The booming advertisement for Conception II echoes throughout the cement plaza, voices reverberating into the infinite sky above my head. Fanboys, with strands of hair drooping over bandanas, sulk past me with downcast eyes fixated on their shadows. At a nearby train station, a young woman in maid uniform sings into a cheap, portable karaoke microphone. She dances to the music with a smile as artificial yet sincere as my memories of the cheerleaders at my high school football games. A cool, spring breeze carries her lilting notes over the rumbles of the crowd and din of commerce, bringing a smile to my face.

I didn’t come to the UD+ plaza to listen to amateurs, however. I came for the rambunctious crowd disputing with irate and protesting idol singers. Stepping from the stairs and between the two groups feuding like a Twitter War, I stare the lead idol in the eye …

… and lunge forward, brandishing my limited-edition mecha anime poster as if it were Excalibur against forty-eight screaming, scratching teeny-bopper idols.

Yes folks, I’ve finally got a new piece up over on GamersWithJobs. This one is titled Akiba Mystique, focusing on how a game like Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed establishes such an atmosphere as to make this fictionalized version of Akihabara just tangible enough, despite all of the cracks in the artificial presentation.

I’ve already written plenty on the game, but the appeal runs deep enough I wanted to discuss it further on the GamersWithJobs front page. Hope you enjoy.