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   Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:12 JST Retro Goth Bunny

   Alright, now that I've settled down after my trip (and got sidetracked binging The Quintessential Quintuplets), it's time to recount it! :ChikaYay:

   Day 1, we have an early flight but I managed to sleep a little earlier and wake up on time. Smooth trip through the automated customs for once (it has never worked properly for me all my life).

   It started to rain, so we were a bit concerned about delays, but the flight went ahead as scheduled. There was a LOT of turbulence in the beginning though. We later found out in Japan that the rain got so heavy that there were flash floods later in the morning :neocat_googly_shocked:

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:50 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     We split up right away in Shibuya, and I made my way to Shibuya 109. Inadvertently, I ended up having to cross the Shibuya Scramble, which is pretty convenient I suppose.

     Not so much a fan of the tourists filming videos while crossing though :ChikaPout:

     I walked around Shibuya 109 a bunch, but the only shops of interest for me are the ones that sold jirai-kei stuff. But I was also tuckered out by then, so again, didn't buy anything.

     I still had time before I had to meet up with my friend, so I decided to make a detour to the Tower Records, since it was the only other landmark I know of in Shibuya. In other words, my Digimon Cyber Sleuth pilgrimage continues!

     I went up to the games section and there, I found Drive Waves 2019, the soundtrack for the M2 port of ESP Ra.De.!

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:51 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     At one of the upper floors of Laforet though (where there's more on kawaii fashion), I saw one of the staff with this absolutely adorable bag that was shaped like a bunny plush!

     Now THAT I wanted to buy, but I don't see it anywhere in their shop, so I'm afraid it might just be her personal belongings? And if that's the case, it would be kinda awkward to ask her where she got that bag when I'm not buying anything. Or maybe I'm just overthinking this :neocat_googly_shocked:

     (Though I should really try to find it online. It's just so cute! :ChikaEmberassed1: )

     Anyway, the rain has slowed to a drizzle, so we explored Harajuku a bit more, popping in and out of shopping malls. We went as far as Omotesando Hills, but that's way too rich for us.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:51 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     We went back to Takeshita Street to get some stuff we wanted, which for me was a jirai-kei outfit. I got the top from a small shop called Mo Mon, and it even has a choker built into it. Perfect. And I got a long skirt from ACDC Rag (didn't really dare to try short skirts yet).

     I definitely will have to get more stuff to complete the look though, like accessories and footwear. The girls wearing jirai-kei that I saw both in Kyoto and Tokyo sported platform shoes. And uhh, I'm not sure if I need to get taller. (I'm average height for a guy, which already makes me taller than a lot of girls. Even with platform shoes.) So that I still have to think about a bit more.

     With purchases done, we made our way to Shibuya!

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:52 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     Ok, I should stop getting distracted by EO2U :frierendisappointed1:

     So picking up where I left off, it's day 5 and the first full day in Tokyo. Now, this is a special one because I was feminine-presenting instead of boymoding! The goal for this day was for me to go clothes shopping, since Tokyo has some pretty cool fashion styles.

     I was a bit nervous about this on the previous days, but after getting into a dress and stepping outside... Well, it doesn't feel like much. Then again, maybe I'm just suppressing my emotions so that I don't become :btr_bocchi_panic: IRL, but it also has the side effect of suppressing positive emotions :akkoShrug:

     I haven't been keeping up my voice training though, so it was a bit hard to speak.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:52 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     And speaking of speaking, I think the main challenge was remembering to use my feminine voice, because if I don't talk for a while, I'll forget to maintain it.

     Thankfully I was suppressing my emotions? So that I won't care too much about what other people think even if I slipped up :btr_bocchi_trash_lurk:

     Anyway, the first place we went to was Harajuku, and by the time we got there, the sky was looking ominous. Harajuku is also REALLY crowded with tourists. I don't even see people in Harajuku fashion there, aside from the workers in the stores, where it is basically their work attire.

