#and the one that got me into mecha anime lol

[bigbrainbiology]

17) Ranka Lee <3

~ 💫✨💖 What 'bout my star 💖✨💫~

[meymeyzart]

Reunion

[kuromi-hoemie]

i just finished iron blooded orphans and need to lay down for a bit

[no1ryomafan]

My ass needs to be in bed but I was looking at my anilist-yes I have one as it’s super helpful to keep track of anime I’ve watched + plan to watch-since i finished big o s1 they separated s2 as a different thing and WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN INTERNATIONAL VIEWINGS BASICALLY SAVED THE SHOW FROM ENDING ON A CLIFFHANGER??

[cashmoneyyysstuff]

what if you give us like insite on your oc and katsuki's relationship? (this is totally not because I wanna have our ocs meet over a cup of coffee and talk about their versions of the feral blondie) I think your oc is very silly. Also, is there any other ocs you have that exist in the mha universe or other animes?

much love - Kovu

hey moot !! so this is SOOOOO long overdue i have a lot of long overdue stuff in my inbox super sorries :((( but id LUVVVV to tell you more about my oc and katsuki while im at ittt :DD tysm for asking !!! thank you btw ! i think your ocs are very silly too !

katsuki n ryoko's relationship !!

katsuki n ryoko met in childhood when they both were just kids (OF COURSSEE) keep in mind this is very cheesy but i am nothing if not a sappy cheesy lovesick moron ! so no regrets for me >:3

ryoko came to school like in the middle of the year, and the moment she got introduced it was love at first sight lol😭 YESS YESS BOOO TOMATOES TOMATOES I DONT CAAARRREEE !! i love love love wins over all 😌💗 so basically he wants to talk to her immediately, but also even back then he was emotionally constipated and had no idea how to introduce himself normally. ryoko never met any other kids her age formally before then, so she was always sitting alone and reading and katsuki would randomly come up, comment on the book shees reading, get embarrassed, and then leave 😭

"...whatcha reading ?" ryoko gets nervous to talk to new people, so she shows him the book title. and after he looks at it for a good ten seconds he mumbles out a "that one sucks" and runs away, leaving her a little shocked😭

she got kinda used to him doing this every day, and slowly but surely he starts staying a bit longer and the longer they talk the more boasty baby katsuki shows up and then he's back to his loud behaviour. he gets her to introduce herself to his friendgroup, w izuku in it. (hes a wee bit jealous that she actually ends up liking izuku a lot)

katsuki is the first person that came to talk to her, so he's very close to her heart, and he's her favourite !! fun fact ! the rpp series is pretty much based on their relationship !! anyways they start dating somewhere towards the end of their second year in middle school, cus katsuki acts more subtle in his bullying of izuku when shes around cus he knows she will get mad and not talk to him,, and two izuku is her best friend too (much to his chagrin cus HES her numba one bff tf😑) and they've been together ever since !!

2. do i have any other oc's in the verse !

i do !! and they (mostly) all have s/o's bc i am a very hopeless romantic 😭 !!

first i have himari 'mari' hamasaki ! shes dating shouto, and no worries their relationship has a bit more depth than katsuryo 😭😭 !! but theyre cuties and i love them ! her mom was a pro hero called voltri who passed away when she was 7 and her father is a famous hero gear inventor ! their relationship isn't the best unfortunately.. mari has a mecha related quirk !!

next up !! kyosuke nishiyama !! he's himaris older cousin ! and by older i mean by like..two days lol, but he loves holding that over her head cus hes a little shit like that😭 they love to act like they hate each other, but theyre very close, so they just call themselves (and his other siblings) brother and sister, and not to mention they look a lot alike, so ppl don't rlly question it much ! he has a chain related quirk like kurapika ! his dad is a business man/ househusband and his mom is also an inventor :3 ah, and he has a boyfriend (who is my friends oc !!)

keisuke and kensuke nishiyama are kyosukes older brothers !! kensuke is 22 and in college to be an inventor, and keisuke is 19 studying criminal psychology :D ! keisuke has a girlfriend also not girlfriend called furaha i say gng bc he's built awkward asf and had no idea she was in love with him and he with her, but they'd make out and kiss n act like a couple contstantly until he realized he liked her 😭 !! furaha is a congolese exchange student from canada !! lil funfacts for them kensuke is a stoner (lol) keisuke is a speedrunner, and furaha can do her own hair !! (im jealous)

amara 'gogo' kanyinda and omari 'king' kanyinda are both siblings ! omari is the leader of an underground crime syndicate and amara is an assassin in that syndicate ! (much to omaris displeasure) omari n amara were both in an abusive household and since omari is older, he escaped first and told amara he'd come back to get her when he got his shit together, and he did !!! they act like they hate each other too, but omari would rlly do anything for his sister and he's a major softie ! they're both congolese ! omari's nickname king comes from the fact he's the boss of the syndicate and because of his attitude, because his personality is kinda shitty LOOL😭😭 also he has a dog named guts !! (yes hes a manga nerd)

i don't have a quirk for him yet unfortunately 🤧 tho im thinkin of a super strength one ! amara's quirk is called ball n' chain ! she has the ability to control and manipulate a ball and chain made of energy, it extends from a central point, typically the hands but she prefers to use her legs ! she can manipulate it telepathically, can control the length and thickness of it and can imbue the chain with energy so she can cut through objects or give an extra impact ! gogo is the nickname she got from her friends bc her quirk is similar to gogo yubari's ball n chain from kill bill ! and she liked it sm she ran with it :3 amara has a boyfriend (who is my friends oc) !! they're very in love and i love them more than my entire life.

these are all my main ocs i talk about the most !! i tried not to ramble tooo much !! 😭😭 my bad if i did

much luvv xxx tysm for reading if you did !!

