BEGIN WINTER 2023 ANIME (etc) IMPRESSION MEGA-THREAD! Start with a conventional- looking fantasy: Ars no Kyojuu, EP 1:

Washed-up beast-killing adventurer, "the already-dead" meets run-away experiment girl. Props to writers for NOT spelling it out three times in three different settings that a "Paladin" does some kinda special henshin with the sacred "power babe" to kill monsters.

Good pacing, fun chara design (the goon squad soldiers have an almost Ghibli vibe to them.) some nice action sequences. Keep watching.

Next up: Hyouken no Majutsushi ga Sekai wo Suberu [The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World] , EP 1

At first glance and by the description, another overpowered protrag with a harem at a magic high-school. Other reviewers have snarked that the story was whomped up using Chat-GP or similar. MID is mid, however there are miles between mid done shitty and mid done competently:

Iceblade is gonna riff off a few small story conceits, cause small LN stories are best when they know their limits. CHILD SOLDIER PTSD

And, when he gets a chance at some "civvy time", unfailing courtesy towards the young ladies he keeps meeting. Not a bad approach.

Not an isekai. If it was, one could cry foul an accuse the writers of using "truck-kun" to steal Sagara Sousuke for their tale. I fully expect "I'm not an ordinary, I'm a professional" in a future episode.

Revenger, ep1 "All happy samurai adventure grinders are alike; each unhappy samurai adventure grinder is unhappy in its own way." Innovative use of gold leaf.

So far for Winter 2023, we see a LOT of same-old same-old presented as if in a challenge: can a slightly tweaked "take" on overdone premises, coupled with competent execution justify the effort? Spy Kyoushitsu [Spy (class)room] A buncha anime babes...

...and the team leader; "the world's greatest spy" who is USELESS at passing on any of his techniques, since they all come "naturally" to him. He is almost an absent harem lead. In a fit of inspiration, he comes up with an interesting training regime.

As someone who has paid good money (and time) only to find the university course's instructor is a high magician in his craft but absolutely incapable of teaching his techniques, I approve. (Pass if you can kill Prof Joe with watercolor)

Lest one conclude that Jp anime has forsaken isekai in favor of cut-to-the-chase fantasy, we have: Isekai Nonbiri Nouka [Farming life in another world] A farming sim game playthrough. Relaxing enough.

Starts out sneaky with the "good end", jumps to the dying in a hospital backstory. Then... Shaazaaam, you are all by yar lonesome in a forest. Start digging. Babes later, dawgs first!

We have a second season for the Japanese archery highschool club seies Tsurune. Tsurune: Tsunagari no Issha [Tsurune - The Linking Shot] https://youtu.be/SVRvHePYuRM

I liked the first one from 5 years ago because it sold the sport as well as the characters. This continuation feels lacking, somehow. Ep 1 spent all its time re-introducing us to the "buncha guys". Hey weren't there some women in S1? Very ensemble.

I begin to understand the annoyance women have towards CGDCT anime. I will put up with "bishies doing cute things" as long as the sport-thing remains a sufficient organizing excuse, as it did in Run With the Wind. Ep1 so far, not.

I am a fan of the 'Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement' light novels. They aren't brilliant but they are fun, even with their gun-nut subtext.

Maybe it was because I read the first one around the same time as I read the first Bookworm LN; Mitsuha feels like an armed Myne. The author, FUNA also writes the long-running "Didn't I Say To Make My Abilities Average In The Next Life?!" series...

... and they share a similar tone -- though 'abilities' goes easier on the ordnance. Ep1 was a good set-up; it followed the LN, with the conceit that she doesn't get to meet the cheat-granting-energy-being-thang until later. She retains the light novel's fixation on cash:

"A woman must have 80,000 gold coins, sufficient guns for self-defense and a general store of her own if she is to enjoy a peaceful otherworld life."

Mitsuha is prone to doting on young girls; she is of university age even if she looks younger (and will now age at an extended rate). The story vibe (like Abilities) swipes both from harem isekai adventures and CGDCT, though my original impression: Myne with a gun, holds up.

You doubt my take? RECEIPTS:

As well, since the inevitable climax of S1 must be the Thunder Shrine Maiden and her Mercenary Force VS the Orcs and a Dragon, the producers are going to need an impressive score. May I suggest: "Karl Jenkins - "THE ARMED MYNE" https://youtu.be/AT-wBd0BXFA

I add to these Anime+ Impression mega-threads whenever Tweetor shoves too much DOOM in my face. Here's a link to near-end of last season's thread covering the preview ep of 'The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady' https://twitter.com/Mudakuntweets/status/1607992297810960386…

...as well as a whole bunch of last season's offerings. Plus bullshit 'theory-moe' ramblings and whatever else strikes my fancy during the 3-4 months of a season. If I am lucky, perhaps I can re-start my impulse to blog.

I thought my "The Armed Myne" joke was sublime. No takers, oh heck. Moving right along; what if a Japanese spiritualist/ onmyōji / exorcist got hit by truck-kun and ended up isekai'd? Wait, no truck. High political backstabbing.

Saikyou Onmyouji no Isekai Tenseiki: Geboku no Youkai-domo ni Kurabete Monster ga Yowasugirunda ga [The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World] Ep1 sticks to the classic isekai formula. This one could have been scripted by Chat-GPT3.

At least we gonna get lotsa onmyōji lore, which is a bit neglected of late in anime/ manga land. Good that they did not come right out and put it in that he was Abe no Seimei

So far not offensive. Sufficient time-waster. Of course it will turn into a magic academy harem routine. At least it does not stink.

