32 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - learning the conversation topic changing system

Dear Readers,

I walked around town, telling people Billboard was missing. This was the conversation topic I was sticking to now.

I told Ramen's dad and he said Billboard was able to down the large rice plate in five minutes flat and he had a bright future ahead of him!

I told the police officer who said to come straight to him if I learned anything else about it.

I told Megami-chan and she said everything was okay because he was just a mysterious kid.

I told Frank and he said it was impossible for a kid to leave the planet without some kind of rocket. He then changed the conversation topic back to him not wanting to be called a Frankfurter!

I was then able to change the topic back to me being handsome when I chatted to Emily.

So this is how I change the conversation topic... I better learn what triggers the change in topics...

I then talked to A Plus who challenged me! I became his servant again! I have to learn what triggers what event if I want to see more fun dialogue bits and collect other stuff...

I told Ramen's dad about me being handsome and popular and he said if I brought any of my dates to his diner he'd give me a free cup of tea! That's awesome :) I thought he was going to say something funny or put me in my place for being swell-headed, but no! He catered for the scenario instead!

I told Akebi's dad and he said that was good but I better be nice to girls still as being popular was no excuse to make them cry. Good advice...

I told Frank and he took the word "pop" from "popular" and talked about "pop goes the weasel" which ended up with him feeling more mystified by this planet.

He changed the topic, so I changed the topic back through Emily.

I told mom about me being popular and she said that was nice but she liked a nice smile and an energetic attitude better.

31 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - handsome conversation topic among others

Dear Readers,

Now that I had everybody's spells, I could change the topic of conversation whenever I wanted or whenever I beat someone at Monster Cards.

But first, I wanted to talk to everyone with A Plus' topic, the one about using the same spell. I said it to Ramen's dad, but he thought I said "smell" and made a funny rhyme.

I continued wandering, picking up glims as I went along. I met Frank and told him about using the same spell. He didn't really get it, as it wasn't even real. Haha.

The topic seemed to change to Frank being an alien and not a frankfurter. When I chatted with Emily, this was the topic. She then changed the topic to me being a handsome kid who's popular with girls! She said she bet I was popular with them anyway, as I reminded her of a boy she had a crush on when she was growing up! Aw! She then got worried about giving me the wrong idea haha.

I talked to the policeman again with this topic and he said he was like that when he was young and reckless, but told me to keep that quiet as he didn't want to set a bad example now.

I talked to Megami-chan with this topic and she said Akebi told her a handsome transfer student showed up at school! Wow! She said Akebi was Goyouin-san's daughter.

I talked to Dad with this topic and he said of course I was handsome as I was his son! Then he changed the topic of conversation to Billboard's whereabouts :( How do I change it back to me being handsome and popular??

30 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - learning everybody's spells

Dear Readers,

The other kids were in the neighbourhood.

I was still Nanafushi's boss. He thought the hero was the coolest hero ever.

A Plus suggested changing my spell to match my opponent's. He was my boss at the moment so I changed some of my words to Suddenly, Muchoon, Bo Bo Bo-Byuun, Fall Down, Doron-Doron. This was his spell and I had to press HOME and write it down as it was weirdly hard to remember every word he said. When I matched my spell with his I unlocked a new topic of conversation!

This topic happened to be the one about changing the spell to match your opponent's spell. I'm guessing the one about the hero was S-chan's.

I decided to record everyone's spells. Nanafushi's spell was Jiwa-Jiwa, Guru-Guru, Suddenly, Fall Down, Muchoon.

Akebi's spell was Guru-Guru, Fuwa-Fuwa, Koron-Koron, Fall Down, Bo Bo Bo-Byuun.

Ramen thought it was a good idea to use the same spell. S-chan thought so too and said she might go easy on me if I did that.

S-chan's spell was Muchoon, Muchoon, Bo Bo Bo-Byuun, Fall Down, Suddenly.

Dad thought it was a good idea to have a common spell between all of us in solidarity. Mom didn't understand the kind of magic we kids were using nowadays.

The police officer told me about his chat with his daughter Emily about her being in love and he wanted to learn to take care of stuff at home by himself a bit more since she wanted to get married. I told him about the spell and he just advised us to be careful and wash our hands when we got home.

I told Megami-chan about using the same spell and she said we were all so close. I got a Space Monster glim at this point further west by the footprints.

I found Billboard by the bridge with the writing, except now he had painted it all cool crazy patterns. He liked the idea of having the same spell too. I wanted to get his spell, but I had to lose to him in Monster Cards first as I was his boss, so I tried to play a losing game against him. This is a weird way to play but it's making me play the Monster Cards game more often. Billboard even noticed I was trying to lose when I tried swapping my winning cards.

Billboard's spell was Bo Bo Bo-Byuun, Come Forth, Start Dancing, Fall Down, Muchoon.

Akebi's dad said it was a good idea to have the same spell, as something good could happen.

I obtained another Progenodon card from the glims I was collecting.

Finally, I deliberately lost to Ramen to hear his spell, which was Guru-Guru, Jiwa-Jiwa, Start Dancing, Fall Down, Come Forth. That was every spell!

29 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - s-chan helping with laundry

Dear Readers,

I began my Saturday at the door of our shop. I looked inside and saw Mom and Dad were busy, but S-chan was also here! And she was helping!

S-chan wanted to play Monster Cards right away. I decided not to just to become her servant. I didn't mind. I can always become her boss later.

