Akazora

Autumn 2016 Final Thoughts (Okay I lied, summer wasn't the last season I was doing. Thank the gods for winter break.) This season was absolutely fantastic! A lot of really good shows all around, and a great way to end the amazing year that's been 2016. -- I'm not watching much for winter of 2017: ACCA: 13-ku Kansatsu-ka Ao no Exorcist: Kyoto Fujouou-hen Little Witch Academia (TV) Rewrite: Moon and Terra Seiren Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu: Sukeroku Futatabi-hen Tales of Zestiria the X 2nd Season (plus the second halves of 3-gatsu no Lion and ClassicaLoid from autumn) Since there are only two shows I'm watching next season that aren't sequels or continuations of things I've already seen (technically only one, since Seiren takes place in the same setting as Amagami SS, a few years into the future), I don't think I'm going to bother writing up any first impressions (since they won't really be first impressions). Any shows that you guys think look good that I'm missing

IT'S THE DAY AFTER THANKSGIVING AND YOU KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS!

Teaser Trailer "The first 2017 issue of Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday announced on Wednesday that the 21st Detective Conan anime film is titled Meitantei Conan Kara Kurenai no Love Letter (Detective Conan: Crimson Love Letter) and is slated to open in Japanese theaters on April 15, 2017. The magazine also unveiled the staff, cast, and a teaser poster illustrated by original creator Gosho Aoyama. "Kobun Shizuno, the director of the last six Detective Conan films, will return to direct the film at TMS and V1 Studio. Takeharu Sakurai is also returning from earlier films to write the script based on Aoyama's story, and franchise composer Katsuo Ono is again providing the music. "The film will be a love story set in Osaka, and it will feature Heiji Hattori and Kazuha Toyama. The visual shows Momiji Ōoka, a new character who refers to Heiji as her future husband and is a rival for Kazuha. She appears in the manga for the first time in the 91st compiled volume, which will ship on December 16 in Japan." Sources: Anime News Network, DCTP

The only song suitable for a day like this.

