My new land

My life, my hobbies, my real self

A nostalgic post, since I miss the old times

Hello everyone!

Well, I guess no one reads my blog anymore and I can’t blame you at all, since I haven’t kept my promise to update at least once a month; but if you are an old time reader and you are here by chance, thank you!

I’ve been on holiday for a week recently, so I had time to relax, have some fun and meet my friends who sometime think I disappeared from this world since my job completely takes over my life.

One conversation in particular reminded me how much of a terrible blogger I am, so it encouraged me to write at least a few lines: a friend introduced his new girlfriend and while we were talking about traveling, she was excited about a trip to Japan which is her dream.

And that’s how my friend started talking about my interest in Japan, anime and otome games; he even explained to her what the genre is and how I used to learn the language by myself, looking up for kanji on my dictionary, literally 10 years ago! I can’t believe my friend still remembers about those times, I guess my determination to break the language barrier kinda impressed him and it makes me really proud of my past self; actually, it also makes me sad, since I miss those times and sometimes I wonder what could have happened if I was still part of the community.

I was aware that I would have lost my otome friends if I suddenly stopped playing and blogging, but I was tired to force myself to enjoy an hobby I wasn’t loving so much anymore.

Still, it breaks my heart when I check twitter and my TL is empty; I guess many friends changed their hobbies too, or maybe they stopped using social media; I realized that there’s no turning back: if I ever come back to otome, I should pretty much start from zero, as I did when I went back to listening to kpop after years. It seems a totally different world.

One year is actually not that long, but it feels like a lifetime in a community, when everything changes rapidly; so well, I’m writing this post because I miss my twitter/blog friends, amazing people who gave me so much motivation to write and share my opinions through the years.

If you’re reading this, how are you? Are you still part of the otome community? Did it change so much, since I disappeared? I’m really wondering if it’s just a personal feeling, or it’s true.

Anyway, thank you all for the great memories, I still cherish every moment spent in this fandom!

Happy Easter!

Hello my friends, how are you doing? I hope you’re able to enjoy a break for a few days, you deserve it for sure!

I’m free for 3 days, which sounds like a miracle… I still can’t believe it, but I’m going to make the best out of it!

I have a couple exciting plans, some boring tasks (I was procrastinating) to do and for the rest I’ll just relax and enjoy freedom.

Lately I’m into kpop journaling, I’ve been watching tons of videos on youtube and it seemed fun, so I’m giving it a try; I’ve been into bullet journaling for years so it’s not much difference, but still it feels fresh and it’s making me in a good mood.

I hope you’ll be able to take your time and enjoy your hobbies too, for a few days at least.

Happy Easter!

Sharing some of my favorite songs!

Hello everyone! It’s been almost a year since I started listening to kpop again, so I want to share some of my favorite songs, which had made me feel better on bad days: music is very therapeutic to me, when I’m tired or depressed it can lift up my mood a lot! Maybe you need this too, today.

Here’s my “cheer up” play list, made up with songs that make me want to sing along and dance!

Nct U – Make a wish

Ateez – Wonderland

Stray Kids – Thunderous

Nct Dream – Glitch Mode

Cravity – Party Rock

The Boyz- Reveal

These are just a few, but I’ll stop here for today; I hope you’ll enjoy them as I do!

Sharing my love and appreciation for TxT (TomorrowXTogether)!

One of the groups I mostly enjoy and respect, from kpop’s 4th generation, is TxT, a 5 member boy group debuted under Big Hit Entertainment in 2019.

When I first saw their debut stage, I was amazed by their perfectly synched choreography, which showed their talent and confidence despite being rookies.

Their personalities are also charming: when I watch their reality shows, they always make me laugh a lot (sometimes I’m even crying, no joke, they can be THAT funny).

So if you’re stressed, or having a bad day, I suggest you to give a try to their TO DO show, which you can easily find on youtube; your day will get better!

Now, let me share some of my favorite songs of them.

First of all, their debut stage!

Whenever I hear them sing (mostly Taehyun, I love his voice) I’m really impressed by their talent to convey feelings of desperation and pain: I can’t understand korean, but as soon as I’ve heard “0x1= LOVESONG (I know I love you)”, I felt so many emotions, I was truly addicted.

