Aino's (and Bryan's) Adventures in Animachi, Weeks 18, 19, 20, 21 and 22

When we last checked in with the residents of Animachi, Aino and Bryan had just finished remodeling their homes, Robin and Winnie had just moved out of theirs and Chadder had moved into one of his own.

What has happened since then? For starters, Halloween happened.



Mayor Aino's favorite part of this spook-tacular holiday? Scaring the crap out of her neighbors--especially the ones who didn't vote for her during the last election.



Halloween wasn't the only cause for celebration in the last four or five weeks. Another: Snake's birthday on Nov. 3. Aino got him a treadmill as a joke, but Snake actually seemed to like it so she did her best to stifle her giggles after he opened it.



Aino and her fellow Animachians also celebrated the grand opening of Katrina's fortune teller shop earlier this month.



Sure, it could be a bit more visually appealing, but it still looks better than the defiled trash can that used to fill this empty alley.

Speaking of grand openings, Animachi recently welcomed the T&T Emporium to its main street, too.



The highlight of this gigantic, multi-floored store for Bryan: Gracie Grace's shop--despite the fact that its proprietress is a bit on the (strange and) snobbish side.



Although the fair citizens of Animachi said a good number of "hellos" in the last month or so, they also said a few "goodbyes." Case in point: Poppy decided to move to greener pastures shortly after Halloween. (Hopefully it wasn't because of that prank Bryan pulled on her?)

Mimi's Adventures in Miminton (or, yes, I'm obsessed with Animal Crossing once again)

So, I'm playing Animal Crossing again. No, not the Japanese version of New Leaf (I wish!). And, no, not City Folk or Wild World, either. Instead, I'm playing the original one--or, rather, the first one to make its way to North America--for the first time in many, many years.

I'm having such a blast with it that, well, I thought I'd snap some photos of my playthrough and share them here. Consider yourself warned, though, that the images shared in this and subsequent posts were made from photos taken of my TV. You heard that right--no fancy-shmancy screen-capturing technology at work here, no sirree. As such, some (all) of them are sure to look a little funky. Sorry in advance.

With that said, why don't I introduce you to my main Animal Crossing character? (Yes, that means I have more than one.) Her name's Mimi and here's a glimpse of her in her Harvest Festival-themed home on her birthday--which took place just after Thanksgiving, by the way:

Note the three NESes sitting around. Mimi actually obtained one of them (Donkey Kong) from a neighbor on her birthday, while the others (Balloon Fight and Pinball) were acquired via the village's black market. (Shhhhh!)

This next shot shows Mimi interacting with one of her Miminton (named in honor of the fabulous Japan-only Wii title, Captain Rainbow) neighbors--almost all of whom are bitchy, it has to be said.

At least the follicley freaky Freckles, above, has a nice thing to say once in a while. The same can't be said of Vladimir, below, who surely has never met someone with whom he couldn't find fault. Still, Mimi can't help but like the ol' sourpuss.

OK, so I caught Tangy in an off moment in the photo below. Thankfully, she's pretty darn peppy most of the time--or maybe I should say "she used to be pretty darn peppy," as she and her orange noggin are now sweetly harassing the fine folk of some other Animal Crossing burgh.