RE: STINK Season 2 of 'The Misfit of Demon King Academy' started off with strong truth in labelling power! An incomprehensible mish-mosh magic academy power fantasy with too many charas, too many super magic powers pulled outta MC's ass and NO FUNNY BITS. https://youtu.be/yr0YpMLsEaA

At least "Eminence In Shadow" (which continues on through this new season to 20 eps) occasionally acknowledges it HAS A BAD CASE OF CHUUNIBYOU, which is good for a laugh https://youtu.be/upQYXWVtTNI

The best thing so far about Trigun Stampede, the reboot of the 1998 TRIGUN is that it impelled me to seek out and watch the original 1998 Trigun.

There is something to be said about the original, irresponsible fuckup Vash.

Be still my over-excited heart, why have I never previously heard of Milly Thompson? Why haven't I seen her yet in the reboot? Meryl is cute enuff too, but; MILLY! UwU uWu UwU !!!

Also, new version, sad lack of DONUTS!

The best part of Tomo-chan wa Onnanoko! [Tomo-chan Is a Girl!] was always and must remain MISUZU.

Tomo as manga was a wildly popular 4-panel "fer-pity's-sake-why-can't-they-clue-in-slow-burn" about getting them two meat-head childhood best buds to spark.

So far, Ep1, so good. The anime at least starts with a Tomo who has had her "DUHHH" moment. Now for the lad. If it went 24 eps it would get excruciating. https://youtu.be/a0tiJ4zxocA

Since it is Sunday and I'm being dutiful by updating this new season's impression thread, here's a link to a previous few. You may find something to watch that you missed: https://twitter.com/Mudakuntweets/status/1544173329464057858…

OOps that linked to the end of Spring 2022, Here's Summer 2022" https://twitter.com/Mudakuntweets/status/1544173349357719552…

'The Legend of Heroes: Sen no Kiseki - Northern War' was made by people who 1) Are massively geeked on the Trails of Cold Steel game franchise and 2) Believe that -certain- Verhoeven movies are high art. PASS

Kyokou Suiri [In/Spectre] is back for a second season. After a bit of expository catch-up, we are back to maintaining the balance between the human and supernatural worlds:

I vaguely remember the first season as a mix between chill and occasional supernatural fights;they seem to be sticking to the formula. Them two make a cute couple.

@🐸🐸 Frog-kun 🐸🐸/ Kim Morrissy's ANN review notes the "detective show" derivation: "the solution" that best keeps the peace vs messy reality that needs to be cleaned up -- something that was always "there" when I watched S1 but never nailed as formula. Way Kewl! https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/preview-guide/2023/winter/in-spectre-season-2/.193199…

Next up: A fantasy that sounds like an isekai but who cares: 'Kaiko sareta Ankoku Heishi (30-dai) no Slow na Second Life' [ Chillin' in My 30s with the busty village Mayor's daughter After Getting Fired from the Demon King's Army] She's buxom! She feeds him! It's a pastoral!

Dude just completely has everything handed to him, so why the long face? He thought he was a demon. Turns out he was adopted. The new Demon King fired him. Backstory. Whatever.

No one is expecting that much from something like this -- as long as it doesn't do any squick shit, it will progress through 10 or 12 eps and provide 2+ months of diverting, low-cost viewing. Don't fail. Hooray. https://youtu.be/ylMEgvgwlbY

Every season has at least one, so time to assess this season's #1 "problematic": 'Oniichan wa Oshimai!' [Onimai: I'm Now Your Sister!] Ya just know you are in for skeeve when the dodgy re-streaming sites have regular and uncensored cuts running at the same time

Big Anime review sites have quite competently listed the obvious death flags on this one, so I want to dig a little more. 1) This thing is an ATAVISM. It would have run in the late 1980's/ early 90's without too much notice, except audiences would have found it BORING!

Recall that the couple-o-dudes the rotten girls placed up front as 'beards' for their first Comiket ctte (ca 1977) were all severely into lolicon squick. Otaku back then = perv. The "OOOps Imma nowa (very underage) Gurl" thang has continued to resurface every so often.

Many years ago I even tried a blog essay on the genre. (I was NOT in a happy place when I wrote it) Cue Orlando: https://heartsoffuriousfancies.wordpress.com/2015/09/14/small-gods/…

At least the erstwhile subject of the essay was a shoujo-fied light BL comedy of errors. No nekkid 11yr old children. No no-consent or rather kami-sama was a tad senile. Which brings up deeper read of Onimai concern #2: Hikikomori forfeit all human rights.

A further stretch could be the "my older sister made me... " effect but that one can wait. Hikkis, shut-ins are a problem in Japan and many of the "cures" for them leave little room for their rights or agency. Too many of these "cures" are also violent and fraudulent.

Since -some- Hikkis act out when parents try to drag them out of their rooms, the "almost-already-dead" approach has appeal. If parents of the room-bound could fix their problem by feeding the brat tittie-skittles, India online pharmacies would soon sell out.

'Do-whatever-with-surplus-hikkis' is close to the 'stick-all-failed-suicides-on-death-game-island' plot groaner. There is a murderous able-ism lurking behind the slapstick: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagamihara_stabbings…

OH SNAP! We have another one this season.

WOW! IT'S FUCKING AYAKASHI MAGICAL OR SOMETHING!!

Urrr.. whatever. It's called 'Ayakashi Triangle'. Not the sharpest knife in the drawer but feels somehow less of a crime than the other one. Burlesque ecchi AAF, sufficiently animated (barely)...

Tubby evil cat is gonna have to carry a lot of story to keep this one from going south.

Chara designer like LEGS!

WHUT? We've got a third gender-swap this season? A fantasy where Good Conan the Barbarian gets reincarnated centuries later as a woman? I'm not up for this now. Maybe later...

I would rather deal with the isekai version of "A Boy and his Dog"

I may have to take a break, there are too many new animoos this season and sampling most of them is beginning to feel like a chore.

CALLED IT! Ep 2 of FANTASY METAL PANIC, aka: Hyouken no Majutsushi ga Sekai wo Suberu [The Iceblade Sorcerer Shall Rule the World] has our protrag doing his best to exuded deadpan competence (except for when he does manly muscle stuff).