I chatted with Dad, who seemed to have a new zest for life. He was rewashing the laundry that got splattered with mud yesterday and he seemed happy to do it. He even said he'd commit to the diner owner's situation and improve on his own work.

I asked Dad what he thought about the hero and he said it was him before saying he was joking. I asked Mom the same and she said Dad told her not to tell me who it was.

It took me ages but I beat S-chan at Monster cards and got a Space Saucer glim. I asked her what sh thought of the monster but she said she asked me to look into it.

Now to go outside!

28 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - friday story ends, weekend begins!

Dear Readers,

Frankasaurus lay wriggling on the ground, fallen but not yet defeated. Just then, Cleaner Man got back up! He took one look at the mud the monster got on the washing and cried out in anger! He marched over to the monster who was getting back up and unleashed his special punch on it, causing it to shrink and vanish, probably into glims!

Then the UFO started coming after him. Cleaner Man shot his Steam Beam at it, sending it back out into space! Poor Frank wasn't happy, but we kind of knew he was a nice guy underneath it all.

Cleaner Man then vanished.

All us kids chatted after the experience. Akebi wanted to be best friends so we could split homework and she joked about giving me a huge load of hers to do! A Plus found his confidence, though he still found the whole thing a bit scary. S-chan asked if she could come over to my place and play sometime and I said yes! Billboard was just amazed over the monsters. Nanafushi was determined to become friends with every kid in the city now. Ramen thanked me for asking Nanafushi to the hill and was now hungry.

Emily came up! She said she had never seen Monster Hill from here before. Wow... she must've been crazy busy with work all this time. She got an idea to start selling snacks here on Fridays! A very good idea!

Megami-chan got a new idea for a huge hero show and it was gonna be great :)

Mom said she'd fallen in love with Dad all over again and said he was so cool! I didn't cop that he was Cleaner Man :)

Emily was sad her clothes had mud on them and then I remembered her laundry. She then looked at the sunset over the horizon and observed how blood-coloured it was. It was during this scene where the narrator wrapped up the episode and did a kind of "see you next time!" farewell that nostalgic TV shows do at the end of an episode.

Then the credits rolled! The theme song with lyrics played during it and it was all really nice and pleasant. There were some scenes with characters talking and with one of us holding a Frankasaurus doll.

Then there was a post credits scene in the diner with Frank sitting at his table opposite S-chan. He apologised to her, calling her Lady Silvia, over her ordeal of being captured by Frankasaurus.

She was cool with it all and said that she grew to like the people of this planet and decided she'd like to stay on this remote rock for a while! These interactions are very cute :)

The narrator then said I was now able to go exploring at my own leisure, maybe find more stuff, complete unfinished episodes. You know, the usual fun things you get to do on a Saturday!

I kicked my Saturday off with collecting a Mystery Glim. The weekend starts here!

27 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - kids combined versus frankasaurus!

Dear Readers,

I talked to Frank again and he observed his monster's ability to learn its opponents moves. I asked if he learned our Earth moves and cast the spell on him! He made a dramatic fall and got back up. He said it was all due to the replicator chip. This kicked off and completed episode 24: "A Crack in the Armor"

I returned to Monster Hill and this time, Akebi's dad came up as well, telling Megami-chan they were heading to the hospital... it turns out that the plane that went down hit some people and they had to get checked out. Akebi apologised for not believing her dad and we all hung our heads when he left. Seemed like another moment of people understanding each other and sorting a problem they had earlier.

I collected more glims and suddenly, Cleaner Man stopped fighting to lay on the ground. It turned out that in his ultimate form he could only hold for a moment, the time it takes for noodles to cook, since Earth's oxygen was lower than the levels on his planet. We started cheering for him and weirdly, Frankasaurus cheered too, as if it was copying our cheering.

I then got an idea: We should all cast a spell on the Frankasaurus! I explained about the replicator chip and they all copped it! Akebi said I hit the jackpot with the idea! We just had to find someone who was everyone's servant. There wasn't anybody who was everybody's servant, as much as A Plus wanted to be.

Suddenly Nanafushi showed up and volunteered to be the target of the spell! I picked him and he said he hadn't played against anyone else besides me yet, so he was everyone else's servant too, by default!

A Plus asked him if he was okay with it and he said he was, as he was going to start playing Monster Cards with us when this was all over. Yay!

We kids all got together and cast the spell on him, making him take a tumble, which made the Frankasaurus take a very dramatic tumble into the mud, dirtying all the clothes we had hanging out in the process!

26 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - cleaner man versus frankasaurus!

Dear Readers,

Frank got into an argument with Dad... er I mean Cleaner Man. Frank called him a lout and Cleaner Man said he wasn't, he was just unique!

This resonated with Nanafushi, who was watching from the TV station. He was like "yeah! I'm just unique!" and he must've felt good. This captures the feeling of watching TV shows made for kids and helping them learn about life's challenges and their own self-esteem :)

Cleaner Man and Frankasaurus engaged in some pretty heavy battling, with punches, throws and even the odd tail whip to the face. Yowch!

I collected enough Conjectural Chimera glims to obtain a Jumbogon card. This combined a couple of monsters and had a horned, dinosaur like face.

I caught up with Nanafushi. I told him to come to Monster Hill to watch with everyone else. He said he only would if I won at Monster Cards with him.

It took several random tries but I finally beat him! I just kept picking my strongest cards and let luck determine everything else. I cast the falling down spell on him and he finally agreed to go to Monster Hill with everyone. He seemed happy about it though I daresay!

