what we call BuXia Code, similar to the Bushido or Wuxia code.
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Art of War is a world setting where bushido meets wuxia. Martial arts, katas, and Chi are as commonplace to the farmer as it is to the Emperor. Youxia wander the lands protecting its people from burdening lords, as the samurai hold their ground against the Oni warlord armies. Feats of wushu masters running up bamboo trees and punching holes into walls, while a ninja clan moves swiftly along the moon clad roads skirting patrols as they infiltrate a castle. Elemental benders of the village summoned by the council to intercept and negotiate with the demon possessed monks that torment local farmers, all while avoiding hungry ghost of the forest.
Join me for an evening of listening to the guqin and shamisen. If we are lucky, we might see a geisha dance this time.
The Art of War takes place on the continent of XX, which is home to many bright cultures and traditions. Art of War focuses only one of these empires, the San Empire that is made up of three states joined under the current reign of the Emperor Wu Zhang. Under the Mandate of Heaven, he directs the sacred lands of the people controlled by the three Great Clans: Kitsune, Tiger, and Serpent.
Art of War is a 32mm narrative miniatures skirmish game that pulls its inspiration from parts of Eastern History. The first being the Spring and Autumn Period of Chinese history that took place between the end of the Eastern Han and beginning of the Jin Dynasty. This period is often referenced as the Three Kingdoms period of Wei, Wu, and Shu.
The second influence comes from the warring states of Japan, known as the Sengoku period. Before the unification by the Tokugawa shogunate, the years of these warring states spans from the beginning of the Onin War and ending with Siege of Osaka. This setting also pulls elements from the Nara and Kamakura periods of Japan’s history.
The Kingdom of Joseon of Korea, the Tru’ng Sisters of Vietnam, the Tibetan Empire, and many other parts of history have inspired the tapestry in the creation of this imaginary world.
This is an imaginary world pulled and created from many aspects of history, but is in no way a representation or a perfect mirror of these rich cultures. It is a make believe place that is a mesh of ideas, thoughts, and historical aspects sewn together to created this project.
BuXia takes its names from both the Bushido Code of the samurai and the Wuxia Code of the martial arts. Combining these two codes and infusing it with a mix of anime inspiration, kung-fu epics, and ronin sagas we create the world of Art of War. A world where individual members from one of the major clans come together to prove their might against each other to earn honor through experience or to face a good death. The following are the prominent tenets of BuXia.
1. Benevolence: Those who follow the Path of BuXia look to help others whenever possible. It is a warrior’s duty to protect and guide those in need. In its simplest form, benevolence teaches that offering military protection against bandits, tending to the poor, helping farmers mill the fields when drought or sickness overwhelms them, and helping friends when in need. This tenet is the most prominent and widely respected of the all codes of the Path.
2. Courage: The tenet of courage to a warrior is the willingness to confront hardship, pain, danger, intimidation and and the uncertainty of death to do what must be done. In BuXia, courage sometimes meets conflict on the battlefield for some warriors. Samurai concept hold courage as a central focus of their belief and are more prepared to fight and die without hesitation, be it by orders or from an unavoidable situation. However one of the shinobi concept will recognize that having a path to retreat takes courage when backed into a corner and fighting against unfavorable odds. A youxia recognize surrendering and accepting defeat in a duel takes more courage than losing face by not standing back up when knocked down.
3. Harmony: Balance in the world, everyday living, between the body and mind are notable ideals that are not always obtained. Perfect Harmony is the highest state of enlightenment that very few have achieved in the world that surrounds the warrior and is is difficult to achieve. The practice of a kata but never wanting to use it if possible is the most common struggle for a warrior given that they are drawn to seek justice, which often lends to violence.
Those along the Path seek to achieve at least one aspect of their life to be in balance. A fortune and glory hunter will often lean heavily on their following of the Benevolence code handing their riches ones that need it. A swordsman may master deadly chi techniques, yet only use non-lethal force on others of lower skillsets.
The kingdom as a whole will balance their living with that of nature by incorporating gardens into their cities and only expanding when they need to for population purposes. The empire builds roads around thick woods to preserve a species of bird, and will knead the soil of the plains to cultivate farm land. Daily life supports the give and take needed to have harmony.
