Tag: Challenges

2022 challenges, Challenges

2022 Challenges: The Beginning

ohnoitsjade

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Happy New Year to all my followers and readers! I hope 2021 wasn’t a total garbage fest for you all, it was okay for me but I feel glad to see the back of it! Here’s to a much better 2022!

Thinking about 2022, I want things to change. I felt like in 2021 I had my priorities totally wrong with the challenges and my focus was on things that were totally not what I wanted to really be doing. I got the platinum in a lot of games in 2021, sure, but did I play any good games? Not especially! I’ve found over the years I’ve done a few things like that, and I feel like I’d like to reprioritise things so I feel more fulfilled at the end of the year!

So, here are some slightly more targeted ~achievable~ challenges for 2022!

Platinum 15 games

I know I said in my intro that I was going to reprioritise, but I felt like it wouldn’t be Culture Shack without some focus on platinum trophies. I am going to come up with some criteria to the games I’m going to platinum so that I only get ones that actually pose a challenge and aren’t little 10 minute jobs I’ve bought just to ping the trophy. There might even be a shortlist of games I want to try to get the platinum in, who knows? This challenges leads on nicely to my next one, the first sub-challenge in Culture Shack history!

Get the platinum in Persona 4 Golden

I’ve been threatening it for years, but this year I’m finally going to do it. I’m going to get the platinum in Persona 4 Golden. I really tried in 2021, but I got caught up in other things. I first started playing the game in March 2014, so this is seven years in the making! Out of all of my challenges this is the one I’m most determined to do!

Watch 30 anime

For a self-confessed anime obsessive, I sure haven’t watched much anime lately. I really want to change this. This also comes with a sub-challenge of sorts – I want to watch one show per season. I went a bit crazy with seasonal shows the last couple of years and it was really overwhelming to keep up with, but at the same time it’s cool to be part of the hype. By paring it back to one show per season I think this will allow me to manage things a lot easier and still be part of the ‘conversation’.

Watch 30 films

I got so close to this target in 2021, and I think my mistake was only picking up steam in the latter half of the year so it felt like more of a chore. I can definitely do this!

Watch 30 anime films

Do you know how many unwatched anime blu-rays I have? A lot. Not in 2022. In 2022 I’m going to watch them… maybe not all, but most!

Read 18 books

I nailed the books challenge in 2021, and I really loved doing it. I was always an avid reader as a kid and the literature part of my degree really smashed that out of me. Now I’ve got back in my stride I reckon I can read 18 in 2022, that’s only a book and a half a month!

Clear physical Switch and Vita backlogs

My backlog has gotten out of hand, and I need to resolve that. I’m starting with my handhelds, and purely on the physical games I have so that I have some sort of structure. There’s 6 and 7 games per console so hopefully this won’t be too much of a task.

If you’re interested the games are as follows:

  • Our World Is Ended (Switch)
  • The World Ends With You (Switch)
  • Valthirian Arc (Switch)
  • Cafe Enchante (Switch)
  • Langrisser 1 and 2 (Switch)
  • Octopath Traveller (Switch)
  • Hakuoki Edo Blossoms (Vita)
  • Exist Archive (Vita)
  • 7’scarlet (Vita)
  • Tales of Hearts R (Vita)
  • Steins;Gate (Vita)
  • Pyschadelica of the Black Butterfly (Vita)

 

What do you think of my challenges for 2022? Have I bitten off more than I can chew yet again? If you have any suggestions for last minute considerations, let me know! As well as these challenges, I also have a lot of plans for the blog so I can hopefully be more active, and a lot of life goals I’m determined to achieve! Let’s make 2022 our year!

2021 challenges, Challenges

2021 Challenges: January Recap

ohnoitsjade

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January feels like one of those months where time has just totally got away from me. It seems like I’ve had barely any free time, despite having not really achieved all that much. It’s been a weird one!

This is also going to be the shortest post I’ve ever done, because I have made barely any movement on the challenges. I’m off to a really poor start, and I’m starting to think maybe I was a bit optimistic about things!

As a reminder, my challenges were:

  • Watch 45 anime
  • Read 50 complete manga
  • Watch 30 films
  • Watch 30 anime films
  • Get 35 platinum trophies
  • Clear 30 games from my backlog
  • Play 12 Switch games
  • Read 12 books

I’ve done slightly more than nothing – I watched one film, Jojo Rabbit. Here’s hoping for a better February!

2021 challenges, Challenges

2021 Challenges: The Beginning

ohnoitsjade

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2021 will be my sixth year of doing these annual challenges for the blog! That’s slightly unbelievable to me, but time flies I guess!

Once again, I’ve not really learnt anything from my failures, and I’ve set myself some perhaps ridiculous targets for 2021, but I’m nothing if not stubborn, so I’ll continue to throw myself into this cycle.

