Anime: Devil Survivor 2 The Animation, Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure, Karneval, Attack on Titan
I think I can call April my ‘anime’ month, it’s pretty much the one thing that I have been watching when I had time. I started watching some during the last season but didn’t finish many, so my main goal this time was to keep up with the ones I was interested in the most, and so far, it worked!

Books: The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Karneval
I only read and am still reading the same book now, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky. I found this book in a store in Germany, and decided to buy it and so far, I enjoy it a lot. I really like epistolary novels and this one seems to be quite popular at the moment. I will probably watch the movie once I am done with the book, for once that I have time to finish the book before I watch the movie.
As for Karneval, I obviously started reading the manga since I am also watching the anime. What I love the most about it is the wonderful art style.

Video Games: Bioshock Infinite, Injustice: Gods Among Us, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Lego City Undercover
In April, I finished Bioshock Infinite, Lego City and Injustice which I all enjoyed a lot. Bioshock Infinite will definitely be one of the best games this year, no doubt. As for Injustice, I finished story mode and will try to play more with my favorite characters from time to time. I can also only recommend Lego City if you own a Wii U since it’s a really fun game, even if my GamePad battery died every three hours which was a bit annoying while playing sometimes… I didn’t have time to finish Sly Cooper though, but will try to do that as soon as possible.

There is one game I should also mention here, which I have been playing a lot on my phone: Mittens. A really cute Disney physics-based puzzle game about cats which I ended up playing for a while. I can highly recommend this game, which is just as much fun as Cut the Rope or Where’s my Water? and can be purchased at a low price.

Not really a video game, but I still wanted to share a few thoughts on this protection I decided to finally buy for my Wii U GamePad. Since I was playing many hours of Lego City and was constantly annoyed by how dirty the GamePad looked after a few times (and I usually really pay attention), I bought this silicon jacket for it and am so satisfied with the quality of the product. It nearly feels soft when holding it, you don’t need to remove it to reload the controller for example and now, my controller is always protected from any annoying fingerprints.

TV Shows: Once Upon a Time, The Following, Revolution
Just as last month, I haven’t watched any new TV Shows, only Once Upon a Time, The Following and Revolution. Once Upon a Time has really disappointed me this season, especially after episode 18, which was just… bad. I won’t spoil anything or go into details of course, but it makes me sad that a show that I used to love so much is constantly disappointing me now.
Revolution on the other hand, has never been perfect, but I started to like most of the characters more and more and the story is interesting enough to keep me entertained. I am so happy that it officially got renewed for a second season since I nearly lost hope after the terribly long break. If you can accept the few flaws in Revolution and the plot seems interesting enough for you, I can definitely recommend this show.

Music: Fall Out Boy – Save Rock and Roll
My 14-year-old self was screaming inside of me when I read about Fall Out Boy releasing a new album. Had to get it the very first day and I can’t stop listening to all of the songs. I think it’s one of the only things I have been listening to on repeat this month. I love The Phoenix, Alone Together and Death Valley the most.

Miscellaneous: Finally, a little random picture of some adorable Lego keychains or figures I bought in a Lego store in Germany. Loki, Bilbo and Frodo Baggins but also, the perfect Chase McCain from Lego City Undercover. April was not only my anime but also Lego month I guess.

Any last words? I was really busy searching for an apartment in France, as I already mentioned in my previous monthly obsessions post. And guess what: I found one!! It’s small, but really beautiful and close to university. Not totally sure yet, but I might write an article about it, once I moved in there in a few months!!
Another thing people might have noticed, but I have been working on the blog’s theme for a while. I switched a few times and this one is definitely not entirely done yet. It might sound weird, but I want to find something that really fits to me now. I keep making changes in my life lately and ‘growing up’ and I want my blog to feel the same way. So excuse me for the constant changes, but I’m really trying to find the best possible one in the near future.

