I did this last time for fall so why not continue it as it meant a lot of people could recommend shows and is the few times we can be positive about CURRENT entertainment.
Putting in two caveats though:
- I didn't watch everything so only listing what I've seen with a few exceptions
- This season has suffered a lot from production issues and delays, I'll mark some as such as it might be better to hold off watching till they are done
Honorable mentions: Vinland saga, To your Eternity, Blue Lock. I'm too far behind on all of these so can't be fair in giving a review.
Ongoing from last season: Eminence in shadow: finding the perfect balance of cringe and cool, good thing we are getting a second season
Iruma-kun: nice wholesome show, some good character development this season for all the misfit class
New stuff:
Attack on titan: was really an hour long episode but they REALLY went all out, including showing how fucked you are if the rumbling catches up to you
Trigun Stampede: a very good adaptation of a classic series, I know, I know, CGI but this is GOOD CGI that actually makes it great.
Nier Automata Ver 1.1a: production delays A great adaptation from the game, a few jank 3D art here and there but a good watch
BOFURI: I Don't Want to Get Hurt, so I'll Max Out My Defense Season 2: You had that one friend that breaks the game by playing it for fun, witness the anime. Excellent anime for gamers.
The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady: if you liked Lycoris Recoil, You'll love this as the mc has major Chisato vibes. It has not one, but 2 yuri relationships so if you are 'no gay relationships EVER' skip but it's done organically compared to western media.
Tokyo Revengers Season 2: Building up from season 1, there is more character developments and set up for future seasons, watch if you enjoyed season 1
Tomo-chan is a Girl!: The beginning of tomboy supremacy. A girl that can hang out so well with the guys, she gets bro-zoned. Very funny series plus really love Carol not just as a character but her VA is the same in sub and dub. (Side note Carol and Ko aren't direct cousins, it's a mis translation due to how asian cultures record relations)
The Angel Next Door Spoils Me Rotten: a good wholesome romance anime, a nice pallette cleanser
Reborn to Master the Blade: From Hero-King to Extraordinary Squire: very basic story but the art is WAY too good for this series. If you like the 'battle junkie mc' premise, recommend watching Black Summoner instead, arts not as good but more character.
Buddy Daddies: Don't go in expecting a Spy Family alternative, it's got funny and wholesome moments but a lot of dark moments as it's about 2 hitmen taking care of a child after they kill her dad (she doesn't know)
Handyman Saitou in Another World: very unusual as the story is segmented in every episode, it might go to what a side character is doing, a flashback or different perspective. A mix of humour and dark fantasy.
Danmachi Season 4: Went A LOT darker this season, lots of death, desperation and close calls
Nagatoro Season 2: inching closer to an actual relationship with this one, maybe if there's a third season we actually get a commitment
Farming Life in Another World: very chill Isakai where mc is reborn with a godly farming tool, best boy Kuro, best girl Zabuton
Ningen Fushin: Adventurers Who Don’t Believe in Humanity Will Save the World: a group of people, all betrayed in different ways set up their own adventuring group to fund their own coping hobbies. Art isn't the best but likable characters.
Chillin’ in My 30s after Getting Fired from the Demon King’s Army: like the title, a chill anime with a timeskip halfway through. Also no question about the son's parentage, he's just as 'cultured' as his dad lol
The Misfit of Demon King Academy Ⅱ: Production delays Despite the chamge in VA, still stays true to the formula, gigachad mc walks in, owns his opponent, walks out.
My Life as Inukai-san’s Dog: I got 5 mimutes in and noped out, I ain't 'cultured' enough so anyone else watch this?
Saving 80,000 Gold in Another World for My Retirement: Simple but brilliant premise, mc gains the ability to teleport between ours and a fantasy world so uses it in the most genius way, Income tax evasion. Lighthearted but alludes to dark elements
The Reincarnation of the Strongest Exorcist in Another World: basically the title but added note, was betrayed because he was too powerful so in this life, looking to be in the party with the hero so that he can be more conspicuous. Is ok, best part is some of the monsters he summons like that terrifying one that interrogated a demon
Campfire Cooking in Another World with my Absurd Skill: our mc gets summoned with 3 other people, they get the standard isekai abilities but our boy, he gets 'online shopping'. Smarter than your average mc ducks out of the kingdom that summoned him and travels the world with this broken ability of amazon prime/Uber eats on demand. Great show to watch but eat beforehand as you will get hungry watching and Overlord fans will enjoy the VA for Fenrir.
