Chic Pixel

What's this?! Why, it's the triumphant return of Memos from Mamemura! Instead of giving some sob story explanation as to why I haven't been updating weekly (though I will point out that I've done more than oneAnimal Crossing: New Leaf-related post in the interim), I'm just going to quietly resolve to do better in the future and move on to what you're all here for: the pictures!

Week 11 started with a bang on the 3rd of February with a uniquely Japanese holiday, Setsubun. Setsubun marks the change of seasons from winter to spring, and it's said that evil spirits come out during this period, much like Halloween. It's traditional for a member of the family to dress up like a demon (oni) and for everyone else to throw beans at them to ward off evil, shouting the phrase, "Demons out, luck in!"

If you're interested in learning more about Setsubun traditions, I urge you to check out the link above (it has some lovely photos, including different oni masks!). As for how this relates to Animal Crossing: New Leaf, players have the opportunity to choose either a blue or red oni mask and have beans thrown at them by the townspeople. You can also buy a box of beans to throw at unsuspecting friends who come to visit!

It was a lot of fun running around and capturing each villager throwing their beans at me. Chuuko had particularly cute dialogue; you can see the little yellow beans scattered about in the screenshot above.

Soon after, the adorable Maiko-chan appeared in my village for the first time. What a cutie! I was able to send her on her way to another village, and to show her thanks she sent me her picture in the mail the next day.

I finally got my act together and erected this lovely "Yaranai ka?" sign (pun intended)! For some reason I get a big kick out of my townspeople gathering together to celebrate such a silly thing. I have a bit of a Kuso Miso Technique theme going on, actually, as I've also taught Shimoyake to say "kuso miso" as his catchphrase...

I also went on my first dream visit to a stranger's town – the gal who's in charge of the gorgeous room pictured above was actually featured in the post I did on my designs earlier in the month. Her work (including the lace pattern shown) is amazing!

And lookie here, another new villager moved into Mamemura! Layla the penguin actually came from a friend's town.

Even more interesting than the fact that villagers can move out of your friend's towns and into your own is the fact that they actually remember the melody from the town they previously lived in! Here Layla put on a little performance and sang Fuukou Village's melody for me.

Would you believe this was my first time participating in the monthly fishing tournament? I only got 3rd place, but I'll take what I can get! (I'm usually too busy on Saturdays to take part)

Oh, what's all this?!

Why, it's Carnivale (known as Festivale in North America)! What a fun and colorful holiday! The main goal of the day was to collect different colored feathers for the fabulously-clothed peacock shown above in order to get the special furniture series only available during the festival.

Let me tell you, collecting feathers is hard work... Pavé asked for pink, and after searching at least 30 minutes without finding a single pink feather, I finally gave up. Luckily I was still able to score a couple pieces of this furniture series along with a rare rainbow feather (shown above).

The best part of Carnivale was seeing all of the villagers dressed up in their colorful garb, dancing and singing the town tune. Lookin' sharp, Doremi!

I guess Carnivale got everyone in high spirits! The above screenshot was taken a few days later – it's the first time I've seen two villagers so cheerful together.

These past couple of weeks saw a lot of firsts, including the first time I managed to catch K.K Slider (Totakeke) off DJ duty. During these times, it's possible to get a piece of music from K.K and request songs. Here's a picture of the single I got:

It's really catchy! Love the album art.

It's always fun to see all the different ways the villagers interact with the player, as well as one another. I gotta say, it was a little unnerving to walk into Layla's house to the sight of her and Doremi staring right at me... Perhaps I caught them at a bad time? (Oh, and check out the album directly below Doremi!)

I've made a lot of progress on the museum! Here's a picture of a finished T-Rex.

Prepare for trouble?!

And as you can see, I've been having a lot of fun downloading my design costumes for my character to wear. In fact, the café outfit with the pink checked skirt that you see in most of the screenshots, along with the "museum curator" outfit and Team Rocket costume above are all my design items made by various creators.

Tune in next week for the first days of spring in Mamemura and a few dream world town visits!

Update: I just realized I don't have any Valentine's Day pictures! Unfortunately the holiday isn't really celebrated in Animal Crossing, so all I got were some chocolates from Shizue-san and a few villagers I'm close to. Sorry about that!

For someone who loves planners to the point of having three separate planners for 2013 alone (no, I don't use all of them, they just gravitate toward me naturally), I'm embarrassed to say I'd never heard of the Hobonichi Techo before it was announced that it would be getting an English version this year. I say this is embarrassing because the Hobonichi Techo has been somewhat of a phenomenon in its home country of Japan ever since it was first released in 2001. It also holds a special place in the hearts of gamers, as Hobonichi is the company founded by Mother creator Shigesato Itoi!

While I have my own personal yearly Rilakkuma planner tradition, there's something very appealing about the community that has sprung up around the Hobonichi Techo due to its accessibility and quirkiness. The largest version of the planner has a page dedicated to each day, so people have started customizing their books in a wide variety of ways and posting their daily entries all over the place. It really is a joy to see what everyone is doing with theirs!

No, I have no idea why Japan loves Ted so much (source)

source

And now with the release of the English version, we're not only seeing coverage of the planner on sites like Tiny Cartridge, but Tumblrs have sprung up to celebrate its greatness. I have to say, I just love the sense of creativity the community has and would love to be a part of it myself next year! If you're interested in checking out more Hobonichi Techo pictures, I definitely suggest browsing the #ほぼ日手帳 tag on Instagram.

Well, this Beat the Backlog project is going just swimmingly, wouldn't you agree? Three months in and I have no completed games to show for it... but the more pressing matter is the fact that I completely jettisoned Harvest Moon: A New Beginning back in February! In the end, I think it was far too similar to Animal Crossing: New Leaf, as I just couldn't get myself motivated to play it in addition to my daily Animal Crossing duties. How disappointing! That doesn't mean I won't come back to it in the future, but I think I'll have to hold off until my Animal Crossing fever gone down.

I'm not really sure what to do about February, but I'm going to keep moving forward. I did finally start playing Katawa Shojo, a free English bishojo visual novel (i.e romantic visual novel aimed at primarily a male audience) that was released to much acclaim last year, which I've been meaning to get to for some time. As such, that'll probably replace Harvest Moon: A New Beginning as my February backlog pick, and I'll endeavor to finish it sooner rather than later. Expect some impressions of it in the near future!

So, with that out of the way, I've decided to move on to... Fishing Resort! I'm not exactly why I've felt so compelled to start it now, but since I've been so indecisive as to what I want to play recently, I figured it'd be best to go with my gut. So far I've put approximately 3 hours into it, and I have to say it's quite fun and relaxing without being the completely open-ended kind of relaxing that Animal Crossing tends to excel at. Oh, by the way, all images used in this post were taken from my game, and I've even made a neat (if I do say so myself) little video that shows what the gameplay's like!

