Hit My Golden Shield!

This weekend the only qual was a prelim for the next Kanagawa block. My team would be Kunihiro (AN) and Honyo (BA). It was scheduled for Sunday and would start at 3 pm, meaning I had plenty of time for drinking and casuals this weekend. On the way to Tokyo, I got a message from 722 who had just arrived back in Japan. He was gonna meet up with us to play some games but ended up having jet lag so he bailed out for Friday.

I headed over to Takadanobaba Mikado for casuals. I met up with Rod near the station to show him how to get there cuz it was his first time to go. A few big names were there. I was doing pretty well and managed to get a few wins on Karun’s Jam. I didn’t really keep track of every match I played throughout the night, but I was doing well for the most part. After a little while, Matt showed up as well. At sometime around 11 or so, we headed out to go drinking.

We got off the train at Shin Okubo which is the station between Takadanobaba and Shinjuku. Its about equal distance to Current from there than it is from Shinjuku station and that’s the way I came from the very first time I accidentally found Current. We walked for a little bit trying to find a place to eat and we eventually ended up going to this one place called “Pizza Pasta Curry” which is on the way. Matt and I saw this place before but never went inside. It turned out to be almost completely empty but the food ended up being good. I got a mushroom and chicken pizza, Matt got some curry and rice, and Rod got a gorgonzola pizza. It took them a while to bring us our food. Matt got his first and ate like half of it before my pizza came. My pizza came next and it was good as hell actually. Rod’s came last, and the waitress brought him some stuff that looked like icecream. She told him to put it on the pizza. We were all just like… what? So Rod put it on and it ended up being kinda weird. I traded him a slice of mine for his and I cant really say I enjoyed it too much but whatever. Rod and I also got a glass of wine in honor of the Count of Tuscany.

After eating we headed into Current. Tonight was Finnish night! There was some sorta Finnish music fest going on somewhere in Tokyo earlier in the night. I wasn’t really familiar with any of the bands that came and I wasn’t able to make it to the live show anyway since I get to Tokyo late all the time. However, Current was packed with a bunch of Fins and a lot of cute Japanese girls who like Finnish guys, as well as some regulars. I made sure to do TONS of snus all night in honor of the great Finnish people who exposed me to its greatness in the first place. I was surprised that The Snus Man didn’t show up. Antti said he didn’t feel like coming for whatever reason. Kana was there and ended up leaving pretty early with some guy from one of the bands heh. At some point, I went up to one of the Japanese girls there and was just making small talk for the hell of it. I asked her if this was her first time here, and shes like, no. Then she asks me very quickly if I am Finnish. I reply that I am not and she instantly like just shoos me away and has no interest in conversing with me any further! LOL! Its pretty ridiculous actually. I wasn’t even trying to hit on this girl at all and the second she finds out im not Finnish its like I have some sorta disease… hah. I bet if I told her I was Finnish, she would have been all over me too. Some people are stupid. Otherwise, much of the night was just spent getting drunk with Antti and some other people. I ended up peeing outside in the drain like every time that night cuz the line for the bathroom was always ridiculous. Also at some point, I was outside talking with Mai and some people and this one Japanese guy was talking with me and I forgot how it came up but he asked if I had a girlfriend so I showed him Ryoko’s picture on my cellphone and then he just went on for like 10 minutes non stop saying how hot she is and how lucky I am etc and then just kept giving my cigarettes hah. Another one of the guys out there was like all over Mai too. I went back inside for a while and then after a little while longer I went back outside again where Chip, Heidi, Rod, Matt, and SPG Chris and a few other people were chilling outside by the stairs. We talked about random crap for a while and there was this one Finnish guy who came out there who almost got in a fight with some big fat guy earlier. Matt offered him a snus to be polite and the guys just like, “Oh, I’ll have 2” and just grabs them and doesn’t say thank you or anything. I think he was one of the band guys and obviously thinks quite highly of himself for some douchebag that weve never even heard of. Anyway, overall it was a really good night and the place was packed as hell; you could hardly even walk around inside.

