Week 3 - Winter Semester + Goodies

So a semester and 3 weeks into university, I finally seem to be finding my groove.

Stocked up for winter

Everything seems to be going well so far. I'm keeping up with readings, doing practice questions every now and again, but most importantly, I've finally found time for anime. Being able to watch 2 episodes almost every day during my commute has really helped me in catching up with a bunch of series that were on my backlog (including: Witch Hunter Robin, Ore no Imouto, Highschool of the Dead, Gosick, TTGL...).

Recently, I finished Witch Hunter Robin (as you've seen in a previous post), HOTD and I'm working my way through Gosick, so expect a review pretty soon. 

     Another thing I've been doing is finding and gathering all the goodies I can get to last me at least a few weeks though this semester as picture above. My inventory includes:

4 x ValNature Roasted Amond Bars

9 x Small Pocky Packets

1 x Reg. Pocky

1 x Empty Pringles Can =P

3 x Biscotti dipped in cholocate

1 x Milk Chocolate Candy

1 x Lotte Fruito Gum

1 x Atkins Adv. Bar

4 x NutriGrain Bar

1 x PreSk8 Energy Drink

1 x Nestle Instant Coffee

8 x Stride Gum

2 x Trident Splash Gum

A lengthy list, but I'll probably have to restock soon as I'm munching on Pocky like crazy.

For this post, I'm going to bring back something I did way back when I started the blog in May/June, which were reviews on foreign confectionery goods, mainly Japanese goodies. (You can ready them by clicking the links below)

Japanese Treats (1 of 3) - Kompeito

Japanese Treats (2 of 3) - Lotte Black Black Gum

Japanese Treats (3 of 3) - Melty Kiss Chocolate

This time, I review a Japanese Milk Coffee Candy from Tokuno. I picked up this piece from a local Asian market instead of ordering from J-list this time.

How can you go wrong with anything coffee for university students?

Well apparently, you can. The flavour and aroma of the candy is nothing mind blowing; it taste like any other coffee candy I've tried before. The "milk" aspect on the candy didn't really add or take away from the candy either. But my biggest pet peeve about this candy was the texture of it when it starts to dissolve. From the picture above, it's basically a puck shaped candy, but once it starts dissolving, cracks develop on it and the texture of the candy becomes awkward. For the Asian readers, it feels like dried scallops (pictured below). 

Anyways, this is not one I can recommend, so I'll just suggest people to stick with whatever coffee candy you regularly buy, and stay away from this one.

What did you crave during your university/college studies? Do you like coffee candy? Any preference to a brand? Let me know in the comments below, and I'll see you guys soon!

Summer Feast

In lieu of marking the end of summer, we marked it as a pre-celebration for a friend's birthday.

Hot Pot!

 My friends and I went out again, this time to celebrate an upcoming birthday. This outing, we visited two restaurants, the first being "I Cook Buffet".

Contrary to the namesake, there is no buffet during lunch time. Instead, they offer you a set combo in which you can customize things such as the soup base and meat.

The food was nothing special, thinly sliced pieces of meat plus random greens and a few more random fish balls. And of course, our favourite condiment, some weird salty peanut sauce. /sarcasm.

Peanut Sauce?

So you may ask yourself, why is the peanut sauce gone? Did we use it all? Yes we did, but we didn't consume it. Instead, we decided to pour all the sauce into one pot and boil it. Boy was that a bad idea, the fumes that emitted from the pot was deadly and could be sniffed from miles.

Service was mediocre at best. No,  for where I live, most restaurants are Chinese owned/operated so their English may not be perfect. This one is no different. Not only was their English poor, the employees seemed clueless about the menu as if they were new to the job (maybe they were).

Anyways, we decided to head back into familiar territory for dinner, Sushi on 7.

We ordered the usual: salmon & hokkigai & butterfish sashimi and a few maki rolls. Most of the sashimi seemed fresh, but some of it wasn't thawed out enough.

But we also got something different this time, the spider roll. The spider roll consists of avocado, roe, imitation crab stick and deep fried soft shell crab.

The spider roll

Dragon roll and sashimi

In general, Japanese AYCE in our area are decent, but not spectacular in any way. We've gone to a few AYCE, but this one seems the be one with consistent quality.

How is your experience with AYCE places? Have you tried hot pots (or shabu shabu) before?

Welcome to the NHK

As some of you may or may not know the meaning of NEET as my blog title, I can certainly tell you where I came up with it.

Well let's go back to the blog title. It's not just a play on words, but NEET actually stands for "Not Employed, Educated or in Training" and that is exactly what this anime revolves around.

Released back in 2006 for a running of 24 episodes, follows Tatsuhiro Sato. He is a hikikomori (someone that has withdrawn from social life and lives in a degree of confinement) and has been unemployed for several years. In addition, he is a university drop out.

Luckily for Sato, he meets a myserious girl, Misaki Nakahara who says she can cure Sato of his ways. She makes Sato sign a contract which obligates Sato to meet Nakahara every evening in a park for a discussion/lecture on his lifestyle.

I probably made this anime sound boring but you have to watch this. I think I actually finished the series all in one day because I found this so touching.

And as with other animes I recommend, this one also has a fantastic OST.
You can check out the OP of this anime in the video below.

Round Table does some fantastic music

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images and wideos, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Anyways, if you've watched it, what's your opinion on it? How long can you watch something in one sitting?

Capitalism Ho!

Although Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale came out awhile ago, I only got my hands on it now and I wish I started earlier.

The RPG element of Recettear

The story in Recettear is quite simply. Your dad apparently had a huge loan and ran off, leaving you behind to repay the debt. You, being Recette, is just a little girl and has no idea what to do. Tear, a fairy with the finance company comes up with the idea of opening an item shop and profit form it to repay the debt.

Throughout the game, you'll be playing two roles, one as a shopkeeper and one as an adventurer.As a shopkeeper, you're able to purchase items for resale, interact with other characters and negotiate with customers.

Capitalism indeed

A way to acquire goods is to simply explore dungeons by hiring adventurers. When you do hire someone, you'll play that role for the time being. Loot and items found during your adventure can be easily sold for high profits.


When I first started this game, I felt awkward because it kind of felt like a visual novel (this game was originally Japanese and has a bit of Japanese voice overs) but then we see many aspects of this unique game. Each character also develops throughout the game and it's really hilarious at times to see the naive yet honest personality of Recette. The RPG element of the game seems to be fairly balanced. It offers the player to use multiple characters while equipping a variety of equipment. Overall, I love this game and have yet to finish it and look forward to how it comes to a close.

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

 

Have you played Recette? Gone through any visual novels?

Night it Up

As some of you may know, my friends and I attended "Night it Up" a few days back. For us, the event was a flop.

If you live within the city, there are many similar events that showcase Asian foods. Sadly, it is always the same vendors, so to my friends and I, this was nothing new. To someone new to town, this can be an amazing experience.

The event also featured various games, make-shift carnival games that is, such as throwing balls into a bucket and throwing darts into a target held by duct tape.

A festival game

Long line-ups for stinky tofu

From left to right, Spicy Salmon Pizza, Salmon and  Butterfish Sashimi and Beef Teriyaki.

At the very least, dinner was decent. An AYCE at a Japanese restaurant.







 How's everyone else's summer holidays going?

Japanese Game Show: Gaki no Tsukai - Silent Library (2 of 2)

As promised from the last post, I'll introduce to you "silent library". This segment of Gaki no Tsukai takes place at a library with various cast members. The members must draw from a selection of cards where 1 card has a skull marking. The person who draws the "skull card" must be punished somehow. I'll share the first video I've seen of silent library (back then, I didn't even know it came from a game show).

Cast members of Downtown Kai no Tsukai

Silent Library

There has since been other renditions of silent library, but I still like Gaki no Tsukai's the best. 

I do not own or take credit for all of the above  video and image, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Next time, I'll do another review of a Japanese game show. 

Have you sen Silent Library before? Are there other segments of Gaki no Tsukai you'd like to share?

Japanese Game Show: Gaki no Tsukai - Batsu Game (1 of 2)

When I was younger and naive, I knew the Japanese for a few things, mainly coming up with the coolest and weirdest things, and broadcasting the most creative and insane game shows. One that I'd like to share with you today is called Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende!! This is a variety game show with various segments, of which I'd like to share two particular ones.

The main cast members of Downtown no Gaki no Tsukai ya Arahende

          The first segment is called "Batsu Game", this translates roughly to "Punishment Game". This was a game a cast member had to "play" when they lose a bet. The game wasn't really a game, but really more a dare, such as skydiving or doing something really embarrassing. But then came another version of batsu game, called "Laughing Batsu Game". This game involved a few cast members where they would have to refrain from laughing for long period of time. Upon laughing, they would be punished, physically.

The video above is probably my first encounter of the laughing version of batsu game.

In this video, a man attempts to read and do various things in English, but of course, his English is terrible.

In this game, casts members must endure tag, for 24 hours. When caught/tagged, they are due for physical punishment.

Next time, I'll do a review of "Silent Library", another segment of the show.

I do not own or take credit for all of the above images and videos, if you would like them to be taken down, please message me.

Are there any cool shows you guys like, regardless of being Japanese? What's your favourite game show?