Here are a few of my first impressions in convient bullet-point fashion:

✄ The game is very open-ended, with a number of quests and goals to complete, but it never feels like it's forcing you to do anything. Love kayaking out into the open sea to see what you can catch? You can do that to your heart's content! All fish you catch can be exchanged for points at the end of the day which are then used to purchase items such as new rods and lures, so you'll never run out of supplies to fish away without a care in the world, if that's what you so choose.

I may or may not have spent a whole day paddling around in a kayak

✄ Perhaps the most irritating thing about the game, however, is the day/night cycle. Every day, without fail, the game will spirit you back to your hotel promptly at 7 pm. While this isn't the end of the world, it gets annoying having your marathon fishing sessions interrupted.

✄ There are a number of different areas in the game that you can travel to as you unlock the option to stay at different hotels. The first area is nice, but I'm already looking forward to seeing new locations and catching different kinds of fish! The prospect of new locations is a great way to motivate players to complete quests and progress in the game.

✄ Of course, all of the best games have customizable clothing options, and Fishing Resort definitely fulfills that line on the checklist. It's totally superficial, but I love saving up for silly items to clothe my avatar in!

The real question is whether or not I will stick with Fishing Resort longer than I did Harvest Moon: A New Beginning. Right now I'm confident that I will, as it's proving to be a lot of fun and I'm getting a big kick out of the motion controls. Be sure to check back in about a week's time to see how I'm faring!

It's time for another installment of Memos from Mamemura! These past two weeks have been relatively uneventful, as I've been busy trying to spruce up my town to (somewhat) match the high standard of all the lovely villages I've seen shared on the internet. Of course, as always, I've been continuing to partake in a number of Animal Crossing: New Leaf's more leisurely activities...

Fishing and bug catching remain some of the best ways to make bells!

One of the things that continues to amaze me about Animal Crossing: New Leaf is the sheer amount of content – and not just in the number of ways you can customize your town or number of items you can collect. The villagers have a huge range of conversation topics, and I'm still finding myself surprised by new in-game events. This time, Bunjirou (Lobo) asked me if I'd accompany him to Layla's house. What could that be about?

Follow the leader!

Apparently Layla invited Bunjirou over but he didn't want to go by himself! It turns out he left his wallpaper at her place (I imagine that would be a rather difficult thing to do...). I'm not sure if this is a new feature to Animal Crossing: New Leaf or not, but I've never had a villager ask me to come with them to another villager's house for an errand before.

March 3rd was a Japanese holiday known as Hina Matsuri, or "Girls' Day." Shizue greeted me decked out in the adorable kimono pictured above in honor of the event.

As with all "minor" holidays, there was a themed board to take photos with, but I couldn't really get a good shot because a. I didn't have a partner (preferably male, as it's traditional to have one man and one woman in these arrangements) and b. I still hadn't realized that you can press the A button to take a proper photo with these things! I can't believe I've been playing for months but I still hadn't realized that! Here's what it looks like when you take a picture after pressing A at one of these signs:

Ah, so much better! I'm pretty embarrassed that I only just figured this out, but I'm happy that I did.

I was surprised to receive a mannequin from Asami (Sable) one day after I stopped by for a chat. I'll have to set it up in my house one of these days...

But by far the biggest event of the past two weeks was my recent trip to an amazing Alice in Wonderland-themed village! I have a ton of screenshots, so I'll try to keep the descriptions to a minimum, but be sure to keep an eye out for all the amazing little details the creator put into making it:

Dream Code 3300-0238-8542 for those who have the Japanese game and
want to visit!

All of the items I'm seen wearing in the above screenshot were picked up in the town, but since I went there in a dream I wasn't able to take any of them back. My Designs can be saved and brought back with you, thought, so I made sure to grab the cute White Rabbit-inspired coat I'm wearing.

After 100 people visit your town, you can upgrade your train station! I don't know if I'll ever unlock that feature in my own town, though...

What kind of house is this? Looks a little scary...

Eek! Creepy stuff! Not sure what this has to do with Alice in Wonderland, but it's great. The little wolf head in the bottom left corner is actually the resident of the house.

Boil, boil, toil and trouble!

... and a graveyard in the basement, with dog house and all!

Such meticulous gardening! Anyone's who's played an Animal Crossing game knows how time-consuming planting flowers and placing paths can be.

Oh, what's this? It looks like the high court!

And a church, complete with gorgeous stained glass! The one on the far right was definitely customized with a user-created design, but I'm not sure about the others.

Blushing bride!

This mad tea party room was by far my favorite. Everything works so well together! I'm constantly impressed by the creativity exhibited by other Animal Crossing: New Leaf players.

Oh, and last but not least... Guess who I saw?

Mr. Resetti didn't stop by to yell at me for not saving my game, but to thank me for building him a Reset Center. He certainly wasn't his normal angry self! (I actually hadn't had an encounter with Resetti in Animal Crossing: New Leaf prior to this)

Well, that's all for this installment! As always, feel free to ask any questions about the game in the comments, and look forward for an update within a fortnight!

Animation Do, a subsidiary of Kyoto Animation, released a very interesting 30 second video (hereafter referred to by the Japanese abbreviation for commercial, "CM") the other day focusing on four young male swimmers that has gained an astounding amount of popularity worldwide. While I wasn't planning on writing a whole post about it, as I didn't think there was any discussion to be had, the huge outcry for the CM to be turned into a full-fledged series as well as the backlash by some fans against Kyoto Animation producing animation for a female audience has proven that it's definitely not "just a CM." In addition, there's so much misinformation regarding this "anime" floating around that I thought it would be a good idea to clear up exactly what it is and why it's got everyone so excited/angry.

In April 2012, Animation Do released two teaser images for a new project, one which included the phrase "Ore to omae no sa o oshiete yaru yo!" or ""I'll show you what makes us different!" (pictured above). Fans immediately assumed Kyoto Animation was finally doing a series aimed at a female audience, contrary to their massively-popular K-On and Lucky Star, which contain much male-oriented fanservice and moe elements (though they remain relatively popular with female viewers, as well). People on English forums began dubbing the series "the swimming anime," but there wasn't a single word on the production until March 6th, 2013, when Animation Do released a 30 second CM featuring the characters from the original teaser.

