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robinchan-hananomi · 2 years ago

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One Piece 1053

So I have a lot of feelings about this chapter. Overall, I really enjoyed it. It was a fun little chapter for the most part. From the poor chief putting everything he had into making the perfect menu for the entire party only for him to learn that Jimbei is the only one who could bother making an appearance, to the wonderful celebrations going on all around Wano. It reminded me a lot of the celebration parties that we saw on Cocoyoshi, and part of that is because there was a lot of similarities between the two arcs. This isn’t the first country we have seen Luffy and the others liberate. However one thing that Nami’s home and Wano had in common was the people KNEW they were being subjugated. Alabasta, Dressrosa, and even Punk Hazzard had no idea that their leaders were enslaving them. While not as long as some of the other celebrations, we can see how much the people are putting into it. Seeing Luffy, Yamoto, and Chopper running through the streets devouring food; Hiyori playing Moon Princess for the public and mentioning the Ninja-pirate-mink-samurai alliance which the people know nothing about (because Luffy asked to be kept a secret); seeing Kidd trying to fight Luffy for a title Luffy knows nothing about and Luffy just roping him into the celebratory mood, all the way to the fireworks celebration. And the fireworks celebration was awesome. Sanji, Nami, and Shinobu are cheering together; Zoro is drinking with Franky, Usopp, and Kinshiro; we see Kiku with Raizo and Toko, Carrott is finally reunited with the minks, the Yakuza, Tama and Speed, Kinemon and his wife Tsuru together again, even the Kidd pirates and Heart pirates. Also as some have pointed out, Sabo still has an active poster so that’s good. However, there were a few things in this chapter that really stood out and I’m probably going to get a little out of order here about them.

The first is the bounties. We see that the Navy are very much upset about Luffy’s new wanted poster, as they ordered for the ‘D’ in Luffy’s name to be removed and they had not given permission for the image of Luffy’s newest form to be used. However Morgans’ is still in charge of what gets printed and pretty much doesn’t care. Morgans was already a huge fan of Luffy’s and he’s obsessed with putting out the most ‘thrilling’ story. Luffy, Kidd, and Law’s bounties have jumped up to three billion a piece, which is a large jump and definitely painted a massive target on their backs. There was no mention of any changes to the other Strawhat’s bounties, any members of the other pirate crews, or anyone from Wano receiving bounties but that could be for a number of reasons from them not getting one to it just not being posted yet. I expect at the very least all the strawhat pirates getting some sort of increase due to this monumental feat. After all, the only other time a yonko has been brought down took the entire force of the Navy, the shichibachi, and the interference of a second Yonko to keep Shanks from arriving in time to stop the battle.

The next is Robin’s part. We see Robin has been exactly where we all suspected, in the basement of the castle likely looking for the poneglyph that I think Brook said was there. In fact we see a poneglyph is right behind Robin in that whole scene, but I think Brook said it wasn’t red so we need to find the Road Poneglyph soon. Robin has already read it since she is looking at the kokeshi dolls, and we see the Tengu, the man who made one of Zoro’s swords, arrive. He tells Robin that collecting the dolls was a hobby of his, something that we learned when he was first introduced, and that he’s been imprisoned down there for many years. He mentions that creating swords was also a hobby of his and reveals that he is really Kozuki Sukiyaki, Oden’s father and Hiyori and Momo’s grandfather. He had not told anyone that he survived and while some of the retainers probably figured it out, he has no intention of telling his grandchildren who he is. This likely means that Robin and Sukiyaki are the last two, and only two, to know how to read poneglyphs. They also mention that Pluton is currently in Wano.

This is really important. If the world government knows that Pluton is in Wano it could be part of why they want the country so bad. We’ve seen the length’s the navy and world government are willing to go to get their hands on that weapon. They tried to have Iceburg assassinated, they ensured Tom’s death, they imprisoned Franky and Robin and intended to torture them. In addition we saw what others in the world who know about Pluton would be willing to do for it. Crocodile enslaved an entire country and manipulated it’s people for years, became a shichibachi and even created an entire organization all with the intention of getting Robin to the poneglyph in order to find the location of Pluton. We know Pluton is a type of warship, and is one of the three most powerful ancient weapons in the world. And now we know for a fact that it is currently sitting in Wano.

The fact that Sukiyaki, the former shogun, was alive all this time is a little upsetting too. In a way it sort of parallels Riku, but while Riku had every intention of looking after his granddaughter, making her a princess and keeping her close, Sukiyaki has decided to continue looking after his grandchildren in secrecy. And the fact that he forged Zoro’s sword Kitetsu III is actually pretty neat. We know the Kozuki Clan and the Shimotsuki Clan had strong ties. Toko’s father Yasuie was a good friend of both the Shogun and rather fond of Oden. He also just died to ensure Momonosuke would be the next ruler of Wano and that the Shogun and Kaido’s rule would end. We know Ushimaru was a daimyo of Ringo and was so loyal to the Kozuki Family that he died for them. We also know Kozaburo, Koshiro’s father and Kuina’s grandfather, forged the swords Wado Ichimonji and Enma, the latter of which he considered his greatest blade and entrusted to the Kozuki family. I wish we could have seen more of that connection in Wano but I suppose it was a little much.

