Family life

I hope you guys enjoy this page~ I’m also veeeery curious what those with Private and Corporal pledges will say under the two-weeks-ahead page I’ve just posted. Hehehehe….. ლ(o◡oლ)

Ekhem, anyway. Sorry for being slightly late with the page, we’ve got a long weekend here in Japan and I kind of forgot to upload the new page on a Sunday evening (Monday morning now). Since I had some time off I kind of bing-watched two anime series: Mahoutsukai no Yome (finally!) and Houseki no Kuni. Loved them both, can’t wait for more. Both of those series are based on mangas and I read those two. I suppose the anime adaptation is better for Houseki no Kuni, for the magus’ bride I like the manga better. What’s super interesting is that Houseki no Kuni is made in 3d and it works fantastic! Definitely recommended.

What else. I’m hoping to sign an apartment contract so yet another move-out and move-in. This time for good. What pains me is that I’ll need to buy everything for the apartment: furniture, fridge, washing machine, even ceiling lamps… =_= It’s exciting but also very troublesome when you need to work and don’t want to assemble your furniture yourself (I love assembling furniture but it takes a ton of time). Keep your fingers crossed, I really hope to get that apartment, it’s AMAZING!!! I can’t wait! (ノ・∀・)ノ

LIFE IN JAPAN CORNER #7

We had lots of holidays here in Japan at the beginning of January! New Years, two bank holidays and the Coming of Age Day. I might have already mentioned that the New Year’s Eve isn’t celebrated in fireworks. If you want to see a firework display in Tokyo you should definitely come in summer, on the New Year’s Eve I haven’t heard a single firecracker. Japanese people have their own way of celebrating the beginning of New Year which mostly involves visiting a shrine. And that can be pretty exciting!

We live close to Sengakuji temple and didn’t visit on the New Year’s but a bit earlier, around 14th December, when the anniversary of the 47 ronin’s avenge takes place. I imagine it looks pretty similar (since I’ve seen many shrine festivities and it basically looks the same) – lots of food stalls and tons of people eating and drinking on the temple grounds. It smells so yummy… And it is yummy!

Apart from delicious food, there are stalls with games and toys for kids so families go together to celebrate. It’s very lively! In winter you might also have a chance to try amazake, traditional winter drink made from fermented rice. It’s sweet and served warm, there’s often grated ginger inside too. I think it’s worth trying but definitely not something I would drink often hah~

If you want to buy a lucky charm or a fortune (most of the time only in Japanese) or maybe say a prayer for the new year you need to stand in line. There are millions (literally) of people visiting most popular temples around New Year, everyone’s trying to secure their luck as soon as possible. And tons of tourists too! Personally, I wouldn’t visit Tokyo around New Year, mostly because many places are closed due to long holidays. And festivals are as much fun in summer!

60 comments on “Family life”

  1. Crestlinger Reply

    That Was a fast turn around.
    Either Ada’s content in her current status or doesn’t realize what’s going on.
    Looking back it looks like more of the second.

    • JW Reply

      I think she was preoccupied thinking about other things. That was certainly the case while Robert was fretting over what she was thinking.

      Also I’ve learned you should never underestimate people’s density.

    • antrik Reply

      And as usual, I’ll chime in, claiming it’s a little more complicated than that 🙂

      “Content” could actually represent two different situations: either she has no romantic interest in Robert at all; or she does have an interest, but prefers to keep the status quo for whatever reason. The third obvious option is that she *does* actually want a relationship, in which case “dense” would presumably have to apply.

      However, I think the first and second option each also have an important variation: 1′, where she *thinks* she has no interest, but subconsciously does, and just isn’t aware of it; and analogously 2′, where she *thinks* she is content with the status quo, but isn’t aware that subconsciously she actually wants “more”…

      While (superficially) “content” still applies in these cases, “dense” would *also* be relevant — since if she realised “what’s going on”, that *might* actually make her aware of the true situation…

      On the flip side, while “content” clearly doesn’t apply to the third option, it is also possible (theoretically at least) that she *does* realise”what’s going on”, yet isn’t bothered by it (so neither “content” *nor* “dense” would apply) — and probably rightfully so, in view of Robert’s reaction to Sofia’s advances… Though considering that I pegged Ada as the Anxious-Avoidant attachment type, that admittedly doesn’t seem very likely.

