Three Episode Rule: Princess Principal

After being so annoyed with Clockwork Planet not really embracing the Clockwork motif as a setting (my opinion and taste to be completely honest), Princess Principal embraces its Steampunk aesthetic in a way I’ve not truly encountered since Last Exile: Fam, the Silver Wing. Princesses, intrigue, gray moralities, and action is the order of the day, and I’m honestly loving it, as it is classic Hollywood spy-thriller with gadgets, convoluted sneaking around, and mooks being mowed down or missing completely. This is going to be short, I’ve been suffering a bout of bronchitis, and this was started on over a week ago and now only finishing it.

Space Battleship Yamato 2202: Warriors of Love (Episodes 1 & 2)

I will make an out-and-out admission. Space Battleship Yamato 2199 was the first Yamato series I’ve watched from beginning to end. I’ve seen bits and pieces of previous Yamatos and of course, watched the Americanized Star Blazers when I was a kid. I know bits of lore mainly from friends and summaries. So let’s see how this works out shall we? Also, tried to make em short, but I think I failed.

Disclaimer: Yes, I know the series titlecard has it as “Soldiers of Love”, I’m going via what the wikis are saying. And even then the image filenames will still be wol###e## because too lazy.

Quick Thought: End Thoughts for Spring 2017

With the end of another anime season, a few shows I’ve stuck with come to a close. One show still goes on, and its pacing is actually holding up. But for the others, my thoughts below.

And yes, they’ll actually be quick.

Quick Thought: Boxes

 

Drawn by mochizuki saku on pixiv.

I had been sent home from work for reasons I won’t elaborate beyond ‘medical’. But while waiting in the parking lot of the urgent care, waiting for it to open so I can get checked out, read that a gunman had opened fire on Republicans practicing for the traditional Congressional Baseball Game. There are -as of now- credible reports that the shooter had asked the party affiliation of the players on the field before opening fire. The House Majority Whip, Representative Steve Scalise, representing the 1st District of Louisiana, was shot in the hip but is in stable condition undergoing surgery as of now.

UPDATE 6/14/2017 2306EDT: The extent of the damage is greater than initially reported, Representative is in critical condition where the rifle round shattered bone and ruptured organs.

You know, it’s really hard to stay apolitical on this blog with what has been going on in just US domestic politics. I could comment more, but I’ve made a promise not to fill my blog with my personal politics, and so far, I’ve kept that, though bent it here and there.

I’m not going to start preachin’ today.

Just hit a pensive mood while I was looking at the constantly updating story. About the idea of the four boxes of liberty.

Between you and me, dear readers, I still believe in this great nation. She ain’t perfect, but she’s the best of the two I’ve lived in. But belief doesn’t overturn the growing reality, and personally, I keep involved.

I just hope I don’t have to use the last box.

Quick Thought: Not Exactly Midpoint – Spring 2017 Thoughts

Reisen on a Computer, drawn by itsutsuki on pixiv.

So, I intended to make this post on the actual mid-way point for the shows that managed to keep me interested, but as one could see, it didn’t go as well. With personal matters and just plain lethargy over the current titles seeping in, I needed some time away from things. I’m not as prolific as Infinite Zenith is in coming out with content, but I hope the few things I do, some people find some enjoyment out of it.

And now to just quickly go through these shows.

Three Episode Rule – Wonderlands, Clocks, and Fantastic Things Comes Alive

Zuikaku drawn by mashayuki on pixiv

So, Spring 2017 is three weeks in with a bunch of series already making for their fourth episodes, I might as well give a short thought to each of the series I’m trying to keep track of this season. Around five this time rather than three. So let’s dive in shall we?

Late Quick Thought: Sakura Matsuri DC and Kimi no Na wa

A few days ago I managed to make a quick visit to the Sakura Matsuri being held at the Washington D.C. Navy Yard. The highlight of the afternoon though was getting to see the North American theatrical premier of Kimi no Na wa. Overall it was a pretty good day.

Artist Unknown, found on Danbooru.

Impressions – Saga of Tanya the Evil

This isn’t normally how I do these sort of things. But Youjo Senki was recommended to me by a crapton of friends, telling me this is right up my alley. Now, I’m paraphrasing Ben “Yahtzee” Crowshaw’s review of COD4: Modern Warfare. It’s as If all the bleating sheep said this was a good series.

And in a way, it was.

Scatterbrained – Prologue to Youjo Senki Impressions

Talking with a friend on Facebook about the end of Youjo Senki, and I think I finally admit it.

I can barely write. I’m too scatterbrained to write something concrete and my muse too fleeting to pen something insightful apart from simple blog articles. Chasing down tidbits of knowledge and stringing them together is a bit difficult for me because I just wander a lot.

I’ll ‘forget’ something but it’ll come back when I need it in a conversation or a post with chapter, verse, and if important enough, which edition of the tome from whence it came.

I guess I feel a bit down, because while I was able to have a conversation with him, I have some difficulty in putting what I said into a more organized form.

That organization I think is key, and why I don’t dare move out of my blog truth be told. There have been a small smattering of folks over the years who pointed out that I might try my hand in writing for Random Curiosity, doubly so when they had open hires. Another friend is still pushing me to go to cons as a Press badge holder, and I have toyed with the idea of presenting a panel.

But while I can talk at length in an informal setting about something, I don’t think I can give a lecture on it.

I too think my analogy fits, considering we were just talking about it. That “I’m more wired to be a field agent, writing quick reports, than an office body writing a quarterly summary.”

“Rest at a Nice Place with a View” by Mochizuki Shu on Pixiv

 

Quick Thought: Youjo Senki Weapons Mix (Vol. 2)

So I decided to turn this into a series of quick thoughts regarding the weapons depicted in Youjo Senki. Now as a preface to all that, I’m doing this mainly for my own ends, intending to use the work from this series of posts elsewhere, and this becoming a bit of a resource for me.

This entry focuses on the weapons of the Nomajs. The muggles. The Poor Bloody Infantry. Because, as ze Blogfather, Miguel over at Gun Free Zone said: “The best way to cement a fantasy is to have a well-defined reality.”

 

Edit: I also created the IMFDB page for the series here.