Anime

by

 Sometimes it’s hard to gauge whether he’ll hath frozen over a few more degrees, or if I should be hopeful.

Crunchyroll’s Fire TV app has been upgraded to “2.0”, making an experience more like what their iPad app has been like for quite a while now. Even more so than the redone Xbox One app from a while back, but that’s probably because Android and iOS have more in common.

Being less useful to me, I don’t use the iPad app much unless I’m working around bugs in the old Fire TV app, like how it would like to only list partial data; like showing several European dub and omitting the English sub version from the UI.

Thus far the new app doesn’t seem to have any obvious bugs, and brings the more useful data set the iPad app does. Somewhat slow, but hey, at least the fucker works. I’m usually just glad if their (often crappy) apps work without death by buggy crash happy software.

Of course my test of the app? KonoSuba!!!

by

Catching up on where I left off with Re:ZERO, the The Self-Proclaimed Knight and the Greatest Knight worked out as an excellent return point. Perfect for wrapping up the first season in the hopes of catching up to season two before it finishes.


While my opinion of Subaru is a bit mixed, the combination with Julius makes a fine battle against Sloth. Two people who hate each other greatly yet are friends enough to work together the way they do: it’s a superb kind of crazy for their personalities. I kind of felt like applauding Subaru’s crackpot plan for finishing Sloth, after how carefully and painfully orchestrated his campaign went.

Not to mention the aftermath with oh shit, magic stones and the big bad doesn’t want to stay dead. The final episode for season one: “That’s All This Story Is About” also rocks because that really is what it’s all about.

As a protagonist, I feel Natsuki Subaru somehow manages to channel both the worst and best qualities as the story evolves around him. Yes, sometimes you’ll want to throw a book at his head, and sometimes you’ll want to shout his awesomeness. It’s kind of amazing how one character can be both in one story.

But in the end, Subaru’s reason why is all that really matters 😀.
by

Watching this week’s episode of My Next Life as a Villianess: All Routes Lead to Doom!, I find myself quite amused.

While studying in the library, a few characters lead to prepare tea and sweets as Catarina and most of the cast are sucked into a book of desires. Things largely proceed like a set of clips from some meh romance novels as character’s desires are played out, causing Mary to smoosh the book shut and threaten its destruction. Sophia may even have out done the princes when it comes to it…
And then we finally get to Lady Catarina’s desire. She was starving when this began: so a house of candy shows up like something out of Hansel and Gretel. Followed by much eating, until it explodes, and she makes like a vacuum eating candy until finally exploding. After which the book spits everyone out. Most of the male cast eventually flees in embarrassment. Meanwhile Mary and Maria suppose that rather than her desire being met, since sweets weren’t real: her desire kept growing until even the book couldn’t take anymore. Then the camera cuts to her enjoying sweets in the background.
Yes, I am both strangely amused, and share Catarina’s desire  ^_^
by

8 Great Anime Series For People Who Don’t Like Anime
https://flip.it/7HLUW_

Not sure if it makes it better or worse that many of these are on my watch list…

by

From tonight’s movie:

鳴る神の 少し響みて
さし曇り
雨も降らぬか
きみを留めむ
[A faint clap of thunder
Clouded skies
Perhaps rain comes
If so, will you stay here with me?]

鳴る神の 少し響みて
降らずとも
吾は留まらむ
妹し留めば
[A faint clap of thunder
Even if rain comes not
I will stay here
Together with you]

That was kind of beautiful enough, that I almost wonder if there’s any collection of the poems that are in both Japanese, and a worthwhile adaption to English.

by

One of the metrics I have for software is encountering bugs. That is to say if you really use a program a lot: you will eventually find bugs, even if they’re not epic ones. For really good software that you really use a lot: these things don’t happen often.

Well, somewhere in between a nice little repeatable for the Crunchyroll app on Fire TV. In the queue view (haven’t tried others): if you click the tile for a show, and then quickly hit a movement key on the remote: you’ll get the episode information, but the background art will be for the show last selected; hitting view series details will also go to the last selected show rather than the clicked one.

I’d be drunk to ever claim Crunchyroll’s apps don’t tend to suck more often than not, but I did find this bug amusing.

by

Check out what I’m watching on Crunchyroll! http://www.crunchyroll.com/rezero-starting-life-in-another-world-/episode-20-wilhelm-van-astrea-702439

In cycling back to ReZdro, where I left off at the subjugation of the white whale: I’m reminded that all great battles, should probably be fought in the name of love; and sometimes you’ve just gotta lead off with following the two idiots up front….lol.

Also pretty sure that eating the old man’s beloved wife was the biggest mistake the white whale ever made. Followed by the whole thing with Rem’s death in the Return By Death process that lead Subaru into this insanity.

Yes, never piss these folks off.

by

Check out what I’m watching on Crunchyroll! http://www.crunchyroll.com/my-next-life-as-a-villainess-all-routes-lead-to-doom/episode-4-i-enrolled-in-the-magic-academy-794622

Okay, as the ROFL continues, I’m definitely calling this worth watching.

The scene with her “Hijacking” the bullying event in the name of sweets, and giving them the death glare, especially made me laugh my ass off. Not to mention there’s several such awesome scenes in this week’s episode….lol

by

Check out “Violet Evergarden: Eternity and the Auto Memory Doll” on Netflix
https://www.netflix.com/title/81208936?s=i&trkid=14170286

Rather thrilled to find the #VioletEvergarden movie released, and made its way to Netflix.

While the series is principally Violet’s story, the film is a more heartwarming tale focused on the side story of the two sisters that she meets. Which I think is a rather lovely thing. The side story takes place at a time after Violet has developed as a character, and shows a world that has like her, begun to recover from the war. So it makes more sense for a movie like this than one focused on Violet’s story; the main series rewards us with a character that can create such an aside, and not have to devote extra to her development. Well, providing you actually watched the beautiful series 😉

Violet Evergarden is one of a handful of anime characters that will likely stick with me a long time. A character introduced to us as constantly on fire, and not yet able to realize that her arms were perhaps the smallest thing she lost to the war.

Because of how the main series tells Violet’s story, I can appreciate the depth of the backdrop even more. You’ll notice how rapidly the city has evolved, and how common place postal service has become. It’s quite nicely executed behind the story, IMHO.