      (To be honest, I’m not entirely sure about the “anxious” aspect… She does show some symptoms, but not all — so I guess it’s at least somewhat less pronounces than the “avoidant” part…)

      • Speedy Reply

        I think you’re on the right track, but I think a lot of what drives Ada is her fear of losing Robert. He was the first person to truly accept her, including her fascination with magic. I think she’d like for there to be more, but I think she convinced herself a long time ago that if a romantic relationship with him didn’t work out, that she’d lose him as a friend. And, for her, that’s too big a risk.

        I don’t think she’s ever really considered the possibility of losing him to another woman. He’s a dork… but he’s her dork. I think she was too stunned to react to Sofia’s advance toward Robert. Even now, Ada can’t deal with it. She’s pretending that it didn’t happen, or at least pretending she didn’t notice. Her talk of staying at the cabin is the closest she’s been able to come to dealing with the situation. Protecting Robert from demons is easy. Protecting him from brazen hussies is a whole other matter.

    • antrik Reply

      I think you guys lost me there… You aren’t suggesting that Kasper thinks Sofia might be into Nina, or into Ada, are you?…

  3. The_Squished_Elf Reply

    I now ship Kasper and Sophia. Eventually she’ll realise he was trying to help her, and he’ll get attached to her abrasive attitude towards him.

    Also @Crestlinger, I think it’s definitely the second. She was preoccupied with Filip and kinda seemed a little confused at the sandwiches being just for Robert… Also she kinda seemed to be probing a little further forward towards Robert during their walk, so I think she subconsciously noticed and was kinda playing some games without realising it.

    • antrik Reply

      Well, Kasper and Sofia are apparently quarrelling all the time — so per the Laws of Romantic Comedy, they are as good as married 😉 Wouldn’t that be a little *too* cliché, though?…

    • antrik Reply

      As for Ada’s “probing”, it’s certainly a possibility. Robert at least seemed a little flustered — so I guess he thinks there might be something to it?…

      However, I suspect we shouldn’t read too much into this: Ada appears to be an introvert, and thus simply enjoying a break from interacting with too many people — not necessarily specifically enjoying the alone time with Robert…

      (And there’s also the theory that she might simply be physically relaxing as they are getting further away from the barrier, which appears to be draining her energy…)

    • NotImportant Reply

      My pleasure! I don’t usually skip update. Ever.
      And noooo don’t lurk, come back here! (づ￣ ³￣)づ

  5. Klorix Camp dweller Reply

    @Life in Japan – If I ever manage to get to Japan, I’ll definitely go in summer. I’ve seen there is an hour long giant firework in . And I’m dying to see that live, not only on somebody’s YouTube… But there’s also the cherry blossoms. It’s only blooming trees, but I want to see what all the fuss is about. I guess bith events are not at the same time, but maybe I’ll just save up to it until I go into retirement because I’ll have all the time I want then (apart from catching up with all those olden video games I’ve never had time to play…).

    • Regis Earsquake Reply

      I lived for 4 months in Japan during Summer. You should time your visit carefully during summer. There is the rainy season that really sucks for traveling, so if you want to go during summer, you should go after it. But even then, it is quite humid and hot (at least in Gifu where I stayed). The time with the most comfortable weather was at the beginning of my stay in spring.

      • Klorix Camp dweller Reply

        Oh, I’ll definitely do some research once the dream becomes a project. But thanks for the advice. I had heard that summer can be stifling with humidity, but I’ll try to avoid the rainy season, too.

  6. Rateus Camp dweller Reply

    Why does Laura have it tough?

    Hippos can be subtle, they spend a lot of their time 99+% submerged in water silently.

    That market looks like a lot of fun. I can never resist all the food treats in places like that.

    • antrik Reply

      Laura is stuck with Kasper and Sofia — and apparently these two have been quarrelling for days…

      • Rateus Camp dweller Reply

        Well that’s a fair point, being a spare wheel to arguments is no fun 🙁

      • Klorix Camp dweller Reply

        It’s also kind of exhausting when you are surrounded by that every day.
        At least she had a little break from it the other day while having fun exploring the old bunker with Felix*.

        *He doesn’t have a name yet, that’s what I named him.

  7. Alex Reply

    Wow, so many updates to catch up on all at once! ^^ Yes, I’m a lurker, too, but this time it was mainly because of Christmas holidays with my family and before that I was in Japan for two weeks as well. 😀
    I didn’t feel like doing much travelling though. Stayed in Tomakomai (Hokkaido), visited their free space museum multiple times, went to Sapporo once to finally get to know a Meido Cafe, but mostly I just enjoyed finally being in the country where that beautiful language from all those Animes is used in actual real life. The next time I go there will likely be in a travel group where a company organizes where we go, so I can see more places, but my first visit was supposed to be at my pace. Wake up, have breakfast, watch “Moon lovers – Scarlet heart” (on NH1, Mo-Fr at 9:20, and I understood about 10% of the words, but I could piece together most of the plot) or One Piece on Saturday (already knew what has happening from the Manga), then go for a walk for 1-2 hours, lie down a bit because of the jet lag, and then do whatever. The hotel has an Onsen, so I went there twice as well. Laundry had to be done sometimes, too. And sometimes I just enjoyed watching Japanese commercials.

    Did you know that in order to find work you can go to “Indeed”? Of course you do. 😀
    “Baito sagashii wa indeedo”
    “Baito sagashii wa indeedo”
    (using the melody of “If you’re happy and you know it clap your hands”)
    God that ad was SO annoying. 😀

    But I loved the one from Kirin with the girl singing “Sayonara kimi no koe wo” etc. I think it was about tea. If I remember correctly they said Gogo Ocha (afternoon tea).

    And Tomakomai has a Mega store at the train station, too. I got lost in there multiple times. 😀 Especially this one time where I went there in the evening and they closed my usual exit (the one that goes directly into the train station) at 9 p.m., so I ended up looking for another one for quite some time and then leaving the building at the wrong side without realizing it at first. God bless GPS and the fact that it works even without a SIM card!

    Soooo, yeah, two weeks of Japan and barely enough for one corner. 😀

  8. Ktrimbach Reply

    It looks to me like Kasper is the only one who noticed Ada’s reaction. Strange. You would expect the girls to be more atuned to that than him. This assuming that his “immediate change” thought is referring to Ada’s reaction as opposed to Sofia’s. [She was portrayed as tightening her backpack straps and afterwards her tail was swishing back and forth rather forcefully.]

    • antrik Reply

      I’m not sure myself what Kasper’s thought bubble refers to. It seems quite possible that he just means Sofia’s change of demeanour on the change of topic / conversation partner right now; but that’s certainly not the only possibility — so I’m trying not to form too much of an opinion yet; rather hoping the next page will make it clearer…

      (The idea that he might be referring to Ada’s reaction, hasn’t occurred to me though. Bit of a fringe theory I’d say — but who knows 🙂 )

      As for Ada’s reaction itself: I assume that the tail thing you refer to is the “rustle rustle” sound effect at the end of https://replaycomic.com/comic/for-you/ , which some people interpreted that way — but it has been clarified per Word of God that this is only meant to be the leafs under their feet…

      Other than that, Ada makes it kinda clear herself on the following page that her tension was rather about Filip. Some suggested at the time that it might have been a Red Herring; and otherwise, the going theory seems to be that she was still so preoccupied with Filip, that she didn’t really pay attention to Sofia… Personally, I still think it possible that she actually doesn’t care — though apparently I’m quite alone with this among commenters…

      (In-story, at least Laura seems to agree 🙂 But then again, considering her Ship, she doesn’t exactly qualify as impartial I guess…)

    • NotImportant Reply

      Ah no, he got surprised by Sofia’s change of expression one she turned to Nina. Sorry if it’s confusing!

      • Klorix Camp dweller Reply

        Oh that makes sense, actually. Silly us. After all Sofia is only mad at Kasper. It’s nice when people are able to control themselves like that.

      • KTrimbach Reply

        OK, sorry. Thanks for the clarification. I do usually come up with a lot of off-the-wall interpretations.

        But returning to the ship, Have you ever seen Sofia so animated? Kasper really brings her out of her shell! 😉

  9. bitflipper Camp dweller Reply

    Oh, I guess we can forgive the late update, seeing as it was for something important. ;-p

    (Seriously, you deserve a break, too, every now and then; binge-watching anime sounds like a great break to which to treat yourself!)

      • Klorix Camp dweller Reply

        It is, and you have a strange definition of ‘late’: updating the comic on Monday instead of Sunday when it’s officially supposed to update Monday 😉

    • bitflipper Camp dweller Reply

      Psst, NI; don’t tell the artist, but, waiting is part of the fun! ;-p

      • Klorix Camp dweller Reply

        Kinda masochistic, isn’t it? But you’re right, in hindsight, I wish I hadn’t binged some of the shows or comics I watch(ed)/read.

      • Klorix Camp dweller Reply

        No, NI, don’t bother. It’s ok, we’ll make do with a weekly interval…

      • Klorix Camp dweller Reply

        P.-s. This one I have no regrets, but I also didn’t binge it, not really. I een took the time to post comments. 😉

  10. Adriano Reply

    Good luck with the apartment! I hope you get what you want 😀

    For the page, I don’t know what to think
    I wonder what Sofia’s answer will be

    • NotImportant Reply

      Thank you! I hope so too… Still waiting for the agent to get back to us…

      And you’ll find out next week!~

  13. Klorix Camp dweller Reply

    That stick with the ribbon looks like it would make a good improvised fishing rod.

    Don’t know if that will happen in any sort of way, but now I like the idea of Nina becoming Laura’s substitute big sister she never had. 🙂

  14. Dragon Master Reply

    A bit late but here’s a list of my favorite anime’s that I recommend for others:

    No Game, No Life;
    Soul Music;
    Urara;
    Aesthetica of a Rouge Hero;
    Kaze no Stigma;
    Dance in the Vampire Bund;
    Rosario + Vampire;
    World Break: Aria of Curse for a Holy Swordsman (Seiken Tsukai no World Break);
    Coffin Princess Chiaka (both seasons);
    Unlimited Fafnir (Juuou Mujin no Fafnir);
    Crosse Ange: Rondo of Angels and Dragons;
    Get Backers;
    Spice and Wolf;
    Nyan Koi;
    SAO (all seasons);
    Infinite Stratos;
    HunterxHunter(2011);
    Princess Princess;
    Kashimashi: Girl meets Girl;
    Ore, Twintails ni Narimasu;
    Battle Girls: Time Paradox;
    Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo;
    Problem Children are coming from another world, aren’t they?;
    Fate/Stay Night: UBW;
    Fate/Kalied liner Prisma Illya (all seasons);
    Fate/Apocrypha;
    Shinmai Maou no Testament (all seasons);
    High School DxD (all seasons);
    Mahou Shojo Lyrical Nanoha;
    Mahou Shojo Lyrical Nanoha A’s;
    Mahou Shojo Lyrical Nanoha Strikers;
    Mahou Shojo Lyrical Nanoha ViVid;
    ViVid Strike!;
    Crest of the Stars;
    Banner of the Stars;
    Real bout High School;
    Freezing;
    Freezing Vibrations;
    Soul Eater;
    Soul Eater Not!;
    Fairy Tail;
    Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de (When Supernatural Battles Became Commonplace);
    Huntik: Secrets & Seekers;
    Tai-Chi Chasers;
    Madan no Ou to Vanadis;
    Tenshi na Konamaiki (Cheeky Angel);
    Blend S;
    Quan Zhi Gaou Shou;
    Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau, (Children of the Whales);

    • JW Reply

      I second recommendation on about a third 😛
      I can’t in good conscience give ViVid a pass though; not as successor to the franchise after Strikers.

      • Dragon Master Reply

        Yeah it did seem like there should have been something in between Strikers and ViVid, but I still liked it. I always felt there was a missing chunk of story though.
        Other than that, which ones in particular did you like/dislike?

      • JW Reply

        Well, I haven’t seen over half of them, so I can’t say much about those 😛
        The best ones on the list imo are “No Game, No Life”, “Dance in the Vampire Bund”, “Spice and Wolf”, “Sword Art Online”, “Sakurasou no Pet na Kanojo” and “Fate/Stay Night: UBW”.
        And I’d like to give a special mention to “Inou-Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de” and “Fate/Kalied liner Prisma Illya” (which started off as a silly spin-off of fate/stay night but has gotten better with every season; so far)
        Others I’ve watched are “Chaika”, “Nyan Koi”, “Kashimashi”, “Problem Children are coming from another world, aren’t they?”, “Soul Eater”, “Tenshi na Konamaiki”, “Blend S”, “Mahou Shojo Lyrical Nanoha” up to ViVid, and “Rosario + Vampire”.
        So basically I can recommend most of what I’ve seen to some degree. I wouldn’t recommend “Rosario + Vampire” because while it’s ok, there are tons of better anime one could watch instead. And I’d recommend against watching ViVid if you have expectations from the preceding Nanoha series (for one thing, it’s more magical fighting tournament than magical girl anime.)

        Of the ones I haven’t seen, I’ve added “Urara” (presumed “Urara Meirocho”) and “Kujira no Kora wa Sajou ni Utau” to my to-watch list.
        I haven’t watched “Soul Eater Not!” because ratings suggest it’s nowhere near as good as “Soul Eater”; the same goes for “Fate/Apocrypha”; and considering “ViVid” I’m not going to watch it’s sequel either (though ratings suggest it’s a bit better).
        I’m a bit hesitant to consider older anime these days; for one thing they’re hard to find, but I also can’t used to the older animation style sometimes.

      • Dragon Master Reply

        As one who has never read the manga for Soul Eater, I found Soul Eater Not! explained things and filled in some holes. Like how the teacher became a zombie and who the third witch sister was.
        As for Rosario+Vampire, I guess your right, I watched it because the manga was awesome, ad admittedly I was kinda let down storywise. However it did find it entertaining how they changed it to a light comedy with plenty of fan service.
        Apocrypha is different than the other Fate series because its a much larger scale and it’s not with the same set of characters. I think that’s one of the main reasons people dislike it.
        I must day though I’m thrilled to meet someone else who enjoyed SAO, so many people hate on it.

        What other stuff do you have on your watch list though? Sounds like we have similar tastes so I’m interested in suggestions.

        • NotImportant Reply

          SAO is one of my fiance’s favorites, you are not alone! I like it a lot too, only Asuna annoys me sometimes.

        • JW Reply

          I’m not on my own computer at the moment, so I don’t have access the list of what I have watched or what I’m going to watch.

          But for now here’s a few recommendations off the top of my head that I’ve watched:
          “Puella Magi Madoka Magica”, magical girl anime with a dark side.
          “Chūnibyō demo Koi ga Shitai!”, chuunybyou romance and highschool life high-jinks.
          “Gakkō Gurashi!”, slice-of-life in the zombie apocalypse (I highly recommend this one; it goes a level deeper than most slice-of-life)
          “New Game!”, slice-of-life in an all-girl game company
          “Sore ga Seiyū!”, slice-of-life with starting voice actresses

          And on my to-watch list, (so I haven’t seen any of it yet):
          I stumbled on “Sankarea” (from 2012) recently and it seems interesting: guy accidentally turns girl into zombie and romance ensues.
          And from the season that’s just started,
          “Sora Yorimo Tōi Basho”, four girls and their quest to go to Antarctica
          “Yurucamp”, slice-of-life out-door camping
          “Violet Evergarden”, not 100% sure what to expect of it, something like a steam-punk ex-war-android on a self-discovery.

          (I’m aware this list is a bit high on the slice-of-life genre, but it’s also the easiest thing to recommend; and I watch a lot of it 😛 )

      • Dragon Master Reply

        Yeah I’ve seen Madoka and Chunibyo, think I’ve seen Gakko Gurashi as well but Ill have to check and make sure. I’ll take a look at the others.
        I’ve no problem with slice-of-life, as you can tell from my list my tastes are wide and varied and more than a little eccentric. xD

  15. Speedy Reply

    “Immediate change.”
    Kasper, Sophia is both a woman and a cat. Put her on an aircraft carrier, and she’ll spin it on a dime.

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