Winter 2021: Don't Tell Me It's Awful!
There's always somebody out there. "There's nothing to watch," they'd moan and kvetch. "It was better before this." Any maybe those people are correct. But not this anime season, they aren't. Here's a look at what I think is a remarkable Winter!
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My soul needed more Yuru Camp, and Horimiya is the show I didn't expect to love but damn do I love it a whole lot. I think what's surprises me most is the relationship between Miyamura and Toru, who are presented as rivals but immediately (also) become good friends (in an off-kilter way).
Vyx bought the first three manga just before the series started, so I knew most of what was going on up to the previous episode, but the latest ep is new material for me. I definitely want to read more because there's a lot of little text gags and inner thoughts stuff that the anime glosses over (though its presentation of emotional states is often rather clever; I like the "colored cut-out" motif) but I don't feel like the anime's lacking in any way. It's faithful (if a bit out-of-sequence, in ways that make sense for the adaptation) but on par with its source material at this point.
We're also sticking with Yashahime out of pure stubbornness (oh yeah, now I remember why I never fell in love with Inuyasha in the first place), and I'm catching up on Adachi & Shimamura (which is a firmly cute-but-not-spectacular little yuri-fest).
Posted by: GreyDuck at February 09, 2021 09:40 AM (rKFiU)
2Adachi & Shimamura is a wonderful little series, that I discovered via the light novels. Shame about the spacegirl though...
Posted by: Wonderduck at February 09, 2021 09:57 AM (Bkp4m)
3Mushoku Tensei is quite good. They used their massive budget well.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at February 09, 2021 11:36 AM (LZ7Bg)
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Hey, fellow Pond Scum, I bring news from Wonderduck. He has been suffering from pain in his thigh, and it finally reached a point that he needed to get it checked out. He's in the hospital overnight; official diagnosis: Blood Clot. Scary as that is, his communication to me indicated the doctor saw it as imminently treatable and not necessitating any emergency procedures or concerns.
So, keep him in your thoughts; and he should be back with us soon.
MidniteTease
Posted by: Ben at February 28, 2021 09:36 PM (9Wcjc)
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Wonderduck, good luck and prayers for a speedy and complete recovery.
Posted by: StargazerA5 at March 01, 2021 07:36 AM (lTtXP)
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WD, good luck and hopes for a quick and easy recovery.
Posted by: Really Bored at March 01, 2021 11:45 AM (cp/J1)
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Get well soon!
Pond Scum gets stagnant without a Duck to stir it up...
Posted by: mikeski at March 01, 2021 12:16 PM (P1f+c)
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Just heard from Brickmuppet. Get well soon, Wonderduck!
Posted by: Pixy Misa at March 01, 2021 09:05 PM (MqQvv)
Posted by: Rick C at March 02, 2021 08:49 AM (eqaFC)
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Get well soon, Wonderduck! It's cold again, so you're not missing anything at the moment. There's supposed to be another warm spell in the next few days, so hopefully you'll be out of the hospital in time to bask a little.
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at March 02, 2021 10:06 AM (sF8WE)
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It could be worse. They'll put him on blood thinners like my father and he'll be okay. Still, it's a bit too soon. Wonderduck and I are about the same age. Glad it wasn't a clot in a coronary.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at March 02, 2021 02:06 PM (LZ7Bg)
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Get better soon, Wonderduck. The pond isn't the same without you.
Posted by: bouff at December 26, 2020 01:11 AM (pJ2Io)
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I spent most of the day playing games on my tablet and PC, including another big round of Satisfactory, a game I'm absolutely hooked on now (as evidenced by my dusting off the rarely-used blog-type-thing for a monster post on the subject).
Posted by: GreyDuck at December 26, 2020 09:21 AM (rKFiU)
Thanksgiving Coming A Day Early This Year
In one of the bigger out-of-nowhere announcements I've heard in the anime/manga world, Kadokawa and Nagaru Tanigawa released a statement revealing that Light Novel #12, The Intuition of Haruhi Suzumiya, is being released on November 25. Note that this will be #11 in the States, as the last two Japanese novels were combined into one here. In Japan, it's been nine years since the last release.
Providing us with more evidence that Yen Press loves us and wishes us to be happy, they put out a tweet stating that they'll be releasing the digital version in English simultaneously. And, because that simply wasn't enough good news they're intending to reprint all of the light novels in physical form as well. Which is great, because old copies are selling online for stupidly high prices. It's not unusual to see the full US sets of 10 books selling for over $500.