I am however getting tired waiting for THAT LINE.

Show will owe me at least one giant "Armored Magic Servo-Mechanisms" duel if they don't cough up soon.

The school Muscle-Kei was a hoot but was also there to drop XP for the late forest foray. A small point but lazier fantasy/ isekai would just have our chuuni protag pull his past prowess out of his ass. Also, not just harem-ettes, has male friends. How novel.

REJOICE! A second season of 'Evolution Fruit"! (aka I married an otherworld gorilla and then assembled a harem) Shin Shinka no Mi: Shiranai Uchi ni Kachigumi Jinsei [ The Fruit of Evolution: Before I Knew It, My Life Had It Made ] The Magic Academy arc!

Gag Isekai is your best otherworld value!

Ars no Kyojuu / Giant Beasts of Ars (ep2) Check out the 'Castle in the Sky' tribute design vibe!

We got some serious Studio Ghibli fans working on this one. Also, so far plot and chara dynamics are nifty, story moves along well. Keep watching!

Ep 2 of THE ARMED MYNE ( Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement ) is getting down to business: GUNS GET!

The light novel is adamant that our plucky heroine takes her self-defense seriously. After all, her adventure started when she was pushed off a cliff by random bohos.

Stock up on beads, trinkets and disposable lighters. Cultured pearls for the aristos. Make friends and influence people. Good thing the tailor lady you know back home makes cosplay costumes on the side.

The world-walker teleporting trick requires practice.

80,000 Gold Coins has caught a bit of shade from some big review sites. No direct mention how the gun stuff is disconcerting and that there are strong whiffs of (neo?) colonialism to her plans. Not like she is pulling a 'GATE: Thus Mitsuha fought here'. Yet.

After Gundam can/ still there be/ epic poetry? Not anime, manga, etc just big fun: subvocalize while reading. Will keep reading, fer sure. https://twitter.com/thaliarchus/status/1614424774578405376?s=20…

2000's ps1 game Enka Bear dub over the famous Moetron Subs Hatsune Miku 'Love is War" Gawd I lurv 'transformative works' https://youtu.be/58ACC6ytOoE

CA$3.30 Aliexpress BT/FM/SD card speaker. Dig out the envelope of fake SD cards. Throw a format on them, put the 10hr DIGGY DIGGY HOLE into the slot. https://youtu.be/Exyz4BtRhoc

"Fake Sd cards": I test every single mem card I buy and dispute if they send me shit/ Eventually, I get a refund and a free bogus size SD card. These are good 'nuff to put ONE mp3 file on 'em. Test all memory cards or lose your vacation pix https://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/get/fakeflashtest,2.html…

The battery on the CA$3.30 mMP3/BT mini speaker aint bad but the cute light show can go to heck. I approve tho... With a micro SD inserted, one tune mp3 on it it powers up and plays looped. This is the kind of shit art students would have killed for a few decades ago.

Theory Moe Digression: What can a straight oyaji get from reading an ethnology of the Tokyo Gay district? For one thing, it is damn goodly written research.

For another thing, I have had this notion for the last few years that a number taxonomies in fan practice were influenced, if not lifted wholesale from 'working models'. That database thang. Also something about Pokemon GO. The heady whiff of congruent social patterns.

Unfortunately the last time I tried to essay these, it turned into a spitting, mewling ball of confusion involving early comiket catalogs, stencil-frame printed doujins, Monster Hunter Vs DND and the question: Did 1980's Tokyo have a monthly real estate association MLS catalog?

Anyways, good to read something well-written and longer than a tweet-thread. By way of a curious -- what can I call it? ghost image? Resonance? Tsurune/2, ep 2 was better.

Onmyougi ep2: The lad is prone to scheming. "I and the public know..." as Auden wrote.

More pre-OS Star Trek is fun but I want to see a prototype holodeck with Game Boy Advance resolution.

Not just anime+ impressions and random theory (moe) excerpts; I'm spending too much time on Aliexpress. Found some great sounding tin-snips!

Also read Sasaki & Peeps Vol3 light novel. This one is just plain weird. Its premise is to pile one magic isekai fantasy MIB bullshit trope on top of another, then add 3 more -- with a babe standing in for each one.

Oyaji sarraryman gets a magic bird, becomes a worldwalker, back in Tokyo gets hired by psychic MIB, tries to keep murderous magical girls from killing psychics, get angels vs devils death game after him cause of creepy abused neighbor girl....

Plus there are giant mythical otherworld monsters that keep falling out of the sky over downtown Tokyo. Despite all this, it remains readable, even if I get the strong impression that it was written for overworked, exploited 30-something sarrarymen.

I am mildly in awe of the courage of the production team behind 'Magical Revolution':

Sure there are moments of light comedy and moments that advance the story but the overall somber mood - note the soundtrack and pacing in episode 3 - is a cut above what one would expect.

Complete tone-shift to match the POV-shift from Mad Princess Anis to Euphyllia the Spurned. Spending an entire episode on such is a risk, but it pays off.

No mistake, 'Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei' IS yuri - even if, along with "magicology", the two need 3 volumes before they attempt to invent women's same-sex desire in fantasy magic-land. Start with 'akogare'. Very Japanese.

Death and gender designation among the Tomo-chans, ep3:

Ep 3 of FANTASY METAL PANIC, [ Iceblade Sorcerer ] was BORING.

Ep3 of 80,000 Gold Coins was >PAINFULLY< clunky. Disappointed.

People have undoubtedly noticed this before (hence the 3 episode test) but this season's third episodes are REALLY telling about how an anime will shake out.

I'm not one to go nuts on sakuga, follow art directors or even harp on animation "quality" (except for fence-face) but dropping the story, pacing and dialog in ep 3 sucks. Bleh.

