I have to say, it was a bit refreshing to not have to write this on a weekly basis. At the same time I think it does serve me some purpose to regularly write, dump and review all the links floating out there so this newsletter isn’t going anywhere.
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Omonomono Newsletter, 2021-09-22
Maybe it is because I really needed a break, so I did take 1 day off in September. It turns out I need another one pretty soon. Maybe when I go on proper vacation next month. I think being grounded for the better part of 18 months helped in some ways, but traveling help me offset the stress from work and doing cons and shows help me recharge.
It’s Autumn now, I feel it in the air. I feel it in the spirit.
These Past Weeks
Japan continues its state of emergency in many prefectures. Vaccination rate has improved, and it’ll surpass the US soon. Seems like things are stabling among seiyuu clusters at least. That is not saying much for the rest of this industry though.
Report on Lapis Re:Light show a week ago.
Arcrevo? I guess that’s to be expected.
New Science Saru TV anime next year with Yamada.
I keep forgetting this now exists. It’s like forgetting hell froze over.
Tokyo Idol Fest is soon but, uh, Creamy Mami is what, 40yo?
Yozo Sakagami’s book on IDOLM@STER is now a thing, and will be out next month.
I sometimes forget Netflix has a vtuber, but they also have a 3d mocap studio.
See Okada’s Dog short film in Nagoya. And is this Mari Okada’s new work?
Belle is the biggest Hosoda film ever. And the sky is blue. Gonna see it when it screens here tho.
Enako has a photobook that isn’t cosplay?
I remember the DiC dubs, guess now some people will get to see it for the first time.
Real big oh no Ojou! I wasn’t watching the stream but saw some folks comment as they saw the stream got cut after she collapsed at the end of one of the songs about 30 minutes in. Turns out it was bad, but at least she’s in stable condition now.
One more new cast member in IDOLM@STER Starlit Seasons. Rina Hidaka in my IM@S is a big not sure how to feel about. It would be very full circle if the other “chan” joins this franchise.
NGL I am interested in this series because Ryon plays the lead character in all the PR, but the story is interesting based on the reveals so far. In a “people die if they are killed” kind of way. Like, the earth is under attack by a mysterious enemy called Cancer kind of way. Not sure if I have an appetite for this game but we’ll see how it rolls.
Furuba World Expo in Tokyo this November [insert let me in Koga here.]
Yurucamp Music Fest [Same]
Netflix’s Eden has a VR tie in?
On the Mind
I took a test the other day. You had 15 minutes to log into a Google form and fill it out. Everyone had to do it at the same time (2:45am to 3am on a Sunday). It’s for the game Idoly Pride and it tests your anime knowhow. I failed badly, mainly because it’s in Japanese and I didn’t have enough time to look up the answers.
Anisama was the last week of August but you can buy some junk from the show via Animate International. Really sad because there was no stream for it and yet they dare to sell it to us, I guess, some people always want the merch.
The end of the Summer season is nigh. I think at the end I’m enjoying the most out of Kouka and Realist, although the latter is getting a bit in a rut. The problem with “realist” takes is that the actual things in the story is rarely more realistic than fantasy. Thinking back, I can only recall Spice & Wolf being actually any good at it, despite being a whole romance set with a wolf girl. I suppose that is high praise for that furry anime about trading wheat and armor, if that’s likely one of the highest bar here. At the same time, you can’t make this a policy anime without dealing with all the policy stuff that a lot of people won’t get. Like one set of policies about trade will get commerce hawks going, but the monetary policy guys are just twiddling their thumbs half the time. You can’t do infrastructure without boring the hell out of the, say, public education guys. I am not so sure if it’s ever feasible. I think Realist tries, which is why it has sat well with me thus far.
A close third is probably I’m Standing on a Million Lives. Say what you want about isekai anime and books, few are actual legitimate science fiction as far as themes and ideas go. This one is.
Aquatope is still enjoyable but the past few weeks it has been setting up for the big climatic turn coming up, so it has been a drag. I really enjoy Mikku’s acting in it recently though.
