Tomodachi Life, Werewolves and Heliocentrism

My weeknotes from April 21 to 27, 2026! Just look at that title, you want to click it right?

Did you know I kinda always forget what to write in the main, regular section of these weeknotes? The structure I usually type these things is something like: introduction, games, books or manga I reading, shows/movies/anime I watched, youtube and blogposts, leaving the regular notes at the end! It’s a bit weird to do it in such a way but I can’t help it. I guess it also speaks about the kinds of things that I write about with more ease, I don’t know.

🏠 I have been home alone since Wednesday and I must admit this is probably the most irresponsible I’ve been when staying by myself. I usually do the dishes every day, but this time I let them build up for a couple of days before cleaning them, evil stuff.
🏰 We were so close to playing Land of Eem this weekend, but we didn’t plan it out at all and half of us forgot to bring our character sheets and I didn’t have backups and the printer didn’t work anyway so… yeah. We played some Uno Liar’s instead, and a new game in the next item of this list!
🐺 We finally were enough to go for a play of a certain game everyone knows but that it’s a little hard to start given the necessary amount of players: Werewolves. Specially The Werewolves of Miller’s Hollow, which is a very nice set with some pretty cool rules to it. I got it at the same time as Coup, but we just couldn’t play it until today. I was a little afraid that everyone would not be up for it, but in the end, we played it like 6 times, and we hard an absolute blast! I only hope more friends join us next weekend.
👔 There was this important meeting at work where everyone wore fancy formal office wear and I was wearing a hoodie and we took a photo and I was put at the back to hide it. Honestly I felt really embarrased about missing that email mentioning the dress code, that was definitely cringe. At the same time I think it was no big deal, still got a bit of teasing from my workmates though.
🧱 I ended up buying another Lego set, this time because of Clayton, it’s the DeLorean from Back to the Future!. It’s not the super expensive version at least.

Watching

Hear ye, hear ye. For I have witnessed one of the most important works of anime in recent years. I am talking about Orb: On the Movements of the Earth, an absolutely stunning piece of art where we follow the journey of Rafal, a young kid who wants to understand the truth, a young kid who loves space, and wants to become an astronomer.

Eventually, he’ll stumble upon a heretic, a man who believes in the forbidden idea of Heliocentrism who, before his execution, plants the idea of his mind to pursue the truth: the earth moves.

The journey that follows is one of the most beautiful, tragic and thought-provoking I’ve had the privilege to watch. So much so I want to watch it again, knowing what I learned is yet to come and how everything fits and connects.

It’s an epic tale that mixes history and legend, that explores humanity, our place in Earth, the beauty of creation, the nature of God, why belief remains or why society doesn’t need it. Reason, faith, naturalism, progress. So many incredible dialogues, speeches, and exchanges of ideas, or censorship, blindness, and persecution. Many moments here left me absolutely speechless, and this show got me to cry more than once. This is art, this is humanity, curiosity, and our endless pursue for knowledge.

Check this speech light on spoilers, and tell me you aren’t interested to see more…

Transcript of the speech

As a disciple of the Church, I know I shouldn’t use these words lightly. But I can’t think of any other way to express it. Reading and writing… are like miracles.

Of course, I don’t mean they’re the same as the miracles performed by our saviour!

Still, reading and writing are amazing. Using letters, a person can cross space and time. I might shed tears reading the news from 200 years ago, or laugh at rumors from 1000 years ago. Isn’t that unbelievable?

Our lives are trapped, beyond our control, in this day and age. But when I read, the great figures from the past engage me in conversation. At that moment, I can escape the present.

Thoughts put into writing remain after we are gone, and they might spur someone into action far in the future. What else could you call that, but a miracle?

Gaming

Every single day of the week until the weekend arrived, I played Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker. At first, I was enamoured by the mechanics and the stealth, the voice acting and all of the stuff I already wrote about, but I have to say, I’ve really gotten to like these characters quite a lot. I’ll be honest, I’ve been looking at gameplay of this game to see stuff that I should be doing and realizing how little of the game I knew back when I first tried it.

For example, there’s a whole arsenal of goods that I never unlocked because I followed the main story and ignored most of the side quests and the rather deep management simulator that happens between missions. There were also weapons I never knew how to use, like the chaff grenade, which is extremely useful to disable enemy machinery and confuse the AI bosses’ circuits, making them much easier to target too.

The story, which I didn’t really know much of, has managed to get a grip on me anyway. I’ve been told there’s a lot of lore on this series, and that it’s also very confusing, but this particular game is filled with melancholy and regret, and the delivery and writing here have managed to transmit that very well, even if I didn’t play through the moments this game brings to memory. All in all, a super enjoyable journey so far.

After such a mature and expertly made videogame, I decided to buy Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream on a whim. This is one of the most trending games right now! A sort of dollhouse game where you can create Miis of whoever you want, from people you know in real life, to celebrities or characters from videogames, and see how they interact with each other! I’ve been having a lot of fun, even made Miis of a couple of fediverse friends like Amin and Daniel. I’ve also created a few others from characters from games, shows and anime, such as Lucca, Aya Brea, Ada Wong, Claire Redfield, Big Boss, Zuko, and Frieren. There have been a couple IRL friends included, of course, which I won’t name here.

Lastly, I had a brief session of Metroid Fusion, where I defeated Serries, the water serpent boss that was taken over by the X virus, and I managed to get the Speed Boost power-up! Nothing more than that, though.

Reading

I completed The Indomitable Captain Holli! the novella from Clarkesworld Magazine #211, and it was incredibly enjoyable, so much so I almost want to write a separate review for it. But I won’t, you really should give it a read, especially because it’s available for free on Clarkesworld’s website!

I’ve continued on with my manga obsession and read up to chapter 289 of Fly Me To The Moon, which continues to be very funny and entertaining!

Lastly, a new contender, a rom-com titled Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You, featuring Sasaki, a hardworking middle-aged guy stuck in the corporate ladder, whose often goes to the supermarket to see Yamada’s smile, a young cashier working there who seem rather friendly and innocent.

After Susuki goes for a smoke, he’s approachted by Tayama, a cool-loking young lady—who is actually an alter-ego of Yamada, but looks and acts way different—who invites him to smoke and chat together, while also sussing out his intentions to see if he’s not just a creepy old guy. An unusual relationship follows from there! I’ve read 42 chapters already (including a bunch of shorter bonus chapters).