While they say there's a three (3) episode rule, many shows this week had good fourth episodes, so maybe things are picking up. The standout this week was most definitely Synduality Noir, but there were are good ones (like the second to last episode of this season of Pretty Cure). Let's just jump right into it.

Figure 1 Gushing Over Magical Girls, Episode 4

Magia Baiser (Utena Hiiragi) and Kiwi during their fight against Tres Magia.

Gushing Over Magical Girls has so far stuck to a very consistent formula. Tres Magia show up. Baiser sexually abuses them. Then leaves. It's great. This episode had Baiser cutting off Magenta's clothes in a crowded public park where everyone could then see her naked. Magenta then came back the next day with stickers to just barely cover herself, but effectively fought Baiser naked (which, of course, Baiser loved). In the second half of the episode, we had a fight between Baiser, Kiwi, and all three Tres Magia that resulted in a very intense battle between Sulfur and Baiser that led to, again, Baiser's retreat. Sulfur and Baiser seemed to love the fight, and given that Sulfur seems like the only competent magical girl in Tres Magia I hope we get another fight like that. Equally well, I found the earlier gag of Utena's mom threatening to throw out all her Tres Magia merchandise due to bad grades equally relatable. Not because I had bad grades, but because I do have a lot of magical girl merchandise around my house!

Figure 3 7th Time Loop, Episode 3

Rishe and Arnold dance following the public announcement of their engagement.

7th Time Loop is absolutely killing it. Every week I'm completely taken aback, in a good way, by the quality of the story telling, artwork, and characterization. It's clear, we all know it, that this is an otome/shoujo anime, but the clear every-guy-is-an-ikemen notwithstanding, the appeal of Rishe elevates the entire anime. It's not just her good looks (although this is important), nor is it the astronomical number of her pretty dresses she wears every episode (although this is equally as important), but the fact that she's genuinely an interesting character. Her previous six lives, the talents shes learned, the personality she's acquired through an effective decades of experience, make her the most compelling heroine of the season, and arguably should be used as a prototypical model that other animes should use, or at the very least consider, when considering writing interesting heroines.

In this episode, Arnold formally declared at a ball that he is engaged to Rishe. They they danced, where Rishe tried to trip him up but failed. After the ball, Arnold revealed that he had an old scar on his shoulder (one which Rishe was aware of from both her dance and a previous life). Then, Rishe picked her maids at the palace, picking two newer maids who were ridiculed both in this episode and in the previous for being slow to learn (because they couldn't read). The reveal at the end, where she showed she was working among the maids over the previous week ala Undercover Boss, while an often used format, still nevertheless satisfying due to its effective execution. The episode ends with Rishe putting on her best dress to speak with the head of the merchant guild that she met in her first timeline. I may buy the light novels on amazon just to put them on my shelf, or see if a figure comes out on AmiAmi for Rishe.

Figure 3 Soaring Sky: Pretty Cure!, Episode 49

Undergu "Dark" Sora after she accepted the Undergu energy to save Sora.

We learned, as I somewhat expected by still nevertheless was surprised to see, that Empress Undergu memories were false, and that Cure Noble never betrayed their friendship by assassinating Emperor Undergu. Instead, Skearhead assassinated the Emperor and implanted false memories of betray into the Empress's mind to use her as a vessel to later on attack Skyland. Unfortunately, Empress Undergu only learns of this after being stabbed through the back (literally) by Skearhead and taken back to the Undergu Empire, where the Cures chase them in to, what they all agree, is an obvious trap. And it is. Skearhead takes Mashiro hostage, and Sora has to ingest Undergu energy to save Mashiro. This Undergu corruption almost overtakes Sora, but Mashiro is able to purify it. The episode ends on a cliffhanger with Skearhead's final form, a large snake, standing over the PreCures, and the Cures collectively saying they're ready to defeat Skearhead for good.

The only thing I wish for this episode was that we got to see Undergu Sora for a while longer. Her Undergu/Dark form was incredibly sexy, and seeing her purified so quickly was lamentable. At least we'll get a lot of fan art. The finale is next week, where I will have finally finished my first PreCure season episode-by-episode, as it aired!

Figure 4 Synduality Noir, Episode 15

Macht and his Magus (Schnee) waiting to duel Kanata.

I say this and I say this beyond a reasonable doubt, this was by far and away the best Synduality Noir episode to date. It started with Kanata and crew arriving at the space station in Carthage, only to be ambushed by Macht (the man in the black mask) who is attempting to stop them from reaching paradise ("This paradise is not meant for humans"). Macht demands Kanata hand over Noir (which he refuses), and then duels him to the death for his Magus, Noir. Kanata, working with Noir, Mystere, and Ellie far better than expected, and Macht then receives backup from his mysterious shadow organization who wants to capture the key (Noir) alive, at the cost of killing Kanata. Macht is about to kill Kanata when Tokio appears, Mouton hacks into Macht's Coffin and disables Macht's magus (Schnee) and rips of Macht's mask (we got a face reveal!). Macht speaks to Tokio, revealing they have some past together (not sure what it is), and retreats. Tokio and Mouton chase after them.

I fully expected, given how average the first season of this was, very little from the second. But I've been completely wrong. The last two episodes have had more character and story development then almost the entirety of the first season, and as such I'm almost willing to completely excuse the slow start evident in the first twelve episodes. For the first time in the entire show, I am actually excited about Synduality Noir, and I can't wait for the next episode. I'm so glad I got to watch this episode the moment it aired, too, while on my break at work! It was very much worth it! Also the artwork and CGI seems to have significantly improved between the first and second seasons, and the fights seem much more intense. I'm not sure what happened.

Figure 5 Chained Solider, Episode 4

Himari and Yuuki after training together for the day to prepare for their duel.

Chained Solider, much to my utter and complete surprise, had the best episode to date. We got significant character development between Himari and Yuuki. We met Himari's older sister, who has the ability to stop and reverse time, and most of the episode was Himari and Yuuki training together with the intent to beat her in a duel. Their strategy was to rush her before she could easily stop time and, if she stopped/reversed it, would be extremely taxing on her (such that she couldn't do it multiple times). We saw this employed at the end of the episode, where her sister was forced to reverse time right at the start of the duel. The episode ended in the middle of the duel, so I look forward to seeing how it ended next week. Ironically, despite being a femdom/humiliation fanservice show, I actually found the training regiment to be the most interesting part of the show (the femdom stuff would be interesting if it ever actually escalated to something more than the girl taking her clothes off, but it won't because it's an anime). Still, it was nevertheless a fun episode.

Figure 6 Metallic Rouge, Episode 3

Rouge speaks with the head of the Nean resistance movement.

It's difficult to formulate an opinion of Metallic Rouge given that the narrative structure is sufficiently abstruse such that I can't really determine the strength of the plot. Superficially, at episode 3, I'd say the plot is weak. The premise, I believe, is that "Neans" (humanoid robots) were once used as weapons to fight aliens. Following the war, however, they still work for humans and have little rights because they're considered property. A group of Neans is rebelling against humans for rights, but struggle because the "Asimov code" means they always have to follow human's orders. This is what I wish I could say concerning the plot, but then it dives off the deep end. There are also a clutch of 9 immortal Neans, called Alters (I think)? And they can disobey orders? And the main character, Rouge, is tasked with killing them for her brother, and Rouge's handler Naomi is dumb and obnoxious and comes off as an unprofessional buffoon? All those question marks are there because I'm not really sure that is the plot.

In this episode, Rouge met with the head of the Nean's rights movement, who she later found assassinated at the end of the episode. She also met with an aloof doctor, and we saw cuts of humans planning to move on the city where all the Neans lived. There was also a mention of a magical carnival. Yeah. I said this was a weird show. My hopes and expectations for it decreases with each passing episode.

Figure 7 My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered, Episode 4

The immortal vampire discusses her plan.

When it comes to calling a show "bad" we have to accept that "bad" is necessarily a vague term that one will fill with all their own personal biases and prejudices. To that end, I feel it wrong My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered bad because it wouldn't properly express the complete absurdity of the writing, narrative, characters, and overall premise. The premise of the show, is implied by the title, is that Yogiri has the ability to instantly kill anything by just thinking about it. This episode, he instantly killed tons of zombies, people trying to attack him, and then an immortal vampire sage who was also trying to attack him. Perhaps calling it bad is too harsh (as I imagine if I was in middle school this would be the most impressive power fantasy one could have, and perhaps I'm simply out of touch given that I lie outside the show's target audience. Or, perhaps, this is just another isekai slop anime in a veritable field of isekai slop animes. Or, and I doubt this, this anime is, in fact, a parody of other isekai animes of the same kind. This I doubt given the complete lack of jokes which suggests that it takes itself quite seriously. Still, if this show even for a moment makes me contemplate the almost metaphysical idea of "bad" then I suppose it has some value, if not in its story then at least in its ability to weave together such a retarded plot it makes me question whether or not the original author of the light novel made the entire thing in jest. Are we, the viewers, merely on the receiving end of the author's cruel joke? Does the viewer not find the humor or notice the jokes, because we are, in fact, the entire circus ourselves?

Figure 8 Villainess Level 99, Episode 3

Dorkness sits alone at lunch like the loser she really is (literally me).

In Episode 3, Dorkness met with the King and Queen, who verified her level 99 status. Afterwards, Dorkness met privately with the Queen, who informed her that she wanted Dorkness to help fight the Demon Lord who was going to return in two (2) years. Dorkness also received an apology from the other students who hitherto doubted her level. Overall, it felt like a transition episode, i.e., a setup for a better episode on the horizon.

Figure 9 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess (3), The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil (3), Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! (3), and Ishura (4).

'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess remains fairly boring. I know, as I did last week and will know just as well next week, that it's a gag comedy and we're never going to get an interesting story. But that too is where it falls short. The strength of the gags, and by that I mean the lack of strength of the gags, detracts from the show. This episode we had the princess going to an amusement park, playing with the demon king's daughter, and finally getting rescued by an ugly knight who attempted (perhaps by mistake) to grab her breasts, leading to a failed rescue attempt. Who knows, maybe we'll get at least one good gag next week.