Next we got our new friend Green Bull. So apparently for the last week the Beast Pirates have been licking their wounds at the Former Prisoner Mine. Green Bull/Ryokugyu whose real name is apparently Aramaki is currently out there, using what appears to be a plant based devil fruit to drain Queen, King, and the other high ranking members of the crew. We don’t learn much about Ryokugyu, but we do see he can absorb nutrients through his devil fruit from people’s bodies, probably why he mentioned he hasn’t eaten anything in years. He also is a fan of alcohol, but good alcohol. He also is a huge Sakazuki fanboy. He just wants to be praised by his hero and decided the best way to do that is to bring him Luffy’s head. I was kinda hoping he would be an alright guy due to his and Isshio’s conversation before but I guess that was too much to hope for.

The last thing is the new four emperors. Luffy wasn’t a surprise, but the odd one was Buggy. Now Buggy being a new emperor is actually pretty cool, both for story telling purposes and in-universe. A few people have already pointed out that Oda has used Buggy as a way to sort of discredit some positions. For example, Buggy get’s made a Shichibachi just before they dismantle the entire position. In a way it’s kind of like saying that Yonko’s are no longer that big of a deal. At least to us readers.

In-universe though it kinda makes sense. We as the readers know a lot about Buggy. We know he’s mostly for show and he’s not really that strong. However let’s look at Buggy from the world of One Piece’s view. Despite Zoro, a renowned and professional bounty hunter, not knowing who Buggy was we see that Buggy was actually seen as a legitimate threat in the East Blue. In Romance Dawn the three most powerful pirates in the East Blue was Arlong and the Arlong Pirates with a twenty million berry bounty, Don Krieg and the Krieg pirates with seventeen million berries, and Buggy and the Buggy pirates with fifteen million. The only other ‘big name’ in the East Blue at that time was Kuro and the Black Cat pirates, and Kuro was worth sixteen million, only one million more than Buggy. Nami and Usopp had both heard of Buggy and even thought Luffy didn’t initially stand a chance against them. In addition we as the readers saw that Buggy was ruthless, and something that quickly added a little credence to his name was that we learned he had been to the Grand Line and made it back alive, something that we learned in the East Blue was a major feat that only the strong were capable of.

Now we know that the world government didn’t have that high of an opinion of the East Blue. Despite some very real threats coming out of the East Blue, it was generally regarded as the weakest sea. Therefore they didn’t really pay much attention to the people there. It’s probably why they never really bothered to look into Buggy’s background. When they arrested Buggy they didn’t even bother to discover much about him, just chucked him into Impel Down. And here is where the new legends of Buggy begin.

Buggy was one of the few to actually escape Impel Down. Then the Navy discovers that he not only served on the ship of the former king of the pirates, Roger, but he is also a ‘blood brother’ to one of the four yonko’s. The public hear about Buggy when the Navy credits him as one of the three main ringleaders of the Impel Down escape. Then they see him during the War of Impel Down, sassing Shanks and even seeming to get respect from Whitebeard of all people (albeit it was because he had some really powerful people following him). Buggy has a massive crew now, made up with former prisoners of Impel Down and Baroque Work’s Officers. He has a number of crew that fall under him that practically made up a whole fleet. He even formerly had five giants under his command, something that has been shown again and again to be nothing to underestimate. So as far as the Navy and the rest of the world is concerned, Buggy is another powerhouse that escaped the East Blue, someone who like Arlong used the low importance the world set on the East Blue to escape notice until he was ready to reveal himself. So Buggy is made a Shichibachi. And from there his strength only continues to grow

We as the readers know that Buggy is nothing special. He is rather just a mediocre guy who happened to have connections with some of the most powerful and important people of his time. He isn’t strong, but he is good at using the reputation he gained to fake that strength by having extremely powerful people under his command. People who make up for his weaknesses

Overall I think it was a good set up for the finale Saga.

#one piece 1053 #Kozuki Sukiyaki #buggy #nico robin #pluton #one piece

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carissafaith · 4 years ago

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Blog post # 5 Three Days In Bear’s Restaurant (trigger warning: death, suicide, murder)

[Played on Phone]

https://www.flickr.com/gp/192618332@N07/1G57w5

Originally I was at a loss on what to play for this assignment. I found this game on the app store called Bear’s Restaurant. I scrolled through the app pictures and saw that it was free (any in-app purchases removed ads and provided money for my character). After looking at the graphics I thought it would be a cute game about taking orders quickly and feeding customers. I fully regret not reading the description before I began to play.

Day 1 (Playtime 30 minutes)

https://www.flickr.com/gp/192618332@N07/HK97SW

Before I began to play this interesting game I was under the impression that it would be a cute game where I interacted with customers and took orders, make food, and serve them with a time restraint. This is not the scenario I found myself in as the game progressed and I began to learn the true nature of the plot of this game.