4. Honor: Honor teaches that every warrior stands in judgment over himself at all times regardless of the circumstances. A warrior cannot truly follow the Path of BuXia if he acts as one expects, and not as his own sense of honor dictates. A warrior with true honor will follow the philosophy of BuXia even as every aspect of society around him falls corrupt. He will act justly even if he is commanded to behave dishonorably by a superior.
5. Respect and Courtesy: The showing of admiration to wise elders, peers that battle alongside a warrior, or even those that may be less skilled but strive to be great are worthy of some respect. This virtue is a trademark of the Code in the San Empire. Concept Warriors are civilized heroes and are unlike the savage barbarians. Respect and courtesy with proper manners at all times sets concept warriors apart from animals. A warrior who shows excess undue emotion and rudeness not only violates this code but can result in losing face, while respecting those around them and shaming himself.
Respect is a virtue that mixes with honor and plays a vital role in court. A warrior who suffers a failure of respect from those of higher status, demonstrates honor by enduring provocations and avoids drawing attention to other’s failures. In order to maintain face, many make a point to shun those that engage in uncouth spectacles and improper behavior, since to draw attention to discourteous behaviors can make matters worse.
While this isn’t an official scheduled blog entry, it’s more than worth sharing. As a plan my costume for this years Anime Cons and GenCon, I came across this Ted Talk done by Adam Savage on his love for doing cosplay. I felt it was worth a share.
Now to figure out which character from Samurai Champloo to do, Jin or Mugen this year for cons. Or maybe I should stick with the natural ginger theme and be Joui?
*Contains Spoilers*
“Fuuka is a sequel to the 2004 manga Suzuka. The story follows Yuu Haruna, a loner and an avid Twitter user that made a promise with his childhood friend Koyuki Hinashi of starting a band. One night, on his way to buy dinner, he stops to take a photo to upload to Twitter. A strange high school girl named Fuuka Akitsuki accidentally bumps into him and mistakenly believes that Yuu is trying to take a photo of her panties, which causes her to smash his phone. Fuuka leaves behind a CD, which Yuu returns the following day. Appreciating Yuu’s personality, Fuuka starts a relationship with him, but this is complicated when Koyuki, now a popular idol, contacts Yuu on Twitter and invites him to attend her concert.”
~ Wikipedia
The following review is a hodgepodge of several thoughts on a review of the manga, Fuuka. TG didn’t get a chance to write this Sunday for Monday posting, till lunch on Monday. Therefore, it is an unedited stream of consciousness of being food starved. It’s a little messy.
Rating Summary
Art: 3 – Average
Story: 4 – Good
Dialogue and Development: 4 – Good
Overall: 4 out of 5
*Contains Spoilers* Tentacle writes about events in the manga in the 142 chapters currently out on Simulpub on CrunchyRoll.com manga section. Don’t want spoilers, stop reading. **Note: this only covers the Manga, not the recent season of the Anime**
Still here?
So from the above wiki entry you can see that this is going to be a common high school love triangle between Yuu, Koyuki, and Fuuka. While in some aspects this may be a little true it, it develops into a beautiful tragedy about the idea of love, fulfilling dreams (even if they don’t start out as your own), and moving forward in life.
So we start with Yuu Haruna who lives on the internet via his cell phone, with a specific focus on twitter. Yuu lives with his three sisters. Maya, who is the oldest and is the current mother of the house where they all rent. Hibiki is the second oldest sister that seems to lack cloths when on the page being condescending to Yuu. Then you have the young energy filled child Chitose, who has a touch of a serpent fang when she teases her older brother.
Let’s start with the opening scenes of the series. As you flip through the opening pages, there is our bumbling idiot (of course) the teenage boy named, Yuu consumed by his phone and playing on twitter while walking home. Within no time a young teenage female protagonist Atkitsuki Fuuka is seen leaping into the page with headphones on and music blaring. What do you know? The smack into each other with their material possessions flying everywhere. Fuuka accuses poor Yuu and being a pervert (are we surprised?) and taking an upskirt shot of the first (spoiler) heroine of the series. Of course she smashes the phone and runs off and leaving a CD behind. In his grief and embarrassment, Yuu picks it up with the intent to hopefully return it.
Plot twist, it seems they go to the same school. This is where the intertwined friendship starts and a possible romance buds. They become friends and Fuuka helps crack Yuu’s shell of lack of social skills as the series progresses. We introduce Makoto Mikasa, Fuuka’s gay best friend, who seems to be the level head and silent logic of the group. Kazuya Nachi who wants Fuuka to join the track team and help lead them to victory (this plot never happens with good reason). He is the oldest and worrisome character of the bunk. Then we get Sara Iwami who comes off as a cold stoic female of the group and is actually a friend of Yuu’s (unknowingly) on twitter at first before meeting in real life.
