big bad birtha's suggestion box 2: secret passions unveiled

[Doppleganger]

Comyu

It's taken a while, but I've come to a magnificent conclusion about this VN. It's finally highlighted something that I hate in modern VN, but was too un-focused to really discern why.

Let us term it "philler philosophy".



It seems like a lot of VNs are huge these days. Gigs worth of space. Why? Comyu doesn't have a lot of diverse backgrounds, sprites or even cutscenes. It's fairly bare-bones in that department. I guess the voice acting carries a huge load, but that can't be everything. The script is long too, and needlessly so. A lot of it is filled with filler philosophy like this.

I greatly dislike stuff like this. It's the author writing un-focused rants based on emotion, not logic. He's trying to communicate something like the death of a parent in a way that seems completely alien to anyone with a clue of what losing a friend or family feels like. This stuff pads the story in-between the substantial, plot or character moving sequences, and repeats itself consistently. It isn't entertaining. It has the level of sophistication and thought of a high school essay that doesn't cite sources, not even Wikipedia. And it's omnipresent.

Monologues aren't bad. Especially by protagonists who are interesting or funny. It's fun to read what Kyon thinks because he's a smart-arse. It's insightful to follow Hikigaya Hachiman's thoughts because he's such a sharp observer of human behaviour. Shirogane Takeru is a riot because of how stereotypically dumb he is. Emiya Shirou is a riot because of how chauvinistic he is.

Protagonists whose whose entire purpose is nothing more than being an anime girl banging dynamo should not be proselytizing about human emotion. It reeks of naiivety, not on the part of the character but on the writer, and by extension the character feels poorly formed. He's slept with prostitutes and murdered someone, ooh so edgy. He still thinks like a moron and has a poop personality. The experience and the attitude don't add up, and I refuse to buy into the illusion he's who he claims to be.

So yeah, note to self, note to authors: cut this stuff out. I don't want to read it. It wastes my time. Thanks.

[big bad birtha]

The red color disagrees with you!

I personally find such things enlightening! I DIDN'T KNOW RED WAS A COLOR! I THOUGHT IT WAS A NUMBER!

[Doppleganger]

Comyu

Yay, I'm at the loli H-scene. Probably.

This route is a lot better written than the other three. At least, the development was long, gradual and graceful, and felt a lot more genuine than the other two. The story is pretty annoying with the meme-talk, but the stronger characters have made up for it.

<3 Mayu Mayu! You could see her heart sinking just a little bit whenever Akki goes "I'm not a lolicon!".

[Doppleganger]

Comyu

The end is in SIGHT! I just got through Mayuki's Route. I give it a 7/10. The character development was pretty durn solid. Wasn't as obnoxious as I feared.

[Doppleganger]

A triple! My slugging percentage is going through the roof!

Comyu

I'm knee-deep in Kagome's Route. So far, nothing has been surprising, although the battle with Nomad has been pretty good. But the philosophy is TERRIBLE. As BBB said before me, Akihito is horrific in this route, with a holier-than-thou attitude and contradictions kazoo. He's also freaking' beta as heck, although a lot of characters in this story feel pretty immature.

Hopefully by the next post I finish this!

[Doppleganger]

Comyu - Black Dragon in a Gentle Kingdom - RATING: 5/10

This is a well below average novel. It has some above average voice acting (Benio, Mayuki) but only average graphics and music. I presume the voice cast ate up the budget, but everyone who wasn't Benio/Mayuki didn't stand out.

Story-wise, the novel is a wreck. The main character is insufferable: sexist, stubbornly naiive and egotistical to a T, he is the lead conductor in a symphony of sophomoric jokes and philosophy. As is a recent trendy criticism of modern Japanese writing, his perspective is presented as the de facto understanding of the universe, and so naturally he prevails while everyone else fails.

The mature characters were far more interesting, and got little to no attention. Where's the love?

The other characters are presented as stereotypes and sometimes caricatures, when not developed. Although the novel does develop them, only Mayuki gets any credible development. The other routes are un-realistic, un-sympathetic, or frankly un-finished. I agree that Gasai should have been the story's focus, but he's one of the "mature" characters so he's Blocked.

