Weekly /r/bangtan Room (방탄방) – November 18, 2023

Here’s my customary “what have you played / read / watched?” question.

I apologize for how long my post is going to be because I have A Lot of Feelings LOL.

**Play(ed/ing):**

Oops all otome.

I played more of the Hana Awase series! I’ve been really digging it, more of the overarching plot gets revealed as it goes on. Generally >!each game is an alternate universe with a different destined fate (and if fate is strayed from, uh oh)!<. (light spoilers about the structure of the series)

I finished Hana Awase -Himeutsugi Volume- (#2), which had a HUGE lore drop that left me pretty [Jennifer Lawrence “What do you mean?”](https://media.giphy.com/media/h58E0JsuK3h3d8B1do/giphy.gif) about it haha. It also happened to be a scene that absolutely lands in my Top Otome Moments list.

Then I dove right into Hana Awase -Karakurenai / Utsutsu Volume- (#3), which has my favorite new [opening movie](https://youtu.be/HAnism8Z5mM) of the four. I was (and still am) a bit sad the character songs are gone but they are replaced with instrumentals of the new opening themes and you know what, they slap. I only managed to get through one route (which I enjoyed, it featured one of my fave tropes) before…

[My copy of Virche Evermore got to me before the estimated arrival date!](https://i.imgur.com/VUbN8Fn.mp4) 🚨

The level of brain rot that just the [opening movie](https://youtu.be/f7uB7X2JTlo) and a little 5-minute promo video about the plot caused… whew. It’s my #1 anticipated game this year so needless to say, I was prepared to drop everything when it arrived haha. It’s sort of a Faustian bargain story in a dark SFF setting – and I am *always* here for more Faustian bargain stories.

Basic setting & plot (content warning for suicide): >!It is set in a small island country where the populace is cursed to succumb to a mysterious illness by the time they are 23. They have however developed technology to live on past the ~23 year lifespan, though with a significant drawback. The main character is a young woman who is rumored to be the embodiment of Death because people around her tend to die prematurely. After another similar incident, she decides she would rather take herself out of the picture than bring about more misfortune. However! A mysterious man stops her, introducing himself as the Watchman of Death and offers a contract: if she can figure out the mysteries surrounding the deaths in the country, he promises she’ll be reborn as a normal human.!<

I’ve been having a blast – but the tone is really dark. Though! There is humor sprinkled throughout and a good amount of slice of life (particularly in the common route). Once a route proper starts though… oh boy. Especially the last ~2 hours of each route doesn’t pull any punches with the keyword of the game being “despair”. Due to how the game is structured (>!you have go through the bad endings before you can see ANY good ending!<), once the tragedy ramps up it just does not slow down haha. I’ve finished 3 routes so far and while I could piece together where things were heading in each, they’ve ended up *so much* worse than I was thinking. Legitimately just staring at my Switch like 😨 until the credits roll.

I think I’m about 50% of the way through? Maybe a bit more. I’m excited to see how all the plot points come together in the end!


**Read(ing):**

I finished Carmilla! It was ok, I think I like the various adaptations & retellings of this story more than the original itself.

Since then, I’ve been making my way through Jade City! Because I’ve been playing games that are reading heavy, my actual book reading pace has slowed way down so I’m mainly just hoping to finish this somewhat soon. 😅 I’m enjoying it so far but I feel like where I am at in the book I’m still in the midst of figuring out the world. It’s been a while since I got into a dense fantasy series!

**Watch(ed/ing)**:

Live theater counts in this for me! I went and saw a local production of Sweeney Todd. I’ve always wanted to see it live just to see how the staging and everything works. It was really good, all of the actors had *phenomenal* voices! It makes me want to go see a professional production even more now just so I can see it with all the stops pulled out for the sets and props.

Next Wednesday is moving out day for me, and I am not totally processing that. This was supposed to be our home we’d stay in forever. It always seems like when I let myself get comfortable and start making plans, they get thrown in the trash. I think the worst part of all this is that we’ve known about the move for a while, and the same people keep telling me they wish we could stay and that they’ll miss us. It just stabs my heart every time. Moving really sucks, guys. And I’ve done it probably 6 times in the last 15 years 😭

Also, JK’s free concert will be at like 6am for me, two days before we move. I really hope they load it at a later date to YouTube or something so I can watch it because there’s no way I’m gonna be able to catch it. Everyone out there enjoy it for me!

A little while ago I was on the phone talking to my sister while she was on her way home from work. We were chatting when she said, “It looks like a car up ahead has a picture of a k-pop idol on their back window, but I’m too far away, and I can’t tell who it is.” We go back to chatting about other things. A few minutes later she goes, “It’s Yoongi!!!” Turns out it was this picture 😂

https://preview.redd.it/8ppue9kt511c1.png?width=1152&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=04005793af452e5d3b4e513984ca8b0be49a9569

Who knows? Maybe the car belongs to a reddit army? If anyone here lives in the LA area, and has a large yoongi on the back of your car, my sister says hi! 😂