Saturday, February 28, 2015

10 Second Anime - Death Parade - Episode 8

Death Parade - Episode 8

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Nona sends Decim an irregular pair for judgment, in which one, or both, have killed someone.


Heh.

We're back to a structure very like the first pair of the season, where the story appears to concentrate on the mystery of how the souls died, and here, who they killed, but it's actually a setting to see how more of the afterlife works, and to advance the overall plot of how different Decim is from other Arbiters.
 
The last memories of both the detective and the young man had them walking on the same street, but at different times of the day. I'm sure their separate stories of revenge are related to the other's circumstances surrounding their deaths.
 
The detective saw that Decim's eyes, though emotionless, hide no subterfuge. He tells the truth in everything. I wonder if all the Arbiters are constrained to tell the truth, but have different strategies in withholding answers until the certain points of progression for the games and after the games have been finished.
 
Kurokami can receive others' memories too? Just how much of their lives do each of the souls receive when they appear for judgment? The same amount as the Arbiter?

Finds from the Grind - Meta Panorama

Finds from the Grind - Meta Panorama
A panorama of cyclists making a panorama.

Friday, February 27, 2015

Omake Gif Anime - Fairy Tail S2 - Episode 47 - Fairy Woman

Fairy Tail S2 - Episode 47 - Fairy Woman

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No homage to Batman could be complete without the visual sound effects!


More fun filler stuff for Fairy Tail this week. Two subplots about learning transformation magic and buying new outfits converge into Batman homage with Erza wearing a Catwoman outfit taking on transformed villains. And then Erza completed the story with her own transformation into "realistic" comic book style. Fun!

10 Second Anime - Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 401

Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 401

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Shira and Lee spar and show off their skill and experience. New friends become new rivals.


Heh.

Oh, you knew Lee was serious when the training weights came off.
 
Shira showed off some good taijutsu techniques that Lee should learn. Like attacking the chakra nexus points the way Neji does and feathering his chakra to make his traveling strikes silent like Shira did with his Owl technique.
 
Still, Lee showed that a ninja can only go so far without a teacher or a rival. Lee had way more experience in fighting different ways because of Gai, and having a rival like Neji improved his analytical skills in the middle of combat.
 
I never thought I'd see Lee get frustrated with Gai.

Updated - Blogger's New Content Policy

Update: I guess Google worried about the future Tumblr exodus of 2015, and decided to actually use their big googly searchy thing to, you know, find actual porn sites being run on Blogger. So, nothing changes here, and no worries about the dreaded review process (please, please Mr. Google, I only have man nipples on my site now!) Original post below.

Thursday, February 26, 2015

10 Second Anime - Kantai Collection - Episode 8

Kantai Collection - Episode 8

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The fleet girls transfer to a forward base and meet the powerful new ship Yamato there. Cute girls do cute things on a tropical island resort.


Heh.

Episode 8? Beach episode? Of course!
 
For girls who are always in the water, it's kind of weird that their beach outfits are swimsuits, but that's fanservice anime logic for you.
 
You can tell the relative "ages" of the ship girls by the fanciness of their swimsuits. Fubuki and her friends - age appropriate gym one piece swimsuits. Nagato and Yamato - way, way, way too fancy.
 
The Yamato character mirrors the history of the actual WWII era Yamato battleship. So powerful, yet so expensive to operate, it was barely used in the war.
 
How much fuel does Yamato need to move around? Just standing on the water for a few minutes with Fubuki gives her Akagi level hunger pangs.

Wednesday, February 25, 2015

10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Grande Road - Episode 19

Yowamushi Pedal - Grande Road - Episode 19

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The select group of contenders becomes five. Imaizumi shows Midousuji how much he as grown.


Heh.

Ahahahaha! How do you like that nickname Midousuji? Kimousuji (Gross-usji)! Ahahahaha! He didn't like that at all! I noticed that he couldn't call Imaizumi Yowaizumi (Weak-aizumi) anymore. That kind of trash talk couldn't exactly work on the leader of the whole race with only 5 kms to go.
 
