Our Unmasked Masked Hero sneaks out for a supply of Generic Red Bull and runs into Our Masked Foreign Princess, failing to recognize her despite her remarkably distinctive appearance and shoddy disguise. Restocked, he skips his homework to try out SLF with premium VR gear. Just for one hour, wink-wink. This gives us a reasonable dose of Classic Sunraku Adventure With A Small Side Of Emul.

Verdict: still not caring about the fighting-game tournament, so any SLF action is a distinct improvement.

(They’ve got one week to figure out the special quest, and what does Cuddles McNinja do with her time? Decorate their base)

The Three Behemoths, fin

Wow, that was terrible. You might think they’d have put aside some budget for the big battle to defeat the demon army and save the world, but you would be wrong. You might think that Our Hidden Behemoth’s true nature might, y’know, come up when facing an overpowering enemy who Knows Things, but you would be wrong. You might hope that they’d have focused all their efforts on Our Heroic Hotties and not on the insane gay couple, but you would be spectacularly wrong.

You might even think they’d have rewarded the viewers with a fully animated nipplicious bath scene that took up more than a minute, or done something, anything with the incredibly valuable magic tree and magic pond in their yard, but you would be left scratching your head wondering why they were ever mentioned in the first place.

Verdict: what little potential it had at the start was gone by the end. Okay, “well before the end”. Bottom line, it’s hard to adapt a story that was never finished, and that abandoned its premise so early. It’s hard to care about Tama secretly being a Behemoth when everyone takes one look at his transformation and decides he’s holy.

(Duke of York is unrelated, but I just don’t feel like manufacturing more AI fan-art for this turkey)

Solo Leveling 2, episode 11

I’m sure everyone will be stunned to learn that The Big Battle doesn’t go as planned. Between J Random Spear-Carrier losing her head last week and the inevitable betrayal by the Japanese team, events have now escalated to the point that only Our Solo Hero can save the day. Next week.

Verdict: I’m willing to overlook the clumsy CGI integration for the army of ants, but less willing to forgive the frequent shortcuts taken with what should be one of the biggest set pieces of the series.

(some people know a Best Girl when they see one…)

A-Rank Adventure Harem, clip episode

I can only say two good things about this filler: there are clean pictures of the girls that should improve the available LoRAs, and they didn’t use any footage of the asshole party.

Verdict: it doesn’t count as episode 10, so the show has three weeks left.

(train gals are unrelated)

Classic Valley

Yes, yes it is.

(site NSFW, disable Javascript)

Literal Dream Girl Elf Waifu, episode 10

Our Adorkable Couple spends time together, with Our Foodie Dragon Mama gently pushing them to advance their relationship; good thing she’s immortal, eh? Eventually, they officially enter the dungeon they found. In the background, danger looms with mention of a scouting party that’s fallen out of contact. We also get a quick look at another hopeless not-a-couple-yet, adding some fresh eye candy; these two will matter soon (where soon is likely “next week”, given we only have two more weeks).

Verdict: character art seems to be stabilizing, and things are staying light and fluffy. Like in the deal.

The Apothecary Diaries 2, episode 10

This week, a scary midnight party forces Maomao into spending a hot night with another girl. Not that way, of course. Most of the ghost stories were filler-grade material and an excuse for a small mystery, but some sinister secrets were hinted at. Next week, the shit apparently hits the fan.

Hammer Of The Guild Gal, episode 10

My enthusiasm for this show is so high that I put off watching it for nearly a day. This week’s episode wasn’t bad, since they still put some effort into the character art, but the light and fluffy part was stained by the presence of the plot. Next week has been setup to spray dark nonsense all over the screen.

Verdict: best part was Alina realizing that you can’t be a tsundere without an excuse to tsun. Worst part was everything related to the plot.

Remote Echo

Amazon disables local Alexa processing, insists on keeping “accidental” recordings of anything that happens inside your home. Because offline processing conflicts with their pointless new AI voice-identification feature, part of their pointless new AI extra-cost feature set.

“Where’d that very specific fantasy come from?”