     We went down Takeshita Street, where we quickly split up since we wanted to look at different stuff. And not long after, it started to rain, which put a real damper on the mood.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:52 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     I also got into a little accident because I was trying to text my friend to meet back up and wasn't paying attention to my surroundings :ChikaEmberassing:

     It's nothing serious, just a few small scrapes on one hand and an ache in my lower back. (Only mentioning them because they will be relevant later.)

     We got out of Takeshita Street and sought shelter in Laforet, where I continued window shopping. And finally, I got to see some gothic lolita! And their price tags!

     With the rain, my accident earlier and the language barrier (some of the staff I talked to in Harajuku couldn't speak English), I wasn't in much of a mood to talk, so I didn't try out anything.

     Next time, I suppose :frierendisappointed1:

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:53 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     Oh, as for why I mentioned I was tired, I was extra tired on that day, because on the night of day 3, we were supposed to do laundry.

     When we tried to use the dryer, we misunderstood how it worked and we didn't select the right setting, which resulted in the dryer doing something else other than actually drying the clothes.

     As such, I stayed up till 3am trying to dry my clothes (because I don't want to pack wet clothes into my luggage :animedisgusted: ), from trying more cycles on the dryer to using the hair dryer to slowly dry out my clothes.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:53 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     Eventually, I figured out that we used the wrong setting and dried the clothes quickly afterwards :frierendisappointed1:

     But yeah, I didn't get much sleep, and with the rain in Tokyo, the first half of the day wasn't too fun.

     Though honestly with what happened at HEY, I almost forgot about it. It's hard to imagine this was all on the same day.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:54 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     In total, she got a K score, which translates to 20 million points. This is incredibly close to the world record score. To be specific, she got a 20.1 million score here, when the record is 20.9 million.

     It's absolutely phenomenal, and I'm so, so, SO happy to have witnessed this happen right in front of my eyes, from start to finish.

     This was absolutely the highlight of my trip. So many things just lined up perfectly for this to happen.

     I honestly can't even describe it.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:54 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     We talked a bit more after that, but Kamui had to leave soon after, so that was the end of that encounter.

     I also left a little later, as it was getting quite late, and I had to find my way back to the hotel.

     And that was the end of day 4 and the first day in Tokyo. And what a first day it was!

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:55 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     So I did. And the further they got, the more of their strategies I recognised. Like, these are top level strategies. You know, the ones I usually see Kamui use.

     But hey, Japan is filled with skilled players, so it's probably not Kamui herself at the cab right? ... Right?

     The more I watched, the more I'm convinced it's her. I had to find out.

     So after the run died, I did something very out of character.

     「えと、神威さんですか。」

     And it turns out she really WAS Kamui! In the flesh!

     She was happy to talk too, but she didn't know English and I didn't know much Japanese, and my phone was having trouble connecting to the internet.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:55 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     So it ended up being a bit of a one way conversation, because I could only manage simple replies while Kamui could at least translate what she said.

     Then she asked me if I wanted to watch her do one more run with Gain (she was originally using Wild Snail). Well, of course I would! It's one thing to watch a livestream. It's another thing to watch a run live!

     And what a run it was. She nailed pretty much all her strats, didn't suffer any medal drops (at least, not without quickly picking up another 10000 point medal to prevent the medal chain from resetting). And she managed to clear as well.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:56 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     On the beat 'em up side, I recognised Undercover Cops and Final Fight from previous events. And for puzzle games, I spotted Puzzle Bobble and Mr Driller G.

     Oh boy, Mr Driller G. At HEY, I wanted to try out the games I've gotten decent at on MAME, so I've gotta play this. Thankfully, they had the sense to add an autofire button to it, because the game plays so much better with it (the Drill Land port doesn't have it, unfortunately).

     After a few credits, I made it past 1500m with the robot, but wow, the leaderboard is nuts. It seems like Mr Driller G preserves high score data across reboot, and there were people who got past 10000m.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:56 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     TEN THOUSAND. It doesn't even fit in the leaderboard, since it only shows 4 digits! Even the score was cut off.