Everybody has to call Onoda by his first name now. It's like an after-school confession to your crush! Fujoshi swoon!
 
Speaking of fujoshi swoon, I don't think Onoda liked the kind of smile Manami was flashing at him.

Tuesday, February 24, 2015

10 Second Anime - Junketsu no Maria - Episode 7

Junketsu no Maria - Episode 7

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Maria attempts to stop a major battle but chaos ensues, leaving her with injuries.


Heh.

War is chaos. Even when you give people reasonable choices, they don't have to take them.
 
Ezekiel may be Michael's spear, but she still has Free Will. I thought angels weren't supposed to have Free Will.
 
Ezekiel told Joseph that she committed a sin by not following Michael's order. The purest essence of Sin is a separation from God, so here she is admitting that she has created a rift between herself and Michael.
 
Galfa, who has run away from his past, was originally a Moor, according to Yvain. Maybe Galfa didn't just kill him to keep his money and not take the blame for disobeying the Count's orders, but also to protect his secret that he was a Muslim.
 
Interesting that the limb Galfa lost was the one he faked being injured to win his duel against the nobleman. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away, huh?
 
Edwina claimed she didn't like the hen party at her house, but she did like all the compliments from Maria.
 
The witches are all about short skirts and hot pants. Very fashion forward.
 
I don't know how Artemis would do in a fight, since her skills lie in more, ah, gentle matters, but she knows what to aim for and when.

Monday, February 23, 2015

10 Second Anime - Cross Ange - Episode 20

Cross Ange - Episode 20

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Embryo shows Ange his plans for the two worlds and how he bent the other women to his will. Ange and her friends begin their resistance.


Heh.

There was a marked improved in animation quality during certain scenes. It's like they got the group who did the first three episodes to do the final ones.
 
Too bad there was also a marked increase in celestial rays of censorship to go with these better animated scenes.
 
Ange tried to kill Embryo again, this time by immobilizing his hands. Oops. He doesn't need hands to move himself around in time and space.
 
Embryo gave Ange the pain, then the pleasure. Stick and carrot, not carrot and stick.
 
We still don't get an explanation of where Embryo came from or why Ange is special enough to resist his mind breaking skills. Maybe they're both special in that they're blonde and have twin pronged ahoge? Perfect match!
 
The Arzenal crew finally had enough of Alektra's personal vendetta against Embryo.
 
Tusk is a pure pure boy. Of course Hilda couldn't resist teasing him.
 
I find Ange's mean girl mispronunciation put downs hilarious. She called Salamandine all sorts of wrong names and then she pulled the same thing on Salia's Diamond Rose Elite Squad. Ha! Daikon radish!
 
I'm not fan of this twin world conceit. Why stop at two? Couldn't there be a whole bunch of different worlds? Why doesn't Embryo go pick on those pure saps and leave his failures alone? Just really start over.

Sunday, February 22, 2015

10 Second Anime - Koufuku Graffiti - Episode 7

Koufuku Graffiti - Episode 7

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Shiina invites the other gourmet girls back to her house to grill a surplus of fish. Shiina and Kirin insist on doing the cooking.


Heh.

Haha! We're back to making jokes about how freakishly strong Kirin is. That's a lot of charcoal for a little lady to carry and that clay brazier looked pretty dense. No problem for Kirin, though.
 
If you have a lot of fish, you're going to attract a lot of cats. A lot of cats.
 
Don't make eye contact with the fish, especially after giving it a belly rub.
 
Ryou has her own issues. She got pretty antsy at not doing anything in the kitchen for the whole weekend.
 
I don't know how healthy that is for Shiina's mom's hands to get so pink from whatever chemical she was putting on her plants. She should wear gloves.
 
Shiina got Kirin's number, calling her freeloader for not doing any chores at Ryou's house. 