Once the party ended at the usual time, I said bye to some people and we rounded up a big group to go to PSY with us consisting of me, Rod, Matt, Heidi, Chip, Shuji, and these 2 Japanese girls we just met. PSY got pretty packed when we got there. In anticipation for listening to The Count of Tuscany, Rod and I got a glass of wine. Natsume put the song on for us and it was Rod’s first time to hear it. Unfortunately, after about maybe 12 minutes of the song, Natsume turned it off early. I was kinda annoyed but its like 19 minute long song so I guess he wanted to put something else on, its understandable. I still wanted to hear the rest of it though.

We stayed till closing and tried to rally up a group to go drink somewhere else cuz Matt and I were still all about drinking more. Turns out everyone was pretty much too tired or had stuff to do tomorrow. Matt and I were thinking about where else we could go, so we went inside a Family Mart and bought some stuff and then while we were standing outside, one of those Nigerian guys came up to us as they often do. He said we should go drink at his bar and stuff just like the all say. He then was like, we have 5 dollar beers. We asked if there was a cover charge and he said no. We asked if you pay as you go or afterwords and he said pay as you go. We asked if they were gonna pull some shady shit and he said no. He said we should just go drink and play some darts. Honestly it was raining and we had no other ideas and the place was right across from PSY so we said, what the hell… lets give it a shot. This is the first time I ever was led by a Nigerian guy to a bar and actually went inside. Normally this is probably a TERRABLE idea, but actually, it turned out to be OK! They had asahi super dry on tap for 500 yen, the place was just like a small bar with some tables in the back and a dart board. Most of the music was just like some crappy hip hop, some soul music kinda stuff, and some 80s music. It wasn’t really that bad though and it was a place where we could drink longer. The owner of the place was this kinda stocky black guy who looked a little like Cedric the Entertainer and he had this bright red suit on. Looked pretty cool actually. There were a couple other Japanese guys there and one of them came and started talking to us in perfect English. Turns out this guy used to live in the US for 6 years. He says now that he currently works at a high class cabaret club somewhere near by. He seemed like a decent guy overall though and just was asking us lots of questions about the way Americans think about certain things and whatnot.

At some point later, these 2 black chicks came in. We figured this might be trouble cuz we didn’t wanna get tricked into buying these girls any drinks. They were making their rounds talking to the Japanese guys and eventually they came by us and started trying to talk to us while we were still talking to the other Japanese guy. I did my very best to answer their questions in the politest way I could with saying the very least I could, so that they didn’t feel like I was being rude but so that I also showed that I wasn’t the least bit interested. They kept pushing for it and eventually outright asked us if we would like to buy them a drink. I told them I had a girlfriend and Matt told them he was gay and then they left us alone LOL! The one Japanese guy ended up buying them a bottle of wine and he shared it with us too so that was nice of him. Later on he even bought us a round of beers. At about 9 am the place was pretty much completely dead aside from the 3 of us and the guys who worked there. Even the black chicks were gone. It was about time to call it a night and get some food. We said bye to the Japanese guy and the black dudes who worked there and thanked them. Turned out the place was basically just a regular bar and isn’t that bad of an option if you really wanna do some hardcore early morning drinking. After leaving, Matt and I got dat McDonalds breakfast and then I went to the manga kissa to pass out.