     When you game over, the game will show you how far you got compared to your record. The record is always placed 15 blocks down, and I didn't even break ONE.

     Anyway, I was out of 100 yen coins, so I was walking around looking for the coin machine while taking a peek at other people playing. As I went around the Battle Garegga cab, I saw the player bomb flamingoes.

     Huh, it might be interesting to watch them.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:57 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     For the STGs, there were pretty much CAVE's entire repertoire, at least one version of each game. The only ones I'm not sure if I saw were Donpachi and Deathsmiles II.

     There were also a few of Raizing's STGs. Armed Police Batrider and Battle Bakraid shared a cabinet. And there was Battle Garegga of course. Great Mahou Daisakusen was also present, as well as Soukyugurentai.

     HEY also has more Toaplan STGs, beyond just Tatsujin Oh. There's, well, Tatsujin. And unfortunately, these two were the only ones I remember, but I think there were more.

     Psikyo was also represented, with the Strikers and Gunbird games. Couple of Capcom STGs too.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:57 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     For Konami, I saw some Gradius and Parodius games, but I try not to think about Konami STGs too much.

     Against the wall are Dariusburst and Darius II taking up a massive space with their dual monitor setup! The displays for those are pretty big too. Darius Gaiden, being a single screen game, is in a regular cabinet nearby.

     And there are still a ton of other STGs from various developers. It's basically heaven for someone like me~

     A special one I spotted was Giga Wing 2, since I saw a group of three friends taking turns on it.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:58 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     Anyway, my friend's friend was taking a really long time to arrive, so we decided to part ways.

     I ate some ramen at Doutonbori Kamukura, on the stretch outside Nakano Broadway. And wow, it's so much more flavourful than the ramen we get in Singapore! And it was quite a large bowl too. I can never eat ramen in Singapore again :btr_bocchi_pain:

     Then, I headed back to our hotel. I was quite tired, but since I was passing by Akihabara, I decided to take a look.

     And then, I saw the arcades. If there was one thing I was really looking forward to on this trip, it's to visit the arcades in Akihabara.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:58 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     I went into the GiGO number 1 building first. And as I would find out through the rest of my trip, GiGO just stocks the same selection of games everywhere. There's always this Gundam game, a variety of rhythm games, and claw machines.

     Next up is Taito HEY, and this is where the good stuff is at. The first floor has a few claw machines, and the second floor has more of them. But the second floor also has racing games, STGs, beat 'em ups and even a selection of games from other genres!

     And unlike a-cho, the cabinets are more populated.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:59 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     With Suica card in hand, we took the Yamanote Line to Okachimachi, to check in at our new hotel. Unfortunately, our hotel isn't really close to any single train station, so we had to walk a distance.

     And it was raining.

     I brought an umbrella, sure, but the winds were pretty strong and I was still getting drenched anyway, to say the least of my luggage.

     We eventually found our hotel, dropped off the luggage and rested for a bit. This one's also a lot narrower than our hotel in Kyoto.

     Anyway, my friend knew someone who was also in Tokyo at the same time, and they were hoping to meet for dinner at Nakano. So, we're off to Nakano Broadway!

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:59 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     At this point, it is worth noting that I may or may not have planned my itinerary in Tokyo based on the locations in Digimon Cyber Sleuth. Well, Nakano Broadway isn't actually something that was in the original itinerary (since my memory of Cyber Sleuth is kind of foggy already), but I somehow recognised the architecture when I got there. In any case, that's one place checked off!

     We had lots of time to kill, so we took our time looking around. The upper floors were like 90% Mandarake, trading card shops and gashapon shops. This was also when I found out there exists gashapon for used lingerie :GWnonSataniaSpoopy:

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:08:59 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     There was also a gashapon with some pretty cool looking OC art. It turns out it was a collaboration (though I've forgotten the name), and my friend tried to buy some of the hoodies afterwards. Unfortunately, they didn't accept foreign credit cards :frierendisappointed1:

     The first floor also has a couple of arcades. This was where I saw Eiketsu Taisen for the first time, which was unlike any arcade game I've ever seen. Even as arcades died out in the rest of the world, Japan was still innovating in this space!

