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Valentine's Day in My Village

by Minoru Yamaizumi - February 16, 2013, 5:00 am EST
Total comments: 2

Animal Crossing has players experience their own stories, such as this one.

As many of you know, Animal Crossing: New Leaf has special events on annual holidays, such as New Year’s Day, Christmas, etc. During these days, you’ll see something special occur in your village. This blog post shares a cool experience I had while playing the game.

Thursday was Valentine’s Day. In Japan, Valentine’s Day is celebrated quite differently from how it is in the West. It’s the day of chocolate and love, when females give confectionery to men they love (a custom some say was conspired by a sweets company decades ago). On that day, many Japanese guys are nervous in a unique way about whether they will get chocolate or not. Me? I didn't go out at all, aside from in my virtual village.

Looking forward to getting chocolate in my village, I started up Animal Crossing: New Leaf. It always begins with Shizue, a female shih tzu and my secretary, under the spotlight. On special days, she tells you about the events. This time, she announced that today is Valentine’s Day, so she made sweets for a special person. I was a little disappointed that seemingly I wasn’t that special person. My day broke; my mind ached. I went out in front of my house and saw a pop-up from the mail box, telling me that I had a letter. I got two letters, one from Mom, and one from Shizue, both of them in the form of parcels. What Mom sent me was something forgettable, while the attached letter was, as always, in the form of tanka (traditional Japanese poetry with a particular metrical structure). The letter ends with "Happy Valentine’s Day! From Mom." Just like Valentine’s Day presents from my real mother, this was embarrassing. The other present from Shizue was just what I wanted, a chocolate cake. Her letter said that she tried making a Valentine’s Day cake for her dear mayor, Minoru. Feeling so good, I went for a walk around my village with the cake.

To get chocolate from more gals, I deliberately spoke to female villagers. Since I had not played the game since February 3, which is another special annual occasion in Japan (Setsubun), they all said something along the lines of "Long time no see!" No matter how many times I talked to them, they did not give me chocolate, possibly because I am not intimate enough with them. Despite this, Jasmine, a polite yet pretty female cat, asked me if it was OK to come to my house. This was the first time a female character wanted to visit my house! God, my room isn’t well organized, nor does it have any particular theme! Anyway, I escorted her to my home.

Soon after I entered, I tried laying down on my bed; she ignored my come-on. Was that a little premature? Then I decided to talk with her first to build a rapport. She acted distant, commenting on my pieces of furniture one by one. Meanwhile, she said she wanted to see my other room on the second floor. I was hesitant since it only has a few pieces of purple furniture, which look kind of indecent. But I led her there, ascending the stairs. Again, she just commented on the interior, and sooner or later she said that she had to go. I stayed home; she went out, without leaving any chocolate.

After walking around a little bit and buying a Venetian-style leaf mask (which you can see in the image at the top), I stopped at my village’s café. I thought it would be nice to have Shizue’s chocolate cake along with a cup of coffee. I took a seat at the bar; the proprietor, Brewster, solemnly poured brown liquid into a cup and served it. It was not until I took a sip that I noticed it isn't the usual bitter coffee, but in fact sweet hot chocolate! Interrupting my surprise, Brewster said to me, "Happy … Valentine’s Day!", soothing my broken heart with the flavor of cocoa.

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Talkback

AilingforaleFebruary 16, 2013

That was kind of awkward at first to read, but it was funny.  Thanks for the post and lols.

TheFleeceFebruary 16, 2013

Cool read, sort of noir. I can't personally remember anything about Valentine's and Animal Crossing, but I'm sure I played Wild World during one year or two.


June can't come fast enough!!

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