As for Episode 3 of The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil (I think I forgot to talk about episode 2 last week??) contained, mainly, Lily hanging out with a girl at school, and they poked fun at each other's height and weight. It was actually a refreshingly fun episode because we pulled away from the rather ridiculous premise of her having Akutsu as some sort of demon minion while they awkwardly flirt with each other, despite us the viewer knowing nothing will ever come of this because it's an anime and the last thing and anime can ever have is romantic character development. Watching Lily have regular high school interactions was, well, fun. Right at the end, though, it looks like she found the demon dog she was looking for, so I imagine next episode will return to the original. The show almost seemed, near the end, potentially extremely interesting with the possibility that the girl Lily was friends with the entire time could be the demon she was looking for. She wasn't. Perhaps that was too sophisticated to write in an ecchi anime.

We finally had a mildly interesting episode of Hokkaido Gals! when the introduction of Sayuri, a loner gamer girl in Tsubasa's class that, hitherto, Fuyuki has been trying and failing to befriend. We learn that Sayuri doesn't really like Fuyuki because she's popular and pushy, and Sayuri is a bit shy and timid. Sayuri who, like Tsubasa, is bad at skiing, is paired with him and they briefly talk and each lunch together on the buss where Sayuri reveals she likes video games (gamer girl!) and introduces Tsubasa to one such game that they play together. Sayuri, despite her obvious otaku pandering wish fulfillment character type, is still great. I don't care that I'm being pandered to. The entire premise of the anime is pandering regardless. I just want to be pandered to with characters that I like and not obnoxious gyarus.

I'm beginning to have a better understanding of the narrative structure of Ishura, even though I find this structure woefully lacking due to the lack of talent of the author, and also the director of the anime by extension. This episode introduced more characters who will, I presume, participate in the Demon King? tournament. This episode we about Kia the World Word, who can "defy all word logic" and alter nature. Kia's (mother?) was also present, and I guess she's a prostitute who also poisons people who was living under a secret identity with an elf village to learn more about it and counter it in a future war? If that all sounds vague and complex, it is. I'm not sure I really understood it. Much like the first episode, which was all expository dialogue yet still made no sense, this fourth episode was mostly expository dialogue, yet still made little since. Again, I've been critical of the writing in the past and this is why. Despite my best efforts and attentiveness, it's hard to follow what's going on.

Figure 10 Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Episode 20

Fern and Ubel fight to recover their stolen bird.

I'm becoming increasingly frustrated with the pacing in Frieren: Beyond Journey's End. While recent episodes have felt pretty interesting in the moment, once you reach the end of the episode you realize all that really happened was some of the characters talked amongst themselves and then the credits roll. One could argue that, if you were interesting in the moment, that must necessarily mean the show was good. But I have a different take on the matter. What makes Frieren good in the moment is the belief that something amazing is about to happen (e.g., Frieren is about to annihilate all the lower mages with some cataclysmic spell). But when absolutely nothing happens, and you realize the plot isn't going anywhere, you realize what made the show interesting wasn't a good story, but the ability to constantly threaten to make the story more interesting. Call it the "Evangelion principle".

Anyways, this episode we had one slow talking fight between the mages and their class A promotion test. I'd like to say the fights were good, but they were mostly just talking while fighting. We learned there's another great Eleven mage. Maybe if we get a season two we'll meet her. Next episode will just be a fight between Frieren's team and the other mages. A fight which, I imagine, they'll win. A fight which, I imagine, will contain a huge amount of talking, a small amount of action and, of course, take the entire episode.

Figure 11 The Unwanted Undead Adventurer, Episode 4

Fern and Ubel fight to recover their stolen bird.

Somehow The Unwanted Undead Adventurer continues to impress. This episode we saw Rentt defeat the floor boss (a giant skeleton) to save the merchant he was adventuring with. He gave the merchant the reward so he save his family's business (a restaurant). Rentt also attacked Lorraine and, in the process, actually leveled up into a new undead monster called a Ghast. Lorraine, for her part, seemed pretty blasé about the attack despite it's fairly viscous nature. Rentt ended up getting another rental sword, and the episode ends with him going back to the labyrinth. While the story in this show average, it's still executed in such a good way I feel like it's becoming a prototypical case of how to properly make one of these dungeon leveling shows. Still, I fear that it may fall off in later episodes given what some people on /a/ have said ("this show won't go anywhere"). For now, though, it is going somewhere.

Figure 12 The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic, Episode 4

Rose speaking with Usato at the end of the episode.

I'm still consistently impressed by The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic every week. Much like Unwanted Undead Adventurer, likable characters with a simple yet will executed plot create a simple but compelling story. In this episode, Usato continued his training, met a few other members of the rescue team, and also trained with his new pet bear Bluerin. We also saw a bit of the Demon Lord's army, and some of their officers expressed fear of Rose's ability to heal people. The episode ended with a mildly touching moment (see above) where Usato ala Hacksaw Ridge says he doesn't want to kill, but believes he can, in the heat of battle, still nevertheless save people. He's then summoned to the castle to train with the knights.

Figure 13 Pon no Michi, Episode 4

All the girls celebrating their online win after playing Mahjong over their phone.

While Pon no Michi still inspires virtually no desire for me to play Mahjong (unlike Saki a decade ago which did), it still nevertheless remains entertaining despite my lack of strong knowledge of Mahjong, along with the numerous other Mahjong reference they make during the show. This episode they played online Mahjong while sitting at their automatic table on their phones. It's clear this was a plug for online Mahjong games (which, again, I'll never play), but it was still pretty fun watching how exciting all the girls were as they played. The episode ended with Riche beating "FOOLSMATE", another player from their town who, after losing, stormed their cafe to find Riche! Also, the FOOLSMATE is an alt egirl, of course one of the hottest types of girls in existence (and also very rare in anime)!

Figure 14 Solo Leveling, Episode 4

Jinwoo after defeating the giant snake boss of the pop-up dungeon.

Much to my surprise, Solo Leveling finally had some content. Jinwoo leveled through the pop-up dungeon he was in, and defeated all the dogs and the final snake boss, leveling up multiple times in the process. After he left the dungeon, he dealt with the boss of a dungeon break that occurred while he was leveling in a single hit, clearly indicating that he is much stronger than he used to be. I still nevertheless find the premise a bit cliche, but perhaps it was the popularity of this manwha that made a bunch of other shows copy it. Is Solo Leveling, perhaps, the god father or these silly dungeon leveling style shows? Ah, who am I kidding I know it's not.

Figure 15 The Witch and the Beast (3), Sasaki and Peeps(4), Bang Brave Bang Bravern (3), Tales of Wedding Rings (4).

As for The Witch and the Beast, we had a wrap of the previous arc where they killed the witch... except it wasn't a witch. The murderers in the town were caused by the police detectives adopted sons who obtained grimoires that corrupted them, requiring them to kill to maintain the grimoire's powers. Apparently, the sons didn't see the detective, their adoptive mother, as a mother but instead as a woman and I guess wanted a relationship with her? Or something? The end of the episode was fairly dramatic when the mother picked up a gun and just executed her two sons on the spot. Seems a bit weird for a detective to do that instead of arresting them and charging them with a crime, although I guess the argument was the grimoire's powers would have killed them before they went to trial. It all felt very weak, despite the clearly serious nature of the premise.

There's very little to say about Bang Bravern this week other than the robot maid more vaguely annoying gay jokes and that, finally, a waifu was introduced, Lulu. Can a waifu like lulu save this show? I really doubt it.

Jesus Christ, inshallah, praise be to Ganesha, what the hell is this show. This week's episode of Sasaki and Peeps was about a Japanese salaryman in other world solving some arcane war between two states using his starsage bird minion, fighting orges, and the bird fought a demon woman, only to reveal that the prince's death was fake and the son's death was fake and the daughter was even kept out of the loop to find traitors in his kingdom. I didn't really understand it. And I doubt that much of the story is going to have any impact on future episodes. Also, it entirely took place in the isekai, whereas the local Japanese plot seems, to be at least, slightly more interesting. Although the entire plot is so arcane it actually strains the viewer's ability to accept either (a) the absurdity of the premise, or (b) to accept that the premise is not absurd, and the LN author actually believes this is a show to be taken seriously. I've said in the past that I greatly like very imaginative shows. But this show makes feel the need to clarify that "imaginative" and "absolutely crazy" do not mean the same thing.

Tales of Wedding Rings was okay. We had a wrap of the wind-ring arc, we learned that the sage their traveling with is, in fact, the man who the earlier elf was in love with. I felt like the delivery of that revolution was pretty good, along with the reveal a few moments later. I still feel like the main character is a bit weak, but they're always week in harem anime so complaining about a weak harem lead is akin to complaining about a dog eating dog food.

Figure 16 The Labyrinth Raids of the Ultimate Tank, Episode 4

The end title card.

Last episode for the week (because it airs at 2:00pm in the afternoon right as I type this), is The Labyrinth Raids of the Ultimate Tank. This episode had a Labyrinth open right up into their peaceful town, and Rud has decided to become the head of the clan that manages the Labyrinth. He also got a new sword, and a bunch of adventurers are showing up to the town to checkout the Labyrinth. We also had his younger sister approve him managing the clan, even though she's sick and needs him to take care of her. It was okay. It was certainly more character and story development than previous weeks.

Other Remarks

I may buy some framing supplies if I have the time and money. I think learning how to frame things good be fun (given that I have a lot of original anime artwork to frame). The Leica lens came back in one piece. I also plan to buy some more stationary supplies. It may be fun to do some cool calligraphy projects with more sophisticated (i.e., expensive) supplies).

I haven't made a post on Morganna's House about my calligraphy work recently, but this shouldn't be construed as a lack of effort on my part, on the contrary, I've been practicing so judiciously and with such dedication that it takes up so much of my time that I don't have the time, normally on a weekday/workday, to post about my progress. But given the amount of work I've done, and some of the new projects and techniques I'm trying, I feel compelled to post some of the work I've done recently.

Figure 1 My pencil practice page (yellow) and my Rhodia flex nib pratice page (white).

Much to my surprise, the bright orange color of the notebook's cover, although I obviously don't see it when I'm writing, has indeed grown on me. I also bought a back-up black on from Amazon that I'll use after I fill up this one.