The game opens to a tree and a bench in what seems to be a park. I thought it was cute but a bit creepy. Like the image looked like it was too silent. After pressing “New Game” the screen goes black and a small blue bird appears asking me if I want to remove the ads from the game. I decline and continue into the starting scene.

The game starts with my character, a cat, being woken up by a bear wearing a Chef’s uniform, in a boring brown room with a bed, a wardrobe closet, a house plant, and a study desk. The room was pretty plain. There was not anything really personality identifying. I thought the bear was very rude by demanding I get ready to serve the customers downstairs. They soon leave my room and I get up to change.

I notice that my character is a gray cat with bright green eyes. I tap the wardrobe and my character changes into what I think is my uniform. I began testing the game controls by tapping the screen to see where my character goes to the game is designed in a way to where I cannot just talk about random areas of my screen and I expect my character to go to that area I have to tap an area in which an action can be done, for instances if I tap the bed my character can go to the bed because they sleep there if I tap the wardrobe they go there because they can change their clothes, I tap the plants there must be an action that can be done for it, if I tap the desk that is because there is an action that can be done at that area.

After moving around my room I decide to exit the room by tapping the exit at the bottom of my screen. My character moves to a downstairs restaurant. I'm unsure what to do so I go to the bear who is now behind the counter for instructions. He tells me to tend to the customers and there are two currently present in the restaurant, one is a pregnant woman and the other is a person wearing a hood so it's hard to tell who they are. I go to the pregnant woman and I receive what is called a “memory shard” by taking her order.

I thought this was a really weird name for an order but I brushed it off as a thematic choice. Maybe the pregnant woman is a regular and I will need to have that order memorized? The interaction overall goes very smoothly. I'm not given any options for myself to choose from however the character discusses her unborn child and orders spaghetti with “meat sauce.” I go back to the bear to give him the order. While he's cooking I am unable to do anything, I cannot move from the spot where I was standing when I gave him the order until he is done cooking. When it is done cooking I tap on the bowl of spaghetti and it disappears. I then tap on the pregnant woman and the bowl of spaghetti appears in front of her on the table she is sitting at.

At this point of my gameplay, I feel like I have a pretty strong grasp on how the game works as well as the functions so I tap on the mysterious customer wearing the hood. A black strip appears over my screen and it reads that the customer is still deciding on what to order.

I’m moving around the restaurant some more and try to get to know the layout a little bit better. There's a door in the back ( the top of my phone screen) that I click on and ends up being the bear’s bedroom. The game stops me from entering the room by a black strip appearing and it reads that I need permission to enter.

I go back to the hooded customer to see if they're ready to order and they're not so I tap on the bear again to see if there are any more interactions I can have. Soon enough a chubby man wearing a blue shirt walks in. He talks about how hungry he is and then orders an extra-large burger while telling me to hurry. I walk up to the chief and tell him that he ordered “junk food” even though as a player I had no option on what to say the character was pre-programmed to say this. This made me a bit uncomfortable. The weight of the man was clearly the butt of a joke and overall was presented very one-dimensionally. The bear puts the burger in the microwave instead of cooking it and I am finally able to have a choice on what my character says in the interaction. I asked if he just microwaves the burger. The chef’s response is that the fastest option is more genius. I take the food to the customer, he is quick and then leaves. There seems to be no trouble so far and I had thought the gameplay was relatively easy with minimal plot.

Then the bear talks about how he's glad there were no troublesome customers today. This was foreshadowing as all of a sudden a drunk pirate walks in and yells about wanting his usual. My initial impression was that this was some sort of mini-boss level in which you would be hard to please or just obnoxious to deal with. Thumbs down in the chair and then I go over to get his order and a small amount of time it took me to tap on him to go towards him to get his order. He seemed to have fallen into a drunken sleep. He wakes up and tells me he wants oden. I bring the order up to the bear he claims he does not know what that is and he instructs me to “ dive” no further instruction on how to do this action is given. As a player, I was very confused so I went back to the customer and tapped on him to take his order again to see if any more instructions would be given while doing this at the bottom of my screen two options appear “dive” or “not yet”. I click on “Dive” and my screen brightens to white and then the scene changes.

Now I find myself under a streetlight in the dead of night at a street food stand. The drunken man appears and talks to his “master” he loudly orders oden. I tap on him to see if I can interact with him, nothing happens, I then tap on the cat near the stall and I'm able to converse with the cat. He calls me a strange human even though I'm also a cat. I'm able to ask for his help to figure out what oden is. The cat agrees to help and takes the drunken man's wallet and runs off. While the man has run off I'm able to taste the oden he ordered. After that, the cat ran back and he asked me if I was able to taste the food. Soon after the drunken man follows and my character disappears as the scene continues to play out. In the short seconds before the screen fades again I'm able to read that the drunken man asks the “master�� if he took a bite of his food.

The scene has changed once more to the restaurant and I go to the chief. Although no text box appears of what my character says it can be assumed that my character explains what information was gathered during the “Dive”. After that, the chief is able to cook the dish and I bring it to the pirate. He eats and then leaves. At this point, I noticed that the hood customer has vanished even though I never accomplished taking his order or giving them food.