Kyoto Animation has been known to release CMs with completely original assets, so it's safe to assume that the project they were teasing was in fact a promotional CM for the company and not actually a new series. Further supporting this is the fact that the CM credits are listed with their other commercials on the company's website, indicating that it is not a promotional CM for a new series (note: the title of the CM can be translated to "swimming club," indicating it might be more appropriate to refer to it as that instead of "the swimming anime"). Even so, many fans continue to speculate that a series may arise out of this CM, and there are has been a huge interest in the swimming anime, including both extremely positive and negative reactions, since its release nearly a week ago.

On one hand, there are many (likely female) fans who have fallen head-over-heels for characters they know next to nothing about, fantasizing potential plotlines and pairing them off with one another in homosexual relationships. I'd like to think the vast majority of the reaction to the CM has been positive, as we can see petitions to make the CM into a full series popping up on major websites such as Crunchyroll and fanart from Tumblr to Pixiv. There's even a cosplay contest!

The character designs as seen in the original 2012 teaser.

On the other hand, it's recently come to my attention that there are a number of fans of Kyoto Animation that are not at all happy with the company targeting any form of media at a female audience. Actually, I can't tell if these people are necessarily fans of Kyoto Animation, but there has definitely been a negative backlash from people saying it's too obviously catering toward women, that it's likely to be BL and is thus disgusting/should not exist (honestly, I'm surprised how many people have made anti-fujoshi comments...), or that Kyoto Animation is wasting their talent by drawing an all-male cast. They may be a minority, but they're certainly a vocal one.

Finally, to top all this off, there have been rumblings over the past day or so that Kyoto Animation has seen how popular the video is and is considering making the CM into a full-fledged anime as a result, but I have not been able to find any sources that confirm/deny this.

Now, anyone who knows me probably already has a good idea how much I like the CM, but I have to say I'm honestly surprised at how many people are hoping/expecting this theoretical swimming anime to be BL. I will happily admit that I consider myself a fujoshi – not only am I doing a PhD on BL manga, but I love a good homosexual romance and am not beyond "slashing" male characters if the mood strikes. But, that definitely doesn't mean that all the media I consume must be BL-related in some way. In fact, as I grow older, I've found I enjoy stories about ambiguous/queer sexualities more than straightforward BL, and would take a story with complex and interesting characters over a bland, cliché BL romance any day of the week. So, while I'm happy fans are interpreting the swimming anime as they like, I find it a little bizarre that everyone just assumes it will focus on homosexual romance, as if that's the only way Kyoto Animation could possibly appeal to a female audience.

A fan-created relationship chart (source)

Indeed, many are awestruck by the fact that such a successful, well-known animation studio would dare to make a 30 second CM chock-full of female-oriented fanservice. I think anyone who watches the CM (and if you're reading this post, I hope you have!) will agree that the animation is lovely, whether or not the content appeals to you personally, and in an industry that largely caters to men, I'm glad to see Kyoto Animation trying new styles and attempting to appeal to new demographics. The fact that the mere idea of a swimming anime full of attractive men is so popular shows that we still have a long way to go until anime aimed at audiences that aren't stereotypical heterosexual men are on equal footing with the hundreds and thousands of series produced for and consumed by "mainstream" otaku. It would be wonderful if Kyoto Animation decided to make this into a series, but I won't be getting my hopes up.

Update:The Daily Dot and The Mary Sue have both wrote very informative pieces that cover some things I haven't, so you may want to check them out if you'd like to learn more. The Daily Dot provides particularly useful background on Kyoto Animation (both, however, put a particular spotlight on the Tumblr fandom). I've also changed my translation of "Ore to omae no sa oshiete yaru yo!" from "I'll show you the difference between you and I!" to "I'll show you what makes us different!" –– my initial translation was much too cumbersome.

I'll tell you, Japan sure knows how to sell me food. From Rilakkuma Kit Kats to Totoro Cream Puffs, they know exactly how to appeal to my love of cute mascot creatures to ensure I'll never stop craving their adorable sugary confectionaries. This time, Japan-wide donut chain Mister Donut has teamed up with Hello Kitty to offer the cutest range of donuts in existence:

source

Now, maybe I'm easily amused, but I really do love the simplicity of this campaign – all they've done is add a little pink (I assume chocolate) bow to some nicely-colored donuts and it's instantly recognizable as a tribute to Hello Kitty. According to this article, the cupcake on a stick shown above (more colors can be seen if you follow the link) were designed with the Universal Studios Japan ride Hello Kitty's Cupcake Dream as inspiration and will be available in green apple, strawberry, and orange flavors. There will also be four regular donut varieties, including "green apple whipped cream," "green apple fashion," "orange crème fraîche" and"pon de strawberry." I think the question on everyone's minds is: What on earth does "green apple fashion" taste like?

I'm most interested in this pon de strawberry! I bet it's just as tasty as
it looks.

In addition to these adorable donuts, the misdo HELLO KITTY campaign (that is the official name, capitalization woes and all) will be offering some limited-edition headphone jack accessories for customers who purchase 600 yen (approximately $6.20USD) or more worth of Hello Kitty donuts:

Also available in black, white, and red! (link)

I've always thought headphone jack accessories were a bit silly, but I don't know if I can resist a polka-dotted Hello Kitty bow dipped in chocolate. If I could, I would buy the five or so donuts required to get said accessory, and I would enjoy every minute of eating all five or so donuts by myself. But alas, the campaign runs from April 1st until the end of May, which means I won't get a chance to try them myself when I go to Japan in June...

So, what do you think? Is the misdo HELLO KITTY campaign a stroke of genius, or just plain weird?

The craft bug strikes me often, but it's not often that I actually finish a crafty endeavor I start. In the case of practical items, however, necessity requires me to complete them so I can actually use them, so when I decided none of the Vita cases available at retail were anywhere near cute enough for my extremely discerning tastes, I had to come up with something on my own and have it ready to go in a flash.

Game case for size comparison/aesthetic purposes only, of course

A "flash" is a very relative term – I'd say I spent about 3 months on and off working on it, but I never really put more than a few minutes to a half hour on it at a time, and often went weeks without doing any work on it at all. The only thing that forced me to sit down and actually get it to a usable state was my US trip back in December, since I wanted to bring my Vita with me! I don't really consider it finished, as I'd like to add a button hole for the flap someday, but right now I'm just happy that it keeps my Vita out of harm's way.

For the craft-curious, I made the pouch out of felt and embroidery thread, and it was entirely hand-sewed. The Jigglypuff is based off the very adorable Jigglypuff design for the Pokémon Time series of goods (you can find the picture I used as reference on this lovely site).

I wouldn't call myself an expert by any means, but I'm pretty happy with how it came out! It's a really great feeling using something you've made – hopefully I'll get off my lazy butt and do more projects like this in the future.