So I’ve covered the beginning chapters of character introductions and I’ll summarize the plot here. Fuuka is the lost soul who doesn’t know what she wants to do and Yuu is the fool who slowly grows into a person. Fuuka likes Yuu and he is confused in the beginning and figures they are just good friends. Yuu helps Fuuka decide what she wants to do in life and that is make music and be a singer. The group of four start a band, meet their idols who inspire them and just happen to be the most popular band in all of the past decade, the Hedgehogs.
Meanwhile the love triangle interest of Koyuki, who is a Teen Idol and a childhood friend of Yuu, makes waves in Yuu and Fuuka’s friendship to interrupt their budding relationship. Fuuka and Koyuki become friends and past secrets of love are spilled. Time goes on, all are friends, Koyuki declares her unrequited love for Yuu on a television show. Of course, Koyuki’s fans threaten Yuu and things get a bit rushed from there. So Yuu and the crew’s band are actually known and Fallen Moon, with their first concert at the student festival during the scandal. Things happen, Fallen Moon does a cool performance etc etc.
At some point the plot arc of the love triangle comes to a head, and Koyuki corners the two and asks Fuuka if she can still love Yuu while they love each other. It’s a hard blow to Fuuka and Yuu as the admit their feelings to each other and plan for it not affect the band. A cutie romance ensues and the band begins to attempt to make a name for themselves. On the eve of a big gig, Fuuka doesn’t appear. Why?
She’s hit by a freaking bus. Fuuka Akitsuki is dead.
Thoughts up to this point: Well that is the biggest freaking plot twist you do not see coming. It was shocking and angry when it happened. Thought it was the end of the manga, then you realize there are so many more chapters left.
More plot summary: The tentacle is going to wrap this up as quickly as one can without talking the whole plot of the manga to you.
Grief becomes the theme of the story arc and how will Yuu and the rest deal with what went down. Well they decided to carry on and become the biggest band since the Hedgehogs, because that’s what Fuuka Akitsuki would want. They drop out of high school and focus on the band full time, going through the trials of tribulations of their first road tour and signing to a failing label ran by a former superstar producer.
Along the way you meet another bands like Le Bard, and the Rabbitz (which is a front for Koyuuki in disguise as she ends her idol career), along with assorted cast members as they try to make their way to the top.
So a key moment this tentacle hasn’t added yet during these stories is the entrance of Fuuka Aoi, a fellow singer who ran into Yuu as a street musician who is trying to make it big. They become friends and develop feelings for each other which is about where we leave off the current state, right before a big gig.
Lets rewind a second. During the push forward of Fallen Moon, Yuu and Aoi fates are intertwined from either the spirit of Fuuka Akitsuki or by the Hedgehogs themselves. A great stint sets up Aoi joining the band, where they change the name to Blue Wells. There is a little festival thrown by the Hedgehogs where they invite Fallen Moon and Aoi, along with other new up and coming artist to perform. The secret goal by the Hedgehogs is to see if the next great thing will show up. Little this, and little that, Fallen Moon performs a few of their songs with Aoi at a makeshift stage and draw everyone in the festival to them.
So that starts the chain of events where Fuuka Aoi and Yuu begin their love affair as they move forward as band mates. The authors treat us to a chapter where it seems Fuuka and Fuuka have met once during a summer vacation. Kind of lame, but you can see it coming. Major Spoiler: Fuuka’s dad was driving the truck that killed Fuuka.
So current state of chapter 142 is the band Blue Wells is missing Fuuka before a live gig. In the tangled web of miscommunication between her and Yuu, he rushes to find her.
Now you are mostly caught up from what this tentacle can remember of all 142 chapters.
It’s pretty entertaining so far, and you get the classic high school love triangle serialization from the get go. That arc, in and of itself, develops over a progress story centered on Fuuka through the eyes of Yuu. Meeting friends following her dream of making music in a band with people she cares for.
Then much like the derailing of events that hit you like a bus (bad pun), the story switches the focus to angle on Yuu and the band as they progress forward with Aktsuki’s dream. But the catch is, it becomes their dream and their goals. They move forward.
