Saturday, August 31, 2013

10 Second Anime - Hyperdimension Neptunia - Episode 8

Hyperdimension Neptunia - Episode 8


Really, stop messing with girls' pudding. A visit to the R-18 Island means bright rays of light follow everywhere. Then PC gets entranced and kidnapped!


PC and Neptune are still fighting over pudding. Meanwhile the console CPU's get reports of some strange artillery being installed on the adults only island of R-18. Heh. That's the Japanese code for restricted to 18 years and over for video games. As the they fly to the island, they make sure Pluto does not transform to goddess mode. Double heh. On this island, you either wear a bikini or go nude all the time. But if you go nude, the convenient censor rays of light follow you around. Boo! Pluto gets to transform anyway when their guide gets caught slipping a roofie into Neptune's drink.

Back at Planeptune, the younger girls have their own pool party on the patio, but PC gets kidnapped by someone pretending to be her mother. She hacks PC to give her access... well, she hypnotizes her to call her Mama, and whisks her away. And she's working for the stalker from Episode 6! PC is gone before Neptune can make up with her.

10 Second Anime: Danganronpa Episode 9

Danganronpa Episode 9


Lots of red herrings thrown into the locked room mystery. This was almost the last episode for Aoi, whew! Glad that it wasn't. And now the secret 16th student must make an entrance.

For a second, I thought this was the last episode mai waifu Aoi was going to be in, but she was also one of the red herrings. Sakura committed suicide after all, and Aoi's actions after the fact almost got the rest of the students executed as well. The missing clue was that Aoi had talked with Sakura after she had been hit over the head twice by other students, and Sakura drank poison after sending Aoi for a protein sports drink. It was Aoi's quick thinking to switch around the poison bottle and protein drink to make it look like she was the culprit, if the other two students weren't judged to be the killers. The rules of the classroom court say that if the vote for the killer is wrong, all the students die, which was Aoi's intent after seeing Sakura take her own life. Thanks to Naegi and Kirigiri, they were able to solve the crime correctly. And the students forgave Aoi for being emotional after her best friend died.

Now that the mole is gone, Monokuma is at a disadvantage if the students decide to stop killing each other. To show them he's still in charge, he executes the AI who was decrypting the files containing information about the origins of this crazy premise. And now, he must bring in the 16th secret student to stir things up.

10 Second Anime - Love Lab - Episode 9

Love Lab - Episode 9


Lots of tears over Sayo quitting the Student Council. Makio is finally put to good use, though the teachers have about the same reaction as the Love Lab girls do. Girls can be way sneaky.


Well, the much anticipated date-o post mortem party was cancelled due to Sayo getting caught walking with her boyfriend on digicam by the newspaper association, and offering to quit the Student Council as part of her punishment. Almost everybody cries. Enomoto, because it's her best friend since grade school. Suzu, because she's a sensitive soul. And Nana, because she took the picture, but didn't want anybody to get in trouble. Meanwhile, Riko and Maki are brainstorming ways to get Sayo back in. With the Newspaper Association's help, they fashion Makio Evolved! By weaving in some truth, like the love advice requests left in the suggestion boxes, the student council comes up with this fantastical tale of pretending to be a boy to help answer a question. In this scenario, Sayo took the fall so as not to implicate anyone in fraternizing with boys, because that's against the rules. Maki uses up her political capital by claiming that she can't say no to helping anyone who asks the Student Council. The teachers relent, and all the Student Council members have to do is write a letter of apology.

But where did all the details for Makio Evolved come from to match the picture on the camera, which was already in possession by the faculty? Oh, just old-fashioned bribery of the former Newspaper Club advisor with snacks, to grab the camera, download a copy of the picture, and return it. Pretty sneaky, sis.

As for some comedy points, I do love a call back to a Riko strike, even including the new hairstyle. And giving the teachers super-deformed reaction shots - awesome sauce.

Now that bit of drama has been resolved, I wonder what's next for the Love Lab girls. I was hoping we'd get back to boy troubles at the cram school, but it looks like we'll have strange family characters offering love advice.

Friday, August 30, 2013

10 Second Anime - Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 9

Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 9


It's time for the bamboo lantern festival, and an old high school friend of Fuu's father comes to visit. He was the serious one in the photography club, but he still misses his old friend, and sees that Fuu takes after him in many ways.


