Today's Rizal Day. Since no one has taken up the burden of translating Rizal's valedictory poem into Hymmnos, I'll do it.
Happy New Year.

Mea Liera Ryushe
(My Last Farewell)

By Jose Rizal
Hymmnos translation by Benedict Villariaza
Based on the English translations by Charles Derbyshire, Encarnacion Alzona, and Isidro Escare Abeto

[* indicates words not found in any official Hymmnos dictionary and are thus made up]

Was au gagis ryushe, Fatele-dgal, dgal re chiess art sheak
Weaken Zaarn Perla*, merra loss Eden!
Was yea ra accrroad yor gral cyuie manaf mea,
En aiph her chs add keen, add waath, add afezeria
Was zweie ra accrroad her mea, sos yor.

[Farewell, dear Fatherland, clime of the sun caress'd
Pearl of the Orient Seas, our Eden lost!
Gladly now I go to give thee this faded life's best,
And were it brighter, fresher, or more blest
Still would I give it thee, nor count the cost.]

Ess boia, ware velsog,
Eetor walasye sarrifis herra near, na tasim;
Lof na sguela - cupressus*, laurus*, vianchel vinan dorn,
Ugi elle khadalzo* en dorre, ugi elle velsog en salavec,
Enllia engua, aiph roon en dgal pshyu.

[On the field of battle, 'mid the frenzy of fight,
Others have given their lives, without doubt or heed;
The place matters not - cypress or laurel or lily white,
Scaffold or open plain, combat or martyrdom's plight,
It is ever the same, to serve our home and country's need.]

Was au gagis morto mea ware talam,
Lgn nuih, shefra dyldea;
En aiph na clalliss, was yea ra accrroad prooth mea,
Was yea ra varle prooth mea sos yor
En claliss sarr dea prooth oz rudje.

[I die just when I see the dawn break,
Through the gloom of night, to herald the day;
And if color is lacking my blood thou shalt take,
Pour'd out at need for thy dear sake
To dye with its crimson the waking ray.]

Mea revm, sev mea vallne,
Mea revm, sev mea heetha lasye,
Herra vit yor riura, O Bale oz Weaken Zaarn
Na omness, na werllra;
Na lamenza, na guaysu.

[My dreams, when life first opened to me,
My dreams, when the hopes of youth beat high,
Were to see thy lov'd face, O Gem of the Orient Sea
From gloom and grief, from care and sorrow free;
No blush on thy brow, no tear in thine eye.]

Revm oz mea near, mea fayra dsier,
Chanti! Famfa spiritum raklya ut yor;
Chanti! En cest milra laa yorr endia;
Morto sos yor, so zenva tes ciel;
En slep yanje tou maya dgal.

[Dream of my life, my living and burning desire,
All hail! Cries the soul that is now to take flight;
All hail! And sweet it is for thee to expire;
To die for thy sake, that thou mayst aspire;
And sleep in thy bosom eternity's long night.]

Aiph yorr vit titil grruw fusya mea katalfa json,
Yasra frawr fusya sara,
Neia frawr yorr boches en chiess mea spiritum so,
Whalt mea llizz paul won mea riura ween vigiga dep katalfa
Lyrnya fane, warma fhyu.

[If over my grave some day thou seest grow,
In the grassy sod, a humble flower,
Draw it to thy lips and kiss my soul so,
While I may feel on my brow in the cold tomb below
The touch of thy tenderness, thy breath's warm power.]

Nha meaql weak keen won mea,
Nha touwaka talam sol won mea,
Nha au fhyu kouf won mea;
En aiph faura sallogna won mea krucks*,
Nha faura hymme falfa hymmnos won katalfa.

[Let the moon beam over me soft and serene,
Let the dawn shed over me its radiant flashes,
Let the wind with sad lament over me keen;
And if on my cross a bird should be seen,
Let it trill there its hymn of peace to my ashes.]

Nha sheak syunaht papana,
En nha papana coall ciel clyncye dea mea hynne
Nha ferx werlwe na gfine morto,
En ware yasra bengnuih, ware enne zenva
O Fatele-dgal, enne, so was yea erra slep viela dilete mea.

[Let the sun draw the vapors up to the sky,
And heavenward in purity bear my tardy protest
Let some kind soul o 'er my untimely fate sigh,
And in the still evening a prayer be lifted on high
From thee, O my country, that in God I may rest.]

Yorra enne laa walasye whou na pasherin morto,
Laa walasye whou haf jefea crudea;
Laa merra marta whou raklya cyuie werllra,
Laa lamenzeo terrma en lamenzeo vallne, laa walasye ween gatyunla
En laa yorra noes, so yorr got spitze.

[Pray for all those that hapless have died,
For all who have suffered the unmeasur'd pain;
For our mothers that bitterly their woes have cried,
For widows and orphans, for captives by torture tried
And then for thyself that redemption thou mayst gain.]

En aiph nuih fountaina katalfa
En ar loss walasye khal katalfa
Na meso mea slepial, na meso mea foul
En aiph yorr reen cyuie ammue
Was au erra hymme U-TA en yor, O Fatele-dgal.

[And when the dark night wraps the graveyard around
With only the dead in their vigil to see
Break not my repose or the mystery profound
And perchance thou mayst hear a sad hymn resound
'T is I, O my country, raising a song unto thee.]

En aiph nel sapon mea katalfa
Na krucks*, na ganna, na erphy
Fogabe walasye vaffa katalfa, savath dor
En mea cindro* ftt elle dorre
En fogabe mea cindro* ftt chsee nel.

[And even my grave is remembered no more
Unmark'd by never a cross nor a stone
Let the plow sweep through it, the spade turn it o'er
That my ashes may carpet earthly floor,
Before into nothingness at last they are blown.]

Elna, nn num wa rete mea yorra
Mea vaffa yos cia, yos ciel;
Konla en valwa tou yos oriye en yos ciellenne
Pitod milra, fhau, clalliss, sielp, sarla, lamenza,
Etealuear rriulia mea papas.

[Then will oblivion bring to me no care
As over thy vales and plains I sweep;
Throbbing and cleansed in thy space and air
With color and light, with song and lament I fare,
Ever repeating the faith that I keep.]

Mea marfo Fatele-dgal, la mea pshyu dea shyun
Amariare Pilipinas*, hyma mea liera wart!
Mea netvear omnis: grandee en nyamonyas en ferx
Mea pyuf lof pitod na sklavo*, na gyas,
Lof pitod papas na ubiestobo, en Diol gyusya hao!

[My Fatherland ador'd, that sadness to my sorrow lends
Beloved Filipinas, hear now my last good-by!
I give thee all: parents and kindred and friends
For I go where no slave before the oppressor bends,
Where faith can never kill, and God reigns e'er on high!]