[farasen]

what Shows and movies do you think the bunch would be into?

I don't watch too much movies and shows tbh, not the ones I think dwk kids would like at least

Well, Raban seems to love cowboys and robots judging by his room, so I could assume he'd like "Toy Story" lol. I actually think he's a sucker for westerns and space movies, so I think he'd like "Star Wars" and "Transformers". Likes Bakugan and even collected the toys.

Markus appears to me as a film guy. Post-apocalyptic and apocalyptic films specifically. So something like "World War Z" or "A quiet place" would go.

Jojo is secretly a brony idk. I think that he's in general easily falls for cartoons with animals/anthros in it. I get a feeling that he'd watch indie projects simply because he's pure of heart.

Vanessa would watch shows that aren't meant for her age, like "South Park" or "Rick and Morty". Partly because she wants to seem "cool", but she genuinely enjoys them. I also like to think that she likes magical girls shows like "W.I.T.C.H."

All the same for Leon, but he'd also like Superheroes and Ninja Turtles.

Deniz is definitely a mecha boy, so "Transformers" and all that jazz for him. Probably watched some popular anime of the 2000s such as Naruto and Pokemon, later on got invested in Evangelion and Code Geass. Used to like Superheroes too.

Marlon also seems like a live-action series lover to me, but he'd go for either something with adventures or something that dives deep into character analysis. He likes animation too, though. I bet "Treasure Island" changed his brain chemistry.

[unhinged-comics-screaming]

I was gunna do the predictions bingo but honestly I am not feeling the juices rn. So maybe just a hopes list?

The obvious first one, Smith comes back as a human in some shape or form. Adjacently, this ends up as the ending of the OP shows up. I think Obari has been very direct in saying how much the OP is representative of the work and the scenes we don't have are the section where Bravern rolls out with the TSes and Smith demonstrating his pick up game. One of the news articles for a mech focused site has a thing about spotlighting TSes that show up in the later half and I don't know if they meant series as the whole or just the ep lol. Anyway, significant Smith helping lift Isami up scene pls.

I'm uh, not a Brave/Transformers focused person but I am in it for men kissing so I totally get people who want to keep Bravern but I like me a human Smith! Smith wanted to be in a bot and he's. In a bot. The same way we exist in our meatsuits. So I don't count it as a bad end either.

I think ideally we have both Bravern + Smith existing together... somehow. Actually it'd be so funny to have them both fight for Isami's attention. That being said some of the cute fanart where Smith can transform is probably my personal fave? Just throw in a magical girl show while we're here??

Oh at the very least

Isami figures out Bravern is Lewis Smith

I don't think there's any way we can get to the end without this happening so specificity. Isami finding Smith's dog tag in the cockpit is probably going to be the most obvious option. It's kinda brutal but I'm curious what the cockpit looks like "off" since it's like a projection orb or something.

It's related but imagine. A tokusatsu suit in there. I asked last week "what the fuck is 2m tall human man Isami Ao supposed to do against giant robot. What if he gets a hero suit + sword. Clearly Brave Printer can do anything so.

Actually I wanna know more about that but I feel like that's just something that doesn't need to be answered rn.

Another time loop??

It'd be kind of fun if Isami finds some sort of time loop trigger inside of his cockpit. Because I think it'd be kind of amusing tbh. That being said I don't really know where I'd want it to go. Lewis goes to when Bravern is introduced which I guess is because that's his time of need? And Lulu goes to when Bravern is "born". I don't really see it but people feel like Isami's shift from crying -> hero who makes everyone happy is too drastic so maybe somewhere in there but honestly I think its because there's only 12 episodes lol. Maybe because it's Isami the fusion moments are save points?

The thing about a last time loop without Deathdrives means we don't get Lulu and Superbia so that would make me pretty sad so maybe not that far back lol.

Deathdrive Lore

I think the key to that kind of thinking is finding out why the Deathdrives are here to begin with. Like, Bravern came into existence _after_ they were already invading so why are they all here with the motivation to get a death from Bravern specifically. How does that work. Did Cunus know something about it and tell everyone?

Actually that would be interesting like, Bravern's existence is what brings the Deathdrives to this... world? Timeline? Reality? in the first place so they end up stopping Bravern from existing at all. That would explain why its both Smith and Isami coming out of TSes in the last scene but not the uh giant holes in the city behind them. I think it'd be a cop out to like, find some way to defeat the giant mechas in the giant mecha anime without a giant mecha anyway. Covering my bases though.

Anyway, what is up with them. What is the gluttony one doin with all that magma (is he going to make a new island??). Why is Ira so mad.

Isami Lore

I need the equivalent of the "when I was a kid, I wanted to be a dude in a skintight suit" but for Isami. Maybe the opposite? I think the post got too eaten by the draft system for me to post but I think it'd be interesting to see Isami be a parallel to Smith in that he lost people close to him but he went for the inverse conclusion where there are no heroes. Actually that would be such a callout for the last episode to start the same way as the start and also the big reveal. Or is that too repetitive? I'd also like to see how he befriends Miyu and Hibiki.

I think after everything I'll put together a "episodes I wish we had in a full season" list because I think it'd be fun to see more of what this man is cooking. Will I dip my toes into doing it myself? Probably not! Despite the amount of words here I'm not a great writer.

I don't think I'm actually capable of writing a review, I'm capable of being critical but I'm also not that discerning if that makes sense. Plus I lack so much extra context in the greater universe of everything this show references it wouldn't be particularly useful.

[canmom]

Animation Night 168: when Anno was young...

Animation Night has been getting kind of short lately, huh? Gone are the days when we'd marathon three films in a night... for now. Next week is Animation Night 169, and @mogsk has been helping me cook up quite a program to act as a sequel to Animation Night 69. It's time to find out just how much Twitch will let me get away with.

But what about tonight? Well, tonight I figure since we've been talking about Anno this week, it might be fun to put a short program together to show some of his earlier works - as an animator. Truly long-time viewers might remember watching Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise and Gunbuster all the way back on Animation Night 29. But this isn't exactly a reprise of that. We'll revisit Gunbuster on another day. Tonight the subject will be Metal Skin Panic: Madox-01 and Royal Space Force: The Wings of Honneamise.

So here's a brief timeline (largely leaning on SteveM's video here lol). Anno's work on the Daicon III film got him a foot in the door in the industry by impressing Studio Nue enough to invite the Daicon III team to work on Macross. Nue were also in large part fans turned animators, many of them Gundam doujinshi artists. Anno joined what became known as the 'mecha unit' at Artland, working alongside the legendary Ichirō Itano - where he was known for walking around barefoot and talking loudly to himself. A couple of years after Daicon III, the Daicon team reassembled to create a followup film, a lavish effort packed with a ludicrous density of pop-culture references.

Not long after this... Anno dropped out of university, and started bouncing between animation studios in Tokyo. The next big break came when he applied to work on Miyazaki's Nausicaa, a production which was rapidly transforming the outsourcing-oriented studio Topcraft into a gathering of some of the best animators in the business. At Topcraft, Anno's reputation was 'the primal man', sleeping under his desk with the cockroaches and not wearing shoes. But despite his inexperience, he made a good impression on Miyazaki, who assigned him the crucial finale cuts of the God Warrior.

Here we see what is sometimes called the 'Anno explosion', where the laser sweeps across and a massive explosion follows after a beat. Anno was able to handle the complex shading and multiple layers with aplomb...

...if not entirely on schedule. (One anecdote has that he tried to use his work on this sequence to pick up women. Which, to be fair...)

So in the mid 80s, Anno has established himself as a skilled mecha animator who can handle some ludicrously technical scenes. Besides Nausicaa and Macross, you will see him in Megazone 23 Part I, Giant Robo: The Animation, Baoh, Birth - and even Grave of the Fireflies. Any time you wanted mechanical animation or explosions, Anno was definitely a guy to get on the phone. And of course one of his most significant projects was on SDF Macross: Do You Remember Love? where he animated... you guessed it, lots of missiles and explosions.

With all this experience under his belt, Anno was almost ready to return to the newly founded Gainax - what had been Daicon Film. But first - lets check out Metal Skin Panic! MADOX-01. This OVA, made at AIC and Artmic - who made so many of the classic OVAs from this period, it's nuts - was the directorial debut of Shinji Aramaki, whose later CG films we covered back on Animation Night 152. Even back in 1987, Aramaki's love of intricate mechanical detail was on full display - and luckily Anno was on hand to make that vision work, along with the even younger 14-year-old prodigy Kōji Akimoto. (I'm not entirely sure what became of Akimoto. He only has one other anime credit, much later.)

Anno's scenes here prefigure the later similar hyper-detailed mechanical animation in works like Patlabor 2. But what's this OVA actually about? Well, it's a pretty simple story: a mechanic gets trapped inside a mecha suit, and accidentally ends up on a rampage as he's chased by the military (remind you of Roujin Z? or Stink Bomb in Memories?), hoping to unite with his girlfriend Shiori. Ultimately he ends up in a confrontation with an American soldier Lieutenant Kilgore. They fight! Really, we're here for the animation.

So, that brings us to Royal Space Force. The origin is kinda messy. To make a long story short, Daicon Film approached Bandai, hoping to make an OVA based on new Gundam kits. Bandai (and more specifically Shigeru Watanabe) said no to Gundam, but they were interested in this idea for a scifi OVA - and they'd drop them a cool three and a half million dollars to make a film to rival Nausicaa. (Apparently Mamoru Oshii's approval played a big part in that).

So Royal Space Force, what a film. There truly isn't anything quite like it, either in Gainax's oeuvre or anime at large. The closest thing I could compare it to might be the near-future anime series Planetes, which similarly focuses on realistic spaceflight in the context of war and geopolitics - but the tone of these two stories is markedly different. Of all things, it actually most makes me think of the works of Le Guin.

Honneamise is set on a fictional world vaguely resembling eartly 20th Century Earth, in which a country embroiled in war is putting together its world's first, threadbare space programme. It follows aspiring astronaut Shirotsugh Ladatt, who missed his chance to be a pilot and ended up in the sideshow space programme. But he meets a religious girl named Riquinni Nonderaiko who convinces him of the potential of spaceflight in bringing peace to the world.

But this idealism clashes with the reality of a world where the space programme is viewed cynically, a means to an end, with protestors questioning the cost of it and the higherups seeing the rocket launch merely as a means to set up an ambush against their enemies. Shirotsugh increasingly doubts whether the space programme is worthwhile at all. And he himself is definitely not a fully sympathetic protagonist; in one particularly uncomfortable scene he attempts to rape Riquinni (which in its framing reminds me of a similar moment with Shevek in The Dispossessed).

The film is as much as anything an insane work of worldbuilding, full of constructed cultures and small details that sit just a little askew of Earth while still feeling incredibly grounded. The animation in this film is fucking insane - not just Anno's incredible rocket launch and flight sequences, based on a research trip to the States where he watched the Shuttle go up for real - but throughout, in its character animation, it anticipates the 90s 'realist' approach to stylisation. It's just full of loving detail, wordlessly conveying so much about its setting.

Of course, such an ambitious film faced a troubled production. Between the inexperience of Daicon Film Gainax and the difference between what this film was going for and what everything else was going for, and production meddling... it was a mess. Big name composer Ryuichi Sakamoto was pulled in to score the film, won over by its storyboards, but ended up clashing over the timing of scenes, and in the end his score was chopped up and rearranged.

And for their part, Bandai started getting antsy and attempted to impose changes, like insisting on tacking on the subtitle 'The Wings of Honneamise'. They wanted to cut the runtime, cut elements that didn't have toy potential, and so on. They wanted something that would sell toys... and got a deliberately slow, moody art film that leans heavily on nonverbal storytelling.

So it's a weird one... and it didn't sell in its theatrical run. But you know, all those elements that made it a hard sell at first are a perfect recipe for 'cult classic', and for that reason, Honneamise is still remembered today.

In any case, back to Anno. He delivered the most impressive animation of his career. The rocket launch in meticulous detail of course, but equally scenes of planes to rival any in Miyazaki's films (or The Cockpit [AN146]). Of course, he didn't carry it alone! The great realist Toshiyuki Inoue, who'd later be famous for his work at Production I.G. such as Ghost in the Shell, was on it, working for example on astonishingly busy crowd scenes which apparently took a full month to animate. And animators like Fumio Iida, Nobuteru Yuki and Noriasu Yamauchi, brought some of the best work they'd ever done.

All in all, there's nothing quite like Royal Space Force, before or since. So I'm really looking forward to seeing it again.

Animation Night 168 will go live shortly; films will begin at 11pm UK time and continue to about 2am UK time. (Apologies it's so late once more, my sleep is proving troublesome to shift.) We will as usual be at twitch.tv/canmom. I hope to see you there, it's gonna be a real sakuga feast tonight!!

[everydaydg]

another ask away but I’ll keep this one a bit shorter lol: I noticed after you got into getter you fell down the mecha rabbit hole which is awesome! But I’m curious how much you’ve watched since then and now other then mazinger and jeeg as I saw. (And it’s okay if it’s a short number bc despite me MASSIVELY hyperfixating on mecha especially because of its history, I’ve maybe watched six mechas now😭 which it ain’t six shows counting iterations but still)

Ive always been a big fan of mecha!

Ive watched stuff from the genre since I was little!

(I will admit I did lean more towards american animation tho. have alot of good memories of 70's Mazinger, Megas XLR and Symbionic Titan)

Sadly I did fall out of watching anime for a while tho... not out of hate or anything, I just didnt watch stuff as much.

aaand then tekkaman blade came and I fell into this spiral again

So... after seeing a bit of media with the character I said "hey why not! might as well go back to watching shows"

I watched like 15 eps and kinda forgor for a long while (I know Tekkaman Blade is not mecha... despite being in SRW- its a real big technicality)

Anyway then I saw armageddon in two days, neo getter in a week... then I rewatched getter armageddon with my brother (he really enjoyed it), then new getter (idk why I watched those three pratically back to back to back), saw Gundam 0080 a bit later, a bit of xabunble (I really want to go back to that eventually) and after that... a whole lot of lounging (just regular cartoons and so on, mission hill was fun)

a slight bit of 70s getter (10 eps), Mazinkaiser aaaand now shin jeeg

I am super slow with this stuff honestly but im planning on getting better at this to

Sorry if this answer is a tad scattershot.

[joshhhhhhhhhhhhhhh]

Finished! Score in a few days - I have a friend I've been talking about these with every week and I kinda wanna talk to him first. He's not choosing my score or anything, but I think the back-and-forth will help me get my thoughts in order and decide where to leave it. Because as it stands I think I'm between 6 and 7 - and 6 sounds low after all the praise I've given (and am about to give) but then part of me wonders if it isn't just that I'm surprised how much it improved over the first season, like if that surprise factor isn't the main reason I'd want to score it a 7. We'll see where I end up with.

Anyway, good last episode. It had an extra 5 minutes in length which really benefited it, because it meant we got to see quite a lot of plot points and character moments come to nice resolutions with wiggle room for cute scenes as well. Felt really fucking bad for the twins though man, the dead one's corpse being puppeted around by Gates was fucked up, and the sister not being strong enough to even enact revenge and going down in seconds actually made me upset. We get to see Kaname restore Sousuke's faith in himself more or less, that was pretty nice, although honestly I could've done with at least less of the slapstick. The ensuing fight between Sousuke and all the Venoms is pretty dope, I haven't spoken about it much but yeah no KyoAni mecha action is really good lol. The final setpiece is really sick - Gates in his own Venom is holding another AS hostage, and Sousuke charges up this insanely sick looking punch, stops right in front of the hostage, and then Lambda Driver fuckin makes the punch go through the hostage completely safe. It's absolutely dope as shit. A level of excitement I never thought this series could offer me. Just really good all around.

And then yeah, Sousuke's back in action, knows what he wants, and all the villains are dead. Couple scenes of various emotional catharses, Sousuke's still staying with Mithril because we wouldn't have much of a show otherwise but he lays down the law, has the full support of Tessa, her moe anime waifu scene here is actually earned because she's been a character up to this point, it's all just pretty good. If I can be honest I was actually thinking about watching Invisible Victory and I still might - but Second Raid so neatly wrapping up most of its stuff makes me think I'll be fine even if I don't. It's really just Tessa's brother that's a variable here, but we'll see what I decide to do.

But yeah, that's me done. Mostly. I'll watch the OVA tomorrow. That was definitely good - I don't think I have too much to say that isn't just spread throughout the other posts I've made, but I mostly had fun here. The series takes itself seriously and has pretty strong plotting and lots of good character moments, which is all you can really ask for. Villains weren't great this time around, I didn't really talk about him ever but I don't think I liked Gates at all, him jacking it to small animals is almost too bizarre an inclusion for the series, but hey. Craziest thing I can say by far is that I am largely endeared to the characters now, which was an unfathomable concept to me back when I finished the first season. Even Fumoffu only got me liking Sousuke, Kaname and the like still pissed me off. Actually being able to point to the characters and say "yeah I liked them" goes so hard. I think I'll call that the end of the post. Like I said, OVA tomorrow, Invisible Victory is a maybe, and then uhhh I mean that's it. Although as one final sidenote, the OVA is the last Kyoto Animation thing for me. Insane.

[awkwardplant]

2023 Reads

This year I've read 24 books - I had only planned to read one book per month, given that I've barely read since leaving highschool. But my old bookworm self is re-emerging! As I write this, I'm on my 25th lol.

I decided at the start of the year that I wanted to try an read a wide variety of genres, which I did. Didn't love everything I read, but such is life. Below are all the titles and my terrible attempts to summarise the plots. The ones with a heart were my favourites and ones I highly reccommend.

My full list in order:

No Destination by Satish Kumar

Autobiography of the life of a pilgrim who left his family at 9 years old to become a Jain monk, then left that to become an activist and walk across continents.

Not the kind of life story you hear everyday, that's for sure.

How to Invent Everything by Ryan North

(Nonfiction) An in depth guide for the stranded time traveller that needs to recreate modern technology from scratch.

Funny, easy to understand, and bitesized sections that can be read when you've got a spare 5 mins.

Moral Compass by Danielle Steel

A girl who experiences sexual assault while at a private school that newly became co-ed, and the resulting court case/investigation into what happened.

Personally I felt this read like a case-study more than a story, and the message was very heavyhanded.

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero ❤

A horror comedy about a group of adults that used to be sleuths in their teens reunite to solve a case that everyone thinks has been wrapped up.

This was recommended to me by a librarian that said it was like "if the scooby doo gang all had trauma and fought eldritch beings" which perfectly summed it up. Also, if you shipped Velma and Daphne... you'll enjoy this book 👀 The writer randomly switches to a script-like format at times, some people hate that but I personally like when an author does whatever the fuck, just because he can. Delicious dark humour.

The Rain Heron by Robbie Arnott ❤

About a woman who lives alone in the mountains in a country devastated by a coup, and is sought out by a soldier in order to find the mythical Rain Heron.

Nice prose and descriptions, and the other character's pov chapters have some great suspense.

The Mark and The Void by Paul Murray

An office worker meets a novellist who wants to write about his life.

I was really into the first half of the story, but the second half became boring as the plot stagnated

Resistance by Samit Basu

People have superpowers corresponding to their innermost desires, and we follow the life of a billionaire who is the leader of a mecha group and the lives of their enemies.

I accidentally picked this up at the library, not realizing it was a sequal to Turbulence, but it read okay on it's own. You'd like this if you're into My Hero Academia or other shounen anime.

Notes from the Burning Age by Claire North ❤

Set in the distant future after an apocalypse, an archivist is forced to translate documents from the "burning age" for the Brotherhood

I still think about this story daily. The writing has an interesting style and rhythm and the plot is packed with intriguing developments

The Library at Mount Char by Scott Hawkins ❤

There's a library with the secrets to the universe, and several people, called Pelapi, grew up learning a unique catalogue of skills using its books, taught by Father, who might be God? But he's gone missing lately.

If you like The Umbrella Academy you'd like this. Like Meddling Kids, it's also dark and funny.

The People we Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

A journalist and her old friend go on holiday in a last attempt to rekindle their friendship.

I found this book on a train, then left it on another. Hopefully it got a new home! The story was sweet, especially the ending where the journalist spent some time on herself.

It's Kind of a Funny story by Ned Vizzini

A teenage boy suffers a mental breakdown and spends a week in a psychiatric ward.

Given to me by a family member, I am now a bit concerned for her. It has a happy ending, at least. There was a transphobic depiction of a character that was mentioned in the blurb, but she doesn't even stay for the whole story.

The Darkness Knows by Arnaldur Indridason

A body is found on a mountain in Iceland, reopening a cold case from 30 years ago, bringing the detective in charge of it out of retirement.

The prose isn't great in this due to a poor translation. The plot/characters are a bit cliche but not too bad overall. The ending was unexpected yet also expected in the best way?

Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree ❤

Cosy fantasy about an orc who retires from adventuring to open a coffee shop/cafe.

Bought this after seeing it recommended for people that like Stardew Valley. I liked the amount of detail that went into just building the shop. The prose is simple, but I find that fits the main character, Viv, well, and there were some really good lines/messages in the story. I have adopted Thimble.

Leonard and Hungry Paul by Ronan Hession

Two unremarkable irish men consider their lives and place in the universe.

This would've been one of my favourites had it not focused so much on Paul's sister's wedding. The book should've been called Leonard, Hungry Paul, and Grace. I did enjoy the conversations in this book, and the attention to the mundane.

Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

Southern Gothic queer supernatural story about a college student trying to solve the case of his best friend's death, while being haunted by Revenants.

This took me ages to read because it was so emotionally heavy and the plot moved slowly. Like it had some incredibly good prose and relationship dynamics, but I couldn't force myself to read it again.

Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers

Solar punk story about a (nonbinary!) person who suddenly switches jobs to become a tea monk, then leaves that to visit a hermitage and meets a robot along the way.

This is a short book because the sequel is the second half of the story. £13-17.99 seems too expensive for half a book. It was recommended as a cosy fantasy but the MC is existentially unhappy with their life for most of it, so the story doesn't quite fit in that category.

A Cosmology of Monsters by Shaun Hamill ❤

Noah, the youngest child of his family, narrates the life of his parents: a bookish mother and a Lovecraft-horror lover father, and the monsters they all encounter

Phenomenal prose, characters, themes, and plot. Lots of psychological trauma and inner demons.

Those People Next Door by Kia Abdullah ❤

A family moves into a suburb and a war begins between them and the neighbours after he knocks down their "black lives matter" banner.

Oh boy, it sure escalates to become way out of hand. It has a mystery element to it which I enjoyed trying to figure out. Lots of tension between plot points. The last line! Agh!!

The Fall by Louise Jensen

A girl falls off a bridge and the family/police try to uncover who pushed her, but instead uncover secrets about the family.

There were some parts that didn't make sense to me, and there was a lot of characters to keep track of. Not a bad book but it just didn't have that extra spark.

Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree

Prequel to Legends and Lattes (but can be read on its own) where Viv has recently started adventuring but has to recover from an injury before she can return to her group. She helps out at a bookshop and gets caught up with a necromancer.

Preferred the first book as it felt cosier, but the action in this book is fun too.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

A woman leaves her office job after a breakup to live above her uncle's bookshop and helps out, but she hates books.

Too short for my liking, and the main character was difficult to connect to and the relationships/conversations seemed shallow. the second half of the story centres on the uncle's wife and while it had a valuable lesson it just wasn't as good to read.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Childhood friends meet again in college and design a game together, which changes their lives/careers.

This was not a terrible book, but it did have some strange descriptions, and the author doesn't understand how the game industry works.

The Hike by Lucy Clarke

4 women who have been friends since highschool go to Norway to climb Mount Blajfell, but they are not prepared for the trek

I felt this had some cliches, but a pretty decent suspense novel

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

10 people are invited to Soldier Island for various reasons, only to find they all have one thing in common... murder.

I was theorizing like crazy during this, trying to guess whodunnit. I felt like the reveal was a bit disappointing because how on earth was anyone meant to guess that??

Library books: 9

Given to me: 5

Favourites: 7

If you have any recs for me I'd love to know, just message me!

[queen-vv]

Top 5 games you consider niche :3

Ooooh a hard one, because I don't really know what counts as niche or not.......... I mean I'm sure plenty of people think like Monster Hunter or Souls are niche, but I certainly wouldn't say so.... Hmm but anyway... I suppose I'll define them on a nebulous scale by whether it's something I can see people not liking but I do, and also how much I've heard people talk about it, I guess lol

5: Hmm well I'd have said Armored Core was niche before 6 came out, but now it's come back to the fore of From Soft's portfolio I'd not be so sure. However I will still include Armored Core: For Answer, since it's from the older generations and has a pretty steep learning curve with it's awkward controls, at times punishing difficulty, and very detailed customisation system. However when you get good (or watch someone else that's good), you're in for some extremely cool mecha action, with like actual human controlled full speed Itano Circus kinda thing ;p

4: Satisfactory! I know you know this one Mika, and know that it's a really technical and brain melting kind of game! So much maths required, but it's extremely absorbing all the same! I lost weeks to this game for real lol

3: The S.T.A.L.K.E.R series (but mainly just the first one since I haven't played much of the second one yet)! I really liked these games, but kind of wanted more from them in the end than what I got, but that's perhaps just me being greedy! Before playing them I'd not heard very much about them, but they're fun survival fpsrpgs! The first game was fun right up to the end where the translation broke and the final mission was basically all voiced in the original Russian because I guess the dub didn't get that far, as well as the combat and idle barks from characters throughout the game are very rarely translated either. But the clunkiness of all aspects are what I really found most charming tbh! The semi-open world, the cool navigation around the Zone anomalies, the monsters and factions, the tough item and inventory management, all very cool to me! I hope to springboard off into playing more Eastern Eurpean games as time goes by, with Pathologic 2 hovering in my steam library waiting for me to get too close. The only thing that'd make it better is if it were about lesbians travelling in the Zone! Or, wait, that seems kinda familiar...

2: Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls, and more generally Japanese, grindy DRPGS (dungeon rpgs, for the uninitiated ;p)! I've basically never heard anyone talk about these games before trying this one, which is very archetypical and relatively simplistic with it's class balances, being only 8 possible classes in a party of 6, but the dungeon exploration is absolutely addictive! I love it! Other games in the genre like Elminage have a lot more variety in that category, with like 3 times as many classes to choose from and stuff! It's moreso niche by my second category, since I've barely heard them talked about but I'd highly recommend anyone at all play one, since they're super fun! I'd especially especially recommend them if you like anime that has that kind of video gamey fantasy setting, and especially especially especially if you like Dungeon Meshi, since that very much feels like it's taking place in a specifically Wizardry drpg setting, with the way it goes out of it's way to explain and contextualise game mechanics from such games in a more realistic sense! Just very good anyway I will absolutely evangelise these games heavily!!!!

1: Fear and Hunger (1 and 2, but especially 1): This is the only one I knew absolutely it'd be on here lol. A very difficult and obtuse indie horror jrpg/dungeon crawler which really, *really* doesn't shy away from portraying sexual violence is about as niche as I can think of by my former metric. However, by the latter I have heard at least one fairly prominent-in-certain-circles youtuber talk about it. That said I do definitely think it evens out to be the nichest thing I can think of that I actually like! It absolutely has it's problematic aspects, depending on how you feel about the sexual violence in the horror setting and the perhaps kind of questionable mapping of fantasy concepts onto an Earth like setting, like with pretty much all the black characters being amoral mystic sorcerers (which I don't feel qualified to speak on but do wonder about any nuance). The second game does tone down the sexual violence at least a little bit, and prominently includes a textual trans woman as the box-art character, so that's neat. I definitely wouldn't recommend these games without a disclaimer to do some research and introspection about what you can get past in art lol.

[elibean]

well this anime season is ending with a lot less shows than i thought it would, lol

there were SO MANY "ok i'll check out the first episode at least" shows on my list this season and i dropped most of them xD

shy-- cute, but nothing particularly stood out to me. also it would've hit way harder if the classmate ACTUALLY died. oh no she was a little more injured than the rest of them. boohoo

bullbuster-- i'm a sucker for anime originals, and this is pa works, right? ah no i'm way off lol it's NUT, same ones who did...deca-dence, i think? yeah, and i loved that one that was fun. but i just generally don't care about mechas, and this wasn't doing anything to really stand out from others shows, so

shangri-la-- ok everyone was praising the HELL out of this beforehand, like they really liked the source material. the first episode was...fine? it just seems like a straightforward "guy gets really into a vr game" thing lol, like maybe sao but without the impending doom. the animation was nice, but there was nothing there to really grab me.

100 girlfriends-- again people were praising the source material here, so i thought maybe i'd enjoy it, even though i usually don't bother with harem or romance. i thought maybe this'd be different. it wasn't. some of the jokes got a snort out of me, but nothing like super amazing. and the heteronormative thing that he can only be in love with girls was annoying lol

i think that's it out of what i tried and dropped. so what i'm following, sequels notwithstanding--

telepath-- ok the premise is really dumb, what high school girl would HONESTLY make a whole dream about ~meeting aliens~. i think younger me would have been more invested in this kind of thing BUT the forehead touch was super cute, and this IS tagged under "girls' love" so i'm....hoping. please. give me like a smooch or something please

yuzuki-san-- awful subs aside, this seemed really cute and promising. nothing groundbreaking, but endearing and i love stories about families.

frieren-- i'm not gonna say it's a masterpiece but like. easily aots, no contest lol. incredible, even if predictable. the idea of her retracing her steps is really interesting, too. and it's a cool storytelling thing to have us retroactively see her journey along the way-- that's just really fun. i'm not sure how i feel about the goal of getting to talk to her dead friend again. it feels like it kind of cheapens what she's trying to do, in a way? unsure, i feel like they might be able to pull it off in a satisfying way, though. i love the idea of her trying to grow and become more empathetic-- that's really interesting. this one deserves all the praise it's getting.

aaaand that's it, again minus sequels. small season, compared to what i thought it'd be lol

[no1ryomafan]

This subject was brought up in my discord server so I’m thinking about it more then I should but am I the only person who doesn’t get it when people call Getter Robo a “MANLY” anime? Hot bloodness sure but I don’t get it automatically having a mostly male cast making it one of the most manliest anime you’ve ever seen. (So many Animes have male casts and can be the most non masculine thing you’ve seen or trying to appeal to both gender demographics) Like the males don’t even feel super masculine besides like Ryoma?? Go and Takuma try to have Ryoma energy but don’t hit the super masculine energy he does, Hayato a slim boy, Kei and Sho got the masc vibes but are female getter pilots, Kamui is a lizard and all the Getter 3 pilots from Musashi to Baku are just round friend shaped boys. Also this isn’t like whatever other manly anime people deem where it’s a bunch of rip guys throwing hands, most of the fights are in giant robots that are slightly beefy ig but I don’t see the getters having genders. (I hate gender assigned mechs but I already threw my take on that and won’t expand unless someone asks)

Like I can’t tell if this is just me being oblivious to it because I’m more comfortable with masculine vibes over feminine vibes due to my gender identity or if people really water down one of the most interesting mecha series for its “manliness” when it has a lot more to it. At this point I don’t know which it is but I’m glad I’m asking it here and not twitter lol.

[lbodraws]

Splatoon Mech AU: Storymode

This will be more in line with an anime plot and its pacing, and will be a general overview for this AU. Fair warning: I can't write to save my life.

Enjoy.

Story - The Beginning

Hiro and Veronika (and Lil Buddy) head to the Crater in Junks, their Old Tech mech, to do some scavenging for mech parts.

Whilst the trio is rummaging through the human tech debris, two mechs fly overhead, shortly followed by a dozen or so law enforcement mecha. The gang play opossum and set Junks down beside the rest of the metal scrap to blend in to avoid detection. The two mechs from before that flew overhead fly over again; this time heading staight towards the centre of the Crater. The trio are certain the pilots of the mechs plan on taking their mechs down with them in a final bid to escape the feds when the scorched earth opens up, swallowing the two mecha whole.

The opening closed just as quickly as it opened; its metal maws promptly snapping shut with a clang.

No sooner had it closed when the law arrived en masse; the sun reflecting harshly off of their metal chassis'. The gang had no other choice but to wait patiently, and pray they remained hidden. It was starting to get dark...

The squad of scavengers awaken to a loud thud outside of Junks. 'This is it,' they think to themselves, 'we've been rumbled'. Before they could rev Junks' engines to life to escape, a spindly figure of an old man slid down the Pilot's window. Neither of the three could decide what was worse; the Cod awful sound of skin on screen friction, or the fact that the old fart was staring directly at them. They had indeed been 'rumbled', but fortunately not by the feds.

"...Do I use the window wipers." Hiro mused.

Veronika looked over to him, signing a stern "No", with a capital 'N'. Lil Buddy babbled enthusiastically.

"You're no fun." he exhaled as he unbuckled himself from his Pilot seat, hauling himself up and out of Junks' Pilot cabin hole.

The old man was already halfway down Junks' screen by the time Hiro got out. At least it saved him the job of having to peel him off of Junks. Hiro clambered down Junks' side ladder to reach the old man before he inevitably fell; though with how long it was taking for the old fart to slide down, it might have been faster to simply shove him to the floor.

Nevertheless, Hiro waited. And waited. And waited. And-

"Veronika! Use the blasted wipers!" he barked up into Junks' Pilot cabin.

Though no sooner had he said it did the old man fall directly on top of him. Hiro had never tasted sand before today. Needless to say, he was not a fan of its grainy and dry texture in his mouth. Or the old fart crushing his abdomen.

Veronika and Lil Buddy watched on unamused as the two floundered on the ground like toddlers; Hiro spluttering and spitting sand from his mouth whilst the spindly old man pushed himself off of Hiro and onto his feet, completely oblivious.

"You..." Hiro managed between a mouthful of sand.

The two cabin crew mates locked eyes with one another in silent agreement, before exiting through the Pilot hatch.

Veronika double tapped their double ear pieces, bringing them to life. Veronika signed a few phrases to test if the sign to audio translation worked. Hopefully this would make communication easier, though with the potential for a scuffle breaking out between Hiro and "Screen Wiper", that might be too optimistic of a thought.

Veronika and Buddy emerged from Junks expecting to find that the Great Turf War II had broken out berween their co-pilot and Screen Wiper; though much to their surprise the two were behaving civilised with one another, deep in discussion.

"Heya Squiddo!" the old man beamed as Veronika descended Junks.

"I've got a proposal for you three, if you'd hear an old squid out..."

- Our Adventure Begins!

[Notes]

I got kind of carried away with this lol. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed your read and this rare instance of me using proper punctuation and grammar.

Might expand on this with further installments, like the missions and final fight. But we shall see.

Thank you for reading!

[steelajeeg]

Mirai Robo Daltanious

- from HG Super Robot

  Complete Collection 3

  Mysterious Robot Minerva X Edition

- by Bandai

Quick Shot

Another Book Off find. It's not often you find Daltanious merchandise at the thrift store - even a thrift store that focuses on anime and toys like Book Off.

Daltanious was a late 70s to early 80s Super Robot anime that featured a combining robot with a lion theme. And it was originally supposed to be brought to the US as Voltron, but the studio accidentally licensed the wrong lion robot - and we got Golion instead. Or so the story goes.

It's a great design, with early indications of the 80s boxy mecha aesthetic.

I actually had no idea Bandai did an HG line for super robots - let alone multiple series of them.

The sculpt is very soft, especially for the HG Kamen Rider and Ultraman lines of the same era. And the paint is a little lackluster.

But it's still a very fun minifigure, and a truly unexpected surprise find.

[Instagram link for this post]

Show this one a little love if you're an old school robot head like me. This post flopped hard on Instagram lol.