     I also saw the three musketeers of Japanese arcade gambling: pachinko, slots and horse racing. I didn't expect the last two, tbh.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:00 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     Didn't post yesterday because my parents came back from their own trip to Japan! So I was mainly sharing my experiences with them. (For a number of reasons, we ended up going on separate trips.)

     Anyway, time for day 4! Since this is the day where we head off to Tokyo, most of the day is spent on changing hotels and travelling.

     We took the shinkansen, because I wanted to try it out! Couldn't get our hands on reserved seats though, since we bought the tickets on the day itself and all the seats have already been booked. So we ended up sitting separately for a while.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:00 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     We also saw some students at the train station (as can be easily seen from their serafuku :btr_kita_wave: ), so I'm guessing they're having their school trip arc.

     I was staring out the window until we reached the first stop. Since it was a cloudy day, I could see the clouds move by SO quickly, due to the speed of the shinkansen. It was so surreal.

     Besides that, it was mostly farmland and mountains.

     We also got ekiben from the station. Mine had two tiers, one with two different types of rice and the other containing a variety of side dishes, like chicken, rolled omelette and mushrooms.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:00 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     I fell asleep for most of the trip afterwards, until we were close to Tokyo. The shinkansen ride was just so smooth and quiet.

     Tokyo seemed... dirtier than Kyoto. Like I could smell the difference in the air. There was even a whiff of pee, reminiscent of San Francisco.

     We didn't get the ICOCA card when we were in Kyoto, relying on tickets and day passes instead, so we wanted to get a Suica card now that we're in Tokyo. Unfortunately, they can't be purchased from the kiosks, so we had to go to the other side of the station to find a service counter that issued them.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:01 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     We also stopped by a 7-11, and I noticed there's a wafer that came with a Frieren card. Now, I didn't actually know it was a wafer, because it just looked like a booster pack from the outside. The wafer somehow made it back to Singapore intact, and I was surprised when I opened it up hehe. It was good though.

     I also got some butter flavoured Jagabee and 7-11's in-house dark chocolates. They were both nice to snack on. I didn't finish the chocolates though, so I brought them back with me :Hehe: (I'm still not done with them lol)

     Now that I'm mentioning food, I forgot we got some peach and strawberry yatsuhashi from Kiyomizu-dera!

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:01 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     Anyway, that's day 3. Next time, we'll be heading to Tokyo :SataniaThumbsUp:

     This was such a long day. I'm tired from typing it all out :mikudead:

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:02 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     It's also worth noting that the first Inbachi-ALL in an arcade was actually achieved in a-cho, so I got to play on the same cabinet where this happened!

     Anyway, after proving my incompetence in arcade games, we moved on to our final destination we had planned for the day: Kyoto Gyoen National Garden. It simply took a trip up the Karasuma subway line.

     The National Garden is massive, housing two imperial palaces among other things. We spotted a heron at the pond in the southeast, near the government buildings. There was also a cute little stream called Demizu-no-Ogawa (出水の小川). The ground was all gravel though.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:02 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     It started raining again just as we walked past the Kyoto Imperial Palace, and with both of us tired, we decided to call it a day and took the subway back to Kyoto Station.

     We had dinner at an izakaya (宮崎酒場 ゑびす, Miyazaki Bar Yebisu). My friend ordered some grilled eggplants, and while I'm normally not a fan of how slimy eggplants are, I gave these ones a try and they were SO delicious :btr_kita_wave:

     We also had some spicy noodles and some other food. It was a really nice dinner.

     Incidentally, since I was looking up the izakaya, the pasta place we ate at on day 1 is the Goemon Pasta Restaurant (洋麺屋五右衛門).

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:02 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     This is pretty much the end of the Kyoto leg, since our main focus of this trip was actually Tokyo. We were planning to go for about 10 days though and we didn't have THAT much to do in Tokyo, so that's why we planned some activities in Kyoto as well.

