Welcome to this week's shenanigans!! Trying out foods, watching a movie, and doing lots of walk!
Shinzou wo Sasageyo! (Dedicate your heart!)
Roughly two weeks ago, SM Cinema's post about showing Attack on Titan's film on their cinemas appeared as I was scrolling on my feed. I'm not that much updated with anime now but I have finsihed watching this show last year. I think I've read some posts from anime pages last year about AOT getting a film. Months passed and I've completely forgotten about it. Lucky the algorithm showed me SM Cinema's post.
Two cinemas here in the province have the anime on their schedules so I asked @leannwithdoublen if she would like to watch as well. Glad she instantly agreed!
The cinema was about an hour away from my town so I have go out earlier. However, I slept late the night before and didn't hear my alarm clock as a result! I quickly prepared to go out and even skipped breakfast. We're eating before heading to the cinema anyway. After doing an errand and missing two buses, I finally got into a bus. Whew!
I was surprised when Leann told me she was already at the mall. Now she has to wait around hour. She told me she'll walk around the mall while waiting.
The bus kept stopping to pick up passengers, now I have to accept my fate that I'll be late on our meeting time.
I even got nervous when the bus turned into the bypass road instead of going straight to the city. I thought the bus changed its route and will go towards the nearest TPLEX road. I quickly informed Leann and asked if the buses going to the bypass road would still return to the city. She said that it will most likely head to the city. Thankfully, it turned opposite to the direction of the TPLEX road.
While the bus was picking up some passengers, I found a bus at the opposite road with Korean characters on its windshield. I sent the photo to Leann and joked that I'm already in Korea. Lol.
We met at the mall opposite SM to have our lunch first. Leann recommended a Korean food house wherein she wanted to try a specific meal. Honestly, I'm not sure what we would eat for this meeting that's why it's good she recommended a foods to try. Upon reaching third floor, I was welcomed by this pikachu stuffed toys. It's cute I just have to take a photo.
The Korean food house didn't look busy when we arrived and Leann was able to borrow the menu to bring to our table. As you can see on the photo, they have lots of meals and snacks on their menu to choose from.
I am not very familiar with Korean foods that's why I just agreed to whatever Leann was suggesting. Lol. According to her, their corndog is good. She also wanted to try the bingsu and jajangmyeon. Okay, let's try all of that!
All our orders were available except for the corndog. It's kind of sad it was unavailable. I was looking forward to taste it because Leann said it's good. Anyway, there's still Bingsu.
It seems to me that the staffs are slow in taking orders despite using a tablet which supposedly makes taking orders faster. Staff also goes back and forth the kitchen to ask if the meal we're ordering is available. Looks like their inventory isn't synchronized with their system.
Serving the food also took a while and they were served one at a time like we're on a fine dining restaurant. Lmao. According to Leann, this is their regular pace. To be fair, they also have online orders to cater so it's kind of understandable. However, the way our orders were taken felt like they were unorganized and unsystematic.
Waiting time was around 20 minutes before they were able to serve the jajangmyeon. Jajangmyeon is a noodle dish with black bean paste. I'm kind of hesitant of the black bean paste but it's surprisingly good. I think it's also a healthy food because of the black beans. Also, the meat which should come with it was beef, but unfortunately it was not available. The staff said they're using pork instead. Not really an issue for us though maybe it taste even better with beef meat. A bowl of jajangmyeon costs Php 195 or $3.32 USD.
Next that was served was the Kimbap. I think this was a Samgyup Kimbap. It has lettuce, carrots, egg, pork meat, and kimchi. I'm not a big fan of kimchi but the kimbap is alright. Those who like kimchi will surely love this kimbap. The Samgyup Kimbap also costs Php 195.
The Tteokbokki with cheese was served next. It's their best selling tteokbokki. It has quail eggs, tteokbokki, odeng, and sausage in a semi-spicy sauce topped with cheese. We were expecting the cheese to be mozarella or something like the square cheese. It seems like it was only grated cheddar cheese. This one costs Php 150 or $2.55 USD.
There was an interval of a couple of minutes before the Oreo Bingsu was served. We thought they have already forgotten to prepare it. Anyway, the bingsu tastes good and the soft flaky texture of the ice was addicting to eat. Next time, we should order one for each of us. Haha! Leann said the oreo bingsu was a recent addition to their menu. It costs Php 109 or $1.86 USD.
Everything was good except for the tteokbokki which I doubt its serving portion was worth its price. But overall, their prices are still affordable. They even have meals for less than Php 100. Definitely better than a Php 100 worth of meal on a fast food restaurant. Thanks for the meal, Leann!
We were supposedly going for the 12 noon schedule of the Attack on Titan movie but since I arrived 30 minutes late and the foods were served slow, we finished eating lunch at 12:30. I suggested Leann that we take the next schedule instead which was at 3 P.M.
That's still two and a half hours away. What to do now?
The first thing we did upon entering SM mall was to secure our movie tickets. The cinema staff letting us choose our seat was new to me because the cinema near my home doesn't give us options to choose seats unless you book tickets online.
We chose seats which were a bit at the back so our necks won't get strained looking up on the screen. I was also thinking if we were the only ones watching because all of the seats were still vacant when we reserved ours.
And the stroll to kill time begins! From gadgets stores, shoe stores, hair accessories, and department store. We walked around for a good one hour until Leann suddenly said we can also wait at the seats outside the cinema. We spent the next hour there while scrolling through our phones.
I also made use of the time to read about the overview of the Attack on Titan: The Last Attack. I already have a hunch that it's going to be about the rumbling where the colossal titans trample the lands outside the walls of Paradis Island.
About 20 minutes before 3, we finally entered the cinema and movie began shortly after some movie reminders and advertisements. I guess there were only ten of us who watched on that time slot.
The film runs for 2 hours and 25 minutes. It's long that it made our legs tired sitting but it's alright. For the love of Attack on Titan, it's okay.
The film is simply just a replay of the last few episodes of the final season. But I still love it nonetheless! Honestly, I wished for it to see on the big screen after watching it on my laptop last year because the episodes were so good from the story, animation, and background music. Which is why knowing they made it into a film made me so happy! I can't let this chance pass.
Hanji's death still makes me teary-eyed each time I watch it. Dang, Hanji..why do you have to die?! And Mikasa spending the rest of her life without Eren is just so sad. We always long for a happy ending story but this anime reminds us that it's not always the case.
Also, there was a reminder to stay until the end of credits before the film began. I was lowkey expecting for Hajime Isayama to appear with a video message to thank the viewers for supporting his work but I was wrong. Lol.
After watching the film, we successfully found a corndog stand at the food court. We also bought drinks and mozarella sticks and spent another hour before calling it a day.
Thankfully, the buses weren't that full and I was able to get a seat. I was already traumatized once when I had no choice but to stand in the bus because the seats were all occupied. It was difficult to keep your balance and appear like you are not struggling while the bus was moving fast, overtaking vehicles on the highway, and hitting the brakes when someone gets off.
I arrived home at 8 P.M. and was dead tired from all the walking and bus travel. Nonetheless, it was no doubt a fun day with good food and good film. Leann and I don't get to meet often which is why it's always nice to be able to spend a day together once in a while. It's also among the few times I can go out and eat with someone so it's really a fun time for me. Until our next meeting!
Thanks for reading! 💚
