Unloading the dishwasher in my parents' house this morning, I heard my mum calling from upstairs. I went to see what was up.

There was a robin in my childhood bedroom?? Perching on the curtain rod??? Fluttering around the room??? At one point it landed on a toy elephant; at one point it buzzed the top of my head. I hadn't realised that robins were able to hover, but I got a very close-up look at one hovering today!

I wasn't able to get great pictures - I didn't want to spend too much time messing around with my phone camera when I suspected the robin would prefer to leave immediately - but here are a couple of shots that will hopefully convey some element of the 'holy shit, there's a bird in the house' experience I just had:




An extremely confusing and magical experience! More magical for me than for the robin, I suspect. It's now flown safely out of the window.

I'm still in the process of losing my mind over a fake videogame, but I can spare a moment to talk about a real game that people have actually played. I recently finished Astro Bot!

This game is ludicrously charming. All the fun references to PlayStation hardware and games! All the cute little robot animals everywhere!

This is not a comparison I would have expected to draw, but it reminds me a little of Horizon Zero Dawn: a world where animals essential to the ecosystem have been replaced by robots with animal behaviours.

Being a little arsehole who punches everyone is both encouraged and surprisingly adorable in this game. You can also do a cute little dance at any time!

I unlocked a new star system and checked its name.

Riona: The Tentacle System?
Ginger: Ooh, Riona's favourite.

This is the reputation I have amongst my friends.

I entered one optional world, saw Teddie of Persona 4 being abducted by a spaceship, went 'ugh, Teddie?? I don't want to rescue you' and immediately left the planet.

I'm cuddling a robot cow!! This is the best game ever made.

I came across Pyramid Head, and, you know, I'm not sure I want to collect this bot.

Oh, God, I'd forgotten that the robots awaiting rescue twerk when you get close. You could have given me five years to prepare, and I still would not have been ready for Pyramid Head twerking in my face.

When I'm looking for something new to play, I often fixate on the idea of playing something I might end up writing fanfiction for; I tend not to pick up games that are light on story and character. Somewhere along the way, I forgot that it's also good to play a game just because it's fun. Not everything has to inspire creativity! Sometimes you just want to sit down and have a good time with a well-crafted videogame.

(And hang out with a bunch of cute little robots. I don't generally consider myself a big robot fan! But I find these ones enchanting.)

Watching Danganronpa: Despair Time was a mistake. I cannot stop thinking about my brand new blorbo. My terrible young man. My perfect angel. Here are assorted ramblings about the latest character I have latched on to entirely because he is the absolute goddamn worst.

Is anyone who follows me into Danganronpa: Despair Time? No. Am I going to keep talking about it regardless? I'd like to see you stop me.

The reason you're suffering through this is that I've already written my sole Despair Time fic idea, and this was not enough to exorcise my feelings. I've got all this writing energy and nowhere to put it! So apparently it ends up in rambling blog posts. I can only apologise.


( Talking about my favourite character in Danganronpa: Despair Time. )


I haven't lost my mind this hard over a fictional character in a couple of years; I think the last time was 2023, when I met Jack Shephard and experienced the Great Light Yagami Rediscovery. I'd forgotten how much fun it could be! And also how deeply unfortunate. Sometimes a character just gets my throat in their teeth, and all I can do is wait for them to stop shaking.

Glancing at the watch I'm not wearing, I see that it is once again time for me to lose my mind over something ludicrously niche.

Danganronpa: Despair Time is an unofficial Danganronpa fan series on YouTube, mimicking the style and concept of the Danganronpa games: sixteen talented young people are trapped in a building and forced to murder each other. I was a little sceptical, but I thought I might as well give it a try.

I'm really impressed! This fan series nails the Danganronpa tone, I like the characters, and it's so dense with interesting plot developments and revelations. I tore through the whole thing and had a great time.

Below the cut are the increasingly rambling and invested notes I made while watching everything that exists so far: the prologue and the first two chapters. At one point I fall hard in love with one of the characters within the space of a few seconds for extremely predictable reasons, i.e. that character being The Worst.


( Notes on Danganronpa: Despair Time, up to the end of chapter two. )


I'm already impatiently looking forward to more. Why have I done this to myself?