I don't see how what you said could be interpreted as anything of the sort. If anything, I appreciate the chance to engage in this dialogue. And yes, I realize that you obviously didn't take the accusation of Pepe the Frog being an alt-right symbol as anything other than a political stunt. I didn't mean for what I said to be directed at you. I was just expressing my incredulity at this entire situation to anyone who might be reading and actually taking it seriously. Concerning the mainstream media, I do not see how the issue of whether or not it's biased can be left to any sort of interpretation. Clear facts show that the media leans very far left, dare I say alt-left, seeing as how openly they favor Clinton over Trump. They shamelessly censor any opinions that go against the narrative, they blatantly lie to the viewers, they post negative disclaimers at the end of articles for Trump but not for Clinton, they have given debate questions in advance to Clinton, they don't take responsibility when caught colluding with the Clinton Campaign (an illegal act, by the way), they spin positive stories about Trump from over a decade ago into negative ones for the sake of making him look bad, and they disavow gay people who support Trump. And these are just one-off examples. This doesn't even include long-term forms of undermining Trump's campaign, such as by focusing almost exclusively on negative Trump articles to drown out damaging new facts that come to light regarding Clinton. This also doesn't include all the things the media hasn't done, which is just as damning if not more so. They undermine what otherwise would be career ending footage of Clinton collapsing and having her body thrown into a van, they downplay and only write a single article covering the time a DNC buss illegally dumped sewage in the streets, they ignore times Trump clearly lays out his plan for when he takes office so as to paint him as a candidate without substance, they fail to note the fact that Trump rallies sometimes completely fill out stadiums, which is only something Clinton rallies are able to do if they invite celebrities, they never mention the fact that Tim Kaine draws such small crowds that he's forced to cancel because only enough people to fill a lobby showed interest, while Mike Pence maintains crowds of hundreds while speaking in the dead of night in the rain. And this is only a sampling of the evidence. Think of all the articles that are published every day by all the news outlets, and think of the kinds of things that happen on CNN daily, a 24/7 station. And I haven't even gotten into how Google, Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit all use algorithms to promote pro-Clinton/anti-Trump content and hide anti-Clinton/pro-Trump content. This is not an issue of difficulty to pinpoint or a matter of perspective. I'm not just saying this because the candidate I have voted for is on the receiving end of this abuse of power. This is not a feeling I have, or a hunch, or going with my guts. This is a fact and I have evidence to back up this fact. You, and anyone else, is free to argue otherwise so long as evidence to support those claims are provided. And finally, in regards to what you said, I take issue when you claim he "admit[ted] to displaying sexually predatory behavior because he believes he has enough power/influence to get away with it". He did nothing of the sort. He said "And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can do anything" (emphasis added). That clearly shows consent on the woman's part. He was also talking about women in the entertainment industry, not just random beautiful women he happens to pass by on the street. Was the things he said about "mov[ing] on her like a bitch," being "automatically attracted to beautiful" women, "just start kissing them; it's like a magnet," and "grab[bing] them by the pussy" a bit uncouth and unfortunate? Yes, they were, and he already formally apologized. But as he has maintained, what he said was "locker room talk." It's no secret people say these things behind closed doors, it's just human nature. And this goes for both men and women (think of the things women have said in regards to 50 Shades of Grey for example). Not only that, but think of the rap songs with lyrics far more vulgar than what Trump has said that are accepted into society. Where is the outrage when it comes to that? And the concern that what Trump says has potentially dangerous consequences is completely unfounded. All of those violent demonstrations at rallies, like the one at Chicago or the one that involved the 69 year old who wearing an oxygen tank, have been proven to be set-up and staged by the DNC and Clinton campaign operatives in order push an agenda. There is no evidence to show that anything Trump has said or done has, by direct consequence, led to violence. In fact, the ones that have been shown to be violent and disruptive are the Clinton supports, or at least those in the anti-Trump camp. Recently, a homeless black women was viciously attacked for supporting Trump, a man was beaten and chased until police intervened for wearing a MAGA hat, students at the University of Pittsburgh were verbally assaulted for distributing pro-Trump merchandise and pamphlets, people leaving a Trump fundraiser were harassed in Minnesota, and the examples continue (none of these were promoted by the mainstream media, because that would go against the narrative). To blame any of these incidents on Trump's rhetoric would be trying to create causation where there is none, as they are all clearly examples of people violating others' right to free speech and being unable to handle different opinions without resorting to violence and ad hominems. So again, to bring this back to the original issue, there is no evidence or precedent showing that the remarks Trump made about women all those years ago could be considered dangerous or a threat. And yes, I concede that those remarks do deserve some news coverage, as you said perhaps a day or two's worth. But instead the story was pushed for weeks, not just days, and the mainstream media then fabricated false rape and sexual assault victims at the same time in order to sustain the conversation, in an attempt to drown out the Wikileaked Podesta e-mails and newly released Project Veritas videos. -- Obligatory spicy meme (this one's a keeper)

HYPE THRUSTER STATUS: [ ] NOT ACTIVATED [X] ACTIVATED

Not to escalate this further, but I do have to say... Anyone who has even an ounce of trust or faith left in mainstream media after this election is a fool. The bias toward Hillary is so obvious and underhanded, it's honestly revolting. The recent 24/7 coverage of these new groping allegations against Trump (none of which are credible in the slightest, if you take the time to actually analyze the claims and background check those crying wolf) and the complete blind eye turned toward the Wikileaks reveals prove just that. Isn't it ironic that Fox News, the butt of jokes years ago for being so unabashedly right leaning, is now the closest mainstream outlet to neutral? While everyone else, most notably but not limited to Washington Post, Huffington Post, CNN, and New York Times, have stooped to Buzzfeed level clickbait, misleading and cherry picked information, and overall negligence in journalistic integrity in an attempt to capitalize on ignorance to push for a Clinton presidency? And I only call Fox "close to neutral" because they hate both Trump and Hillary, but they're really not all that much better. And for those not in the know, the Anti-Defamation League's current CEO and National Director is Jonathan Greenblatt, former Special Assistant to President Barack Obama. Yeahhh, tots not suspicious. Ehem, but I digress. This is the thread for memes, in which case...