     Anyway, since it's our last night in Kyoto, we decided to finish looking around Kyoto Avanti, since we stopped at the second floor the last time, which was the Don Quixote floor.

     It turns out that on one of the upper floors, there is an Animate shop! I got a couple of Reisen acrylic keychains, a Reisen folder, a folder with the Scarlet sisters in jirai-kei outfits, and a Porco Rosso folder.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:03 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     The STGs were on the top floor, but it was mostly empty while we were there. There was someone playing the Exa port of Fantastic Danmaku Festival, on Lunatic.

     Meanwhile, most of the STGs there were from CAVE and Raizing (and then there was Tatsujin Oh), and I honestly don't have much experience with them. The only CAVE STG I've cleared is Dodonpachi's first loop, but it's been quite a while, so I was rusty. I only played one credit, but I managed to get to stage 5.

     At that time, I was more keen on trying out the games in a real arcade setting, playing Tetris the Grandmaster, Battle Garegga, Daifukkatsu Black Label and Saidaioujou.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:03 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     Playing on a real arcade cabinet for the first time was quite an experience. I've always played on a flat LCD display, so the curved CRT display takes some adapting to. And since the displays are properly rotated (I keep my monitor in landscape orientation even when playing vertical STGs), the screen space is so much larger than I'm used to.

     Together, it feels like the space in the bottom half is much wider, while the space in the top half is much narrower.

     This is also the only way so far to make me sit up straight and maintain my posture, since I have to do so to see the top half of the screen properly :btr_bocchi_trash_lurk:

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:04 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     The kiosk for the Keihan line isn't as friendly as the JR line's; you have to look up the fare yourself, and the fare table isn't in the most obvious place. It was situated overhead at one part of the train station, and we found it too late, after we had bought our tickets. Because we went with the cheapest option, we are one stop short from where we wanted to go.

     In contrast, the JR line lets you choose your destination, and the kiosk automatically calculates your fare for you.

     Anyway, since we had the bus and subway pass, we made some adjustments to the route and managed to get to Nishiki Market without too much trouble.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:04 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     Taking the bus to downtown, we came by a toy shop that had Ghibli merch among other things, so I bought a Jiji keychain (Kiki's cat, from Kiki's Delivery Service).

     Nishiki Market, being another tourist-y spot, is also really crowded. We enjoyed some skewers along the way, instead of having a proper lunch. I had one with an octopus that had a quail egg stuffed inside it, some scallops, and an omelette tempura. That last one was WAY too salty. I also got a tri-colour dango, which was supposed to represent the different stages of sakura blooming.

     More importantly, the a-cho arcade was right nearby! Of course, I had to visit it~

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:05 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     🖼

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:05 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     After reaching the top, we began to make our way back down. We encountered another branching path that led to Shiragiku Waterfall (白菊の滝), so we decided to take another detour.

     There was a shop along the way, but being off the main path, I wonder how much business it gets? Anyway, we followed a really small river, and eventually arrived at the waterfall.

     Since the river wasn't big to begin with, the waterfall was honestly quite underwhelming. But there was also an entire moss-covered shrine there! That made the effort worthwhile.

     We returned to the main path and continued our descent, but it started to drizzle, so we rushed through the end.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:05 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     The drizzle stopped when we reached the bottom though, so it was all for naught :frierendisappointed1:

     I bought a bookmark from one of the shops along the hike to the top, as well as a couple of Hatsune Miku folders from a shop at the bottom. (I'll show all of my loot at the end, so no pics for now.)

     With Fushimi Inari-taisha done, we headed off to our next stop: Nishiki Market. To get there, we needed to take the Keihan line. At the train station, there was a sushi shop selling inari sushi, so we bought some and enjoyed it.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:06 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     Of course, it was pretty crowded in Senbon Torii (千本鳥居) section, so I didn't bother too much with photos there. The crowd is supposed to thin out as we climb higher, so I bided my time.

