2007.07.15
Video Games
So how did I get into video games? Well as the case with most girl gamers 窶 the male members of my family are into games. Not only that, the majority of my childhood friends were boys and we窶囘 do male bonding over Streets of Rage and Battletoads. Throughout the years I continued to play video games as a pastime. I even tried to get my girl friends into it but they seemed to abhor the poor things.
What got me 窶徂ardcore窶 into games? Well I wouldn窶冲 say I窶冦 a hardcore gamer anymore, but at the time I was 窶的窶囘 say it was Sailor Moon that influenced me. When the Sailor Moon boom hit I wanted to get into anything Japanese, I was a Japanophile. And it was then that I noticed that all those games I played in the past came from Japan.
There was rarely a day that I went without stopping by the arcades. (Jeez, there was a time that it cost 75 cents to play Tekken 2?) Man, those days are definitely ones that I can窶冲 live again now that the arcade scene is dead. Kids these days are really missing out on a lot.
I went on a video game hiatus during Summer 99-Summer 01窶 so I missed out on a ton of video games from that time period. During that time I only played video games in the arcade (note: I lived in Japan at the time) so I spent most of my spare yen on fighting games like King of Fighters, Street Fighter III, Mark of the Wolves, Soul Calibur, but the majority of my spare change was spent on Guilty Gear. (I probably would窶况e actually bought console releases of GG back then if I would窶况e known that the background music was metal. O_O But arcades were so loud I couldn窶冲 hear the music.) The only console games I played throughout this time period was Suikoden II, Valkyrie Profile, and Persona 2:EP.
I didn窶冲 get back into games until Summer of 01窶. I was bored and friendless. I wasn窶冲 old enough to get a summer job. Internet bored me. So I decided to visit my old friend, video games. I played Final Fantasy 9 expecting it to suck, since UGH the characters are ugly chibis. What surprised me is that I got into it. I spent my days with that game. Then the inevitable happened. My playstation died. That was the second one. I was then left without a console until Christmas 01窶. That led to emulation. It was then that I remembered all the games of my childhood and who my true friends were. XP
Japanese RPGs
Guess I should give a special mention to Japanese RPGs because I was bloody obsessed with them back then. My first one was Secret of Mana, but normally I refer to Chrono Trigger instead because that was the first title I obsessed over. I liked it so much that I replayed it over and over again up until all my party members were leveled up to stars. (meaning more than 99 ;))
What made me loose interest? Well RPGs these days focus mostly on graphics and cutscenes. You might notice some gameplay spread sporadically throughout the games. It窶冱 okay if a game has a shitty story, but absurd if you expect me to play through a game that has both shitty gameplay (what matters most) and a pathetic storyline shoved down my throat.
Not only that, now that gaming is chic you can窶冲 go anywhere without someone rating your games for no reason. It窶冱 annoying. For example I bought SMT:Nocturne years ago but have never played it. Why? The hardcore fans of the game piss me off. No, they actually go as far to tell me 窶廾h, I don窶冲 think you can play that game. It窶冱 hard, it窶冱 not for people like you. Because it窶冱 not like Final Fantasy.窶 There was a time when people could openly play Final Fantasy as well as other titles and not be shunned. Unfortunately these days when it comes to games, it窶冱 like a rating contest. A rating contest I don窶冲 want to be part of. Also, there are tons of people out there who 窶徘lay窶 games just to brag about how oldschool they are. Like the people who窶冱 first RPG was FF7 when it came out. o_O
I guess this doesn窶冲 only refer to RPGs, but video games these days have become movies. Gameplay is lacking greatly.
Art
I窶冦 a jealous person. And I remember in 1st grade when people made fun of me for drawing funny Minnie Mouse shoes I was pissed off. Then they overrated some other kid that drew like shit. I was like 窶廡uck that, I can draw better than him.窶 Oddly, I ended up having somewhat of a natural talent.
I didn窶冲 become serious about art until Sailor Moon. (Yes, if there was any series that was the most influential in my childhood years, it was Sailor Moon.) At that time I switched from my realistic style and started drawing anime. Now at that time anime was unique. Those were the times when people referred to anime as evil cartoon porn and violence. You were cool if you drew anime because people knew you were into cool shit like Ninja Scroll. Though 10-12 years later anime has gotten so big and more mainstream, now you窶决e shunned if you draw anime. This is the reason why I switched back to a more realistic style. O_O
I put art on the back burner the same time I put video games on the back burner. What was I trying to do at those times? Well geek wasn窶冲 chic back then. So these were the confused teenage years where I tried to disguise myself so I could fit in with the cool kids. When the cool kids would make fun of nerds, I sat there quietly hoping they窶囘 never find out under the cool clothes, bleached hair, and make-up, I was actually a nerd.