While the manga does travel the length of Yuu becoming a person and growing, what isn’t covered here in this review is the break from Yuu and anyone named Fuuka. We gain character development of Mikasa and his family when he makes the choice to focus on the band and not follow in the family footsteps.
You get to see Sara grow in her social awkwardness but still maintain a life on social media that you see Yuu just drop. But Sara has always been able to put her phone down and live her life in a stoic like balance of her personality. She’s rude, crass and blunt to the point where she doesn’t know it. She’s one of my favorite characters. Even Kazuya has early growth when he decides not to focus on the track team and follow Fuuka down the path of music.
It’s these little plot points and side trips of story arc that drive the story forward. With regression for a part that is stretched a little too thin or just lame (see Fuuka meeting Fuuka chapter). I feel there is a bit of forced disconnectedness that didn’t need to be there. But so it is written, it has come to pass.
Let’s sum it all up out of 5.
Art: 3 – Standard for this type of weekly manga. Nothing stands out as different from other music mangas.
Story: 4 – I have to say the story of the side arcs give this a boost from a 3 to a 4. Could be a 5 but the parts that felt forced deducted 1.
Dialogue and Development: 4 – There characters that this tentacle likes, hates, and could care less about. This tentacle is involved.
Overall: 3.6 round up to a 4
Food for the drunk
2 cups flour (Tentacle Greg uses Hungry Jack, but a good pastry flour works best)
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk (or almond milk, for the lactose inclined)
1/4 cup oil (canola, not olive) you could try butter, but I would butter not
1/4 shot of vanilla extract
1/2 shot of your favorite maple syrup
2 shots of bourbon (TG uses Angel Envy Expressions Port Finish, the Rum finish is also good)
*If you need it, use 1/4 cup brown sugar to add more sweetness. Try adding a dash of cinnamon and curry (or cumin) for a spicy taste.
Mix it all together and throw it on the waffle iron.
Top with powdered sugar or what have you.
Old and New
“Following an untimely and embarrassing death, Kazuma Satō, a Japanese teenage shut-in, meets a goddess named Aqua, who offers to reincarnate him in a parallel world with MMORPG elements, where he can go on adventures and battle monsters.” – Wikipedia
Thoughts: The second season of KonoSuba started recently and it has taken off in a better format than the first season. It’s a light heart-ed comedy with the fantasy D&D/RPG elements and a touch of fan service. If you liked Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? you will get a kick out of this one. Yes you get your elements of “fan service”.
“In 2071, roughly fifty years after an accident with a hyperspace gateway made the Earth almost uninhabitable, humanity has colonized most of the rocky planets and moons of the Solar System. Amid a rising crime rate, the Inter Solar System Police (ISSP) set up a legalized contract system, in which registered bounty hunters (also referred to as “Cowboys”) chase criminals and bring them in alive in return for a reward.” – Wikipedia
Thoughts: Westerners first real taste of anime on the television (thank you Adult Swim). Cowboy Bebop is a classic tale of space opera bounty hunters trying to pay the bills. A classic, an oldie, and one you should take off your bucket list and see. Firefly and Killjoy fans, this is a predecessor.
(Special Mention: Space Dandy)
“Tomoki Sakurai is a perverted teenage boy whose motto is “Peace and quiet are the best,” and often has dreams of meeting an angel. He finds it difficult to live in comfort when he has to put up with Sohara Mitsuki, his next-door neighbor with a killer karate chop; Eishiro Sugata, an eccentric pseudo-scientist bent on discovering the “New World”; and Mikako Satsukitane, their school’s sadistic student council president.” – Wikipedia
Thoughts: This is the anime, besides Bravo Girls, that reintroduced me into the game about two years ago. Yes it’s a harem comedy anime with a perverted teen male at the center of large buxom ladies. The heart of the story brings it home and even the OVA has a loose but direct tie in. Harem battle anime fans should at least give it 3 episodes to get into.
Until the next list: Happy Monday
~TG
The start of a beautiful friendship.
Editing of the first post. This blog in and of itself will be the beginning of an on-going developer’s diary as a game designer. It will also serve as a review blog for anime, manga, and the wonderfully awful martial arts films that I so love.
In addition it will be post of musing of travel, complaints, positives and heart-felt feelings of life, friends and the like.
Welcome to the world of the tentacle. This one is named Greg.
Tentacle Greg 