I didn’t wake up until like 4:30 pm lol! This is actually pretty good timing since around this time is when the GG comp really starts to heat up. I started out at Vegas for a little while and only a few guys were there. They weren’t that good and figured that possibly Takadanobaba would be the better choice so I eventually relocated there. At first, it was actually sorta dead but gradually more and more people showed up. I messaged 722 and he was interested in meeting up this time so eventually after playing for a while myself, I mailed me saying he was almost at the station. I went outside to wait for him for a bit and eventually I found him in front of the station. I was pretty hungry since I hadn’t eaten yet so we stopped in at a pasta place and I got some quick food. Turns out 722 will be living in Nagano again and is staying in Japan for the next 6 months. He will only be in Tokyo this weekend but he said that he can actually get to Tokyo in 4 hours by highway bus so he may come again sometime in the future. We headed back to Mikado and played some more games. 722 fought some Dizzy and was having some trouble against him but said he was really enjoying the matches. I fought some ABA and lost but then replayed him and won. Then for a bit no one was fighting me and then I noticed these 2 guys I don’t know were talking about me to eachother quietly. The one guy was like saying something like “Hey, that’s ElevenShadow, I wonder if he is strong”. Next thing I know, Im like sorta looking off into the area behind me seeing whos playing other games, and then I turn around and one of the guys is just like peeking right around the side of the cab and is all like staring at me up close like right in my face with this weird grin on his face! Then he just sorta nods and goes to sit down on the other side to play me. He picks Venom and I win all 3 rounds. Then he comes back over and says I am very strong and that beating me is impossible for him. I politely disagree and then he goes and starts whispering to his friend again saying like, yea hes pretty strong afterall! I just found that kinda amusing LOL. Eventually 722 came over and played me in a couple games with his Bridget and I won them. Then we decided since it was starting to die down, that we might be better off checking out Vegas, so we headed over to Shinjuku to play some more.

I mailed Matt and Rod on the train telling them to just meet us there instead. On the way there, we stopped over at the cigar store and I got a cigar since I hadn’t smoked one in months. When we arrived at Vegas, it was much more packed than Mikado was. Rod was already there. Dream Maker and that American Bridget player who works for Capcom was there as well among various other people. Matt showed up as well. I played a good amount of games and did generally well. Dream Maker was playing a lot better then usual today and I think he and I played maybe a total of about 8 games and he went even with me winning 4 and losing 4. Kunihiro showed up later on as well and started playing Dream Maker in some mirror matches and stuff. Eventually we were all ready to go do some drinking, so Rod, Matt, 722, and I headed to Current. I said bye to Kunihiro and told him I would see him tomorrow at the tournament.

I was surprised that there was a lot of people there considering how big last night was. Not nearly as many but still pretty packed. It turns out they had some sorta punk rock event going on. Im not the biggest punk rock fan honestly but I have nothing against it really either. I busted out my cigar like right away and enjoyed it quite a bit. Kana was there again and sat with us for a bit and then went back to sitting with her friends. Everyone started busting out their DS and Rod had just bought Guilty Gear Dust Strikers. I never played this game before but I must say it’s a giant piece of crap! I tried playing one match of it against the computer and it was just laughably lame. I won though even though it felt like I was just button mashing the whole time since all the commands are fucked up. Also, there was this group of Japanese people we didn’t know sitting at the table next to us. This one guy was talking with Rod and I for a bit and it turns out hes a video game DJ and hes going to be spinning some game music at some big all night party at 8-bit Café in a few weeks so we might end up going to that. Also, Rod also had Puyo Puyo and people started playing a bunch of 2 player games and this DJ guy was just wrecking house! This guy was a fucking Puyo Puyo legend and was just raping everyone for free lol!

Eventually we were growing weary of this punk event so we all decided to go do karaoke since 722 fucking loves it and was fiending to go, and it sounded like fun anyway. We ended up taking a cab out to that one place near Nakano where we went for Rod’s birthday since its like 1000 yen for the whole night. We got a small room but it was just the right size for the 4 of us. Between the 4 of us, we did a plethora of awesome songs. 722 was real big on the Japanese songs and was pretty damn good at singing them too. You certainly could tell he does this often. I did a variety of stuff, but the best song I did was Rhapsody – Holy Thunderforce. This is quite possibly the cheesiest song ever written. The music AND the lyrics are cheesy as hell. The Count of Tuscany has nothing on this song as far as cheese factor goes. Ive known about this song for many many years and always enjoyed it for its pure cheese but I had never seen it at karaoke before… until… now! I couldn’t stop laughing for almost the entire time singing it and everyone was cracking up pretty hard. I will post the entire lyrics for your enjoyment.