Dishonorable mention: The Fruit of Evolution 2: I watched 3 episodes of season one, dropped it as it was so bland, thought I'd try 1 episode of season 2, see if it improved....it got WORSE, how did it get even worse! This has overtaken Isekai cheat magician as the worst Isekai I've ever watched!
That's everything, feel free to use it as a guide if you were on the fence, if you think something better should be mentioned or hidden gems I missed. A more calm season compared to fall.
Let's not do what leftists do and assume that everything happened first with us. 'Culture wars' have happened since mankind figured out reading and writing was an efficient way of recording knowledge. It's happened between religions, ideologies, kingdoms and empires, the only difference is how it has been fought either through force or conversion.
From a personal point, I think the left currently are done, their plans are failing more often, they are losing even acknowledgment from the normies and they are more prone to infighting than anything else. But that brings a new problem, damage control, the left unlike a lot of other failed ideologies and groups have no lifeboats, they don't have an out or a way to go back into the shadows. So they are going even harder, desperately trying to hold onto power because they know they'll face the wall (figuratively or literally) when they no longer have it.
So now it's literally a race in the west especially but all over the world to remove the leftists and their collaborators from any power before they can cause even more damage. That's my take but maybe others think the feminists win, China forms a worldwide empire or skynet takes over after having to listen to Twitter for a week. It just seems like the actions of the past 2 years especially is less of an organised, decades/century long plan and more 'throw as much shit at the wall as possible to hopefully damage our enemies'.
Came across this GTA online parody thanks to someone I'm subscribed to then got this Minecraft parody in my feed.
I'm just wondering if anyone else found any good parody videos as we may be at the start of a new golden age of meming thanks to both AI artwork and audio.
In a rare example of the YouTube algorithm doing it's job (mine seems focused on actual comedy, action and food), I kept getting shorts showing off different Manhwa. I knew about thanks to Solo levelling and the few shows that Crunchyroll promoted that didn't live up to the hype they pushed so made a Webtoons account to try it out...
Yeah I fell into a rabbit hole thanks to 4 series....
The short that got me into it was of Teenage Mercenary thanks to a short of him beating the crap out his sister's bullies. This is good action series with one of my favourite characters being Dushik Cha, with many comments calling him the 'gangster uncle'. From there started to move on to ZOMGAN thanks to recommendations. This one REALLY goes hard early on in that it comes with music, great visuals and a dark comedy vibe to it. I then after catching up, moved to The Advanced Player of the Tutorial Tower, an action comedy that is just a fun time especially with the main character's attitude.
Then there is the one that REALLY made me realise I'm in this rabbit hole forever, Omniscient Reader, dear god is this a good series as it even made Twitch streaming sound badass!
So while western comic media is circling the drain and the film universes are fatiguing, it does seem like if you want entertainment both read and watched, you turn East. So has anyone else got into similar rabbit holes as I know we have a large anime viewership here and can maybe have a few recommendations for a guy just starting to branch out.
It's Friday so let's have some good things we can suggest for the weekend rather than be drained by all the shit we see advertised in the West.
Wanted to watch it for 2 main reasons:
-
I enjoyed the first season and wanted to see if second season was as good tdlr: it is
-
The fact there was articles coming out Wednesday/Thursdays about him being investigated for the Markle article made me suspicious they might be trying to start a boycott like Hogwarts Legacy. Wanted to see if there's any reason the left might not want the public to watch it.
Spolier if you want to watch it first from here, skip to the tldr as last line:
It's as funny, informative and interesting as the first season but HEAVILY showed how government interference has brankrupted farmers and is strangling farmers attempts to diversify their income.
The EU essentially had subsidised farmers heavily, with Brexit happening that ends in the UK. Not just that but the EU farmers still have the subsidiary so they can lower the cost of their produce like pigs and undercut UK farmers in price.
The government has been wishy-washy on cowering this (as who cares about food security when Ukraine needs to be funded) so farmers need to look to other methods to balance the books as supermarkets undercut them so Clarkson decides to make a restaurant to sell his and other farmers produce there at a better rate.
The council doesn't just refuses planning permission on his land, but then start pulling every restriction they can to hurt him (even putting cones all along a country road outside his shop). He gets round this with loopholes by using an old barn instead for his restaurant and building it 2 days after they tell the council about it.
He also illustrates the horrible handling of TB with badgers and Cows and of the amount of redtape that holds farmers back.
