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"50 eps huh, I don't have the patience to wait for something to click like that, to be honest."
- Well to be fair, it did take upwards of 2.5 years to get the ball rolling on that one. The reason I haven't dropped anything is because no matter how much time passes, they seem to always find their way back to me.

Well, I never thought I'd see someone else bring up Mokke. It's quite the find - very underrated. Reminds me of Natsume Yuujinchou, only more family friendly (if that's even possible, tbh). Mahoutsukai no Yome is going really well too. It has that same supernatural SOL feel to it, except it's set in England and deals with European lore.

I see you've been plowing through Mushishi. What do you think? Personally it's among the most atmospheric anime I've ever seen. The way it combines its music with the ambient sounds & art style really makes it feel like you're becoming one with nature in the midst of each happening. I also like how the main focus isn't necessarily on Ginko or even the mushi themselves. It mixes it up and gives you a more holistic glimpse into a grander cycle of life. Something else that a friend and I have talked about is how we really like how the characters are just plain & ordinary folk. It lets the characters blend in and compliment all of the other elements at play.

"Perhaps I already asked this, and at risk of getting this conversation stuck in a loop: how big of a collection do you have?"
- Well speaking of loops, it seems as though I'm now continuously on the lookout for deals (at least until Christmas!). My DVD collection itself was fairly humble to begin with, but I've really enjoyed watching it fatten up. I had some oldies such as Escaflowne, Rurouni Kenshin & FMA 2003. I also have Mushishi S1, a couple of Naruto movies, both seasons of Attack on Titan & the complete collection of Clannad. This time around I ended up getting:
- AKB0048 (both seasons)
- Sound of the Sky
- Space Brothers Complete Collection
- Psycho-Pass S1 + Movie

And yes. Finally. FINALLY! I caved in and got Strike Witches. I saw the movie on sale and just went straight for the complete collection. It literally just came in today and I'll be watching all of this in good order after my SAO re-watch.

Thanksgiving was about the same for me as well. My favorite time of the year is between Thanksgiving & Christmas as it feels like all of the festivities & joy just come together in that month span. I'm basically working overtime until Christmas so it's taking everything I've got to squeeze in those special moments.

On another note, I'm patiently awaiting the last volumes of We Were There to arrive at the library this week. I'm hoping to finish it right on Christmas as this is undoubtedly my favorite manga at this point.

Hey, I found something good ;)

Yeah, I like Midori also. Maybe it's because she lives her fetish 24/7, which takes commitment.
Kamoi manages to make Midori look normal in comparision lol.

There hasn't been enough Kamoi fanservice lately though...some Midori fanservice wouldn't be bad either...

btw I've been enjoying Zombieland Saga. There tends to be a minimum of singing and more emphasis on zombie-tinged idol hijinks.

I see you've been keeping up with Uza Maid. What do you think about it recently?

What did you think about Sunohara-sou?

I think you'll like Roujin Z, it looks and kinda feels like Patlabor but with 100% more A.I.

Are you thinking about watching it?
I'd say it's like a non-copyright infringing spinoff of Dragon Maid featuring Lucoa and Shouta-kun
The blonde big titty caretaker lady really wants the shouta D lol

It's not that great since the other three girls are pretty generic and the writing is kinda dull, and overall the art is competent but boring looking.
Although there are certainly parts of it like, like shouta-kun being dressed up as a girl for example.

"It's why I try to take chances and watch things that don't immediately appeal to me"
- I can't even count how many shows take 3-5 episodes to warm up and then completely hook me in once they finally build up the momentum. It's like getting an engine started on a cold winter morning. This is especially true with longer shows. Hell, it took me 50 episodes to really get into D.Gray-Man. But once it got going, there was no stopping it.

"Then you get the 'anime is trash and so am I' types, who are on another level of obnoxious."
- It's been a while, but I think I know the type. There are so many groups in the anime fandom that are complete killjoys. Trying to list them all off makes my PTW look doable now.

I've got a few plans lined up for December now. I'm going to be re-watching SAO, Psycho-Pass (just ordered the BDs!), Sound of the Sky, AKB0048 and of course, my daily episodes of Mahoutsukai no Yome & Mushishi S2. I'm also seriously eyeing up Black Clover. I've heard nothing but bad things about it, but I stumbled onto one of its OPs (which I'm currently obsessed with) and now I can't help but want to give it a spin. I guess time will tell. If you do decide to watch Mushishi, let me know how it goes.