Was au erra ryushe, omnis walasye mea melenas,
Kiakkya sev vallne ides, ferda ween crudea!
Repoear, naave mea fowrlle elle nyasri dyya!
Was au erra ryushe, nyamonyas la sol mea walaka;
Was au erra ryushe, plargamera! Was yea erra morto wis fowrlle.

[Farewell to you all, from my soul torn away,
Friends of my childhood in the home dispossessed!
Give thanks that I rest from the wearisome day!
Farewell to thee, too, sweet friend that lightened my way;
Beloved creatures all, farewell! In death there is rest!]

"Gaano Ko Ikaw Kamahal" (How Much Do I Love You) is one of the Filipino songs I grew up with, and my late grandma told me it was one of her favorites. In her honor, here's my translation of the song into Hymmnos, the constructed language made for the Ar tonelico series.

Was Zweie Erra Hartes Yor Mea
(Gaano Ko Ikaw Kamahal)

Performed by Celeste Legaspi / Itchyworms
Written by Levi Celerio and Ernani Cuenco
Hymmnos translation by Benedict Villariaza
Japanese translation by PARU-PARO 自遊自在 (http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/alinopm27)

Was zweie erra hartes goa yor mea
Yanje
(Ikaw lamang ang aking iibigin
Magpakailanman)
(君だけが僕の愛する人
永遠に)

Mea harton en yor chs cest
(Ang pag-ibig ko sa 'yo ay tunay)
(君への想いは真面目なんだ)

Was touwaka erra urr alroen mea
(Nais ko sanang patunayan)
(それを証明したいんだ)

Yorr marst na tasim
(Huwag ka nang mag-alinlangan)
(どうか迷わないでくれ)

Mea harton clalliss na iqwayes
(Ang pag-ibig ko'y hindi kukupas)
(僕の愛情は決して色あせることはなく変わらない)

Nille harphe la sol ware metafalya
(Tulad din ng umagang
May pag-asang sumisikat)
(希望が昇る朝のように)

Merra walaen
(Ang ating buhay)
(僕らの人生)

Na ewle, mea marfo
(Maikli aking hirang)
(選択する時は短い)

Agga merra nedle clyncye harton
(Kung kaya't kailangan ng pagsuyong wagas)
(だから純粋な愛が必要なんだ)

Enrer
(Kailanman)
(いつまでも)

Mea geeow en yor, waglialre
(Ang sumpa ko sa iyo'y asahan)
(君に誓うよ、頼りにしてくれ)

Was zweie erra hartes goa yor mea
Yanje
(Ikaw lamang ang aking iibigin
Magpakailanman)
(君だけが僕の愛する人
永遠に)

Merra walaen
(Ang ating buhay)
(僕らの人生)

Na ewle, mea marfo
(Maikli aking hirang)
(選択する時は短い)

Agga merra nedle clyncye harton
(Kung kaya't kailangan ng pagsuyong wagas)
(だから純粋な愛が必要なんだ)

Enrer
(Kailanman)
(いつまでも)

Mea geeow en yor, waglialre
(Ang sumpa ko sa iyo'y asahan)
(君に誓うよ、頼りにしてくれ)

Was zweie erra hartes goa yor mea
Yanje
(Ikaw lamang ang aking iibigin
Magpakailanman)
(君だけが僕の愛する人
永遠に)

Now that Power Rangers Dino Fury is on its mid-season hiatus, and Ultraman Trigger is a few months away, I've wanted to watch an action series to pass the time until the two series return on air. Fortunately, YouTube recommendations point me to a favorable direction: Girl Gun Lady.

Girl Gun Lady is Bandai's (more specifically, Bandai Spirits's) second original IP, the first being 30 Minutes Missions. It follows Koharu Tachibana, a timid high school girl who one day buys a 1/1 scale gun model kit and a figure from a mysterious antique shop. Once she assembles them both, she is then thrust into a gunslinging battle royale where only one out of the four teams will survive.

As expected of a "death game" plot, the live action series's story is full of plot twists and revelations that go well with the action scenes. I can also see the innocence that Sei Shiraishi, Koharu's actress, is trying to portray; and I'm invested to see her character grow as the plot moves on.

I've watched four episodes so far, and new episodes are out every week on Bandai Spirits's official YouTube channel.

---

Over the past few months, many of the videos I'm watching on YouTube have something to do with making things out of junk or something that's being thrown away. Examples: restoring furniture found on the curbside, making custom toys out of junk, making furniture out of discarded skateboards, making sci-fi blasters out of junk, and forging knives and swords out of rusty things and even old broken drills. When the pandemic finally winds down and I can safely go back to QC from Tarlac where I'm currently staying, all those videos will inspire me to get my creative juices flowing again.

And as I write this blog entry, I'm also watching videos about home renovations and house flipping, hoping to get another helping of inspiration. One channel that caught my eye is Tokyo Llama, a channel owned by an Australian expat and his Japanese wife and kids and documents the family's purchase and renovation of an abandoned farmhouse somewhere in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. I was floored by how the renovations were made to make the house look modern while still preserving its original spirit. I even got to learn about traditional Japanese techniques and architecture terminology, too.

The lack of entries these past two months is due to my PC breaking down while in the midst of staying in my father's hometown. Being in a rural area, upgrading my PC using parts I've bought from Lazada these past few months was quite the wait, but here I am.

And while my PC was down and out, I still had my obligatory Global Game Jam, which was held online. And I made my game using just my phone. Yes, you've heard it right. I just MacGyvered my way through the event -- and the result was The Only Star in the Sky, a kinetic novel written with BASIC.

And now that the event's finished, it's time for my obligatory "evaluate the other entries at the same site I was in". BTW, I picked the College of St. Benilde site.