I picked up some new glims and headed towards Monster Hill myself, where I found the other kids cheering the hero on. Nanafushi wasn't here but lots of glims were! I collected them all and completed my Mightiest Monster ones to obtain a Demongiras card. This monster was very dragon like and was all about destroying other living things.

25 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - cleaner man to the rescue!

Dear Readers,

I was just about to leave Monster Hill when Frank's flying saucer came down!

Frand communicated with the crew and they got the new monster to pick Mom and me up for deportation! They got S-chan as well!

Mom called for help and Dad came rushing out of our shop to the rescue!

Frank said they didn't get the target and with the confusion, they dropped me! Mom and S-chan cried my name out and so did Dad! Emily fainted!

Suddenly, I disappeared into thin air!

I appeared in the space scene with Frank telling me I was the super hero from now on. Then I got up from Frank's table in the diner and dashed outside, to where another figure appeared next to the monster. I then noticed my backpack was still on me. I had forgotten my errand.

This was all pretty hard to follow but I ran up to the collapsed Emily, apologising for her laundry and promising to get it to her later. The police officer tried to stop me from going to Monster Hill but I kept running. He had to tend to Emily anyway. They had a nice father/daughter eye to eye moment where they apologised for their shortcomings. 

Emily then revealed she was in love and wanted to marry someone. The flying saucer flew over them. Then it flew over me. Episode 23: "Dawn of a New Hero" started.

This was a little confusing and convoluted, but I continued on the ride. I met Frank and confronted him while the monster and the giant squared off in the background. He reacted with great surprise to see me. Then he observed the giant doing hand to hand combat with Frankasaurus before ordering his monster to bring the targets to safety. Frankasaurus let Mom and S-chan down on Monster Hill gently. Frank scolded his crew.

Mom comforted S-chan, saying they were safe now thanks to Cleaner Man! Dad had transformed into this giant!

24 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - a real monster shows up?

Dear Readers,

I went back to Monster Hill where everyone was stunned at the appearance of the flying saucer! We watched as it zapped the plane that flew by!

The plane went on fire and flew over Frank's head before it crashed. He yelled at someone, calling them fools as they weren't supposed to actually hit anything.

The scene shifted to what was probably inside the flying saucer, where two crewmates dressed in onesies with an aerial at the top were at panels of lit buttons. They said sorry and their names were "Probably an Alien".

The next thing they did was to form the Frankasaurus. The ship beamed down at something and made this huge thing grow colossal! It had spikes on its back and it was some dinosaur robotic thing. Megami-chan shouted she didn't know what it was! It was grey and purple and full of spikes and seemed to be metallic otherwise.

Some glims fell when the episode was complete and another episode started and finished, them being episodes 21 and 22 about terrible monsters appearing.

I obtained another monster card and this one was called Gidron. It was a huge floating egg-like creature that looked menacing.

So this was a real monster before us? It stumbled left and right and didn't do anything else, but its sheer size was still grabbing everyone's attention.

23 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - dad and frank

Dear Readers,

I went home to Dad, who asked me where Mom was. He was looking at the monster too. I told him she went to Monster Hill and it was safe there. I asked him about the space programme he failed to get into. He said it was the "Galaxy Guardians". I asked him if he got in would he be fighting the monster now? He said he probably would... Then he walked inside home and seemed sad that he wasn't fighting the monster, but I couldn't tell for sure.

The next scene was of that spacey poster with Frank talking to Dad, asking him why he wouldn't transform into the hero and fight. He asked him why he was a dry cleaner. Dad said he didn't want to fight until the people of this planet could accept him. He said he failed the test 10 years ago. Frank told him if he gave up just like that, he wasn't a true hero and he already lost to his own pride.

The next scene was the rejection letter Dad had received. He still had it after all these years. When he read it the episode 16: "A Father's Stains" was complete. I had some glims to pick up and obtained another Eaglarian card. I hunted for more glims before going back to Monster Hill.

22 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - watching the smoke monster with the others

Dear Readers,

I ran after the other kids toward Monster Hill. I met the police officer and Frank, who were standing around, commenting on the situation. The police officer said it was different on TV and Frank talked about it like the assistant in Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea who classified every life form he came across.

S-chan was up ahead. I told her I thought the monster wouldn't appear but it did. I ran with her to Monster Hill. The other kids were there as well as crew from the TV station who were filming it.

Akebi told us to look and this small flying plane flew over our heads. Mom appeared as well to have a look! She asked us were we not scared of being so close to the monsters? A Plus and Ramen said we were fine since the TV camera never got damaged, so it was safe.

Mom saw me and ran up to me, relieved that I was safe. I was standing with S-chan. It was here where they made acquaintance.

We all stood and looked at the monster. It was made out of smoke and had a monstrous shape, moving in a stretchy squashy kind of way. It had four legs and what looked like more than one head. Could be four heads but maybe some were tails?

Poor S-chan said she fell on the way here. I asked was she okay and she said she was, but her jelly packet from lunch got squished.

The others were all fascinated by the shape, some were a little worried and some were wondering if it was fake or if they'd get on TV. Megami-chan was all excited for this climactic monster moment they were filming.

Everyone was so entranced by the monster that there was nothing else to do, so I wandered around, collecting glims and obtaining another Bugnar card.

I wanted to get a closer look so I went to the building by the tracks. The alien schedule that was here was now a neighbourhood bulletin. Hmm...