Sure, here's the quick rundown (I've left very short comments on the ones whose first episodes I've seen): 3-gatsu no Lion Ajin 2nd Season Bubuki Buranki: Hoshi no Kyojin (same as last season, overall pretty weak but kinda stupidly endearing in its own weird way) Bungou Stray Dogs 2nd Season (not gonna lie, it's looking better than the first season, hope to see a Noragami-style turnaround) ClassicaLoid Drifters Fune wo Amu Mahou Shoujo Ikusei Keikaku (mahou shoujos in a battle royale *muffled "I say cry" plays in the distance*) Occultic;Nine WWW.Working!! (good to see Wagnaria make a return, even if it's just a spin-off) Yuri!!! on Ice (this was actually really good and, uh, nice to look at, no homo... ... ... .. .. . ok full homo, but only for Viktor) I would have had the second season of Hibike! Euphonium on my list, as I planned on binging the first season right before the fall season started, but school has been busier than I expected and so I never found the time. To be honest, I'm probably watching more shows than I have the time for, but that's never stopped me before (it has). Also, this is the first season I'm watching in literally ever where there wasn't at least one multi-cour leftover from the previous season that I was still watching. Starting off on such a clean slate is certainly a strange feeling...

Summer 2016 Final Impressions This is the last of these I'll be doing, mainly because school is taking up all of my time. I was lucky even to have this finished on time for today. All in all, this season was one of the best in recent memory. There were a lot of very good shows, and only a few that were disappointing. 1. Mob Psycho 100 What starts off looking like a budget version of OPM quickly turned into one of my favorite anime of all time. The animation is the best I have ever seen in a full series anime (not exaggerating, I’m serious when I say I think it’s the best). It’s consistent from episode one to episode twelve, with no dips or drops in quality. The artistic directing is far better than anything in OPM as well. The story has some surprisingly amounts of depth and the characters are endearing. Only downside is that the humor is still similar to OPM’s, so in my opinion not too strong, and the music is also a tad lackluster, aside from the opening song. Still, anime of the season right here, potentially year. 2. Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu Every year there’s that one anime that’s so popular, it’s apparently not as good as everyone on the Internet says it is. Well, Re:Zero is that anime for 2016. It’s been one heck of a ride, and all in all I really enjoyed it. While I personally felt it peaked after the intro arc and during the beginning of the second arc, that’s not to say that everything that happened afterwards was bad. It was all right, just not to my taste. The animation is good, and occasionally exceptional when it needs to be. The story itself is far from finished though, so the conclusion naturally doesn’t feel like much of a conclusion at all (hoping for a second season eventually). Worth checking out even if just for the hype. 3. Amaama to Inazuma Last season was a season of disappointing slice of lifes, while this season was a season of very good ones, the best being Sweetness and Lightning. Between this and Shokugeki no Souma, I was virtually always hungry this past summer. This show has lots of sweet (and sometimes strained) dad and daughter antics going on. It touches upon themes of family, though nothing too heavy or complex. The cooking portions are adorable as well. Honestly, I probably only liked this as much as I did because of best girl Kotori but shhhh no one has to know… Decent animation, average music, but too dang cute not to like. 4. Amanchu! What a gorgeous show. I didn’t expect to relate to a show about diving as much as I did. The themes of trying new things, friendship, memories, and love were so poetically and beautifully woven into this seemingly episodic, mindless slice of life that spent more time on high school than on diving. But it somehow works, and it’s everything Flying Witch wishes it could have been. The key frames are just vividly detailed and appealing, even if the animation itself was, for the most part, average. Also, the music during the diving/swimming sequences (two times in particular I recall) were some of the best compositions I have ever heard in an anime. 5. Tales of Zesteria the X Ufotable proves once again that they’re the only studio that would probably be able to faithfully adapt Game of Thrones into an anime. Not that something like that would ever happen, but still. While Zesteria’s characters and plot were bland, the animation and CGI integration was far better than it was with the recent Unlimited Blade Works adaptation, if you can believe that. Gorgeous scenes, paired with one of the best and most varied soundtracks I’ve heard in an anime made for some ridiculous moments of simultaneous eye and ear-gasms. To be fair, I think the music was ripped directly from the video game soundtracks, but it doesn’t change the fact that the score was phenomenal. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. 