-Split-: You play as a cute manananggal girl aiming to unite her two halves. Simple yet effective platforming gameplay.
A Blind Hero: Invisible traps make this action-platformer more difficult than it should.
All for a Freaking Key!!!: You've lost your keys and thrashed the neighborhood. In this RPG Maker game, you have to clean up the mess you've made.
Clockwork: An adventure game where you must help a girl regain her memories. The sprite work on the girl is well done, to be honest.
Detective Hornet and The Fly in the Wall: Only furries will love this.
Finding 15B: A playful take on the issue of the lost Php15 billion PhilHealth funds. If you're used to playing Metal Gear Solid, this game is for you.
Finding Rick: Reminiscent of Resident Evil VII: Biohazard and the upcoming Resident Evil: Village, with its first-person angle. One thing that bothers me: I can't shoot a zombie from a corner; I have to provoke the zombie first before shooting him.
Finding 物 (Finding Mono): An otome visual novel with, yes, anthropomorphisms. Better expand on this, devs; especially on spicing up the default Ren'Py UI.
Founders Keepers: You're in charge of a lost-and-found service, and it's not as easy as it sounds. Indeed, I had a hard time adapting to the mechanics.
January One: An interactive story about finding that lost love on the aforementioned date. It's as seminal as it looks.
Judas: It's a multiplayer traitor game (in a similar vein to Among Us). Since there's no single-player option, I just have to look at the minimalist yet well-done graphics.
Konpeito: A good-looking narrative-driven platformer... that is bugged by some collision detection issues. The player character seemingly floats on the surface, and I can't get up to the platform on the second screen even after timing my jumps right.
Lost and Found: Man, getting through that first puzzle's a pain, especially in lower resolutions.
Lost Soul: You have to memorize the platform patterns if you want to move forward. And it's quite the trial-and-error process.
Memento: You control a couple recovering from amnesia, and the characters' quirks lend well to the well-done platforming action.
Nasa'n si Lola? (Where's Grandma?): A mystery game that takes place within the interface of a mobile phone (and is appropriately for Android devices). You have to solve the mystery behind your grandma's disappearance in a remote place shrouded in superstition.
One Step Ahead: A detective noir game. The only complaint I see: Combat is too wonky.
Path of the Abyss: Cursed Ascension: So far, the most polished game in the bunch. Combat is well-executed. Better continue it as a full game.
Repositorium: Well-made pixel graphics.
Soul Mate: Another multiplayer game, and requires a microphone on top of that. Good thing the souls in this game are purdy.
Switch: The game requires you to, yes, switch colors to geth through obstacles.
The Maze of the Periodic Scale: A simple hack-n-slash. And by simple, I mean vanilla.
Thrift into Space: This is an otherworldly experience for me.
View Finder: This is a "find the hidden objects" game, with the added mechanic of those objects appearing and disappearing at different time intervals. The mechanic makes the game stand out, IMHO.

Once things start to go back to normal (with a few precautions, of course), I'll go back to my enjoyable yearly habit of developing games within 48 hours on-site.

The Only Star in the Sky DL: https://globalgamejam.org/2021/games/only-star-sky-7
The Only Star in the Sky DL (itch.io): https://dagitabsoft.itch.io/the-only-star-in-the-sky
The other games at College of St. Benilde: https://globalgamejam.org/2021/jam-sites/global-game-jam-2021-benilde/games

YOU KNOW WHAT'S BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUULLS***? Actors getting harassed over certain roles fans hate. This has been an unfortunate inevitability of the entire entertainment business: Creators normally don't expect a vitriolic combination of hatred for the character and hatred for their actor; but when they do, they try in vain to placate the fans' deluded minds. Going back in time, one of the famous instances where an actor was getting harassed over a role fans hated was Ahmed Best, who portrayed Jar Jar Binks in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Jar Jar was hated by moviegoers everywhere that Best even considered suicide. Now if the prequel trilogy have been originally released today, with the ubiquity of social media and all, it would have been a lot worse for this poor guy.

Now let's shift to this year, 2020. Two Lauras were the target of harassment. Long-time voice actress Laura Bailey (and even her newborn child) was threatened over her role as Abby from The Last of Us Part II; while a relatively new voice actress, Laura Stahl, was getting hate mail over her role as Mami Nanami from Rent-a-Girlfriend. It goes to show that the minds of deluded fans never change. That is why there must be a phrase that must be hammered over every fan's brain: Actors are not their characters. They are only paid to do what they do best. And if you're a fan who forgets that mantra, you'd best quit being a fan forever. Actors getting harassed over certain roles fans hate is bulls***!

Now that the story of my current novel, Seijun: A Girl's Bygone Days, is on its halfway mark, I believe I should disclose some trivia, because why not.

1. I've decided from the very start that the setting will be in a fictional Japanese town. Also, I've always wanted to write Japanese-styled romance stories, as I want to divert from the fantasy genre that my first three novels on Dreame (and its related site, Ringdom) are classified into.
2. The main character, Gunpei, was inspired by the late MythBusters host Grant Imahara. He aspires to become a robotics engineer, for one.
3. Many of the chapter titles in this novel are titled after songs that have completely different titles in Japanese (see the relevant page on TV Tropes under Music). The first part of the titles is what the Japanese title translates to in English, followed by the original English one -- and both titles are relevant to what's going on in the story.
4. This novel celebrates my first anniversary of writing for Dreame. I started my debut novel, The Transcience of Her, on August 2019 and finished it the following month. To celebrate that milestone, the main character of The Transcience of Her, Soren Orr, makes an appearance in the first half of the novel, as he visits the town where the protagonist and the heroine (Harumi) live in.
5. The way the years of junior high school and high school are implemented is a bit different from the actual Japanese implementation. In the novel, there are six years of elementary school (Grades 1-6), two years of junior high school (Grades 7 and 8), and four years of high school (Grades 9-12); while in real life, there are six years of elementary school (Grades 1-6), three years of junior high school (Grades 7-9), and three years of high school (Grades 10-12). I only found this right after I've started writing the actual novel. But then again, the story takes place in a fictional Japanese town, so I'll let that minor inaccuracy slide.

So these are the relevant spoiler-free trivia you might want to know, folks. I may be a Filipino writing a story that takes place in Japan, but I'm inspired by how an American game studio (Sucker Punch) was able to create a pretty realistic Japanese samurai action game (Ghost of Tsushima) by imbuing heart and soul into its creation.

This post is dedicated to radio host Neil Ocampo, whose shows I've once listened to while he was in DZMM and 92.3 News FM. May he rest in peace.

Author Kayla Nicole Togonon wrote an article condemning the spoiled, entitled behavior of many readers of the popular online story platform Wattpad -- particularly when sensitive topics such as incest, rape, and sexual abuse are being made the power fantasies of such readers. What's even worse, many of those readers are still in their teens, which doesn't help the case of the problems of premarital sex and teen pregnancy here in the Philippines. Not helping things is dragging Jose Rizal into the mud, with those spoiled brats stating that his novels were nothing like the trashy romance novels they read on Wattpad. News flash: Rizal's novels and those trashy novels are miles apart in terms of themes and the lessons to be learned.

I first experienced this predicament when one day, some of the words in my ongoing novel (Seijun: A Girl's Bygone Days) were censored on Dreame -- especially words that pertain to sex and abuse. Even though my novel will be completely clean, with no explicit content whatsoever, Dreame left no stone unturned. After reading Ms. Togonon's article, now I understand why such censorship had to be implemented -- and thus I had to revise already-uploaded chapters to purge those censored words out and replace them with more sensible ones.