Anime: I already talked about Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood in one of my previous articles, but I finished the anime last month and words cannot describe how much I loved it. It now deserves a place in my top 3 favorite animes of all time (Digimon will always be my number one though ). I said that I would read the manga and watch the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime as well, but I needed a little break from it first. I could seriously not watch anything else for a few weeks because everything felt like a disappointment compared to Brotherhood. If you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend it!

Manga/Comic Books: The two mangas I discovered last month are Silver Spoon and King’s Game. Silver Spoon is made by Hiromu Arakawa, same person who is also behind Fullmetal Alchemist (and I thought I could get a break from it ), so I knew that I would enjoy it as soon as I was holding the manga in my hands. Wasn’t sure about the setting in Silver Spoon at first, but after a few chapters, I loved the characters and the story. King’s Game on the other hand hasn’t the best plot and characters, but it entertained me enough and made me curious for more. Bought both of them in French and really looking forward to get the next volumes. As for Kingdom Hearts, I decided to read the first four volumes of the manga again, because I was in a huge Kingdom Hearts mood for some reason.

As for comic books, I read Devil May Cry: The Chronicles of Vergil, which was more or less ok. Only worth reading if you really like Vergil or the new DmC game. Then, I also read the first volume of Catwoman and I enjoyed this one much more. I’m still behind with some of the new 52 and since I read them in German, it takes a lot longer for me to get them compared to the US releases. Sometimes, I also prefer waiting until more volumes are released and read everything at the same time.

Video Games: Where should I start? So many releases last month, it was crazy. Tomb Raider was the first game I finished and enjoyed a lot! Even went back to it after the credits rolled, to get the missing collectibles. I will totally play it again when I get the chance!! Then, I got the newest Naruto games, but I have to admit that I only played both for an hour maybe… Mainly because I wanted to finish another one first: BioShock Infinite. Best game I’ve played this year so far, enough said. On handheld consoles, I played some Luigi’s Mansion 2 which is really fun and HarmoKnight which I was addicted to for days. In case you want to read more about the newest games in March, feel free to go read it here.

Miscellaneous: Some of my favorite things of the last month are definitely my collector’s editions and my new figurines.

And last but not least, these three wonderful artbooks. I got the first Fullmetal Alchemist artbook from my best friend a while ago, which makes me really happy. The second one is an artbook related to the first anime. Finally, I was really lucky to find the newest Tomb Raider artbook ‘The Art of Survival’  in a store and didn’t expect it there at all. It’s a huge book filled with wonderful artworks. I think I already mentioned this earlier, but I still need to write the Tomb Raider unboxing so I will also include pictures of this artbook as well.

Any last words? Since I try to make this blog a little more personal, I wanted to write something about my life at the moment. After thinking about it, I decided to continue my studies in France in September. It’s something I really have to do now and it really scares me on many points but I know that it might be the best thing to do. So anyway, what really made me proud and happy last month, is the fact that I started to look for small apartments close to university, where I will be able to stay during the week. I was scared to start looking for something at first, but ended up having lots of fun and finding a few really nice places, I might go and visit soon.

All in all, March was a perfect month for new games, but on the other hand, I haven’t watched any movies or TV shows, except for The Walking Dead, Once Upon a Time and Revolution, I’m following every week anyway. I’m still not 100% sure how to structure these ‘monthly obsessions’ articles, I might try some different things each month until I’m really satisfied with the result.

I’m glad that the Wii U is finally getting a good game again, I started Lego City Undercover and played for maybe an hour and it’s really fun. The humor is fantastic and the open world allows the player to collect and discover so many things.

I think there is not too much to say about BioShock Infinite; people have been waiting for this game for years and now it’s finally here and it is perfect. I’m taking my time with this one, since I want to explore and enjoy all the little details in Columbia. Definitely a must play.

Finally, Luigi’s Mansion 2, another game many people have been looking forward to. I have to admit that I never played the first one on GameCube, even if I wanted to, so now I’m happy to play this one on my 3DS (since it was really collecting dust the last few months  ).