The daily practice setup remains similiar to what it was about a month ago. I always start with a practice page on engineering computation paper and the lightboard (I use the lightboard so I can more easily see the lines) on the other side of the paper, and I write very small using a Faber-Castell TK Fine Vario in 0.35mm, using 2B led (2B lead was the sofest 0.35mm lead I could find). Note that 0.35mm and 0.3mm are the same (I think some German comapnies will perform 0.35mm whereas Japanese companies prefer 0.3mm, but to be clear they are the same size and take the same lead). This narrow led lets me write very small—the text I write falls within a 5mm graph line. When I do write, it's usually a very brief commentary on my day. Or, more accurately, one very brief aspect of my day that occupies my thoughts in the few moments in which I pick up the pencil. On the weekends, when I have more time, I may fill an entire page, but during the weekday it's probably only a few setences before moving on to the flex nib.

For the flex nib practice, I'm writing on Rhodia paper using a Bloom nib holder (from Tom's Workshop), Zebra G flex nibs, and Higgins Eternal calligraphy ink. I tried Clairefontaine paper, but after the disaster of having it shipped to me my opinion on it is already a bit soured. But those shipping issues notwithstanding, I find the Clairefontaine too smooth for comfort. It's actually so smooth and it's so glossy that the nib slips all over the place. Ideally, I want some feedback between the nib and the paper, and I feel like the Rhodia paper strikes an excellent balance. As for the practice, I always write an entire page (lately I just write random song lyrics) and, once I'm done, I date the page with a date stamp that I bought off Amazon. I regret not dating my earlier work so I could more accurately measure my progress, so at least now that won't be a problem!

Figure 2 A more complex project with ESSR ink and erased guidelines.

For a while I thought I'd never have a use for the Graf von Faber-Castell Round Eraser again, as I switched primarily to the Staedler tube eraser for my pencil practice. But, as it turns out, the round eraser is great for erasing the guidlines on my formal practice paper! The first time I used it I immediately went out and bought a backup. I also have tons of the refills, too, so I may be set for life!

I also sometimes use the Zebra G Titanium Nibs with Canson paper ESS Registrar's ink. This paper and this ink and those professional tatanium nibs are currently reserved for only the most sopheticate projects. I start by drawing guidlines on the Canson paper using the Graf von Faber-Castell Perfect Pencil (which has hard enough graphite that the graphite powder doesn't imbed itself in the fibers of the paper, this making it easier to eraser) and a A4 drafting board which I bought on somewhat of a whim but now find it invaluable. I had other calligrapgy tracing stencils, but all of them seem to, more or less, reproduce what a drafting table does, but in a significantly worse and more labor intensive way. After I draw the guidelines and write on the page, I way a day or two for it to dry before finally erasing the guide lines with the Graf von Faber-Castell Platinium Eraser. I actually bought a backup eraser just this month, and also have a virtual lifetime supply of eraser refills for it, so think I'm good for now.

I still don't know how much I like the Canson paper. I think it performs well, but it's very rough and absolutely shreds nibs. Even the Titanium Zebra G nibs wear down fast when writing on that paper. I also don't really like the brand, for some reason. Who knows, maybe it will grow on me, but the name just feels a bit silly. As for what comes next, I may buy 1-2 more nib holders and more Zebra replacement nibs. I think, for now, I'm good on ink. After those final purchases, I think I'll be quite set on calligraphy supplies.

Other Remarks

Within a Budding Grove is slow by steading reading. Often by the end of the day I'm quite exhausted... but I haven't had a lot of major headaches recently so most nights I am, indeed, able to make good progress (and by "good progress" that's like 4-5 pages of Proust). Since I last posted an update, the narrator has indeed made significant progress with ingraining himself with the Swann family. He now visits the family on mosts days, eating lunch with them, going out, etc. He's also able to talk to Gilberte, M. Swann, and Mme. Swann all the time. Last night, the narrator actually met his favorite author Bergotte. But, in a very Proustian fashion, Bergotte in real life wasn't quite what he expected. Through reading Bergotte's work, he imagined and almost magical herculian author exuding wisdom and grace. Instead, he found that Bergotte was a short stubby man with a "snail shell nose" and his appearence was so contrary to what he expected that he felt like it actually deflated the artisitic value of his books.

I'm watching so many anime during the week that the time it takes to type and summarize all the shows is itself so time consuming that I'm now breaking it up into segments. As I write this, now, it's actually Friday, not Saturday, and I'm sitting at my desk at work, not home, beginning to summarize what shows have aired so far. The goal is to summarize as many as I can to reduce the workload on Saturday when I want to play Monster Hunter World as much as possible. Despite this challenge, I would not want the reader to assume I don't enjoy writing these. On the contrary, I greatly enjoy it. However, I still must accept that there's a finite amount of time in the day, so too even if I want to do the work I must necessarily determine what times I can and cannot complete it. In my case, I think Fridays will become days where I either watch anime during my free block (if I have it), and begin typing the anime week-in review to be published the next Saturday.

Figure 1 Gushing Over Magical Girls, Episode 3

Magia Baiser (Utena Hiiragi) comforts Kiwi after electrocuting her—here, Baiser tells Kiwi she is the cutest girl in the world.

Gushing Over Magical Girls, in yet another week, came in with the strongest episode of the week. While I didn't particularly like Kiwi (I think her personality is funny, but her micro-bikini outfit is repulsive—I've always thought micro bikinis are utterly objectionable on any and every character I've seen hitherto), the scene of Magia Baiser embarrassing Kiwi, telling her she's the cutest girl in the world, was great. Also, when Magia Azure, later in the episode, got all hot and flustered when she confront Baiser about what she (Baiser) was going to do next, it was pretty funny. I saw on /a/ that Gushing Over Magical Girls is currently one of the best selling manga in Japan, so I can only hope we get more yuri ryona anime as a consequence. There were parts of the episode that I didn't like. For example, I didn't particularly like how brutal the torture of Kiwi came off as (even if she liked it in the end, the actual electrocution came off as unnecessarily prolonged and cruel—were I writing the sequence it would have been weaker shocks with a greater visual pleasure from Kiwi). Kiwi's personality, too, was a bit abrasive. I understand obsessiveness is part of her charm, but her constant use if foul language came off annoying instead of funny, perhaps because its use was so flagrant it began to lose its shock value and simply turned into annoyance. Or maybe it was fine, and it was just the translators who went off the deep end.

Figure 2 7th Time Loop, Episode 2

Rishe pulling a sword on her fiance Arnold who tried to take the sword from her (it's actually Arnold's sword, she just had it in her hands at the time).

7th Time Loop, yet again, came in second place this week. I'm surprise how interesting this obvious Shoujo/Otome anime is, and while the Otome elements can be a bit annoying, overall the main character (Rishe) is so interesting it's enough to keep me going (and I love her dresses!). I still find the main (love?) interest, Arnold, a bit strange, but he's exactly inline with what I'd expect from an otome man. Did I mention how many cool dresses Rishe wore in episode 2? Still, Rishe's demand that she'll "marry" Arnold so long as she gets to "laze" around the castle felt a bit off. She spent her previous 7 lives traveling the world and learning new things, so her suddenly wanting to laze around and do nothing doesn't seem, to me at least, to be within her character. I believe the author would likely argue she's doing this on the condition to break free of the death, eventually indirect or otherwise, at the hands of Arnold, so learning about him and his motivations may alter history, but I could just as well argue Rishe could, given infinite time and thought and planning and knowledge, get away from the country in which she continues to die due to the wars she's partaking in and escape. Regardless, the fact that I'm even contemplating alternate endings to the story and plot is sufficient evidence for me that the show itself is good, as so few shows even warrant a second thought from me after watching them.

Figure 3 Soaring Sky: Pretty Cure!, Episode 48

Empress Undergu getting stabbed in the back by Skearhead who, I thought, was killed at the end of previous episode.

We're but two episodes away from the finale of Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure, and we've probably gotten more plot and character development in the last few episodes than we have in the entire season. So much so, in fact, that I question whether or not the first 30 episodes of the series were even necessary, more so I question if I will continue to watch the next PreCure season. Part of me thinks it won't be worth the time, but the other part of me knows the show airs on Sunday mornings, a time slot in which I'm certain will always have time, and equally well I know that I will, at the very least, watch the first few episodes and, in turn, become compelled out of some intrinsic moral obligation to finish the series. We shall see.

Anyways, in this episode we learned that Skearhead was still alive, and he actually stabbed Empress Undergu in the back. We further learned that, ostensibly, Cure Noble assassinated the Emperor all those years ago, and that the first Pretty Cure was actually the villain. I still doubt this narrative, but part of me also doubts that they'll have a third twist at the end that reveals she was good all along (I mean really, how many twists can Toei put in a kid's show—this is getting ridiculous!). Oh, and Shalala showed up again, so that was cool.

Figure 4 Synduality Noir, Episode 2

Noir who, with the appearance of Mystere, seems to have lost purpose to her life.

Synduality Noir's second episode was much stronger than the first—we actually got some character development as opposed to a single recap episode. Noir and Mystere can transform back into each other, which appears to have made Noir very despondent (we'll likely learn more next episode). Kanata and Mystere are now going to Histoire, a location which, we have learned, is in the sky and they'll need a rocket to get there. We also learned a bit more about Mystere's past master, as well, who appeared to be a kind old lady, which was very much a surprise given how combat effective and aggressive Mystere is. We even got character development with Ellie, who is tagging along with Kanata, and we further saw how Ciel is continuing to betray them. Although, in the end, I doubt Ciel will continue with betrayal. She's expressed doubts the entire way.

Figure 5 Villainess Level 99, Episode 2

Yumiella Dolkness ("Dorkness") explaining to the headmaster of the school and second prince (Edwin) that she is, in fact, level 99 and should not be expelled.

Most shows have strong first episodes than fall off. Villainess Level 99 had a weak first episode then picked up. Now that we got to see a bit more of Yumiella Dolkness, who henceforth I will refer to as "Dorkness", I find that the show itself is pretty funny. All of the common tropes that appear when a male main character in these isekais are, somehow, actually funny when it's a woman doing it. The aloofness, the instant kill abilities, the "literally me" behavior is, as I now understand, funny when it is a cute girl doing it, as such is the case with Dorkness. This further cements what I suppose we've known all along yet some studios refuse to admit: an anime is always better when it's only cute girls—men aren't needed for enjoyment and, on the contrary, usually detract from it.