Welcome back to another installment in my never-ending Animal Crossing: New Leaf adventures! This week started with an unexpected surprise...

An Animal Crossing: New Leaf StreetPass, in the wilds of Brisbane?! I couldn't believe my eyes! To be more exact, I brought my 3DS in to the University of Queensland with me one day and I picked this up somewhere along the way. Who could it be?

It's Tirana of Elf Village! Considering I don't live in Japan, I think it's pretty amazing to have even gotten an Animal Crossing: New Leaf StreetPass in the first place. Given her name, I assume she's a westerner who imported the game, rather than a Japanese resident visiting/studying in Australia. The above player card tells me she just started playing on February 25th and... has the same birthday as me?! That's one uncanny coincidence!

Let's take a look at her house:

Since she just started playing a couple weeks prior, it makes sense that she's only done one house renovation and is pretty sparse with her furniture. I'll admit, I'm a little embarrassed at the state my own abode is currently in... (I pretty much use it as a dump – one day I'll decorate with a cohesive theme in mind!)

Just like last week, I had another entirely new interaction with one of my villagers. This week, Layla asked me to to sell her one of my shirts, but I actually had the option to give it to her for free! And give it to her for free I did. She was quite happy, even going so far as to call me a "saint"!

That's one happy penguin!

The White Rabbit outfit I picked up in the Alice in Wonderland-themed village I visited last week was a hit with the townsfolk. According to Doremi, there're rumors going around that I'm quite the fashionista!

Sometimes I can't help but laugh at the goofy situations that play out. Here I just dug up a fossil, but Marilyn got her big noggin in the way of me showing it off.

I love this screenshot – Doremi's got an the audience waiting for her to spill the beans!

This isn't the first time I've wal ked in on two villagers hanging out, but upon talking to Rocky, I learned something very interesting about his relationship with Bunjirou...

Translation: "Sexy girl! Bunjirou's visiting... (And just when we were finally alone...)")

Why Rocky, I never knew you swung that way! If I did, I certainly wouldn't have made your catch phrase "sexy girl"! I know this very well could not be an intentional gay innuendo, but with the immense attention to detail spent on every other aspect of the game, I'd find it hard to believe that the developers didn't think of the implications of this dialogue choice for a male villager referring to another male villager. Well, in Mamemura canon, Bunjirou and Rocky are officially an item!

Finally, I decided to make a trip to the Pokémon Red/Blue-inspired town that was recently featured on Tiny Cartridge. Here are a few shots I took while there:

Cute flag! Also, what an odd town hall design...

I grabbed the pattern for this one on my way out! It's too cute!

This Exeggutor looks right at home in a lemon grove! For some reason I really like how the lemons mirror their big yellow faces.

A sleeping Pokémon blocks your path! What a great touch.

And finally, the iconic bicycle shop!

That's it for this week, but stay tuned for future updates! As always, I'm always open to answering any questions you may have about the game, so ask away in the comments.

First, I have a confession to make: I bought Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. On launch day. The eShop version. If you've listened to latest episode of The Nichiest Podcast Ever, you're probably wondering why the sudden change regarding digital 3DS game purchases – to make a long story short, it really does end up a lot cheaper for me, considering I need to import North American games, and I honestly can't think of a better game to have on you at all times than Monster Hunter. Needless to say, so far I'm loving it!

(source)

While my new-found obsession with Monster Hunter might be a good discussion for a future post, that's not what I've decided to focus on today. Instead, I'd like to talk about a series of blog posts by the localization director of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, appropriately titled "Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate – Localization Notes."

As someone who's been involved in translation work and harbors a deep interest in game localization, it's always a treat to gain some insight into how different companies go about localizing my favorite games. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is particularly intriguing because of all the various monster names –– though not quite as colorful as some of the stranger Pokémon nomenclature out there, localizers like Andrew Alfonso at Capcom have to consider both the Japanese name and the characters of the monster in order to come up with the perfect fit for the English version.

Take this fellow who was featured in the rather obtuse demo Capcom released for Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate earlier in the month (seriously, if you've never played Monster Hunter before, I really wouldn't advise trying the demo, as it paints a very poor picture of the game). Its Japanese name is Urukususu, but for the localized versions, the team settled on Lagombi. Their logic was to base the name off the Greek word for hare, "lagos," and add the "-mbi" at the end to evoke a Bambi-like cuteness. I wouldn't say Lagombi is particularly cute, but I actually like how the cute name is juxtaposed with its tubby, ferocious, albiet rabbit-inspired exterior.

Andrew discusses this fearsome-looking fellow in the second localization note post for Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. The Japanese name, Doboruberuku, is apparently based off words from a number of different languages, so the team decided to follow that theme for the localized name, Duramboros. Andrew explains that the name is based off of three different words from three different languages: Duro ("hard" in Italian), Ambulat ("walk" in Latin), and Oros ("mountain" in Greek). He adds that they were also able to incorporate "ram" to emphasize its massive horns, which I think is a really great touch.

Finally, naming this creepy purple guy took some debating before the Monster Hunter developers agreed. In the final post of the series, Andrew discusses how this Gigginox subspecies was originally going to be the "Copper Gigginox" due to its normal color, but the dev team wanted a name that highlighted how this monster can paralyze hunters with its lightning attack. After some back-and-forth, they finally settled on "baleful," as the word not only conjures up the color yellow and paralysis, but also has a unique sound to it. Given that their other choices were "Volten" and "Dread," I think Baleful Gigginox was a great choice!

There are plenty more examples of different names the team had to localize at the blog links I provided, so if you found these descriptions interesting, I highly recommend checking them out! And Monster Hunter fans: what are your favorite monster names? I'm new to the series, but I'd love to hear the names that people find particularly interesting or evocative of the monster they describe.

Come 'round, gather around the campfire. What I have for you today is a tale so terrifying, so bone-chilling, that you'll lie awake at night for weeks wondering just how something so horrible could even come into existence...

Okay, I don't think anything I'll write on this blog will ever be that scary, but the free iPhone app I discovered this week comes pretty darn close. The name of that app is Alpaca Niisan, or "Alpaca Brother" (also known as Alpaka Evolution on Android devices).

This cigarette-sporting alpaca quickly sets the tone
of the game

Alpaca Niisan starts off innocuously enough – players are presented with a single alpaca leisurely meandering around a green pasture, a pleasant, upbeat tune adding to the strangely-endearing quality of the slightly-ugly alpaca. But before long, more alpacas start to appear, and it quickly becomes clear that there is only one aim to this "game" – knock other alpacas out by tapping on them so your alpaca can absorb them, gain experience, and evolve into increasingly horrific alpaca hybrids.

