ditzyAnyway. Last night at FHE, our group was supposed to be playing link tag, which we really didn't want to do. But fortunately, the "dad" of another group invited us to join them, because they only had like four people, and we ended up playing Apples to Apples instead. It was weird playing with those people, though, because they couldn't seem to figure out why Athena chose "ninjas" to go with "unhealthy." Or why she chose "postal workers" to go with "deadly". ...Or maybe they were just upset that she didn't choose theirs. But sometimes, you just can't argue. (And for the record, "ninjas" was my card, but "postal workers" wasn't.)
There always seems to be something during FHE or on the way home or something that distracts me, because I never feel like I'm ever really paying attention to Everwood. Usually it's that we get home in the middle, and it's always hard to focus on an episode when you're watching it from the middle. But this time we made it a point to get home in time, so we could tape it for the girl I mentioned yesterday. So this week, our distraction was entirely different, and came because we have the awesomest cousin in the world.
Athena checked the mail as we walked back to our apartment from our anime buddy's car, and there in the mailbox was a package exactly the size of a book of manga. Okay, so actually it was a paper bag from a Japanese bookstore with all the stuff that needed to be scratched out scratched out, and it was kind of translucent, so we could totally see that it was manga. And indeed it was volume 2 of the Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories manga! And it has the most adorable picture of Riku and Namine on the cover!
Inside the package there was also a note from
blackhope explaining that he hoped we didn't already have it, and that he asked them if they had volume 1 and they didn't, and it was all very sweet. Fortunately, since we've played CoM, we don't have as much of a problem going through the manga. From what we've read so far, it's all the same, only with more pictures from Sora's "memory," which are all extremely adorable. It was amazing to us to read the note because, even though it's Jonathan and we know he really knows us, we've had so many people *coughmomcough* who you'd think would know us show that they really have no clue. And we haven't actually seen Jonathan in person in a couple of years, and even then it wasn't for very long.The note also explained that he can't get us any more manga, because his new companion actually follows the rules and refuses to go inside bookstores. We were glad to read that, because much as we love to get sparkly new manga, we also like to think that our cousin is being a good missionary. Although I guess if he's talking to bookstore customers about the Gospel, it's alright. Maybe.
So last night ended up being a huge Kingdom Hearts night, because we beat KH2 again. Good stuff, man. And! we got 100% on Jiminy's Journal and the Gummi missions without any guidebooks! The only help we got was one time when I was on the phone with
celestieall, and I said, "We just can't figure out how to unlock the other Paradox Battles," and she said, "I think I heard you have to be on level 99, but I could be wrong," and she was, and on the Disney 411 thing where they said something about making sure to use the Drive forms and level them up, which we completely blew off because they said it was a cheat and it so totally wasn't. And Athena never paid any attention to it, because by that time they were done talking to voice actors.My overall impression of the game is, of course, that it's totally awesome. I couldn't say whether I like it better than KH1 or not, because you really need all the games together. I like all the new features, like the limits and the reaction commands, but I don't like most of the new Keyblade designs. At first I thought it was because, in KH1, they seemed to focus more on the "key" part, and in KH2 they seemed to focus more on the "blade" part. But then when I started using my brain, I realized that Sweet Memories, for example, actually gets wider as the blade gets farther from the hilt. And that's just wacky. Athena points out that the guys in Agrabah have swords that are like that, but it still doesn't really work for a Keyblade.
At any rate, this game is just pure happiness for us. Any time we wanted something to happen or be a certain way, it did (or was)! And any time they did something (or made us think they did something) unforgivable, they made it forgivable! It's like they have someone paid to be a crazy fan like us to say, "Hey, you can't do that! You said back here that..." which is something I think even some of my favorite shows could use more of (there are some things in Danny Phantom that make me a little sad). Oooh, if we could figure out how to swing that job...
I wanted to write up a review of the game world by world, because there are a bunch of elements that I feel deserve more commentary from me (whether anybody else wants to read it is another story), but, speaking of Danny Phantom, it'll be on in a few minutes. And I'm pretty lazy, so I'm really not sure if I'll ever get to it. We'll see.
Today I'm thankful for the best cousin ever, adorable Chain of Memories manga, days when we're not translating songs for Elemental Gelade, being able to figure out what on earth that song was talking about, and getting 100% without a guidebook.