Which is, of course, patently absurd.
I am greatly amused by the timing of the announcement here in the States... August 31st is, after all, the last day of the Endless Eight time loops.
1
I know it's crossing the streams a bit, but I'm put in mind of that rotating hypno-lamp in A:TLA as they brainwash people with "There is no war in Ba Sing Se."
There is no war on Haruhi. There is no war on Haruhi. There is--
Posted by: GreyDuck at August 21, 2020 08:27 AM (rKFiU)
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I wonder if I have any model glue hidden away somewhere.
Posted by: bouff at August 22, 2020 03:58 AM (pJ2Io)
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Did you stop, or are we all now stuck in a time loop.
Posted by: bouff at August 26, 2020 03:24 PM (pJ2Io)
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Ah yes, the great big oaken stake right through the heart of rampant Haruhiism.
What's amusing to me about this now is that just yesterday I received and read through Rascal Does Not Dream Of Petite Devil Kohai, the 2nd LN installment of the Bunny Girl Senpai series. While the time loop in Kohai doesn't surpass even a dozen iterations, it feels like this story arc/loop owes a debt to Endless Eight nonetheless.
(I can't remember if you have taken in the Bunny Girl Senpai anime yet, but if not then I highly recommend. I know that at first glance it seems harem-y but it's so very not. Mai is always & forever best most awesome girl.)
Posted by: GreyDuck at August 18, 2020 08:21 AM (rKFiU)
2
Yeah.. Looping 2 weeks worth of 2020 15,000+ times is not on my Bucket List. Anywhere on that list. There are a few other time periods that might be interesting, but definitely not 2020.
Posted by: StargazerA5 at August 18, 2020 10:09 AM (qsUzh)
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I like the Endless 8 storyline, but by far my favorite part is Kyon understanding instinctively that Nagato will know what's going on once he starts figuring out *something* is wrong.
Posted by: Ben at August 18, 2020 10:22 AM (F12Cs)
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Thanks! I knew there was something important I'd forgotten yesterday!
Posted by: Ed Hering at August 18, 2020 05:01 PM (/cXdK)
Now THIS Is The Sort Of News We All Need
There is an ARIA movie in the works.
It's coming sometime late this year. If there was ever a year that we need new ARIA content, my god it's this one.
This is a 15th anniversary project for the series. Information is sparse at the moment, but it's officially sparse, as the announcement is up on the publisher of the ARIA manga's website. I think we all assumed that after Avvenire, our trips to Neo-Venezia had come to an end.
I've never been so glad to be wrong about something in my entire life.
MUCH nicer Christmas than last year's disaster. Oh, the Christmas itself wasn't the problem, it was the leg injury that occurred for reasons that are still a mystery to me... and that led to me being stuck in bed for 24+ hours. From there, it's an easily-drawn line to where I am today.
None of that happened this year. Therefore, it was INFINITELY better. And it allegedly hit 61 degrees too. In December. On Christmas. In Duckford, IL. What in the blue blazes...? In any case... huge thanks go out to Ph.Duck and Rn.Duck for putting up with me for another year, and the annual bottle of lingonberry will die happy soon enough.
And of course, you... the proud members of the Pond Scum. I've been letting The Pond down over the past year, which I hate but haven't been able to do anything about. Hopefully, next year will be better in all sorts of ways! Merry Christmas!!!
I just started playing Fate Grand Order. I'm fairly sure an opening draw of three lancers (and one of them duplicated!) and an assassin is pretty cruddy. Welp, we'll just see where it goes from here.
1
I gave FGO a spin a while back, ended up bouncing off of it but that might have had more to do with my chuggy old tablet than anything specific to FGO's gameplay. If you stick with it and need a buddy/guildmate/whatever, let me know. I'll probably have some gacha-game bandwidth available before much longer. Depends on how Crossing Void does long-term, really.
(Crossing Void has my attention probably more for the "Index-verse characters and SAO-verse characters and butterfly chick from Accel World all at once, sweet" value than for anything it actually brings to the gameplay table, I admit.)
Posted by: GreyDuck at December 26, 2019 01:06 PM (yisPP)
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I'm honestly surprised you haven't tried out Azur - that one isn't so much "up your alley" as it is "let itself in your front door and is camped out on your couch". Though what they did to Mutsu is a crime, just a crime...
Posted by: Avatar at December 26, 2019 07:30 PM (v29Tn)
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Well I'll tell ya, Av... I've watched a few episodes of the anime and it honestly left me feeling quite tepid. I'm not a huge fan of the Iron Sakura (or whatever that fleet is called) character designs, and what they did to HMS Unicorn is a travesty.