I went back to town and Emily was here, in her usual annoyed way. She said sales used to be good on Fridays. Nanafushi was here too, saying the monster breaks anything it wants, just like him.

21 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - on the swings with the 6th cutest girl

Dear Readers,

I left the diner feeling troubled. Was I really an alien? After talking with Frank, it seemed like I was. The police officer asked me what was wrong and thought I had wet the bed or something, telling me it was nothing to worry about. Even Nanafushi asked me what was up.

I went home to Dad, who was ironing. I asked him if he would be sad if I wasn't his son. He said not in the slightest, which had me going, until he said there was no way I wasn't his kid. Mom had just solved some problem she was working on and was extra happy, so I didn't want to trouble her with my worry for now.

Emily asked me what was up and I asked her if I was a regular kid. She said I definitely was a regular suspicious kid who would sneak a bite of cake. I felt a little better but...

I went to the bridge then and meet S-chan there. The narrator then revealed that she was this girl! I asked her what she was doing and she said she was looking at the transporters. She wasn't used to trains, so it felt like a new thing to her. I offered her a jelly packet I still had from school lunch and she politely declined.

I asked her if she found it weird that two transfer students showed up at the same time. We talked about it using words like "coincidence", "fate" and "destiny".

We went to the swings nearby and continued our chat about big words and being in fourth grade. Sentimental music played too. It was a nice scene.

She found a jelly packet in her pocket from school too and asked if I wanted it. I declined politely, as I had my own!

We swung on the swings and sang a song together. I used some big words to describe us and she said to be careful in case a girl would take that the wrong way. I asked what she meant.

Suddenly, we heard a monster behind us! We looked behind and saw the smoke from the chimneys in the distance making monster shapes. We got off the swings to take a closer look and all of the other kids showed up to join us, except for Nanafushi. They ran off in the direction of Monster Hill.

With this, Episodes 20: "The 6th Cutest Girl" and 21: "A Terrible Monster Appears!" both started. Lots of stuff happening!

20 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - beam me up, frank!

Dear Readers,

I walked back to the bridge and noticed something flashing in the sky. I rushed over to Monster Hill and saw the train where it didn't usually stop. The birds all stopped chirping too. The sound of my footsteps disappeared too!

I heard some weird alien spaceship like sounds. Then I saw a big flying saucer lower down over the crater! It approached me and shot out a tractor beam, pulling me on board! Then it flew away into space!

The next scene was above Earth. I stood opposite Frank. He called himself Frank Schuballiger and said we were from the same planet.

The view zoomed out and revealed the space scene to be a poster in Ramen's family diner, and Frank and I were revealed to be sitting at his usual table, a cosy corner. He said funny things like our first meeting even though we met before and he asked me to order anything I wanted as long as I had the money to pay for it!

This was a funny moment!

I was puzzled. He said he was the esteemed manager of Mad Momma Security and he sent the hero to save this planet 10 years ago, but this hero wasn't doing his job. He sent him letters and even came here to talk to him face to face, but he still wasn't doing his job.

He was just about to give up until I got accepted as a Space Defense Department Junior Member. He asked me if I could take the hero's place and transform to fight against the threats to this planet. I said I wasn't super strong, that I was clumsy and my shoe laces get all knotted sometimes. He said heroes didn't have laces!

Then he said there was a lady who came with the hero to marry him. She was a daughter of her planet's royal family, and if she hadn't left, she'd be a princess. He wasn't going to have her here if the hero wasn't going to do his job, and the largest shareholder was beginning to feel the same.

I said I could be the hero and Frank said he'd have to deport me.

I left the diner, thinking was I an alien and what did that mean? Was I not my parents' child? I decided to keep this a secret, otherwise Mom and Dad would be so sad. I picked up the glims that rained and obtained another Penguidon card.

Frank is pretty strange, stranger than the other adults who seem to play along with our kid games and imagination. What was with that alien spaceship? Was that just him inviting me to the diner to speak about being a hero?

19 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - what the sign really says

Dear Readers,

I set off to join Billboard and the others at the bridge when I came across Akebi's dad. I asked him if he believed monsters and aliens existed and he said of course he did.

I came across Frank as well and he said he found it strange the farms and cabbages weren't crushed from the monsters appearing every week.

I finally caught up with everyone at the bridge with the mystery message. Billboard revealed his dad made this sign on the bridge. I thought that meant his dad was an alien, but he said his dad painted the sign for the supermarket on the other side of the river.

Billboard said his dad paints them by day and puts them up at night when the stores close. He then said his dad sees weird stuff when he drives around at night. He said he saw a bunch of people digging holes. Why would they do that though?

Akebi then pointed out the monster footprints! Could they be fake? Could it be the monsters weren't real? We went to some footprints and A Plus noticed there were shovel marks in the holes. Dun dun dunn!

Akebi asked Billboard what the sign said and he said it said "Huge Summer Sale!"

So that was it. Everyone ran off, leaving me to ponder the difference between monsters and aliens and what was really going on with them. The mysterious sign was now solved but now Episode 19: "Asteroids and Aliens" started.

I collected the glims that appeared and obtained a third Pailar card.

18 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - nanafushi's loneliness

Dear Readers,

I headed for the tracks and met Billboard and Nanafushi there.

Billboard asked Nanafushi why didn't he want to try being friends with us as we weren't so bad. Nanafushi said he wasn't any good at school and he'd stick out like a sore thumb with us. Billboard disagreed, saying he was the best at P.E. and music, which counted as school too. Nanafushi said they probably get along because they were only good at one thing, Billboard being at the top of his art class.