Here’s what I’m aiming for in 2020:

Watch 45 anime

I (just about) managed to hit 40 anime in 2020, so I thought I’d go the extra step for 2021. 50 seemed far too ambitious at almost one show a week, so 45 seemed like a good compromise. I’ll probably do Anime August again too, as that was pretty successful (and fun!) last year.

Read 50 complete manga

My first manga challenge! I read a lot of manga last year, and it was all for naught! This year, I’m aiming to read 50 complete manga series, whether that’s single volume or otherwise. My only stipulation is that it has to be finished!

Watch 30 films

I’ve moved on from the poster of must see movies, and my cinema trips are still on hiatus, so I’ve sort of combined them for this challenge and tried to be more realistic about things. I’m aiming to watch 30 films in 2021 that I’ve never seen before.

Watch 30 anime films

Much the same as the previous challenge, in 2021 I’m aiming to watch 30 anime films I’ve never watched before. I have a lot in my own collection that I’ve never watched, so I’m hoping to finally watch some of those!

Get 35 platinum trophies

20 platinums was easy peasy, so I’m upping the ante to 35!

Clear 30 games from my backlog

I’m certainly really good at buying games, not so hot on actually playing them, and as a result my backlog is getting way out of hand. In 2021 I want to get 30 games cleared from my backlog! This is just referring to my PS4, PS5 and small remaining Vita backlog. I’ve made a list of the games I want to clear, some of which I’m going to attempt to platinum too – two birds, one stone and all that! I won’t post the list, so you’ll just have to trust me!

Play 12 Switch games

All this platinum trophy hunting means my Switch is getting neglected! I really want to start playing it more because it’s such a great console, so I’ve pledged to play and finish one Switch game per month!

Read 12 books

With everything else, will I even have time to read? Well, I’m going to have to make time! I want to read at least a book every month!

Reading them written down, none of the challenges individually seem difficult, but all together they seem like quite tall orders, but we’ll see what 2021 throws at me!

As usual, you can follow me on Twitter to track my progress!

2020 challenges, Anime, Challenges

Anime August

ohnoitsjade

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A challenge within a challenge! As I’m falling behind schedule on my #cs2020challenges, I thought I need to boost my anime watching. I’ve been playing a lot of games at the moment and neglecting my anime, and I do really miss it so I thought I’d focus on anime for a while, and who doesn’t love a bit of aliteration?

I’ve made a list of things I want to watch in August, it might be a tall order, but I’m committed! This is a combination of things that are already in my physical collection that are definitely overdue a watch. As there are 5 weekends in August, and a bank holiday, I’ve also got a small list of films, because I figured I could at least manage one or two films a weekend!

Here’s the list of series:

  • Beyond the Boundary
  • Haven’t You Heard, I’m Sakamoto
  • Kamisama Kiss
  • My Love Story
  • Norn9
  • Photo Kano
  • Rascal Does Not Dream Of Bunny Girl Senpai
  • Seraph of the End (season 1 and 2)
  • Starmyu
  • Another
  • Re:ZERO
  • March Comes In Like A Lion
  • Beastars
  • A3
  • Days
  • Dive!!
  • K-On
  • Kings Game
  • Sing Yesterday for Me
  • Zombieland Saga
  • Made in Abyss
  • No Game No Life
  • Parasyte The Maxim

And films:

  • Anthem of the Heart
  • Fireworks
  • In This Corner Of The World
  • Lu Over The Wall
  • Mirai
  • Penguin Highway
  • Promare

What do you think? Can I make it through all of this anime?

 

2020 challenges, Challenges

2020 Challenges: July Recap

ohnoitsjade

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Hands up if you can’t believe July is over! I’m publishing this on July 31st as I know I won’t get anything done towards the challenges today, and we’re 58% of the way through the year, which is unbelievable! This year simultaneously feels like it’s gone super slow and super quick.

Watch 40 anime

July end total: 16

I only added 1 anime to my list in July, but for August I have a special plan that I’ll be posting about tomorrow, and if all goes well, then this goal will soon be met.

Watch 40 movies in the cinema

July end total: 5

Cinemas have only opened today, so I was unable to add to this total once again! I also don’t know how I feel about going to the cinema just yet, so I’m not sure when I’ll be going.

Platinum 20 games

July end total: 10

Another good month for platinum trophies with four added; Danganronpa 1.2 Reload, Coffee Talk, My Name is Mayo, and Mr. Massagy. Some of those were great games, some…. not so much.

Read 15 books

July end total: 5

I finally finished Howl’s Moving Castle! I’m sad because I couldn’t get on with it and I felt like I struggled through it, because I love the film so much. It is very different to the movie, and I just couldn’t gel with the writing style. I’m glad I read it though, and now I can move on!