It's just a Chinese bootleg of KanColle, only as a 2D shooter. I mean, I'm willing to be convinced otherwise, but...
Posted by: Wonderduck at December 27, 2019 04:50 AM (cTMj+)
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I don't think "bootleg" is the most accurate way to describe it, as the goal of the game is card-collecting the characters, which predates KanColle. I personally would say it rips off the idea of KanMusu...although even there you have to ask whether KanMusu is a unique idea, or was it just a spin on Tank Girls and Plane Girls, etc.
What is is, undoubtedly, is a cash-in on KanColle's popularity.
I quite like the anime, even with the apparent low budget. It takes a few episodes to figure out what story they're actually trying to tell. I don't know if that's budget, planning, or direction.
Posted by: Ben at December 27, 2019 10:18 AM (osxtX)
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The anime is not impressive. It's bad enough they're going to delay the last episodes until -March- (presumably in despair of getting a single in-between cel drawn in that time...)
Azur had a few hooks for me: the actual game element is more fun than Kancolle, it's in a language I can actually read so playing it isn't a pain, and I do like most of the character designs. (Unicorn is not one of those, but I do get that they're selling it in Japan, so that sort of thing is going to happen. Would be nice if Warspite somehow got some -pants-, too.) I also know a couple of people who were playing the JP version, and being able to talk shop with friends definitely helps interest in these.
Story-wise, it's a slice over Kancolle only in that they kinda tried; it's not a GOOD story and FGO is going to win out there.
I'll say that FGO has a reputation as a game that is very hard to play as a free player, whereas by contrast Azur is almost absurdly generous (without spending money on resources for ships, I've gotten almost everything from every event).
But in the end it's about whether you think it's cute or not, and if you don't, the rest isn't gonna save it...
Posted by: Avatar at December 27, 2019 12:33 PM (v29Tn)
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I think you nailed it, Av...I like the designs, so I'm getting more out of it. Unicorn is one of the big tests, and Nagato and Mutsu (I think they're cute). Doesn't mean I don't like KanColle, either; I do...I just keep the two properties separate.
Now if I could just figure out who Ayanami reminded me of...it's on the tip of my tongue...
Posted by: Ben at December 27, 2019 12:47 PM (osxtX)
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"Now if I could just figure out who Ayanami reminded me of."
Just in case you're NOT joking, it's Kantai Collection's Speedslut with ears.
Posted by: Wonderduck at December 28, 2019 02:11 AM (cTMj+)
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I wasn't joking, but oddly that isn't what I was thinking at all. Low pigment in the hair, expressionless face, and monotone voice. Add to that the creators have tended to "on the nose" allusions and characterizations, I think she's intended to invoke NGE's Ayanami.
Posted by: Ben at December 30, 2019 12:22 PM (osxtX)
Today Is December 16th...
...and you know what THAT means:
The morning of December 16th... it was so cold... and I mean cold. That if you took an ice pick and plunged it into the ground, you'd shatter the Earth into a million pieces.
1
Oh, Haruhi. On the one end of the spectrum you had Endless Eight. On the other... Disappearance, a film that only makes sense in context and is useless to the newcomer, but that doesn't matter because it's superbly well-done.
I'm very "over" the Haruhi thing nowadays but I have fond memories of some of it, at least.
Posted by: GreyDuck at December 16, 2019 12:00 PM (rKFiU)
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Never watched any of it, but apparently there are people who make watching this an annual thing.
Posted by: Mauser at December 17, 2019 10:03 PM (Ix1l6)
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The Haruhi anime properties by KyoAni are modern landmarks, moreso than I think they're given credit for. The two anime series deserve credit for experimental filmmaking. They also were produced right as KyoAni was really upping the standard for quality art and anime, from "these guys are pretty good" to "the benchmark for tv series production". The sourced material deserves some credit for the storytelling, at least to the extent of providing and setting that made all this possible; but I have to admit I find the English translations to be rather pedestrian reading. It's possible the books read better in Japanese, as you can load more levels of subtle meaning in sentence structure and the use of various kanji and kana.