Well, well, Our Busty Noble Desperate Housewife wasn’t just putting her goods on the table to influence her negotiations with Our Shopping Hero, but offering to include them in his reward. And as he proves his value to her domain, she gets even more eager to offer up her hills and valleys. Looks like the Viscount has left the home fires burning for a very long time.

Meanwhile, Our Blue Furry-Boobed Catgirl’s rivalry with Our Orange Furry-Big-Boobed Catgirl escalates when Her Blue Pals show up and go ga-ga over Orange. This also clears up their relationship, since she complains that they’ve never acted that way around her. So, the shared color scheme doesn’t make them relatives, just friends-without-benefits.

Nominal plot this week is building a canal, which Our Backhoe Hero manages with a minimum of stupid incantations.

Verdict: a very horny, fun episode this week. Expansion of the bathing facilities offers some hope for the Bluray.

(the only recognizable recent fan-art pic of Myaley has her taking it from behind, and I can make better with 10 seconds of Stable Diffusion)

LinkedIn, Then and Now

How it started:

LinkedIn sidebar: “use our AI to write your resume and cover letter”

How it’s going:

LinkedIn News: “AI cheating rocks tech interviews”

Girlboss horseshit

While my sister was recuperating from her surgery, she pretty much spent the day resting on the couch watching mystery shows and movies. Philip Marlowe, Miss Marple, Perry Mason, Ms. Fisher’s Modern Mysteries, etc, but the one that really stuck out for me was Frankie Drake Mysteries, a Prohibition-era team of Diverse Socially Conscious Female Detectives in an alternate-universe Toronto that was far less white than the one in our universe.

I could have put up with the background nonsense, but every member of The Squad was frequently overpowering men physically. And not just in bare-fisted brawling. One skinny little chick outperforms a very fit man in a police obstacle course. In another episode, a large man lunges forward in a rage, and two skinny little chicks each grab an arm and not only restrain him, but pull him back several feet. This wasn’t presented as the result of advanced martial arts training; they’re just Tough Gals. Feh.

Random garbage in AI

Continuing to explore the features of InvokeAI, I decided to use a LoRA to make a more detailed catgirl. Specifically, the only reason to try watching No Longer Allowed In Another World, but not enough to save the show:

(the fake signature is the LoRA trigger tag “tamais”; Illustrious seems to have been trained that the first tag is often the artist)

Naturally, the first attempt had a bit of WTF in it…

The Three Behemoths, episode 11

Wish I could say they left out “Anna” again this week, but at least it was brief, and they compensated with a mother-daughter melon bath and some symmetrical docking kitten-smothering.

Anyway, after an obviously-telegraphed betrayal by a character added for precisely that purpose, The Big Bad arrives with his army and immediately makes a mockery of the elves’ defenses (Maginot Line much?). Big fight next week.

Verdict: one more episode, which has to include The Biggest Battle Ever and a catsexual harem wrapup? Somebody’s ambition is bigger than Aria’s chest.

(printable Vulcan model might make a good side project, if you’re up to gluing all the parts together; I think I’ll stick to Stable Diffusion)

Solo Leveling 2, episode 10

The Japan/Korea duel sets up some important things, but fortunately it doesn’t take very long, leaving time to show most of Our Hero’s Friends And Family And Rescue Babes (and Schoolgirl Hunter seems to have settled on Earnest Sidekick as Backup Best Boy…). Then it’s off to Ant Island, where the raid goes as planned, until it doesn’t. Whoopsie.

Verdict: better paced than I expected, given how close we’re getting to the end.

(a Hero’s Reward moment that should have happened)

A-Rank Adventure Harem, episode 9

Our Eager Eavesdropping Catgirl’s a tad overdressed when she’s not kitted up for adventure, but Our Legendary Elf Receptionist makes up for it with a cleavage cuddle.

Then it’s Our Little Blonde Titty-Witch’s turn to overdress; pity, I’d been hoping her taste in street clothes matched her “professional” (coughcough) costume. Our Core Trio is in their usual civvies as well, hosting a party for the least surprising event of the season: permanently adding two new haremettes, exactly as promised in the episode title.

On the relationship front, Our Legal-Loli Healer is so far in the lead with Our Multi-Beloved Hero that she’s nearly unbeatable now; fortune favors the bold, indeed. Our Hot Dark Elf plays the ha-ha-only-serious card in an attempt to recover some ground. Hopefully these issues will be resolved in a shared bath scene soon.

Character art wasn’t consistent, but the show didn’t fall off the cliff, at least. Next week, it’s Party party time! Cleverly disguised as a clip episode.

Verdict: did we really need to show Dickhead’s End one last time (I hope) and then waste screen time talking about The Late Losers? Yeah, yeah, Yuke & Jamie needed closure, but we didn’t. I’m really looking forward to them never being mentioned again during the next cour.

(good luck catching up, Silk!)

Shangri-La Frontier 2, episode 22

I Do Not Care What Happens In This Other Game. And their version of Western comic-book art doesn’t do it for me. As for the real-world game, Gal Gamer’s crush on Pro Gamer K is now obvious enough to be seen from space, but not from the chair next to her.

Verdict: not thrilled with the pacing coming into this finale, especially since the undersea quest was built-up as much more interesting.

Unrelated,

I drove to Chicago to spend some time with my sister and help her out post-surgery, and thanks to some jackass cutting off a semi, the trip took 90 minutes longer than it should have. So much for carefully timing the trip to avoid bumper-to-bumper traffic on Lake Shore Drive. Anyway, I got to see her new place, and spent some time sitting on her enclosed balcony that you could fish in Lake Michigan from, if you had a 25-story reel. And you didn’t mind the snow being blown into your face.

Speaking of Stable Diffusion…

I was just cleaning my catgirls, when they suddenly went off:

more...

Literal Dream Girl Elf Waifu, episode 9

Our Mighty Morphing Dragon MILF manipulates her way onto Our Cuddly Couple’s team, strengthens both members, and guarantees that they’ll be accepted on the New Dungeon Investigation Squad. If it weren’t for her obvious weaknesses and her willingness to let Our Heroes learn and grow, she’d be a real show-breaker. As it is, she just ensures that things don’t get dark and bloody, and we can continue to enjoy our Boy-Meets-Elf Sloooooooow-Burn Romance/Adventure/Comedy.

Verdict: “we’ve secretly replaced their fairy godmother with a foodie dragon mama; let’s see if anyone notices.”

The Apothecary Diaries 2, episode 9

Mystery Managed! Maomao did her best to ignore information that would drag her deeper into Jinshi’s affairs, but in the end she just did her best. Most interesting was the surprise PoV change to the Emperor’s mother, who turned out to have more secrets than the one she set Maomao to solve. Sic Semper Pedo, as it were.

Hammer Of The Guild Gal, episode 9

If the show was always as light and fluffy as this episode, it would be 10 times better. Also, this is one of the rare filler shows this season where the character art hasn’t fallen off a cliff. Yet.

Verdict: finally getting all three of Our Cuddly Cuties into one room without any bloody deaths was a win. More revealing pajamas, like the ones in Our Mighty Heroine’s imaginary vacation, would have put the cherry on top. So to speak.

The good news is that only about half of the character art was done by the C-team this week. The bad news is that The Big Bad Dungeon Spiders were handled by the D-team. Honestly, the best part of the episode was Our Blue Furry-Boobed Catgirl narrating her jealousy.

Verdict: meh. I would be delighted if Our Shopping Hero gave up on the lame-ass chuuni incantations. They take up time that would be better spent on harem hijinks.

(Zabuton was so far above this week’s disposable puppets that I can’t even regard them as proper spiders)

This week, we get to see Our OG Party meet up for the first time in the real world, where they’re revealed to be… exactly like their avatars. In other words, Actual Sunraku is just as hyper and shouty as in-game. This does not win over the other pro gamer in the party, who’s reluctantly putting up with their antics because she trusts her regular partner (with a faint hint of “silent crush”).

We only get to see brief moments of the new game, though, because 90% of the episode is a huge exposition dump.

Verdict: four episodes to go, and not only do we have private matches between teammates, we have the actual competition, and occasional dips back into the underwater boss arc, which makes me think maybe they should have worked all this week’s exposition into the actual action.

(bringing in this serious fighting gamer would take this show to the next (naughty) level…)