Yeah, I've never cared about Black Friday or Christmas shopping before. Must be that convention rubbing off on me, but I'm wanting to build up my collection a bit. By the time I finished browsing through that Sentai sale, my cart had 51 items and I was at $321. Fortunately I'm not that impulsive and narrowed it down to Space Brothers for $40. Also just got Psycho-Pass for $30. I'll likely be keeping my eyes peeled for a few more such as Strike Witches (can't stop thinking about it!) and Love Live Sunshine (because why wouldn't I???), but otherwise I've pretty much gotten what I wanted for the year.

How was your Thanksgiving?

"It seems more like there is a prevailing mood of nihilism in popular culture and people integrate this into their own thinking, making themselves apathetic but hopeful that someone else will makes the system work better for them."
- That sums it up pretty well. Personally I went through a phase of absolute nihilism at one point, so perhaps I'm a bit more jaded from that experience. And speaking of Nietzsche, I've been hearing his name pop up quite a few times in some commentary I've been listening to lately.

My belief is that critical thinking doesn't have to be negative or flaw seeking by nature. Too many people see it the other way and equate cynicism with intellect. Or in laymen's terms, they all think they're as clever as Lelouch and as cynical as Hachiman.

Admittedly I find myself sometimes scoring shows mentally before they're over. From there, I'll latch onto it and justify my reaction to certain things based on that self contained score. It's why I've been taking a break from posting in final episode discussions lately (that and I'm just too lazy atm).

Yeah I started my little December event in 2012 with Gosick. The final episodes take place on Christmas Eve & Christmas and it left such a big impact that I wanted to do it again. I try to fit other quirky traditions in as well, such as replaying missions from old games on certain days. Now that I'm back into manga, I'm hoping to finish re-watching We Were There this week and then finish the manga before Christmas. I've been trying to do this for 4 years now but keep stalling.

On a side note, this is my first year doing anime shopping during BF. Sentai Filmworks is doing an extraordinary deal right now and I ended up getting the entire Space Brothers collection - which is $300+ easily - for a mere $40. I wasn't really serious about getting Strike Witches but damn, I'm gonna get it all if there are going to be deals like that!

Also, Happy Thanksgiving.

I used to be much more picky & critical of anime once upon a time. In recent years, however, I've found myself looking for the positive points of what a title offers. That doesn't mean painting it up to be all smiles & sunshine, just that I find myself wanting to focus more on what something does right or how I enjoyed it as opposed to nitpicking trivialities. Often times when I re-watch something years later, I just have to shake my head at some of the petty criticisms I leveled at it back then.

I used to be one of those edgy militant atheists who thought he was going to debunk the Bible and disprove God once and for all. To me, nihilism is one of the most disgusting & devoid mindsets in existence. I can't emphasize that enough and I think Western society is suffering too greatly at its hands.

"How do you decide what to watch next?"
Well for now, I've made a shortlist of watching/re-watching plans on my phone. I used to scan my PTW and pick out everything I was interested in, then put on some arbitrary tournament until I got down to the one I wanted. I also used to watch far more at once, but find that I can't divide my attention as much anymore. I'm currently focusing on KuroBas at the moment, then I'll be re-watching We Were There followed by Vampire Knight.

I'm also looking forward to the shows I've picked out for my "Days of Christmas" ritual. Basically I watch one episode of a show (24-25 episodes) per day in December until I get to Christmas. This year I've chosen Mahoutsukai no Yome, which looks very promising. Then there's also my Mushishi S2 re-watch, which is a great follow-up to my RW of Mushishi S1 last December.

Yeah, you have a point. I was being a little too cynical for my own liking. I think the better way to frame it is that I prefer when people do what's right because they recognize its value, not just because it's decreed. But I suppose the paradox is that because human nature is not inherently good, that's only idealistic at best. As James Madison put it, "If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary."

"But even I'm not that cynical, because I think that would be a substantially different society, even more atomized and inorganic than what we have now Or maybe I'm too optimistic..."
- I like to be optimistic when I can. I try to avoid cynicism as it often feels like the easy way out. I think that combined with a highly atomized society is what's leading to a culture so entrenched in nihilism and self-serving pleasure.

I have at least 3 documents with 25+ PTW priority lists. I want to clean my list up, but I don't even know where to begin. I've thought about making an alt and capping its PTW at 10 so I can stay focused. When I first joined MAL, I thought my PTW would be constantly being cleared. Now it just feels like the reminder that I don't have enough time in this world to watch everything that interests me.

It's seems kinda ambivalent on nationalism since the show ends on an unambiguously nationalist note, while at the same time the 'bad guys' are iirc trying to increase state security bureaucracy, something that isn't incompatible with a nationalist position at all; I guess the split is on the issue of maintaining the US alliance and the presumed 'senior partner' status of the US in that arrangement, which separates the 'good' and 'bad' nationalists.

It's kinda funny that despite adapting the post-apocalyptic setting from the original manga, the anime is commenting on the existing relationship between Japan and the US, so the concern about Japanese radiation scrubbers eroding the US nuclear deterrent is should be, logically, kinda irrelevant for people to worry about when the nuclear deterrent already failed.

I think that Japanese re-militarization is probably inevitable given the current trend of Chinese ultranationalism and expansionism and the persistent influence of Japanese ultranationalism. The US will probably support it as a way of increasing regional strength while keeping costs low.


At least the robot won't care what you or I look like...unless they're sentient...
Hey, maybe they'll be prostethic bodies or skin rejuvenation science that actually works in the future
I like to say 'I wana be a cyborg' but it seems kinda frightening to trust someone to translate part of your brain into computer code or something.
I think I would just stick to getting super powerful bionic arms like some 1980s cyberpunk villain lol


Yeah, but it was so long ago I barely remember it. I do remember she basically became Batman in that one lol
I have to admit 1995 black-hair Motoko is my favorite Motoko though

Indeed the show is sometimes messy but i relate to the show on personal level. Juna Ariyoshi just like the rejection she deal with in the show by changing her lifestyle. I eat healthy food and exercise a lot and people try bring me down because dont accept the changes i made for my life.

Another thing appericate from Earth Maiden Arjuna are other themes show talk about. Truly love episode of the teacher.
Everything in that show i have deal in life in my life.

The girls' conflict with society and loved ones due to seeing and knowing something that others dont see is touching and I bet we all can relate to it.
Overall Earth Maiden Arjuna is misunderstood

You Finish Ghost in the Shell Yahoo!!

Yeah, that's a very astute assessment. One of my sources of consternation watching it was trying to pin down what the creators political angle was on the 'refugee problem' and ending up not really being sure. Even more so than SAC, it's very unapologetically anti-American, I can say that much.


Will you lose respect for me if I say yes? :P
Or more accurately, that I sympathize with him because Dorothy Wainwright from Big O gave me a robot fetish.

Another reason I like this episode is it expands the range of experiences we see the Major having, to include something relatively mundane a lot of women encounter; and the whole "i'm not a robot exchange' does the job of communicating the unusual nature of the Major as a full-body cyborg and the broader theme of indistinguishability between human and machine. (on that note, when I was first watching episodes out of order I used to think the AI Ladies were people, and since they die a lot without comment I found the lack of reaction a bit odd lol)

I also like it because it's a light-hearted episode, and it breaks up the darker themes in the episode preceding it and, actually, I think it's the only light-hearted episode, and because the entire episode is a Cat's Eye reference of all things.


If you do, I hope you enjoy it. It's one of my favorite anime from this decade.


I don't blame you, Kamoi has a one-track kinda mind lol. I only watch it for muscle maid fanservice and to do jontron impressions in response to whatever insane thing she says/does :D

"So, people act like that in real life too, huh?"
- Indeed. I actually knew a girl in high school who used to ship male classmates (myself included). Though I'll also freely admit I'm quite the eccentric. I don't mind playing into lighthearted homo-eroticism to tease the ladies. There was one girl in college who basically wet herself when I pulled another guy in close to me by his tie. I also must admit I like teasing docile gay guys. Perhaps I would have made a better aristocrat in another era.

Fetish. That's certainly a fitting name for the degenerate nature of politics. Indeed, it's a machine I wholeheartedly loathe. Perhaps I over complicated the discussion about politics in anime. Yes, the easiest way to put it is this: I don't want anime being politicized because I hate and curse the realm of politics with all of my heart.

Yes, it's far more important to instill virtue as a desirable good as opposed to enforcing it out of fear for the consequences. Perhaps this might be a bit bold to say, but laws are - to some extent - the mark of an immoral society. After all, what prevents people from killing each other if it's no longer illegal?

Speaking of backlogs, I don't even use my PTW at this point. It's so easy to throw random shows on it that look interesting and now I'm at a point where I can't even look at it anymore. This is why picking out shows each season is a nightmare for me. I'll try to select 5 or 6 shows and end up taking interest in 25-30. This is the double edged sword of being easy to please.