It's getting harder to sustain the enthusiasm to continue to do impression on all these animoo. The ones noted above are mostly doing their thing. Whatever. Deep February bleh! Onmyougi ep3 was tolerable 'cause our hero is a shithead. I approve.

A noted UK public health activist today warned that once the true damage and virulence of Covid is known, the public will amnesia out on the minimizers and vent their rage on those who tried to warn them. "Why didn't you try harder to convince meeeeeeeeee?"

Back to reading theory instead of anime impressions: Pflugfelder's ["S" is for Sister: Schoolgirl Intimacy and "Same-Sex Love" in Early Twentieth -Century Japan ]

Style follows his guy-gay work, 'Cartographies' but as it is but one long chapter in an anthology (Gendering Modern Japanese History, Molony & Uno) is less of a slog.

I'm back on my "barring law, custom and compulsion why would anyone put up with another in their face for an extended period?" bullshit. Outside, sub-zero winds howl.

Oh yeah; Gendering Tomo-chan, ep 4.

Historical surveys of early sexology-lore are fun, as long as one takes them as an instance of fanfiction. The opinions therein are about as "useful" as AO3 omega-verse smut; great for inspiring further fiction, incidentally useful at realsies.

... something that both Edogawa Ranpo and Mamet, among others have made big bank on. One could claim 1920s Japanese sexologies jumped to ero-guro pulp fiction, thence to B-movie backstories and finally to romcom tropes; an anime/ manga analogue to the Jazz improv 'fake book'.

In terms of raw GDP/ gross Value Added, the highest and best use of Siggy's Oedipus complex remains a song by The Doors.

A further example from Pflugfelder; the origin of the entire Maria-sama girls' school "petite soeur" trope might well have started as a speculative transcription of Meiji era boys school lore, because you ALWAYS need the age/power hierarchy thang for shudo.

Ep4 of 80,000 Gold Coins was >SLIGHTLY LESS< clunky. >SLIGHTLY LESS< disappointed.

Tenten ep5 [Tensei Ōjo to Tensai Reijō no Mahō Kakumei/ The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady] gets back into full Marauder Princess mode, dispatching a dragon in one episode.

Ep 4 slowly moved from Euphie-mode back to Anis-action-adventure mode but perhaps they jammed too much into just one episode? Naw, the anime is making the choice to focus on the dynamics btw the two, at the cost of cutting -some- of the Anis adventurer heroics.

and some of the more mythical dragon-reckonings

The manga handled the dragon's curse a bit more theatrically. I missed that in the anime.

Maybe just me but I appreciated the manga taking the extra time to get all mytho-poetic with their exchange.

Just went through a "variety anime score" checklist. 60 of the titles are/were "nope, don't care, don't wanna" for me and I have been watching/ reading for 20years. So, no reason to read any of my impression thread(s). This is all so effing tedious.

"You must watch/ buy shit you don't like!"

Latest Tenten was good. Hurried through to the examination/ discovery of Cyan-san's condition... without too much groping. They trying to fit all 3 LNs into a 12 ep anime?

Meanwhile Tomo-chan: Japan romance, can they do NOTHING BUT AKOGARE?

As for the theory-moe reading list, FINALLY finished Pflugfelder's 'Cartographies' (Aka the big history of Jp [guy] gay). He could have done more. Eg; others have pointed out the odd happenstance of 20th minority sexualities being exclusively discussed in pulp magazines.

Surprised to learn that 'Professor Munakata''s IRL inspiration was much more involved in the Iwata/ Rampo historical sexology research.

I have messed with this before in a blog essay. I still suspect that the 'skeleton' / framework of the entire book started as a gloss on Iwata's histories. https://heartsoffuriousfancies.wordpress.com/2015/08/21/your-own-private-game-of-laplace/…

As a testament to "thus it has always been", Cartographies is exhaustive. But as it documents the changing responses of power, authority and 'society' to the gay, it is thin on the specifics of desire. There is something of 1980-90's doujins to the overall 'feels' of the work.

"Some folks just need to" over the centuries but not much curtain-fic. Makes me wonder how well-read some of the early o-kifujin were; there appears to be metric tonnes of repurpose-able material moldering away in the pages of old kibyoshi and monographs.

Not that things are much different over here in hetlandia; maybe 3-4 archetypical "romances". Fortunately the default fallback of 'marry & reproduce' cushions the hard landing. Add fundie tradwifery shit if that ain't enuff.

So what can the outlander oyaji get from all these pulp fictions? So far: OTP (OTP! OTP!) AKOGARE Time to rewatch Rakugo Shinjuu. Maybe Mars Red.

More ghosts from the time cabinet: a blog survey of pr0ny Genshiken doujinshi from 2016. https://heartsoffuriousfancies.wordpress.com/2016/05/07/aye-and-gomorrah/…

...because I cannot lay to rest my ridiculous theory about the proto/quasi/ dreaming-in queer origins of Contemporary Japanese Visual Culture. It all started in 1997 with Comiket. Timeline forks. Comiket was -almost- just another sci-fi convention, a small, boring one at that.

Here's something odd and theory-moe-esque that I missed, last time I went digging around for "what were the rotten girls (women) of 1977-> 80's snagging for resource material?". http://intersections.anu.edu.au/issue12/aoki.html…

Other theorists have pointed out that early fujoshi checked out gay men's magazines. Why? They mostly didn't say. Feel free to guess & make up some shit. The essay is somewhere in the first iteration of Mechademia. I forget which issue. Whatever.

Who gives a flying squirrel about 1977-1989 fujoshi? No fujoshi, no libidinization, no ani-paro, no yaoi, no guys' naughty doujins, no reader<=>artist feedback ecology, no mangaka farm team.... Manga ends up like NA "comics" Rotten impulses move toward text-based "slash" ???