When Good boy gone bad was released, last year, I was amazed by the dark vibes of the music video: if you’ve read my kpop awards, you know it was my favorite of 2022!

I was really hyped for their January comeback, my expectations were high and I wasn’t disappointed at all: check it out, and tell me if you love it as I do!

This is all I can do, for this year’s Valentine’s Day: I used to come up with 2D characters rankings in the past, so if you came here expecting something otome related, you’ll probably be disappointed; but there’s plenty of content in my blog, if you haven’t read old posts yet, I’m sure you’ll find something interesting looking it up.

Lately I’ve decided to share my love and appreciation for the kpop artists I’m enjoying the most, even if no one cares, since I’ve always worked on this blog out of love, so… if my suggestions can make your day a little brighter, my goal is achieved.

Happy Valentine’s!

ATEEZ

2023 barely started, but it feels great already since one of my favorite groups has just made a comeback: Ateez! I guess it’s the perfect moment to share my love for these amazing boys, hoping you’ll become an Atiny like me today.

Ateez debuted in 2018, with 8 members: Hongjoong, Seonghwa, Yunho, Yeosang, San, Mingi, Wooyoung e Jongho.

They released a lot of great songs through these years, so I’ll just choose a few to share; their performances are always powerful, they have such a great stage presence and charisma, it’s impossible to ignore them whenever they go on stage.

Their most famous song is probably Wonderland:

When I first listened to Wonderland I was speachless, and even idols from other groups looked shocked when Ateez performed it live at Mama. Seeing their reaction made me a proud Atiny, it’s great to see Ateez being appreciated by other performers too.

Another song I absolutely love is I’m the one, the choreo is so great, it perfectly showcases their talent.

Answer is a song that always makes me emotional, their vocals can really touch my soul.

Guerilla is the first comeback I waited for with high expectations and I wasn’t disappointed: the music video is one of the best of 2022 for me, it creates a whole new world and it makes me want to know how their story will continue.

And finally, their last comeback, Halazia.

I was really impressed: not only the song, the choreo and the visual are top as usual, but the concept of the video and the storyline they are building up in each comeback is so unique, no one else dares to try something remotely similar.

Ateez are without any doubt a driving force of the 4th generation of kpop and I feel blessed to live in their peak era.

Choosing just 5 songs was hard, but if I made you at least a bit curious, go check out Thanxx and Dejavu, I swear you’ll love them too.

This is my first post of a series about my favorite groups, I hope some of you will become new fans! See you soon!

Goodbye, 2022!

Happy new year everyone, I hope you’re having a great start!

While I’m relaxing at home, I’m taking some time as usual to share my memories and feelings about my 2022, which overall was a good year. Not amazing, but not even bad.

The best part was the moving to my new house: it was extremely tiring, but having my own place feels like I finally accomplished something important as an adult; it comes with huge responsabilities, but I’m proud of myself for reaching this milestone.

Work wise, I had a lot of depressing moments when I was almost going to quit, but I decided to keep up and eventually the situation improved a bit; I can’t predict what’s going to happen in the future, but for now I’ll just go with the flow and see what happens.

I had a lot of plans for this blog at the start of January, but somehow I ended up losing my motivation and going on hiatus; I basically disappeared from social media for months.

That was completely unexpected to me too, it wasn’t planned, but at some point I felt like it was the best option: all the feelings I piled up for a couple years exploded in my mind and gave me no other choice.

At the same time, I started listening to kpop as I used to 10 years ago and I fell in love with new groups, so my interest shifted from otome games to kpop quickly.

Don’t get me wrong: I didn’t stop playing games because of kpop.

I was dragging the new releases already, I wasn’t very interested and I didn’t feel motivated while blogging anymore, so I naturally searched for something different that could light a sparkle of life in me; it happened to be kpop, so I just followed my heart and went with it.

I don’t know how long my otoge hiatus will last, nor my interest in kpop, but I’ll still try to keep my blog alive, until there’s at least one person who enjoys reading my opinions.