Face me evil bastards, smell the hate of angels
Glory, pride and bloodshed
Cowards and beholders, rapers of my wisdom
mix of dust and bones
Go back to your abyss, Algalord will not fall
but your heads will soon roll
Taste the blade of heroes, fury of the thunder
hit my golden shield

So we'll fight against the wind for the glory of the kings
to defeat the evil enemies
And we'll ride with our lord for the power and the throne
in the name of holy thunderforce

Arwald and Aresius with the nordic warrior
on their way to Hargor
Chaos and oblivion, turmoil and disorder
will have now their name
The last fallen heroes will defeat your forces
Thousands spirits calling
On the furthest mountain I will see your fire
quenched by holy frost!

So we'll fight against the wind for the glory of the kings
to defeat the evil enemies
And we'll ride with our lord for the power and the throne
in the name of holy thunderforce

Face me evil bastards, smell the hate of angels
Glory, pride and bloodshed
Cowards and beholders, rapers of my wisdom
mix of dust and bones
Go back to your abyss, Algalord will not fall
but your heads will soon roll
Test the blade of heroes, fury of the thunder
hit my golden shield

So we'll fight against the wind for the glory of the kings
to defeat the evil enemies
And we'll ride with our lord for the power and the throne
in the name of holy thunder

So we'll fight against the wind for the glory of the kings
to defeat the evil enemies
And we'll ride with our lord for the power and the throne
in the name of holy thunder

So we'll fight against the wind for the glory of the kings
to defeat the evil enemies
And we'll ride with our lord for the power and the throne
in the name of holy thunder
(Thunder)
(Force)

I never actually read the lyrics before, and while a good amount of it I knew just from listening to it, there were some lines I never quite could make out. The best one of those was “Hit my golden shield!” Which I just thought was like the most random cheesy thing ever! When I sang that line, it made me think of slashbacking actually, and I decided that I would enter tomorrow’s tournament with the team name “Hit My Golden Shield!” It doesn’t matter if no one else knows what it means, cuz I know!

We stayed at the karaoke place until closing time at 5 and got tons of songs in. It was good times. After that we went to Nakano McDonalds for breakfast and we were having conversations about idiot foreigners in Japan who say all kinds of bad stuff in English in front of Japanese people assuming they wont understand what they are saying and then later finding out they understand them perfectly. 722 had a friend in Japan before that was notorious for that. There was like some time when he was telling some fucked up vulgar story on the train and then later on he was asking his friends how to say noun in Japanese. After a little while, some old lady gets off the train and right before getting off, she tells them how to say noun in Japanese in perfect English and then gets off the train. I wonder if she enjoyed the vulgar story?

Anyway, after eating we split ways and I went back to the manga kissa to sleep. However, on the way there, I was wearing my Street Fighter II hoody cuz it was a little chilly out, and this random chick on the street sees me and just yells "Tiger Uppercut!" in that sorta engrish Japanese accent. It was fucking awsome. I turned and gave her a grin and a thumbs up and carried on to go to sleep.

I woke up with enough time to spare and arrived at Nishi Yokohama station a little before 2 pm. As I was walking out of the station, I guess I was going the wrong way cuz Shuumatsu and this one other guy stopped me and told me that the arcade was the other way. That was nice of them.

When I got to the arcade, Kunihiro was already there, and Honyo said he would be there in a little bit. The arcade, Gamers Vision, was a fucking shoe box, to put it bluntly. This place was so narrow, and this was one of the bigger tougeki tournaments so far this year, so the place ended up getting so packed, you could hardly even move at all. Getting a game of casuals in was next to impossible. All the big names from the Kanto area who hadn’t qualified yet were there, except for Ogawa’s team. I only ended up getting a single game of casuals in the entire time against some Millia. I won the first round and then he beat me the rest of them.