     Partway up to the crossroads, we encountered a branching path, which led to a number of smaller shrines and a bamboo forest. There were a couple of crows there, and one of them went to chill in one of the shrines. It felt like the crow itself was a manifestation of a Shinto deity :btr_bocchi_pray:

     When we reached the crossroads, I thought we were quite a ways up the mountain. But it turns out we're still at the beginning :GWnonSataniaSpoopy:

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:06 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     After resting for a bit at the crossroads, we continued our way up the mountain, starting with the right path.

     Sure enough, I had a few opportunities to take a picture of the torii gates without anyone in it. At this point, the crowd has thinned out considerably, and it became a pretty pleasant hike.

     Along the way, I spotted some funky looking caterpillars that are covered in spikes on the torii gates. It's also sad to see some of the torii gates up here with severe damage (though I think this damage is due to the elements).

     There were also vending machines along the way, which made us wonder... how do they get the drinks up here?!

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:07 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     We returned to Kitaoji and had an early dinner at the food court there. We went for soba, and since the small, medium and large portions were the same price, I decided to go with large as it is the most bang-for-buck option.

     That was a mistake, because I ended up with a big mountain of soba noodles :frierendisappointed1:

     And yet, despite eating it all, I didn't feel bloated or like I had eaten too much. Thankfully, soba is pretty "lightweight".

     We took the subway back to the hotel, and watched some TV. Despite the lack of English subtitles, I've learned a lot about the biology of hermit crabs :SataniaThumbsUp:

     That concludes day 2!

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:07 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     つづく :Cenzuoyeah:

     Day 3 in Kyoto. Our first destination is Fushimi Inari-taisha (伏見稲荷大社). We went a little earlier to avoid the worst of the crowd, but we couldn't bear to wake up super early. We reached the shrine at 9am, and it was just in time for a ceremony!

     I watched the priests bring offerings up to the deities, as well as a dance from the shrine maidens. I also saw a lot of the locals toss in a coin for donation and do the 2 claps, 2 bows, 1 clap motion (which kept making me think about Suwako's spell card).

     The ceremony was pretty long though, so after the dance, we began our climb proper.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:08 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     I bought a bottle of orange juice which apparently had jelly inside. I didn't shake it enough and was quite confused when I tipped the bottle over and somehow the orange juice remains suspended within the bottle :neocat_googly_shocked:

     Next up is the Philosopher's Path, since it's nearby. Unfortunately, since we went to Japan during the end of spring, all the trees are green, so there wasn't much to see. (In general, a lot of these sights would be way more beautiful in the middle of spring or autumn. Or maybe even winter!)

     And that wraps up our business around Ginkaku-ji. Off to Kinkaku-ji (金閣寺) next!

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:08 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     It was quite a long bus ride (after quite a long wait for the bus), so I ended up napping on it and almost missed the stop lol. It was a good thing my friend remained awake and woke me up.

     Kinkaku-ji is certainly the more popular pavilion, and there is a much bigger crowd here. I managed to nab a pretty good photo of it though, despite the crowd!

     While the Golden Pavilion is certainly a sight to behold, I still kinda like Ginkaku-ji a bit more? Like Bocchi from Bocchi the Rock, although it's for different reasons (I just like Ginkaku-ji because of the sand structures, hehe).

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:08 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     We originally wanted to visit Arashiyama next, but it felt really out of the way and it was already late afternoon. Having already visited three places, we were really tired out too. As such, we decided to visit the Kyoto Botanical Gardens instead, which was a few bus stops away.

     Again, the end of spring is really not the best time for viewing flowers, but we still got to see some. In particular, there was one that only bloomed in May and it was the one that happened to be printed on my ticket, so I had to take a picture of them together :Hehe:

     (I forgot what flowers these are, so the alt text for these images are bad.)

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:09 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     The first is the Ginshadan (銀沙灘), where rows are carved into an otherwise flat surface of white sand. There is also the Kogetsudai (向月台), where white sand is piled up into a conical frustum (or a pudding shape, basically). Both of them just look quite alien, hehe.