This is the 1st time since like 2019 that I don’t have a blog schedule or at least a mid-time plan, which makes me feel a bit weird and worried (I’m obsessed with planning, my MBTI is INTJ), but at the same time relieved: I want to change my attitude, being more spontaneous and less robotic.

Will this be a success or a failure, both for my life and this blog? Time will tell.

I hope some of you will come here from time to time and enjoy the ride with me.

See you soon!

My 2022 kpop awards

Hello my dear readers, I’m already back as promised!

Writing 2 posts in 2 days makes me feel like I’m a real blogger again, I hope I can keep up with a nice pace next year too.

I don’t know how many people will be interested, but I still want to share my 2022 KPOP awards to everyone who enjoys listening to kpop from time to time, or may be into trying out new music and wants to give these songs a chance. Before I start, a quick reminder: as I stated in yesterdays post (please take a look if you didn’t check it out!) I only listen to boy groups, if you wonder why there are no girl groups in this list, so don’t be offended if your favorite are nowhere to be seen.

Let’s start!

BEST MUSIC VIDEO TXT: Good boy gone bad

I love dark vibes, my favorite comebacks are usually angsty.

BEST PERFORMANCE ATEEZ: Guerilla

This is so powerful, I was amazed every time they performed at music shows; Jongho’s voice is crazy!

DEBUT OF THE YEAR TNX: Move

This is so great, I can’t wait for their first comeback to find out if they have the potential to be the next big thing; my hopes are high!

SONG OF THE YEAR NCT17: 2baddies

This song got stuck in my head since it’s release, the chorus is too catchy!

ALBUM OF THE YEAR STRAY KIDS: Oddinary

Every song is a masterpiece, Stray kids are really talented!

ARTIST OF THE YEAR NCT Dream

I was actually going to cheat and choose NCT in general, because it took me like 2 months to learn their names, and I feel like they are the main characters of my 2022; I absolutely love them all and I don’t regret any of the hours I spent watching their shows or listening to their songs, they brought a ray of light into this hard year for me, I’m really thankful.

If I need to choose a sub unit, I go with Dream, since I loved Glitch Mode and Beatbox, but most of all Candy was a nice surprise I really appreciated, it put a smile on my face while I was really tired for work. I’m really greateful Chenle came up with this idea!

This is all I can share with you for today, I could go on for hours talking about every group and song released this year, but the lack of free time sadly doesn’t allow me to write more; I’ll try to write about my favorite comebacks as soon as they are released next year, so my kpop awards will make more sense at the end.

Actually, it feels weird for me to not deliver my usual otome game awards, as I did since 2016; I recently noticed I forgot about my blog anniversary too, which is enough to explain how busy I was; well, happy 6th birthday to my blog and thank you to my readers, who decided to come with me in this new journey, even if it’s so different from what I used to write about so far.

This is probably my last post of 2022, but I still want to write something about these past months before I’m ready to say goodbye and welcome 2023; see you very soon.

Happy new year!

A nostalgic post and important stuff before I officially start blogging about kpop