I’m still watching Tensura, which is a lot less sleep inducing than the, heh, policy-as-a-mood version of Tensura anime last season. Dai no Daibouken is finally getting places but also getting a bit DBZ-y. Not sure if that’s feasible to be honest.
The Remake Our Life anime is fine, but at times the main character just seems really dumb. At least I can “read” this like a novel since it kind of is told like one, as to obtain a more objective POV on the paper-thin protagonist that is all too typical of the VN writing style. To its credit, that’s more writing than most anime this season.
Occupying a “high interest” but “low draw” space for me is this season’s Kobayashi Dragon Maid. It is still a solid anime that catches my attention, but it has taken to a focus-character-of-the-week format, and it’s interesting. It just lacks the finesse and narrative thrust that makes Kouka so good in contrast. In the end, moreover, nothing changes from week to week. That leaves me wondering that if I’m here for amusing dragon maid antics, why don’t I always get it, or anything else really. I mean I dropped Bakarina for this reason basically.
I did enjoy binging and catching up with Duke of Death show, which feels misslotted on FUNi instead of Netflix, because it feels like a Netflix anime. It is a cute and warm romcom but nothing that’ll survive past one cour I think.
Sonny Boy is still a thing that I watch. It’s creative and different. It’s also strangely SF-y. Any anime that works in anthropics thematically is worth noting. Amazon but cats is definitely also noteworthy. If Sonny Boy is just a bunch of random ideas and concepts cooked up together, wouldn’t it be fair to guess that it is inspired by all the isekai junk out there today?
Some don’t really need much writing. Jahy-chan for one. Or Black Meikyuu Company. Both are okay and I am kind of forcing myself to watch those. There’s something healing about seeing Toda-kun voicing a bouncy sword person who plays the straight man in a whacky comedy.
Is Fina this season or next? I guess it’s more next, right? I kind of enjoy its easy going adventure mode, but I fear any moment it will just turn into some messy adventure anime that leans too much on its template characters.
The new season of Magireco is probably the show I wanted most to enjoy but have a hard time bringing myself into. It seems interesting and looks well-produced, but I may be forever stuck on episode 3.
Events
For this week and weekend–
Myth & Roid. EN available.
Imagination Colors digest movie with Reina commenting?
Project Sekai festival this weekend, both days.
Guilty Kiss! Hmm kind of want to watch.
Next week–
Tokyo Game Show is next week. I’m sure there are some stages. There will be a couple for IM@S.
Tokyo Idol Festival is also next week. Shiny Colors on day 1 (Friday). Luce, 22/7, Nijicon, Denpagumi, Afilia, on day 2, IDOLY PRIDE, Dialogue+, Nijicon day 3. I probably am missing some stuff too. Check it out if you’re curious.
And finally, Cinderella Girls 10th Tour kicks off with Fukuoka since Aichi was cancelled earlier this month. Full streams and archive are available at least, for both days.
I’m going to Baltimore probably, to check out this event.
Personal Note
I’m still building my PC slowly, although it has largely come together. I’ve opened up the case, and put in most of the parts. There are a couple cable extensions I want to add. The case fans aren’t working, nor is the fan controller that comes with the case. Not too sure if it’s just because I didn’t turn it on from the MB or what. I still need to gut my existing PC for its 3 3.5 and optical drives, and figure out if I have enough drive cages (I actually don’t think so).
I’ve booted it up and tweaked the CPU and RAM settings to some degree. Not going to OC it much. CPU-Z pins the performance just a couple % off the benchmark and I think that’s due to the RAM. I don’t know and not sure the effort to care exceeds any performance gains. Maybe down the road.
I started migrating software to the new system, but it’s a bit slow going since I wanted to reinstall my stuff manually. That means going through every application I have on this PC, and there are myriad. Some are dependencies from over a decade ago LOL.
Anyways, just going to take it easy there. I have a lot on my plate right now. Anyone has any great tip for a first-time traveler to Berlin?
September 24th, 2021 at 2:26 pm
answer key https://twitter.com/idolypride/status/1440254048859349001