Finish 100 best movies

July end total: 2

Finish Naruto

July end total: 4 episodes

The increase here isn’t because I watched more, it’s because I couldn’t count in previous months.

2020 challenges, Challenges

2020 Challenges: March Recap

ohnoitsjade

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You’d think that being housebound would mean I’d be powering through these challenges…. think again. Some of the challenges are completely unchanged, in fact, it’s only the anime one I’ve managed to make any headway on.

Watch 40 anime

March end total: 7

Winter seasonal shows are starting to wrap up now. Naturally I’m behind, but I’ve managed to finish a couple of shows in March; Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It and The Case Files of Jeweler Richard. My aim is to be totally up to date with all my shows by the end of this week, so April should see a hefty jump in these numbers!

Watch 40 movies in the cinema

March end total: 5

Now we’re not allowed to leave the house, and every movie ever is being delayed, I’m anticipating that I probably won’t hit this target by the end of the year. At least this one is not my fault!

Platinum 20 games

March end total: 1

Read 15 books

March end total: 0

Finish 100 best movies

March end total: 2

Finish Naruto

March end total: 3 episodes

2020 challenges, Challenges

2020 Challenges: February Recap

ohnoitsjade

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Where January was a relatively poor month for the challenges, I feel like February was surprisingly productive for a (slightly) shorter month. House moving and new job stress had subsided, and we were in full decorating swing, but even so, I managed to get a dent in almost all of my challenge areas.

Watch 40 anime

February end total: 4

I actually only managed to get one show finished in February; Bungo Stray Dogs’ third season. I have been watching a lot of seasonal shows, so once they all finish, this figure is going to jump right up.

Watch 40 movies in the cinema

February end total: 5

I had a day where I saw three movies in the cinema; Sonic the Hedgehog, Birds of Prey, and Parasite. I then saw 1917 the next day. It’s hard for me to get to the cinema in the week, but this method of having a day just dedicated to the cinema seemed to work for me, and I’ll probably do it again.

I also saw My Hero Academia: Heroes Rising, which was awesome! I’m going to try and review some of the films I saw, even though we’re a bit past the point now.

Platinum 20 games

February end total: 1

There is a platinum review forthcoming for this, but in February I got it in to my head that I wanted to clear up some games, and I sat and forced my way to the platinum for The Sims 4. It has well and truly sucked any joy I still had for the series, and I would quite happily never play another Sims game again, but I did it!

Read 15 books

February end total: 0

I still haven’t unpacked all of my books from moving, so this total is pretty poor (but kind of justifiable!). I have read a lot of manga, but I’m not counting those!

Finish 100 best movies

February end total: 2

Technically, my total for this is 2, but that’s only because I had watched them last year. Like my books, my DVDs are still packed (as is the poster!), so I’m going to work through them once I’m fully unpacked!

2020 challenges, Challenges

2020 Challenges: The Beginning

ohnoitsjade

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Here we are at the start of a new year, and a new decade, which means it’s time for me to set myself some challenges I’ll inevitably forget about and end up panicking over come mid-July.

I’ve learnt nothing from 2018 or 2019’s attempts, so here are my rather lofty goals for next year:

  • Watch 40 anime
  • Watch 40 movies in the cinema
  • Platinum 20 games
  • Read 15 books
  • Finish ‘100 best movies’ (currently I’m sitting at 2 completed…)
  • Finish Naruto

As always, you can follow my progress on Twitter, where I’ll be using this year’s hashtag – #cs2020challenges.

If you think there’s a challenge I should be doing, feel free to suggest some!

2019 challenges, Challenges

2019 Challenges: Year in Recap

ohnoitsjade

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As we sit on the precipice of a new year and a new decade, let’s take a look back at 2019 and see how terribly I did on my challenges.

Watch 50 anime series

Perhaps 50 was a lofty goal, and therefore I have got nowhere near this. I managed to hit 20 series, which is pretty poor – not even one every two weeks.

Platinum 25 games

This year was the year I got really into Trails of Cold Steel, and as such spent 300 hours on the series. This meant I did not have a lot of time for platinum trophies. I did manage to platinum the first Trails of Cold Steel game, back in July, which was the last platinum trophy I got this year, bringing my total to a paltry 7 platinum trophies.

Read 12 books

I got started on this challenge fairly late on in the year, so considering that, I’m actually pretty pleased with my progress. I made it to 7 books, so just over halfway. I’m definitely in the habit of reading more now, so I’ll be setting myself another reading-based challenge for 2020.

Watch 100 films

If you’ll recall, this was to watch 100 “must see movies” as dictated by a poster that was bought for me. This is my worst challenge yet; I managed two.

Watch 25 films in the cinema

Finally, something I’ve done. I managed 31 films in the cinema this year, helped massively by Scotland Loves Anime, a film festival I attended. Anyway, hooray me!

Finish Naruto

Hahahahahahahaha. I did not do this.