1
I missed at least an hour's worth of kids because my normally reliable as the sun setting porch light light sensor switch didn't switch on. It was 7:00 and I was thinking"Where the hell are the kids?" then I discovered it.
Posted by: Mauser at Wed Oct 31 22:54:26 2018 (Ix1l6)
2
My new apartment complex is gated, but in spite of that I didn't get a single trick-or-treater. Disappointing. (I used to live in places that had throngs of kids.)
Posted by: Rick C at Thu Nov 1 11:49:15 2018 (Q/JG2)
3
Anyone want 50 pounds of candy? I got maybe a third the number of kids I had last year. Maybe their parents read the knot joke on my blog...
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Thu Nov 1 13:55:08 2018 (tgyIO)
4
A friend of mine who runs a comics store (that is usually besieged by candy vacuums on Halloween) reported the same thing.
My neighborhood (which is generally quite busy on All Hallow's Eve) was reportedly dead as well.
3 data points are not a reliable survey of course, but I do wonder if the SJWs actually impacted the holiday this year?
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Thu Nov 1 14:36:28 2018 (Oqyrj)
It is time like Halloween that reminds me of Steve. You could always count on him to post updates on the status of his candy bowl.
Posted by: cxt217 at Thu Nov 1 21:08:19 2018 (LMsTt)
6
I was listening to a podcast recently where they got in to the waxing of Halloween and waning of Christmas in perceived cultural influence. As part of the discussion they got in to the changing ways in which Halloween is celebrated. They guessed greater adult participation and a shift to house parties and discrete events is supplanting youths wandering the streets. We also don't know our neighbors like we used to.
Our Halloween here has been a washout two years in a row, which can kill a kid's interest without active parental hype.
Posted by: Will at Fri Nov 2 13:25:56 2018 (QZOP+)
Palate Cleanser
A few weeks ago we looked at the official video of this K-Pop song. Well it's a hit, so there are now the inevitable MMD videos. Well, instead of just downloading the rotoscoping into MMD, some circle named DD Animations seems to have taken the same bog-standard MMD motion capture file and plugged it into Yandere Simulator.
But then they got creative with the editing.
This is really well done.
The only issue with this is the troubling fact that there actually is a Yandere Simulator.
Regarding some of the concerns brought up by cxt217 in the comments of the earlier post:
The agent/human beatbox/cosmetologist is actually a character trope of sports manga and to an extent idol shows as well.
Of course he also is pretty solid as a stark-raving mad scientist/necromancer. Also, regarding his not being at all likable, I don't think he's actually a protagonist...at all. He's rather over the top, but not by as much as one might think given the genres involved.
Regarding concerns about Hoshikawa,
A dead loli is always in poor taste but there is no dead loli here as she's not technically dead...well...there may be legal issues, involving blood pressure, heartbeats and respiration but as an American who looks at things from the perspective of individual rights stemming from English common law rather than the Napoleanic code or Confucian precedent, I am actually happy that she has been granted a second chance at experiencing the world rather than having it cut short after 13 years (or 16-19 for the others).
I wonder if, in addition to everything else the show is, this counts as Isekai?
All the main characters have been moved at least 10 years in the future and as many as 160. Just 10 years ago was a different world. Also, they've been granted the ability to take bullets through the neck, fire-pokers through the head and to self-decapitate, so they're stuck in a strange world but with magical powers.
Shipstorm
Why do the two metal heads keep showing up? Are they going to be romantic interests for two of the girls or something? 'cause that would be...wrong.
I deal enough with jerks in real life that seeing jerks in entertainment as anything except targets of plot karma, tends to rub me the wrong way. Given how the overwhelming majority of jerks in entertainment as just there to be jerks instead of, say, "He's a jerk but he's the one keeping the squad safe during the war,' and I am not incline to be generous with Kotaro. Especially, since I suspect:
He was the person who killed at least several members of the group before raising them back up - which would help explain why Sakura is in the group. Also, I strongly suspect that Sakura might not actually be in the same state as the other girls.
Posted by: cxt217 at Tue Oct 23 15:46:03 2018 (LMsTt)
3
I dunno, that's pretty dark for this kind of show. Also, I don't think the dates work - Sakura's really the only one we know died recently (Tae is anyone's guess...)