Your basic RW outlander weeb +/or JP netouyo might be chuffed by all this but GOMENESAI, without the Comiket "ecology", you'd all be reading JP versions of Archie comics. Ok, mebee some Batman or MCU or whatever. No waifus. Perhaps -some- cosplay (was orig. a scifi con thang)

There is of course the chance the above Mackintosh essay may be full of shit... Or at least shade things in ways that don't exactly tell the story in a manner sensitive to contemporary Japan-guy-gay concerns. Poaching is always trespass.

Instrumental AAF. Imma just trying to get the vibe that a novice rotten doujin artist, young woman, circa 1997->? would glom onto when she scored a gay magazine for research, to give her thang about banging two Gundam lads together some verisimilitude. Some cred.

Because as many, many academics have essayed, there were two main streams in Jp women's forays into "queer-ish" sexy times tales. One was literate and followed on melodramatic traditions w/i the shoujo genre. The other was cut-to-the-chase anime-parody nasty.

What the fans called "the yummy bits". What later in JP and then in the diaspora fandom became known as yaoi. (a term of art from earlier Jp lit crit, repurposed from "mise-en-scene" to "money shot" -- hey, printing costs!!!)

It took almost 4 years before guy pr0ny ani-paro doujins showed up at Comiket. Thankfully Urusai Yatsura's Lum was all over TV for inspiration. It took another decade before guys glommed onto BBSs and plopped an Oh My Goddess doujin up onto Fidonet at 1200 dial-up speed. 1991!

However, we must circle back to 1997-1980 and ask: 1) What was borrowed by the rotten from guy gay magazines, as "through a glass darkly" appropriation to serve fujoshi impulses towards libidinised fantasy? and,

2) Were the nascent "typings" available in the 'personals' sections of these magazines co-opted into character tropes, taxonomies and even layout conventions repurposed in the description shorthand of Comiket catalogs? Nawwww.... No way.

Enuff Theory Moe. OH SNAP! ICEBLADE SORCERER ep 6 has gone full FUMOFFU

Tsurune 2 has been more tolerable, last 3 episodes. Putting more focus on the girls' team smoothes things out. Otherwise, the all-conflicted-pouty-lads-all-the-time would be too much.

Apropos de nothing: If you are going to waste your time making cider, spend a few extra bux on Ale yeast and hops. You can't go wrong with Hallertau hamster pellets. Kicks the taste up 2 notches. 20L of shit-cheap apple juice, bag o sugar, yeast, hops, aerate, brew, settle.

Sure, no problem, I'll watch the new Precure

Fight the farting Pig villain fried pork cutlet!

Whatever, If can handle Evolution Fruit S2, it is obv. that my animoo-fu is completely wrecked.

I have already rewatched my fave "I'm feeling BLEH" animoo a week ago.

It holds up. I excuse the annoying bits. The manga is good too.

Giant Beasts of Ars is remaining one of the best of this season. Consistent story pacing, backstory conspiracy padding doesn't get in the way, interesting characters and worldbuilding/

In/Spectre is now on the "Terrible Wooden Boy" arc. The orange bakeneko and the respected elder Baba are the best.

I wish I could snag the light novels. The manga is fun enough because Kotoko-san's full character gets more play. There is -something- to cousin-chan's jealous spittings of "horrible woman" at her, Kotoko is ruthless.

Kurou is HERS! She is possessive and bossy as all heck. Recall, she stalked him at the hospital for 2 years until his GF (who looks like his problematic couz) freaked out and dumped him. Ain't they cute together.

I HAD BEEN AVOIDING IT. Japan comedy is... different. I "get" manzai but it leaves me cold. Otherwise stale afternoon TV pranks recycled into animoo situations are, well, -meh-! Ooops I goofed. S2 of THE VAMPIRE DIES is pure low yuk yuk funny! Also; the armadillo.

Marathoned the 5 extant eps. Laughed till it hurt a lot!

Don't expect much in the way of long-form ghostbuster-ish adventure plots. Kick back and relax and let the silly wash over you. They got it this season!

Everything I am watching has turned to shit.

I can't do this any more.

I will simply re-read all of Book 4 of "Bookworm" Anime was a mistake.

Up to Volume 4 of Book 4 of the Ascendance of a Bookworm light novel series. One neato thing about the magic lore and names in Bookworm is that they are Germanic rather than En public school bad latin, as in -those wizard books-

EPSchool shit-latin has always been a (strained, desperate) class marker in the UK, whereas mangled low German/ plattdeutsch has no such preening, suck-up-ness stuck to it. Few non-UK readers fully catch that dog-whistle. See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_(United_Kingdom)…

ENDLESS AI Generated ISEKAI for the win! https://twitter.com/ShackletonCI/status/1627730312925966336?s=20…

Shōsetsuka ni Narō, the Japanese ""Let's Become a Novelist"" site where TONS of published and anime-adopted Isekai first crawled out of the sea to...

...is just gonna explode with AI-assisted Isekai groaners. "My Easy Adventurer Life Levelling-up With Cheats Won me a Reincarnated Villainesses Harem!"

Magical Girl Vs. Dark Magical Girl discourse will not find a resolution until MURASAKI-IRO NO QUALIA gets an anime. You can hab yur DARK w/o soul destroying the kid, as long as "murder is ok".

Meanwhile, the latest "Farting-pig villain Precure" is OK, except THEY ALWAYS HAB TO TAKE CARE OF THE MAGIC BABY! (and sell merch...)

80,000 gold coins ep 8 FINALLY gets its groove back on.

Murder is OK.

Anime Magical Girl Discourse... bleh!

We gots Sky Precure. Ep4 picks up the pace, moves like a finely oiled machine.

I lurv the trope-aware shit

Not quite 4th wall

Uhhh.. yep, couldn't tell

BTW, did not noticed the 1st one's Taka cape. I call Taka cape! Also, note her running attacks, reminiscent of her legendary sempai.

Almost tentacles... (this is overdoing it)

I SED CAPE, dammit!