The aftermath of alpaca-on-alpaca violence

Your alpaca fusing with the bodies of its fallen comrades

Macho level 2 alpaca

Pressing the star on the bottom right corner will show you what level your alpaca is and provide a brief description about its current form. Alpacas respawn even when the app isn't open, so it's important to keep checking it frequently in order to level up quickly.

Getting into nightmare territory...

Sorry if you wanted to sleep tonight

Now, if you're already following me on Twitter, you've probably noticed that this app is literally all I've been talking about for the past week (if I've subjected you to that and you're still reading through this post, thanks for being such a trooper). The reason for that is that it's both horrifying and horribly addictive! Not only that, but I've gotten my husband into it, as well, so whenever I forget to check on it he'll enviably do some alpaca fusing for me. So what exactly makes this creepy-cute game so addictive? It's hardly even a game – all you do is tap the screen!

Well, I'm certainly not the only person who finds Alpaca Niisan amusing, as it's quickly become one of the most popular apps in Japan (it's good to know I'm not the only weirdo out there...). I think everyone who tries it quickly develops a morbid curiosity to see what will happen next – just what will the monstrous alpaca evolve into, and how will each form move around and interact with the other alpacas on screen?

Since half of the fun is discovering the crazy forms your alpaca evolves into for yourself, I'll refrain from posting some of the later (and even more disturbing) evolutions. Alpaca Niisan is currently available for both iOS and Android devices worldwide. For some reason the title hasn't been translated for the iOS version (nor the app itself, for that matter, but you definitely don't need to understand Japanese to enjoy it), so find the game on an iOS device paste アルパカにいさん in the search bar of the app store or view it here online. Android uses will find the game under Alpaka Evolution on their device or the online Google Play store. Note: These instructions apply to the North American Google Play/app stores, so the name of the app may be different depending on your region

Monster Hunter may be a series I've always found myself interested in, but I never expected to fall for it so hard. I'm eating, drinking, and sleeping Monster Hunter – for the first time in ages, I actually find myself thinking about playing the game between sessions, pining away for the next hunt!

I've been trying over the last week to pin down exactly why I enjoy Monster Hunter so much, as at first glance it doesn't really seem like the kind of game I'd enjoy. Obtuse systems, steep learning curve, and a large emphasis on grinding? Normally, descriptors like these would make me turn up my nose in disgust, but so far (I say this because I've only put in about 10 hours, and I'm positive I still haven't gotten to the real meat of the game) Monster Hunter has been the right mixture of charming ambience, thrilling battles with dinosaur-like monsters, and mindless, yet relaxing, gathering sessions.

First, to clarify, I'm playing the 3DS version of Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, and since I don't have a Wii U to connect to the online multiplayer features of the game, my adventures so far have been 100% solo. I also don't have a Circle Pad Pro, so I'm using the notoriously-frustrating single-stick control scheme... which I haven't had all that many issues with, surprisingly!

I know many are wary of giving Monster Hunter a shot due to the game's reputation, so as someone completely fresh to the series, I thought it might be helpful for me to go over my experience with the game so far. Keep in mind that I am no way an authority on Monster Hunter, and I really have only scratched the surface of the game! But, if you've always been on the fence, perhaps my impressions will be of some use to you.

Of course, when talking about Monster Hunter, it's hard to skirt around the supposed difficulty curve and the game's penchant for sucking literally hundreds of hours away from players' lives. Why, just the other day my friend and fellow games writer Brad Gallaway declared that he had finished up his review of Monster Hunter 3U, lamenting that he had only put in 75 hours at the time of writing (read it here!). Let me tell you, I can't even think of a game outside of an MMO that you can put 75 hours into and still not have accessed the majority of its content!

But do you need to put 75 hours in before the game is enjoyable? One thing's for sure, if the first 10 hours are supposed to be the slow part of the game, then I think I'm going to be in for a real treat from here on out. It cannot be denied that the beginning of the game is a little on the overwhelming side, but a deliberate, systematic approach to learning how the game functions is all that is necessary for learning the ropes (i.e don't jump into online multiplayer straight away and expect to know what you're doing!). Oh, and taking some advice from fellow hunters doesn't hurt!

So, in a nutshell, both of the above statements are true: Monster Hunter can be quite the time sink and it does take a while to get the hang of. But, for me, at least, herein lies the game's charm. So far, I've loved the communal aspect of the game: everyone who plays Monster Hunter is extremely eager to coach newcomers and swap stories with one another to figure out the best way to tackle the game's many monsters or determine the best armor layout. Moreover, I dare say the Monster Hunter community is one of the best game communities I've encountered yet – everyone is so friendly and just overflowing with love for the game, which, unfortunately, seems all too rare these days. Add this to what I believe to be the closest a game has ever come to presenting my ideal fantasy world, and Monster Hunter is a game I am happily looking forward to spending tens, if not hundreds, of hours with.

Now that I've gotten my first impressions out of the way, it's time to move on to the juicy part of this very special blog post: I'm extremely excited to announce that I've teamed up with the lovely Sarah and Roy of Culty to give away not one, but two digital copies of their amazing Monster Hunter Beginner's Guide!

You may recall that I wrote about the Monster Hunter Beginner's Guide once before, and now that I've spent some time with Monster Hunter 3U, I just can't stress enough how helpful it's been. It's done wonders for enabling me to quickly grasp the various systems presented in the game, and all the information is presented in an interesting, easy-to-understand format. The input they received from different Monster Hunter players is also a great introduction to the wealth of knowledge the community holds, and everyone's excitement and love for the series is contagious!

So, have I sold you on the game and Culty's amazing guide yet? Well, I guess you'd like to know how you can win one, right? All you have to do is comment on this post with what interests you most about Monster Hunter (if you're already playing, just tell me your favorite aspect of the game) before Saturday, April 6th at 9 pm EST to enter! I'll decide the lucky winners using a random number generator and announce the winners on Sunday. The a PDF of the guide will be emailed to the winners for viewing on your computer or tablet of choice.

Good luck, and happy hunting!

It's only the first week of April, but already things are busy with a capital B! In fact, there are not one, but two awesome game jams happening this weekend, and they're both very much up my alley, so I thought I'd take the opportunity to spread the word.

First up is the Pulse Pounding, Heart Stopping Dating Sim Jam, which not only has one of the best game jam names I've ever heard, but it's centered around one of my favorite game genres, as well. The full details are here, but basically anyone and everyone is encouraged to take part using simple, free programs such as Twine and Ren'Py and to post their work online using the tag #PPHSJam on Twitter and Tumblr.

