My journal

It sure has been a long while. I should stop even mentioning that though since the last few of my posts have been pretty spaced out.

It's just been the same old, same old. I finished the main scenario of ffxiv up to 5.0 (Shadowbringers) and it was absolutely amazing. I love all of the main characters. ShB is definitely my favorite expansion. I don't know how they'll ever top themselves when the next one eventually comes along.

I really wish I wasn't neglecting this site as much as I am. I really want to add more, but I'm lacking in inspiration and motivation. :(
I really want to get a Japanese PS2 so I can play Neoromance games on it. And other otome from that era as well. I've managed to find rips of the games that I can use on an emulator. But unfortunately a lot of them are buggy and have display issues. Or maybe my settings on the emulator are just wrong. But even disregarding that, some of them have framerate issues on my PC as well. ;-;
Especially Angelique Trois, which I'm really sad about. It's why I still haven't played it much yet. Haruka 4 slows down a bit too in the battles that have more enemies in them and it's horrible because the audio slows down as well and it sounds dreadful. I don't want to experience the games for the first time like that. So I'm planning to probably get a Japanese PS2 soon. I already physically own Haruka 4, Angelique Trois, and Etoile as well anyway haha.

I've been playing through Hanayaka Nari, Waga Ichizoku and it's really good. I might write a Dreamwidth post about it when I'm finished. If I do write that post, I might put up the contents of it on a page in the otome section of this website too. It'll be preserved better that way and not get buried in posts eventually just being on my Dreamwidth.

Hello Neocities. Despite the total lack of updates for nearly a month, I'm not dead (yet).

I've been really lacking in motivation to do such frequent updates to my site as I had in the past. I really want to but then I just end up doing other things instead. Oops. I'm hoping I'll find the motivation again soon to do more than just boring journal updates. And no, I haven't given up on making that special page for my trip yet. I'm still very slowly working on it. The main reason I hadn't made any journal updates for so long is because I felt like I shouldn't until I got that finished. But I decided that whatever it's my site I can do what I want in whatever order I want.

In more general news, There's a Neoromance Discord server now. It was made by someone really recently. It's so nice to be able to talk with other English speaking Neoromance fans now. Even if the server is really small and currently only has 9 other members besides myself. It's a really comfy little server so far.

Also finally got around to downloading a PS2 emulator and have been checking out a whole bunch of PS2 era otome games. Started playing Haruka 4 and it's amazing. It's such a shame that a lot of the rips seem to be kinda bugged... Or maybe there's something wrong with my emulator settings, I don't know. I haven't changed them at all from the default. Haruka 4 seems totally fine, but then Angelique Trois and Meine Liebe are sorta iffy, and then Corda 1 is just way too hecked for me to want to play it like that.

Well, that's kinda all I wanted to say for now. Hopefully I'll start updating this site more often. If I don't, and any of you guys really miss me (dunno why you would but) I've continued to be pretty consistently active on Mastodon. Maybe I don't toot everyday but I usually still check it most days.

Hello! I got safely home from my trip on the 16th! I was thinking that I wouldn't make any journal entries until I've finished the page that documents my trip, but that might be a while. It might take a bit more effort than I was expecting and I'm lazy. Also my boyfriend is coming to visit for a week and he's arriving tonight. So I'm going to be pretty busy hanging out with him and going around places together. But I swear I'm gonna finish it! Just not for other people to read it but for myself as well. I want to remember this trip. I want to be able to read about it later and recall all the fun memories. My memory isn't the best so it really is good to write it all down.

So what have I been doing since I got back? Sleeping! Sleeping and doing Angelique related stuff (big surprise). I go all the way to Japan to enjoy doing Neoromance and Angelique stuff, and then once I get back I just do even more, haha. I've had several different hyperfixations in the past but I don't think any of them have ever been this severe.

I'm just
Angelique mania.

And the other Neoromance series too but it's mostly Angelique.