My take on this issue: I'm glad I don't have to cater to these types of people, as I write not to fulfill readers' power fantasies, but to make them immerse into the rich worlds I craft thanks to my game design skills being applied to writing novels. It also helps that my current brand of writing comes from different sources -- video games and visual novels -- which makes my writing stand out from the crowd. I may not be as storied as the Wattpad writers mentioned in Ms. Togonon's article; but someday, readers will realize the true magic in my writing.

Ever since I've sold off my tablet for parts due to accidentally breaking it February of last year, i've held off on the stuff I used to do on mobile. But now, thanks to Lazada reaching even remote areas even in the midst of this pandemic, I was able to get a hold of a brand-new phone last month.

For instance, I'm back to playing Final Fantasy Record Keeper. The additional gameplay elements such as Anima Stones were quite easy to catch up to. Plus, I've already maxed out the levels of certain parties that are themed to synergize with several FF realms (not counting enhancements via Magia Crystals, Record Spheres, and vials of Crystal Water), to the point where I was able to beat several Nightmare Dungeon bosses that always have a difficulty setting of 100 or more.

Also, I was able to hoard some more games via this year's Steam Summer Sale, but some huge titles (e.g. Sabbat of the Witch) will have to wait until the evenutal upgrade of my PC, thanks to earning some good cash via writing novels on Dreame.

On a final note, it sucks that this year's Cosplay Mania is cancelled due to the effects of the pandemic (and most likely, other cons this year will follow suit); but at least we'[ll all rise from the ashes once this crisis is over.

Following the ABS-CBN shutdown last May 5, I had to adjust my afternoon viewings of films on CineMo via the ABS-CBN TVplus set-top box. From 1-5pm, I have to adjust to 2-6pm. And ever since the beginning of this month (June), I also watched some films on the Asianovela Channel (it and Jeepney TV are temporarily taking over the gaps left behind by ABS-CBN 2 and ABS-CBN S+A due to the shutdown).

With those circumstances set in place, I get to not just watch classic Filipino films, but also some Korean and Japanese films as well. Over the past few weeks, these are what I've watched and liked.

1. The Battleship Island: Based on real-life historical accounts where Koreans were duped into forced labor by the Japanese during World War II. It takes place in Hashima, which is also nicknamed Battleship Island. Now I get to know even a tiny bit of history due to the accurate portrayals of what happened there.
2. Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds: Based on a popular webtoon. A firefighter who dies in the line of duty is whisked away to the underworld by three grim reapers. The three will help him prove worthy of passing through seven trials within 49 days in order to get a shot at reincarnation. The CGI and set designs are gorgeous, and the plot itself is engaging -- which leaves me begging for CineMo to also air the sequel, Along With the Gods: The Last 49 Days.
3. Luck Key: A 2016 Korean adaptation of a 2012 Japanese film, Key of Life. A moneyed assassin and a washed-up actor have their lives turned around due to a locker key switch, coupled with the assassin's amnesia. I really liked the character development of the two leads.
4. As the Gods Will: My first full taste of prolific director Takashi Miike. It's a "death game" film, first popularized by Battle Royale, and I was suckered into rooting for the two main female characters. The challenges themselves are also engaging.
5. LDK: A straightforward, no-frills school romance film. I also like the portrayal of Ayame Gouriki as the female lead Aoi Nishimori. By the way, both LDK and As the Gods Will are manga adaptations with Kamen Rider actors in the cast (Sota Fukushi in the latter and Renn Kiriyama in the former).

In other important matters, I have obtained not one, but two hearing aids. Now to have my ears cleaned for hopefully the last time so that I can finally get my hearing back.

While still on a medical vacation (to treat my otitis media once and for all) turned quarantine-fueled temporary stay in my father's hometown, I'm taking advantage of the ABS-CBN TVplus set-up box in the house I stay in to watch some classic Filipino films every afternoon to stave off my boredom. And watching those films almost everyday gives me some unique ideas that I can implement in future games.

1. A Contra- or Metal Slug-like game inspired by action-comedy movies starring the late Palito (Rambuto; No Blood, No Surrender; Kumander Kalansay), which thrusts a thin-looking soldier onto the battlefield. One advantage of his body structure is his enhanced agility.

2. A visual novel where a male Filipino cop and a female Hong Kong cop of Japanese ancestry join forces to bring down an international criminal syndicate. The two have a previous history together that they eventually forgot due to their line of duty.

3. An FPS that pokes fun at typical Filipino action movie tropes (look for Bob Ong's Bakit Baligtad Magbasa Ang Mga Pilipino? as a starting point). Can use the classic Doom engine (id Tech 1) or Valve's Source engine.

(Author's note: Let's take a break from the gloom and doom of COVID-19 to deliver this also important message.)

With the dawn of the Reiwa era, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe wants to be referred to in the international stage the traditional way, i.e. Abe Shinzo; and many other Japanese people must follow suit. While official Japanese government correspondence, The Economist, and NHK World-Japan are now adopting the "surname first, given name last" policy as of this writing; some others hesitate to do that because of not just confusion, but also documentary, archival, and systematic nightmares. Certain people who are enamored by Japanese culture also adapt the Eastern order when dealing with Japanese names, in line with preserving the original cultural intent.

So what's my take on this? As someone who delivers messages through his games and other creations, I always make it a point to deliver those messages in a way even the average Joe will understand. Hence, I prefer the Western order when tackling with Japanese names, but keep the Eastern order with Chinese and Korean names (with certain exceptions, of course). This is the way it has always been for years. Thus, I will talk about Shizuki Hisakawa, Kaori Takamachi, and Junko Sekiguchi rather than talk about Hisakawa Shizuki, Takamachi Kaori, and Sekiguchi Junko. Unless they're Vocaloids, which is my personal exception to the rule (besides pre-Meiji era figures).

First off, I'm not gonna beat around the bush. I was suffering from an ear infection (otitis media, to be exact) that partially disabled my hearing. But that didn't stop me from participating in the Global Game Jam for the seventh consecutive time; and it's my second time at CIIT College of Arts and Technology, too. With that handicap in mind, I had to contend with barely hearing any external sounds, taking medications, and having others write what they wanted to say on pieces of paper so that I could properly communicate during the jam. And did I mention that the brand-new visual novel that I was supposed to create last year (but got preempted by the sequel to Source | Destination) has no music at all because I couldn't properly pick choice royalty-free music with that handicap?