At this point I began to notice a few strange things, for instance, for such a cute design the characters had no issue cursing and while interacting with the pregnant woman I apparently told the pregnant woman that there was no menu and we had everything.

After the noisy pirate leaves the chef asks if I want to go to the station and makes some conversation about wanting to see everyone and how it's been a while since I have seen them.

We leave the building and the graphics remain relatively similar. It's very cute. There is a fountain in the center of the city and in the back there seems to be a trail going somewhere. The bear then asks how long it's been since I've stepped outside. My character is given no option for a response as the bear walks off towards the trail. I tapped the direction but it takes a few tries before I tap the area where he disappeared.

The subway station looks similar to a British layout. There are benches, and there I noticed a pregnant woman, in the row behind her there were two black figures. Standing a good way apart, but closer to where the train will pick them up are the other two. I tap on the bear and he tells me I can talk to anyone. I tap on the clock to see if I can do anything with the clock but I accidentally clicked on the man in the blue shirt that ordered the burger and interaction begins. the man says “ I'm feeling too lazy to go to heaven” What? Is that a philosophical statement? I'm given several options, none of which have anything to do with his original statement, so I chose to say “are you a couch potato?”. I think the statement upset the man because he began a tangent. The phrase that stuck out to me the most was “... when I was alive…”. Huh?

What does that mean? Are we dead? I was so confused so I tapped on the pregnant woman and begin an interaction with her. The conversation was very polite and I noticed my options for responses were so strange. One asked, “where is your baby?” I decided to click on the most normal sounding response, a simple “Hello!”. The interaction ends after that. I tap on the man in the blue shirt again and realize that I am able to redo the same interaction and choose a different option. Even though I know it's just a game I still felt a bit guilty for the conversation we had earlier so I decided to leave the interaction. I move on to the drunken pirate man and we have a conversation about Japanese food and what goes good with sake. I was so weirded out by the fact that the game talked about alcohol, cursed, had such strange comments that I could make, in a cute restaurant game.

I move back to the bear and he asks me if I’m done with my interactions. He makes the comment that I may take this train too someday. I was now certain that we were dead. The bear explains that memory shards also show how the owner died and that I can keep them. We soon leave the station and the day in the game comes to an end. Before my character is allowed to sleep I have to accomplish one more task, looking at the memory shards. The graphics make it difficult to make out which character is which so I chose the one on the furthest left, it was the pregnant woman. The scene starts at night as she finishes up eating spaghetti at a restaurant she leaves and she reminisces on being a mother soon. She then begins to cross the street. At this point, I was already tearing up thinking about what was about to happen. The screen goes black, thankfully not showing anything too graphic. The screen begins to read “noo… my baby”, “I didn’t even get to tell you I love you”. I think she was hit by a car?! I was shocked that this cute-looking game was not just a cute mindless game. I was upset at this point and the screen goes back to the memory shard selection screen. I just wanted to be done with this game. I was very uncomfortable with what was just implied, I did not want to see any more of the characters’ death so I furiously tapped the bed. The selection screen disappears and I am informed my character has to change first.

I tap the wardrobe and my character changes, then I tap the bed and the day in the game ends.

I exited the app and went back to the app store to actually read the description, which is so different from the reviews which call the game “cute and sweet”. I am honestly very concerned.

Day 2 (Playtime 30 minutes)

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Part of me just wanted to pick a new game and another part wanted to see a happy ending. I decided to continue with this game anyway hoping for a happy ending, especially since a review called it cute and sweet so I hoped the worst was over. So I didn’t pick a new game for this assignment. After reading the description I now know that my goal is to remember my life and hopefully things do not progress too much into sensitive topics. Retrospectively I now know it gets worse.

Once the day starts for the game I am greeted by an unknown character talking. The screen shows a blurred version of the starting screen and it vaguely discusses the events of the previous day. The screen starts back in my room and I go through the motions of getting up and changing clothes. I decide to watch the other two memory shards, now more prepared for what I will see. I start with the chubby man in the blue shirt. The scene changes to him playing video games in a dark room, a chatbox of someone yelling that supper is ready pesters him a few more times before he snaps at the voice to “shut up!”. The person apologizes and he continues to play his game until he loses. Shortly after losing he grabs his chest, indicating what I believe is a heart attack, and falls on the floor dead. This scene did not play with my heart as the first one had, maybe it is because it did not involve a pregnant woman or maybe it is because he is a very unlikeable character in a very stereotypical way. Moving on to the drunken pirate man, I thought back to the dive I took earlier and thought that he probably did not make it on the train and this theory is proven right as he drunkenly falls in front of the train.

