Love Live!! School Idol Festival (EN): Worst Event Ever? + Event Wrap-up (Hanamaru + You)

Love Live!! School Idol Festival (EN): Worst Event Ever? + Event Wrap-up (Hanamaru + You)

Saturday, November 26, 2016 / No Comments

This is probably going to go down as one of the worst events on EN SIF for a while, only losing to a previous Honoka event by a faction. For what reasons? I'll talk about that later. For now, let's look at the game mechanics.

A token event this time round, with Hanamaru being points and You being tiers. Not anything new for us lovelivers, we just have to collect the tokens (sunflowers) to play the event song (Tokimeki Bunruigaku). The song itself is terribly easy and many are able to perform a full combo on their first try, evidence out there for all on Reddit's forum.

Here's a brief run through of the tiers and rewards you can get from event points, tiers, and song ranking. As usual, I'm only focusing on the notable rewards, in this case, the scouting tickets and the SRs.

This event runs for about 9 days, and was essentially a gem field for me as I still had a lot of cards to bond from the previous event and scouting in between events, and thank Klab for 6 extra gems because they finally gave out Promo UR Hanayo!

Finally, I'd say. After holding off on Hanayp's token event (Loving You), her Christmas UR scout (probably the next set after dancer) for so long and making all Hanayo fans cry and rage, you are finally giving her Promo card out! Kudos, Klab!

So yes, here we have Hanayo in her full glory. I have her max bonded shortly after taking this screenshot but she remains in my memberlist as my smile team is BiBi-centered and Hanayo is well... Printemps.

Two or three days into the event and I have acquired my first copy of Hanamaru SR. I must admit that she is absolutely adorable, even though the amount of yellow and sunflowers on the idolised form scares me a little. Still, yellow is her image color so it all fits well.

Being one of my two best girls, Hanamaru's event is one that I would have to T1 in and frankly I'm glad she's points. You is actually one of my girls in the bottom-half list and frankly, I don't really care what tier I end up for her in. My aim for this event? 50k points to get all the rewards because the 3rd copy of Maru-chan is at  

In this event, I managed to get 20 N stickers also and that means... seal idolisation! This Nico is a really ancient one that I managed to pull from Blue tickets in the past. She's cute but the art just screams "old".

She's definitely cute and a Smile Bibi, but no, she's not going to make it into my team. I have enough stamina from my URs in there.

Juggling my final exams with SIF is tough and it took me quite a while to grind to this level. It is nothing amazing of course, but an achievement for my self all the same. Next reward is the third copy of Maru-chan!

And this, is when all shit goes downhill for this event. Remember when I was talking about this in the very first paragraph of this post? Probably not, so here's it quoted again.

This is probably going to go down as one of the worst events on EN SIF for a while, only losing to a previous Honoka event by a faction.

So what is that whole issue with the Honoka event? The Honoka event started with 9 days (meaning 8.5 days-ish since the event doesn't exactly start and end at midnight) and it had a 9 hour maintenance right smack in the middle of the event for a version update for a version update that didn't do anything great in my memory. After which, there were a lot of transmission errors which led to an emergency maintenance again. A lot of time for the event was wasted on this and there as no extension of the event at all.

For the current Hanamaru+You event, we start off with a messup on Klab part on the event limited Printemps scouting box. The newly added dancer cards (UR Kotori and SR Honoka and Hanayo), were not added into the box. 

With tons of complaints sent in regarding this, they decided to return all the gems spent scouting in the box and the players get to keep their scouted cards too. If you scouted and managed to draw URs from it, kudos (because everyone loves some free URs). I didn't scout in the box because I was saving up for Christmas Carol Eli so... meh.

The second issue that occurs is that there was a transmission error message after all live shows (including LP and event song), resulting in a loss of LP and tokens when you were forced to restart your app after the song ends.

This issue persisted for 6 hours before Klab (finally woke up and started work) and started their 4 hour maintenance. As a token of apology, they gave out 4 gems to all players and 1 to those who played live shows (no matter how many you played, just 1 gem refund) and for those who refilled LP, they get all the gems used for refill back, and they get to keep their LP. Furthermore, all tokens used are returned and the event was extended by a day.

5 sweet gems. I see what you did there, Klab... why didn't you extend the event for Honoka too? Playing favorites? (Klab probably hated Honoka before they turned against Hanayo).

But thanks to the extension, I managed to get 50k points without using anymore gems. Though, I used about 22 gems in total for this event, which is an average of 11 per girl, so that's well worth than for single events before. 

The after-event maintenance took a grand 5 hours and ended only at 9pm. Sadly, I didn't end up in T1 with the massive rush for T1 after the in-event maintenance. Here are the tiers for the event.

 Tier 1 at 61353.

 Tier 2 at 39739. That point gap.

 Tier 3 at 21793. Congrats to those who T3 for a copy of You-chan!