Punk Fart Pig villain!

The Vampire Dies In No Time S2 EP8; Always lead with giant ass gags!

BTW: #DougFordIsAPotato

AI Isekai cheats: Go Haruhi one better and it's season 4 of the adventure, only no one has ever seen seasons 1-3, even if events that happened then are ref'd. "He just used Giant Rubber Duck Power again, like he did back in the Forest of Dung!"

TIRED: NGE discourse GALAXY BRAIN: TVDINTS2 giant ass-monster discourse.

Meanwhile: moar Iceblade FUMOFFU: (this is just painful)

AI will "radically change" Art, anime, authorship, etc., much in the way that 3D fabrication technology "radically changed" Architecture. Big ugly corporate boxes still look like big ugly corporate boxes. Ask me again in 50 years.

I can't watch most anime with my beloved because she is Japanese and CAN'T STAND the girl voices. A visceral, gut-level feeling of repulsiveness. I kinda understand but didn't "feel" how deep this was. Until...

There is some new/ rescued Eva 3.0 Theatrical En dub audio in the 'feed'. Aaaaaaaaarrrggggghhhhhhh!

I am aware that the whole Eva thang is very very -important- and that folk love it and have spent years picking it apart for the goodies and lore and... That's kewl. I have even forced myself, on occasion to watch the last 10 eps... Subtitled. I've seen worse. Whatever.

(would add that I have watched the previous eps years earlier. Kewl mechas.) But them En dub voices. Chill down spine. Visceral disgust. Whiney shit. Die in a fire, please. STFU. Thot experiment: imagine yar fave Trek with THOSE VOICES.

So yeah, yeah; a piece of anime history, kewl mecha designs and fight sakuga and the girl chara designs set the baseline for non-parody/ecchi fanservice for decades. But the En dub voices creep the fvck outta me. So now I get how she feels.

Sky Precure continues to do a good job of doing a Precure series.

"On the house."

All the above shows are mostly continuing to do their thang(s). Maintaining course and speed...

Manga diversion time: by recommendation of a review found on the feed, I have been overdosing on so-damn-pure-it's-cloying shonen HS gag manga. Witch Watch, by the mangaka that brought us Sket Dan, etc., Kenta Shinohara

The strip would prolly be something to follow, if not for the overdose effect that comes from marathoning it. Also, it is almost a textbook on how to write stuff of that kind. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/WitchWatch…

A fine diversion from doom-scrolling.

Ayakashi Thigh Fetish is back w. episode 5 I am not sure about this one. On one hand it is ecchi trash...

On the other, it is SO DEDICATED TO BEING ECCHI TRASH, that it overwhelms, almost becoming a weird little vernacular artform, a modern burlesque.

This is a severe creepazoid thigh-fixation anime. Sure, sure, boobies and pantsu shots but these are afterthoughts. Iz THIGHS ALL THE WAY DOWN!

Genderswap, LFB yuri service, ninjas...

, traditional 'fundashi' underwear on our MC...

... fanservice as ninja jitsu

... plenty of that idiot cat-demon used as a censor cut-out. (buy the DVD!)

A single-minded, stupid dedication to cartoon girl-thighs. Frightening in its intensity.

In case you are wondering... I keep a long seasonal mega-thread of anime, manga, light novels, theory wanks and whatever open and add to it when current events are too-too-much. It's not all mindless cartoon rude stupid. Here's last season's: https://twitter.com/Mudakuntweets/status/1574913074653437952…

Kami-tachi ni Hirowareta Otoko S2 Episode 9 Elia at the magic academy. Friends GET, class camping field trip. NOTHING BAD HAPPENS.

The entire -thang- of Favored by the Gods is that 'nothing bad happens'. Before DIY!, it was my #1 'shed-building' anime. I have read a few of the light novels and was a bit surprised because (so far) they didn't have any Elia at the magic academy stuff. Anime extra?

Elia teams up with the bifauxnen alchemist, the merchant's daughter, a sword knight girl and a shy artificer girl. They camp well. Class-bound cliques struggle to put up their tents, forgets the 1st aid slimes, can't use alchemy to create a sanitary brick loo.

IMHO, the prod cttee cold spin off an entire season of 'Elia's Magic Academy LIfe - Nothing Bad Happens' and if skillful, they could get an Aria-lite out of it. The author saving this for later light novels?

RE: 'shed-building anime'. My proposed iyasheki (healing vibe) mod; buncha characters get together to build a shed. They build the shed. It takes 12 episodes. Nothing bad happens. I was pitching this idea YEARS before DIY! . Kami-tachi builds laundromats but that's close 'nuff.

Eva would have been MUCH BETTER with Patlabor characters.

FINALLY! My anime/ manga impression posts get more looks&likes than my canpol shitposts.

The ABSOLUTE BEST isekai I ever read was an obscure manga from a decade ago. I forget the name, the author, everything. It had a MC working at shit jobs in Japan - fish cannery, bento packing temp jobs and they were struggling not only to feed themselves .../

but to stay in night school and then get into a business college... Because they had already been hit by a truck, died, reincarnated into a fantasy word, slowly mastered magic until they were 'world's most powerful mage' .../

and yet powerless to slow the march of time and age, had attempted to control their own reincarnation. It worked but they reincarnated as a girl. Still, she managed to apprentice to a mage, grew in power and fame, until... .../

they end up with a party of adventurers, dungeon crawling for some mega-powerful artifact... Which of course, she finds, unlocks, powers up and... ZAP She back in Japan without 2 5yen coins to rub together. Screw all that magic otherworld shit!

The last time I read epic prose-poetry fiction was fakee viking stuff from I forget who golden age US scifi author. Skafloc and Frieda. I cant/ my little sister/ etc., This is better. Book 3 of Giant Robot Yuri Space Opera Epic Poetry drops! https://twitter.com/thaliarchus/status/1634705641854869504?s=20…

I was surprised to learn that there are RULES about proper lady dress& gloves and that Iwanaga-san, a highborn young lady knows and follows them.

