On Cave Story

imma claw my eyes out, i mean i love this game

What is the most important word in any language? It’s the existential question of “why?”, or posed differently – “what for?”. Since this is supposed to be a post about a video game (and games in general), I’d like to ask the question: “Why play video games? What for?”. The first answer that comes to mind is: “for fun”. The hedonist choice. Video games are the ultimate in entertainment, after all. Still, when you consider that pleasure can be derived even from things you’d be doing anyway (see: eating – it’s a physiological need, dammit!), going out of your way to play games only for entertainment feels empty. You could be doing something that does more for your sake than just entertaining you.

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On Gothloli Takkyuu

The cover.

Hi there. Remember the recent news about Aoyama Sagu, the author of Roukyuubu, coming up with a new work? You’d probably miss that news article if its title wasn’t as attention-drawing: Gothloli Takkyuu. Well, guess what? I could not stand idly when I heard of this new, promising meme novel, so I got my hands on it and finished it yesterday. So, gothlolis – every nerd’s favorite fashion trend, which only seems to grow in popularity, and table tennis. A curious combination, and the novel itself makes it even more ridiculous…

On Tsumiki Kuzushi

The cover of the book.

Hozumi Takanobu is a Japanese actor who’s had a lengthy career – he debuted in 1953. However, none of the many roles he’s played in films and TV series immortalized him as much as a certain book he’s written in 1982… His Tsumiki Kuzushi: Oya to Ko no 200-nichi Sensou (which translates to Toppling the Block Tower: The 200 Days-long Parent-Child War) is a piece of fiction based on fact which chronicles the long struggle of a family with their very problematic single daughter. The book was a bestseller – one year later it was adapted into a 7 episode-long TV series which multiplied the story’s success and set the record for highest ratings among J-dramas. The record that hadn’t been beaten for decades.

Why would I watch an old-ass topical J-drama from the eighties, you ask? It’s because Tsumiki Kuzushi is heavily referenced in this OreImo doujinshi by Takotsuboya, whom you might remember for his infamous cruelly subversive K-ON doujin trilogy. Or that copypasta about TK’s multiple failed attempts at becoming a professional mangaka. If I was sarcastic, I’d say the intertextual allusions he makes are giving his age away. Anyway, I remembered the drama’s title to this day and… imagine the excitement I felt when I recently stumbled upon the ugly VHS rips of the drama on Nyaa. That place is a magnificent treasure trove. Anyway, is this tale special enough to be referenced in the second decade of the 21th century?

HaneBad or Vengeance with a Racquet

The Beast.

On a whim, average high school girl Fujisawa Elena decides she should join an after-school club. Ignoring its bad rep, she picks the badminton club (or the Bad Club) and drags her childhood friend, cute girl Hanesaki Ayano with her, against her will. Elena doesn’t know that quite yet, but what she did will open up a particularly ugly can of worms…

It’s been a while since I last wrote up a current anime, has it not? HaneBad (はねバド) is an adaptation of a sports comic, one about badminton. Every single sport has been made into a manga, after all. When the anime was announced, I knew I’d give it a shot. I mean, who hasn’t played badminton?

On Rokka no Yuusha v5

The cover.

Hi, it’s time for the penultimate, fifth volume of Rokka no Yuusha. The fourth book ended on a firework of a cliffhanger: the Black Barrenbloom, the tool which Tgurneu wants to use to eliminate all Braves at once turned out to be Fremy. Is she the Seventh as well? Adlet, after hearing the news, decides to keep it a secret at least for a little while for Fremy’s sake. The party of heroes moves on to the Temple of Fate. Inside, at the bottom of a maze, they make a certain unbelievable discovery…