Merry Christmas everyone!
Are you spending today with people you love, or are you trapped among annoying relatives? I had dinner with my family yesterday, but finally I have 2 days only for myself, to relax and have fun with my hobbies. December has been a wild ride at work, I truly deserve some free time on my own!
Since I decided to give this blog a fresh start, I thought it would be nice talking about my experience with kpop, before I start sharing my personal favorites and my opinions.
I first started listening to kpop in 2010, when I was still a student: it’s been a long time ago, but somehow I don’t feel really different as a person, even if I’m a wife and a decent adult with a job now. Should I be happy or worried about it? I guess having a young mindset is not a bad thing.
The first song that got me into kpop was Super Junior’s Bonamana, I was literally obsessed and I still enjoy listening to it; Sorry Sorry was also amazing, there’s no wonder I became an ELF immediately.
I loved Big Bang, Shinee, TVXQ and 2PM too, they were my favorite groups and I used to talk about them for hours with my online friends (sadly, nobody knew about kpop where I lived); as soon as I got home from school, I turned on my PC to see updates and chat with other fans.
Back in the old times when forum still existed, I even used to write fanfics! It’s kinda embarrassing if I think about it now, but I enjoyed the fandom life a lot, so I have no regrets.
I mostly listened to boy groups, but if I loved 2ne1 too: when I’m the Best was released, I went crazy! Such an amazing song.
My deepest memories come from EXO members’ teasers, which where released daily before their official debut: I had no internet on my smartphone back in the stone age, so I used to sneak into the school PC room just to see which member was showed, I couldn’t wait till I came home in the evening. I was so hyped, I don’t even know how I managed to study and get good grades.
Kpop wasn’t popular back then, so almost no groups came to Europe (now they do often, but apparently still no one cares about Italy), so when VIXX announced a showcase in Milan I was the happiest person ever!! I took the chance to meet in person some of my online friends, which made that event an unforgettable memory.
I wish I could have stayed a student forever, but life got really busy when I started working and I slowly faded away from kpop: in the meanwhile, I discovered otome games and they eventually became my main hobby, which I dedicated most of my free time to.
But I never stopped keeping up with the most important news, as time went by.
When Luhan left EXO, I felt betrayed: he was my favorite member and my 2nd ultimate bias in kpop in general, seeing him leave the group hurt. A lot. I felt like everything about him and kpop was a huge lie and I couldn’t trust idols for a long time.
In 2017, I still remember the shock I felt when I read about Shinee’s Jonghyun’s death: I felt my heart breaking into pieces and I almost cried at work, I had to take a break for a few minutes to recover; after 7 years since I first listened to his voice, I felt like I lost a friend.
So, why did I stop being so involved with the fandom?
The reason is simple: I’m too old and tired to be involved in fanwars.
Even back in the days, most of the fans seemed younger than me (it’s even worse now, obviously) and I didn’t wan’t to spend my free time arguing with teens about who deserves to win on a music show; their level of energy is different from mine, they get upset over everything and I don’t need teen drama in my busy life.
I want kpop to be a peaceful oasis, an hobby that brings me joy and distraction from my daily routine, I don’t want to take it seriously, having to worry about any words I say. That’s why I’m not active in any fandom now, not even on twitter.
I was actually kinda worried about writing my opinions here, but I trust my readers and I’m sure no one will get offended if I don’t like a group or a song: this is just my personal taste after all.
You know I always try to be respectful, if I don’t enjoy something I never say “it sucks”, I just avoid talking about it or I’ll simply say it’s not for me. I’m going to talk about kpop exactly like I did with otome games: if you don’t see me writing about a group or a comeback, it’s probably because I’m not interested. There’s no need to feel offended, I’m just a person sharing her humble personal opinion, having a blog doesn’t make me some kind of influencer.
I felt this was very important to say before I share my kpop awards, since I’m sure everyone will notice immediately the complete lack of girl groups: I like BlackPink, I sometimes enjoy listening to a few popular songs, but I’m not a fan of any girl group. So please, don’t keep asking me why I never talk about them, it’s simply not my taste.

Well, I think I’ve said enough for now; I have plenty of time to come up with nostalgic posts about the past, you know I love sharing those feelings. See you before the year ends with my kpop awards and my 2022 recap! Until then, have a nice Christmas!

New year, new start!

Hello everyone, are you enjoying the Christmas mood? Or are you a tired retail worker like me, who wonders if it’s actually possible to survive through Christmas hell?

As promised, I’ve spent the past few weeks thinking about my blog’s future, to decide if it should change or just stay on hiatus until my will of playing otome games eventually comes back.

I’ve considered many ideas and changed my mind a few times, but I came to a decision.

This place is focused on otome games, but it also contains my random life updates, since it’s been also some kind of diary for me; sharing my opinions and feelings in general is the reason why it was opened, it never meant to be some kind of objective, serious review site.

Everything here is about my taste and my personal opinions, regardless of the content.

So, why excluding kpop, if it’s what entertains me the most lately?

If I’d wait for my gaming mood to come back, this blog could be on hiatus for months, maybe even years or forever, since I can’t obviously predict when I’ll start playing daily as I used to.

So, here’s what I decided to do.

The blog’s name, header and main tags will stay exactly the same: if someone is looking for a review or a TOP10, they will have no problem in finding everything. This is my blog’s main purpose and it won’t change.