Almost forgot about this other purchase I made last week, HarmoKnight a rhythm game made by Game Freak, already a reason enough for me to buy it. Wasn’t sure about getting it at first because it can be found for 15€ in the Nintendo eshop, thought that it was a bit expensive but I am having a blast with this game. Couldn’t stop playing the last few days. I’m not the greatest rhythm gamer but I didn’t have too much trouble with HarmoKnight and I already finished it. I guess there isn’t too much replayability, unless you want to get gold everywhere and play a faster version of everything. But I don’t regret buying it at all and everyone who likes Game Freak or rhythm games, should definitely play this or at least try the demo.

Anyway, so much for my little gaming update of the week. I added pictures of the Lego Chase McCain I got with the game and some pictures of the Bioshock Infinite Premium Edition in the gallery below in case anyone wants to see what’s inside that box.

Haven’t had much time to play any of them the last few weeks, but I will now that I am completely done with Tomb Raider. Aynway, unboxing time.

A little collage I made of the box, which has a different image on every side, nice little touch. This being the True Despair edition, the box focuses mostly on the bad or darker characters from the Naruto universe. Besides, I really like the purple.

The True Despair edition includes the game (of course), a Banpresto Sasuke figurine, a double-sided poster, the game soundtrack and some trading cards. A large amount of content for every Naruto (or in this case Sasuke) fan. Also glad to see that it is still possible to get CDs in editions like these and not simple codes to download the tracks online.

I have to be honest, when I pre-ordered this game, I wasn’t sure what to expect from the figurine and I was really surprised to see how big and detailed it ended up being. The colors are flashy, the pose is nice and his expression is totally fine. I already own some Naruto figurines and if I could find more of the Shinobi Relations ones, like Minato or Itachi, I might add them to my collection.

All in all, a very nice edition and as a Naruto fan, I don’t regret getting this one at all. You can clearly see that a lot of effort has been put into these, since the True Despair and Will of Fire editions have completely different box arts and content. As always, I don’t want to waste too much space with pictures, so everything else will be included in the gallery below.

Another thing I really appreciate about the Naruto franchise: the games, or more precisely, the Ultimate Ninja Storm games. I have played the three of them and clocked in way too many hours in the second one. The graphics, the open world, the fights, the epic boss battles and so much more kept me playing and cherishing the game so much. Generations has been a letdown because it lacked some of the things mentioned above, but the announcement of Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 made me excited about the series again.

I immediately downloaded the demo when it was released a few days ago on the Xbox 360. I was pretty much sure it would be amazing and wasn’t disappointed at all. Some new features have been added to the combats and it was nice to be thrown into a huge boss battle immediately at the beginning. Won’t add more details about the story or characters since this might take a little too long, but all I can say is that the shinobi world is at war.

The Ultimate Ninja Storm games are not only the perfect ones for fans of the franchise, but also good for everyone who likes fighting games. I also hope that this game will bring back all the good memories and emotions of the anime and manga series, like it did in UNS2. To conclude this, I’m leaving one of the newest trailers of the game here.

Video Games

Right now? At the moment, I am playing Ni no Kuni on PS3 and Catherine on Xbox 360. I already finished Catherine once on the PS3 but I got the US version of the game since it was released earlier than the European one. When I was searching for some cheap games in a store the other day, I discovered the Xbox version of the game for 20€ so I decided to buy it and play it again on the 360. I think I got a bit better at the nightmare stages, these can be fun but also extremely annoying. I just love the general style of the game, even if the good or bad decisions are not always very deep, the different endings do make you want to play more once you have finished it once.
After presenting my Ni no Kuni Wizard’s Edition, I can only say that I love this game and am enjoying every minute of it. Unfortunately, I try to play the game when I know that I have a bit more time during the day, especially during the weekend, so I’m only making small progress through the game.