If it ain't evening; short gloves, dress that covers the shoulders. Kyokou Suiri Season 2, Ep 10's how-did-it continues, with a few more flashes of Iwanaga-san's horny on main -- tho less than what she deploys in the manga and LNs.

Light Novel digression: I harbor a certain fondness for the "Accomplishments of the Duke's Daughter" series. The latest one however is a disappoint. Recall that the series decided to continue with a "Mom's backstory" line. Was ok until 2nd vol thereof...

... which drops the reader into fantasy world feudal aristo politix/ scheming with no pull-back to Mom relating tale to daughter. A bunch of generic feudal asshats plotting mischief and mayhem. Many pages later, why should I care about these critters? "And then giant meteor..."

NOT ANIMOO but new Trek always gets a mention here: Picard Season 3 is proving enjoyable, if formulaic.

I gave the previous season a pass 'cause Q arcs reek. Mirror universe arcs almost as bad. Only way I would do either is if Lower Decks had Mariner punching the snot outta Q in a mirror universe arc. Tag team with Sisko.

Giant Beast of Ars is still one of my faves, if not the >best< adventure anime of the season. I lurv the homage-to-ghibli stylings; the plotting and pacing are solid. Also, no magic lad in magic school isekai; pure fantasy world-building. Mostly adult charas.

With trepidation, took a peek in at Oniichan wa Oshimai! Ep11 wa nothing but hiki-bro/ now ex-hiki kid sister doing the "now you are a girl" tour. Washed-out pastel style continues. I continue to find it unnerving.

I sense bad faith. There seems to be a ban on -most of the usual- fanservice and the show is going out of its way to appear -harmless-. In many ways this makes it feel10x creepier.

At least with Ayakashi Thigh Fetish, the burlesque is upfront and stupid.

Thankfully there is Tomo-chan !!! Ep 11, 2nd part has Gundo-san losing her confident snark and taking a karma hit. She's the best, so I look forward to her obliterating the class play. Cinderella. Yeah, right.

A minor question about Giant Beast of Ars: are they using some quasi seal script font in the credits ???

Iceblade FUMOFFU, ep 11 -- CALLED IT! (well, almost)

There always was only one reason for FUNA ginning up 'Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement'. Do a 'Gate' knock-off with a 'Myne' knock-off.

Murder is fine.

(insert colonialist poem about maxim guns here)

Not the time to point out her capacity to mass-teleport anything she can see... Nope. Spend some gold, demonstrate uh... Civilization. Disappointed that the anime has downgraded her chuuni to "Messenger of lightning" from the light novel's 'Princess Shrine Maiden of Thunder".

Tensei Oujo to Tensai Reijou no Mahou Kakumei/ Magical Revolution/ Tenten ended sweetly with ep12. Amazing that the anime squeezed all 3 volumes of the light novel into 12 episodes.

The last few episodes must have been a nightmare to condense; I remember a heckuvalot more melodrama & point-of-view in the third volume of the LNs. The kingdom will have its queen, maybe some of the magic-caste BS will fall away and love will win out in the end. Satisfying.

Tomo-chan ep12, end. Yeah yeah but ONE DAY she gonna find out that his first crush was her busty mom.

So much happy young love. Thank ghu we have Vampire Dies S2 to keep things in perspective.

I miss Bocchi

Light Novel o the week: "Dahlia at marriage called off, her gaze resolute"

"Sensible Josei romance, its sails unfurled!"

"Lucy at the chocolate factory...

"...her cheeks stuffed!"

Snap! I lack sufficient trade-Tamarian to do the Dahlia light novels sufficient courtesy. I had borrowed a few to read later and was then struck by @🐸🐸 Frog-kun 🐸🐸 's impressions: https://twitter.com/frog_kun/status/1639174142384828419?s=20…

... so I gorged on them. 1) Wow! Sensible, if aspirational Josei to the MAX. 2) Lotsa food description eating & drinking together scenes. These humanise their interaction (, pad the page count and make me HONGRY!)

2.2) Also VERY Jp ladies who lunch dynamics. 3) Volfie is a bit of a himbo but still aspirational as all heckers. Lads, take note, turn down your urge to be MC, also bring food, booze, help with the dishes.

4) Safety in the workshop PLEASE! (frightening flashbacks to youthful misadventures in calcium carbide synthesis with a flower-pot arc furnace) 5) I appreciate the absence of the good-guy suitor vs bad-guy suitor plot chestnut.

So happy to know that Kio-sensei is still at it with Spotted Flower Vol6 drops in a few days. Horny 30ish otaku FTW! Ofc., I will never "get to read it" unless I get to Japan, raid a bookstore and point my smartphone at each panel with Google Xl8

EP 12 + last of Kyuuketsuki Sugu Shinu 2nd Season/ The Vampire Dies in No Time.

I feel that I have survived the 1st year grad seminar of a degree in Japanese comedy. 5/5, exceeds S1, a must watch!

PIRACY is DITRIBUTION; a theory of Soft Power. Hypothesis: If one was seriously into earning a living from running multiple 'grey' streaming sites loaded with anime... AND One was also nationalistic about one's own country's animation industry's cultural power... HOW

... would one go about introducing your country's culturally-inscribed products to a world audience? Would putting these on the shelf along with extant, globally popular similar products serve to raise the profile of one's own country's industry and products... ALONG WITH

(of course) making good coin from streaming filched anime through monetization via hideous scam + pr0n ads? Heckovalot diff ecology than 2009 fansub sites, neh?

All GUNDAM is just defective PRECURE You get a big robot instead of a magic baby. FIGHT ME!

Tweetor is being particularly useless, grim and dire today, so I will re-watch ALL of Darker than Black (2007)

I even tried a Tweetor search of the word "anime" before resorting to this. BAD IDEA.