I never thought You-chan was into weight training. What on earth happened to high diving and her ambitions of being a captain?

And for the Special side, we have a little part for my scouts in event. First, is my Blue Tickets scouting. With the upcoming update (already in JP SIF) where the URs and SSRs skills will have a boost to win over the score-based skill up set (Cheerleader Umi, etc.).

To score up my smile UR, I would need a smile UR boost and the only ones for that is Nico's mother and Honoka's mother. I had 4 scouting tickets and scouted all 4 to give me SR Fumiko (Pure), SR Hideko (Cool) and another SR Hideko (Cool) before getting UR Nico's mother (Smile). I didn't take screenshots because I only intended to scout once. Thank god for impulses.

 Feeding Nico's mother to my Maki UR...

And she goes to skill level boost with a 50 point score up from 800 to 850! After the update for boost, I'm pretty sure she will be at 1200+ point score up instead of a mere 850. Yay!!

These are the support cards I have left. So little, my heart hurts ;w;

I also scouted several times in this event, a total of 10 gems from the 1st year box and 2 tickets from the Dancer Rin scout:

Nico, why?

I always wanted this Honoka. She looks so cute and bubbly unidolised!

And then a couple of friend point scouts because I can.

Of the new rare set, I get a Maki and another copy of her in a later scout. I swear Maki is always my first idolisation for every rarity... except UR. In either case, I got a Hanayo from the same R set later so I guess Maki isn't the only one anymore! (Yes my account is MakiNico-blessed... or cursed, as you have it).

Finally, I scouted a ticket for UR Yukata Mari. I knew I wouldn't get her (because RNG) but I wanted at least a Yukata card because I love traditional style clothing. And of course, Chika has to appear and ruin it all D:

Still, a SR is a SR. She'll help boost my team in future Aqours events -- 10% up get!

~ Reina-rin

In case my fangirling over cards on SIF still hasn't confirmed my rankings of Love Live Girls for you,

Kotori=Nozomi > Honoka > Hanayo > Umi > Maki > Rin > Eli > Nico

Riko=Hanamaru > Mari > Yohane > Kanan = You = Chika > Ruby > Dia 

(and Kanan, You and Chika are in a complicated relationship now).

It's still all pretty much fluid, especially for Aqours. They colors signify LoveLikeNeutralMildDislikeHate. Hope that clears up why I play seriously for some events and not for others, and am getting fed-up with my Nico-cursedblessed account.

Thanks for reading till the end!

Remains of November 2016

Remains of November 2016

Friday, November 25, 2016 / No Comments

Days after Pikotaro and his immensely popular PPAP video on YouTube, a latest offering that is a collaboration between him and Sesame Street Japan has surfaced. I am not passing any verdict here, but if you haven't seen the video already, make sure your mind is capable of suppressing some things before you press Play. Let's just say that Elmo and Cookie Monster aren't the same to me anymore. Anyway, it is the Anime Festival Asia weekend for many people out there. Do enjoy yourselves yeah? Looking at the news feed on my Facebook, I suppose that a happy little group is all geared up for the madness.

I haven't been keeping up with anime-watching these days. For quite a while, frankly. Then again, it is hard to find the mood for them. I bury myself in manga a lot more though. It is easier to bookmark pages than episodes. But I suppose that everything has an awkward phase, be it visible or more subconscious. Some stranger on the train was worried about the brain shrinking over time, in turn affecting the rest of the anatomy. Given the declining attention span on many things, manga might be a better option instead. Just remember to stuff a bookmark in. 

Speaking of which, I could really use a large storage facility somewhere for future, pending titles since what I have in my room is inching dangerously towards collapse. Yeah, I have nowhere else to put my books! However, manga is a weakness that I am not about to compromise on. I need that to fuel my sanity. Nope, I don't like the idea of reading manga electronically. Scanlations are fine when I am looking up information on a particular title. But the physical stuff is the only way to go to appreciate manga in its entirety. I mean, how would the manga artists feel if nobody continues to support books and such? The only downside is the sneaky rise in the retail prices of imports over here. 

Oh, I would probably sound like a frog in the well for saying this, but there is a Singaporean manga artist who has recently published a comic essay book in Japan. Yeah, in complete Japanese! The artist is Foo Swee Chin. Naturally, the word 'Singapore' which is stylised in katakana on the front cover is the surprise trigger. I have to admit that I am not familiar with Ms. Foo and her work, but to be able to publish in Japan is something which has long been a wish for many existing and aspiring artists back home. Honestly, I am so tempted to get this book. Even though I am not a manga artist, as a different type of creator I believe that her experiences would inspire and provide invaluable insights. Gosh, I am sure that there is still some space for a few more books...

Eccentrically Yours.