What else? Before I actually started playing these two games, I was finishing Far Cry 3 and doing some achievement hunting in the game. Only missing one achievement in the single player and a few coop achievements and I will have reached 1000G in Far Cry 3.
Another game I beat pretty fast but enjoyed just as much, DmC: Devil May Cry. I had a lot of fun with this game, I have to say that I like new Dante and overall the gameplay, level design, art style and music in the game.
The last Xbox game I’ve been playing for hours is The Cave. Wasn’t sure if I should have bought it at first, ended up doing so anyway (as usual) and played it three times. I liked most of the characters and their respective stories, but I was a bit disappointed in the gameplay since it’s just running from A to B and jumping or climbing while solving a few simple puzzles… The Cave is far from a bad game, but some things could have been made differently indeed. Especially if you have to repeat the same level over and over again if you play the game a few times in a row.

Gaming plans for the next few weeks? Well, at first I wanted to finish Bully and The Walking Dead I started again on Steam a long while ago but had no time or motivation to finish. I have already played these games on other consoles and they are some of my favorites, that’s why I don’t mind replaying them on PC this time around.
I also picked up Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance yesterday, after long hesitation and will probably start playing it this weekend.
Next month will be crazy, new Tomb Raider and Naruto games are already on my list for the beginning of the month. BioShock Infinite will also be a must play that month.
So there will be definitely enough games to keep me busy during the next few weeks. 

TV Shows

While most TV shows were on break, I wanted to start watching something else but didn’t in the end since I was more focused on playing games. Now, The Walking Dead and Once Upon a Time are back, so these are the ones I will watch again every week. Another show which also kept my attention was The Following. I keep reading how good it is so I might give it a try very soon.

Anime

My biggest discovery though is Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. I know, it’s not the newest anime, but I never found the motivation to start it since it has a total of 64 episodes and the manga has 28 volumes. I found the complete series in one boxset a while ago and decided to jump in… I have to admit, I am in love with it. I’ve watched more or less 30 episodes and I can’t get enough of it. I never thought I would care so much about this story and all these different characters. I might as well start reading the manga now, even if Brotherhood is very close to it, unlike the original Fullmetal Alchemist anime.

Manga

Even if I recently got a Kindle, I was a bit lazy and didn’t read many books. However, I finished reading Eureka Seven and started Spice & Wolf.
Eureka Seven is a series that has always interested me, just like Fullmetal Alchemist. I know they made an anime which is probably way better than the manga. I finished the six volumes fast and felt that something was indeed missing and everything seemed a bit rushed. The artwork is extremely nice to look at and I really wish the series would have been longer in that case. But now we have Deadman Wonderland from the same people so I won’t complain too much.
I’ve heard a lot of things about Spice & Wolf and was definitely interested in reading it one day. I’m not used to read Seinen mangas but I immediately liked the setting and the two main characters. The story seems pretty simple right now, so I am excited to know where it will lead me.

That’s all about my recent obsessions for now. This article got longer than I wanted to, maybe I should try to keep it a bit shorter and more clear next time.

Normally, I’m not really furious about games being delayed and prefer getting a better version of it a few months later, than an unfinished product immediately. But in this case, it was just different. When the Wii U launched, I was really looking forward to playing Rayman Legends on this new console. I won’t say that I bought it only for that game, but it had some influence of course. The game was already delayed until February this year, but we got a very nice demo to tide us over. Now, however, this is just enraging.

Not the fact that it won’t be an exclusive anymore, no. The Wii U has the gamepad and a different kind of gameplay to offer for sure! Many people were actually excited about this, especially after seeing how many games actually use the gamepad to its full potential… If the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions end up being like Rayman Origins, they will also be fun and more people will be able to enjoy this great franchise.