     There are quite a few other stuff there too, and there's also a nice vantage point along the way to see the entire temple ground.

     Back outside Ginkaku-ji, I noticed a torii gate down one of the streets, so we took another detour. It turns out to be the Hachi-jinja (八神社), and despite its proximity to Ginkaku-ji, barely anyone goes there.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:09 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     As its name suggests, Hachi-jinja honours eight Shinto deities. Up the stairs, there are a few shrines placed next to one another. It's a pretty small space and without much knowledge about Shintoism, we couldn't appreciate it fully. But it has a really cosy and serene atmosphere.

     If I were to revisit Kyoto, I think it would be good to avoid the famous landmarks and to visit this sort of "neighbourhood" shrines or temples instead.

     With that done, we visited some of the stalls near Ginkaku-ji, getting us some daifuku and drinks from the vending machine.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:10 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     Day 2 is when the trip starts for real. Our goal for this day is to visit a bunch of landmarks, and since it was my first time going to Kyoto, I unfortunately picked a bunch of tourist-y spots.

     We started by squeezing onto a bus to get to Kiyomizu-dera (清水寺). Interestingly, in Kyoto, passengers are supposed to board from the back door and alight from the front door.

     After a somewhat long trek up a slope, filled with cars and tourists, we made it to the temple grounds proper. We paid for a ticket to get to the main building, but it wasn't until we left that I realised the main building was the elevated one that you always see in photos lol

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:10 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     Afterwards, we ventured around the temple grounds a bit, and we found a sign leading to another temple called Seikan-ji (清閑寺), claiming it has a good viewpoint. As such, we decided to take a detour to get away from the tourists.

     Seikan-ji is much more quiet, being visited by only a few people. It was quite a distance away, and we almost turned back right before we found it :Sweat:

     And indeed, Seikan-ji has a very nice viewpoint of Kyoto, being framed between two mountains. As the sign there mentioned, it is as though the city of Kyoto is spread out like a fan in front of you.

     This is also where the Kaname-ishi (要石), or keystone, is found!

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:10 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     (Now, I finally understand where the keystones used by Tenshi comes from!)

     Did I also mention it was a hot day? The sun was relentless. At least the humidity in Japan is lower, so it's more manageable.

     With Kiyomizu-dera covered, we descended through the crowd again and took the bus towards Ginkaku-ji (銀閣寺). Apparently, it's official name is Jisho-ji (慈照寺), but for the most part, it's still referred to as Ginkaku-ji, including the surrounding area.

     Ginkaku-ji isn't the most popular landmark, but there were still quite a number of people there. What I found the most interesting was the sand structures seen right as you stepped inside.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:11 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     After staring at a bunch of residential buildings and a stadium right next to some gas processing plant, we arrived at Kyoto Station. And holy cow, there were SO many people.

     The hotel we were staying at was on the other side of Kyoto Station from where we exited, and we got a little confused figuring out how to cut across. But we eventually made it and dropped off our luggage.

     It was evening already, so we headed back to Kyoto Station for food. And we ended up on pasta of all things :frierendisappointed1: It was because the queue wasn't too long, and it was actually pretty nice.

     (Image CW: food)

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:11 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     We roamed around Porta and Kyoto Avanti a bit, eventually ending up in a Don Quixote store in Avanti. These stores are way bigger than the ones we have in Singapore, and they are even more confusing to navigate :neocat_dizzy:

     I found a suitcase belt with the Eeveelutions on it, which was pretty cute, but I ended up not buying it. I also found a small adult section in it, but it was just sex toys.

     And that concludes day 1.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:12 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     Touch down in Kansai Airport, since Kyoto is the first leg of our trip. After scanning our passport and immigration QR code a bunch of times, we finally got our luggage and could leave the airport.

     And of course, the first order of business is getting confused by the public transport system :neocat_laugh_sweat:

     We needed to take the JR Haruka line, but we were pretty confused with how it works. Thankfully, there were English-speaking staff who helped to explain the process, and we got our tickets successfully.