Omake Gif Anime - Absolute Duo - Episode 8 - Imari Looks Over

Absolute Duo - Episode 8 - Imari Looks Over

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Imari is surprised at how well everybody is getting along. I'm surprised at that camera angle...


The moe character harem fanservice show of the season pulled out all the stops for the episode 8 beach setting. Cute swimsuits, gym uniforms, and hot spring antics. Nothing was left out, not even the naked sleeping habits of the girls who want to be in Tooru's absolute duo.

10 Second Anime - Death Parade - Episode 7

Death Parade - Episode 7

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A visit from the former Quin Decim allows Nona to reminisce and consider her future plans for Arbiters.


Hmm.

We got some interesting glimpses into how this tower in the afterlife works The people who step through the elevators are only the souls of the newly dead stuck into mannequins. The light coming through the cracks of the elevator doors are the souls leaving the dolls.
 
Nona confirmed that the floor levels don't mean any kind of heirarchy. Ginti and the new Decim came on as judges at the same time. One thing that Nona worries about is putting emotions into the personalities of the Arbiters. The story concentrates on Decim having emotions, but maybe Ginti does too, because they both have souls sticking around whom they haven't judged. Yay Mayu!
 
What I don't understand is how anybody can have a personality without feeling emotions. Unless each staff member is a programmed AI with randomly selected preferences to give a simulacrum of a personality, that would explain not "feeling" emotions.
 
Kurokami is slowly regaining her memories. Now we understand why it was so easy to erase her memories - she was just a soul inside a doll. But she still had her personality, even if she couldn't remember who she was. Arbiters' animus and people's souls are different, by design, so that the judges don't identify too closely with those they judge.
 
I wonder if Nona trying to make arbiters who break Oculus' third rule is part of her boredom. She may not be able to feel emotions, but she appears to be very interested in them. This is why she's keeping Kurokami around and reading the children's book from the mystery woman's memories. Change is coming to the afterlife tower and even Nona is starting to worry about what may come.

Saturday, February 21, 2015

Finds from the Grind - Gate to Gate




From the gate at the upper end of the San Gabriel River Trail to my own gate back home. Again, way too many personal records broken on the downhill sections for my current fitness level. I set these last year when I was a monster. I'm not even half a monster yet... *gao*

 


Friday, February 20, 2015

Omake Gif Anime - Fairy Tail S2 - Episode 45 - Juvia Gray-sama Get

Fairy Tail S2 - Episode 45 - Juvia Gray-sama Get

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Juvia doesn't stop until she gets her man. Gray-sama get!


For a JuviaXGray shipper like me, I've been hoping that this special manga chapter would get its own episode some time down the line. Squee! Thankfully they threw in some extra couple shipping moments to pad the time, so all the LucyXNatsu, LevyXGajeel, EvergreenXElfman, and even CharleXHappy fans got something to go gaga over. The most hilarious elements of the episode were the changing marriage scenes going through Juvia's imagination. Ah, this was some good Fairy Tail fanservice.

10 Second Anime - Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 400

Naruto Shippuuden - Episode 400

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Shira and Rock Lee, the taijutsu specialists, exchange stories of hardship. The other Sand ninjas accept Shira as one of their own.


Heh.

Rock Lee has such a gentle heart.
 
Tenten may have started letting the waterworks flow too if not for Lee's over the top sentiment.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

10 Second Anime - Kantai Collection - Episode 7

Kantai Collection - Episode 7

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Fubuki's squadron continues to be successful, but their teamwork still needs improvement. The Abyssals appear to have a disturbing advantage.


Heh.

When a fleet controls more territory, supply lines get longer? Wow. I've only seen this kind of realistic strategic consequence in RTS game adaptations... Oh! I mean, sure, the ships have nice little pictures of cute girls, but all their stats belong to actual navy ships.
 