However, acting towards Nintendo fans and Wii U owners like this is simply horrible. They could have released the Wii U version now and pretty much everyone would have been happy. The Wii U already struggles enough lately and I don’t see many interesting games in the near future for that console. It could have so much potential, that’s why I bought it in the first place, but if things like this keep happening, no surprise that people keep losing faith in the gaming industry. I will not boycott the game though, in my opinion, the people who put a lot of effort into making this game are certainly not the cause for this delay, more the people above who simply decided to make more money out of it…

This is my very first unboxing article of the year and I’m happy to share this one with everyone since it’s a very magical one.

The carton box isn’t too big, looks really nice and won’t take too much space in my already cluttered shelves. 

This is what awaits European gamers when they open their edition. I say European because the US got a way nicer one with a coin, a CD and 5 artwork cards in addition. Really wonder why we couldn’t get all that nice stuff as well…

What’s still really nice is the fact that the game can be played in English or Japanese with English, French, German, etc subtitles. I like playing my games in English, and being able to choose between this one and Japanese was even better!

Probably the best part of this edition, the Wizard’s Companion. The fully colored book looks amazing, is very detailed and huge. Over 300 pages are waiting to be read and contain many details about spells, creatures, items and many other things related to the game. It is basically the same one found and which can be read in the game but a physical copy is always better, isn’t it?

Drippy, the talkative fairy that will accompany Oliver through his adventure is also included in the box as a plush doll. A part of me hopes that he will come alive and lead me into another world one day.

I didn’t take pictures of the code for the DLC familiars you can use in the game though.

Knowing that the US Wizard’s Edition had much more to offer, I was a bit disappointed at first, but still really happy with the companion and the Drippy plush. Of course, in the end, all that really matters is that the game is great!

Haven’t played much of it yet, wanted to finish some other games first, but the first hours have really impressed me so far and I wasn’t disappointed at all. The story, the characters, the graphics, the music, the combat system and so much more fits perfectly and it has been worth all the wait. It’s so nice to have a very good JRPG to play again for a change, after Persona 4 Golden.

I can’t complain about the year 2012, but I am a bit scared of 2013: some changes will be made in my life and I’m not sure if I’m ready for these yet. 

Since I don’t want to write too much about my personal life right now (maybe one day, when the time has come), I still wanted to make a short list of fandom related resolutions for this year:

+ Beat/Complete more games. Even if I played a lot of them in 2012, I haven’t beaten and certainly not completed as many as I wanted.

+ Go back to achievement/trophy hunting. Something I have way too much fun with, but I was already happy when I beat a game lately, so didn’t really have time for this, sadly.

+ Watch more movies, anime and TV shows. Or at least finish the ones I start. Same as games, I started watching some anime or TV shows but haven’t finished them. Only TV shows I watch regularly are The Walking Dead, Once Upon a Time and Revolution. I really want to add a few more to that list.

+ Discover new things. Like games, movies, shows, books or whatever I wouldn’t think of playing/watching/reading normally.

+ Buy less stuff I don’t really need.

+ Buy a Kindle and read more books. Also read more mangas or comic books.

+ Keep my PC organized. Normally, I am a tidy person, but sometimes I fail at keeping documents or photos really organized on my PC. It’s a terrible habit I wish I could get rid of.

+ Keep my social networking sites updated. I feel like the only site I’m really active on is twitter. I’m on tumblr depending on my mood, same for sites like deviantART or flickr where I really want to publish photos more often.

+ Blog more. Or all in all write more. The last and most important one I guess. I want to write more about things I like and this not only twice a month. Keeping this blog updated is really important to me and I just wish I can take it more seriously this year.

I realize that I often say ‘play/watch/read more things’, because I know exactly that I could do more things in my free time but instead, I often waste that precious time doing not so important stuff I regret later on. 

As usual when I’m making lists, this one is longer than I wanted but whatever.

It’s Christmas again and I wanted to wish everyone a very happy one!! Hopefully everyone will have a wonderful time with friends and/or family and enjoy the next few days.
Keeping this short this year, I’m never great at writing this anyway and there is food waiting for me downstairs