Well, besides that, everything else went smoothly. Just like last year, I implemented four diversifiers, two of which were easy to do in Ren'Py. The other two were special cases. The "Mi Casa es tu Casa" diversifier, which stipulated that the world my game is in should be the same as the one from another game from a neighboring team, required me asking permission. The "Conlang" diversifier was much easier, as I have planned to use the Hymmnos language from the Ar tonelico series. And oh, I misinterpreted one of the diversifiers (which was sponsored by Microsoft), which said "TBC" before the jam, and "Level Up!" during the jam. And thus, due to that misinterpretation, I ended my game in a cliffhanger.

On Sunday, things weren't as smooth as I had expected, because I wanted the credits to be as accurate as possible, especially in the "Special Thanks" section. I wanted to credit the team and the game they made because I used the scrapyard, which was their game's world, in a flashback scene in my game. And thus, I waited for hours for the proper team name and the game to be revealed in some way so that I could fill in the missing blanks. The waiting even persisted into the submission hours, which were expected to be full of internet traffic due to many others in our timezone also uploading their own games.

After that huge snag, The Classiest Act was formally uploaded, with the basic premise of a college girl wanting to have company in order to repair the lack of colors in her life. As I've said before, I ended the original version in a cliffhanger; and thus I'll complete the entire story for NaNoRenO, which will happen next month. Hopefully, my hearing will at least be functional enough to keep going by that time. Or I can endure what Beethoven went through when his hearing was gradually lost, and yet was still able to put out memorable and timeless music.

Now, I'm dedicating this space to evaluating the other games made at CIIT.

Bridget: The instructions say "go right", but it leads to nowhere.
Far Away: Repair whatever's broken on the spaceship, and that's it.
Fleeting: It's a co-op game. And I like how the team made their own splash screen.
Galactic Fix: It's another co-op game, but the graphics are much better.
Memoriae: Explore a cave, dodge monsters, find the key, and repair that rift between two old friends. That's it.
Ogre TD: It's a tower defense game.
Overbit: It's a nice little platformer, but please implement a checkpoint or a respawn system so that I can't experience the frustration of manually restarting the game every time the player character croaks.
Pitch Patch: Well, I hesitated to play this rhythm game at first due to my hearing problem, but at least I can go back to this once my hearing's back in action. And yes, the graphics are nice.
Planet CA-1: An astronaut picks up various things to repair his fragmented memories. Nice.
Re:Pair: I've had the chance to play it at the site, but it sucks that I couldn't go on any further.
Re:Pairing: Another game I can only stare at due to missing the executable.
Repair Friend: Now this one has the weirdest premise. Your PC's broken, and you settle things... with a gun. Going all Duke Nukem, huh?
Repair Shadow Legends: You play as a repair team preventing the other side from destroying stuff. This has the nicest 3D graphics I've seen in this jam.
Scraps: It's another co-op game, with nice hand-drawn graphics. That's the team I asked permission from for the "Mi Casa es tu Casa" diversifier.
Wisp Story: A vanilla action platformer. That's all I have to say.

To end this post-jam entry, I'll definitely join again next time, with hopefully no major roadblocks that will get in my way of making another unique game. January 29-31, 2021, everyone.

The Classiest Act DL: https://globalgamejam.org/2020/games/classiest-act-3
The other games at CIIT: https://globalgamejam.org/2020/jam-sites/global-game-jam-2020-ciit/games

Australian bushfires raged, then the US and Iran sniped at each other, then Taal Volcano spewed out ash, then the Wuhan coronavirus spread, then Kobe Bryant has passed away -- and now, the Philippines has the very first confirmed case of the coronavirus. This chain of events definitely is one eye-opening decade opening.

And now that I'm in for the Global Game Jam tomorrow, I wonder if the games will be made there will have at least a reference to the virus, which takes me back to 2003, where SARS was the fear du jour. At least we're more prepared than ever, and scientists are hard at work in determining the virus' composition as well as possible treatments for those hit by the virus.

Stay safe, everyone. And don't eat wild/exotic animals, because they can't really bestow healing and strengthening benefits. This nasty habit is what caused the Wuhan coronavirus and other related viruses to spread in the first place. Resident Evil 6 predicted this, even though it's a few years late.

The last year of the 2010s is, for me, the worst year of my life. From having my tablet damaged (and I eventually had to sell it off because the fee for repairing it would be better used for buying a newer budget phone) in February, to the nastiest diarrhea in early October, to the long blackout brought about by a faulty meter in mid-October, which stretched all the way to late November. But at least I get to earn money of my own writing online novels and other moneymaking gigs.

Thus, instead of a year-end report, I will narrate the decade-ender, from my perspective.

The New Tens in gaming was generally great, with the rise in mobile gaming, retro gaming, and indie gaming. I've decided to sign up on Steam; I've collected more games, physical and digital, at more affordable prices; I've participated in the Global Game Jam, Ludum Dare, the various RGCP events, and ESGS; and I've become a bonafide member of the Philippine chapter of the International Game Developers Association as well as Retro Gamers and Collectors Philippines. However, out of the decade also spawned the abomination that is Gamergate, and let's leave it at that. Also, micro-transactions are now the necessary evil.

The New Tens in visual novels is a mixed bag. While the English-speaking world generally enjoyed a rise in both Japanese-made and English-original visual novels due to titles such as Katawa Shoujo, Doki Doki Literature Club!, and that KFC visual novel (plus the fact that certain anime adaptations became gateways for their equivalent VNs); the situation on the other side of the VN world started to degenerate. Let us offer a moment of silence for several Japanese VN companies that closed up shop or declared bankruptcy this past decade: minori, feng, Mink, HimeyaSoft, and TECH ARTS. But at least, thank God for sprite bouncing back after some months of closure!

The New Tens in anime is also a mixed bag. While there were titles that appealed to a wide audience such as Attack on Titan, Puella Magi Madoka Magica, Sword Art Online, One-Punch Man, Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, and Kemono Friends; other titles pandered to the otaku audience, and some of them have creepy premises. Plus, light novel adaptations basically replaced visual novel adaptations as the current trend. And yes, Kyoto Animation deserves all the accolades this decade, more so with that attack on one of their studios that left several of their creative talents dead. May these poor souls rest in peace.

The New Tens also compelled me to go back to Gunpla. This time, I've acquired so many kits and spare parts, all in the name of collecting at least one MS kit from each Gundam timeline (which as of this writing, is incomplete due to lacking any kit from Gundam Build Divers and GBD Re:Rise), and even participated in some model kit competitions even with spray paints as my main weapons. Also, I've branched out to other model kits with Frame Arms Girl; and I'll definitely get a 30 Minutes Missions kit next year.