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Wed Oct 24 03:09:35 2018 (v29Tn)
4
We've got 4 rough dates. Kotaru tells Sakura she's been dead for 10 years. In the opening scene she's looking at the "Legendary Heisei Idol" on TV who presumably died shortly thereafter. Junko, the "Legendary Showa Idol" was one of the first idols from the Early '80s and Courtesan Lass is from the Meiji era. Taking Tae out of the mix due to lack of data, every one of the girls except Saki was (or was aspiring to be) an entertainer. Saki was the leader of a biker gang that took over Kyushu. I think that last bit is counterfactual, so, applying contemporary standards of logic, it's possible that "biker chick" was actually the persona of an 80's female pro-wrestler. That, in turn, would raise the possibility that this series is actually a darkly woke commentary on the way society discards its female entertainers. It would also open the alternate possibility that this is actually a docudrama offering one possible explanation, (but not the only one) for a series of unexplained disappearances. It is also conceivable that I'm overthinking this.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Oct 24 06:23:48 2018 (Oqyrj)
5
My experience with anime, is that if you're thinking, you're overthinking. The rare exceptions are awesome.
Posted by: Ubu at Wed Oct 24 09:19:12 2018 (SlLGE)
She is the only girl who has no info given on the official website. Even Tae had an age attached to her. Add to certain other little things, such as having an obvious pain response shown in the anime, and I have to wonder what is her actual status. Also, I was actually being nice in my initial description of Kotaro. My Fandom Post included this acidic bit: "A particularly grating moment was his calling out of Ai and Junko in Episode 3 which, had it come from any other character, might have been moving and positive. Instead, Kotaro came off as a milder version of a killer who murdered a kid's parents and is now telling the kid to stop moping. It just does not work and coming from the man who supposedly raised Ai and Junk from the grave, sounds insulting as the final cherry on top.
Posted by: cxt217 at Wed Oct 24 12:28:26 2018 (LMsTt)
7
So, Berg Katze, Rory Mercury, and Excel Excel walk into a bar...
I'm not sure what's going on here, but I'm pretty sure it's not what we've been shown so far. Also, the makeup in episode 3 is extremely thorough.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Thu Oct 25 07:26:31 2018 (tgyIO)
I read the blurb. But what the blurb describes...that's not what I watched.
From the Blurb...
A typical morning. The usual music. Their normal lives. The peace these seven girls experience will suddenly be destroyed. By the living dead... zombies. A reality that they never wanted a part of, an amazing and terrifying zombie world. They all share one wish: "We want to live." These girls will struggle through this saga, in order to achieve a miracle. MAPPA, Avex Pictures, and Cygames team up to bring you a juicy, 100% original anime. A timeless shocker for all audiences, a brand new style of zombie anime, will soon rise.
The one fly in the ointment is that Kotaro (Mamoru Miyano's character.) is moving well into the 'complete jerk' department, so it is not perfect. He is also clearly incompetent in most things as well, which make him even more grating.
But...So far, Zombie Land Saga is fantastic. I never watch zombie or undead premise stuff, let alone horror, and I greatly enjoy the series - I actually laughed at what occurred in first TWO minutes of the series.
Posted by: cxt217 at Sun Oct 21 15:39:23 2018 (LMsTt)
There is one other thing that bother me about Zombie Land Saga - though it bothers me far less than it would have bothered Steve:
I can not say I like the idea of an undead loli all that much. At least it somehow works in context.
Posted by: cxt217 at Sun Oct 21 19:32:23 2018 (LMsTt)
6
She's just remarkably well-preserved.
(rimshot)
I'm of two minds about this show. It's got about two or three minutes of pure brilliance per episode. But a lot of the rest of it is -really- just not enjoyable. Too much awkward "we're up on stage and would rather not be here" points where I just turn it off and walk away. And Kotaro is no Ilpalazzo.
Posted by: Avatar_exADV at Sun Oct 21 22:08:59 2018 (v29Tn)
7
From the perspective of just the first episode, Kotaro seems like the Sorcerer's Apprentice: he read the first page of the book, and now he thinks he knows enough. Details he doesn't have the answer to are irrelevant.
Posted by: Rick C at Mon Oct 22 20:51:13 2018 (Iwkd4)
Thank You Mauser
If not for your post, I never would have watched this show.
It's not like the poster is devoid of appeal...
...but it and the blurb didn't really grab me.
However, unlike the show reviewed below, this is not exactly what it says on the tin. While that poster is not, strictly speaking, dishonest, it does not adequately convey what this show is about.