Posted by: Ben at December 18, 2019 09:04 AM (osxtX)
Beg to disagree. I find the first season to be entertaining enough, but the second season was very much a monotonous bore (Something that the English VAs discovered to their dismay.). However, KyoAni's experimental production actually decreased my enjoyment of the series, and represents the classic 'Just because it is different does not mean it is good' - which was something that was apparent to me back when fans were gushing over how great Season 1 was (IIRC, one guy on AnimeTV actually called it the greatest series of the decade.). The original light novels were about as readable as Monogatari, and after a while, less interesting. I would prefer reading anything by Kinoko Nasu than have to read Haruhi again...Though at least it is better than the works written by Kazuma Kamachi.
In terms of production quality, I would agree that KyoAni did an excellent job, but I always found to their anime to be just a hair under the best, even at their best. There never seem to be enough difference in the quality to stand-out against, say, anime from A-1, assuming equal budgets.
Posted by: cxt217 at December 19, 2019 12:42 AM (LMsTt)
She Needs Us
On November 7th, 2009, this video was posted to Youtube for the first time:
Now on the verge of the 10th anniversary of God Knows being made available to the world by the SOS Brigade, a concerted effort is being made to push the video over 100 million views. At the time of this writing, it's only 36000 views short. I call on the accumulated members of The Pond Scum: let's make it happen!
You don't want Haruhi to be disappointed.
Edit: changed the target from ten million to the correct one hundred million.
Another Edit: Nine hours to go until Midnight Pond Central Time, and we're less than 18000 views away from the goal.
Posted by: Don at November 06, 2019 10:36 PM (sUjv9)
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My unabashed love for this song (and corresponding chunk of high-quality animation) remains undiminished after all these years even after all other thoughts of The Whole Damned Haruhi Thing have long faded. Thanks for a good excuse to play it again, Sam Wonderduck.
Posted by: GreyDuck at November 07, 2019 08:39 AM (rKFiU)
Posted by: Mauser at November 14, 2019 09:50 PM (Ix1l6)
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What impresses me is that not only had this song been official dubbed into English and Russian (if not others), but it’s comparably high quality regardless!
Posted by: TJF588 at November 23, 2019 09:44 PM (5QMym)
Kyoto Animation Arson (updates at bottom)
Around about 10pm Wednesday, Pond Central Time, some maniac walked into Kyoto Animation's Studio 1 building, poured gasoline around, and set it on fire.
As I type this at about 1am Thursday morning, some solid information has come in. First, the arsonist is a 41 year old male, and is in custody. Second, there has been one confirmed death (edit: police are now saying ten dead), and many injuries... the most common number seems to be right around 30. There are also 20 "missing". NHK is reporting that at least ten of those were found lying on the floor of the second level... and left there are the search for survivors went on.
There are reports that the arsonist said "Let's see if this burns" as he poured the gasoline.
KyoAni has a number of different office locations around Kyoto. Studio 2 is where their offices and their retail store is located, for example. None of those other locations have been targeted. Some 70 animators reportedly worked at Studio 1.
I'm hoping this wasn't some crazed otaku's way of "getting back" at KyoAni... "I hated Endless 8, blah blah blah..." Reportedly, they're one of the best studios in Japan to work for, so maybe a fired employee? We'll find out soon enough, I expect, but no matter the reason, this is horrible.
Update: 241am - According to one report, among the missing are Tatsuya Ishihara who directed AIR, the Haruhi Suzumiya series, Kanon 2006, Clannad, and Hibiki Euphonium. Or, in other words, all of my favorite KyoAni shows (and Air, which I'm not fond of). Other directors missing are Ishidate Taichi (Violet Evergarden), and Takemoto Yasuhiro (The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya movie), and others.
Update: 855am - The death toll is now up to 33. I've seen unconfirmed reports that Takemoto is among the dead. Of the 70 people known to have been working in Studio 1 at the time of the arson, 69 of them are dead or in hospital for injuries of various severity. Many of the dead were reportedly found in a stairwell leading up to the roof, felled by smoke. It's important to note that this building was in a residential neighborhood; there were no fire escapes, only one stairwell, and only one way in, the main entrance. Oof.
Reportedly, the arsonist was yelling something that might translate out to "you plagiarized me." As KyoAni has only done two original works, Munto and Tamako Market, this seems unlikely. He had purchased 40 liters of gasoline in two containers just a half-hour before, and apparently brought them on a cart to the building. He reportedly told the people at the gas station that the fuel was for his generator. The president of Kyoto Animation has said that they've been receiving threatening e-mails for a few years... no idea if they're connected to this case.
This is now the largest mass murder in post-WWII Japanese history, displacing the Sagamihara massacre.
Update: 1009am - Sentai Filmworks, the American distributor that has done much work with KyoAni (either currently or in the ADV era), has begun a GoFundMe campaign to help those affected.