My favorite part of the jam is that the curator Madam Luna (a very talented lady, I might add!) has decided to leave what constitutes a dating sim open-ended, so the sky's the limit! The term "dating sim" is actually a little problematic, as I find it implies some kind of stat management, or at least more involved gameplay than your usual Choose Your Adventure-style visual novel, but by not defining the term, Madam Luna has enabled virtually anyone to participate.

Next we have MIT Game Lab's QUILTBAG Jam, which will take place on the 6th and features a very special guest... Christine Love of Analogue: A Hate Story fame! The theme will be "gay planet," which sounds very fun indeed. More information can be found on the MIT page, which also assures potential participants that you don't have to be local to attend in spirit! There's a lot of crossover between the two jams, so hopefully we'll see some dating sim games that explore queer themes early next week.

And now, I have a little announcement to make: I'm going to be participating in the PPHS Dating Sim Jam! I've never made a game in my life, but I've done some research on Twine over the course of the week and think I'm ready to take the plunge. I'm certain whatever I come up with will be a dinky little text adventure that may or may not even really qualify as a "dating sim," but that's what jams like these are for, right? I hope to tweet about my progress throughout the weekend, and Shaun has agreed to offer moral support, so be sure to follow me on Twitter if you want to stay up to date with my dating sim antics. Basically, I'm hoping that putting my intentions in writing will actually push me to finish something! Expect a follow-up post sometime next week where I'll (hopefully) share the final product and talk about the experience!

Is anyone else going to be joining in the fun? Even if you're not, do you have any rad ideas for dating sim games or something that could fall under the "gay planet" theme? Share them in the comments, and I promise not to steal!

Felyne Roll Call: Lagomi Armor art print available at Culty

The time has come to announce the winners of the Culty Monster Hunter Beginner's Guide giveaway! Many thanks to all 16 who entered and to Culty for supplying two PDF copies of their amazing guide! The lucky winning hunters are:

Amy and acarno!

Please leave a comment with an email address that I can send your copy to!

As for everyone else, I'm very sorry I couldn't have a copy for each and every one of you, but I do highly encourage you all to head over to Culty's website to view a 4-page preview of the guide and download their free item combo primer. And, if you like what you see, consider purchasing a copy of the guide for yourself! Culty is run entirely by two passionate Monster Hunter fans, and they definitely deserve your support. Not only have they penned the beginner's guide, but they also have some great Monster Hunter-related original art (such as the one pictured above) available for sale, too! I'm currently drooling over this adorable limited edition Black Honey pin:

Last, but not least, Sarah and Roy also run a video podcast called My Fair Hunter that chronicles their adventures in the world of Monster Hunter, and I definitely recommend it for both novice and advanced hunters alike. Even if you've never played a single Monster Hunter game, it's a great way to see what the gameplay looks like, so do give one of their newer Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate videos a watch!

After announcing that I was going to participate in the Pulse Pounding Heart Stopping Dating Sim Jam last week, I'm extremely proud to report that I did it! In just two days, I completed my very first game. Granted, it's only a very short Twine game and ultimately isn't really a "dating sim" by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a great feeling to have completed something.

The early stages of The Tightrope Walker (that typo was fixed before publishing)

What I ended up with was a Twine game I decided to call The Tightrope Walker, and without giving too much away, I'd describe it as a meditation on balancing different kinds of relationships in one's life. Unfortunately I wasn't able to incorporate the "gay planet" theme of the MIT Game Lab QUITBAG jam into the game, but I purposefully left the genders of the characters ambiguous in order to make it as universally relatable as possible. I implore you all to head here, download the html file, and give it a whirl! It should only take 5 minutes to play through, maybe a little more if you have trouble finding the ending.

I'd like to give a huge thanks to Jake Lawrence, who provided the illustrations, and my husband Shaun for composing a short musical piece to accompany it. Unfortunately we only had access to a free music program that he had to learn how to use as he was composing, but I think the end result is quite sweet and fits the mood of the game very well.

But before I forget, I'd also like to say that though I've only played a few of the 70+ (!) submissions to the jam, I've loved every one so far. You can view the full list over at jam organizer Madam Luna's Tumblr! I've especially enjoyed Rowan's game about the online gay dating community, anna anthropy's emotional piece about an Xbox Live date and a whole lot more, Jurassic Heart, which, as a dating sim about dinosaurs effectively combines two of my favorite things (dating sims and dinosaurs), and J.J. Cappa's silly Javascript Persona 4 dating sim appropriately titled P4D: Persona 4 Ultimate Dating in Javascript Arena. There are so many other great games I've played and even more I haven't gotten a chance to yet, so hopefully I can do a roundup post detailing my favorites and why you should check them out sometime in the future.

If you give The Tightrope Walker a go, please leave a comment and let me know what you thought of it! And for anyone who's ever wanted to make a game but feels like they don't know how, I highly recommend downloading Twine and just jumping right in. It's not at all daunting to use, so it's a great place to start. I guarantee you'll feel great being able to say, "Hey, look, I made a game!"

Way back in November, the Japanese Club Nintendo store introduced a new reward item that was particularly relevant to my interests: an Animal Crossing: New Leaf "pocket diary," or planner for us foreigners. While I can't profess to having very many Japanese Club Nintendo points, luckily they were holding a campaign where those who purchased the download version of Animal Crossing: New Leaf could snag the adorable planner above for a mere 80 points! And snag that planner I did, with the help of my very accommodating host mother who shipped it to me here in Australia.

I've had the planner for a while now, but I'd been holding off sharing pictures of it until I finally picked up a proper scanner... and I'm happy to say that day has finally come! Not only will I be able to share good-quality scans of this limited-run planner, but I hope to publish posts that include many more scanned items in the future. Just think of the possibilities! Please be aware that I haven't fully gained my scanning legs yet, so please excuse some shadows and weirdness in today's post.

Not sure why this one kept coming out so wavy. Argh!

The above images are of the alternate covers included. The last one is clearly a rehash of the game's cover art, but the other two are unique to the planner. I love the little owl peaking out of the zero in the first one! The second is a particularly lovely color... If I weren't just saving the planner as a collector's item, I'd probably use that second cover (before you come at me with pitchforks for not actually using it, I already had a planner by the time I got this one!).

I'll be completely honest: I was a little disappointed by how sparse the pages are. There are so many cute touches that could've been added, but the decision to leave so much white space has left me a little lukewarm on the whole thing (I think I prefer the monthly layout style used in the Korean version). I do think it's a nice touch how they themed each month differently, and that the colors from the game textures used ties into the color theme bars at the bottom of the page. Pascal and his little phrases are a nice touch, as well. I suppose Nintendo decided to go for a more "refined" approach to fit with the minimalistic pattern used on both the planner's cover and the limited edition 3DS XL...