The Abyssals may have cracked the fleet's code. Or perhaps they got them some other way. Like maybe the sunken ships aren't as sunken as we thought they were.
 
I still can't get over why the carrier ships hate launching recon sorties. Carriers should like to know where stuff is to blow up later.
 
Note to self: dive bombing is faster than torpedo dropping.

Omake Gif Anime - Saekano - Episode 6 - Utaha Memento

Saekano - Episode 6 - Utaha Memento

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After all the suggestiveness and innuendo all night from banging out a new script, what better way to "remember" the special night?


There was a huge revelation in this week's episode of Saekano - Megumi Kato can make an angry pouty face! Oh, wait. You're probably thinking of that other thing, that backstory tension between Utaha and Aki-kun. She tried to get his input on a manuscript because he was such a big fan, but he refused because it was her creation. Now that he's involved with artistic creation, he has to put that awkwardness aside and act like a producer and editor for Utaha's output. Media production is all about collaboration behind the director's vision, after all.

Omake Gif Anime - Shirobako - Episode 19 - Ema Sourpuss

Shirobako - Episode 19 - Ema Sourpuss

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Ema will suffer for her art. This includes consuming super sour pickled plums for a facial reference.


The notes on the storyboard say the sour face still needs to be "moe," so who better than Ema to make that sour face?

#WaifuWars



Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Omake Gif Anime - Nisekoi - OAD 2 - Tsugumi Kiss

Nisekoi - OAD 2 - Tsugumi Kiss

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Lucky for Raku that the girls in his life are alcohol lightweights. Lucky for Tsugumi that Raku had a tanuki statue so close by.


The special disk didn't advance the plot of which mystery girl has the key to Raku's lock, but we did get two vignettes giving fans more of what they want from this harem anime. Cute girls doing cute things in ridiculous circumstances!

Omake Gif Anime - Witch Craft Works - OVA - Ayaka Dominates

Witch Craft Works - OVA - Ayaka Dominates

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This is pretty much all we saw of Ayaka in the OVA. Still totally dominating the other witches.


After the events of the original series, this OVA finds many of our characters missing or doing other things. Takamiya's little sister thinks it's time to get him back from Ayaka, but that works out as well as you would expect from teaming up with seriously underpowered Tower Witches. Oh well, let's enlarge all the plushy familiars and have a ridiculous tag team wrestling match in the middle of the city.

10 Second Anime - Junketsu no Maria - Episode 6

Junketsu no Maria - Episode 6

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Maria struggles with balancing the contradictory wishes of Joseph and Anne. Michael reminds Ezekiel of her duty.


Heh.

This episode felt kind of like a mini recap. Maria is still putting on a big show. Ezekiel is still two steps behind in seeing her use flashy magic. The villagers still make requests. Michael is still watching over things. So is Cernunnos. And the English and French are still fighting and upset with Maria over not winning any spoils during their skirmishes.
 
Maria and Joseph went on their first "date." I'd freak out too riding on a flying pitchfork the first time.
 
Maria doesn't have much experience talking to confident men like Galfa. She is a virgin after all.
 
Bernard goes a little nuts at learning all the coincidences about Maria being a virgin and having a man named Joseph in her life.
 
Interesting that Cernunnos' shadow formed a snake right before Michael came down.

Tuesday, February 17, 2015

10 Second Anime - Cross Ange - Episode 19

Cross Ange - Episode 19

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Embyro tries to seduce Ange into following him, like he'd done with so many others. Ange thinks differently.


Heh.

Okay, killing Embryo is going to be pretty hard to do. Traveling back in time, apparently even reflexively, is a nice advantage. Libertas and the Dragon Ladies are going to have to come up with something else for their plans.
 
Oh, Momoka. So happy to hold somebody ELSE's silk panties.
 
Wow, we're back to honest to goodness celestial rays of censorship. We've had fanservice for the last few episodes, but this means there's actual drawn nudity somewhere here. I'm still not sure why they have to censor butt cleavage, but that's there too.