They noticed me there and asked if needed something. I said we were looking for Billboard and wanted to show him something. Nanafushi was jealous of this. I told Billboard about the bridge and he ran off to check it out, leaving me with Nanafushi.

I asked Nanafushi if he was just lonely. He said not to make fun of him. This started Episode 18: "The Bad Kid".

I told him to admit that he was just lonely and he didn't respond. I decided to leave him there for now and look for the others.

Seems like he's more of an antagonist rather than an actual bad guy.

17 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - looking for billboard

Dear Readers,

I rushed back to the bridge after Akebi, but she wasn't there. A Plus wasn't either.

Emily and Megami-chan were chatting. Megami-chan was going to tell Emily something but didn't remember. Emily asked me if I knew and I said I did, but I wasn't telling! Megami-chan then called me a meanie! Playful grown-ups :)

I caught up with Akebi on the narrow road. She said she liked narrow roads as they made her feel so calm. I turned down her Monster Cards challenge and became her servant again. Oh well. She asked me to find Billboard, as her servant. I said nope!

I caught up with A Plus, who was also looking for Billboard. I turned down his challenge too and became his servant. Ah well. He longed for me to become his boss again.

I saw Mom and Ramen's dad talking as well and they were talking about his grey shirt that came back white. She apologised and said she'd let Dad know.

I told the police officer they made me a Space Defence Department Junior Member and he seemed surprised in a good way. Nice of him to keep playing along :)

I caught up with Ramen and he said Billboard told him something once but wouldn't say until I beat him at Monster Cards, so I decided to play again and beat him. When I became his boss again, he said Billboard told him he liked to hang out around the train tracks. I asked him why didn't he go look for him there and he said the stupid Nanafushi might be there with him.

I set off for the tracks.

16 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - scaring akebi with my monster voice

Dear Readers,

I caught up with Billboard, who was now hanging out with A Plus and Akebi for a change of scene. I asked him why he was named that and he said he liked to paint billboards. I was now able to play Monster Cards with him.

I played against him and won! I also learned about smash cards or whatever they're called, that have an advantage over the other two things, like say if you're rock, you can beat both scissors and paper. Luckily I had rock as well with higher strength, so I was able to beat him. I became his boss and cast the falling down spell on him. Serves him right for blocking me earlier too!

I didn't accept A Plus' challenge and became his servant. Ah well.

I told Akebi about the bridge I found with the strange writing. She and A Plus were interested in seeing it so we arranged to meet on the bridge overlooking it. I caught up with them. They said the house with all the paints in front of it was Billboard's house.

We had a closer look at the writing on the bridge below. A Plus said he'd ask Billboard about it and ran off, leaving Akebi and myself to hang out. 

The atmosphere became different when it was just her and me. She talked about how she loved being able to see the sky forever and breathing in fresh air. She also wanted to hear the roar that Billboard heard from the well.

I was happy to oblige! I went over to the drain to roar again, and poor Akebi was frightened out of her wits! She ran away but didn't go far.

I saw Akebi's dad and my Dad talking about whether this was their first meeting or not. One seemed familiar to the other.

I caught up with Akebi, who didn't stray too far from the well. She immediately copped it was me who made the sound, asking me how I made it. I asked her if she was scared and she said not really.

We got to talking about monsters. She said her dad knew the names of monsters before they came out on Fridays. We thought maybe he was the one behind them all since he came up with the stories for the ones on TV. She didn't like thinking this way and her mom said to believe in her daddy.

Afterwards, we decided to go back to the bridge to meet up with A Plus again. She ran ahead.

15 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - showing off my space defense department junior member sticker

Dear Readers,

When I left the TV station, Frank was outside. I told him I became a Space Defense Department Junior Member. He laughed with delight.

I went home to tell Mom and Dad and they were delighted. Mom talked about how I succeeded where Dad failed and told me it was how we became dry cleaners. Dad said I didn't need to be told everything.

I asked why Dad took a test to get into galaxy guarding. This started Episode 16: "A Father's Stains". I asked Dad what he would be like if he became a galaxy guardian. He said we'd probably have more money and he would've put it toward a dry cleaning machine, so we'd still be dry cleaners.

I left and talked to Akebi's father about when he started to love monsters. He told me about how 10 years ago, a strange flaming object fell into the Tanzawa Mountains of the Kanagawa prefecture. They called it Incident K-10, the Unidentified Object Crash Site. He said their crew rushed up in the middle of the night and saw the silhouette of a huge creature leaving the area. He didn't know exactly what it was, but it definitely wasn't human.

I wandered and collected a few more glims, earning another Progenodon card. I completed my Abstract Abnormaly glims to obtain Qube card. This was some kind of weird floating creature from the 4th dimension. It kinda looked like an abstract painting.

14 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - megami-chan makes me a junior member

Dear Readers,

I took the policeman's advice and headed for the tv station to report the alien invader plot.

On the way I decided to challenge Ramen again and I lost! I remained his servant.

I caught up with Megami-chan at the station. She thought I was distressed over the anchor who farted during the morning news haha. She also got my words wrong in the most hilarious way! What's her obsession with farting?

She led me to a podium and bestowed a special honour upon me, a sticker and membership of the Space Defense Department. I was now a junior member! She gave me a dramatic speech and everything!