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I woke up over an hour early from a horrible nightmare and the first thing I saw on Twitter was this news.
This is an utterly horrible loss on multiple levels. I'm a bundle of cuss words and tears right now.
Posted by: GreyDuck at July 18, 2019 07:18 AM (rKFiU)
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Praying. All the news seems to be very bad.
Bl. Fra Angelico, pray for us!
Martyrs of Kyoto, pray for us!
Posted by: Suburbanbanshee at July 19, 2019 07:43 AM (sF8WE)
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Apparent confirmation from Kyoto police that the arsonist
A) Has some unspecified mental illness
B) Has in the recent past been arrested for theft
C) Told police that KyoAni stole material or ideas from his own work. He seemed to indicate or allege multiple or ongoing acts of intellectual property theft.
He lives in Tokyo, and KyoAni have an office in Tokyo...so this definitely seems to be an issue of some kind of unhealthy fixation. He traveled to Kyoto to harm KyoAni because Kyoto Animation is in Kyoto. Right? Attacking the idea, rather than a logical, thought-out attempt to cause some specific damage to KyoAni. Or maybe I'm over-analyzing it.
Short of just saying "mental illness", I just can't grasp what would cause someone to do this.
AMVs To Make You Have Some Reaction.
So today is the first time I've honestly had to shut Pond Central up and turn on the air conditioner. As I type this, it has just reached 86° F, but it's not very humid. Really, just sitting in front of a fan has been comfy all day, but a look at the forecast for the next week convinced me. Nighttime lows in the low 70s, daytime highs right around 90, and I'd really like to have the place temperature controlled before that sets up shop. "But Wonderduck," I hear you say, and you really should get that lump looked at, "what does any of this have to do with AMVs?"
To which I answer, "Have you ever read The Pond before?"
Over the past few days, in between frantic bouts of cleaning at 4am, I've managed to trip over a bunch of pleasing AMVs... some funny, some exciting, one or two just clever as hell. To you, I bring them now.
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I still can't do "growl," and yes I know that's ironic given how much our household has enjoyed the two seasons of Aggretsuko thus far.
That's some A+++ fluff, indeed. Also: It's nice to see that the Haruhi dance clips are still getting work. I'd hate to see them out on the street, begging for handouts.
More KanColle? Hmm. Tentative interest here.
*slow clap* Someone finally put that old Journey warhorse to good use. Good on them.
You're 100% correct in that there is no "better than the other" between those two Revue Starlight vids. Speaking of percentages, my only real complaint is they needed about 25% more Banana-san.
Yeah, you know people are gonna try to use that K/DA track for AMVs because it's so good for that sort of thing, but at the same time, that LoL video is kind of perfect. Ah well. You go, you crazy kids!
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The results are bewildering, but I can't deny that the assembler of that video put in heroic amounts of effort.
I hope you had as merry a holiday as possible, good sir!
Posted by: GreyDuck at December 27, 2018 08:11 AM (rKFiU)
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Came into this late, but boy did I need that right now.
Posted by: Mauser at December 30, 2018 01:03 AM (Ix1l6)
Plans Derailed. Schemes Foiled.
Perhaps some of you may have heard that Christmas is this coming week? I know, I know, it surprised me too, don't worry. Still, I figured it out soon enough.
An accurate representation of the parking lot at work
Unfortunately, my bosses did not. Despite all the Christmas events we had this past week, despite the Big Boss playing Christmas music over the phone intercoms at random times, despite a dozen decorated Christmas trees populating the office (I very much liked the Santa Vader tree... Darth Vader helmet on top with Santa cap, black "cloak"... actually a black bag of toys... over it's "shoulders", illuminated light saber flashing red and green alternately, and TIE fighter ornaments), despite all these clues and hints, they never figured out that Christmas was next week. When they did, they had to scramble to give the staff a little something extra to go under the tree. So they gave us all the normal 10 hours of overtime as a gift.
An accurate representation of the supervisors at work.
Now yes, they did this to us at Thanksgiving too. But this is Christmas, and what have you done? Another year over, a new... oh fer the luvva, sorry, didn't mean to break into song. THIS IS CHRISTMAS. Bad enough that we're open on Christmas Eve, and yes I know retailers will be open but I got out of retail for reasons like that. And being fired. But also for reasons like that. That's bad enough. Now they expect us to put in overtime on Christmas Eve, too, because otherwise you're doing 10 hours in three days. That's not gonna fly.