At the back of the book are a number of extras, including some blank pages for notes that are decorated with different items from the game. The fish and bug pages are my favorites!

Now this is interesting! They've included some helpful phrases and terms and their translations into English... which only further reinforces the idea that international versions of the game will be compatible with one another! By the way, players from the Korean and Japanese versions are able to visit each other's towns, so chances are high that will be the case for the rest of the world, as well.

The last page is for filling out your personal data, but I'm more interested in the exclusive Pascal design they included! I'm definitely going to scan that into my game.

I have to say, however, that the stickers are the true highlight of the package. I don't think I'll ever dare use them, but they are truly adorable! I'm quite partial to the coffee cup sticker and the Doremi sticker (Doremi being one of my favorite villagers and a new character to New Leaf; she's the brown doe on the far left). I wonder how they decided which villagers to include?

The planner does come with the extra mini address book pictured in the first image, but it's completely plain and unrelated to Animal Crossing aside from the house icon on the front cover, so I didn't bother scanning it. Speaking of which, please do let me know what you think of the scans in the comments. If you have any tips/suggestions, they'd be greatly appreciated!

Have you ever heard of Gaspard and Lisa? The children's book series chronicling two inseparable animal pals' misadventures in Paris has taken Japan... and, well, maybe the rest of the world, by storm. In all honesty, I'd never heard of Gaspard and Lisa before going to Japan, but after becoming enamored with the adorable duo I saw plastered on everything from notebooks to aprons, I learned that they came from a children's book series called The Misadventures of Gaspard and Lisa by Anne Gutman. They're popular enough in the west to have garnered an animated series that has been broadcasted worldwide, and, as with many cute, albiet random, children's mascot characters, the duo almost appears to be more popular in Japan than they are in English-speaking countries! Granted, I can't profess to really know how popular Gaspard and Lisa are internationally, but where can you expect to find a themed café in their honor?

Le Café de Gaspard et Lisa is located in Numazu City, Shizuoka prefecture, and as you can see from the little mountain depicted directly below the words "Gaspard et Lisa" in the logo above, Mt. Fuji is visible in Numazu on clear days (other interesting, but useless, Numazu tidbit: the city produces more dried horse mackerel than any other region of Japan).

From what I understand, the area is a fairly popular tourist spot for its hot springs and Mt. Fuji views, but it's still a little surprising that the café isn't located in the heart of a big city such as Tokyo. Unfortunately that probably means I'll never make it to the café myself... So instead I'll spend the rest of this post drooling over its gorgeous food and decor!

I love how they've made literally everything Gaspard and Lisa-themed, all the way down to the presentation of the food!

Funnily enough, today is actually the 1 year anniversary of the café. To honor the event, they're currently having a Gaspard and Lisa cheesecake campaign...

Too cute! It's neat to see the Gaspard and Lisa versions so different from one another. I'll take both!

All images are from the official Le Café de Gaspard et Lisa website, which I highly suggest checking out, as they have far more images of the café and food than I have space to share here. Don't forget to head over to their blog, too, where you'll be able to see more pictures of limited edition merchandise, special food items, and the area where the café is located!

Bonus Lisa curry:

My pervious Animal Crossing: New Leaf My Design Extravaganza post proved to be quite popular, and since I'm still knee-deep in sprucing up my village and downloading new designs, I figure it's high time for an update! There are a limitless number of Animal Crossing: New Leaf QR codes on the internet, but here are a few of my current favorites:

source

Did you know you can make hats in Animal Crossing: New Leaf? I didn't even start playing around with them until recently. It definitely seems like they're the least popular of the My Design templates, which I'd chalk up to the limited options of the bald cap-like hat and difficulty of designing a spherical item. Still, I'm surprised I haven't seen more designs like this Oshawott hat!

This Drifblim dress is to die for! I love it when creatives take Pokémon and translate their designs into clothing. Head over to the original post to access all four QR codes and a version of the dress with Drifblim's shiny coloration.

source

There are also plenty of Monster Hunter designs around, which has made this new huntress very happy indeed! I love this sailor garb – too cute!

source

Now this is impressive! The design above is based off the Azuros armor set from Monster Hunter, and I'm not only totally enamored with the cute illustration the creator made, but the attention to detail they put into the actual My Design and the fact that they made a hat to go with it, as well. In fact, I love it so much that I'm going to try this very look out on my character ASAP!

source

Am I the only one who feels like they're going to get a cavity from looking at these designs? Forgive another sailor-esque set, but the Donald Duck coordinate above is just too adorable not to share. Did you know the shorts aren't actually a separate piece, but part of the "one piece" dress design option? I'm constantly impressed by the ingenuity of these QR code designers! The duck bill, striped socks, sailor hat, and yellow shoes (all in-game items) really makes this outfit shine.

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I wouldn't ever want anyone to accuse me of being too partial to cute things (who am I kidding, I am partial to cute things), so I'm going to include the creepy shirt design above. Also, it serves as a reminder that villagers will start wearing the items you put up in the Able Sister's shop. And, by golly, does that design put Chrissy's facial expression in a whole new light!

For the record, every single one of the designs I've featured so far were found via the amazing Animal Crossing: New Leaf QR-Code Collection website. Not only can you spend ages clicking through pages of QR codes starting from the most recently added pieces, but there are dozens of tags for various anime and game series, with the most popular titles listed across the top for easy browsing. They certainly haven't catalogued everything, but I'd highly suggest bookmarking it for when Animal Crossing: New Leaf finally comes out in English in June!

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If you follow me on Twitter, you may have noticed that I was quite distraught when I found out my favorite QR code designer shut down her blog and deleted all her QR codes earlier in the week. Since I hadn't been saving her QR codes, I thought her wonderful pieces were lost forever! Luckily, she's actually made a permanent site for all her work, though she's no longer updating her My Design blog with new pieces. You can find all her amazing dress sets and other patterns at the source link above. I highly suggest poking around her site – the image above really doesn't do her outfits justice!

Finally, I'll leave you with this:

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Are those what I think they are? Why yes, they're designs based off the Hello Kitty donuts I blogged about last month! I'm ecstatic that there's someone out there who is just as enamored with those donuts as I am (if not more so, since they took the time to meticulously design these lovely QR codes). Expect future screenshots of my town to be covered in donuts.

Speaking of which, I'll end this by reassuring everyone that "Memos from Mamemura" is very much alive and well. I've just been busy sorting through piles of screenshots from the past two weeks or so. I'll definitely be posting a new entry very soon, so please keep an eye out for it!