Natsume, old friend of Fuu's father and the photography studio owner, comes by to finally visit Takehara after 20 years. He was the serious one, always telling Sawatari not to put the subject of the photo always in the middle. He notices Fuu takes pictures the same way. Kanae gets annoyed enough to say that the composition in Fuu's pictures isn't important, it's the feelings they evoke. Well, what does Natsume know anyway, since he stopped taking pictures before he graduated to concentrate on college and career.

Chiho, the okonomiyaki restaurant chef shows off her skills and impresses Natsume with how the sauce tastes the same as he remembered, adding her generation's special flavor as well.

Fuu and Kanae run into pro photographer Riho unsuccessfully trying to catch Momoneko with her camera, and she adds to Fuu's and Kanae's conversation with Natsume that a photographer should follow her passion. Natsume concedes as much, talking with Fuu later, that his friend Sawatari's photos were all filled with love of his family. Aww. There was a heart in there after all.

And now, bonus gifs of Momoneko:

10 Second Anime - Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu - Episode 9

Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu - Episode 9


Sonora returns from the hospital. Rin keeps Yura's secret that she cheated. The girls confront Yura about how the competition wasn't any fun. And Yura goes to the dark side!


The tournament organizers called Yura to make sure she wasn't a zombie player in the split-second that she shot Rin and won. She lies. However Rin confirms to the tournament that she saw no rule-breaking, keeping Yura's secret. The other club members, hearing all this, try to reassure Yura that she must have been confused in that instant. But she knows, and wants another shot at Rin to erase that empty victory. The other girls take this opportunity to confront Yura about how she ran things, how the competition wasn't fun, and she didn't even notice Rento was hurt too. They won't have any rematches with any school if they're going to have things done Yura's way.

However, Sonora sees right to the point, and tells Yura, even if she were a zombie, it's okay for a beginner to make a mistake, just not to let it happen again. This seems to harden Yura's heart, and while the other girls practice their aim in a fun way, she pays a visit to Rin to find out why she let the victory stand. Rin wants an obvious victory, not a cheap one that sounds like a loser excuse. And she sees perhaps a kindred spirit in Yura, to win at any cost, that she wants to foster.

It worked. Yura turned. We know this because her pellet tracer switched from pink to blue. So anime.

10 Second Anime - Servant x Service - Episode 9

Servant x Service - Episode 9



Plain dressed Chihaya is plain. No words = Kiss, slap. Skirts just keep getting shorter these days, amirite? Tanaka sure was cute before, well, you know.


Megumi is so bold, kyaa! Wait, I've typed that before. Chihaya is just feeling frustrated because she's preparing Lucy for her date with Hasebe, but she hasn't gone out on a date with Ichimiya in quite a while. And that kiss, then the slap, to express "thanks for being jealous of other guys looking at me in my revealing cosplay outfits for Comiket, but being too nice to say that out loud." I think someone is writing from experience here.

Lucy seems to have all the answers for not wearing a skirt. Too long - she might step on it and trip. Knee length - she's short and it won't look good. Mid-thigh - she's not confident. Super-mini - Impossible! They'll have to go shopping again, I guess.

Later, Hasebe's sister comes by to visit with Lucy, and trades stories about Tanaka with her and Miyoshi. He even tried that "go out with me!" trick on the older sister Kaoru back in high school. Instant rejection! Which means even through college, Tanaka hasn't gotten a girlfriend yet.

I cringe at even typing that. As if "getting" a girlfriend is like buying a super rare celebrity card and then having the celebrity sign it. Oh, so that's why Lucy's so happy. It's not like she's getting married or something. Whoops, Hasebe hears that part of the conversation wrong. It's Kaoru getting married, and he's moping about losing Lucy all afternoon for nothing. Being that depressed, having the circumstances lift the depression leading to bright red shame, yeah, that might impair judgment. Like leading to a confession about your feelings for some girl. Ah. That happens too. Remember: comedy in the ancient sense is supposed to be about love. Heh.

Thursday, August 29, 2013

10 Second Anime - Silver Spoon - Episode 8

Silver Spoon - Episode 8


Hachiken's time at the Mikage farm is almost over, he slowly earns the respect of Aki's father. Runaway cows learn not to mess with great-granny's carrots. And Hachiken overreacts to tasting fresh food.