She asked me to keep what I saw a secret and I said I would. She said that was how peace and TV stations on Earth were protected! This kicked off Episode 15: "A Junior Member is Born!" and also completed it. A bunch of glims appeared for me to collect before I left the station.

I love how everyone is indulging and encouraging my imagination! It's really nice.

13 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - discovering an alien invader plot

Dear Readers,

I found Frank standing under the bridge. He said it looked like I was reaching my fate. I wondered what fate tasted like. He imagined it tasted great and asked if I was just trying to make him sound funny.

I continued on the path towards a building with a sign that said "Creature Features" which suggested it was a studio or something. Then I read the other sign that said "Alien Invaders" Production Schedule, JXN TV. Then I got all excited and mistakenly thought it was an actual alien invasion happening! This kicked off Episode 13: "Brief Them on the Base!" and made some glims appear. I collected enough Colossal Crustacean ones to obtain a Crabclaw monster card. The picture was of a crab-like creature with what looked like an extra suit of armour. The description said it mutated from an oil spill by a tanker near Southern Malaysia.

On my way back I took another path and opened a gate, also unlocking Episode 14: "". On the other side was our neighbourhood with Akebi, her dad and A Plus. I had big news and Akebi's dad said I could tell him if I liked. I didn't as I wanted to keep it under wraps and he couldn't defeat a monster.

Mom and dad thought I was talking about another secret which was kinda weird.

I refused Ramen's challenge and became his servant again! What the heck!

I continued to the police station where I talked to Officer Kobayashi and told him about what I found. I was worried about monsters and aliens and asked him for advice. He told me to go to the TV station and report what I found to them. I asked why and he said they could tell the world and help bring peace to our planet. Clever guy :)

12 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - scaring the mean kids with a monster roar

Dear Readers,

I tried taking a detour around the mean kids. This path took me back to my neighbourhood. Mom asked me what I wanted for dinner and I said I wanted melon bread. I told Dad there were mean kids here too and he said to be firmly nice with them and hope they grow out of it. Emily and Ramen's dad told me to be careful not to fall into the monsters footprints while looking for the base.

Dad's advice for the mean kids seemed to be sound enough. I went into Ramen's diner to see Frank. The conversation was amusing and had confusion between the words "whole" and "hole".

I took the path that Ramen led me down earlier and came across the pipe again. I could hear the mean kids' voices. I decided to let out one big roar through the pipe, which came out as a monstrous roar on their side and made all three of them run for their lives in terror! Dad didn't advise me to do this, but it was fun!

I headed back to Akebi's house and saw her there with A-Plus and the black shirt man. He confirmed he was her dad. Ramen was telling them about the monster he heard too!

I found Ramen trying to get his father to believe he heard a real monster. His dad asked if the roar was more powerful than his mother's sonic farts and he answered that it was about the same. Haha!

I caught up with the mean kids who were still scared stiff. I went past them and towards the well, which was now cleared. Some glims dropped and I collected enough Glacial Giant ones to obtain a Penguidon card. The picture of it looked cute, even though it was a giant in a city shooting sonic booms at a car. I got a word to the wise as well telling me about combining cards, which makes them more powerful but has some limits with it as well? I'll have to try them out sometime. I got my first Conjectural Chimera glim here too. Further along the path I found my first Extraterrestrial Egg glim and Mightiest Monster glim too. Then I met Frank standing under the bridge...

11 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - talking to the black shirt man about monsters

Dear Readers,

I left Ramen and the two bad kids and headed to the number 10 spot on the map where I met Black Shirt Man.

I greeted him and asked his name. He put his hands on his knees and said it wasn't of great significance but he knew that I had moved here recently with my family. I asked him how he knew and he said it's because we're neighbours!

We walked over to the viewing spot on Monster Hill. He talked about the footprints all over the city. I asked him if he didn't like monsters and he said he loved them. In fact, so much that he wanted to become a Professor of Monsterology.

I thought he must know about monster voices, so I asked him about the monster's voice in the well just below this hill. He didn't know about it but said it must be reverberation. He explained the idea to me and said any sound you put in there would sound like a monster on the other end. That's how they made the sound for the monsters on TV.

I asked him how he knew so much about monsters and he said he loved heroes and monsters so much he was studying to become a true Monsterologist... ever since that fateful day, 10 years ago. This started Episode 12: "Mysterious Man, Mysterious Dream!"

He didn't say any more about what happened 10 years ago, even though I was curious, but he said he'd talk to me more about monsters later, since we were neighbours after all.

10 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - encountering the bad kid and his servant

Dear Readers,

I followed Ramen on the monster footprint trail to where we were blocked by two other kids.

I played against Ramen in a round of Monster Cards and beat him in a close tiebreaker. Then I cast the falling down spell on him. He said he'd give me a hint since I was now his master. He said the two guys blocking our path liked to act cool, but they were just big sissies. All I had to do was figure out a way to make them move, like scare them off somehow.

I greeted the two boys politely. One of them was the bad kid and the other was the Bad Kid's Servant. The servant I recognised from earlier when he came out of the tree and Ramen called him a tanuki.

I asked them if we could pass and they said nope as they were waiting to hear a monster's voice from inside the well. They weren't budging. I learned from Ramen that the bad kid's name was Nanafushi and the servant's name was Billboard and they were bad kids who liked being mean for no reason whatsoever.

