Since I started this blog, the most frequent comment I tend to get goes along the lines of “I’m sorry I don’t drink but I still enjoy your blog”. Well first, thank you, but you know the drinking games aren’t mandatory. I won’t get mad at you if you don’t do them. I don’t even do all of them, don’t tell anyone.
See the drinking games aren’t in fact about the drinking. Although I certainly enjoy the occasional libation and I’m happy and not judging if you do too. I also understand that alcohol is just another treat, like chocolate, or shopping or anime, and if it’s not your thing, I’m happy and not judging of that too. I will say however, that my writing will seem to improve drastically with a drink or 10…
So why do I bother? Why do I spend a considerable amount of time finding the perfect cocktail recipe and putting together detailed drinking games for every single review and the occasional essay post. Seems like a lot of work to put into something that’s not necessary and that most people don’t seem to care for all that much. Well the answer is three-fold. I’ve always wanted to use three fold in a sentence. I’m not saying I wrote this entire post just for that purpose but I’m not saying I didn’t.
First and by far least, also most boring, is “branding”. Gawd that sounds pretentious. Basically, it’s a cheap and easy way to give my blog a distinct voice. It tells you that this isn’t a place to take anything too seriously or look for deep inspired meaningful posts. It’s a place for fun, not overly researched, fluffy little posts meant as nothing more than a distraction. It’s also visually striking to end posts with a bullet point list. Told you it was boring. See, I deliver!
Slightly more important is that these games are on some level an extension of my personality. Because of who I am as a person and the way my brain works, I tend to look for patterns even more than the average individual and when I find them, I’m like a dog with a bone. I love nothing more than spending precious brain capital on analyzing and picking apart all those patterns in order to assign them some arbitrary meanings.
When I watch any media, I will naturally tend to pick up on repetitive patterns and try to figure out why the authors would have bothered to put that in. In live action you can always blame an actor’s personal ticks but in animation, someone bothered to actively draw and sometimes voice the same thing over and over again. It must have some significance. I love those little extras. Those parts of storytelling that are left unsaid or up to the interpretation of the viewer. The subtlety of having an otherwise together and even brash character regularly fiddle with their drawstring as the only clue that they may have some anxiety or insecurity left otherwise unacknowledged. These tiny moments tend to elevate a work in my mind. I enjoy them tremendously.
So I use my drinking games to highlight them. If I see a pattern that seems important or interesting but I can’t quite figure out its significance enough to add to my review, I’ll put it in as a prompt. I’ll also use the drinking games as a justifier. For instance, if I call a character inept I might add prompts to drink every time that character loses something, trips and falls, is amazed by something really mundane, is confused… So, even if the dialogue doesn’t acknowledge a particular character’s lack of brains, I can show that someone sure wrote the character that way. Finally I use them to underline a point. I once called a character a jerk to others and put in a prompt to finish your bottle whenever he gives anyone a compliment. It shows the guy never says anything nice, ever. You may not realize this but whenever I can, I try to sort through my drinking cues to choose ones that will give you some idea of the show and the characters, even if you read nothing else of the post. They also tend to betray my inner thoughts. If 90% of the prompts are about a particular character, you can easily tell who I was paying most attention to.
I short, I use the games as an extension of the actual post. I see them as a more free from creative way to share the substance of what a particular story meant to me. So it’s perfectly fine if you never actually drink along, that’s just the box not the actual gift. Wait did I just intimate my writing is a gift. Man, how drunk am I?
Before this gets way out of hand, let me get to the last reason for putting these games together. Whether you actually drink or not, looking out for particular elements in a show, focuses your attention. I don’t know about you but I tend to favour a certain amount of sensory overload. I get music going, some show playing in the background, I might be playing a game or surfing the web or even cooking at the same time. It’s not the best way to truly appreciate a piece of art. I’ve seen a lot of shows but I can safely say I’ve watched considerably less.
Playing drinking games or putting them together, makes me watch out for the details. It gives me a tangible reason to keep my eyes on the screen and pay attention to the dialogue. Of course you shouldn’t get to wrapped up in it either, and end up with a forest for the trees situation, but isn’t it great to discover yet another aspect or hidden gem in a beloved series because you gave it your full attention?
As for the cocktail choice, I do that just for fun. I like cocktails with ridiculous names, I thought you might like them too.
Sadly, no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t come up with an actual drinking game to finish up this post so instead, I am going to leave you with this handy-dandy conversion chart! Of course you can always make virgin version of any of the recommended cocktails or play with juice (tea is often my drug of choice) but if you have something against liquids – here are some alternatives.
Cupcakes (Apples if you must)
- 1 sip = 1 bite
- 1 chug = 1 mouthful
- Finish your glass = Finish your snack
- Down the bottle = Get an actual cake (Apple pie if you must)
Berries
- 1 sip = 1 berry
- 1 chug = 3 berries
- Finish your glass = a handful of berries
- Down the bottle = Every berry in the house
Exercise
- 1 sip = 5 sit ups
- 1 chug = 5 push ups (careful with those)
- Finish your glass = 30 jumping jacks
- Down the bottle = 20 burpees
Love
- 1 sip = Hug the closest thing/animal/person who you love
- 1 chug = Kiss the closest thing/animal/person who you love (why do I put thing first?)
- Finish your glass = Tell them why you love them
- Down the bottle = do something with them instead (watching more anime counts!)
Self-affirmation
- 1 sip = compliment yourself
- 1 chug = compliment yourself and mean it
- Finish your glass = set a realistic goal for yourself
- Down the bottle = tell someone else what you love about yourself
Bingo
- 1 sip = any one square
- 1 chug = any two squares
- Finish your glass = any three squares
- Down the bottle = Bingo!