Now that Aki's father has recovered enough from his hernia surgery, he gets to spend more time with the part-time worker, and he doesn't like what he sees. He doesn't like how much the rest of the family likes him, but Hachiken's work ethic grudgingly earns his respect. We also get to see a little bit more about Hachiken's problem's with his family when his talented older brother drops by for a surprise visit. It was hard trying to live up to the expectations set up by someone who made it into Tokyo University, and we see a hint of the failure Hachiken suffered. But even the older brother didn't live up to their father's expectations since he dropped out to make ramen instead, even though he's terrible at it. We're beginning to see why Hachiken wanted to go to a school very far away from home.

After accidentally spilling a lot of milk, even the Mikage father forgives him in his manly way, letting Hachiken work through his feelings of responsibility, and showing him everything is okay by giving him the first soy roasted corn brought over by the Komaba twins. As he receives his paycheck, still willing to have the lost milk portion deducted from it, he learns that work is rewarded on a different scale than what is just able to be materially sold at market. As the Japanese would say: That is that, and this is this.

Finally, a bonus gif to remind you not to accidentally look at women's udders.

10 Second Anime - Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 327-328

Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 327-328

Yay! Double episode! Boo! Double flashback episodes. The best of epic Naruto seen from Kurama the nine-tail's perspective. Plus, Naruto winning by being tricksy.

When I saw there was a double episode of Naruto this week, I thought I would have to do two separate 10 Second Anime posts. But when I saw how full of flashbacks they were, I figured it would still boil down into 10 seconds. Yup. The only new thing was 5 minutes of Naruto doing what he knows how to do best, use shadow clones. Although, making a monster barf you up because he has a belly full of Narutos is pretty novel. Bonus is the tricksy part, leave a shadow clone inside gathering nature energy to enter Sage Mode, and help pull/push that chakra rod out of Son Goku the four-tail. This is how you make friends with a wild monster: pull a thorn out of his side.

10 Second Anime - Free! - Episode 8

Free! - Episode 8


The old swim club coach swears he's seen Ama-chan Sensei somewhere before, Haruka sulks, the other guys don't make it to the finals, and Gou surprises the club by signing them up for the medley relay. This surprises Rin too.


For a bunch of guys who haven't swum competitively for years, making the semifinals isn't bad. But how far can they get in the medley relay, which they didn't even practice the exchanges in? We'll have to see next episode.

Also, having a coach around, if even to teach the finer points cheering from the stands, is not a bad thing.

Rin seems awfully pissed off for having his old friends swim together again. Jealous much? And he really doesn't like the new guy Rei who took his place in the butterfly. Aw, he misses his friends, but is too tsun-tsun to admit it. "It's not like I'm mad that you didn't ask me to swim with you guys, or anything!" Yeah, we know Rin.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

10 Second Anime - Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou - Episode 9

Inu to Hasami wa Tsukaiyou - Episode 9


Natsuno catches the stalker, who wanted to accidentally give her his daughter's book. Somehow not related to hypnotized attackers, though. One mystery down, perhaps another pops up?


After missing out on that book at the hot springs inn, Celestial Romance, Natsuno and the dog purchase it at the local bookstore. Upon returning, book maniac that he is, Kazuhito notices an extra book in the apartment. Someone had broken in and planted the very book they bought. Mysterious. They decide to read the book to see if there are any clues as to why, and if this pseudonymous author is related. The only thing that happens is that the dog feels like a love potion hit him, which flatters Natsuno, and that the writing style seems very much like Natsuno's. That avenue for clues dries up, so Natsuno calls her agent to see if she knows anything about the author. After some convincing *cough*torture*cough* Suzuna tells them the author is the daughter of a famous historical fiction writer and gives them the address written down by the author.

The address happens to be in Kazuhito's old town, in the same neighborhood as his school. As they take a shortcut through an abandoned warehouse, they get attacked by another mob of hypnotized people. After Natsuno uses the dog-rocket-punch, the mysterious stalker appears, and it is the famous historical writer. His daughter tasked him with sending a copy of her book to Shinobu Akiyama, Natsuno's pen name, but he didn't want to do it, because he hates Akiyama's writing. Instead, he looked for opportunities for Natsuno to pick up the book by chance, like leaving it in the lobby of a hotel, or using the security company's key to place the book in her library, so he could fulfill his daughter's request without compromising his disrespect. Yeah, it's convoluted comedy, right? And, he's also not responsible for the hypnotized mob. Huh.