In episode 2 we saw everyone in the school not believe Dorkness is actually level 99, and employ various tactics to reveal whatever arcane trickery she used to artificially inflate her level. First with a duel to prove she was weak (she wasn't), then with a magic spell (which she was able to cast). Any reasonable viewer would question why, if Dorkness is so powerful, she's even at a school full of weak children and, further, if she must survive by avoiding the students in the school, she doesn't just leave the school all together. But then we wouldn't have a funny story, and we realize that that is a stupid question to ask.

Figure 6 Metallic Rouge, Episode 2

Rouge and Naomi talking to each other on the bus.

First, let me open by saying we got a luxury watch drop this episode: Naomi wears a Cartier Ballon Bleu. I knew it the moment I saw her wrist shot, and it's a surprising and rare choice. I'm not a fan of Cartier myself (I find all of their watches woefully ugly), but I'm willing to dismiss any of my prejudices, however justified, if a cute brown anime girl is wearing said luxury watch! If I could be so lucky as to find a cute brown anime waifu with white hair interested in luxury watches!

The show itself did improve, albeit slightly, with a slowy less chaotic episode. We saw Rogue and Naomi interact (although we don't know much more about their relationship), and we also learned that much of the life on Mars was once threatened by alien "Usurpers". We also saw a fight between Rouge and one of the Usurper's machines which was activated by accident. Oh, and I suppose I'm forgetting the most important part: Rogue is a wanted woman and they were attacked by mercenaries in the first half of the show as a consequence. Ironically, that seems to be one of the least important parts of the episode when I consider everything else that happens. I have a feeling that her being wanted will, for some reason, be completely ignored and/or mostly forgot about in subsequent episodes.

Figure 7 Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! (2), Fluffy Paradise (3), Ishura (3), and Bang Brave Bang Bravern (1)

Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! came in with another boring episode. I really hope other girls get introduced because Fuyuki just isn't that cute (despite the title of the anime clearly implying otherwise). I gave Fluffy Paradise quite a negative treatment whereby I speed watched it while playing Monster Hunter World, but I don't think giving it my utmost and undivided attention would have made things better. I believe I will drop this show, and no watch episode 4 on Sunday, instead opting for more Monster Hunter. Ishura maybe (and this is a strong maybe) had a slightly more coherent episode than last week. All they are doing, for now at least, is introducing new characters and, depending on how long this is, I feel like there's a nonzero probability we're going to get a Blade Dance style anime where the final episode ends when the story is immediately about to begin. I'm actually one week behind in Bang Brave Bang Bravern, likely because it's bad and I have little motivation to watch it. I told, if /a/ is to be believed, it's one of the most popular anime in Japan right now. But this, I suppose, only shows how great the disparity between my tastes and the aggregate tastes of Japan, a nation of racist xenophobes. Although it being a mecha certainly doesn't help it. I have episode 2 downloaded (It came out yesterday, if I recall correctly), and I may watch episode 2 either on Saturday or Sunday, or even perhaps today should I take a break from my calligraphy practice due to an abundance of fatigue.

Figure 8 The Witch and the Beast (2), Chained Solider (3), 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess (2), and My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered (3).

Following the rather uninteresting in medias res first episode, we had a slightly slower albeit significantly more coherent second episode where both characters begin investigating a serial killing witch in a nearby town. I'm struggling to find the show more interesting, however, for two reasons. One, Guideau's incredibly aggressive and rude behavior was wearing on me after but a few minutes in episode one, and now even more so in episode two, and the knowledge that it will continue reduces my interest in the remainder of the series, however interesting it may be. Two, the chain smoking is still very off putting. The premise sort of reminds me of Undead Girl Murder Farce, but without the charm and wit of the two main characters in that series. Chained Solider was much more interesting this week. We learned that Yuuki's younger sister who, originally, was presumed dead, is actually in the demon realm with him. And they actually met each other by accident! We also learned more about the back stories of both characters, and got a rather unusual femdom sequence where Kyouka stepped on Yuuki as a reward. It was certainly more interesting than last episode, but fanservice seems a bit lacking when shows like Gushing Over Magical girls are airing during the same season.

'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess was boring, as expected. The gag of the mild torture being eating food and playing video games just isn't appealing. Or perhaps it would be if I knew we were going somewhere, but we're not. It's not like any of the information the princess reveals will be consequential, so when everything feels so low stakes it comes off as boring. The torture this episode was going to a hot spring with a woman who pretended to be her mom, and eating candy in front of her without looking at the pictures. Somehow this was full episode. My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered continues to bad, but that poor writing and bad characters are slowly growing on me—this show may be interesting and enjoyable if we accept that the entire premise is, in fact, a parody of itself and the author intentionally wrote a bad LN as an ironic commentary on how bad isekai's are. Ultimately we know this is not true. But this the lie I will tell myself to justify my continued viewing of this disaster. This episode, they went to a city that was directly based on a Japanese city (perhaps because that was the only thing they author was familiar with, perhaps because it was easier to draw, although there is something to be said about an isekai taking place in a city that is identical to Japan, or perhaps because it's the only thing animators knew how to draw), they met up with another classmate who, like the rest, were complete psychopaths and, of course, the main character instantly killed several people. Wow.

Figure 9 The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic, Episode 3

Rose carrying Usato after he killed a large snake (which was one of the Demon Lord's minions).

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic continues to impress. While simple and formulaic, it somehow manages to string together its generic themes into a compelling story ala DanMachi. In this episode, Usato was tasked with hunting a large bear as part of his training, but instead the bear was killed by an even larger snake (we would later learn this snake was one of the Demon Lord's minions). Despite the snake being much more powerful, Usato still fights the snake due solely to the snake's unnecessary wanton cruelty towards the bear he was hunting. The bear's cub helps during the fight, and so too does Rose. The episode ends with Rose telling Usato he's ready for battle.

Figure 10 Frieren: Beyond Journey's End, Episode 19

Frieren after catching the bird she and her party was hunting for the level 1 mage qualification test.

After weeks, we finally got an interesting Frieren episode. I know. I was shocked too. In this episode Frieren and her team (Team 2) devised a plan to catch the faster-than-sound bird they needed to get to complete the first part of the mage qualification exam. Frieren's plan involved tainting nearby water sources with mana (so the birds would avoid them), and funneling them to a single one where she waited (surprising her mana) to capture one, and it worked. But the other teams are going to try to steal the bird she captured, and that's where the episode ended. While it sounds simple, its execution was fantastic and I found myself on the edge of my seat watching it unfold. This is the most excited I've felt since the Aura arc all those months ago.

Figure 11 The Unwanted Undead Adventurer, Episode 3

Rentt speaking with Lorraine in her house after Lorraine sold some of the items he collected in the labyrinth while leveling as a ghoul.

Another dark horse show, a show which I went in with low expectations but it, somehow, through either sheer force of will or dedication of everyone on the staff, is coming together to be very strong, is The Unwanted Undead Adventurer. This episode we saw Rentt meet up with an old friend Lorraine to explain and look for a cure to his undead curse, of which there doesn't appear to be any cure. We also saw him go out and buy a new sword (which is currently being made), and the episode concludes with in, back in the labyrinth, helping a fellow adventurer explore, only to be lead into a boss room. I have heard from people on /a/ that this show will likely go nowhere—a criticism I will, in general, believe is true for any anime until proven otherwise. Nevertheless, for now this simple plot is being executed so well I'm actually impressed.

Figure 12 Pon no Michi, Episode 3

All of the girls taking photos of the food they spend the entire episode making (curry and Sashimi).

Pon no Michi forces us, the viewer, to ponder the question "Are we willing to watch an anime with little to no plot if all the girls look like pornstars" to which we, the viewer, respond with a resounding "Yes". In this episode they didn't really even play Mahjong. Instead, they spent the entire episode discussing lunch, buying the materials necessary to cook lunch, cooking lunch, then eating the lunch they just cooked. There were some jokes of minor interest, but I'm really just watching it for Riche and Pai, and I guess the other two girls are cute too.

Figure 13 Solo Leveling, Episode 3

Jinwoo after defeating three goblins in an instanced dungeon.

Easily one of the biggest disappointments of the season is Solo Leveling. I thought this would be better than Returner's Magic from last season, particularly given how much /a/ memed it. But I was wrong. This most recent episode was just as slow as the last. Jinwoo run around with some sort of video game menu telling him what to do, and he entered an instanced dungeon to kill some goblins, and it looks like next episode he'll fight a wolf. It's like watching someone play a boring JRPG. Playing a JRPG yourself is fun. But watching someone else? No way. And that appears to be what this anime is shaping up to be.

Figure 14 The Labyrinth Raids of the Ultimate Tank (3), Tales of Wedding Rings (3), Sasaki and Peeps (3), and Bang Brave Bang Bravern (2).

The Labyrinth Raids of the Ultimate Tank had a descent episode where we learned Rudd's previous party disbanded after booting him out, and his healer came to visit him in his old town. Tales of Wedding Rings was a bit boring because the elf ring holder isn't particularly interesting (she's also flabby). I've heard she is the least interesting ring holder, and I believe it. We'll see what happens next week, but as for this week there's not much to say. Sasaki and Peeps continues to feel like 10 different anime slammed together. We spent half the episode in the isekai where he was stopping a war, and the other half in Japan where he got promoted in his weirdo Japanese men-in-black style counter psychic organization. I did end up getting caught up on Bang Brave Bang Bravern, and the episode was incredibly bad. Watching "le America bad!!!" meme of Isami getting water boarded at the start seemed dumb. The extreme overt homosexuality used for comedic effect came off as annoying, particularly when you know Japan's stance on it, and because it wasn't yuri. Actually, the entire lack of waifus in this show completely ruins. If all the men were replaced with women it would probably be palatable. Alas, it's not.

Other Remarks

I ordered even more Bloom calligraphy nib holds from Cult Pens on Thursday (1/18), this time both repeats of colors I already have: black and blue. I feel compelled, out of a massive fear, to panic buy items I really like lest they eventually go out of style and I can no longer obtain them. Just as well, this happened to me the large replaceable Expo erasers I use at work, and I greatly lament not buying more many years ago when I had the time. Even just thinking about the loss of those jumbo erasers, just the thought, the despair I just felt when I Googled, for the 20th time, in a vain attempt to find more, it's sufficient to ruin my day every time I do it. So too is the case with the calligraphy equipment, the calculator, the pencils, etc. Once I find something, once I decided that I like something, I want to use it and only it for the rest of my life. I may also buy more Zebra nibs, too. I'm glad I bought so much Higgins ink (largely by mistake), too, because now that I know the enjoyment of writing I will certainly use all the ink I purchased.