6. Shokugeki no Souma: Ni no Sara There’s not much difference between this season and the first season, apart from this season only being single cour. Only reason it wasn’t as good as the first was because the majority of the season was spent on the tournament arc, which was kinda fun the first few times but started feeling stale and repetitive halfway through. What made the first season so great was getting to know and bond with the massive cast of characters through other activities, not just one vs one cookouts. Still, the animation was good and the cooking was still over-the-top crazy, so it was a fun experience, just not what I was expecting. 7. Kuromukuro It’s a shame not many people paid this anime much attention, because it was pretty good. It reminded me of Robotics;Notes (both in terms of atmosphere and music, as well as in terms of how it was received). It’s a mecha show that focuses less on mechs and more on slice of life high school antics. The animation is clean and the character designs are very endearing. The conclusion left enough room open for a second season, though it’s self-contained enough to work as a standalone. There were a couple of soundtracks, a few during the fight scenes and one during an emotional scene, that were notable very good. For an anime original that lasted for two-cour, I found it pleasantly surprising. 8. Orange Animation quality took a huge dive after the first episode, which never recovered unfortunately. Aside from that, the anime was decent if not a bit predictable. Some parts could have been better if not for the distractingly bad animation, which can really take the drama or tension out of a scene. The characters were alright for the most part, though the two MCs were a tad too dense to really connect with them. Music was decent as well, and the character designs finally grew on me. In general, this wasn’t a bad show, just overhyped by the manga readers and not given the adaptation it deserves. Props to the studio for extending the last episodes by a few minutes as to not rush the ending, that was nice at least. 9. 91 Days This is near the bottom of my list, but only because this season was so fantastic. Seriously, in any other season this show would be at the middle, but such is the luck of falling in the summer 2016 timeslot. 91 Days started really well and ended really strongly, but had a weak middle. A lot of anime originals seem to face this problem, as most writers have the beginning and end of a story mapped out before the middle. If more thought and effort had been put into the journey between point A and point B it would have been a far more compelling show, but otherwise it sits at average. Fantastic opening song though, probably my favorite of the entire season, even with Tales of Zesteria the X’s two fantastic openings. 10. Ace Attorney This anime started as it ended: not at all good for those new to the series, but decent fanservice for those who’ve already played the games. I’ve already talked at great length about this in previous posts, and my opinion hasn’t really changed. Only watch it if you’ve played the games, otherwise stay away. 11. Fate/kaleid liner Prisma☆Illya 3rei!! You were the chosen one, Silver Link! It was said that you would destroy bad animation, not create it! This was the biggest disappointment of the entire season. I was really looking forward to the fourth season of this series, since everyone said that this is where it got good. As far as plot goes, yeah it was pretty good. But god damn, did it look fugly. The penultimate episode, the one which was supposed to cover the biggest fight scene in the entire series yet, was hideous. Like, Tokyo Ghoul Rout A levels of bad, and that was baaddd. It ruined the atmosphere and really ruined a lot of what the season was leading up to. FeelsBadMan. At least the flashback movie will be better, I hope. 12. Rewrite /r/im14andthisisdeep: The Animation. Nah, but in all seriousness, I appreciate what this anime tried to do, but its themes are just, really old and pretentious. They might have been good in the early 2000s when environmentalism hit a feverish peak, but today it just seems silly and childish. It’s like a mix of all the bad things about the Nasuverse and the Keyverse mashed into one silly mess. Fan service juxtaposed with “deep” philosophy of people’s impact on the environment just doesn’t make for a compelling premise anymore. Will I watch the second season? Yeah probably. -- And for the record, ReLIFE would have been the second best anime of the season (between Mob Psycho and Re:Zero). It was only left out of the list because it released all of its episodes simultaneously and I had already given my full thoughts on it in a previous post.

Today I took one of the most stressful and brutal exams in recent memory, and I have another one tomorrow which I still need to study for because I spent all of today working on a group project that everyone procrastinated on. I've also been running on 7 hours of sleep for these past 48 hours, but the good thing is I successfully encountered and caught both an Exeggutor and a Blastoise today!! All things considered, I'd say life's pretty good.