The repetitive dialogue, endless stream of cheap sex and meta jokes, ham-fisted philosophy bloated what would otherwise have been an interesting premise. Too much was left unexplained or ambiguously generic. Who would have thought that the characters referring to "a System" as a placeholder term for a "huge organization behind the scenes" would discover said organization is literally called "The System"? Akatsuki Works is basically East Asian Shakespeare.

The novel approached Japanese social media like a proud parent, bragging about how its child was making grand accomplishments in the most mundane of ways. Mayuki's route was the biggest offender in this, carefully portraying collaborative mixed-media projects like Touhou or Katawa Shoujo as Japan's most commercially important intellectual export since the mail-order bride. Please, even World War II propaganda didn't butter egos that thickly.

While I adore themes, Comyu took a pretentious approach to depicting them. The author had a vague and quite unclear commentary on his message. What I got was "relationships = connections = chains", meaning there's good and bad parts to the relationship. Okay. I don't want to drop the stupid Akihito quote, but "so what"? Tons of time was developed to this theme just to link it to nothing. There was no prescription of action, no commentary on behaviour: this just is. Watch it be what it is for 60 hours. The story was also rife with countless examples of moral ambiguity or worse, contradictions, but seemed to ignore that the contradictions existed. The end result is a very frustrating finish where the reader doesn't know what to think.

The fights were pretty good, but too spaced out. The story should have centralized attention on this. It's like a mix of Pokemon and Jojo, why limit the focus?

I accelerated time through the H-scenes, except one specific one. Nothing to see here folks. Typical fatty cheese and narcissism.

...

Overall, this novel sucks. I don't even recommend reading it out of morbid curiosity. I hope I never have to go through this painfully long experience again; I would have rather had the novel rammed up my arse than shoved in my face.

[Talon87]

"Overall, this novel sucks," you say, and "This is a well below average novel" ... yet you awarded it a 5 out of 10? Are you using the "5/10 = dead average" scoring system and so your score ought to be lower? Or are you going for a more "8/10 = above average, 7/10 = average, etc." US scholastic grading system and thus you gave the game a failing grade? I've gotten so used to using the former that I just want to be sure you're using the latter else your score doesn't jive with your comments.

[Doppleganger]

On my scale, 6/10 is average, although it's really 6-7 representing a low average and a high average. I try to vote so that 68% of all VNs fall within that range, and so far I've got 51% as one or the other.

The reason I don't use a straight normal distribution scale is because I feel like technical accomplishment is enough to carry a novel to 6/10 territory. Something like Kare Kano, which you've told me had a budget implosion late in the show, would be where I would dock points from the presentation. Case in point...Shinigami no Kiss wa Wakare no Aji's voice muting doesn't work. There might be slight consideration for features I would like that aren't present, but it's rarely enough for me to ding for any significant points. Amateurish writing (or outright offensive content) is the only other case where I would dock points off of that.

A story like Narcissu - which is minimalist in art, music, and engine - wouldn't be docked for those issues, but wouldn't be rewarded either. I gave Narcissu a 7/10 for a better than average story but otherwise ordinary everything else.

[Doppleganger]

I've finished the eight part OVA for Seitokai Yakuindomo and now started on season two. It's still decently funny, and watchable. I'm shocked at how immensely high budget the second season looks, however.

[Doppleganger]

Seitokai Yakuindomo

I've just started Episode 04. I believe a different animation studio is handling the sequel, as the budget is much higher and demonstrates some complex camera angles. However, the jokes are repetitive and there's maybe like one genuinely funny one per episode.

I dislike how most Aria gags involve her distaste for wearing underwear and manicuring what happens below her waist, and I don't care for how literally every Suzu joke is about her horizontal or vertical size.

There's some sweet character development, which I do like. But the art is a bit laughable at times despite the budget. In one scene, there's a flasback to the first season with similar poses. The flashback is shown as a window within the re-enactment. Just looking at it, it's obvious the original was much better done. Take a look:

Spoiler: show

I do like how it's basically implied that Hata-san is the smartest person in the show, she's just crazy nuts about getting something sensational for her writing.

[big bad birtha]

Here's a neat trailer for the Kantai Collection anime. It seems this show will have a nice budget.

I'm still keeping up on my shows, but nothing has changed for each of my shows. I guess I can babble about a couple of shows and whatnot since the season is almost over.