Kunihiro and I signed up our team and he asked me what "Hit my golden shield!" meant. I explained to him where it came from and he found it amusing. I was planning to try the drinking whisky strategy again this time so I went to Lawson and got a redbull to chase the whisky with. Right at around 3 pm, when the tournament was SCHEDULED to start, I went and took a big shot of whisky and chugged the redbull. Unfortunately, the tournament was running WAY late and they didn’t even start till almost 4. I had absolutely no idea when our match would be up cuz I couldn’t even get anywhere near where the brackets were cuz the place was so packed. So I waited, and waited, and watched, and waited, and EVENTUALLY Honyo told me that he was able to go see the brackets and saw that we would be the last team to play and that a total of like 34 teams entered. He said our opponents were Slayer/Axl/HOS. I didn’t recognize the players names but it looked like they were using some like fake names cuz the names were like something that all sounded the same but was one syllable off. I don’t remember what they were though cuz I didn’t even see it. Anyway, eventually FINALLY called our match. By this point I no longer had a buzz from the Whisky or the redbull so much since we were waiting around for so long.
Anyway, Kunihiro said he has about equal trouble against all of those characters so he said he would just go first. I have a bit of trouble vs Axl and Honyo said all 3 of them were fine, so Honyo was gonna go last. Kunihiro went first vs Slayer. It was extremely close and clutch I could tell that Kunhiro was really playing his ass off. He pulled out a win barely in the last round. Up next was HOS. It almost went down the same way as with Slayer and Kunhiro made a nice huge comeback and pulled off some clutch shit for the win. Against Axl, he was doing pretty well but then in the last round they were just waiting eachother out a lot from far away and then Kunihiro just did like this random stomp super and it totally whiffed. I think he was trying psychically punish a chain or something but it didn’t work and he got punished accordingly. Afterwords, the Axl player yelled “arigatou!” to Kunihiro across the cap. Kunihiro looked a little embarrassed but he already beat 2 guys so he did a good job regardless. I went next. I lost the first round and got him down to about half life. 2nd round I actually had a really good lead for a while and he was in the corner and I was above him pretty high up. I tried to come down on him with a forcebreak super but it came out as a regular air dust and totally screwed me and I got punished with some huge bomber loop after it whiffed from so high up in the air and then I lost. I have no excuse, it was just a bad execution mistake from being nervous. Kinda wish I could have had that buzz going but that’s just the way it worked out, and I honestly shouldn’t have to rely on that anyway. Up next was Honyo. I don’t really remember much about the match other than the Axl really seemed to know how to fight Baiken. He kept poking Baiken in a way which seemed like Honyo wasn’t able to use counters at all. I honestly don’t know much about this matchup but the Axl really seemed to know how to fight it. It was kinda close but Honyo lost and that was the end for us. I had a good feeling going into this one but that’s just the way it goes I guess.

We agreed that for next weekend, we will team up again and next week’s tournament will be the block finals for this block on next Sunday around the same time. Hopefully the one next weekend will start on time and not be so tiny and packed. The arcade was all hot and muggy and we didn’t feel like sticking around so we agreed to go back to Vegas to play. Kunihiro rode his motorcycle up there so he said he would meet us there. Honyo and I took the train.

We got to Vegas and played some casuals a bit. I started off vs some crappy Sol scrub and won and then sparadicly beat a few other people that weren’t so good between long periods of fighting the computer. Eventually Kunihiro showed up and was playing Honyo. Dream Maker showed up again and played me like 5 or 6 times in a row and I won all of them, and then he said he had to leave and left and said good games and goodbye. After I had like 8 wins and no one was fighting me in forever, I gave up and got up to go wait to play one of those guy. Honyo had 13 wins and Kunhiro was playing Slayer against him for whatever reason. I think Kunihiro can play Sol and Johnny too since I saw him using them before but his Anji is easily his best character. Anyway, Kunihiro couldn’t take down Honyo’s Baiken so then I gave it a shot and lost on my first try but then played him again and won on my 2nd try. Then me and him went back and forth for a bit while Kunihiro was fighting some other people. I played a bit longer but eventually it was about time for me to go. I said goodbye to those guys and told them I would see them next weekend and headed out.

Next weekend, Ryoko is also planning to come to Tokyo to come drinking with us on Friday night and the plan is to also meet up and drink with her older sister at Current. Should be good times. Hopefully next weekend’s tournament will go a little better. I'm gonna make some mother fuckers hit my golden shield!