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     :blobancap: :blobcattrans: :blobancap: :blobcattrans: :blobancap: :blobcattrans: (allison@hidamari.apartments)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:30 JST :blobancap: :blobcattrans: :blobancap: :blobcattrans: :blobancap: :blobcattrans:

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     • skalt711
     @skalt711 @rgbunny I can't say anything about Japan, but the few times I was able to catch really high class runs from arcade players over here, yes, absolutely
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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:31 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     After spending a few credits to warm up and adapt to the controls, I managed to clear the Expert course! It only took me 3 credits in all. Didn't bother with the other courses though, since they aren't as interesting.

     Also played some Mr Driller G and Strikers 1945, but didn't get much progress in them.

     I happened to see the end of a Ketsui Ura 2-ALL, and little did I know, it was just the first of three I would see during my trip! I would've thought an Ura 2-ALL would be hard to see, due to the no miss, no bomb requirements to enter the Ura loop.

     On the other hand, I saw people play Mushihimesama Futari Black Label on God mode quite a few times, but I unfortunately never got to see anyone make it to stage 5. Would've been so hype to see a God mode 1cc!

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     skalt711 (skalt711@miruku.cafe)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:31 JST skalt711

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     @rgbunny@urusai.social Was it worth watching the shmup runs physically in person?:kitty_sip:

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:32 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     The heavy rain continued and it was getting dark, so we decided to call it quits and head back to the hotel.

     Back in Akihabara, it was already night, and the rain was still going, which made it quite cold. Worse, the wind was blowing pretty much the entire time, and my clothes weren't that thick. With the wind chill, it was really, really cold.

     While I am glad that I finally took the step to present femininely for the first time, as well as buying the jirai-kei clothes, this day was just so wet and miserable...

     My friend went to meet someone, so I took the chance to try out the jirai-kei clothes. And they fit like a glove! Thankfully so, because at Mo Mon, I couldn't try on the top, so it was purely up to the store owner's judgement.

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:32 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     The most important thing is knowing where I fit on Japan's sizing scale, and now I know that Japan's M is actually Singapore's S size. And unfortunately, some places don't stock anything more than M size (e.g. To Alice). At least, not in the physical store.

     Speaking of, we moved the clothes shopping earlier so that I could make use of online shopping for cheaper prices, but after seeing my friend struggle with getting the hoodie on the previous day, I ended up buying the clothes physically.

     Anyway, the night is still young, so I changed into my usual boymode clothes and headed back to HEY for more arcade gaming!

     This time, I noticed the Macross II cabinet, which was something I didn't really expect! (Then again, there was already a Macross cabinet...)

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     Retro Goth Bunny (rgbunny@urusai.social)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:09:33 JST Retro Goth Bunny

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     That was quite an unexpected find, though I didn't find any other STG soundtracks I would've liked. Well, not like I have a CD player at the moment, but that can always be remedied.

     As I was leaving though, it turns out there's some kind of idol event on the first floor, so all but one of the exits were closed to control the crowd. This also made leaving quite challenging :btr_bocchi_pain:

     Afterwards, I met up with my friend and we headed over to Shimokitazawa, which was our last destination for the day. However, it didn't take long for the rain to pick back up, and it was much heavier this time!

     We ended up taking shelter in a McDonalds, so I ordered something to eat there as I didn't eat much the whole day. (We didn't eat much on the trip in general, which is a bit of a waste...)

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     :blobancap: :blobcattrans: :blobancap: :blobcattrans: :blobancap: :blobcattrans: (allison@hidamari.apartments)'s status on Wednesday, 19-Jun-2024 22:10:41 JST :blobancap: :blobcattrans: :blobancap: :blobcattrans: :blobancap: :blobcattrans:

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     @rgbunny Notwithstanding the selection bias in players from you going to HEY, Ketsui Ura 2-ALL is actually slightly overrated difficulty wise, if you have a good route for it, you can be very consistent at it