After all this, the address for the author is indeed Kazuhito's old school. And while looking for clues, the dog goes to his old book club room, pulls out an old manuscript, and his old club mate is there to meet him. She is the mysterious author and responsible for the mobs?

10 Second Anime - The World God Only Knows - Goddesses Arc - Episode 8

The World God Only Knows - Goddesses Arc - Episode 8


The awakened goddesses gather to consult the sleeping Apollo, but she's busy trying to redirect misfortune away from Katsuragi's town. Haqua gets caught up in the Vintage conspiracy, and Katsuragi gambles on Chihiro having the last goddess in her.

All the subplots are beginning to converge into the main plot of Vintage restarting the war between Heaven and New Hell. Diana, one of the goddesses, senses danger beginning to build, and assembles the previously awakened goddesses to use their power to awaken the sleeping Apollo to perform a divination. She has already been cured of the Vintage poison, but has been sleeping under a protective water spell since then, and Katsuragi finds out she has been using her current power to change the flow of misfortune building within the town. This misfortune must be related to the plans of Vintage, who seems to have some highly placed agents to imprison Haqua for merely mentioning their name.

Meanwhile, Katsuragi accelerates his plans to awaken the last goddess Mercury, who is either in Chihiro or Ayumi. He gambles on Chihiro first, and asks her to the bonfire after the school festival.

10 Second Anime - Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi - Episode 8

Kamisama no Inai Nichiyoubi - Episode 8


The plan for the great escape from Gora Academy hits a snag when some of the students don't want to leave. After some convincing by Ai, everyone comes along, only to be caught by the sharpshooting principal. Someone else might be a sharper shooter.

Tanya, Mimi, and Meme don't think they can go home because of the trouble their return would cause their parents. But then Ai demonstrates the difference between simple and easy when chasing your dream. "Do everything you can to fulfill your dream to go home to your parents. And if that home won't do, find someplace else. And if you can't find it, then build it yourself." Simple steps, but not easy. For Tanya the synesthete, Ai burns too bright when she says those kinds of things.

After exchanging stories about how they grew up, Tanya still seems set on staying, but as they're all leaving, she shows up at the last minute. Class Q all makes it out of the academy, only to be confronted by the principle (final boss!). She takes out her six-shooter when the kids refuse to come back, and Alis uses his special ability that's been hinted at for the last two episodes, one that he seems to hate: perfect aim. Not explained is where he got his own gun from, but he shoots down all of the principle's bullets, she concedes, and the kids are picked up by Yuri in the VW bus. But, cliffhanger, Scar isn't with him.

10 Second Anime - High School DxD NEW - Episode 8

High School DxD NEW - Episode 8

NSFW for dai dai dai fuansaabisu

It's school visit day, Issei gets to show his artistic side, Xenovia is still serious about getting it on with him, and even devil parents and older siblings can be as embarrassing as human ones.


Oh Asia, please always stay innocent. And who knew that Issei's spank bank would come in handy... for sculpture? The student council president's older sister is way cute in a magical girl outfit, and way embarrassing for the younger sister. And Rias' father doesn't help things either by taking video of Rias in class and showing it to Issei's parents.

As for back story on dragons, we got some explanation on why there are so many artifacts with dragon power in them, and why they're only two kinds of dragon power, instead of the many dragons that have lived over the eons. During the last war between angels, devils, and fallen angels, these two particular dragons, Draig the Red and Albion the White, went on such a rampage during their duel, that the three factions called a truce to slice up the dragons and place the pieces in the Sacred Gears. So now we have Issei together with Draig, and Vali with Albion, and looks like their duel is going to start up again.

Tuesday, August 27, 2013

10 Second Anime - Blood Lad - Episode 8

Blood Lad - Episode 8

Sketchy guy is Bell's brother Knell, who took Fuyumi for their mother. Before we find out why, Staz totally pisses Bell off because he can't tell how she feels about him. She's playing with portals now.


I think Chell from the game Portal would fit right in with Bell and Knell in one big portal magic family. Her name even rhymes the same way, but it doesn't have that ringing association. As for the big fight between Staz and Bell, she places her emotional dignity well above her physical dignity. Losing the bottom half of her outfit certainly outweighs Staz finding out about her love plans for him in her journal.