You may have noticed something different about Chic Pixel over the past day or so, but if you haven't, I'll fill you in: there are now ads for Play-Asia and J-List on the right sidebar. I'm now a member of both of their affiliate programs, which means that anything bought on their sites by accessing them through links on Chic Pixel will earn me a small commission.

I've been considering putting ads on Chic Pixel for some time now, and have decided on these two websites because I personally shop at them and feel they are of reputable quality and would recommend them to others. Any and all proceeds I make through their affiliate programs will be spent on items that will go directly back into the content of this blog.

Over 2500 unique products from Japan -- click now!

Above all, though, I really don't want to alienate my readers with ugly ads, so if after a month or two I'm not getting any significant revenue (i.e enough to buy a cheap game), or if I receive comments indicating that they are obstructive in any way, I will remove them! I don't want to lose any readers over some ads that aren't really worth my while. I also won't be putting ads in every single blog post, but expect to see an odd link or banner here or there when it's directly related to the content I'm blogging about.

I would like to ask that if you're planning on buying something from either J-List or Play-Asia, please consider supporting Chic Pixel by doing so via my affiliate links. It would be greatly appreciated!

Think ads are a good idea? Bad idea? Let me know!

For my first ever guest post, I've finagled my highly-qualified Japan correspondent Tim van Ingen to make the arduous journey down to his local Mister Donuts shop to try the new Hello Kitty donuts I blogged about last month! Since I can't go in person, I'll live vicariously through his descriptions and photos like the rest of you. Let's see what he has to say...

Sign advertising Hello Kitty bow headphone jack accessories at Mister Donuts

Tim: "I just went to the shop, where I spent an inordinate amount of time staring at pink donuts to decide which ones I wanted (it made me feel only slightly uncomfortable!) and then I just went ahead and ordered them. You need to spend 600 yen to get one of the headphone jacks, but you don't actually have to spend it all on the Hello Kitty donuts. Just as long as you spend 600 yen and there's at least 1 Hello Kitty product in there, you get one of the bows. So I just bought 4 donuts and a glass of Oolong tea (gotta stay healthy!), and that was it. I had to ask the girl behind the counter about it, though, because she wasn't showing any signs of giving me one of the bows of her own accord. I HAD TO DRAG IT OUT OF HER."

Hello Kitty donut bag!

Hello Kitty donuts! Note: Tim bought four donuts, but only three of them were from
the Hello Kitty campaign.

Best. Packaging. Ever!

"I started with the green apple thing [pictured above]... I really liked it. I have no beef with green apple flavored things (unless its beef), and the combination of whipped cream, white chocolate and donut dough worked fine enough in my book. I'd buy it again."

"The cupcakes were pretty nice, too! The thin layer of chocolate on top covered a small amount of whipped cream (flavored orange and strawberry respectively) and the cake parts were decent, too (if a bit dry), so yeah, they were nice enough. Not something I'd buy again, though."

Well, there you have it. I'll admit I didn't think the idea of a green apple cream-filled donut sounded very appealing, but if Tim says it was good, I'll take his word for it! Oh, but there's one more little thing... Guess what he picked up for me?

Wahoo! It's a pink Hello Kitty bow headphone jack accessory! I'm lucky Tim didn't want to keep it for himself!

I'd like to give a huge thanks to Tim for taking the time to try the Hello Kitty donuts I've been dying to eat myself and be so kind as to provide photos and a writeup for me to post here! He can be found on Twitter at @Zolbrod, and his wonderful localization work can be seen in the recent eShop release The Denpa Men: They Came By Wave. If you have any comments/questions for him, leave them here and I'll be sure he sees them, or feel free to get in contact with him yourself via Twitter!

Welcome to the latest Chic Pixel Taste Test! Today, I've finally gotten around to trying the "Otona no Amasa," or "sweetness for adults," matcha Kit Kats, which were launched in Japan in 2012. Don't be put off by the name – this isn't some kind of X-rated Kit Kat flavor, but rather part of a popular series of Kit Kats launched in 2010 in Japan that are aimed at those with a more "refined" palette and are supposedly less sweet than the regular flavors. Last time I did a Taste Test, I tried the Kyoto matcha Kit Kats, so let's see how the Otona no Amasa matcha flavor compares!

One bag comes with 12 individually-wrapped mini Kit Kats, which has always been my favorite Kit Kat packaging method. A whole Kit Kat bar is just a little too much to eat in one sitting, but it's quite refreshing to have mini Kit Kat for an afternoon snack with your favorite warm beverage.

Detail on the back of the bag. Did you know it was designed by a company called Bravis International? They have a very interesting post on their website about how they designed the Otona no Amasa matcha packaging, which I highly suggest you check out!

Sorry for the nicked Kit Kat! I promise I didn't take a bite out of it before
snapping this photo.

So, how does the Otona no Amasa matcha Kit Kat stack up? I think it's delicious! It's not nearly as sweet as a normal western Kit Kat, and the matcha flavor is delicate enough not to be overwhelming but at the same time strong enough to recognize. I wish I had a packet of Kyoto matcha Kit Kats so I could taste one after another and give a definitive impression as to whether the Otona no Amasa one is actually less sweet than other Japanese Kit Kats, but I'm inclined to guess that it is.

Japanese Kit Kats always have a space on the back for writing messages!

If you like matcha flavor, I definitely recommend these! They may be available at your local Asian grocery store, but if you can't find the Otona no Amasa matcha flavor, you can order them from J-List online, along with other Japanese Kit Kat flavors.

I'm headed to Japan for two weeks in June, and I'll be sure to find as many whacky Kit Kat flavors as I can, so you can expect more Taste Test posts in the upcoming months!

Memos from Mamemura: Weeks 11-13

We Heart Hobonichi Techo

Beat the Backlog Club March Game Introduction (with bonus "What happened to February?!")

Memos from Mamemura: Weeks 14-15

Discussing the Kyoto Animation "swimming anime" sensation

Japan Envy: misdo HELLO KITTY Campaign

Crafty Pixel: Jigglypuff Vita Case

Memos from Mamemura: Week 16 – "Rocky comes out of the closet"

Nutty for Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate Localization Notes

The Horrifying World of Alpaca Niisan

Mad for Monster Hunter + Culty x Chic Pixel Giveaway!

Pulse Pounding Gay Planets: A Weekend of Game Jams

Monster Hunter Beginner's Guide Giveway Winners

My First Game: The Tightrope Walker

Exclusive Japanese Club Nintendo Animal Crossing: New Leaf Pocket Diary

Japan Envy: Le Café de Gaspard et Lisa

Animal Crossing: New Leaf My Design Extravaganza Part 2

A note about ads

Guest Post: The Hello Kitty Mister Donuts Experience

Taste Test: Otona no Amasa Matcha Kit Kat