I didn窶冲 get back into art till Persona 2:EP came stateside. (Though I lived in Japan I didn窶冲 buy Japanese games until Dec. 01窶. At that time I wasn窶冲 confident with my Japanese to play games in that language.) Persona reminded me where I came from. WHY I窶冦 a nerd. But during that two year time span I ended up loosing all the skills I once had and drew pathetic 10 year old looking shit. I don窶冲 know, maybe the school was full of shitty artists, but I was still one of the best. Only one person had the balls to tell me that I sucked. I took that to heart and spent every waking hour trying to redeem myself. Near the end of the year, said person took back said criticism and I gained respect again.
Since then I窶况e been drawing on and off for the past years. As with most artists we go through phases and switch styles. I left the big eye anime shebang mid 03窶. After being influenced by Riyoko Ikeda and Kentaro Miura I tried going even more realistic in late 06窶 up till now.
Anime/Manga
Anime was more of something I was hardcore into when I was younger. Of course it all started with once again, Sailor Moon. I don窶冲 know what it is with Sailor Moon, but somehow it seemed obvious that it came from Japan. (School uniforms and such I guess?) Prior to that there have been tons of anime titles imported from Japan but it wasn窶冲 so obvious that the titles were Japanese made. Imagine my surprise when I caught Transformers on Japanese TV for the first time, I always thought that series was American.
At the time I got into anime it was still virtually unknown in the states. Most of all, you weren窶冲 cool if you were into anime. It wasn窶冲 mainstream. It seems unbelievable now, but I actually got into TONS of fist fights for liking anime, (particularly DBZ) as a kid. At these times anime seemed like the greatest thing ever. Mainly because everything and anything didn窶冲 get imported, US companies pretty much licensed cream of the crop titles. So at those times it was like looking through Dark Horse窶冱 lineup of Japanese comics.
I lost interest in anime upon moving to Japan for four years (Imagine that!) While living in the anime motherland I only watched a few titles. One of them being Kaikan Phrase. All that窶冱 released of Kaikan Phrase at the moment of writing this is 窶彜ensual Phrase,窶 the comic book. Oddly, that窶冱 what got me into manga. Before Kaikan Phrase I bought a few manga titles, just a Kirby and Darkstalkers comic. Well this old magazine store I used to go to buy my magazines one day shifted into a used manga/video game/anime/CD store. I was pissed. But one day I decided to look around and try to figure out what it is I ever saw in anime. While looking around I came across a volume of Kaikan Phrase. It had a seductive picture of Sakuya holding onto a naked Aine who magically had E cup tits. I thought to myself 窶弋he fuck is this? I didn窶冲 see this in the anime!窶 Being the closet pervert 14 year old I was, I grabbed out 200 yen out of my pocket and headed to the counter to buy my soft core pRon.
Now back in my pre-anime days I did read comics. Like many other girls out there I never got into that super hero bullshit. I occasionally read X-Men because I liked Gambit. Probably the only comics I bought back then were Archie comics. After discovering the manga version of Kaikan Phrase (as for my thoughts on the comic version = shit. Shit. Shit. But it had tons of buttseckz, and laughable poor writing, my only reason for buying the whole series.) I then got into a bunch of shojo comics, in other words comics for girls.
As for anime and manga in general, I窶冦 still into both. I窶冦 just not a fanatic anymore. I only like a couple series and that窶冱 it. As for my preferences, I generally read girl comics most. Mainly because bad girl comics are easier to tolerate than bad boy comics. Girl comics have funny drama, guy comics (now just as all girl comics aren窶冲 bad I know it窶冱 not the same for ALL comics geared towards men. But I窶冦 speaking of guy comics in general) mainly focus on some puss fag boy that doesn窶冲 have the balls to tell some girl that he likes that he窶冱 in love with her and also focuses on become the world窶冱 strongest warrior. I窶囘 rather read about a girl threatening to jump off the 12th story building of a hospital because her boyfriend won窶冲 listen to her. (Thank you Peach Girl! Thank you!)