Figure 15 I got 120 (Black)Smithing in RuneScape!

It wasn't too bad—and I believe I turned a profit in the end, after all was said and done.

After many weeks and weekends of AFK leveling (lately while playing Monster Hunter), I finally got 120 Smithing in RuneScape. The next two skills I will focus on are Crafting and Cooking. Crafting is AFK, but extremely expensive, as such I plan to hold materials for the next double XP weekend and make a break for 120 when that rolls around. I'm currently leveling Cooking, but I must say that Cooking, like Woodcutting, isn't really AFK and requires quite a bit of my attention and intervention. Consequently, I will likely need to level it only during calligraphy practice when I'm already at my desk and ready to intervene. This means, then, that during the day I'll continue just killing AFKing at Abyssal Demons.

I'm about 40 hours into Monster Hunter World and I'm having a blast. I actually look really forward to playing it every day, although I can't really play it every day what with all the calligraphy practice and having a full time job. Still, on the weekends and during the day when I have free time I really enjoy playing the Insect Glaive and the Charge Blade. Ideally, I'd like to try all the weapons in preparation for Wilds next year—I've never actually played all the weapons in a Monster Hunter game, even though I have thousands of hours in it. We'll see if this one will be the first.

Figure 1 The handler (left) and my character (right).

Much to my surprise, this game actually has as story to it. It's not insanely in depth, but it's more of a story than I've ever seen... and there's cutscenes, too!

My favorite weapon is, at the moment, the insect glaive. The ability to spam mounted attacks when you're in a pinch is huge. By contrast, the charge blade requires extreme knowledge of the monster and when you can perform a big counter. When you can, it's great! But when you're unsure, it feels a bit iffy. My current strategy is to always insect glaive a monster the first time I fight it, then maybe (maybe) switch to charge blade once I'm more familiar. I do feel like I'm getting better with the charge blade, whereas I feel like I've reached the skill cap with the insect glaive as it's not a particularly challenging weapon. I also like how fast you are with it drawn, such that you don't need to constantly resheathe your weapon.

Figure 2 The save data screen showing me and my palico.

I'm currently wearing Zorah Magdaros armor because it gives extra sharpness. I haven't seen a better armor set in high rank, yet.

The armor skills are a bit different than other games, and to be honest I don't fully understand them yet. I just built an armor set (Zorah Magdaros) that gives a bonus to sharpness because it seemed the most useful. I think, given how the armor works in the game, I will likely need to mix and match armor for optimal benefits. I will do that once I get to Master/G Rank. There's also, evidently, a totally brand new attack sequence that exists in the expansion (Iceborne) that I don't have. It's this cool looking claw attack, but I didn't buy the expansion when I bought the game. So, for now, I suppose I will continue playing the base game without that seemingly strong attack.

Other Remarks

Here's my Within a Budding Grove update: The narrator has finally started having tea parties with Gilberte, and now regularly visits the Swann's. He was also very sick, and Dr. Cottard cured him with a diet of... milk. The narrator remarked that this was proof he was a brilliant doctor. As I write this, we (and by we I mean the entire country) are in the grips of a strong cold snap. I went walking yesterday when the temperature was -19F (I was fine, it wasn't that cold). But we did have a 2 hour delay today due to the wind, and would very much like to have one tomorrow, as well. I spent the 2 hour delay making Monster Hunter World. My second Yuri Kuma Arashi lighter arrived in one piece, and my backup Graf von Faber-Castell Round Eraser also arrived yesterday!

This week was hectic. I'm watching a lot of anime this season—more than I've ever watched in any season before, and I must say it's a bit taxing to try and find time in my schedule to watch it all. At the moment, I try to watch some of it during the school day on my prep period (particularly low quality shows of which I have low expectations and little investment in the plot and characters), but even so this is a very imperfect solution given that I don't have a break during work every day.

Figure 1 Gushing Over Magical Girls, Episode 2

Magia Baiser (Utena Hiiragi) burns her classmate Kaoruka Tenkawa (Magia Sulfur) with candle wax. Well, actually the candle wax burned at a lower temperature so she didn't get hurt.

Gushing Over Magical Girls, for a second week in a row, comes in with the best possible episode there was. It starts with Utena (Magia Baiser) putting a mask on Magia Azure and molesting her (later on, Azure would say the yuri molestation wasn't that bad). She did this after reading yuri BDSM magazines she found lying around. Then, she captured and burned Magia Sulfur with candle wax (although it was a low temperature wax that didn't really hurt Sulfur). The entire episode was incredibly hot. Utena's dork face coupled with the proud mahou shoujos that she sexually exploits... everything is so hot in this anime it's unreal. This is the peak yuri we've been waiting for for years. They still censored some of the moaning (they have to give some people incentive to buy the BDs), but overall it was great. Next episode it looks like we're getting a new character, too, so I'm already looking forward to it.

Figure 2 7th Time Loop, Episode 1

Rishe meeting Arnold (future Emperor) who, after a very short time, immediately proposes to her. I love him... because he's killed me 7 times?

I did not expect 7th Time Loop to be good. Very much the contrary, once I saw that art style and it was clear it was a shoujo I almost dismissed it. But, I must say I was mistaken. The first episode was very strong. So strong that I actually found myself invested in the plot? I sincerely doubt, and may as well state at the outset, that there is no way the show will be able to keep up this pace and level of interest. As is often the case with anime series, they start with strong compelling pilot episodes then slow deteriorate into strings of incomprehensible garbage once it's clear the author has no idea where to go, and they're only goal is to push out more slop so they can continue collecting paychecks. I digress, however.

The premise of the show is a Groundhog Day style time loop, where the main character, Rishe, continually gets killed and repeats the last 5 years again and again. Her death is always a result of the Emperor, and no matter what she does she can't prevent it after her 5 years are up. In the 7th time loop, however, she actually meets the future emperor early on, and the future emperor proposes to her immediately... and that's where the episode ends. We'll see what happens next week!

Figure 3 Metallic Rouge, Episode 1

Naomi and Rouge talking at the end of the first episode. Rouge appears to like chocolate, both the candy and in girls (look at that DELICIOUS brown Naomi)!

The dark horse candidate of the season, the should-be-yuri but isn't, is Metallic Rouge. The first episode was, by far and away, the most stylish episode of the season. It feels like I'm watching Blade Runner (not that I would know because I never watched it... but it FEELS like I have). The ScFi Noir setting on Mars looks great. The plot, however, a bit confusing? Something about androids who need nectar and 9 immortal robots who fight other people? Yeah, I'm not to sure myself. It feels like this could very easily be another Vivy: Fluorites Eyes Song, and by that I mean a passion project that, while memorable, was, in the end, fairly mediocre. But I did say this could be a dark horse candidate, because it has the potential, I feel, to be anime of the season. Still, it will be a difficult climb given how good Gushing Over Magical Girls is, but I nevertheless have very high hopes for Metallic Rouge (and it should have been yuri—god DAMN give me that delicious brown on white girl action; such a thing can easily solve all of the world's problems).

Figure 4 The Witch and the Beast, Episode 1

Guideau getting intentionally impaled by the Witch at the end of the first episode (so he could kiss her and suspend the active curse for a few moments).

Another anime with a lot of style, The Witch and the Beast, still lacked a lot of substance. To be honest, I'd say it had none at all. It started with a complete bitch main character, Guideau, who I never liked. And, it turns out, Guideau may actually be a man instead of a cute blonde girl, which equally deflates a lot of joke I had in the show. Just as well, Guideau's working partner is a chain smoker, and just the act of seeing someone smoke, even in anime, I found profoundly off-putting given my visceral hatred for it in real life.

The episode, I think, was about going to Victorian England to kill a witch. We learned that the witch's grandmother was accused of starting a massive fire 410 years ago but, in fact, she was the one who put the fire out. Regardless, she was blamed for the disaster and publicly tortured and executed. The current witch who was so unremarkable and unmemorable that her name utterly escapes me right now, wanted to enact revenge by breaking the seal and causing the fire to return. That's when our main characters come in and save the day. We learn that it's hard to break a witch's curse, and the episode effectively ends with them leaving the city to find more witches. Perhaps if I read the manga it would be more compelling, but overall it felt pretty dull. Unlike Metallic Rouge, I don't feel like this show has a lot of promise. That is to say, I don't think it will get significantly better from here. I would very much like to be proven wrong.

Figure 5 Synduality: Noir, Episode 1

Brown (and much sexier) Noir ("Mystere") talking to Kanata at the end of episode 1.

Oh boy. Somehow, someway, the second season of Synduality: Noir is here. Even though very few people watched the first season it, even though it's never a show I would recommend, even though it has few redeeming qualities besides cute girls who are ruined by a completely dense harem main character, I'm still here, I'm still watching it. The first episode began exactly where season 1 left off: Noir's transformation from "safe" mode to "combat" mode where she shifted from White-Noir to combat Brown-Mystere. While Mystere's personality was hot garbage (she's an overly aggressive hothead, unlike Noir who was a passive airhead), her brown skin and flowing black hair more than made up for it. I'd argue Mystere is easily cuter than Noir.

The first episode was a loose recap of the first season, where Kanata took Mystere to various places Noir went to "jog" here memory. Eventually, Mystere transforms back into Noir and vice-versa, and Mystere says she want to go to Histoire (no idea what that is yet, we'll probably learn in episode 2). We also learned a bit about Noir's previous master, but nothing that seemed super relevant to the remainder of the story.

Figure 6 Villainess Level 99 (1), Tales of Wedding Rings (2), The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic (2), and Chained Solider (2)

I watched Villainess Level 99 on Monday during a teacher only day, and thought it was fairly average. It had an unusual twist where, what we thought was the main character, was revealed to be a side character halfway through the first episode. It's another isekai, where the main character is a villainess who is trying to avoid any contact with the main character of the light novel she's been sucked into. I gave Tales of Wedding Rings a pretty bad treatment this week. I watched it while playing Monster Hunter, and as a result found the episode a bit weaker than if I had watched it normally. Still, we met the next girl (a shy elf girl) who seems pretty cute. The Wrong Way to use Healing Magic was a strange training episode, but it was still nevertheless mildly entertaining. And Chained Solider, much like last week, was weak. It's mild femdom elements are pretty boring, and besides the main character none of the girls are particularly interesting. This week's episode of the girl that could grow large and small was dumb.