I actually never eat lunch. I have a big early breakfast and a big early dinner, which are usually enough to get me through the day. I have a snack or two if I need it though. And nah, I encountered it and caught it easily since it was only CP 87, haha. And I'm level 25 right now, but only because living on an urban college campus is OP. Gained so much more exp so much more efficiently since coming back to school (not that I mind).

What OMM thread?? And I realize I have only found a single Cleafairy all this time I've been playing. It's the second oldest Pokemon I still have in my inventory (behind only my starter of course). I'm sorry for your loss. And playing PoGo is exactly how I spend my lunch breaks when I'm not cramming for a test or quiz. Those buddies aren't going to walk themselves... Edit: Well speak of the devil. Ran into my second Clefairy tonight.

Hm, I'm starting to think it may not be a nest, but rather a Frequent Spawn Point. I'm not entirely certain of the differences between a nest and an FSP myself (or if there even is a difference, but from what I understand nests either have a species spawn at periodic and predictable times or have a species spawn so regularly (even multiple times at once) that predictability becomes irrelevant. Because of school, I haven't been able to test the "nest" that much, but I know that the Bulbasaur definitely do not spawn at regular times of the week or at predictable points during the day. They spawn randomly, so it's really hard to predict when you can walk down there and nab yourself one That's why I'm beginning to think it's an FSP as opposed to a nest, though the line differentiating the two categories is blurry at best. Good thing is, whenever I'm in the area and see a Bulbasaur on my nearby list I know exactly where it'll be and don't have to run around like a headless chicken to track it down. Can confirm, school is currently kicking my butt. What "On My Mind" thread? I've never heard of an OMM thread before.

I may have found a Bulbasaur nest on campus today. I'll need to further test this over the course of the next few days, but once I confirm they spawn often and regularly enough to constitute as a nest then I'll promptly report it to The Silph Road Nest Atlas (unless someone beats me to it). I would have preferred it being a Charmander nest, but I suppose pickers can't be choosers.

I JUST CHOKED ON MY UGLY LAUGH OH MY LORD

Aw, it's too bad you didn't like it. If you want me to be completely honest, I can't really remember why I found it so good when I first watched it. I haven't seen it in well over four, perhaps even closer to five, years now and only vaguely remember some parts that entertained me. But then again, it was one of the first anime I had ever watched and at such an impressionable age as well. Anything with epic music, an edgy plot, and hype scenes was enough to hook me in. And expectations probably have a lot to do with it as well. I watched it with zero expectations and came out like "woahhh" but if I had put it off for years and finally got around to it after constant pestering by friends, there's no way I would have looked back on it as fondly as I do now.

There's not too much to say about this since it's only a 28 minute long pilot, except that it was really good. Some people are salty that the animation wasn't as good as the trailer's and that the episode didn't focus on Anthea, even though it was known that this pilot would be a prologue to the "actual" story of Under the Dog since, like, the very beginning (it's listed as episode 0 for a reason). I really hope that this eventually gets funded into either a television series or OVA/movie series, though I'd probably prefer the latter for the sake of quality. This pilot was never meant to be a standalone anime. It hints at only bits and pieces of the world, and a lot was intentionally left vague. The animation and musical score were both fantastic, and the artistic directing was phenomenal (great use of show don't tell). All in all, an amazing watch, and not nearly as disappointing as critics make it out to be if you've actually been following the progress and promises of the Kickstarter Project from beginning to end.

"hello to Patsuko!"

aNNIE R U OK

The current opening for Detective Conan, the 43rd one, is my absolute favorite. (^video has a good chance of being taken down soon, but whatever) While I'm not a big fan of the song, where did the the production studio find the resources to create an opening animated so amazingly and directed so artistically?? Like seriously, usually DC openings are bland and uninspired, so where did something of such high quality come from? There was pretty much more sakuga in this minute and a half than there has ever been in the entire series, television show or movie. Give the director of this opening a gold medal and make sure he's in charge of every single opening from this point forward (and ending while we're at it), seriously. And make sure whoever did the key animations stays as well; DC would benefit greatly from someone with his or her talent.

3highquality5me