Written by J.Fluffysheep ♪

Figure Unboxing and Review: Nendoroid #358: Saber Extra (Good Smile Company)

Figure Unboxing and Review: Nendoroid #358: Saber Extra (Good Smile Company)

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I'm back with yet another Saber Nendoroid review, but instead of the usual ones featuring our beloved King of Knights, I'll be unboxing and reviewing Saber from Fate/Extra. She sports a completely different colour scheme and a more voluptuous figure. Heck, even her ahoge is much longer. I've reviewed a Saber Extra Nendoroid previously, featuring her white, bridal gown-esque outfit from Fate/Extra CCC. The one featured in this post has her suited up in her usual red and gold dress, as seen in the original Fate/Extra game and across the many illustrations out there.

The first thing I noticed while taking a gander at the various sample poses shown on the box would be how flamboyant Saber Extra is. This goes for the Saber Bride Nendoroid as well. There is only one mid-fight pose, compared to the numerous that are shown in a normal Saber Nendoroid. The chibi faceplate is a nice addition to the normal ones that you get too.

The blister pack didn't do a good job of containing Saber's sword this time round and I wonder if it's a quality control problem with this batch, as I saw a number of these Nendoroids having the same issue while browsing through the store. Thankfully, no damage was done to either the faceplate or the sword and the rest of the pieces were held securely in place. It's probably due to my room's lighting but the gold trimmings on Saber's dress and spare parts stood out immediately, much like the official photographs from Good Smile Company.

The gold trimming looks even better in these close ups. Like the many Nendoroids I've unboxed and reviewed, I appreciate how skilled the painters are, especially when it comes to these minute details. The frills of Saber's skirt plus her blouse's cuffs must have been a daunting task. The frosted glass effect on her skirt was a nice touch, mimicking the same effect that many scale figures use.

I'm satisfied with the final pose I managed to create and the gold and red hues stand out against the usual blue, white and silver of Artoria, much like Saber Lion and Saber Bride. 

I'm more than halfway through Fate/Extra right now and I'd have completed it by the time Fate/Extella's english version is released on the PS4 and PS Vita, unless Pokemon Sun proves to be too much of a distraction. Did I also mention that Fate/Extra is receiving an anime adaptation by SHAFT? It's a great time to be a fan of this diminutive Roman emperor!

Written by ET

Death Note: Light up the New World

Death Note: Light up the New World

Wednesday, November 23, 2016 / No Comments

Hello hello!!

Have you guys watched the latest Death Note movie yet!!!! I was so hyped for it I actually made time and went on the second day to catch it, and even though I took the afternoon slot, the cinema was quite packed. 

I did not watch the previous movies, and to be honest, I only went for this one because Masaki Suda was acting in it, hehee. But considering the DN series were not bad, how terrible could Light up the New World fare, right?? 

And so I went into the cinema, all ready for some action and badassery, only to leave sorely disappointed. And by sorely disappointed, I meant that it was so utterly boring maybe 85% of the time was spent trying to not fall asleep. 

(??spoilers??)

It started off fine, but from the very beginning my thoughts were literally just ...okay?? And as the plot progressed, the plot 'twist' was so glaringly obvious, it didn't even feel like there was any oomph when the New Kira was revealed. 

Right from the very beginning we had a DN holder who was mass killing while walking through the streets, and she ended up standing right in the middle of Shibuya crossing, giggling hysterically while scribbling names. She ended up being tranq by the New L, but was ultimately killed by the New Kira 2.0. Dumbest Award of the year goes to her; I mean, there are better ways to mass kill, like, sitting in a nearby establishment with a perfect view of Shibuya crossing would be better, no??

But it's more dramatic this way, so okay, fine.

so dumb so fast dead

the one who was tranq

the one who did the tranq

the one who killed the dumb

Note how I mentioned New Kira and new Kira 2.0? Yep, to summarize the whole boring movie into one line: New Kira 2.0 hunts for New Kira while New L is a prick and not that much of a detective. And to think they call him the world's best. 

New Kira, New L

New Kira 2.0

final 'battleground'

Or that's how it felt like to me, at least. A couple of my friends watched the movie as well, and they all were pretty disappointed with it as well. I mean, the trailer was so hyped, so dramatic, so intense, and the actual film was just.. meh. 

Light up the New World is plain. I would say the only good part was watching New Kira 2.0 hunt down the New Kira, and the way he manipulated Misa to do his bidding + the way he used his own death note to collect the other death notes.

both qt

MISA IZ BACK (i like her clothes lmao)

But other than that, I felt there was too much unnecessary talking, and explaining, and recounting of things we already know. Plus they even brought back the 'Shinigami saves Death Note holder, resulting in their own death' aka Rem died to save Misa. I also really really really really dislike the New L. He does not remotely resemble L at all, and is downright irritating to boot.

talking

ANNOYING

poor shinigami who died

Overall, it's a meh/10 from me. Not worth going to the cinema to watch at all. I'd rather have just waited for the online version.

That's all from me for now, ta ta!

<3

Written by: ninetylives