Figure 7 My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered (2), Ishura (2), The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil (1), and 'Tis Time for "Torture," Princess (1).

My Instant Death Ability almost seems like a comedy it's so bad. It's as if the author precision engineered the most retarded isekai premise, this the most retarded MC, then the most retarded plot, and made it into an anime. Truly terrible. Ishura is equally bad. The second episode almost seemed as if I missed an entire season hitherto given all the expository dialogue that, even after reading it, still made little to no sense what was happening or why I would care about the characters. This is a serious drop candidate. The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil, in principle, had promise, but the poor execution and how unlikable both main characters are hurt the show. I doubt we'll get anything other than relatively weak "comedy" for the remainder of the series. (It's about an angel capturing a demon.) Torture Princess is about... a princess who is "tortured" with good food? The first episode was just her eating delicious food on the condition that she reveal important information about her allies to the demon army. It wasn't funny. Although the torturer was very cute!

Figure 8 Fluffy Paradise (2), Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! (1), Solo Leveling (2), and Delicious in Dungeon (2).

Fluffy Paradise isn't really going anywhere—it's still about a young girl who wants to pet cute animals (and does). This is another candidate for being dropped soon. Hokkaido Gals are Super Adorable! had a very weak first episode. The main character isn't interesting. The gyaru who was born sexy yesterday isn't sexy, she's just retarded. Also it's not even that cold in Hokkaido. Solo Leveling, despite all the hype it's getting, is very slow to progress. We're still in the first dungeon room, and the main character appears to have died (obviously he hasn't, otherwise we wouldn't have more episodes on the way). I also find the extreme violent a bit unrealistic (you can't get stabbed fifty times, throw across the room, and still talk like nothing happened). Delicious in Dungeon is actually embarrassing in terms of how weak it is. I will likely drop this next episode, and by that I mean simply skip episode 3. I don't have anything else to say besides watching a party of idiots cook fictional animals is neither interesting nor funny. Trigger is a hack studio that hasn't made anything good since Kill la Kill.

Figure 8 The Unwanted Undead Adventurer (2), Sasaki and Peeps (2), Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (18), and Soaring Sky: Pretty Cure! (47).

The Unwanted Undead Adventurer had two fairly descent episodes in a row—I'm actually quite surprise. This episode the main character, who is now a ghoul, met with another adventurer who helped smuggle him out of the dungeon back to town. The episode ends on a cliffhanger where the main character meets someone who clearly knows who he is, but not that he's dead (and now a ghoul). Sasaki and Peeps was a single poorly animated fight scene, coupled with a totally unnecessary isekai segment. I think the appeal of this show is supposed to be the lolis, but none of them are particularly interesting. In Frieren's very boring show, she finally started the mage certification test where, for the first part, they have to work in a team to catch a fast moving bird. And that's all that happened. The show is slow. Soaring Sky: Pretty Cure! had the death of its final villain! We learned that the first Pretty Cure struck first, and killed the emperor of the Undergu empire 300 years ago! I doubt it's as bad as it looks, but that's what we learned.

Figure 9 Pon no Michi, Episode 2

Four of the five main characters playing Mahjong.

The show with EASILY the cutest girls of the season is Pon no Michi (it also has a great opening song, too). I don't particularly care for Mahjong (although I did try to learn it after watching Saki many years ago), but there's no way I'm not going to watch Pon no Michi when ever girl is so cute they'd easily be the main character in a different show. Equally lamentable is that the show isn't yuri, but I'll have to settle for the gorgeous character designs and funny interactions and leave it at that.

Figure 10 The Labyrinth Raids of the Ultimate Tank, Episode 2

The main character (the tank), his sister, and Luna, the girl he rescued in episode 1.

The final episode of the week was, once again, late on Saturday, The Ultimate Tank. It's not good. It's not bad. I'd say the characters are a bit more interesting than expected, but the leveling and abilities mechanics many anime add in these days come off as a boring slog. Next week, I may just watch it while playing Monster Hunter.

Other Remarks

Within a Budding Grove, so far, has primarily covered the dinner party with Marquis de Norpois, who informed the narrator his writing wasn't very good, and his favorite writer also wasn't very good (I think he's wrong). The narrator still is obsessed with the Swann's, and actually tried sending them a secret letter to their daughter, Gilberte, who he is completely infatuated with. There were also some pretty funny descriptions (the normal man talking to the lunatic, pulling out a revolver, etc.), which took me by surprise, as I didn't think anything in the first novel was particularly funny. We learned more of Mme. Swann's rise in society, and that she is "popular" with men.

Figure REF 120 Firemaking

I got 120 Firemaking by AFKing Vyrelords/Vyreladies over the course of several weeks.

I got my last AFK 120 this week in RuneScape: Firemaking. I was actually sitting at my desk during a passing period between 7th period and Pathways watching the XP get closer and closer to 120, that way I could get the screenshot of it happening (shown above). All the remaining AFKs like Divination, Cooking, and Crafting, aren't AFK so those are going to be a real slog. In the interim, I now AFK Abyssal Demons during the day for some gold. I don't really have anything else, and AFKing the demons I think is my highest gold per hour. The current goal is to level Smithing while playing Monster Hunter World!

There was a time in my life when I'd immediately play the newest Monster Hunter game the moment it game out. In fact, when I was in college, I spent what little money I had to buy a Japanese 3DS to play Monster Hunter: Generations the moment it released in Japan (the American release would come many months later). A bit of a silly decision at the time because, had I been slightly more intelligent, I could have homebrewed my 3DS and simply installed the Japanese version with a localized language patch early on, and saved myself tons of time and money. When the next game in the series, Monster Hunter: World, was announced, I was very excited! I was ready to play immediately! Or, at least I was, until I learned the game as a console exclusive at launch. I'd either have to buy a PlayStation or an X-Box, obviously something I wouldn't do. (To be honest, I was actually a bit upset it wasn't still on the 3DS given how much I loved that console, but it's most certainly better for the overall health of the franchise to move off that dying handheld and to proper next generation consoles.) The game would, many months later, come to the PC, but I by then I had lost interest and moved on to other games.

Many years have elapsed since then. And, very recently, I heard in December of 2023 that the game was popular again, and saw on social media many new players were giving it a shot. This was likely due, in part, to the announcement of the next Monster Hunter game, Wilds, which occurred at the same time. I saw that it was $10 on Steam so, after years, I finally decided to go back and try it. With 600 hours in Monster Hunter 4 and 300 hours in Monster Hunter: Generations, how would this new game hold up?

Figure 1 My character 17 hours into the game.

I stuck with the hunter name "Shizuma" and the palico name "Hanazono" to create the combination "Shizuma Hanazono", the same thing I did in Monster Hunter Generations.

I started by playing a bow. With a mouse available to aim for the monsters head, I thought surely a boy would be the way to go. I was wrong. The bow still felt clunky and awkward. So I switched to my old friend the Insect Glaive. The Insect Glaive is a very unique weapon. Monster Hunter has many unique weapons, but the insect glaive just feels... strong. It's ability to get infinite combos, increased movement speed, and to consistently topple monsters feels great. It feels modern (probably because it is). The lack of hunting styles from Generations is sorely missed (bushido dual blades!!) but I think I'll get used to not having them after a while. (Ah, who am I kidding I'll always miss hunting styles and hunting arts! I wish the next game would have them!)

The Insect Glaive is vastly improved from its initial appearance in MH4. In MH4 the insect glaive could really only be used in the end game, after you had perfectly upgraded your kinsect for speed and buff duration. Now, to be fair, if you did do that it was probably the strongest weapon in the game. So strong that it was nerfed in generations. Still, even after the nerfs its a blast to play. I think I like it for several reasons. One, you're really fast with the glaive. The white buff increases your movement speed, so you don't have to constantly sheath your weapon to move around. Two, the ability to perform mounting attacks is huge. When you're fighting a really aggressive monster, you can often spam mounting attacks in a reasonably safe way, and power through it. Other weapons don't have such a luxury. Three, the infinite X+X+A combo is huge. When a monster goes down, you can just infinite combo its head with relative easy and it feels great. In World, though, it's even better. I discovered it's possible to perform aerial juggles on an enemy for a huge amount of time by constantly launching off of them again and repeating your attacks. It's great on aerial enemies and very large ones due to how generous the hitbox is for the monster vault attack. And it just feels fun to do, even though you're doing less damage than your X+X+A combo.

Figure 2 My character in the starting town.

The starter town is pretty large and expansive. So large that I have to spend quite a long time running around. I feel like it could have been designed better. But perhaps it was the goal of Capcom to make it big to really immerse yourself in the "world" aspect of Monster Hunter World.

I'm still in low rank at the moment, but I'm intentionally going a bit slow to ensure I get optional quests and investigations out of the way early, when they matter the most. It looks like they separated and more clearly indicated required quests and optional questions, but the optional quests seem pretty important (many of them unlock things around the time, so they're optional insofar as you caring about only the main story, which no one does).

My goal, currently, is to master the game. I know Wilds is coming out in 2025, and the rumor mill suggests it will be simultaneous console and PC release, so I feel like I need to get ready. I told myself I'd do this in Generations, the never did, but I'd sort of like to "master" all the weapons. I put "master" in air quote because certain weapons do better against different monsters, but I'd like to try them all. In Generations I played more weapons than ever before, but I avoided things like the bow gun and charge blade again. Hopefully I find sufficient enjoyment in Worlds to try more of them while having fun! For now, though, and for the mainline story, I'll stick with the insect glaive, even if it feels a bit overpowered in my hands!

Figure 3 A disorganized item box.

Getting all the items, consumables, and traps, going again is pretty tedious. But that's just part of the main line Monster Hunter experience, I suppose. Most of the combinations changed.

