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?)

Aino's (and Bryan's) Adventures in Animachi, Weeks 13, 14, 15, 16 and 17

You'd think more would've happened in the five weeks since I last published one of these posts, wouldn't you?

Actually, more did happen, but I decided to edit things down a bit for a few reasons--one of which has to do with my hard drive dying on me with little warning a week and a half ago.

Thankfully, all of that's behind me and my laptop now, so I can get back to the business of recounting the soap opera-esque lives of Aino and Bryan and their fellow Animachians.

Before we get to the drama, though, how about we traipse through a few of the previously unseen rooms in Aino's sprawling home?

For instance, here's the speakeasy-ish cafe-slash-coffee house that's located in Aino's basement.



Only those who know the secret handshake--and slip Aino a fiver at the door--are allowed entrance.

And here's a look at Aino's new--and rather garish--guest bedroom:



A pretty daring use of the Lovely and Polka-Dot furniture series, don't you think? Or did the design work here bring to mind another d-word--like "dreadful"?

Finally, here's an updated look at Aino's study:



Actually, this room has received a bit of an overhaul in the last week or so--a bit of which can be seen in the following photo (which focuses on the golden house model the mayor received for reaching 150,000 Happy Home Academy points).



Another new piece of decor that can be found in Aino's home:



Yep, that's Barold's picture. Which means all Aino needs is Snake's photo to complete her collection. (OK, so she needs to nab Rodney's and Rizzo's pics, too--but Barold's and Snake's are her Holy Grails.)

Aino's (and Bryan's) Adventures in Animachi, Weeks Seven and Eight

As all two of you who enjoy reading these posts (I kid ... I think) surely figured out long ago, I failed to publish an update on Aino's and Bryan's "Adventures in Animachi" last week.

There were a few reasons for that, with the main one being that I didn't (and don't) want to turn this blog into little more than a dumping ground for my obsession-fueled Animal Crossing: New Leaf musings.

As such, don't expect to see another such update next week--or possibly even the week after. Although I have no plans to end this series anytime soon (I'm still far too obsessed with New Leaf to do that), I definitely want to spread out these posts a bit from here on out.

With that out of the way, let's get to what actually happened in Animachi over the last two weeks, shall we?

The screengrab below does a more than acceptable job of summing up a good portion of the last two weeks in Animachi, actually, as both Aino and Bryan spent a lot of that time working on their homes and their wardrobes.

In the shot above, by the way, Aino is showing off her current "Hip Geisha" look as well as her cozy-as-all-hell study.

Moving along, here (above) is a glimpse of Aino's nearly finished kitchen. (All that's left to do is find and install the flooring that matches the wallpaper.)

It's a good thing she's been keeping up on her interior design hobby, as Barold popped in for a surprise visit the other day. Oddly, and unsurprisingly, he fell asleep--while standing--halfway through his so-called inspection.

Speaking of odd encounters, Aino recently had the following exchange with Ankha:

Lest you should think that exchange isn't so odd, here's a shot of the streetlight she'd like to see somewhere in Animachi:

Thankfully, Rodney quickly came to the rescue and suggested the magnitudes-more-interesting "cube sculpture."

Amazingly, Rodney's recommendation didn't win the "Best Public Works Request of the Last Two Weeks" award. No, that went to Bluebear, who, during a rather impromptu discussion one evening, basically begged for a police station to be built.

Here's the sight that greeted Aino and her fellow villagers the next morning:

Welcome to Animachi

For the last two days, I've been doing what every self-respecting 3DS owner has been doing for at least that long, if not longer--playing Animal Crossing: New Leaf as much as possible.

Granted, much of that time has been spent fishing and "hunting" various insects with my trusty butterfly net--as opposed to, you know, gardening or landscaping or planning the layout of the gyroid-filled mansion I'm sure to own in the future--but considering that's how I've spent 90 percent of my time while playing previous Animal Crossing games, I guess it shouldn't come as too much of a surprise.

That's not what you came here to read about, though, is it? No, I'm guessing you came here to read about--and see screenshots of--my New Leaf town and characters. Thankfully, I've got all of that in spades.

Below, for instance, is a snapshot of my female character, Aino--named after a figure from Finnish mythology--stepping foot into Animachi, my town, for the first time.



I came up with the name Animachi, by the way, by combining the first three letters of "animal" with one of the Japanese words for town or village. Fitting, don't you think?



Oh, and here's a shot of Animachi's first citizens (aka my welcoming committee): Rizzo, Barold, Snake, Winnie and Chevre. (My favorite at the moment is Barold, by the way--don't tell Snake!)



One of the first things I--er, I mean, Aino--did after getting settled in Animachi: buy a fortune cookie from the nearby Nookling Junction shop. (And, no, I don't know why Aino decided to wait until she was inside the museum to crack it open.)



Aino sports the above-mentioned "green hat" (aka the "hero's cap") in the screenshot below. Pretty nifty, eh?



Not so nifty: the fact that the river that runs through Animachi is infested with piranha. Not that Aino seems to mind.