This kicked off Episode 10: "The Roaring Old Well" and I got a hint to look at the map for any clues as to how to deal with these guys. I looked at the map and saw a marker for a man where it said 10 and it was over at Monster Hill.

9 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - playing and winning monster cards

Dear Readers,

I took the path back to find Ramen confronted by a Bad Kid! The music got dramatic and everything! The bad kid said he couldn't be seen with us anymore since he was in the 6th grade so he walked away. Ramen said the bad kid ticked him off and ran off in the opposite direction to where we were going. I followed Ramen.

Up ahead we met Akebi and A Plus! They found a path or something and joined us to study the footprints. We told them we were trying to find the monsters base that way.

Ramen said he'd scout ahead and ran in the direction the footprints were pointing, leaving A Plus and Akebi and me here. I asked A Plus to play Monster Battle cards with me and the Word to the Wise came back with an explanation. All I had to do was lay the cards out and then do a swap. That's it! The rock-paper-scissors determined the winner. In the case of a draw, the strength determined the winner. You get hints as well which helps with guesses.

I beat A Plus and became his master, so I was able to do the spell that made him fall down. He said he much preferred being the servant since it was much less pressure. I drew with Akebi, but won thanks to the strength of my cards. I was able to cast a spell on her too. She praised my idea with the footprints and expected nothing less from her master. Maybe A Plus had a point...

8 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - the meteor impact site

Dear Readers,

Ramen stood before a smoking crater when I found him. He said this was where the meteor fell. I noted the crater but there wasn't any meteor.

I thought if monsters only came out in this town, their base must be here too. Where else would they come from every Friday? We decided to investigate their footprints and Ramen ran ahead, triggering Episode 9: "Find the Monster Base!"

While here I collected enough Mesozoic Mosquito glims to obtain card #07, Bugnar. The picture shows a winged bug with a long body, causing a plane to go down in flames. The description said it came to Japan to retrieve a jewel stolen from the Amazon jungle. Imagine being able to travel 1 kilometre with just one flap of your wings!

Since I now had five monster cards, the "Word to the Wise" voice came back and said I could now start playing the Monster Card game. It would share the rules later though.

I had to go find Ramen again as he had run off.

7 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - ramen shows me monster hill

Dear Readers,

While catching up with Ramen, I found enough Botanical Beast glims to obtain a second Pailar card. I told him it was mean to leave me without showing me where to go and he said "Sorry with a capital S!"

Ramen took me to Monster Hill, where we had a view of the whole town. He said the farm and river area ahead of us was where the monsters appeared and fought on Fridays. They called it the Riverbed of Battle. This was like having front row seats for watching the fight and the river was called Tamagawa River. The smokestacks in the distance were in the next city over.

Ramen pointed out some more stuff out to me when in the foreground, a boy jumped out of a tree and ran offscreen. Ramen said it was probably a tanuki. With that the tour was complete and more glims rained from the sky! Ramen then remembered something called the "Mystery Zone" and ran off.

Asteroid Alien and Glacial Giant were new glims I collected and I completed my Primeval Plesiosaur glims to obtain a Progenodon card. This was a cool looking monster that breathed fire and held a broken plane in its hand. Quite fearsome looking. It says its brain was in its tail which is kinda bizarre.

I followed where Ramen ran off to.

6 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - ramen shows me the dry cleaners and the scriptwriter

Dear Readers,

Ramen welcomed me to the Fuji no Hana Station part of the tour. He said this was the famous crossing you can never cross. The gates here were down all day long. The ringing of the signal is constant as well. The residents here must be driven insane...

Ramen said they only get a break when the trains stop moving due to worker strikes. He says everyone who works in Shinjuku has to walk there on the tracks when the strikes happen. He said it was pretty cool right and I said it sounded fun! He said it was kinda rough for people who live far away that work at the station market here though. Interesting!

The next part of the tour was the newest part, the dry cleaners! My place! Ramen dashed off there and I followed. That didn't stop him from giving me a big introduction to it!

He then asked me if I knew the secret of the house next to mine. I didn't, and he took me there, telling me it belonged to the famous script writer, Shigeru Goyouin, who writes our favourite TV show! I was very excited by how cool this was! He then added that Akebi was his daughter! I asked why they had different last names and Ramen said it was because her dad used a pen name. Just like I do for my writing :)

We found it kinda weird that there was a scriptwriter for monsters since monsters were real but didn't dwell too much on it. I was really surprised that Akebi was my neighbour! Ramen said the darkest place was under the candlestick. Wise words indeed!

The next part of the tour was Monster Hill where we could see the monsters! Ramen dashed off to the right and I followed through a narrow passage, picking up glims along the way, including a hidden one in a cubby hole to the right. The path continued to a bridge across a stream and along a bank where there were more glims to pick up. I completed the Atrocious Avian glims and obtained a Monster Card! This was #04, Eaglarian, which looked like an eagle in a space suit.

I crossed the stream again on a bridge that was like a big plank. It said "100 strong" something on it and I imagined it was some kind of secret code. I'm guessing though that it's a weight limit! This kicked off Episode 11: "Secret of the Lost Words"

I continued along the path and saw Ramen, but I had to cross again further ahead to meet him.

5 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - ramen gives me a tour

Dear Readers,

I caught up with Ramen at the TV station. We started talking about "Guardians! Blue Planet Space Defenders!" I told him I didn't have many channels where we used to live but now I could watch the TV monsters and the real monsters every week.