After finishing these two dives I leave the room and start my shift at the restaurant. The bear greets me warmly today and there are already two customers present. The hooded figure is back. And there is a young blond boy in the chair. Through the interaction with him, he seems very shy and self-conscious, he asks for cup noodles (ramen) and this selection actually made me laugh. I thought it was kind of cute. This thought made me sad because I realized that it must have been his last meal. I give the order to the bear and he makes small talk about what children eat nowadays. The order is given to him and he gives a compliment and mentions how upset his mom would be if she knew what he was eating before disappearing. I think this character set a very melancholy tone for the rest of the game. I check on the hooded figure but they are still not ready to order.

Soon the next customer comes in and it is a young girl, high school age I think. She sits down and orders pudding from a “popular cafe”. She sits and plays on her phone. This order seems to really bother the chef as they could not “even look at it”. Once the order is placed in front of her she begins to take pictures but my character is, apparently, standing in the light. Once she finishes taking pictures she disappears. This really upsets the chief and he storms over to call the girl back, the bear scolds her and tells her to eat the pudding. The young girl compares the chief to her dad. As she finishes the dish she seems very upset at the memory of her father and she apologizes to her dad very sadly while crying.

I was starting to think that the characters were very one- dimensional and stereotypical to an extent. For instance the young boy had a very strict mother and I initially thought he had died from an illness, while the young girl seems very close with her father but had a very arrogant attitude. The characters seemed very naive to me. I decided to check on the hooded figure again. I'm given the same results, they are not ready to order, soon enough the last customer of the day walks in and he is a elderly man. the elderly man orders his mother's omelette, however he doesn't remember how it tastes. As a result I have no choice but to dive. in the old man's memories it doesn't seem like the omelet was his last meal it seems like it was just his favorite. An interesting note that the developers took, I think was adding green peas to The Omelette. Personally I thought this was really strange but seemed like an intimate detail. After the dive I tell the chef how to cook The Omelette and then deliver the food to the customer. The customer notes that it tastes the same as his mother's as well as the green peas. He disappears after finishing the food. This part of the day was extremely sad and remorseful but the plot continues to progress. The chef offers to cook me a meal. I initially thought this might be what I had last eaten, he cooks me fried rice and then reminisces on how he and my character met.

the scene changes and I am the bear now. it opens on the station and he seems to take a philosophical moments and thinks about when he will take the train to Heaven himself. Afterwards I am told to explore on station I tap around the screen to see where he moves and overall nothing is really accomplished. It seems I am unable to do anything in the station as the bear. I start to get really frustrated as I'm not allowed to leave the station either. it really just felt frustrating to know that there was nothing I could do during the scene but wait. I understand how important this was to the plot as my characters in peers and the bear ( which I am playing). my character confesses that they do not remember their life, in response the bear offers me a position at their restaurant.

The scene changes and I am once again back in the restaurant. The bear decides to call it a day and I'm free to go to the station and explorer. When I arrive at the station I notice all the older characters are still there and one black figure. I test out some of the play interactions I can have with the newer characters that were introduced today. Most of the interactions seem very basic in a way that shows how one-dimensional they seem to be. I quickly got bored of this and decided to go back to the restaurant and end my day. Before ending I watch the newer characters' memories. I started the young boy’s, he died in the hospital after talking to his friend that visited him. Moving onto the young girls, I progressively got more uncomfortable in this scene. She ignores a call from her father and then is approached by a creepy guy. As the interaction continues it becomes clear that he is her stalker. Instead of outwardly rejecting him she says she has a boyfriend and this makes him angry. She thinks she needs to call the police but the reception is poor so she cannot. In the end she was murdered. I was not really sure why this scene made me so uncomfortable but as I thought about it I think it is because the contents of the scene were so relatable. Being approached by someone like that is scary and happens too often. With the current narrative on SNS surrounding women’s safety I thought it was also a very ironic scene to watch. The last new character was the worst and extremely sensitive for me to watch. It was the older man and he dies of suicide in order to lessen the burden of his family.

Despite the game not having any gore, the topics it continues to cover are upsetting and uncomfortable. I genuinely thought it might be easier to digest since the characters seemed so one dimensional. While some aspects of the characters are stereotypical they are not as flat as I first thought. No matter how arrogant or unlikable someone seems they do not just deserve to die. This game has really weighed heavily on a lot of my values.

Day 3 (Playtime 30 minutes)

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This day was probably the most tame day and I think the worst of the plot has passed. I will not continue to play this game despite the worst being done ( I think, ignorance is bliss).

This day starts with a baby crying and waking up my character. I rushed down stairs and saw the bear holding a baby. I rushed over because the sound was very jarring and overly loud for how low I had my volume. The bear asked for my advice and I said check if the baby needs changing the bear responses that it doesn't smell so that must not be it and then the same options appear so I decide to click “Hungary” to see if the baby girl is hungry. The bear asked me to dive to see what her last meal was. The screen changed to complete blackness and there was nothing I could do. Soon after the screen changed again and I was back in the restaurant. There was some pre-program conversation between my character in The Bear and it was revealed that the child had no memories. Another text option is available to choose the meal for the baby. I didn't even read all of the options but the two that really stuck out to me were beer and milk. I chose milk. Who gives babies beer even in a video game? My character runs behind the counter and picks up the milk and gives it to the bear who feeds the child. Soon after the child finishes the bottle she disappears. The chef asked if that was her first and last meal. That sentence made me really sad.