To be honest, the biggest challenge I have, the biggest hurdle for playing, is actually just finding time to play. Between work, calligraphy practice, watching all the anime I've decided to watch this season, doing all the RuneScape dailies I've mandated myself to do, updating Morganna's House, and reading (currently Within a Budding Grove), I find myself pretty pressed for time during the day. I can sometimes watch anime while at work on my break, but that only works on some days, and not even the same day every week due to the asinine block schedule we're on. I really need to find a way to juggle this complex schedule. It's a daily challenge, for sure. Honestly more than it should be!

Other Remarks

The Yuri Kuma Arashi lighter came in. It does look used (the opener is a bit warped and wobbly). But it's not like I'm ever going to use it anyways. It was just a decoration piece to put near the figures. The final yuri stickers from Redbubble finally arrived... many days past their original delivery date. Leica got my Elmar lens, but they haven't official sent a diagnosis yet. I imagine it will take them a while, given that there is an actual problem with it. I still can't believe I had to pay $160 to ship it back to them! In the future, I'm just going to declare a value of $50 and ignore the risk. I don't think I've ever had a UPS package lost anyways.

A new year and a new anime season. I'm really happy about this season because this will be the first I'm able to completely cover from start to finish on Morganna's House, so I'll be able to document an entire season of shows, from start to finish. My preliminary opinions on this season were pretty low. I wasn't looking forward to any show in particular, but I did have Gushing Over Magical Girls and Synduality: Noir on my radar. Gushing aired early this week, and Noir will air next week, so I'll keep you posted.

Figure 1 Gushing Over Magical Girls, Episode 1

Magia Baiser (Utena Hiiragi) spanks her classmates, Haruka Hanabishi (Magia Magenta), Sayo Minakami (Magia Azure), and Kaoruka Tenkawa (Magia Sulfur) with a riding crop.

Let me open by saying the first anime I watched this season, the very first episode on Monday, was Gushing Over Magical Girls and all I have to say is this will be, by far and away, the best anime of the season. What an absolute banger to start this season, no, this year with. The premise is simple: the main character Utena likes magical, but herself has no magical powers. She ends up, instead, becoming a magical "villain" forced to "fight" the magical girls she so admires. But actually, Utena is a sadist who derives pleasure from making the magical trio suffer (she spanks them in episode 1), and that's the show. It's simple. It's lewd and lascivious. It's funny. It's something you can't openly discuss in public. And I like the character designs. Overall, very good. Very much looking forward to the remaining episodes.

Figure 2 Tales of Wedding Rings, Episode 1

Hime kisses Satou at the end of episode 1, when the abyss monsters are about to attack.

Unfortunately, no other show has had a premiere as strong and commanding as Gushing Over Magical Girls. So everything else is going to be "could be good" tier. One show that airs on Saturdays (today) took me by mild surprise: Tales of Wedding Rings. It's a standard isekai. Satou gets isekai'd to a medieval Europe setting to fight monsters, and he marries his childhood friend Hime in the process, and their wedding rings somehow give Satou power. Is the premise unique? No. But the first episode was compelling enough to keep me interested at least for now, which is more than can be said about other isekai slop.

Figure 3 Solo Leveling, Episode 1

Sung speaking with his friend (and healer) Lee as they walk towards the end of a dungeon.

Solo Leveling is another Korean original story and, following Returner's Magic from last season, I went in with the expectation that it would be good. Why? Because I doubted that a Japanese animation studio adapt a foreign story if it was bad. As was the case with Returner's Magic, which easily had the best narrative of the fall season, so too I expect high things from Solo Leveling. The first episode revealed very little other than a generic DanMachi/leveling style dungeon crawl anime, but it still seemed to be executed well enough to pique my interest. I felt like the first episode, though, ending on too strong of a cliff hanger. I didn't end the episode eager for episode 2, I ended it pissed off that I felt like very little was revealed and I'm still, sitting here as I type, this, a bit perplexed on exactly what is happening. Oh well. We will see next week.

Figure 4 The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic (1). Chained Solider (1). My Instant Death Ability Is So Overpowered (1). Sasaki to P-Chan (1).

If there was a theme to this season, no, if there was a theme modern anime, it would be isekai slop. And so shall it be, for so it is written, that this season, too, we have tons of isekai. Absolutely none of them seem remarkable, but let's do the isekai round up.

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic isekai's a loser, along with the two most popular kids in school, into a different world where the three are tasked with defeating the demon king (never heard this one before). The the main character, Usato, has healing magic. And that's about all we learned in episode 1one. Chained Solider is about a kid who gets isekai'd in a world with demons (never heard this before) and he becomes the slave of a white-haired bishoujo. I have to keep watching because of the white-haired bishoujo, but it doesn't seem anywhere near as remarkable as Demon Sword Master from the previous season. And he's a Love Hina style dorm manager from an all girls dorm, so we'll see. Instant Death ability is easily the worst anime I've seen in ages. It's about a literal edgelord who gets isekai'd, along with his entire class, and can instantly kill anyone with his instant death abilities. There's no much more to say than that. And, in perhaps the strangest isekai yet, Sasaki to P-Chan is about a Japanese salary man who adopts a talking sparrow that can isekai him to another world where he proceeds to arbitrage office stationary for gold bullion. Oh, and in the ladder half he is picked up by a Men in Black style agency for being a psychic, even though he is not, and there's a yandere JC who waits outside a nearby apartment. Yeah. I don't even know myself.

Figure 5 Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (17). Delicious in Dungeon (1). Fluffy Paradise (1). The Unwanted Undead Adventurer (1).

As expected, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End has been on a decline since the Aura arc all those weeks ago. It's just them walking around. It's like the first Lord of the Rings movie. This episode was another overwinter in a cabin. But, at least the dumb priest Sein finally left the party (never liked that guy), so I'm glad it's back to the original team. Delicious in Dungeon was incredibly dumb. The premise, as the name mildly implies, is a party exploring a dungeon and killing monsters and cooking them to eat them. Half the episode was them explaining how to cook fictional monsters. I don't know why I trust any Trigger shows. Trigger hasn't had a good show since Kill la Kill. A surprise was Fluffy Paradise. I watched the first episode almost with contempt (oh, it too is isekai slop)... but as the episode progressed it got slowly more interesting and, much to my surprise, I find myself looking forward to episode 2. I sincerely doubt it will keep my interest for all 12 episodes, but there's still novelty with the show so, for now, it's fun. As for Unwanted Undead Adventurer, I can't say much besides it's another dungeon crawl leveling anime. Nothing remarkable so far, but who knows, maybe it will pull through in the end ala DanMachi.

Figure 6 The Way of Pon, Episode 1

Three of the main girls play Mahjong on an automated table they found in their father's old Mahjong parlor. Pai is the cutest, but I believe Riche will be good too when she appears in later episodes.

Much to my surprise, there was another cute girls playing Mahjong anime airing this season. And when I say cute, I mean it. All the girls in The Way of Pon are gorgeous. I don't know who the character designer is but they did a great job. The episode itself was pretty straightforward. The main character, Nashiko, gets tossed out of her house for being too loud then goes to her father's old Mahjong parlor, cleans it up, and plays with the automated table. We also meet four of the five principle main girls, and it's a general comedy with references to other Mahjong anime. Mahjong anime post Saki always feel a bit weird, because after having learned Mahjong following Saki, I never want to play it again. If anything, whenever I watch a Mahjong anime it just makes me want to learn another game like chess, and then I'm forced to ponder why there are no chess anime. And then, of course, I imagine a chess anime in my head where the players also have superpowers like they do in Saki. Anyways, insofar as The Way of Pon is concerned, it's fun and the girls are cute. Need I say more? Of course I'll keep watching it!

Figure 7 The Labyrinth Raids of the Ultimate Tank, Episode 1

The tank explains to Luna why her identify ability is quite rare.

And coming in in the last minute, getting its own figure not because its good, but by sheer happenstance that it released late enough on Saturday that the other 4x4's were taken, we have The Labyrinth Raids of the Ultimate Tank. Nothing remarkable here. The tank (without even a sword) got kicked out of his party because his skills were so good the party did not understand them. He meets Luna who explains his abilities, and he returns to his hometown to meet his younger sister. A bit boring, but not objectively bad like Instant Kill. This show's position in the schedule is a bit awkward, but as-is it will probably be the last show I watch on Saturdays while I type my week-in anime review (unless something else pops up in the schedule next week). Consequently, this is now the Protocol: Rain of the season. Who knows, maybe I'll end up watching it at 1.5x speed, too.

Other Remarks

Since I've started reading Within a Budding Grove, and because Proust is so complicated, I will periodically type what happens here, or perhaps catalogue them in my daily calligraphy practices, that way I can reinforce in my memory what I have read. Normally my reading comprehension is good... but normally I'm not reading Proust. Anyways, so far we've learned that Swann is actually not that liked, Dr. Cottard is very much liked and well respected. The narrator goes to see Berma, but finds the show weak. Her acting was worse than the other actors on stage. And, just last night, he met with Marquis de Norpois ("The Ambassador") who was very well spoken, albeit a bit pompous. The Ambassador and his father discussed stocks, and the narrator (Marcel) explained that he found the artwork on said stock certificates very intricate and interesting, perhaps because they were made by the very same masters who made great works of art in museums.

Figure 8 Yuri Kuma Arashi, Ronson Oil Lighters

Perhaps the stranger anime merchandise I've purchased.

One of the two Yuri Kuma Arashi lighters I ordered shipped. I'm not certain if the exact gray scale colors will match what's in the image above (the image on eBay shows some of the darks to be darker, but maybe that's a good thing). The images above in Figure 8 may also just be a computer rendering, hence the slight color difference. Regardless, the first lighter in currently at a FedEx facility in Alaska, so it should be here shortly. The Macro Elmar Lens is already back at Leica, so I expect to her back from them some time next week as well. Or not. I'm not looking forward to them shipping that lens back to me. I may try to be more insistent that they do a Saturday delivery.

The Feather Thief by Kirk W. Johnson is a true crime "mystery" about a man who, in 2009, broke into the Natural History Museum at Tring (Tring is a town Britain) and stole $1,000,000 worth of bird feathers to buy a golden flute. I put "mystery" in quotes because the mystery in The Feather Thief isn't solving the crime (solving it is quite easy), but instead the obvious question begged by such an outlandish synopsis: How can bird feathers be worth millions of dollars? That question is even more challenging to answer when you learn the thief, Edwin Rist, only stole one small rolling suitcase worth of birds. So what made those birds so valuable?

The Feather Thief is broken up into three parts, and the first part of the book answers that question. It tells the story of how some of the feathers stolen from the museum were originally collected. Specifically, it follows the journey of naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace who, over the course of decades, collected tens of thousands of plant, insect, and animal specimens from around the globe. Notably, some of those animal species were rare and exotic birds. (Incidentally, Wallace would use those birds to concurrently discover the theory of evolution, a fact that startled Charles Darwin who also used birds to make the same discovery!) Wallace would collect one sample, preserve them, tie their legs and wings together, and add a tag indicating the exact time and place the same was collected. Then, that bird would be sent back to Britain. Unfortunately, many of the beautiful exotic birds he catalogue would be poached to extinction when, in the 1800's and early 1900's, the millinery ("women's hats") trade decided to completely eradicate entire species of birds in the name of fashion.

At that time, however, men were not left out from the bird genocide. A small number of men, obsessive fly fishers, started using some of the rare feathers to catch rare fish.

Figure 1 An AI generated anime girl with white hair holding a bird of paradise (which of bird paradise, I'm not sure because it's AI generated).

Now of course using rare feathers doesn't actually catch rare fish. In fact, fish don't have particularly strong color vision (plus they're underwater anyways), so a vibrant bird feather won't make much of a difference to them. You could put a bright colored candy wrapper on a fly lure, and a salmon will still dive at it (I know of a fisher who uses spent shell casing as lures to great effect!). Never mind the fact that the salmon in the streams of Victorian Britain had never seen a bird of paradise in their life, there was a belief among Victorian fishers that the rarer the feather, the rarer the caught fish. This led to an arms race among fly fishers to get the rarest feathers, and to create the most complex lures with said feathers. This belief, of course, died out along with the birds they were killing, and everyone shelved the idea for about 100 years.

Until the 1980's and 90's when, a Sports Illustrated article along with the early internet, brought Victorian (bird genocidal) fly tying back. Unfortunately, most of the birds tiers wanted were either extinct or on protected species lists by then (e.g., protected by CITES or the Migratory Bird Act), so tiers had to get clever. There were some old hats and coats lying around that had older feathers, and those would show up on eBay from time-to-time. Additionally, old Victorian lures could be salvaged and the feathers used again. But this didn't satiate the need of the fanatics who wanted, for themselves, rare feathers to tie rare lures. Protected by international treaties? That just makes the lure, once complete, even more rewarding. Enter the thief: Edwin Rist.

Figure 2 An AI generated anime girl with white hair holding a bird of paradise.

Edwin Rist was a fly tying flute player. Legends say he was good at both. He got accepted into a prestigious music conservatory in Britain, which put him within a short travel distance of Natural History Museum in Tring, which holds hundreds of thousands of rare bird samples (including extinct ones). The heist was pretty simple. Edwin threw a rock through a window, stole a bunch of samples, then ran into night. The burglary was noticed, of course, but initially he curator checked only the rarest samples he had, which were all still there! So it took about a month until other drawers were checked and the true scope of the heist was discovered. And by then, Edwin had already destroyed entire bird skins, ripped off the feathers, and tags, and had sold hundreds of feathers on eBay and other websites. No on bothered to ask how an 18 year old flute player obtained feathers from birds that were 100 years extinct—but they didn't care... as long as the price was good, they were just obsessive as Edwin was. They all wanted feathers, and by hook or by crook they were going to get them.

Because Edwin was selling the feathers on public websites he was, of course, found. There was a small delay in finding him... the big "break" was when an Irish police officer saw what was clearly a museum sample at a fly tying convention. When he inquired about he, the seller told the officer he got it from an eBay seller called "fluteplayer1988", and Edwin was found and arrested soon thereafter. He plead guilty. But, much to my surprise as well as my dismay, he didn't serve a day in prison. His lawyer successfully convince the judge that Edwin had Aspergers (which is no longer even recognized as a mental disorder), and Edwin got off scot-free. He even got to keep the golden flute (yes, he did actually buy it).

Figure 3 An AI generated anime girl with white hair holding a bird of paradise.

The final part of the book is about the author, Kirk W. Johnson, trying to recover the stolen birds. You see, Edwin returned some of them when he was arrested. But he had also already sold over 100 birds as-is. But when Johnson tried to recover them, he kept failing. Few people would admit to buying stolen bird feathers (even when he had the eBay listings to prove it), and even fewer still had the birds. When these fly tiers got a bird, they'd rip off all the feathers immediately, making the entire sample scientifically worthless. And that is, in fact, where the book ends. It its suddenly, with little to nothing being done to address the illegal feather trade.

Overall, I'd say it was an OK book. I only read it because, many years ago, I heard the author talk about it on This American Life (a podcast I no longer listen to after their terrible coverage of Final Fantasy VII). As such, I was already fairly familiar with the major plot points. Still, I think it's a good story to tell other people. And I also feel like anyone who reads it would really care more about protecting birds! So I think that's good. All that being said, it's on to Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust.

Other Remarks

My new calligraphy case came in, along with some of my fun Yuri Kuma Arashi stickers which I promptly put on the case. They look great! Unfortunately, the Bloom nib holders are just a bit too wide to fit in the case, so if the grips are there I can't close it. I suppose this isn't the end of the world, because I'm not planning to travel anywhere with the nib holders anyways. And I suppose I could always remove the grip and transport it separately. Honestly, the hardest things to travel with would be the ink and the drafting pencil. The ink could spill, and the end of the drafting pencil could get bent, ruining it forever.

Figure 3 My Rhodia notebook, Bloom nib holder, and calligraphy case.

The nibs all fit. The stickers fit well too. The notebook and date stamp are both looking great, and the orange is growing on me.

Figure 4 My Yuri Kuma Arashi stickers on my calligraphy case.

I'm really glad I went with the clear stickers. I'll have to remember for future reference any clear plastic case can be significantly improved by adding these clear stickers to it. Still, I wish Redbubble shipped faster. They are so slow. And I still haven't gotten the other stickers in the set, yet.

I first started playing Monster Hunter World the other day. I doubt I'll have a lot of time to play it once school starts, but I will try! I hope it's fun!!

It's New Year's Day! Happy New Year! Looking back at 2023, I'd say it was a great year. I'm really happy with my calligraphy progress. I really enjoyed making Morganna's House. And I'm finding anime far more fun than I have in the past. Honestly, the only big change in 2023 was I played video games... less. I play RuneScape, this is true, but it's mainly in a pretty afk way. Other than Diablo IV, there wasn't really any game I binged in 2023, which is a bit sad I think. I really wish I found a ton of motivation to play and really enjoy games like I used it, but I feel like I'm transitioned to anime and calligraphy a bit more. In fact, as-is, I spend 2-3 hours a day working on my calligraphy skills, which is prohibitively time-consuming.

Figure 1 If I had to set a recurring theme for 2024, it would be AI generated anime girl with white hair working at a desk (with books in the background, of course).

As for 2024, I must say I'm not, and have never been, big on New Year's Resolutions. I always thought they were a bit dumb. If I want to start something new, I'll start it whenever I want. Although I can make some broad predictions for 2024. One, is that I'll keep watching anime and practicing calligraphy. I think I'll also be able to get the 120 cape in RuneScape... maybe. It's still pretty far off, but I think with some dedicated consistent practice it will be within my grasp! I'll check back at the end of this year and see if I was right! I think I'll also be able to finish Within a Budding Grove, and probably some more books, too.

Other Remarks

I spent a lot of time today watching some real crime documentaries and spy/espionage documentaries on YouTube while I played RuneScape and work on calligraphy. I can't say any of them were too exciting, but that's okay. They don't have to be. Although I'm sure I krangled up my YouTube recommendation algorithm for the time being. I'm still in the progress of reading The Feather Thief, and it was so good last night it was hard to put down! I have no idea what I'll read after this. I'll have to look around and see if anything on my backlog, or otherwise, piques my interest. Wait. I know what it is. After I finish my current book I will start, for a third time, Within a Budding Grove by Marcel Proust. Swann's Way had such a significant impact on my life I feel compelled to continue to the series. I will read the normal version, not the William Carter annotated version which I also own.

Figure 3 120 Woodcutting

I got 120 Woodcutting the other day! It wasn't too bad. I made way too many woodcutting earns for the grind. I think I literally have 3000 urns left—I only used 1000.

I got 120 Woodcutting in RuneScape yesterday day. The grind wasn't too bad—I broke it up into four hour chunks (because that's how long a Perfect Plus Potion lasts) and completed it over several days while I practiced calligraphy. That ended up being a good metric, because it showed me that it takes at (or around) three hours to complete one (1) pencil practice page and one (1) flex nib practice page in the Rhodia notebook. When school starts up again, I won't have such time for that, but that's about the target time. As-is, if I wake up, take a walk, eat breakfast, and practice calligraphy, that's the first half of my day, as I finish between 12:00 and 1:00 in the afternoon. Unfortunately, this schedule is so rigid, so ritualistic, that it impedes other plans I may make. If I don't practice calligraphy for that exact amount of time for that exact duration the entire day will feel... off.

Figure 2 The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess, Episode 12

Komaria and Nelia in the final fight scene of the anime. I wish Komari had white hair in this scene, but otherwise she's perfect!

Figure 3 The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess, Episode 12

I don't have much to say besides wanted to link this single frame from the final episode of Komari's show. Karen is pretty too! I love her mature regal look!

We had a few leftovers from Fall Season Week 12 that ended this week. The Vexations of a Shut-In Vampire Princess had a great ending. It ended with Komari and Nelia both sucking each other's blood and core imploding. It was gay, which was great. Villhaze's jealousy was a great, too. Overall the show was a bit of a roller coaster. It went from light-hearted to serious in the span of a single episode, then back again. This may have turned off a lot of people (it turned me off at episode 3). And I wish there was more yuri, but still it was fun, and Komari was, indeed, a 1-in-100,000 beauty. 16Bit Sensation had a satisfying ending, even if the show as a whole was a bit off the rails. Stardust Telepath had another satisfying ending, even though the show overall was sort of dull. Overall, I Fall 2023 was really good, and I'm greatly looking forward to Winter 2024!