I’ll create a separate tag for my kpop posts; it will be used like the “personal stuff” tag, which already exists, for people who may be interested in my other hobbies or my life.

I still have some half written otome reviews and opinions, which I may decide to share if I think they can be useful.

For the new content I’d like to bring, I have many ideas, but little time as always; my main goal would be to write at least a couple posts every month, talking about my favorite kpop comebacks or debuts! There’s always a lot going on in the kpop world and I enjoy sharing my opinions, I could even come up with a weekly recap, but it depends on the free time I get next year.

Don’t expect something great, if you’re a long time reader of mine, you already know that my posts are not polished like I was some kind of expert: it’s just me blabbering, as if we were just friends chatting about our hobbies.

My plan starts with my personal kpop awards, then I’ll probably write about my favorite groups, songs, shows and my expectations for 2023. I’ll probably write about my 2022 too, as I always did in the past when a year is about to reach its end.

If somehow this could interest you, come here from time to time! Any comment or suggestion are highly appreciated: this blog is not only mine, I feel like it kinda belongs to my readers too.

Take care!

Life updates, blog concerns and maybe a new start

Hello everyone, how are you doing? I’m still alive and pretty fine, if some of you were concerned for my long absence, thank you and sorry for making you worry! I wonder how many of my long time readers still come here from time to time, to check if I posted a new review or TOP10. Are you still interested in my weird taste? If so, were you surprised by my random Suuran Digit review?

I know, it’s an old game, but it’s the last I completed this year and I realized I never shared my opinion about it, so I thought it could be still useful to someone who still enjoys PsVita games.

Months have passed since my last personal update, I guess it’s the perfect timing to have a talk for a bit, just to let you know what’s going on and why I disappeared for so long.

I’ll keep it short, no one is willing to hear my complaints: I still work too much, but since this awful summer the situation improved a little bit and I feel healthier. I still can’t rest properly, but I have at least a day off every week, which should be normal but apparently for my boss is some kind of priviledge. Anyway, it’s better now.

I haven’t played otome games for months, since June I think, because I was always too tired and I couldn’t fully focus, I preferred to watch funny stuff on youtube to make my mind at ease.

I even started listening to kpop again, as I used to like 10 years ago, which is something I honestly wasn’t expecting! But life is weird, I fell in love with a song I listened to randomly and here I am, deeply back in kpop hell like it’s still 2012.

I even thought about changing this blog to a kpop one, writing my opinions about comebacks, albums, variety shows and stuff like that, but I feel like I would “ruin” this place: it was created to share my opinions about otome games and I think it should stay like this, regardless if I’ll update it or not; part of me is scared it will die, so I’d like to keep it alive with my new hobbies, but if I mix up too much different content, the result will probably be terrible.

I don’t know, give me your opinion if you want, I’ll think about it.

I was even considering opening a different blog for my kpop content, but I don’t want to deal with crazy people in the fandom, I just want to keep it low and share my humble opinions, I don’t need unnecessary drama in my life.

At the end of the year, I usually share my otome games awards, but since I’ve played like 5 games in total, I guess it’s kinda meaningless; Lover Pretend was my favorite anyway, so if you are still wondering if it’s good, get it now!

I’d gladly share my personal kpop awards instead, but I don’t think there are many kpop fans among my readers; I even wonder if I still have readers, at this point I don’t even know if I should consider myself a blogger anymore. But maybe someone is interested in music in general, and you have more free time during holidays, so my advice could still make you curious to check out some songs… let’s see what happens, if I’m in the mood to write a post or not.

After like 5 months, today I woke up thinking about my blog and how much I used to love it, that’s why I posted my Suuran Digit review and I’m writing this, thinking that maybe it’s not over yet.

Any comment or suggestion may change it all, so feel free to contact me here or on social media, even if I’ve been inactive since July, I still check it out almost daily.

I don’t really know when I’ll come back again, or if I’ll ever come back at all; even if I do, at this point I don’t know what I’ll be writing about; but if you still want to come here from time to time, you’ll may find something unexpected!

Until then, be happy and stay healthy!

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