The day continued and felt very rushed. The first customer appears and it's a very tired company worker. The man sighs and asks for an energy drink. I gave the order to the chef and he decided to give the customer potato soup. I gave the order to the customer and originally the man thought that I had given him the wrong order but through pre-program conversation he realizes that it is not and decides to eat the food anyway. The food seemed to satisfy him and he made a comment that he misses his wife's potato soup. The man disappeared soon after. On this day I haven't really paid attention to surroundings to see if the hooded customer had returned for the third day. Eventually the bear goes to his room.

I follow the bear to his room and for the first time I am allowed to go into his room. I notice this room has a similar layout to mine and he also seems to store the food in his room. Something is wrong with the food stored in his room. He thinks it might have been a mouse. Eventually he leaves the room for a brief second and I am given an instruction to pick up a photo that was face down on the ground. I got to pick it up and put it on his dresser. The screen informed me that it looks like a little girl. To my left a mouse appears and I chase it around the room for a little bit before cornering it near the dresser as the bear comes into the room again. As the bear approaches us, the mouse makes a break for it and runs off. there makes a comment about how the Mouse must have been scared of me. I mean I am a cat. I noticed that there is a little pixel star where the mouse was. I tap on it to see what happens and it's a Memory shard. The bear recommends that I dive to see what is in it. I proceeded to dive in the memories. The same changes to really pretty forest, it is so colorful I'm honestly so surprised considering how bland the restaurant seemed. I tap around on the screen to see where I can go and tap on a small hole. itap around the screen some more to see what I can do and come across some mushrooms that seem to shrink me. Like Alice in Wonderland. I went through the hole and noticed that there are three mice dancing around a big blue mushroom. The mice eventually finish their cultish dance and scurry off. I'm not going to knock around the screen to see what action I can do and it takes a while before I eventually sleep on the right area of the mushroom.

The dive ends and I find myself back in the bear's room. Through pre-program conversation it is revealed that my character and the bear did not know if the mushroom is edible or what kind of mushroom it was so the bear pulls out his phone and looks it up. Apparently the mushroom is edible. The bear makes a comment about the mouse also being a customer and recommends that I visit the station to see everyone. my character leaves the room but a scene continues to play out. the bear stops in front of the picture on his dresser and stares at it as the screen fades to black. I travel to the station and I decide to use all of the conversation options with all of the characters. Explaining each conversation would be extremely repetitive I think as well as obnoxious to read. however something interesting to know it was that one of the conversation options had entirely changed. The pregnant woman was no longer pregnant and she was holding a baby. The most notable conversation I had with her was where she makes a comment about how sad she is that her and her baby left her husband alone.

Throughout all these interactions I really get to understand the characters a bit more. the ones that I originally thought were unlikable and arrogance showed a little more potential through these conversations. For instance the man in the blue shirt showed clear remorse for how he treated his mom and the young girl fondly recalled her dad. There was still one shadowy figure indicating that there was one more character I was to meet.

I decide to leave the station and go back to the restaurant. I wanted to check and see if there were any tasks left for me to do in the bear’s room but sadly the screen informs me that he seemed busy and to not bother him. I decided to end the day and go up to my room. I looked at the movie selection options and decided whether or not I wanted to watch the new characters memory shards. I decided not to watch them and just call it a day. my character changes and goes to sleep.

I uninstalled this game immediately after this.

In reflection of these three days I released the type of game I do not want to play as this semester continues. These heavy topics were not fun and honestly, upset me. I think if I had gone into this game more prepared for the topics I would have had a different perspective, and honestly would have chosen a different game.

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ramizahaha · 4 years ago

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E-portfolio Update

I began my first day of lockdown at home and I felt sick right after I arrived home. So, I had to quarantine myself until my dad brought me to the nearest government clinic. Fortunately, I was just having my annual tonsillitis maybe due to the long and tiring journey home. The first week of lockdown was quite boring since I need to finish my assignment although the university announced that it is a study week. On the second week, my family started to become more productive by painting our front gate and because of too many days of quarantine, we took approximately 6 days to fully paint it although it is just a small gate.

Moreover, being too exposed to social media has influenced my whole family to try out new recipes each day. My dad baked traditional kuih that he watched on Youtube while my sister tried out the viral popia carbonara. As for me, I baked simple chocolate cake, cookies and bread pudding. My brother made the viral dalgona coffee twice while my mom baked mac and cheese using a special recipe. Also, my family decided to fast on every Monday and Thursday as we were not involved with any physical exercise and to prevent us from eating too much throughout the quarantine. I learnt plenty of recipes through Youtube and Google which gave me precious knowledge on cooking ingredients and tips.

