Life in the US

So the SuperBowl happened today. Giants won. I swear this is not an attempt to get more views. But what else can be a better lead into the topic of life in the US? Megaupload shutdown? May be.

As informed in the previous posts, I am now studying at Colgate University, in my second semester. An excellently wifi-covered campus in a remote town in the middle of New York (state). Academic life has not been boring, but not exciting either. Pretty much like IB without the constant motivation (nagging, or sticks-and-carrots styled speech) from the teachers. Yup, college life is so much better. So much free time and so few places to go to.

I am continuing learning Japanese. It has been exceptionally fruitful. Now I can comfortably read Mashiro iro Symphony (which is an amazingly simple and cute game that I will review someday) with the aid of agth. The speed is slow, but not many dictionary searches interruptions. I will definitely read more visual novel in the coming months.

On that note, let's talk about Little Busters!. I started reading LB as the partial patch came out and finished it recently during winter break. A typical Key story (reads: incredibly heart warming and incredibly confusing ending). I finally realizes my love for the kuu- sub archetype after seeing Mio. Couldn't resist the temptation. That and other stuffs. Let's go through the game quickly.

Firstly, the mini games. Interesting at first but quickly became time consuming and boring later. Good thing they gave a Skip option. Still, the mini games gave me unexpected laughter at times. But seriously, for a game that has to be replayed 7 times or more, these are a nuisance.
It is impossible to talk about Key without story, so yes, the story are all very standard but unresitably cute. I never get bored of these stories, no matter how many times I read them. Still, the last route provide quite a swing from the typical harem situation, which gave the final ten or so hours a sense of thrill and anticipation. It was well-worth some of the duller moments from the character routes.
Music wise, it is not as impressive as Clannad or Kanon. No real gems or anything like that. The music matches the situation and that's it.
CG? It's Key. What do you expect? By the way, LB! standard edition is H free. Good idea.

Overall, the game is an enjoyable read. Not all routes are exciting, but the final one totally made up for it. Thank you translation team for your efforts over the years.

Now a snapshot at anime in the US. Or Colgate to be specific. The community is, well, not as thriving as it was in Singapore. Still I can find people to talk to about Touhou or visual novels, which is a blessing. No peer-to-peer here, and with the recent shutdown of file hosting sites, anime has become scarcer than ever. Still, thankfully there are still sources to get my daily doses of fansubs. On that note, go watch Another. Wonderful show.

Oh, and I am going to Japan this Fall with my classmates for one semester. Gonna be pretty exciting. Now to get back to Mashiro and finish Miu's route. I will post an impression soon.