So far the new season is looking like a wasteland. As I have no rep to maintain, I can put off starting a new mega-thread until something delights me. Mop up the last bits of winter 2023. Darker Than Black (2007) is remaining serviceable.

I suppose Skip to Loafer will be Ok. The Konosuba thang too.

While I am at it... Missed the Bocchi-gay? manga mini-controversy THANG last week. Found the panels in question:

Huh? I repeat Huh? -This- is discourse? The mess -could- have evolved towards a few takes on idealised-women's-exclusive-socials in Jp vernacular blah blah blahs. COULD have done a compare+contrast w. Watamote. 'Cause...

Kuroki's immature, inappropriate, "gross" misapprehensions of desire and sexuality define her interactions within her social(s) even as none of her cohort seem remotely interested in actual messy desire. Save that shit for shoujo manga.

About that new season of yours, pt 2: watched ep1 of Watashi no Yuri wa Oshigoto desu! Pass. Looks like work.

(I know I could discourse defvck outta it, scheemy-het gurl do class-S cafe but, LIKE I SAID... ) KonoBoom is so far the best shot. It has chuuni. Went back, watched some orig konosuba... yep, like I remember it: meh. Speaking of MEH!

So 'bout time to PROPERLY wrap up this Winter 2023 Anime+etc. mega-impression thread. BEST OF SEASON: GIANT BEAST OF ARS. (promise was fulfilled, watch it if you haven't yet)

Close 2nd: TenTen Only thing that bumped it wa the challenge of jamming THREE full light novels into a 12ep cours. Even so, managed to bring in ALL the strengths of the orig and the best parts of the manga; The Marauder Princess, the POV + pacing shifts and the magic class war.

Third place ties: (lotsa dem..) The start of (might go 40+ eps) Sky Precure. (Heck, you really can't miss with a precure, they KNOW how to crank 'em out) This one promises a boy/ lad/ twink precure. So what if he's a flightless shapeshifting bird. One assumes he AMAB.

Not -exachwually- the first; that was figure sk8r lad who got some "all who can, will" in a previous finale (reverse Princess save that led up to it was a hoot - they KNOW what they are doing) but this one gets to do ep-end dancing. Pork-chop is a laff too.

Tomo-Chan, if only for Misuzu.

S2 of In/Spectre. Some clumsy bits and a tendency to get the boy snuffed too often for little reason but to show he can. Most of the arcs were satisfying. M'lady's horny on main is sweet. Cut hats.

No... It really was funny. S2 of The Vampire Dies in No Time. Normally I wouldn't give that high a ranking to a rude burlesque gag anime but season 2 outdid itself. Good Job!

Mou Ippon! Best "sports" anime of the season. Does what it was made to do. Unlike S2 of Tsurune, the "I want more shots" thang works here -- there is something, maybe pacing, maybe enough chara depth to carry it.

Seriously and respectfully showed a girls' sports social.

Next up: the -mid- animoo of winter 2023, starting with the best of them: By the Grace of the Gods, S2. -Nothing Bad Happens-

I've read a few of the light novels as well; the anime stays close to to story and the Iyashikei "feels" of the project. I found the side-trip to Elia's magical academy as the best of the cours. Was just a smidgin TOO laid-back this time.

In contrast: A -mid- isekai that -could- have been more, if it had been true to its premise. Saikyou Onmyouji no Isekai Tenseiki: Geboku no Youkai-domo ni Kurabete Monster ga Yowasugirunda ga [The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World]

... but to do so, the lad would have had to go far, far more murder-bot.

Despite the impressive mayhem in the last episode, he is easily convinced to play nice by the fortune-telling princess.

"Choke" ending. Disappointed.

Found a new LIGHT NOVEL !!! ""When Floortje is reincarnated into the world of an otome game, things immediately go wrong. Her fiancé, Prince Jonas, breaks off their engagement, and the supposed protagonist, the Saint of Light Jaromíra, makes Floortje out to be the villainess....

""... Little do they know, however, that Floortje was a sumo wrestler in her past life—and she won’t let these weaklings stand in her way!""

-mid- cont'd: Full Metal Ice Blade Sorcerer Fomuffu. Obv from the 1st few eps that our battle-scarred, exceedingly formal-polite "ordinary: at the magic academy was a tribute to FMP's Sagara Sousuke. This ver got to have a teeny bit more fun. "I'm not a fanboy..."

"Specialist des!"

Once again tho, like Onmyouji, if you are supposed to be the "strongest" (or the hidden 12th demon king), you should be expected to be able to let loose a similar level of horrifying bloody carnage as your average GWitch. The bar done got raised.

ASIDE: I don't just lay about and post about animoo. Weeb project unlocked: Jam-filled fish-shaped waffles, de gozaimus hai! Amazon Taiyaki waffle iron, CA$20. Heirloom nabe burner worked like a charm. To be drizzled with home-made maple syrup, no less. Mom amused. Priceless!

Kimi wa Houkago Insomnia looks promising for the new season. I'll deal with it in depth in the new mega-thread. after I wrap up this season.

Caught up on some Ascendance of a Bookworm. The latest and last "book", (which threatens to have 9-10 volumes) has only grown more intricate and elaborately crafted. The author is juggling a huge cast and the translation is superb. This is a perfect light novel series.

It should top out at some 40+ volumes, including spin-offs. PRAISE!

New season's best for moi has to be KONO BOOM Cute demon girls doing cute chuuni. Also, the OP is a banger. https://youtu.be/IfiQMJ3QlG4

Lurv how the entire "Red Demon" culture is chuuni -- they even go to magic school to learn... CHUUNI https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Chuunibyou…

Whups, supposed to be doing season wrap-up. AYAKASHI THIGH FETISH looks like it went on hiatus. Mebe it be back for the new season?