Eight Word Title With Bunny Girl In It now has me totally hooked. Despite the poster and an early scene with one of the characters running around in a bunny suit, this is a really creepy show and reminds me most of the Josei horror that was popular at the turn of the century.
It's low key. It's well written and it's keeping me on the edge of my seat.
and by the second episode, I realized that the first scene of the show is such terrifying forshadowing that I've GOT to find out how this turns out.
The characters are well done, likable and react to the just plain "off" things happening around them in rational but believable ways, while still trying to deal with day to day life.
" Yeah. I agree. Shadowbanning is a real problem."
2 episodes in this is definitely looking like a keeper.
1
I haven't had much of a chance to write about it, but Bunny Girl is flat-out my favorite show of this season... and considering it's up against the anime adaptation of Bloom Into You, that's saying a lot.
A lot of people, myself included, are getting Haruhi vibes (though not plot-wise) from it. And I'm not ashamed to say that I think Mai Sakurajima is one of the best female leads to come down the pike in a very long time indeed.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sun Oct 21 17:33:39 2018 (OjmJE)
2
I'm really curious about where the second girl's story is going to go.
And I'm glad you enjoyed it. I guess I do have a talent for picking out the quirky but good shows (Mysterious Girlfriend X anyone?)
Posted by: Mauser at Sun Oct 21 22:18:45 2018 (Ix1l6)
A slime, for those of you who don't know, is a low level monster in a lot of computer role playing games, in the fantasy genre 'inspired' by D&D. They are essentially a carnivorous blob of jello for beginning and low level players to learn the ropes on. The lowest and weakest of monsters.
Our hero, having done a genuinely heroic thing which got him killed, is granted a request by the what appears to be the Samsarra AI. However, his dying requests are contradictory and the transmigration algorithm screws up, reincarnating him in a suspiciously D&D like fantasy world....but as a slime.
Yeah, it's another Isekai show, but the loser wish fulfillment is somewhat tempered by...
Our hero.
But he's not just a slime! He has an intellect and all of his memories of his education, his job in construction oversight...and playing D&D.
He quickly becomes the most OP...uh slime... you've ever seen.
This is genuinely odd.
It's not, necessarily good mind you, but it has potential and at episode 3 it is amusing me quite a bit more than it perhaps ought to.
1I wrote about the manga back last November, and my enthusiasm level for the anime, while reduced, is still pretty high. The manga wore out its party trick by Volume 4, but seeing it animated brings some new energy to it.
I've watched the first two episodes, and it hews very close to the manga indeed.
Posted by: Wonderduck at Sun Oct 21 17:40:36 2018 (OjmJE)
2
I'm put in mind of "Kumo desu ga, Nani Ka?" where the Heroine is reincarnated as a spider monster, and levels up absurdly.
Posted by: Mauser at Sun Oct 21 22:30:46 2018 (Ix1l6)
3Kumoko is a different thing in a sense that it's high-stakes, razor-thin margin combat in every installment. Her arachine plot is surprisingly secondary to her daily struggle. Her world is narrow (for now - yes, I know, okay?). So, the phenomenally gripping action is the schtick. And how well it is done. I never was disgusted by the artificial, too convenient tricks - like the ending of Starship Operators, for example. No matter how crazy her trickery becomes, it has a certain consistency and fidelity to the setting.
Slime is a traditional isekai with only the MC being a slime. And yeah, he/she just eats everything in the end. The world is wide and has a ton of varying creatures, with national politics, etc. Sadly, love and romance are absent entirely, but it's quite rich otherwise.
I heard a lot of people complained how boring the slime anime was. Without the manga, they could not handle the infodump in ep.1.
Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at Mon Oct 22 13:35:48 2018 (LZ7Bg)
4
Kumoko drives me a bit nuts because so much of the state/system just seem pulled out of nowhere.
Posted by: Mauser at Wed Oct 24 21:13:22 2018 (Ix1l6)
1
Did you notice the choppiness at the beginning, in a couple of places? Looks like a few frames were dropped.
I saw that in the same scenes in the first trailer a while back.
Posted by: Rick C at Wed Oct 3 10:20:16 2018 (Q/JG2)
2
This looks better than the last five live-action Marvel movies put together.
-j
Posted by: J Greely at Wed Oct 3 10:54:33 2018 (tgyIO)
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