One thing I like about this show is that the characters actually wear different clothes from episode to episode. It's one thing to wear a school uniform everyday, but if the characters are not in school, why should they wear the same thing all the time, as if that were their uniform? Unless they're like Steve Jobs who owned 30 black turtlenecks because that was his shtick, I don't get it.

The only part of the new Project Diva trailer that matters.


 
Nyan Cat and Hatsune Miku? Yes please!

Question for 10 Second Anime fans: Would you rather have embedded videos?



 
Would you believe that an animated gif can be 10 times larger than an h264 encoded mp4? That's not surprising, since the gif compression code has been the same since the 1990's. So, viewing a 10 second animated gif means downloading 2-7 MB, depending on how active the pixels are between frames. A video encode, which is more concerned with fooling the eyes between frames, instead of producing picture perfect stills, turns into a 500 KB download. The only problem being many video upload sites require flash to play embedded videos in your browsers.*
 
If I get any feedback, I might change things around. In terms of process, encoding video is no different than producing an animated gif, just clicking a different button. The uploading to a host is the same as well. Personally, I prefer an animated gif, since the file is much more portable than an embedded video. SkyDrive, with its sharing features, can allow direct download as well.
 
*SkyDrive does play the actual file, but offers no embedded player, only a link to the SkyDrive site, where you can watch the video there. Looks like not a viable option for keeping eyeballs on the blog page.

10 Second Anime - Attack on Titan - Episode 20

Attack on Titan - Episode 20


The blonde female titan has quite a few tricks up her sleeve, and the one controlling it slips away in the confusion. Captain Levi's team is tracking the infiltrator, so discovering the infiltrator's identity gets put off for another episode.

Obligatory "dat ass" comment. So this titan can harden specific parts of its body, which prevented the Recon Corps from cutting out the pilot. Captain Levi then provoked the pilot by threatening to cut off her limbs, assuming they would grow back like Eren's did. Maybe that's not the case, because she howled like a demon, and brought the regular titan horde to eat up the captured titan, and she slipped away in the steam and gore. Commander Erwin gave up on bringing in the titan body, but tasked Levi with searching for an infiltrator. I guess we wait another week to find out who the enemy is.

10 Second Anime: Monogatari Series Second Season Episode 8

Monogatari Series Second Season Episode 8

Shota Araragi, loli Hanekawa, and Mayoi gets saved from being run over by a truck, ironically caused by running away from Araragi who had just flipped her skirt. Well, the past has been changed, but what about the future?

I think it's hilarious that Araragi knew exactly how to head-tilt even 11 years ago. More hilarious: how crazy Shinobu got over a younger, cuter version of Araragi. Most hilarious: how sublimely insane Araragi got over a younger, cuter Hanekawa. Some things with Hanekawa have always been the same. Like how level-headed she is, and how she doesn't know everything, she just knows what she knows. Combine those two with giving directions for Mayoi's mother's house and it ends up being a police station. Heh. At least the policewoman stationed there knew where the mother's house was. Araragi and Shinobu just had to make sure Mayoi got there safely.

Araragi, having two younger sisters, just can't help himself with teasing a young girl, and sets Mayoi running away, and into the path of a truck. But he still saves the day, and Mayoi makes it to her mother's house. Now, remember all those sci-fi admonitions about changing things in the past? Yeah, some things are going to be pretty different when Shinobu and Araragi come back to the present time.

10 Second Anime - Genshiken Nidaime - Episode 8

Genshiken Nidaime - Episode 8

Even among fellow otaku, there's not a lot of cross-genre appreciation, especially between eroge fetishes. There is some agreement though: BL characters also end up pregnant in the true pair routes...

You want your justification that porno games are just fantasy? Yes, male characters end up pregnant in Japanese homoerotic manga and games. I did not know this. My mind has been blown wide open. This was just one thing I learned in a wide ranging conversation between Hato the cross-dresser and Madarame the salaryman, graduated member of Genshiken.

Hato's crossdressing seems more akin to possession than split personality, as the girl personality he takes on haunts him when he's dressed as a boy. Very like many of the stories in the fantasy genre of Japanese media, but then those haunting spirits are usually fairies, familiars, local deities, or magical creatures, not fujoshi (rotten girls).

I also like how Madarame goes into galge mode when he thinks he's talking to a pretty girl, and he has to keep reminding himself that Hato is a man, a man, remember he's a man!