Ramen said his dream was to become a Space Defense Department Junior Member. I said it was mine too! He talked about weird mysterious things that were happening, like the monsters, then the meteor, then two transfer students. I said I didn't think transfer students were that mysterious, you know, since I was one of them. He agreed, saying the girl from my class liked his family's noodles, so she couldn't be too bad.

Ramen said this girl showed up the same day as me and was the 6th cutest girl in the class. The narrator confirmed I couldn't forget this girl's name and my heart skipped a beat when I thought of her, so it sounded like I had a little crush! We knew her name to be S-chan and I was blushing. Ramen teased me about this and I denied it!

Ramen changed the subject to the next stop on the tour, the best restaurant in town! His family's restaurant of course and it was next to his house. He led me to the diner I visited earlier and he introduced me to his dad, whom I met then. His dad teased he seemed more excited about the new girl. He asked where I was living and I said I was the dry cleaner's son. His dad said he asked them to clean an old grey dress shirt and it came back as white as snow. He lamented the faded look it had. Ramen said to give me a break. The narrator said I wondered if this was the man my parents were talking about earlier.

We continued the tour. Ramen said the next stop was the Odaara Express, Fuji no Hana Station. He said to meet him at the railroad crossing you can never cross and not to be late. Then he ran off towards the crossing at the police station.

Episode 8: "A Father's Dirty Laundry" started after that exchange with Ramen's dad. I went back in and his dad said Ramen had more energy than he knew what to do with, but he was a good kid and asked me to be friends with him.

No problem! I continued after Ramen towards the crossing. Nice to see the links of this small world coming together.

4 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - meeting frank and obtaining first monster card

Dear Readers,

This Odd Man who approached us while the others explained Monster Cards to me was dressed like a butler or something and asked us why we fell over if the spell wasn't real. Akebi said it was part of the rules. The odd man thought it was a cosmic rule set forth by the planet and Ramen told him it wasn't that big. Akebi wondered if the rule came from Ninjutsu. I was puzzled, though it was a charming little ramble and tangent.

The odd man walked away. I asked who it was and Ramen said his name was Frank, a regular at his dad's restaurant. He said Frank stays for hours, just watching TV and doing other stuff. A Plus said he was researching Earthlings. With this, Episode 3 was now complete and Episode 6: "That's Just Frank" began.

Several glims dropped around us and I got collecting! I completed my meter for Botanical Beast Glim which gave me a Monster Card! This was number 01, called a Pailar. It looked like some kind of plant monster with roots and bug eyes and long curly stalks. It had an entry in the Card section which consisted of a detailed description along with different statistics. The image's drop shadow made it pop out a lot with the 3D effect. You can also listen to the cry it makes when you tap the sound button, which is neat and very Pokémon like! I'm sure this'll all come into play later.

I found another glim of this type, so it looks like you can get more of this card. I also found an Abstract Abnormality glim.

I asked A Plus if he was okay after the rock fell on his feet. He was still upset but seemed to be getting better. He said I needed to have at least 5 cards to win a battle. For now, he cast the spell and I had to fall, which felt embarrassing.

Akebi said she found a 100 yen coin and she was going to take it to the police station. The others said she was too honest and she even took a 5 yen coin there too. She said her self-esteem came from living an honest life. Ramen asked what that was and she said she thinks it meant your inner self gets all warm from the steam of good deeds, which was pretty amusing! This also made Episode 17: "Father Knows Best" start. That's a bit further down the line. She cast the falling down spell on me too and I had to do it again.

I asked Ramen if Monster Cards was fun and he said it was. I talked to him again and he got an idea. He talked about showing me around the city since I was new. They all talked about how the monsters showed up on Friday because there was a TV station here. I learned that Akebi's dad worked for the TV station. Episode 7: "Fuji no Hana Expedition: Go!" started then and Ramen ran off towards the TV station, telling me to keep up with him. The others stayed behind.

3 attack of the friday monsters! a tokyo tale - learning about monster cards

Dear Readers,

I left the TV station and headed south to where other kids were waiting for A Plus. He appeared and apologised for waiting. There was an energetic boy and a cute girl. A Plus introduced me to them. The cute girl said I was in her class but I didn't remember her name. They all continued down the path and I had to follow. I found an Atrocious Avian glim here.

I followed the others to an obstruction of rocks in the path. The cute girl said the night before I showed up at school, a meteor fell on the hill in the back of the city and caused a landslide. We weren't able to get into the vacant lot with everything in the way.

We all got together and cleaned up the mess together, pushing the rocks to one side. Poor A Plus was hurt by a rock that fell on his feet.

The energetic boy then introduced himself as Ramen, a 5th grader whose dad owned a restaurant at the train station. The cute girl was shocked I didn't remember her name. I apologised and she introduced herself as Akebi Yoshikawa, but I could call her Akebi.

I asked them what they usually play and they said lately they play Monster Cards. They demonstrated it and I was mystified to see them flop on the ground. It was time for me to learn this weird game.

A Plus said when you lose you become the winner's servant until you can win against them. Akebi said the servant has to fall down when a spell gets cast on them. I asked why and Ramen said it's because they're the servant! I watched as Ramen got the spell cast on him in dramatic voiced dialogue and he flopped down on the ground before the master told him to arise. Then he said "aren't spells powerful?"

Of course, that's because the servant gives them that power.

Ramen said every newcomer starts off as a servant. I had to collect five Monster Cards if I didn't want to fall down forever.

That sounds simple enough so far. We were interrupted by a weird guy with menacing music.