If you actually try any of these, please let me know!
I do drink and watch anime, looks like this Blog might be written for people like me…
Welcome!
Yes it’s such a nice combination sometimes :D. I also enjoy it a lot ^^
This was a good introduction to this whole blog. I like this even though I don’t really like to drink alcohol. Guess it’s someone doing it for me.
You know what my friend, I’ll sacrifice myself for you!!! 😉 Welcome!
Wow I actually more than stumbled – I fell over your blog – and it’s amazing!
The past years I haven’t read blogs this much but you got my interest and my passion for anime in just a blink!
I like your similar way of thinking and that you value weekends with alcohol and anime binge watching as much as I do 😀
So Thank You!
You totally got a new reader of your blog – keep the good work up *-*!
This made my day! Awesome. I love people with priorities!
Branding not fun? As a marketer I’m hurt :’c but great post non the less
No no no – My branding isn’t fun. If Mad Men are to be belived being an ad man rules and I would have loved to be one.. in the 50s…if I was a guy…
I am not yet old enough to drink in my country legally so thank you for the handy dandy conversion chart.
You should probably avoid the cupcakes too – highly addictive stuff
That is certainly unique and it makes perfect sense when it comes to picking up various patterns in anime.
I’m not a drinker but I love playing the equivalent of drinking games while rewatching a show. This came from high school when my friends and I would binge Buffy on video. Every time she kills a vampire have a chocolate. Everytime Giles polishes his glasses, drink a shot of coke. And so on. It was great for socialising, getting a sugar high, and just enjoying the show. Amazingly, as I got older, this didn’t get less fun though it did get harder to find people who would participate in the game.
That does sound like a ton of sugar. I should try it – energy for days!
I’ve always been a bit of a sugar and chocolate junkie. However, it is best done with friends.
Sorry, I only skim read the post. I was looking at the captions lol. High five for Gintama at the end though! 👋 (Don’t leave me hanging)
It’s my favorite part anyways 😉
Lol, me too
Sensory overload while watching anime, huh? I think the fact that you can still follow along while doing so is actually incredible.
Thank you for explaining the finer details regarding the drinking games, for keeping us entertained with your distinctive voice and drinks with funny names, and for providing alternatives to drinking (I mean, teetotalers will abstain, but I personally think it’s their loss…).
I gotta say, a good stiff drink helps bring out the sheer genius of Utapri
I was under the impression that Utapri already shines without the sauce!
Yes but it shines TOO BRIGHT!
I like your blog’s theme. When it comes to drinking I limit myself to social events, so I think I’ll play along with cupcakes. There goes my resolution of eating healthy in 2018!
Clearly you had no choice. It’s not your fault
I find a good drinking game at the end of a review to be something to look forward to immensely. They’re hilarious as frick, and yes, if you read closely enough, they DO give insight to a character’s behavior, attitude, or personality! It’s a very creative idea, a genius one in a place like this blogosphere, and I hope you don’t stop doing them! Thanks for the insight!
(understands the reasons for the drinking game before even reading the post = raise your glass!)
Well you know, great minds and all that!
Great post, but I don’t eat apple cupcakes. :p
You could always make someone else eat it I guess…?
K-pop conversion Chart (Choose 1 song):
1 sip = 1 alternating Kpop move
1 chug = Dance the entire chorus
Finish your glass = Dance the entire song
Down the bottle = Practice the song once, and perform it in it’s entirety
sounds like it would whip you into shape
I love to drink. I’m a big social drinker. Maybe I drink too much hahah
Hey, no judgement here. I’m writing this with a glass of wine in my hands…
Hahahah
Explains a lot! ^^
I admit I’ve gone with juice for a bunch of your posts, but cupcakes sounds fun~
Great way to make a boring anime delicious!
I don’t drink at all — alcohol disagrees with me a bit and I’ve also known a few people close to me with drinking problems, so I tend to avoid it anyway for their sake — but I still enjoy your drinking games. Like you, I also like watching out for patterns in things; Japanese media (and the Japanese language, for that matter) is full of them, so this sort of stuff is immensely satisfying to me!
I’m a particular fan of spotting those verbal tics and puns that aren’t directly translatable from the original Japanese — things like princessy characters using “watakushi” and “desu wa”, catgirls using “nya”, Squid Girl using “de geso” instead of “desu”, cute characters overusing “desu” to a ridiculous degree — because I find it gives me an additional level on which to appreciate and understand the character which simply doesn’t come across in a dub or even in the subtitles taken out of context without the audio.
My Japanese is nowhere near good enough to watch or play something without subtitles, mind you, but I’ve picked up enough of these patterns to be able to use them to enhance my enjoyment of various series, characters and games! I’m pretty glad I don’t play any drinking games with these particular conventions, however; with the sort of stuff I enjoy, I’d be on the floor in seconds.
I hear you, verbal tics are often extremely prevalent, since they’re so technically easy to add (animate) and don’t interfere with plot points.
This was a fun read and I love the games at the end. Thank you for explaining your thought processes :).
I’m so glad someone enjoys them! hey do take some effort
Haha oh man those captions had me laughing so much! 😂😂 I’m glad you were finally able to use the word three-fold. It has been of my own lifelong ambitions as well, so I might write a post with that word in it as well.
Seriously this was one hell of a fun post. I already told you I don’t drink (not because I’m not allowed or because of relegion or anything, but simply because I don’t like the taste). So maybe I should get to work on getting together a non-alcoholic conversion chart for playing these drinking games lol 😂😂 Naww….that won’t work I guess 😉 Oh well, it still won’t make me enjoy your posts any less 😊
I’m going to try the exercise version for a while. I’m going to be so cut by the end f the season!