I watched Seichi Yori Ai wo Komete. It was pretty ridiculous I loved every moment. Apparently that OVA is part 2 of the three part Gemme Stories series. The first part being a manga that was originally serialised in Love Love Tsuushin (the official Angelique Magazine) and later released as a one-shot manga volume. And part 3 is actually the Angelique Gaiden 4 drama CD. I'll have to read/listen to those eventually. I was planning on doing that anyway though.

Also I watched all the Twin Collection OVAs. Twin Collection is a series of 8 short Angelique OVAs. Each one opens and ends with a different music video for characters songs original to the OVA series. One unique song for each character. Inbetween the MVs are short roughly 10 minute episodes involving mainly the two characters featured in the opening and ending MVs.

My favorite is the 7th part of the series. Which is actually the Marcel and Sei-Lan one. Neither of them are among my favorite characters. So maybe it's weird that it was my favorite. But Sei-Lan's MV is so amazing I can't stop rewatching it. And the short episode was so wholesome, sweet, and adorable that I cried. I always knew that Marcel was a really sweet boy, but now I really like Sei-Lan a lot more than I did before.


Okay..... I will say something that happened at the event before I finish the big dedicated page.
THEY ANNOUNCED A NEW ANGELIQUE GAME!!!!!
I couldn't hold myself back and just cried in the audience when it was revealed. That's okay though because I'm sure I wasn't the only one.
It's going to be set in a new Cosmos, and there'll be a new cast of Guardians in that Cosmos. So the current main characters will probably all, or mostly, be demoted to side characters. That's a little saddening. But I guess thinking about the future of the series it's probably for the best. The current cast of voice actors aren't getting any younger. I'll really miss the original character designer Yura Kairi too. I love her art and designs.

I'm also scared that it might overly leaning towards a visual novel-esque format. I hope that the game elements of it will keep the heart of the original games.

Maybe I'm speaking a tiny bit negatively but that's only because I really care about the series and only want the best for it.

Another important key factor I haven't mentioned yet is,
the boys.
Hopefully the new characters will be just as great and loveable as their predecessors are. I'm worried but I want to remain optimistic. It's going to be on the Switch so here's hoping for 3D graphics!!!! (not gonna happen cause there ain't enough demand for 3D in otome games and I guess pngs are easier to do. basically we cant have nice things)

I'm finally heading off to Yokohama tomorrow! I have to get up really early in the morning to catch my bus to the airport so I'll be going to bed right after this goes up.

Once I get home I'll probably make a special page for the trip like I said before.

I'm going to bed really early but I'm so excited and nervous at the same time I have no idea if I'll actually be able to sleep. I hope so though because it's a long trip and I'm no good at sleeping while sitting in a seat.

Hopefully everything will go to plan and I won't mess up majorly or die.

If I do die hopefully it'll be after I've gone to all the events so at least I can die happy.

I made a Dreamwidth account. It seems a whole lot like Livejournal. I actually made a Livejournal account back in 2013 but then never really used it at all. I'm not actually sure what the difference in functionality is between Dreamwidth and Livejournal (if there is one) but it seems nice so far. I've only made two posts on it but I'm planning to make more eventually. That doesn't mean I'll stop posting here though. I think I'll be using Dreamwidth for posts that are more focused on specific things. My posts here tend to be pretty rambly...

In other news I've finally finished a playthrough of Angelique Tenkuu no Requiem. I got the Clavis ending and the Arios ending. Clavis' ending was really cute but also pretty sad. And incredibly vague spoilers but Arios' ending was just really sad. I think he might be my second favorite Angelique character now.

Since I finished TenkuRequ I also finally watched the Shiroi Tsubasa no Memoir OVA. I'm pretty sure it was the first Angelique anime. It's the animated story of events that happen inbetween TenkuRequ and Trois. It was a nice enough OVA. I definitely think that people who haven't played the games wouldn't enjoy it. It was definitely meant for people who already know what happened in TenkuRequ.

I've started playing a bit of Angelique Retour (the 2015 remake of the first game) when I'm bored in bed at night again. It feels so weird playing it again after I've been playing all of the older games. It's really a shame what they did to Olivie in Retour. He's so toned down in it. I love the Olivie in the old games who cakes on makeup and wears dresses and highheels and is like your dependable big sisterbrother. In retour he's just a kind of a more in touch with his feminine-side guy who wears a bit of makeup. The way Koyasu voices him in Retour is even toned down a lot. I want a full-voice Angelique game with the old Olivie...

My trip to Japan is in less than 5 days and I am internally losing my mind.

Happy birthday to me.

I'm accepting birthday gifts in the form of drawings of Clavis Angelique.

Wow it's sure been a long time since my last entry. I need to update my website more.

So... About the title of this entry. Yes it's true. I'm going for a really short super last minute trip to Japan on the 12th of September. In a bit less than 2 weeks. Why am I doing something so rash? ANGELIQUE AND NEOROMANCE OF COURSE! The Neoromance 25th anniversary and Angelique Memoir 2019 live stage events have been announced for a little while now, and I wasn't planning on going originally. Because, you know, trips to Japan can be pretty dang expensive. I was planning on just buying the recorded DVD release of the event when that came out. But then Ruby Party went and said there's not going to be video releases for either of them! Everyone in the JP Neoromance fandom is so disappointed about this, and I was just crushed. It's such a big milestone they really should. They have in the past. And even though I'm going now, I'm still sad about it. A lot of us Neoromancers who are going would still love to be able to buy the DVD and relive moments from the events...

I'm ridiculously excited about the trip. But I'm also really scared about it at the same time. This is going to be my first time traveling farther than even a one hour's drive away from home all by myself. And I'm so hopeless at doing unfamiliar things and being in unfamiliar places alone. Hopefully I don't die. If I do die I guess this website will make a nice memorial for people to remember me by.

I think I'll try to take lots of pictures during the trip and make a special page documenting it when I get home. There'll probably be so much I won't want to stuff it all in one of these journal entries.

Also my boyfriend made a really neat video about an obscure weird old tactical pinball game. Check it out if you like videos showcasing weird old games.

I've finally gotten back to playing Angelique Tenkuu no Requiem. And hopefully I'll be able to complete it this time and not get stuck half way through the game with no idea what to do next! I actually bought the old official game guide to it so hopefully that shouldn't happen now! I'm playing the PS1 version instead of the PC-FX one this time. There's actually a lot of changes between the versions. It's mostly all minor stuff. But they totally cut out how you recruited Mel in the original version :(. Poor Mel. I hope you still get to go to his planet at some point anyway. You got to learn so much about his race talking to the NPCs there, it was so interesting. It's actually kind of weird because the other ports of Angelique games to different consoles I've found don't really change the at all. It's just Tenkuu no Requiem for some reason. I adore that there are more cutscenes with Reviath's subordinants on PS1 though. They're so interesting I love them and I love getting to learn more about them. Reviath and all of them have two pages in the game guide giving you their ages and brief descriptions of what they're like and some of them even a brief description of their past. It's so good I'm really glad I bought the game guide. It also has how their names are spelled in English letters so I don't have to just guess anymore! This might change later but right now Eugene and Walter are my favorites.

Also hey if you feel like it, say hi to me on Windows Live Messenger/Escargot or whatever. I want to talk to more people on it. It's really neat.

Also x2, I might have a little bit of free time while I'm in Japan for the events. I'm going to be staying in Yokohama since that's where the event hall is. If anyone knows of some cool places to go there I'd really appreciate it if you shot me an email (my email's on the homepage) or a message on WLM or Mastodon or whatever. A neat place to eat or something would be super cool.

Thanks for reading :)

I've totally forgotten to log into Escargot/WLM/MSN for the longest time and if you're one of the two people who had added me while I'd forgotten about it I'm sorry I'll be good now (hopefully). Please feel free to message me on there.

It's been quite a while since I've written anything in here. Mainly due to that all the stuff I used to write about in here, I've mostly just been tooting about on Mastodon lately. I'm sort of not entirely sure what to write about in here. Maybe I should write about stuff that happens in my daily life here? Nothing happens in my daily life really.

I guess I could talk about changes I've made to my site. In particular the new about page. It contains the first thing I've drawn in months it ain't great but please appreciate it. Despite appearances it actually took me hours to draw since I'm very slow and out of practice. That's actually my very first drawing I've ever colored (with relatively successful results). I'd attempted coloring like two drawings in the past but they did not look good.

Also I made it perhaps slightly cringey on purpose for that classic anime fan's website aesthetic.

Alsox2 I need to update my Haruka 7 page with the revealed character designs... I'll get to that..... Soon.........

Doing cryptic journal entries is fun. I just posted the previous entry with no context, but it's actually a shoddy translation I did of one of my favorite Angelique vocal songs. It's a really nice duet song sung by Julious (CV: Hayami Sho) and Clavis (CV: Shiozawa Kaneto ;-;). I really like the lyrics of the song, and while I was bored I decide to just go ahead and translate it. I'm still no good at translation. Understanding the words themselves is the easy part, actually putting them in English is what's really difficult... I'm bad at English. Goes to show what having no formal education in it gets you, I guess.

If I decide to do more little translations for Neoromance/otome stuff I might make a page for it in my website's otome games section. We'll see.

In other news there's a free login campaign going on for Final Fantasy XIV so I've been playing it again. It's really fun. I should fork over the cash for a subscription again next time I can afford it. I need Shadowbringers too but... Expensive...

I've been wanting to figure out a way to actually end these journal entries instead of just stopping abruptly. But everything I can think of just comes off as super awkward in my head.

Oh well, see you later I guess.

Today too, the morning comes. And a new light is born. Changing yesterday's worries into the strength for living.

As time gently passes, twilight falls. Soothing tired souls as day becomes night.

And so, time will continue flowing. And yesterday's you will be reborn anew. If you hold hope within your heart, then surely now you will see the sun is rising once more.

Those who have endured a harsh winter will learn of the warmth of Spring.

Those who have experienced Summer storms will relax their bodies into the gentle breeze of Autumn.

Aah, this beautiful system. The passage of time is a treasure of all people equally, a dear companion.

Woken up by day, embraced by night. Today too your life is being sustained by this beautiful course of logic.

Time flows the same for all. To give every person a chance to shine.

The sorrows of yesterday will become silent memories of tomorrow. Go to the kingdom of slumber, and dispel those memories into the darkness.

And so, the passage of time is filled with kindness. Washing away the tears of yesterday. If you hold that kindness close to your chest, soon enough, the sun will rise again within your heart.

Sorry that I haven't really been updating my website that much lately. I swear I haven't forgotten about it and I've totally been meaning to do more updates. I've just been a bit distracted.

I ordered a Neoromance event CD over 2 weeks ago and it's finally arrived today. I'm so happy. It's so good.

A bonus came together with the CD. I'm stupid and don't read things properly so I didn't even realise I would be getting a bonus! It's called a calendar but it's really just a bunch of separate cards with dates on them, pictures of the boys, and lines from them. It's pretty simple but it's very nice for a free extra. I particularly enjoyed the line on the 13th day card. It was Clavis on that card so, big surprise I liked that one the most.

I love both of the songs. They're new solo songs sung by Angelique's Julious (voiced by Hayami Sho) and Harukanaru 3's Hinoe (voiced by Takahashi Naozumi). It also includes short messsage tracks from the characters, and commentary(free talk) tracks from the voice actors. At the start of Hayami's free talk he marvelled "it feels like it's been such a long time since I've last sang a new Julious solo song." He didn't have a song in the Retour CD, so unless I've missed any other little event CDs like this one it's probably been over 10 years since the last one maybe.

Also I've been distracted with playing Fire Emblem Three Houses. I didn't have money to buy it but a good nice friend who I love very much bought it for me. I've been playing a lot every day for several days but I'm not even half way through the game yet...

Here's a picture of my favorite character so far from Three Houses sipping tea


Also can I add that it was co-developed by both Intelligent Systems and Koei. On Twitter I saw a lot of Japanese people coming it to Neoromance games, especially Angelique. I hadn't actually known it was co-developed by Koei until someone pointed out that Koei having to do with the development is probably the reason there are similarities.

I need to update the website more. Is what I say, but knowing myself it'll could easily end up being a while until the next update.