An accurate representation of something not flying.
So my options are limited... indeed, my options are 1) Kill Myself With Overtime, or 2) Work On Saturday. Neither option is particularly palatable. But I just got home from an 11 hour day, and I really don't want to do that next friday, particularly since I get a five-day weekend. So I'm probably going to work on Saturday, which kinda derails my plans for the "writeup warmup" I want to do. I'll still give it a shot, but instead of going into it with a nap under my belt I'll be going in grumpy after work. Which, come to think of it, might just be the perfect way to approach it. Stay tuned folks, it's gonna get crabby up in here.
Plans And Schemes
Okay. Here's the plan, here's my scheme. You ready for this?
Anime writeups are coming back. January 12th, 2019. That's a Saturday. That night, I will begin (and hopefully finish) the writeup for Episode 01 of Magical Girl Spec Ops Asuka.
Also, honestly, probably better you than me watching that one. It's too much a mix of "thing I really like" and "thing I don't care for at all" for me to properly enjoy, I suspect.
Posted by: GreyDuck at December 19, 2018 08:30 AM (rKFiU)
First, TokyoPop announced they'd be bringing ARIA: The Masterpiece over to our shores. If you're unfamiliar, it's essentially a collector's edition with a bigger format, better covers/binding, some new artwork, and improved paper quality. The first one comes out in February, and we've finally got a chance to actually see all of the ARIA manga released over here officially.
Then a new volume, #9, of "Sunshine" Sketch came out a few weeks ago, after nearly three years of waiting.
Now a new volume of Yotsuba!! is coming out on November 13th, after two-and-a-half years of waiting.
And they've just announced that Magical Girl Spec-Ops Asuka is going to be an anime, premiering in January.
...and there's a darn good chance that's gonna be a possible writeup candidate, too!
Really, this is the best of all possible worlds! what a great time to be alive!
We seem to have a theme of the dead rising up from the grave (Okay, technically TokyoPop was never formally 'dead' but merely moribund moving into occasional moments of liveliness.), though the prospect of Stu Levy reentering the industry has not exactly been joyfully received by many people.
Posted by: cxt217 at October 23, 2018 05:42 PM (LMsTt)
3
Hmmmm. Magical Girl, yes. Dark and bloody violence, maybe not so much.
I'm torn. Might give it a whirl, though, especially if that season is as parched a desert as this one is so far...
Posted by: GreyDuck at October 23, 2018 08:59 PM (rKFiU)
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More Hidamari Sketch? (I've never read the manga, but will.) More Yotsuba?
This is indeed a great time to be alive.
Posted by: Pixy Misa at October 23, 2018 09:40 PM (2yngH)
5
Pixy, this new volume of HidaSketch is the first one to come after the graduation... meaning it's completely unanimated. I've had it for two or three weeks, yet I still haven't had a chance to read it!
Posted by: Wonderduck at October 24, 2018 02:10 AM (9gv+L)
Idol Threats
One thing I've been able to do while I've been... um... hobbled, is watch anime. Take the laptop into the bedroom, set up a book holder on the bedside printer stand (what, you don't have a bedside printer stand?), open the laptop, put it on the holder, and voila! Anime viewing station, perfectly angled for me to see the screen while in bed (I have a low bed).
What I've mainly been watching is Love Live Sunshine!!, the second installment of the Love Live idol-fantasy franchise. I've gotta admit: I'm enjoying the hell out of it. Well, duh, it's Cute Girls Doing Cute Things In Cute Ways While Wearing Cute Costumes (CGDCTICWWWCC?), of course I'd like it!
The one complaint I have, however, is that almost all the songs being sung by our heroes sound alike. It's always the same themes: "shining", togetherness, happy, etc etc... very Up With People, if you're old enough to get that reference. I mean, sure, that's all fine and dandy, and the music is done well, but it got dull. That is, until Ep08 of the first season. That's when these two show up:
I freely admit to groaning when we first meet them... it was obvious as hell that the Production Staff intended them to be The Great Nemesis, the "final boss" our heroes would have to defeat to win the competition and save their school. I didn't want that... the series was perfectly fine without an ArchEnemy to worry about. And then...
...I didn't care anymore, if it meant we'd get more music like "Self Control." I'm very near the end of the series... I just finished the 20th episode last night... and their first performance is still the best "in concert" in the show. It goes without saying that the song is in heavy rotation on my mp3 player. Calling it a huge (but pleasant) surprise goes without saying, but a greatly welcome one.