Monday, August 26, 2013

10 Second Anime - Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S - Episode 19

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S - Episode 19


Still in the cute-girls-do-cute-things arc, the Railgun crew help a lost little girl. She likes frogs and "intense" lollipops, but she doesn't like Mikoto, at first. And what's her connection to the non-espers attacking Level 5's?

Little Febri is lost, and the only thing she knows is Misaka Mikoto's name. But when she meets her, she's scared, and not even a talking pink froggie (animated by a hairclip and Biri Biri herself) can get Febri to like Mikoto. The group of non-espers who were attacking the 4th highest Level 5 in the last episode seem to know who Febri is, though whether they were targeting her to attack or recapture, we don't know yet. But after some hacked police drones were stopped by Mikoto, those guys switch their attention to the Railgun, who is the 3rd highest Level 5. Um, bad idea guys.

10 Second Anime - Love Lab - Episode 8

Love Lab - Episode 8


Riko learns that her school nickname is "Wild One" and overcompensates in copying Maki. That doesn't last long. Sayo finally meets her boyfriend after 6 months, but gets caught by a teacher. Uh oh.


Not much physically happening this week, except for Riko overreacting over her "Wild One" nickname and trying to be a perfect prim and proper lady like Maki. A little dose of "Makio" cures that quick. Meanwhile, the student council is still trying to figure out how to answer these love advice questions from the suggestion boxes when it's against the rules to date boys. The newspaper association looks like they're sniffing around this hidden scandal, and the Love Lab girls think they're trying to leverage this knowledge into getting recertified as a club, but that doesn't seem to be it. This is all a roundabout way of getting physical evidence that Sayo was meeting a boy, which would cause trouble for the student council. Like Shakespearean comedies: disguises, misunderstandings, misdirection, pratfalls, it's all there.

10 Second Anime - Hyperdimension Neptunia - Episode 7

Hyperdimension Neptunia - Episode 7

Eggplant is not that bad... oh. Maybe it is. Don't mess with a girl's pudding. It took 7 episodes to explain the Hyperdimension part of this anime's name. And can a heroine out-villain the villain?


More than one dimension, eh? Oh, right. Hyper. Dimension. It's only in the title of the anime. So this is where Pluto came from, the cpu of Planeptune in her dimension. Where Neptune is the ditzy genki-girl (lots of energy, a bit hyper) type, Pluto is the ditzy sleepy type. That is, until she transforms into Goddess mode. She warns them she's been encouraged to do so as little as possible.

Pluto has been sent to this dimension to find some source of great energy that was transferred over, but no one knows what it is, so they need to look for anything new or powerful that seems out of place. As if some little kid running around with an insane uppercut doesn't fit that bill...

Arfiore returns to hassle Neptune with a plot that is straight out of Pokémon's Team Rocket's playbook: buy an eggplant farm because Neptune hates eggplants. And torturing IF like that is not suggestive at all. No sir. The Goddesses come to save the day, Pluto transforms, and shows Arfiore how a sadistic mistress is supposed to do things. Apparently, Pluto's outfit is a bit too revealing from behind for the censors >_>. Oh, and nice homage to Akira's motorcycle slide out.

10 Second Anime - Danganronpa - Episode 8

Danganronpa - Episode 8

Sakura is the mole, but she doesn't want to work for Monokuma anymore. She ends up being the next victim in a classic locked room murder mystery, even though her job was to do the killing if the murders stopped.

This Monokuma guy is pretty smart. After the mole, whose role is to commit murders if the kids stop killing each other, decides to stop working, Monokuma just outs her, to rile up the remaining students. Either they kill Sakura, because they don't trust her word that she stopped working for the mastermind, or they kill each other over their alliances. Nice.

Meanwhile, more backstory gets revealed. The origin of this plot to have these talented kids live, and if need be, confined to the school, came from the school they're locked up in. Some crisis happened, Hope's Peak Academy went bankrupt, but the plot went ahead anyway, but with this perverse Survivor game added on to it. Is Monokuma related to this calamity that caused the closure of the school? Plus, among the files detailing this original plan are more pictures of the recently dead students playing together as if they knew each other in the past, even though they were all strangers at the start of the story.

Then we get our next victim, Sakura the mole, murdered in the classic room locked from the inside mystery. Somehow, I think finding that poison in nurse's office will play a role in figuring out whodunit.