TLDR: Season 2 illustrates the inadequacies, inefficiencies and pettiness of government that stops farmers earning a livable income from their produce alone including stopping diversification efforts. Not good having this widely viewed if you're trying to take farmer's land from them...
Something that I was thinking about seeing the reaction to the Dead Space remake (TDLR for my opinions on the game, looks alright but an inferior version of the original which you can buy cheaper).
I've seen more and more that media we term as 'woke' (which most of the time we are right about but a few false flags here and there) getting dismissed as us applying our political biases onto a product because of who made it, the characters being displayed etc than valid criticism of an inferior product usually belonging to a franchise that was usurped than built up.
We're risking the same issue the left did with Nazi and racist where it was overused to such a degree it became easy to dismiss. The best way to counter this really is just go tldr than just say 'It's woke'. Quick points to highlight issues (e.g. the writing is terrible, the sound design is poorly utilised) than writing a paragraph to explain your point. If people then respond you can go deeper if they're not being asinine (you only hate it because she no longer has big boobs etc)
So I'm not a hypocrite in this example, TDLR: We're overusing 'woke' that we risk being dismissed easily.
The FEW things Wikipedia is good for, getting plot summaries to games a day after release.
Spoiler if you care, TDLR:
Had someone inside your crashed ship so when it explodes, tragic death. Also has the crewmate that dies in the beginning as the Necromoph that infects the Valor and kills Hammond.
Added more back story to Issac and Nicole, his mother was a Unitologist, Nicole said said she was safe, mother commits murder-suicide on father so relationship strained as she is a shit doctor
Story changed that Mercer, Kyne and Nicole were studying Necromophs than the marker as in the original, the focus was the marker to the point the captain used the ship's ADS to shoot down ANY ship to stop the outbreak reaching the ship, one got through (Dead space Downfall)
Instead of Nicole being a pure hallucination made by the marker to manipulate you, it's actually Cross and she see's you as Temple by the Markers influence.
Mercer dies like a bitch than in the original WILLFULLY allowing himself to be turned
The secret ending implies Issac WANTS to build a new marker, than as shown in the second, he first wants to stop the hallucinations but when that plan turns out to be a lie, decides on plan B, destroy the marker which the hallucination allows him to get closer to it to try to kill him (the marker fails). The new marker was only made thanks to reading his brainwaves by that needle machine so by force not willing.
After reading this then looking at a few clips on YouTube, it feels like it's not a bad game but less than the original with unneeded explanations, backstory and plot contrivances. The original had a lot of ambiguity and that added to the thill and tense atmosphere. This also not just negates the originals ending BUT completely destroys Dead Space Downfall which was a good animation showing how everything went to shit and also destroys Dead Space Extraction too by adding in these plot changes.
Spolier: Do not put 'listening to leftists' as your answer, too easy.
With the paracite hangers on of game 'journalists' the first to go, the amount of bleakness from Ubisoft, EA trying to sell itself harder than a crackwhore, we are approaching a point where we may end up with only 3-5 major ones left and a few focused on one title that's been around for decades (eve online, your DOTA games etc).
Doesn't really affect us as I think I'm safe in saying we all have backlogs that can outlast us being on Earth! So why not make this a fun opportunity to go 'you know, if you did this , you wouldn't be begging for money'. Choose whichever companies you want on what you think was a missed opportunity:
EA: Not using their IPs together enough. Seriously how hard would it have been to make a Battlefield game set in the Command and Conquer Red Alert or Tiberium franchise or even do a sports game but in the backdrop of Mass effect. They seemed to be all about processing IPs than using them effectively.
Bethesda: not using an Id engine for Fallout 4. When I played Rage, the story was lackluster but the combat and gameplay was smooth, fun with fantastic visuals. Unless there was a hidden licensing reason, why not use THAT for Fallout 4, that seemed like the perfect engine .
Nintendo: making it too difficult to buy and play older titles so creating a piracy market.
Microsoft: not letting gamers be the one to design their military AR project as they could've probably told you the dumb parts quickly.
Sony: Not embracing Japanese game devs, not leveraging their monopoly on anime with PS+ by doing, for example, free first 3 episodes of a series on Crunchyroll if you have PS+. Also on Crunchyroll, just put an adults only section for uncensored anime, have it behind a paywall of some small fee and a SECOND password and you'll probably get a lot more subscribers.
There's more I could mention like Ubisoft, Rockstar, CD projekt etc but gone on too long and let this be a collective 'I would've done this' thread.
TDLR; Reject modernity, Embrace Empire!
So for the non history guys wondering why this is a big deal 'we already have concrete?' Yes and it can be stronger than Roman concrete but does not have the longevity of roman concrete as look at the amount of Roman architecture still standing when left untouched by humans for thousands of years.
The cause is it's structure, roman concrete has a lot of lime deposits in it. When over time cracks form, when it rains the water reacts with these lime deposits, recrystalise and fill the cracks, essentially self healing the structure. The romans had nanomachines before they were a thing. Near seawater, their structures actually got tougher over time due to exposure to the minerals in the seawater.
So us finally understanding this means we can now create longer lasting and even stronger structures given time. Lets just hope this Roman concrete is ONLY used in ancient, renaissance or gothic architecture and not any of the shit we make nowadays!
Thought this was a fun example of how much studying history is extremely important to improving the current world.
Alright may as well talk about it, the recent Archcast brought this to light but everything from trans pushes to how people apply social media to the real world this is something that's been on my mind a lot.
We should have in our heads a clear distinction between what is fiction and what is reality. Reality is the empirical, from our senses, experience and anaylsis of the environment. Fiction is the opposite, it be based on aspects of reality but isn't required and should have little to no consequences on reality.
We've always had issues with the two with superstitions and mysticism but usually they were either because of lack of knowledge or to remember real world dangers (a tale of a monster attacking if you build there is a warning tsunamis hit this area)
But now it's gone nuts. We have a media encouraging delusions on sex, right and left saying drawings are immoral yet the left say that teaching kids about sex positions is fine and that a woman can beat up a man twice her size.
If I were to pin point when the acceleration pedal was pushed down on this, I'd say it's when normies hit the Internet. They were used to every communication being with an actual person that when they got on the Internet, they didn't understand the etiquette that you can be whatever you want here. They have never caught onto that distinction and it's why we see so many pushes to remove anonymity.
Then there's the lolicon 'debate', it's more a canary in the coal mine for us all than a hill not to die on. Look at everything that happened to it first, payment processors refusing service, refusal to allow content despite meeting tos, criminalisation in some countries of a drawing. This started with fictional content but has bled so easily into speech laws, the fictional was the thin edge of the wedge to then target the real.
I'll stop here to not go too long tldr; The West at large has lost a lot of it's ability to tell fiction from reality and it's led to the mass adoptions of delusions along with using fictional content to target the real world
I'm getting in early so I can win 'Transphobe of the year 2023'
Joking aside, we've seen in the past decades, although I'd argue a century at least, how women's roles have changed in WESTERN society. The result, increased depression and stress rates, lower birth rates, more people maiming themselves to 'turn into a woman' and truly evil amounts of abortions each year.
And part of the problem is shifting the concept of femininity, if you ask the feminists you seem to get a response of being a man-whore (acting with behaviours associated with men along with free to sleep around with no attachments), the left say it can be applied to anyone that identifies as female (which is why they try to shift goal posts to include men with femininity) and the right at least focuses on being a competent mother first.
We can all see how this has translated in our media, we went from supporting wives and girlfriends caring for the kids while helping their man overcoming their enemies to women being invincible warriors and all men are dumb so why be tied down to one.
I think a lot of this push to change what femininity means comes from a fundamental aspect of it, it has an element of submission to it. Not in a full 'Handmaid's tale' that feminists like to jerk off to, but there seems to an element of willingly placing yourself behind a man and supporting him in life, something that is consitently mocked and belittled in western media and social media now.
It's one aspect of why western media is dying because of what they portray isn't femininity but men in female skinsuits. I'll stop it here so it doesn't become an essay but I do think the rejection of femininity is one aspect of our current societal collapse.
Do I know or claim to know everything, no. If I did I'd probably be dead in an alley in a 'mugging gone wrong' where they leave my wallet or become this world's Jigsaw.
Point is though, with the different backgrounds and people we have on here, I think we can build up a picture of globally, where each part of the world currently stands, what are the current patterns and what might be an opportunity or an impending issue.
I am going to put on here 'lack information' when I don't have enough knowledge to work on personally. This is my impressions from all the information I have seen so if you want to add or disagree feel free to.
North America Canada: If is hasn't already fallen off the cliff, it's hanging on by it's fingertips. Euthanasia ads, targeting of private bank accounts, the failure to remove the current government despite it's actions during lockdowns in a recent election, my hopes for Canada coming back are extremely slim.
US: the recent Kari Lake lawsuit have shown how far the establishment will corrupt the election process to maintain power, and how much GOP establishment will scorch their own party to maintain their personal control. I'm seeing bulkanization as a really high possibility as red states still in control move to reduce federal control and be more independent/allying with fellow morally and aligned states. There is a possibility of civil war but the likely starting point will be a red state refusing to comply with federal orders, the federal institutions trying to use force to get compliance and the state defending itself.
Mexico: not enough information but the continuing flood of migrants into the US means that the revolution they need to reorganise the country into something productive won't happen so long as this release valve is open.
South America: Lack information but recent events in Brazil and elections show that the lefts infiltration is at a institutional level but not at a populous or military level.
Europe: UK: ok this one is a weird mix. On the one hand, DEEP infiltration on establishment, police, media and even military command by the left. On the other, they hold not much to no sway on monarchy (they tried hard after Queen's death but Charles is seeming to take his lead from how his mother ruled) and even less of the population actually respects their authority. There is a growing power vacuum happening as it seems like no institution holds true control.
Wrstern Europe: There has been a mass effort to disenfranchise voters by making them not want to vote instead of the US's route of actively screwing with the elections. This has meant that when voters DO turn out, it can cause big changes. The results of constant migration has weakened support for the left for all non-brainwashed and the growing resentment is also weakening support for the EU as it is slowly dying being proped up by global interests.
Eastern Europe: The war in Ukraine has eased in more leftist infiltration under the guise of defence support but the overt pushes by the EU to force their 'morality' over their sovereignty is getting increased pushback
Russia: the current war has highlighted the technological disadvantage Russia has against the West and the need for after this War to reorganise and restructure their military. Outside of that, they are not in the worst position. The west's isolation strategy has backfired as Russia has the raw materials to maintain itself and has cut off the leftist brainwashing propaganda. Not just that but the 'everyone opposes you strategy' has probably solidified support for Putin in a siege mentality.
Africa: Lack information for clear picture but the fact many nations told the US to fuck off not buying grain from Russia implies they have too many issues to be anythng but pragmatic.
Middle East: lack information for full picture but Opec countries siding more with Russia over oil shows either A) they know Russia long term is the best bet and/or B) that the West's green agenda while on paper would greatly hurt them, in reality is maiming themselves so taking advantage to apply pressure for more gains in the future.
India: Lack information for full picture, only fragmented assumptions
Asia: lack information but on two major players
China: seems history repeats itself with the Covid 0 policy. It's internally crippling the country and while it might have started as an excuse to solidify power to remove people under 'health concerns', it's backfiring HARD as the power structure in China has never incentivised giving accurate information, rather for governors to lie to the central authorities to save their own skins. There is a collapse on the way and hopefully it means China cannot attack Taiwan otherwise it might end up like the Falklands War.
Japan: In a weird state as they have always been slow to adopt and even slower to get rid of it. An example of this is covid policy as it seems a mismatch of there's no official policy but some businesses acting like it's still policy. A small light into something promising is when Elon took over Twitter and their trending feeds immediately was full of Anime, Manga and Jpop. This MIGHT show that leftist infiltration was not embedded enough and without constant pushing is easily forgotten. If more of these western pushes can be shut down then all Japan needs to focus on is their birthrates (which might be more reliant on work culture) and can easily be a heavy hitter again.
Oceania:
Australia: have gone largely authoritarian, not to the extent of Canada telling their population if they can't get up the stairs they should kill themselves but used covid as an excuse to turn the country back into a prison colony.
New Zealand: pretty much copying Australia though it can be argued thanks to the reduced population size being easier to monitor, even more restrictive.
Feel free to add as I only have a picture on certain places.
We get bombarded by a lot of shit all year round, from governments, media sites to the dying old media. Under this constant barrage of sewage, it's good to have things you can escape to rather than just sit there and absorbing it all like a Liberal arts student.
So whether it's working out, taking walks in a park, gaming, anime or sneaking your trash into that annoying neighbour you have, it's the little things in life.
And although we can hate the management at the top, Youtube is still the number one in terms of content creators and podcasts so what have you enjoyed on that side that stop you looking at bulldozer sales.
I've every week enjoyed Solus Astorias comic dubs, Templin Institute when they are active (off for holidays), Count Dankula and when they drop the Kane Pixels backrooms series showing a teenager has more talent than 99% of Hollywood and media giants. And let's not forget the foriegn market though that language barrier will only last so long to keep out the leftists..