Monday, February 16, 2015

10 Second Anime - Yowamushi Pedal - Grande Road - Episode 18

Yowamushi Pedal - Grande Road - Episode 18

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Midousuji and Manami challenge each other. Onoda catches them and shows them his plans.


Heh.

We knew Manami had wings, but that was quite a surprise to see Midousuji emulate him with his own disgusting purple ones. He too waited for a gust. While Manami waited for a turn on the road, Midousuji waited for a slight riser. Well done on both of them.
 
What a nice way to get a recap episode in the guise of Makishima reminiscing about Onoda. Onoda is the hero of the whole show, but he only remembers fun stuff like riding with his friends. He needs those friends to brag for him to the audience.
 
Onoda has two superpowers - he can keep raising his cadence another 30 rpm and he always follows orders. I believe I've seen him get to 210 rpm in this show, so I'd like to see that again. As for following orders, we've seen him do some crazy acrobatic stuff to rejoin his group after a crash.
 
I think I've finally figured out this "disgusting" code that Midousuji has. If you have a pure will to win, then you're not gross. If you have even a shred of ego, friendship, team spirit, then you're gross. Onoda is the grossest of all, because he just wants to ride with other people, which makes him smile.
 
Aw, Onoda had such a sad smile when he caught Manami and Midousuji. He was smiling because he would get to ride with other people, but he was sad because he had to follow orders. He had to stay in front of Midousuji.
 
I wonder if Onoda will follow orders all the way to the line to stay in front of Midousuji that he ends up winning the race. Hmmmmmmm.
 
Toudou may know how to throw game at a smokeshow, but he doesn't have any experience being on the receiving end.

Finds from the Grind - Oh Deer, Oh Dear




Passing deer to my right is much less stressful than passing dogs and their owner. You can see a mule deer slowly walking to the edge of the road on the right in the first few seconds. Behind it was a younger deer and a buck. They're not very skittish if you're quiet. On the other hand, finding dogs with their leashes covering my lane behind a blind curve with a car approaching in the other lane makes ME skittish.

Sunday, February 15, 2015

10 Second Anime - Koufuku Graffiti - Episode 6

Koufuku Graffiti - Episode 6

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Our gourmet girls try to beat the heat by eating the right food and doing other... things. Some dishes work better for Summer than others.


Heh.

Somehow the older generations survived the Tokyo Summer heat without air conditioning. These girls don't realize that you had to sit still, use a hand fan, and let a wind chime distract you from how miserable you felt. Another cute girls do cute things anime called BS on this whole Japanese tradition.
 
Obviously, you have to eat the right things to keep yourself cool. Obviously.
 
I guess that idea only works when the air conditioning is also working. Panic time!
 
Why would roasted eel with Japanese pepper cool you down? Hey, Ryou wanted to eat it, so just roll with it.

Finds from the Grind - Playing in Traffic




Even I can keep up with timid cars on winding roads. I don't know why, but in the 2nd 3-week block of training concentrating on strength, I've been breaking personal speed records on downhill sections, like the one you see here. I made these records after 6 months of training when I was at peak fitness. I'm about 5 months out from being that fit, I'm slower than dirt on the climbs I ride on, and I don't weigh more than I did at those times either. Yet... Maybe it's because I switched to bourbon instead of beer for dessert?

10 Second Anime - Death Parade - Episode 6

Death Parade - Episode 6

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Another judge, Vi Ginti, examines a male idol and one of his fans. The couple frustrates Ginti with an irregular session.


Heh.

Vi Ginti is just viginti, Latin for the number 20. His cat, which there must be a story on how a cat came to be judged in the afterlife, is named Memine. I presume this is slightly changed from the Latin memini, which means "I remember, or I am mindful of."
 
This Mayu girl just went to heaven, not purgatory. Playing twister with her favorite idol and sacrificing her life for him? Of course that's heaven.