Besides, I filled my leisure time by visiting my grandparents weekly as it is my responsibility to send them the groceries and I took this chance to meet and spend some time with my cousins. There, I helped my grandparents with the house chores and we performed congregational prayer together. Plus, I enjoyed joining my cousins watching midnight movies together. Then, we tried out some recipes from Insta famous so that we had quality and good time at home. The menus were fluffy Japanese pancakes, oden and cheese cake. None of the recipes that we tried look attractive but surprisingly, they tasted better than their looks and everything finished within thirty minutes. Hence, don't judge a “food” by its look.

In short, lockdown strengthened my relationship with my family and I explored new activities such as baking, painting and improving my ibadah. I had never experienced to carry out complete tarawih prayer throughout Ramadan but this MCO allowed me to perform it at home with my beloved family, comfortably with full focus. A new experience that I would remember forever especially when we had Eidulfitri prayer and khutbah together at home. I believe the impact of Covid19 has its own bad and good side for me and others. Therefore, I hope everything will get better soon! InshaAllah.

ps: Throughout this usrah, I gained plenty of interesting knowledge about our prophets and companions which I never had the chance to know before. Plus, wide and deep discussion on current issues that happened either in Malaysia or worldwide totally changed my view on certain things such as not to view any problem from only one side, but to consider other aspects too. To add, I believed this usrah will be lot more informative and fun if naqibah ask some question upon the presentation to collect some different point of views from other as well.

pss: A shout out for this usrah’s naqibah, sis Sharifah, who is ultimately friendly and super kind to everyone. I always enjoyed this class as there��s no pressure and very very informative. I hope sis Sharifah can still be my next naqibah in usrah 3 hehe :) Again thank you sis Sharifah! You are the best!

#let'sfightcovid19 #stayhomestaysafe #washwarnwear

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fadingfartconnoisseur · 7 years ago

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What To Do in Tokyo: 7 Things You Can’t Miss

When we were planning our trip to Japan, we had a hard time figuring out what to do in Tokyo. The city is massive, there are numerous areas we could stay in, and there are so many things to do in Tokyo that we found it hard to narrow down our itinerary.

The city of Tokyo is a bustling metropolis with something for every type of traveller. As with other large cities with endless things to do, you’ll want to come up with a bit of a game plan before arriving in Tokyo, or you’ll be wasting your time planning while on the ground.

If you’re wondering what to do in Tokyo, you’ve come to the right place. This city delighted us with its unique neighbourhoods, excellent accommodation, numerous activities and of course, amazing restaurants!

In this post I’ll break down a list of our favourite things to do in Tokyo, in no particular order.

Before You Go To Tokyo

Even though Japan is thought to be a leader in cutting edge technology, the lack of WiFi in the country is surprising! Depending on where you stay, you may find that wifi isn’t available in your accommodation. And, if you want to get a SIM card for your phone, most companies require you to be a resident of Japan and have a Japanese bank account.

But, there are a couple of options for. Most travellers pick up a wifi hotspot device at the airport when they land, and drop it off when they leave. We got our device with Vision Global WiFi, which has a variety of plans for not only Japan, but worldwide. Vision Global also has SIM cards for Japan, offering 4GBs for 8 days for $20.

Working / watching shows on the train journeys in Japan (when I wasn’t enjoying the scenery!)

There’s no limit to the amount of people who can hook up to the wifi hotspot device, which makes it an especially good idea if there are 2 or more of you travelling to Tokyo. There’s no hassle with setting up either, you just enter your password and it’s good to go. We also used the device to stream movies and TV shows online when we were in our hotel room or on the train – this would have used up a lot of data on a SIM card!

1. Robot Show

I’ll be the first to admit that when I saw this show listed on basically every “What To Do in Tokyo” article, I thought it was ridiculous. Watching a cheesy performance while being surrounded by tourists (not locals) did not sound like something I would like whatsoever.

But…

This wacky Robot Show ended up being one of the best things to do in Tokyo! I don’t want to give it all away, but it’s a theatrical show with people operating the “robots”. There’s dancing, singing and a storyline as well. There are also loads of intermissions, and booze is for sale during the show. Eat dinner before or after you go and buy drinks at the show.

The robot show was crazy! You have to see it to believe it

Where: Shinjuku neighbourhood. Click here for directions.

When: There are 4 shows each day: 4:00pm, 5:55pm, 7:50pm, 9:45pm

Cost: 8000 yen ($70) at the venue. Book online with Get Your Guide to receive a $5 or more discount. The tickets will be emailed to you.

2. See The Skytree

Did you know that the tallest tower in the world is in Tokyo? The Skytree (which is a broadcasting / restaurant / observation tower), stands at 634 meters high! It’s the second tallest structure in the world after the Burj Khalifa in Dubai.

You can visit the viewing deck, the restaurant or the stores. We visited the base of the tower, which had lots of shops set up for Christmas including mulled wine. And, we got an amazing view of the SkyTree and the cityscape from the rooftop restaurant at The Gate Hotel (which is a great place to stay!)

Watching the sun set over the city of Tokyo with the SkyTree in perfect view was the best way to end the day

3. What To Do in Tokyo? Visit An Izakaya!

Izakayas are local Japanese pubs or taverns where you’ll see groups of friends hanging out on weekends, or business people having some food and drinks after work. This is a sit down kind of place, with nobody standing at the bar – in fact, there’s not really even a bar in some cases.

There’s a menu of “small” plates of food and you usually order one or two at a time to share. The popular drink is beer in a frosted glass. Having drinks and food at an Izakaya is one of the best things to do in Tokyo as it’s a great way to experience a night out with the locals.

Hanging out with the locals while having a beer is what it’s all about. Don’t miss an izakaya experience

In Tokyo, we recommend checking out the izakayas on “Hoppy Street” which is located in the Asakusa neighbourhood. We stopped in here a couple of times when we were staying at the gorgeous boutique Wired Hotel, which is just minutes away.

Where: Everywhere. We recommend “Hoppy Street” in Asakusa.

When: Weekends are the busiest, but anytime during the week around 6:00pm onwards.

Cost: There is a flat fee per person or per table. Dishes are around $5 each, same with beers.

4. Go On a Walking Tour

When considering what to do in Tokyo, think about joining a walking tour. If you want to get a quick and informative introduction to Tokyo, and see an area of the city that you probably wouldn’t otherwise, then I recommend joining the food / walking tour with Japan Wonder Travel.

This woman was so sweet! She loved chatting with us (even though she doesn’t speak English, and we don’t speak Japanese). Try the oden soup on the walking food tour

We set off into the Sunamachi area in east Tokyo and explored the beautiful 670m long street. This is where we found some amazing restaurants, small shops, inquisitive residents and small temples. This local tour was a great introduction to the city, and when we asked our guide Sammy what to do in Tokyo, she gave us some excellent local recommendations.

Where: Sunamachi Tokyo

When: The tour runs with a minimum of 1 person, and a maximum of 8. Contact Japan Wonder Travel to see which dates are available. The tour duration is around 3.5 hours.

Cost: 9,000 yen ($79) / person. The price includes food, local transportation from the meeting point to the food street, an English speaking guide and a bottle of water.

5. Visit the Tsukiji Market (The Best Thing to Do in Tokyo!)

Whether you like fish or not, you’ll want to check out the Tsukiji fresh seafood market. Visiting here is an awesome experience and is something that should feature prominently on your Tokyo itinerary. You can wander around the busy market and shop for food, or you can pop into one of the many small sushi shops and dine on some fantastic nigiri!

Another option is to check out the commercial side of the market where they auction off massive tuna. The Tsukiji Market is one of the largest wholesale fish markets in the world and whether or not you see the actual tuna auction (which starts around 4:00am), you should try to check out the busy wholesale areas.

The sushi at the Tsukiji Market was fabulous – so were the scallops, oysters, egg rolls, etc. etc.

If you’re not into seafood, you can sample steamed buns, egg rolls, roasted sweet potato, matcha ice cream and more. But, for the most part, seafood is what’s on offer.

Bonus: Make sure to sample the blow-torched scallop!

Where: Chuo area. Click here for directions.

When: 5:00am – 2:00pm. Not open on Sundays, National Holidays and some Wednesdays.

6. Eat “Screen” Sushi

There are numerous ways you can eat sushi in Japan. In Tokyo, make sure you check out one of the “touch screen” conveyor belt sushi places. Basically, you sit down on a small chair and in front of you is a small screen. You scroll through the menu and when you see something you like, you press the button and that item will be added to your list.

You can choose from rolls, nigiri and other side items like tempura, fried chicken and soups. Once you’ve ordered, your plates of fish will be delivered to you by a speedy conveyor belt.

Once you order your food on the screen, it zips down to you on the conveyor belt

This isn’t a “nice” sit down place to have dinner, but it’s a unique experience and the sushi is fresh and cheap. For this type of sushi, we ate at Genki UOBEI in Shibuya area and can recommend it.

Where: Shibuya area. Click here for directions to UOBEI.

When: Monday – Sunday, 11:00am – Midnight

Cost: Pieces of nigiri are about $0.50 each.

7. Join a Cooking Class

This is one of the best things to do in Tokyo! We joined the Cooking Sun class through Get Your Guide and even though I personally don’t like sushi, I had an awesome time.

You’ll learn how to make sushi rice, nigiri, rolls, dashi (miso soup) and egg rolls. If you’re not a seafood eater, they can accommodate you and you can make vegetarian sushi. The instructor (and her sidekick) are so friendly and are great teachers. We were even given the recipes to take home with us. The venue itself is spotless and the utensils are high quality.

Learning to make egg rolls during our cooking class in Tokyo

Where: Shinjuku area. Click here for directions.

When: Check online to see which dates and times are available. Classes are a maximum of 8 people.

Cost: $75 / person. Visit Get Your Guide to see the latest price. Free cancellation up to 24 hours.

Get Ready For Tokyo

Tokyo is one of those cities where you could spend months and not see it all. But, even if you have a short period of time, you’ll be able to get a good feel for the city and see quite a few areas if you are a savvy planner. Hopefully this list helped you figure out what to do in Tokyo – a city we’re sure we’ll return to in the future.

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