Hitsugi no Chaika Avenging Battle
This show is getting better. While I can't say I care for the direction they're taking the main girl, I'm still looking forward to each episode. The latest episode was downright exciting. The only problem with this show is that watching it weekly is torture. Things stay pretty tense, so 20 minutes go by in a flash, leaving you hanging for another week. I was considering putting the show off until it was over and just marathonning it.

Inou Battle wa Nichijou-kei no Naka de
Eeeeeeeeh. I just can't get into this. I am several weeks behind, and I might just drop it. Every time I start an episode and see the chuunibyou nonsense, I don't feel like watching anymore.

Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso
Remember the "philosophy filler" Doppel was talking about with Comyu? This show is loaded with it! "My music is like my penis, and the listeners are the scared schoolgirls. My music will violate all of those unwilling listeners!" Joking aside, this show is a mix of interesting and irritating. More-so on the irritating side. I like the main guy's development, but outside of that, the show is an endless torrent of cliche. The last few episodes have been painful. (episode 10 spoilers)

Spoiler: show

It is nice that they're going on about how Arima touched these other players, but it spends so much god damn time on it. My god it is taking so fucking long to get its point across. If Kao shouts at Arima while he's having his 500th breakdown, I might drop it, because that's just fucking annoying

Also I dropped Grisaia. I got fed up watching a piss poor version of a VN I really like.

[Doppleganger]

Fat girls in anime, ITT.

From my Jinsei work-project:



I'm pretty sure BPK would classify the second girl as thick, and "in his strike-zone", but like the girls from Gargantia, I think her character designer should go on a diet.

[Talon87]

The only thing remotely "thick" about her is her face. She has an hourglass figure, standard thighs and shins, etc. Granted, your first girl is even thinner, but to insinuate that the second girl is chubby is ... She's not chubby, Doppel.

Side note: these girls look like middle schoolers. Not sure if that was intentional or not. Second one might pass for a babyfaced high school freshman, otherwise she's the maturer-looking one of the group but a middle schooler. First one looks like a middle school spunky spunk plucked straight out of a PreCure series.

[McSweeney]

She's not thick (my ideal body type, something like this), let alone chubby, she just seems to have weird proportions. Wide hips but a tiny little torso.

[Talon87]

Wikipedia

YouTube

From October 6, 1986 to September 28, 1987, TV Tokyo aired a 52-episode animated adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. I found out about it while looking for The Wizard of Oz dubbed in Japanese. (Wikipedia indicates Japanese voice actors but YouTube only shows the musical numbers, all still in English. It's possible that the songs were left in English while the rest of the film was dubbed over, no idea. *shrug*) Anyway, I don't plan to watch much more of this animated adaptation than what I've seen so far -- the first half of the first episode -- but it does look like a cute little series. Judging from the Wikipedia article for it as well as from what I've seen, the series took some liberties with the series' canon. (That or the original film did. Or both!) For example, the Wiki article has identified the Witch of the North as being one of the first Dorothy meets (okay) but have attributed the name Glinda to the Witch of the South. (Wait, what?) And the anime implies that Dorothy received Toto only shortly before her trip to Oz, received from Uncle Henry who in turn took it off the hands of a neighboring farmer. But these seem like pretty minor changes. All in all, I expect that it's basically a stretched-out version of the famous film. Perfectly fine children's entertainment, but probably not something most people here are going to want to commit over 20 hours to watching.

[Doppleganger]

The status of The Wizard of Oz in Japanese culture has always fascinated me. Or more generally, a lot of English movies. The iconography of The Wizard of Oz is well known to most Americans, but the key there is Americans - do the Japanese people share the same sense of recognition?

My insular attitude for a long period of time was to assume "no" but perhaps there's something more to that. Like, Muv-Luv Alterantive had a track in it that's basically a homage to "Klendathu Drop", from Verhoeven's Starship Troopers. I never would have expected ST to be a hit enough to drop a reference like that in a visual novel.

As for The Wizard of Oz specifically, I can't get over this, from the Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart opening:





The yellow brick road cutting through a field of flowers is replaced with a golden field of flowers, and there's no cliff. But the dreamy feeling remains.

In Futari wa Pretty Cure, the mascot inhabitants who live in that city believe Earth to be a legendary place, along the lines of Shangri-La, and refer to it as the "Garden of Rainbows". You get to Oz from Earth by following the exact same route.

[lilboocorsola]

Originally Posted by Talon87

From October 6, 1986 to September 28, 1987, TV Tokyo aired a 52-episode animated adaptation of The Wizard of Oz. I found out about it while looking for The Wizard of Oz dubbed in Japanese. (Wikipedia indicates Japanese voice actors but YouTube only shows the musical numbers, all still in English. It's possible that the songs were left in English while the rest of the film was dubbed over, no idea. *shrug*) Anyway, I don't plan to watch much more of this animated adaptation than what I've seen so far -- the first half of the first episode -- but it does look like a cute little series. Judging from the Wikipedia article for it as well as from what I've seen, the series took some liberties with the series' canon. (That or the original film did. Or both!) For example, the Wiki article has identified the Witch of the North as being one of the first Dorothy meets (okay) but have attributed the name Glinda to the Witch of the South. (Wait, what?) And the anime implies that Dorothy received Toto only shortly before her trip to Oz, received from Uncle Henry who in turn took it off the hands of a neighboring farmer. But these seem like pretty minor changes. All in all, I expect that it's basically a stretched-out version of the famous film. Perfectly fine children's entertainment, but probably not something most people here are going to want to commit over 20 hours to watching.

I think I saw an episode of the dub once on TV. I've also seen a manhwa called "Dorothy of Oz" in which the main character turns into a witch via stripping transformation sequence. Yeah.

[Talon87]

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

The status of The Wizard of Oz in Japanese culture has always fascinated me. Or more generally, a lot of English movies.

I was gonna say. ^_^; That's an awfully specific thing to be fascinated by seeing as we don't really see that many Wizard of Oz references in the Japanese media we here consume. (We see far, far more references to Grimm's fairy tales and similar, especially the ones further popularized by Walt Disney Studios. Examples: Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty ... we've seen these referenced a lot in anime.) But yeah, the cultural awareness of American media in Japan -- and, even more broadly, the non-Anglosphere -- is indeed fascinating.

I wasn't even sure what I would find when I investigated The Wizard of Oz last night. My impetus had been an episode of AKBingo!, a variety show featuring members of the J-pop group AKB48. In this particular episode, a musical director had approached the production agency asking for permission to cast one of their idols as his Dorothy in a (then) upcoming musical stage production of The Wizard of Oz. The production featured original songs and choreography, but at the end of the day it was still Dorothy, still Kansas and Oz, still The Wizard of Oz. That interested me. "Is The Wizard of Oz a global treasure? I guess I always assumed it was without realizing that I had made that assumption. But was I right to? Is it in fact a global treasure, or is it instead something which only a select few nations give a shit about -- and Japan is one of them? And is that primarily because of US influences after WW2?" It was with these questions in mind that I went looking for information.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the book written by L. Frank Baum in 1900, is known in Japan as オズの魔法使い Ozu no Mahoutsukai or simply put "The Wizard of Oz." Interestingly enough, the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz is known in Japan as オズの魔法使. Note the missing い on the end there. But it's still read as Mahoutsukai rather than as Mahoushi. Perhaps the film was imported to Japan before the book was, and this spelling convention reflects pre-WW2 customs of Japanese orthography. (tl;dr spared.) Or perhaps this was a way for whoever owned the Japanese rights to the book/film to avoid copyright feuds with whoever owned the Japanese rights to the film/book. No idea. In any event, 魔法使い for the novel, 魔法使 for the film.

Japan did not import the film through official channels, it seems, until 1954. This suggests to me that knowledge of the film was likely exported to Japan from America via our overseas servicemen stationed throughout Japan in the '40s and '50s. A, through word of mouth. And B, perhaps through the occasional public Movie Night at a drive-in theater (or similar) with film reels provided to the military courtesy of MGM.

TBS first broadcast the film on their Monday Roadshow program on March 4, 1974. Then the NHK broadcasted the film years later on December 20, 1987.

This information suggests that the film has enjoyed a cultural penetration in Japan greater than we would expect of run-of-the-mill American films. This is hardly surprising: The Wizard of Oz remains one of the most beloved films in the history of American cinema. Looking at its footage I am always amazed by its age: its cinematography, special effects, and of course color were all groundbreaking at the time, and frankly I think they hold up very well even today. (I would draw comparisons with Disney's Pinocchio, a film which I think few children alive today below the age of 10 would guess is nearly as old as it is or would guess is so much older than later Disney films made in the '60s and '70s.)

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

My insular attitude for a long period of time was to assume "no" but perhaps there's something more to that. Like, Muv-Luv Alterantive had a track in it that's basically a homage to "Klendathu Drop", from Verhoeven's Starship Troopers. I never would have expected ST to be a hit enough to drop a reference like that in a visual novel.

I'm surprised that anyone would want to include homages to that film in their own work. O_o I've never seen the entire thing (as what little I saw was so bad), but it's my understanding from fans of the novel that the film was a colossal letdown, the M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender for the generation that grew up during the Vietnam War.

Originally Posted by Doppleganger

As for The Wizard of Oz specifically, I can't get over this, from the Futari wa Pretty Cure Max Heart opening:





The yellow brick road cutting through a field of flowers is replaced with a golden field of flowers, and there's no cliff. But the dreamy feeling remains.

In Futari wa Pretty Cure, the mascot inhabitants who live in that city believe Earth to be a legendary place, along the lines of Shangri-La, and refer to it as the "Garden of Rainbows". You get to Oz from Earth by following the exact same route.

I'll admit that something like that would probably go over my head in the heat of the moment watching an OP, ED, or episode, so I will commend you for your good eye in spotting the similarities. Yes, now that you draw attention to it, it sure does look like an Emerald City homage indeed.

Originally Posted by lilbleucorsola

I think I saw an episode of the dub once on TV. I've also seen a manhwa called "Dorothy of Oz" in which the main character turns into a witch via stripping transformation sequence. Yeah.

Never heard of the manga. Interesting that you saw the Wizard of Oz anime on TV before. :o

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by Talon87

I was gonna say. ^_^; That's an awfully specific thing to be fascinated by seeing as we don't really see that many Wizard of Oz references in the Japanese media we here consume. (We see far, far more references to Grimm's fairy tales and similar, especially the ones further popularized by Walt Disney Studios. Examples: Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty ... we've seen these referenced a lot in anime.) But yeah, the cultural awareness of American media in Japan -- and, even more broadly, the non-Anglosphere -- is indeed fascinating.

One of the most notorious ones to me is Toei's use of Cinderalla's Castle! I keep an eye out for iconography but this one's super easy to call, not because I automatically associate a Cinderella reference to the Disney movie, but for a humourous other reason:

Originally Posted by Talon87

Japan did not import the film through official channels, it seems, until 1954. This suggests to me that knowledge of the film was likely exported to Japan from America via our overseas servicemen stationed throughout Japan in the '40s and '50s. A, through word of mouth. And B, perhaps through the occasional public Movie Night at a drive-in theater (or similar) with film reels provided to the military courtesy of MGM.

That would have been the ideal time. The Wizard of Oz didn't reach mythic status until it was broadcast on TV in the 1950's, and America was importing a lot of ideas like baseball (NPB play began in 1950) during the same time. Just as America was being reaquainted with The Wizard of Oz, they had someone to share it with.

Originally Posted by Talon87

This information suggests that the film has enjoyed a cultural penetration in Japan greater than we would expect of run-of-the-mill American films. This is hardly surprising: The Wizard of Oz remains one of the most beloved films in the history of American cinema. Looking at its footage I am always amazed by its age: its cinematography, special effects, and of course color were all groundbreaking at the time, and frankly I think they hold up very well even today. (I would draw comparisons with Disney's Pinocchio, a film which I think few children alive today below the age of 10 would guess is nearly as old as it is or would guess is so much older than later Disney films made in the '60s and '70s.)

I'm going to keep a mind for this with those '40s and earlier films. As for your example, beyond "When You Wish Upon A Star" I haven't seen a lot of the lingering effects of Pinocchio specifically, but that might be just because that story isn't as easy to generalize in anime as say Cinderella.

Originally Posted by Talon87

I'm surprised that anyone would want to include homages to that film in their own work. O_o I've never seen the entire thing (as what little I saw was so bad), but it's my understanding from fans of the novel that the film was a colossal letdown, the M. Night Shyamalan's The Last Airbender for the generation that grew up during the Vietnam War.

Starship Troopers is one of my favourite movies and I can't get the criticism. Well, I do. A hefty chunk of the criticism toward Verhoeven's film is actually holdover angst levied toward the book, from people who believe it to be endorsing fascism. For some people fascism is irrevocably linked to Nazism, and that link easily degrades into equivalency, so they reject any non-negative depiction on principle. Most of the criticism against the movie I've seen were from people who I was able to infer from their arguments they couldn't divorce the story's merits from National Socialism.

Verhoeven just took the jingoism and made it totally over the top, which is why the movie is so darkly funny. Like this:



"It's a Good Day to Die" isn't from Verhoeven's film, but it's pure satire within the context of the movie. The Sky Marshall signing a pop song is equivalent to Obama singing "Livin' the Vida Loca" during the Presidential Address while his cabinet breaks out into a dance. The song and video is constantly glorifying violence and being killed in battle, completely glossing over how that stuff is...you know, bad.

One of the most powerful aspects of Muv-Luv Alternative is that it depicts the Empire of Japan as still existing, and still powerfully nationalist, all the way into 2004. It isn't a dinosaur in the sense it hasn't evolved since the 1930's - the attitudes of the people have evolved a lot since - so in its depiction it was extremely exotic. The use of Klendathu Drop was both to show how cool it was, and to draw that parallel with the movie. There's another reason as well which is the "pastiche" issue but I'll find another opening to talk about that one.

[big bad birtha]

Late as fuck, but here's next season's anime! Oh dear lord what a heaping pile of crappy anime! I guess I'll mention a couple of shows I'll watch.

Binan Koukou Chikyuu Bouei-bu Love!: Well look at that. A "magical girl" show with a bunch of guys? I'll give it a shot!

Kantai Collection: I have no expectations for it, but I'll give it a look anyway.

Ansatsu Kyoushitsu: This is probably forced random comedy, but it's one of the few things this season that isn't a fucking harem. I'll give it a shot.

Cinderella Girls: Probably the only show I'm excited for. Even though we've had too much idol bullshit lately, I have still been curious about the Cinderella Girls cast for a while.

DURRR: I watched season 1, so I might as well give season 2 a shot.

That's that! Speaking of idol bullshit, I was considering watching Love Live. I doubt it's worth a damn, but with such an insane amount of fanart/doujins, I figured I'd look to see what the fuck the big deal is.

[Char]

Amagi Brilliant Park

Spoiler: show

kanye west wins

[Doppleganger]

What does that even mean?

[Talon87]

Man, haven't posted in a while. Updates:

Pokémon: I'n through XY052 and have seen all the specials that've aired recently. Also seen the Skrelp episode, XY024, that was originally skipped over. Have procrastinated on my usual high-effort XY posts, and as the backlog grows it only makes the task more onerous. Hopefully will get around to it soon. Spoilers: I've liked most of what we've seen.

Sailor Moon Crystal: Similar situation as with Pokémon. I'm through Episode 12. Generally enjoying it. I know not everyone is.

Backlog of shows: untouched since last posting. Hoping to get to them soon.

Young Animator Project / Anime Mirai 2013

I've watched a couple of new-to-me, old-to-the-world Young Animator projects.

Arve Rezzle: This was okay. Clearly presented as though the first of four (minimum) to thirteen or more episodes. Normally would probably give a show like this a pass, especially given my limited free time, but it's intriguing enough that were it only a four-parter I'd want to check out the rest now that I've seen as much as I have.

Death Billiards: This was fantastic. 9/10 easy, withholding the 10/10 but it's still really good. To the surprise of absolutely no one here, this one was Madhouse's contribution to the program. Not sure whether the student involved did the writing, the animating, the directing, or what, but the whole thing was done well. Excellent short film. Very classy too.

[Talon87]

Shameless double post because edit tags suck and I can't wait:

Little Witch Academia: Just saw this. Amazing. Another easy 9 out of 10, although a rather different 9/10 from Death Billiards'. This short film did a lot of the same things right that Buta did right. I would absolutely love to see a full-length film evolve from this. It's a little rushed as is (per the nature of a 26-minute window) and leaves me wanting to see so much more of the characters' stories unfolding. Like Buta, it does this but is also satisfactorily self-contained with just enough details to stand as its own (short) little tale.

Would highly recommend Death Billiards and Little Witch Academia.

[Doppleganger]

I haven't seen Death Billiards but yay LWA! About time more people saw it. It was really good!

Uh, for me. I'm almost done with S2 of SYD, reading some more Kurosawa so I can write more for Xavier High School, and err finishing off Amagi and some VNs. I hope.