Sunday, August 25, 2013

Growler

These new Ovila Belgian-style ale bottles are different than the first ones. Gone are paper labels, which were pretty cool looking, and the bottle opening is different too. I usually used a reusable stopper for these champagne style bottles, but these new ones have a wider neck. The stopper couldn't plug up the hole, but after I closed the clamp, I couldn't take it out of the hole either.

The opening curves into a fatter neck, allowing for the cork to pop out without wasting any beer foam, but the same size top allows for the same tight fit for a champagne cork. Well, that means using a regular cork to plug the beer bottle, cuz I'm not drinking 750 ml at 8.5% alcohol in one sitting, which is gauche, or using my old Pyramid Brewery growler. That growler can hold more than 2 and a half wine bottles (64 fl. oz, where 750 ml is 25.3 oz), so that might make drinking this strong Golden Ale too easy. I better be careful...

10 Second Anime - Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu - Episode 8

Stella Jogakuin Koutouka C3-bu - Episode 8

Yura's plan for the airsoft tournament works, but at what cost? Their tactics are sound, but they're not having much fun. And did they really win?


Yura is ruthless. Her leadership style does not inspire, but does get results, and Yachiyo points out there weren't any laughs along the way to the tournament finale. The ultimate burn was when Rin, after conceding their matchup, tells her they are exactly alike. We didn't even get a confession from Rin, that she tried to take out Sono to increase her team's chances of winning, strongly implied as it was. However, Yura cheated, and didn't call out her hit in the split second before she shot Rin for the win. The only two who know are Rin, and Yura herself. Who put all this drama in my fluffy cute-girls-do-cute-things anime?

10 Second Anime - Servant x Service - Episode 8

Servant x Service - Episode 8

Tanaka just wants to win against Hasebe, going so far as to win a date with Lucy first. No? How about her email? Hasebe also says no to that.

I got a Rock Lee and Neji dynamic from Naruto with Tanaka and Hasebe. Tanaka seems to have figured out already that Hasebe really likes Lucy, and saw his chance to "win" against the genius who doesn't try hard by trying to make her his girlfriend. As Miyoshi said, "terrible." There goes his chances with her too. Lucy offers to do anything for Hasebe to repay him for rescuing her from that very awkward situation, and Hasebe wants her to wear a skirt. Heh. Either on a date with him, or at work. Well-played Hasebe-kun. Lucy is so self-conscious about her legs for some reason, she decides it's better to go on a date where she limits the number of people she knows seeing her in a skirt. Megumi overhears all this, and wants to protect the sisterhood, however Hasebe plays the cosplay card, getting her to put together Lucy's outfit for the date. Also well-played Hasebe-kun. The only problem now, is that Hasebe is finally nervous about something.

10 Second Anime - Silver Spoon - Episode 7

Silver Spoon Episode 7

Hachiken visits Giga Farm, to see how a modern, large scale dairy farm operates. Instead of seeing death this time, he sees birth. Also, an overprotective father casts a long shadow.

Worst prize for winning tug of war ever. Okay, okay, after the calf was cleaned up, he was pretty cute. But since the newborn was male, that means castration, fattening up, and slaughter. It just doesn't have the plumbing to remain at a dairy farm. The organization and procedures may be different at the Inada's farm, but the issues of life, death, and food are still there, as well as inheritance and expectations in a family business. Tamako seems to have no reluctance whatsoever in taking over the business, and might even be a little too impatient for her parents' taste. Oh, and Aki's father seems to be recovering well from the hernia operation.

10 Second Anime - Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 8

Tamayura ~More Aggressive~ - Episode 8

This week it's Chihiro's turn to visit Takehara, and fulfill a promise to watch fireworks.


For a slice-of-life show that is also a cute-girls-do-cute-things show, Tamayura knows how to intersperse the sentimental dialog with reaction shots. Plus, having a big, pink, fluffy cat doesn't hurt. Oh, plot? Chihiro comes to visit, and wants to keep her promise to Fuu to watch fireworks from an abandoned "secret" base Fuu's father mentioned. Fuu wants to learn how to photograph fireworks, and gets advice from her professional photographer friend Riho. They decide that Sayomi's faraway overlook must be the secret base, and share a moment.

And here's a bonus pic of a yawning cat: