Nico

You can set it to making votes public, but is seems that that was not done for this poll, as I can't do that. I noticed that you can't seem to take back votes too (but didn't quite notice there was no indication of what you yourself vote for until now), and I thought this was going to be about the number of choices in a given question, but I was very pleasantly surprised. 

I guess the pizza one was partly that.

• Nico Yazawa (Love Live!)
• Ruby Kurosawa (Love Live!)
• Seira Otoshiro (Aikatsu!)
• Yurika Tōdō (Aikatsu!)
• Kirara Hanazono (Aikatsu Stars!)
• Ria Arisu (AKB49: Renai Kinshi Jourei)
• Ruka Suirenji (Hayate the Combat Butler)
• Momo Kisaragi (Kagerou Project)
• Sasame Mitsukuri (Music Girls)
• Maya Yamato (BanG Dream!)
• Laala Manaka (PriPara)
• Dorothy West (PriPara)

I figured manga would probably be allowed anyway if brought up, and I did think of what I'm nominating now, but I didn't see her getting far, compared to anyone else that is up there for me. I'm still gonna give it a go this time, 

11 minutes ago, LordCowCow said:

Almost all the same except I don't have the heart to see Monochrome crushed again

I guess because I'm a masochist.

And sucks, I like Monochrome, but I never found her or her series that great exactly. Just enjoyable. Certainly a step up from the 1 other idol short I watched (Million Doll), though.

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To me, they seemed very out there, but honestly, too out there to care about most of them, that much is true. I enjoyed Kikkawa's, but after that, it still kept me coming back I guess, because I at least didn't find them bland. I was however glad when they were on their own again, and those aspects you are talking about truly began creeping up once more. But that's just it, it still took a while to get back up to what made it so good, so people will definitely check out.

Melon? I only seem a very inviting burg- uh AHHH! IT'S EATING M

Welcome to NCM! Don't mind me, I've just be replaced by a very suspiciously similar looking thing person.

lol, around that time and a little after it, I feel like they introduced so many different "teams" and environments, and more drastic things happened to the team (if you know about the first 3 volumes, you kind of get the idea), that it couldn't possibly feel like a drag, but a little before then, definitely.

So what's it like for you guys? For me, I have a top 5, though a couple of them are only 2018 in terms of the English release and were only released the year before otherwise, I'm thinking it is fair to count them. And 1 of them happens to take my top spot...

1. BanG Dream! Girls Band Party!

Yes, this is a mobile game, but I feel like the fact that it has so little distinct characters themselves for what is essentially a gatcha game is a remarkable feet. All the development on just them really does it wonders. The way that the Rhythm game aspect emulates the look of other band games very well and doesn't have you playing so many times on 1 difficulty to for sure get all the rewards, which was a good part of what burned me on SIF...

2. Dragalia Lost

Yes, this is a mobile game, but I feel like the way they incorporated Action RPG mechanics into a gatcha game was unique at the time for me. Maybe I've learned of it not being quite the case by now, but that type of gameplay instead of tap whatever I've seen so many times combined with the way the story totally did keep me into it is some good stuff. It isn't technically available for me... but the JP app through certain means seems to have an English option? I tried using JP voices but it seems like it just went to English anyway, weird.

3. Celeste

If it wasn't for mobile games somehow being enjoyable enough for me to sink as much time as I did, an indie title would have taken it for me this year, and I never saw that coming. Still, story of the year, by a mile. 

4. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Words.

5. The Alliance Alive

I was just so enthralled by that art style ever since playing the Legend of Legacy demo and finding out this was a thing coming to Japan, waiting all that time for it to even get announced for an English release, the premise appealing me at least a little more at a glance, by now I can say a lot more in general. I should be so close to the end, but various reasons have prevented me from having as much entertainment time for a bit. Potentially can get back on track now.

And there you have it! I've heard far more talk on Smash than anything else this year, followed closely by Let's Go, but it didn't win the "true" game of the year, so I'm interested in you guys' thoughts. Didn't intend to write this much, but the fact that I had to choose 2 mobile games over anything else deserves some explanation.

So Grimgar, read up to part 2 of volume 13. If it wasn't so far past the anime the last time I talked about it, it sure is now. 

7 hours ago, British Soul said:

BanG Dream Season 2 - I enjoyed the first season, so I was likely to watch this. (Probs should've watched Pastel Life first, derp)

I personally don't think Pastel Life was that up to snuff, Garupa Pico was much better quality. 

9 hours ago, Suzu said:

Also thought Pastel Memories

Probably the thing I'm next most interested in watching, but not a sure thing like the others. The idea of it felt right up my alley when it got announced, and unfortunately haven't checked out Plastic Memories yet. 

Tfw I notice I'm commenting on 2 things with Pastel in their name only just as I hit post. 

I like how much it looks like the game. The animation, as I've said, though, oof. In agreement with how big a downgrade it is compared to everything else. 

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Hello Striker, I hope it can for the most part too (since I noticed one thing ruins that already). I was getting active too late to ever really notice what happened, but you were a nice guy in the years that followed, I find. 

Christmas and the days celebrating it were a fun time. The week after, New Years was enjoyable. The week after (tomorrow), I'll be celebrating my mother's birthday, but seems as though the school she works at ended winter break like, today, so dunno why I think that has anything to do with the holidays, it's just that close.

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meh nemn ish nickel lo ther

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Just want to bring attention to this very charming retro platformer, available on PC and Switch. I've been having a hell of a time with the final boss (still haven't beaten it), but damn it, games are supposed to be like that, I'm not the best at games in general, and there's only been one instance where I couldn't actually figure out where to go. The story is honestly the highlight of this one, kinda like Celeste when I think about it like that, the conflict between the octopuses and humans and Tako's quest for peace, and the numerous instances of playing as different characters are really cool. And the color palettes and borders you can choose all look good, except for the inverted one. 

General topic for posting thoughts on light novels you've read/are interested in. Seeing as this is so general, spoiler tags for things that are spoilers, please. 

NEW YEARS/SITE RESOLUTION:

Stick to being the only one to post in here mainly, but stick to it. Because I am truly surprised how much I have stuck with the reading of something that isn't a comic or mainly, a manga.

I'm probably not reading anything today, but I'll definitely have some thoughts next LN part I read (Smartphone or Grimgar).

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Now this is just my opinion, but after watching the first season and eating up the mobile game, and seeing as the timeline seems to essentially be this:

Quote

1. BanG Dream! First Season/Afterglow band story/Pastel*Palettes band story/Roselia band story/Hello, Happy World! band story
2. BanG Dream! Girls Band Party! main story/Poppin'Party band story
3. Event stories that I'm aware of
4. BanG Dream! Second Season

There is a LOT of freaking time and context with all of the characters and their relationships with one another, that it very much seems like you would be missing out on far too much to just jump into the second season. Certain character happenings that I will spoiler in my thoughts of the first episode are a very huge leap and would benefit you greatly with the added context. So if you enjoyed the first season at all, and you can play the game in a language you know, I implore you to try it, because it really is so much better than the first season, and the second season... because of the extra characters, there is potential, but...

Episode 1 thoughts:

The animation is bad. Like, in Pastel*Palettes performance, really extremely hecking bad. It isn't ruining it for me because I truly care about the characters that much, and to see what they're becoming, I'm really happy for them. Happy lucky smiley, even. 

All that, and I recognized O-tae practicing Poppin' Shuffle, that was great enough on it's own. Kasumi asks what she's playing, seems it hasn't been made yet!

The official subs don't go with the same translations of quirky catchphrases that the official English game uses. Kaoru's Feeting, Hina's Boppin', nowhere to be found.