The idol boom definitely defined music in the New Tens. Love Live! and The Idolm@aster were the pioneers, and now everyone else is getting their own piece of the pie (remember horse girl idols)? Plus, we've finally got MNL48, the official Philippine AKB48 sister group, plus a whole slew of smaller local idol groups. Also, there's the boom of virtual YouTubers such as Kizuna Ai. Plus, K-pop and J-pop still wrangled for supremacy in the East Asian music scene, with the dawn of the Reiwa era heralding the formerly restrictive Japanese labels to finally open their official worldwide channels for their music.

Tokusatsu in the New Tens is a period of transitions. On the Western side, Saban bought back Power Rangers from Disney, only to sell it later to Hasbro at the onset of the franchise's 25th anniversary. Power Rangers Beast Morphers definitely has promise after a few gaffes in the Neo-Saban Era. On the Japanese side, both Kamen Rider and Super Sentai had their ups and downs; and Tsuburaya banked on another attempt to make Ultraman appealing to a worldwide audience. I've watched every Ultraman series as they have aired on Tsuburaya's official YouTube channel, starting with Ultraman Orb; and ever since they've won their lawsuit against Chaiyo, their aggressiveness in marketing their flagship franchise is getting stronger than ever. Plus, the aforementioned dawn of the Reiwa era brought fresh new looks and talents to all these long-standing toku franchises.

Politics and society... hoo boy. After a string of supposed failures and mishaps by liberal-leaning leaders, the people generally had enough of them and voted conservative- and populist-leaning leaders instead. Thus, Duterte and Trump happened. Also, the spread of fake news and the rise of the alt-right didn't help things, either. Plus, climate change is a thing, and youths like Greta Thunberg grabbed the spotlight in speaking out about it. Also, natural disasters such as the Haiti quake, the Great East Japan quake, and Typhoon Haiyan/Yolanda prove that Mother Nature can be a harsh mistress.

Other things that happened in the New Tens: The Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney gobbling up companies left and right, much mudslinging in certain franchise fandoms such as Star Wars and Ghostbusters that pitted old and new fans against each other, Brexit, the Syrian and Rohingyan crises, the rise of ISIS, the Hong Kong demonstrations, the Mayan apocalypse that never happened, the Arab Spring, the BP oil spill, WikiLeaks, the Kardashians, the decline of Apple's reputation in the tech world ever since Steve Jobs passed away, and lots and lots of internet memes.

I've also had many gains and losses on my end. I've gained and lost jobs, gained new friends and bade farewell to old ones who have passed on, discovered new things and rekindled my love for old ones, and generally saw things come and go.

As 2020 approaches, let us all reflect on the past, present, and future. They are all equally important for us all to move forward as members of the human race.

Happy New Year.

The RCGP 2019 Year-end Event, Reddit Secret Santa, and the promised release of Source | Destination -two of us-, which is today!

First off, the year-end event. Basically, since I wanted to get the slim PS2 I got at the Retro Gaming Expo working again, I went ahead and bought a power brick for that. But I had to hold off the lens replacement, because that would eat my budget. Also, tried my hands on Aero Fighters (Sonic Wings in Japan) for the Super Nintendo and bought a gift for the Reddit Secret Santa.

For the Reddit Secret Santa, I got one of the model kits on my wishlist. Assembling it was kind of a pain, but those errors I've made will be corrected when it's painted.

And finally, the release of Source | Destination -two of us-. I overshot my pre-Christmas deadline, but at least I finally released it before this year ends. Go check it out; it's playable in your browser.

So before I sign off and post my yearender (and decade-ender) report tomorrow, here's my loot list for the entire December (* means RGCP zombie mode loot).

1. XBOX-ism demo disc, Winter 2002 (Xbox)*
2. Final Fantasy XI: Chains of Promathia (PC)*
3. Dengeki PS2 demo disc (PS2)*
4. Devil May Cry 2 (PS2, no Lucia disc)*
5. Ragnarok Battle Offline Scenario Vol. 1 (PC)*
6. Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia (PS2, the Best version)
7. Romancing SaGa: Minstrel Song (PS2)
8. Stellar Theater Maxi CD (audio CD)
9. Stellar Theater soundtrack and drama CD (audio CD)
10. One Night Ultimate Alien (board game, gift for the Reddit Secret Santa)
11. PS2 Slim power brick
12. ASCII PS1 controller
13. Frame Arms Girl Materia (Normal ver.)

Pictures:
https://www.facebook.com/benedict.villariaza/media_set?set=a.3247142492027810&type=3
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=3313946332014092&set=a.285744168167672&type=3&theater

Just in time for Thanksgiving and the end of this month.

For around one and a half months, I and my household were holding on to the sliver of hope that the power would go back, but red tape would get in the way. The consequence? I've spent so much money for sending my clothes and bedding to the laundromat because I couldn't bother to use the washing machine on borrowed power from our neighbor. But now that the power's back last Tuesday with a brand new spanking meter, I'm back in action!

Besides preparations for ESGS 2019 and continuing my paid job of being a web novelist, here are the things I did during the blackout:
1. Completed reading two books cover-to-cover for the first time. The first is In the Men's House by Captain (now retired Lieutenant Colonel) Carol Barkalow, which documents her experience as one of the first women to enter West Point. The second is History of the Filipino People by Teodoro Agoncillo, which is quite an exhaustive resource especially for those who want to squeeze more out of Philippine history.
2. Cleaned and reorganized my desk, moving the speaker set to the top of the Sony Trinitron CRT TV to give ample breathing room to the desk. In the speakers' place is a magazine file I've used before when I worked at L3 Game Atelier (which now, by the way, is inactive).
3. Made a fridge magnet from one of my old button pins using broken round magnets and epoxy.
4. Made some progress in my Doraemon plaster figure restoration (pictures here).
5. Moved some manga to the space dedicated to cartridge games because the shelf dedicated to them is getting full.

And now that the power's back, I'm now doing the things I'm supposed to do, like playing games on Steam (finally beat Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom, for one), doing the laundry myself, and putting on Christmas decorations.

Furthermore, there will be a delay in the release of Source | Destination -two of us-. The Game Boy game will now have its digital release this December, hopefully before Christmas.

October is shaping up to be the worst month of the year for me. The first half was marked by me experiencing the worst diarrhea ever in my entire life, and the second half was marked by a sudden power outage due to the power meter that connects my household to the grid exploding due to old age (I was even incensed by this, as my line of work depends on constant and stable power; and as of this writing, me and my brother's family is waiting for the power to come back courtesy of Meralco).

But despite those two possibly worst events in my entire life, I looked forward to the fifth incarnation of ESGS. No international guests this time, but the hype was still there.

For the second time in ESGS and Indie Fiesta history, I've gone retro; as I've shown to the public Source | Destination -two of us-, the demake of two Global Game Jam games I've made. From MS-DOS, it's now to the Game Boy. Reactions went from curious stares from con-goers who wondered "What was that guy thinking, displaying a Game Boy game?" to outright interest due to nostalgia.

Even with those plans of demonstrating Source | Destination -two of us- set in stone months ago, things didn't go according to plan. Besides the aforementioned residential power failure, my plan of borrowing Game Boys and flash carts from fellow members of Retro Gamers and Collectors Philippines failed due to availability issues. So I had to enact plan B: Using Game Boy emulators on Android instead. I was so desperate on borrowing eligible Android phones during the opening hours of ESGS, until two fellow exhibitors replied to my SOS. I will credit you in the full game's closing credits alongside the two RGCP members in the "special thanks" section, guaranteed.

Just like last year, all aspects of what we call gaming stand hand-in-hand. AAA games, mobile games, e-sports titles, indie games, and board games co-existed. And ever since my first time participating in ESGS in 2015, I've always made it a habit to collect as much free con loot as possible, especially from fellow Filipino indie devs. Plus, I'm glad I've met the creator of Softwar IRL, whom I've first met on Discord due to being in the same channels (Love VN Dev and r/visualnovels) and is also Filipino and a fellow Quezon City resident. Seems my usual de rigueur ESGS habits will be "collect loot and make new game dev friends".

Hopefully ESGS 2020 will be much better; as there is strong indication that Syntactic Sugar will have a demo ready by that time, and I'm planning a limited cartridge release of Source | Destination -two of us- (this will happen after a free full digital release hopefully by next month) as well as another game jam game demake. Man, will I be pulling double (or even triple) duty as a solo exhibitor.

As a footnote, I've dedicated the second day of ESGS 2019 to feng, a Japanese VN studio known for Akane-iro ni Somaru Saka, that just filed for bankruptcy. Man, 2019 is shaping up to be the year many Japanese VN studios bit the dust, and that makes me sad. But as always, I will always carry on their legacies as both a fan and a creator.

Photos: https://www.facebook.com/benedict.villariaza/media_set?set=a.3105650832843644&type=3

Another Cosplay Mania, another popular anime to grab everyone's attention. This year, it's Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, which has just finished airing in Japan and will have its English dub premiere on Toonami later this month. There are lots of cosplays of the two leads, brother and sister Tanjiro and Nezuko Kamado, as well as those of the other notable characters.

As for me, I went in as the Angry Video Game Nerd for the fourth time ever in Cosplay Mania history. This time, I have with me the broken Famicom that I got for free at RGCP's 2018 year-end event. Expectedly, more people recognized my getup, especially a guy who runs his own booth and dons the costume of an Australian soldier. Of course, I participated in the Cosplay Solo Showdown, and I did my best channeling the Nerd without swearing at all, since CM is a kid-friendly con, after all.

And now, here are the three moments that made me scream "What were they thinking?!" at Cosplay Mania 2019.
1. I saw a lewd dakimakura cover of the Platelet from Cells at Work! Look, characters such as her, Kanna Kamui from Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, and Nezuko deserve not to be lewded.
2. Ugh... those guys wearing those freaking ahegao hoodies. Again, CM is a kid-friendly con; and those wearers of degenerative decadence are a bad example to kids who would be curious to ask them, "Where are they from?"
3. My prayers of having American anime voice actors invited went unanswered. But don't worry; I will never back down in advocating for inviting them alongside their Japanese counterparts; as the Filipino anime fandom now has a growing dub voice acting fandom, thanks to accessibility of English-dubbed anime via conduits such as Netflix.

Next year, I will push through with cosplaying as Angus MacGyver, from the original 1985 TV series. I just need to keep earning money from various gigs such as writing novels and employing my writing-related services to other visual novel developers.

The loot list for this con is as follows.
1. Rewrite clear file
2. To Heart 2 plastic pencil board
3. Love, Election, and Chocolate plastic pencil board
4. Yoko Takahashi - "Yoake Umarekuru Shoujo" single CD (Shakugan no Shana ED1)
5. Free pack of Salonpas

Photos: https://www.facebook.com/benedict.villariaza/media_set?set=a.3016841188391276&type=3

Four, in fact. Fortunately, I've accomplished two so far.

First is my supposed entry into Mechapinoy's Formula 1/100 in-house contest, using the 1/100 Graze I got for free at the 2017 GBWC Philippine leg. But alas, unstable weather that is unfavorable to those who use spray paint like me led me to withdraw from the contest. Fortunately, there's a silver lining; as I was able to draft the Graze into another scale modeling contest, the IPMS Philippines 16th National Scale Model Competition. Pictures of my kit and more are here and here.

Second is a LitRPG novel by the name of The Transience of Her. It's about a young man who discovers that his just-deceased female friend is reincarnated in his favorite MMORPG. Right now, it's exclusive to the online novel platform Dreame, and its companion app requires a paid subscription to read the entire thing. Seriously, I've poured my all into writing this novel for a little over a month, and I've completed the novel last week.

Third is my entry to ESGS 2019's Indie Fiesta, titled Source | Destination -two of us-. This is the Game Boy demake of both Source | Destination and The Place I'll Return to Someday: Source | Destination 2 that I've talked about in the August 1, 2019 blog post. As of this writing, I'm concentrating on making a playable demo build that will cover the first game; and best of all, I'll use some real Game Boys and Game Boy flash carts for that demo. You can read more about the development in the dev log at the bottom of the page.

The final one is Deadline, a visual novel that is still in development (nope, not Syntactic Sugar, where I currently act as the narrative designer). I've been brought in as the editor, by the way.

Besides those four projects, I'm also gearing up for my GBWC 2019 entry as well as my Cosplay Mania 2019 plans. With more free time in my hands, I can accomplish at least one or two this month.

Once I've learned that another retro gaming event is near, I jumped at the chance, hoping to complete three objectives. And I was able to do that yesterday.

As soon as I was inside the event space inside Victory Central Mall in Monumento, my eyes were immediately drawn to a seller who specializes in visual novel installer CDs and their limited edition boxes. Good news: There were many of those boxes. Bad news: They cost around 1,000 pesos a pop (roughly $20). Eventually, I got a sizable number of the basic installer CDs and a few soundtracks after some haggling. I don't know your name, good seller, but everyone else knows you are a godsend to a VN fan like me.

As I've said earlier, I went to the event to complete the objectives. Here they are.
1) To collect the entire Final Fantasy SNES trilogy.
2) To get some cheap Famicom carts that I can play conveniently, now that I have a Famiclone.
3) To get a used PS1 memory card, because my current one is close to getting full with save files from all the RPGs I've completed.

To accomplish objective one, I was dead set on getting Final Fantasy IV for the Super Famicom; and I eventually did, to the tune of 150 pesos ($2.87). It's nice that I've now completed the Final Fantasy SNES trilogy; and thus, I've also completed collecting all the numbered Final Fantasy games from I to IX. To accomplish objective two, I purchased one cheap multicart, which should work. And the final objective was really easy; I got the memory card for just 50 pesos (~$1).

I also had the chance to test my skills in several games. Street Fighter II? I had a good fight with another competitor in the mini-tournament, but lost to him. Tekken 3? I stood no chance (and I didn't pick Eddy because that would be cheating). Mario Kart 64? Stood no chance against other competitors in a 4-way race, despite getting used to the controls easily. Duck Hunt? I was finally able to surpass my previous record I achieved back at the Retro Gaming Expo in February. From round 13, I ascended to level 16. But I had to stop because my hands were getting sore.

It sucks that I didn't see some Xbox 360 games I wanted (especially now that I own one thanks to my in-laws now living in Canada), but I'll get one next time.

And "zombie mode" (the time-honored RGCP tradition) was a blast as always. I fortunately got away with just a few bruises unlike last time.

The loot list round-up (pictures are here):
1. RCGP 5th anniversary T-shirt (won in the raffle)
2. Comic Party (PC)
3. A limited-edition Xbox game case, with no game (eventually used to house Kinect Adventures! [Xbox 360], earned from "zombie mode")
4. Defective PS2 controller (earned from "zombie mode")
5. Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together (PS1, earned from "zombie mode")
6. Final Fantasy IV (SFC)
7. PS1 memory card
8. Super Mario Brothers 13 bootleg cart (Famicom, earned from "zombie mode")
9. 103-in-1 multicart (Famicom)
10. Kenji Ito x SaGa Battle Music Collection + (audio CD)
11. SaGa Frontier (PS1)
12. White Album OST (audio CD)
13. Peace@Pieces (PC)

Because of the expanding collection, I decided to move my PS3 games and group them with the PS4 games my brother have and the Xbox 360 games that the in-laws also sent to me alongside the console itself, inside a durable plastic box.

Thanks again to everyone I've met and made deals with, and thanks to RGCP for six years. Cheers.

Erratum: The Asanagi no Aquanauts CD I got last Retro Gaming Expo turned out to be a mini-soundtrack CD that came with the limited edition of the VN, and not the VN itself. I learned it when I inserted that into the DVD-ROM drive of my secondary rig.

Namely, the Steam Summer Sale and an important job I'll be undertaking.

First off, the Steam Summer Sale. It has a sidequest where I pick a team in a race, and I rooted for Team Corgi. To earn boost points, I had to harvest achievements in the games I've previously completed. While the early days of the sidequest were confusing at first, players like me eventually got used to them. Random winners belonging to a certain team would receive free copies of games on their wishlist at the end of the race. I wasn't one of those winners, but at least I got to reorganize my wishlist according to what I will play in the coming months. In terms of the games I've purchased during the sale, I got An Octave Higher, Over the Hills and Far Away, and Neverwinter Nights: Enhanced Edition. Also, after two years, I've finally completed Phantasy Star II; and now I'm moving forward on the Phantasy Star quadrilogy with Phantasy Star III: Generations of Doom.

And as for the important job, I'll divulge nothing more than a novel that I'll hopefully start writing this month.

On a side note, I've finally decided on this year's entry to ESGS: a Game Boy demake of both Source | Destination and The Place I'll Return to Someday: Source | Destination 2 (they will be compressed into one game). So how will that be possible? Simple: I've discovered a creator program called GB Studio, and it even exports finished games to Game Boy ROMs, allowing them to be played on both emulators and real hardware.

August will be a busy month, with those commitments and more on my plate.

For the record, I'm not a voracious anime watcher, much more follow several shows as they air in a particular season (besides getting basic info on the plot, characters, and production stuff). But when a show picques my interest, and I can legally watch it, I go all-out in following the anime to the very end. This season's The Helpful Fox Senko-san is no exception.

Kuroto Nakano is an overworked and over-stressed salaryman at his wit's end, when one day after his soul-crushing day job as a programmer, he finds a young-looking girl with fox ears and a tail in his apartment. That girl is Senko, an 800-year-old fox spirit on a mission to destress him.

Some may find the premise creepy, as a clearly adult man has a platonic relationship with a young-looking girl; and both Rimukoro (the author of the original manga) and the folks at Doga Kobo pull no punches in poking fun at the real-life consequences of this relationship. Fortunately, this show has zero egregious fanservice, just comedic and light-hearted moments one can bask on as a relaxing watch after a long hard day at work. I also find the characters relatable, especially Nakano, as he still carries on his job despite running the risk of karoshi (death from overwork). Fortunately, the fox girl is always on standby.

Towards the end of the tenth episode, one line hit me home, as Sora/Yozora (Senko and Shiro's superior) declares to Nakano to not make Senko cry. As someone who lost a friend last year due to karoshi, that one line stung my heart. Fortunately, the finale is cheerfully positive despite its obvious dramatic leanings.

So would I recommend The Helpful Fox Senko-san? I'd say yes. This show is lighthearted, yes, but it also offers valuable social commentary on Japanese work culture. Rating: 9.5/10.

And that rig replaced the old Dell Vostro 1520 I bought two years ago that had power-related problems. That defect was the reason I had to bring my main PC to the 2019 Global Game Jam.

This PC is actually most of the internals of my original AMD-based rig, migrated onto the Samsung Magic Station DM-C200-PA13G case. The original contents of the Samsung PC, which has a G41M02S1 motherboard, is then migrated onto the main rig's case in exchange.

The secondary rig will be not just my game jam PC, but also my back-up PC if ever the main rig is out for repairs and/or upgrades. Currently, it doesn't have a graphics card yet, but I have plans to chuck in a low-profile Nvidia card (either the GT 730, the GT 1030, or the GTX 1050) there in the future.

To make the rig uniquely mine, I used the many stickers I've accumulated over the past 10-15 years. Because those stickers will stay in the case for a long time, they need to be protected from the elements. Right now, I'm pondering if I'm gonna use spray paint for this or have a professional PC modder do the protective clear coating for me. Here's a sample of the case.



Meanwhile, my main rig will be subject to upgrades, too. First, since the motherboard is Socket 775-based, it will have a Core2 Quad Q6600 and 4GB of RAM (mainly due to the motherboard's memory restrictions as documented here [in Korean]). To accompany this, it will also have a new case, CPU cooler, and power supply. Here are my main rig's specs: