Goodies time !
Sorry for posting this a little later than scheduled. T_T
So here, as promised, I'll show you all the goodies I bought since I arrived in Japan a month ago. Of course, the main goal of my trip is to improve my Japanese and to get documents for my report at my French university, but I wouldn't only do that during my trip : I planned to have a bit of fun as well, and to get the items I was searching for in France but to no avail. ;)
Since there's quite a bunch of goodies, instead of a group photo of them, which would have been of poor quality, I preferred to separate them in several cleared photos.
Obviously, LJ-cut, and beware 56K users, as the photos are a bit heavy.
First, the video games.
Nijiiro no Seishun, Tokimemo 2, Snatcher, Lunar 2, and Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro na, GE ~ ~ ~ ~ TTOOOOOOO! HELL YEAH !!!!! ~ ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ ~ I was looking for all these games for a while, especially Nijiiro no Seishun!
Considering the photo's mediocre quality, listing the games would not be a bad idea. So, from left to right and top to bottom:
- Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro na (PS2, First Limited Edition Box! THIS is a very lucky find, and I got it for 2000 yen only! Wow! ~o~)
- Tokimeki Memorial: Forever with you (PS1, I have a copy of this game in France, but I found this copy for 500 yen only, and as I haven't began a playthrough in France, I thought it would be all right.)
- Tokimeki Memorial: Private Collection (PS1 ; this game is in the same situation as Tokimemo 1 above. Except that I found this game fror 150 yen only! Wow!)
- Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series 1: Nijiiro no Seishun (PS1; TEH game, along with Fire Emblem DS, I vowed to myself to seek out in priority once properly installed in Japan. And it did not take much time to find it! And to say that this game is super rare in France and shops online, at least its PS1 version (since I've seen several copies of the Saturn version on several online game stores)...
And, yes I know, Saki has an EXTREMELY stupid look on her face on the game's cover T_T)
- Tokimeki Memorial: Taisen Puzzle Dama (PS1 ; as a fan of both Puzzle Games and of the Tokimemo franchise, I loved this game when I was in France, and when I saw the copy I've purchased here in Japan was on sale for the ridiculous sum of 180 yen, I could not believe my eyes, then got it at once ^^)
- Tokimeki Memorial 2 (PS1 ; a game I sought in priority as well after being installed in Japan, and I found even more rapidly than Nijiiro no Seishun!)
- Tokimeki Memorial 2 Substories: Dancing Summer Vacation (PS1 ; it was in the same shop than Tokimeki Memorial 2, so I jumped on the opportunity, even if, unlike the main game, I wasn't particularly looking for this title. That being said, I heard some good things about it and read the walkthrough for the Shirayuki twins story on GameFAQs - and there's also characters of TM1 that make a cameo appearance in this game ^^ -, so that's why I immediately bought it).
- Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series 2: Irodori No Love Song (PS1 ; it was in the same shop than Nijiiro no Seishun's, and in fact I found Irodori just before Nijiiro in the shelves.)
- Snatcher (PS1 ; I've heard some VERY good critics on this game, created by Hideo Kojima -creator of the Metal Gear series - and Konami, before leaving Japan, so when I saw this one on the shelf, I jumped on the opportunity and bought it. I just hope I will be able to understand everything, because this is a VERY text-heavy, in Japanese on top of it, adventure game.)
- Lunar 2: Eternal Blue (PS1 ; I loved Lunar 1, so I decided to give a go to the second one, especially after seeing some excellent videos of it on Youtube).
- Jumping Flash! (PS1 ; a game which I loved its demo available in a CD Demo 1 that a friend had given me, and I was never able to find this game in France since it was one of the first released on the PS1 lifetime, and thus is now super rare.)
- Fire Emblem: Shin Ankoku no Ryű to Hikari no Tsurugi (DS ; as a fan of the FE saga, I vowed to buy this one as soon as possible once arrived in Japan, just like with Nijiiro no Seishun. I obviously had no trouble finding it, since it was released out very recently in Japan, but the price... Argh. 3200 yen used. T_T)
I also bought a PS2 on the way, the cheapest I could find (11,490 yen), 4 Memory Cards PS1 and a PS2 Memory Card, so I could play these games during my (rare) spare time. The PS2 can be used as a CD and DVD player, which is convinient. ;)
Now, the mangas. First, I'll go with the Fire Emblem mangas :
The last 3 volumes of manga FE4 of Oosawa Mitsuki, and all volumes of Hasha no Tsurugi with the exception of Volume 9, are MINE !!
Hasha no Tsurugi is a very good manga, it was an extremely nice read, and I had great pleasure reading it (even though I don't like the artwork near the end of the manga as much as the artwork at the beginning. It's basically the same problem as with Rurouni Kenshin : the artwork at the beginning is round and soft, and near the end it's much bony and sharp. I like soft contour-style, art-wise, in manga more, to tell you the truth).
I can not say the same of 3 volumes of Mitsuki's, which I frankly found weak, save for the part dedicated to Trabant, which was wonderful (although I did not appreciate how Leaf passed for a spoiled brat during this part, even if things were put right about this one just after Trabant's death).
And for the special note : unfortunately, I can't help TheEnd in scanning and sending scans of the last two volumes of Hasha, since I currently don't have a scanner. T_T
A clearer shot of Mitsuki's FE4 manga's Volume 16, with a French tome of Great Teacher Onizuka I took with me in Japan, placed near it for size comparison's sake.
And here is the complete collection of Maki Hakoda's Fire Emblem 1 manga I found by pure luck last Sunday !! And on top of it, I got it at a VERY cheap price : 105 yen each volume, thus a total of 1260 yen for the complete collection ! Now that's quite the luck here ! :D
This manga's artwork is absolutely GORGEOUS, and from beginning to end of the series ; and for what I've read of it so far, the story is really captivating. ~o~
Now, we're entering in Star Ocean manga realm. ;)
I've succeeded in find the complete collection of both Star Ocean : the Second Story and Star Ocean : Blue Sphere mangas, two of the things I was activately searching out since long ago !
For what I've read of Blue Sphere so far, which I didn't knew about it before, it was a very nice read. My only complain on it, is that, just like with the SO2 manga and Star Ocean EX, they cut out Chisato and Noel of the story. T_T
Here, are the guidebooks I bought so far. ;)
Like with the games, a Tokimeki Memorial dominant appears clearly here. ^^' It's not like I do not want to have Fire Emblem guidebooks, but I still have not found the ones I'm searching for, the Treasure Book being my N°1 priority.
Here are the Guidebooks titles, from left to right and top to bottom:
- Tokimeki Memorial: Taisen Puzzle Dama Perfect Guide Book (Official)
- Tokimeki Memorial 2 Kanzen Kouryaku Guide (= "Game Conquest Complete Guide")
- Tokimeki Memorial 2 Perfect Guide (Official)
- Tokimeki Memorial 3 Perfect Guide (Official)
- Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series 3: No Uta Tabidachi Perfect Guide Book (Official)
- Star Ocean: The Second Story Final Guide
- Star Ocean: Second Evolution Koushiki Complete Guide (= "Official Complete Guide")
I now regret buying the Tokimeki Memorial 2 Kanzen Kouryaku Guide : it's not an Official Guidebook unlike the second one, and it does not even have a mention about the secrets characters of the game! If I had known I was going to find an Official guideboook just a few days later, I would have abstained from the Kanzen Kouryaku one.
Not that dramatic though, I will sell it in France when I'll come back, as I'll sell them for a higher price there than in Japan, given the scarcity of goodies Tokimemo in my country.
And regarding the case of the Official Guidebook of Tokimemo 2, the guys at Konami are some friggin' liars by mentioning it's a Perfect Guidebook, because it's certainly very comprehensive on the basic characters and mechanisms of game, but it merely gave a quick mention of 2 of the 3 secret characters (Maeka and Sumire) without developing further, and it don't even talk about the third one (the second Shirayuki twin) ! When I later learned that another Perfect Official Guide Book, which include the secret characters' data and game tips, exists, I was extremely furious at both Konami and myself. >_<
Otherwise, I'm just happy to have found the SO2 and SO Second Evolution guides, they allowed me to confirm that the rumor about fighting 100 battles = 1 additional point of love and friendship between all characters who fought in them is completely false, since it's not mentioned at the part of the guide explaining how to increase the love and friendship between the characters.
(Concerning the increase in relation points during the fighting, this case exists, but only on specific battles, which are the Harsphinx Boss Battle in Hoffman Ruins, the Boss Battles against Metatron / Berle ar Fienal and Armlock, the Boss Battles against the Guardian of the Fields of Courage and Power, and the Boss Battle against Gabriel / Indalecio. At the end of each of these battles, the characters who participated in combat receive 1 pt love and 1 pt friendship between them.)
And that very complete Tokimemo Taisen Puzzle Dama guidebook contains an interview of Sachiko Sugawara and Yoshiki Kurin, AKA the seiyuu of Saki Nijino and Yumi Saotome respectively, as well ! As a fan of Saki, I'm eager to translate this interview ! ~o~
And amanohashi, if there's something you want me to check out in the Tokimemo 3 Guidebook, especially concerning your Izumi playthrough, just tell me. ;)
Here's now a few Tokimemo CDs I found as well.
First one on top is the Tokimeki Memorial Taisen Puzzle Dama Original Soundtrack. After hearing it, I discovered that in fact, this OST is the one for the Arcade version, as several tracks in that CD have slightly different tunes, and the music "Anata e no Airmail", aka the instrumental music played during the Omoides in the PS1 version of the game, is missing in that OST as well.
The two others are Tokimemo 2-based CDs. The one at the left (red color) is named Tokimeki Memorial 2 Blooming Stories 10 : Hikari Hinomoto, and the one at the right (purple color) is Tokimeki Memorial 2 Blooming Stories 1 : Miyuki Kotobuki. Those CDs are a mix between music CDs and Drama Cds, in the fact that there 9 tracks in each CD, 3 being songs, 3 other being dialogues told by the cover character of the CD, and the instrumental version of the 3 songs. Each song is followed by a dialogue, a bit like the Mother 1 dialogues findable in Youtube such as this one.
About these two Blooming Stories CDs, despite the fact Hikari is probably my fave char in Tokimemo 2 and despite the fact Miyuki has a very particular and not easy to understand voice, I do like Miyuki's CD better than Hikari's. I find the songs in Hikari's CD rather forgettable save for one, while all Miyuki songs, especially the first two ("HAMATTA !!", which I mentioned as current music in my last LJ post, is the second song of that CD) are extremely lively, fun and likable. And Miyuki's dialogues, with the voice she has, are hilarious. ^^
-----------
Chapter Gaiden :
Here are a few pics of some of the dishes I cooked myself during the last month, and which I talked about in my last LJ post. ;)
The first version of the rice salad I made, before I found the tomatoes, the olives, and the wine vinegar, with this so-called and horrible French dressing bottle I bought in the hope to get a substitute of my hand made dressing, in the absence of vinegar at that time. Not that appetizing, huh ?
Second and COMPLETE version of my rice salad, once all ingredients were found. MUCH better, don't you think ? ;)
A makeshift dish composed of tomato sauced spaghettis, sausages, and fried egg. Looks delicious, no ? ^^
So here, as promised, I'll show you all the goodies I bought since I arrived in Japan a month ago. Of course, the main goal of my trip is to improve my Japanese and to get documents for my report at my French university, but I wouldn't only do that during my trip : I planned to have a bit of fun as well, and to get the items I was searching for in France but to no avail. ;)
Since there's quite a bunch of goodies, instead of a group photo of them, which would have been of poor quality, I preferred to separate them in several cleared photos.
Obviously, LJ-cut, and beware 56K users, as the photos are a bit heavy.
First, the video games.
Nijiiro no Seishun, Tokimemo 2, Snatcher, Lunar 2, and Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro na, GE ~ ~ ~ ~ TTOOOOOOO! HELL YEAH !!!!! ~ ~ o ~ o ~ o ~ ~ I was looking for all these games for a while, especially Nijiiro no Seishun!
Considering the photo's mediocre quality, listing the games would not be a bad idea. So, from left to right and top to bottom:
- Yoake Mae Yori Ruriiro na (PS2, First Limited Edition Box! THIS is a very lucky find, and I got it for 2000 yen only! Wow! ~o~)
- Tokimeki Memorial: Forever with you (PS1, I have a copy of this game in France, but I found this copy for 500 yen only, and as I haven't began a playthrough in France, I thought it would be all right.)
- Tokimeki Memorial: Private Collection (PS1 ; this game is in the same situation as Tokimemo 1 above. Except that I found this game fror 150 yen only! Wow!)
- Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series 1: Nijiiro no Seishun (PS1; TEH game, along with Fire Emblem DS, I vowed to myself to seek out in priority once properly installed in Japan. And it did not take much time to find it! And to say that this game is super rare in France and shops online, at least its PS1 version (since I've seen several copies of the Saturn version on several online game stores)...
And, yes I know, Saki has an EXTREMELY stupid look on her face on the game's cover T_T)
- Tokimeki Memorial: Taisen Puzzle Dama (PS1 ; as a fan of both Puzzle Games and of the Tokimemo franchise, I loved this game when I was in France, and when I saw the copy I've purchased here in Japan was on sale for the ridiculous sum of 180 yen, I could not believe my eyes, then got it at once ^^)
- Tokimeki Memorial 2 (PS1 ; a game I sought in priority as well after being installed in Japan, and I found even more rapidly than Nijiiro no Seishun!)
- Tokimeki Memorial 2 Substories: Dancing Summer Vacation (PS1 ; it was in the same shop than Tokimeki Memorial 2, so I jumped on the opportunity, even if, unlike the main game, I wasn't particularly looking for this title. That being said, I heard some good things about it and read the walkthrough for the Shirayuki twins story on GameFAQs - and there's also characters of TM1 that make a cameo appearance in this game ^^ -, so that's why I immediately bought it).
- Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series 2: Irodori No Love Song (PS1 ; it was in the same shop than Nijiiro no Seishun's, and in fact I found Irodori just before Nijiiro in the shelves.)
- Snatcher (PS1 ; I've heard some VERY good critics on this game, created by Hideo Kojima -creator of the Metal Gear series - and Konami, before leaving Japan, so when I saw this one on the shelf, I jumped on the opportunity and bought it. I just hope I will be able to understand everything, because this is a VERY text-heavy, in Japanese on top of it, adventure game.)
- Lunar 2: Eternal Blue (PS1 ; I loved Lunar 1, so I decided to give a go to the second one, especially after seeing some excellent videos of it on Youtube).
- Jumping Flash! (PS1 ; a game which I loved its demo available in a CD Demo 1 that a friend had given me, and I was never able to find this game in France since it was one of the first released on the PS1 lifetime, and thus is now super rare.)
- Fire Emblem: Shin Ankoku no Ryű to Hikari no Tsurugi (DS ; as a fan of the FE saga, I vowed to buy this one as soon as possible once arrived in Japan, just like with Nijiiro no Seishun. I obviously had no trouble finding it, since it was released out very recently in Japan, but the price... Argh. 3200 yen used. T_T)
I also bought a PS2 on the way, the cheapest I could find (11,490 yen), 4 Memory Cards PS1 and a PS2 Memory Card, so I could play these games during my (rare) spare time. The PS2 can be used as a CD and DVD player, which is convinient. ;)
Now, the mangas. First, I'll go with the Fire Emblem mangas :
The last 3 volumes of manga FE4 of Oosawa Mitsuki, and all volumes of Hasha no Tsurugi with the exception of Volume 9, are MINE !!
Hasha no Tsurugi is a very good manga, it was an extremely nice read, and I had great pleasure reading it (even though I don't like the artwork near the end of the manga as much as the artwork at the beginning. It's basically the same problem as with Rurouni Kenshin : the artwork at the beginning is round and soft, and near the end it's much bony and sharp. I like soft contour-style, art-wise, in manga more, to tell you the truth).
I can not say the same of 3 volumes of Mitsuki's, which I frankly found weak, save for the part dedicated to Trabant, which was wonderful (although I did not appreciate how Leaf passed for a spoiled brat during this part, even if things were put right about this one just after Trabant's death).
And for the special note : unfortunately, I can't help TheEnd in scanning and sending scans of the last two volumes of Hasha, since I currently don't have a scanner. T_T
A clearer shot of Mitsuki's FE4 manga's Volume 16, with a French tome of Great Teacher Onizuka I took with me in Japan, placed near it for size comparison's sake.
And here is the complete collection of Maki Hakoda's Fire Emblem 1 manga I found by pure luck last Sunday !! And on top of it, I got it at a VERY cheap price : 105 yen each volume, thus a total of 1260 yen for the complete collection ! Now that's quite the luck here ! :D
This manga's artwork is absolutely GORGEOUS, and from beginning to end of the series ; and for what I've read of it so far, the story is really captivating. ~o~
Now, we're entering in Star Ocean manga realm. ;)
I've succeeded in find the complete collection of both Star Ocean : the Second Story and Star Ocean : Blue Sphere mangas, two of the things I was activately searching out since long ago !
For what I've read of Blue Sphere so far, which I didn't knew about it before, it was a very nice read. My only complain on it, is that, just like with the SO2 manga and Star Ocean EX, they cut out Chisato and Noel of the story. T_T
Here, are the guidebooks I bought so far. ;)
Like with the games, a Tokimeki Memorial dominant appears clearly here. ^^' It's not like I do not want to have Fire Emblem guidebooks, but I still have not found the ones I'm searching for, the Treasure Book being my N°1 priority.
Here are the Guidebooks titles, from left to right and top to bottom:
- Tokimeki Memorial: Taisen Puzzle Dama Perfect Guide Book (Official)
- Tokimeki Memorial 2 Kanzen Kouryaku Guide (= "Game Conquest Complete Guide")
- Tokimeki Memorial 2 Perfect Guide (Official)
- Tokimeki Memorial 3 Perfect Guide (Official)
- Tokimeki Memorial Drama Series 3: No Uta Tabidachi Perfect Guide Book (Official)
- Star Ocean: The Second Story Final Guide
- Star Ocean: Second Evolution Koushiki Complete Guide (= "Official Complete Guide")
I now regret buying the Tokimeki Memorial 2 Kanzen Kouryaku Guide : it's not an Official Guidebook unlike the second one, and it does not even have a mention about the secrets characters of the game! If I had known I was going to find an Official guideboook just a few days later, I would have abstained from the Kanzen Kouryaku one.
Not that dramatic though, I will sell it in France when I'll come back, as I'll sell them for a higher price there than in Japan, given the scarcity of goodies Tokimemo in my country.
And regarding the case of the Official Guidebook of Tokimemo 2, the guys at Konami are some friggin' liars by mentioning it's a Perfect Guidebook, because it's certainly very comprehensive on the basic characters and mechanisms of game, but it merely gave a quick mention of 2 of the 3 secret characters (Maeka and Sumire) without developing further, and it don't even talk about the third one (the second Shirayuki twin) ! When I later learned that another Perfect Official Guide Book, which include the secret characters' data and game tips, exists, I was extremely furious at both Konami and myself. >_<
Otherwise, I'm just happy to have found the SO2 and SO Second Evolution guides, they allowed me to confirm that the rumor about fighting 100 battles = 1 additional point of love and friendship between all characters who fought in them is completely false, since it's not mentioned at the part of the guide explaining how to increase the love and friendship between the characters.
(Concerning the increase in relation points during the fighting, this case exists, but only on specific battles, which are the Harsphinx Boss Battle in Hoffman Ruins, the Boss Battles against Metatron / Berle ar Fienal and Armlock, the Boss Battles against the Guardian of the Fields of Courage and Power, and the Boss Battle against Gabriel / Indalecio. At the end of each of these battles, the characters who participated in combat receive 1 pt love and 1 pt friendship between them.)
And that very complete Tokimemo Taisen Puzzle Dama guidebook contains an interview of Sachiko Sugawara and Yoshiki Kurin, AKA the seiyuu of Saki Nijino and Yumi Saotome respectively, as well ! As a fan of Saki, I'm eager to translate this interview ! ~o~
And amanohashi, if there's something you want me to check out in the Tokimemo 3 Guidebook, especially concerning your Izumi playthrough, just tell me. ;)
Here's now a few Tokimemo CDs I found as well.
First one on top is the Tokimeki Memorial Taisen Puzzle Dama Original Soundtrack. After hearing it, I discovered that in fact, this OST is the one for the Arcade version, as several tracks in that CD have slightly different tunes, and the music "Anata e no Airmail", aka the instrumental music played during the Omoides in the PS1 version of the game, is missing in that OST as well.
The two others are Tokimemo 2-based CDs. The one at the left (red color) is named Tokimeki Memorial 2 Blooming Stories 10 : Hikari Hinomoto, and the one at the right (purple color) is Tokimeki Memorial 2 Blooming Stories 1 : Miyuki Kotobuki. Those CDs are a mix between music CDs and Drama Cds, in the fact that there 9 tracks in each CD, 3 being songs, 3 other being dialogues told by the cover character of the CD, and the instrumental version of the 3 songs. Each song is followed by a dialogue, a bit like the Mother 1 dialogues findable in Youtube such as this one.
About these two Blooming Stories CDs, despite the fact Hikari is probably my fave char in Tokimemo 2 and despite the fact Miyuki has a very particular and not easy to understand voice, I do like Miyuki's CD better than Hikari's. I find the songs in Hikari's CD rather forgettable save for one, while all Miyuki songs, especially the first two ("HAMATTA !!", which I mentioned as current music in my last LJ post, is the second song of that CD) are extremely lively, fun and likable. And Miyuki's dialogues, with the voice she has, are hilarious. ^^
-----------
Chapter Gaiden :
Here are a few pics of some of the dishes I cooked myself during the last month, and which I talked about in my last LJ post. ;)
The first version of the rice salad I made, before I found the tomatoes, the olives, and the wine vinegar, with this so-called and horrible French dressing bottle I bought in the hope to get a substitute of my hand made dressing, in the absence of vinegar at that time. Not that appetizing, huh ?
Second and COMPLETE version of my rice salad, once all ingredients were found. MUCH better, don't you think ? ;)
A makeshift dish composed of tomato sauced spaghettis, sausages, and fried egg. Looks delicious, no ? ^^