Why refer to Management of a Novice Alchemist by this title? Because while it didn’t come up in this episode, once she makes friends with girls closer to her age (starting next episode), she develops a major case of a-cup angst.

This episode is all setup, as every element of Our DFC Prodigy’s backstory is touched on, so they can get on with the show in episode 2. Which, given they only have 12 episodes total, is going to have to move briskly. I’ve skimmed the fan-translation that’s available, and I have no idea what they’ve picked as a stopping point; it kinda just drifts along, with the occasional crisis that they never really have trouble resolving.

(there’s basically no fan-art of this show yet (this is from the cover artist), merchandise is limited to unlicensed shipped-from-China crap, and it doesn’t look like the source has been licensed)

Demon Girl Next Door 2.12

The big finish, with Our Demon Girl bringing everyone together to solve Our Other Magical Girl’s bad-luck problem once and for all.

Special bonus Crisis Management Form transformations included:

Komi 2.10

Valentine’s Day went so well that even the presence of Katai couldn’t ruin it.

Super Harem Version + OVA

Kadokawa’s solution to releasing a new isekai show where the whole point of the original story is Our Slavehumper banging his fantasy-race slave harem every chance he gets is to release it in three versions: broadcast, harem, and “super harem”. The Bluray/DVD box sets will contain the super harem version plus bonus I-can’t-believe-it’s-not-hentai OVAs.

(platonic not-a-slave-harem is unrelated)

Cast Off!

What cheat power hasn’t been given to an isekai hero yet? I was going to say the Most Common Special Attack, otherwise known as effortlessly stripping women like anime figurines, but then I remembered Those Who Hunt Elves…

Down to the wireACH…

I got a call from the title company that cleared up the current state of the house sale: the buyers simply didn’t understand how long it takes to get money out of a 401K, their loan officer didn’t explain it to them, and their explanation to the realtor (relayed to me) reflected this cluelessness. To put the cherry on top, the 401K provider didn’t wire the money to the title company’s escrow account this morning, they’re sending it via ACH, which adds at least another day… as we go into a three-day bank-holiday weekend.

So they asked me to extend the closing date until the 6th, while hoping to be able to do it on the 5th. Their loan is approved, all the paperwork is signed, and the deal is done… as soon as they hand over the money.

My mortgage payment on the old house is due today, but not considered late until the 15th, so we don’t have to redo all the numbers based on a change in the balance. Yet.

Nothing jumps out at me at all for the summer season; I like the character design for the female lead in Mysterious Maid, but nothing about the concept, and I liked Weird ScienceMagic better when it was called Macademi Wasshoi!.

As for fall, so far all that looks promising is Flatcat & Sword. Shield Hero season 3 is supposed to be coming in October as well, but they did such a terrible job on 2 that I’m not interested. And I dropped Spy×Family pretty early, so its second cour isn’t on my list.

Maybe I’ll just have to spend the next few months cheesecake-blogging…

(Macademi Wasshoi! is still streaming on Crunchyroll, fortunately, since if it ever got a US DVD release, I can’t find it anywhere used; there are still a few seeded torrents, though…)

Unrelated,

Just noticed that Steven’s brother let the denbeste.nu registration lapse, so it now points to an ad-infested page with boilerplate anime contents in a language I don’t speak.

Shield Hero 2.11

The return of Our Scenery-Chewing Asshat, an awful lot of talking, and a sudden cliffhanger. Blah-blah-blah. Only good part was the introduction of a luscious redhead with a ponytail, who’ll probably never show up again now that she’s served her single role in the plot.

RPG Real Estate 11

Too. Much. Plot. And I’m not a big fan of spontaneous melodrama.

Next week, posthumous exposition!

Skeleton Knight 11

I could do with less scenery-chewing over-the-top cackling villains this season. Pretty sure this one will be dead soon, fortunately.

In other news, if you had any doubt that Our Lung-Hung Elf Gal wants the B, in this episode she gets prickly after catching Our Bony Hero in the arms of another woman.

(related fan-art is finally showing up that does not involve the early-season gang-rape scenes)

Demon Girl Next Door 2.10

In which Our Demon Girl trains hard, both really and virtually.

Bonus: “You got your tanuki child bride in my demon girl!”

Komi 2.8

Field trip! Pillow fight good, homoerotic muscle-boys bad.

Dear Adobe,

Did you hire away Apple’s QA VP? I ask because the latest Photoshop update failed twice and then pretended it had succeeded, leaving me with a thoroughly broken app. Fortunately the uninstall still worked, and preserved my preferences for the reinstall.

Count Dr. Olaf Horrible vs Who?

Neil Patrick Harris has been announced as the antagonist for new Dr Who Ncuti Gatwa when Russell T. Davies takes the show back over.

They’re really trying to signal that they’re going to make a decent show this time, bringing back David Tennant, Catherine Tate, and possibly even Bernard Cribbins for the 60th anniversary.

Recently overheard…

Someone on an executive search team: “I’m sorry we weren’t able to hire a diverse candidate”.

I’d have been strongly tempted to reply, “so you hired di-better one instead?”

Shield Hero 2.8

I’m losing interest fast, here. What this really feels like is a highlight reel rather than an attempt to tell a coherent story.

RPG Real Estate 8

Y’know, Our Boobie Newbie’s sleepwear looks a lot like what Alizee wore in the classic night-elf J’en Ai Marre video. Fits about the same, too. Just sayin’.

More of the usual, with Our Agents getting a bit of sticker shock while shopping, then quickly and accidentally resolving a new client’s housing problem. There’s even room for a tiny bit of plot advancement, although I honestly don’t think this is really going anywhere. I kind of hope not, in fact.

Next week: hot springs!

Skeleton Knight 8

The Tale Of The Ninja Flatcat, leading Our Bony Hero to go all otaku, to the bafflement of Our Rescue Kitten and Our Bountiful Elf. We really need to move the plot along to a hot springs episode. Yes, that means that we’ll probably flesh out the main character, but as long as the girls get some bath time, it will be worth it.

(I wasn’t kidding about giving up on trying to find related pictures…)

Demon Girl Next Door 2.7

Summer festival, summer homework. Our Demon Girl will be fine as long as she’s got one leaf on.

(classical reference)

Komi 2.5

Winter is comingall over this episode. I could have done without the blow-by-blow games of Hanafuda, though.

Yeah, I got nothin’…

…in the way of anime to watch next season.

(overclocked girlfriend is unrelated)

Extreme demand

At the grocery store a few nights ago, every variety of two-liter soda was marked “limit 6 due to extreme demand”. You could still stock up on cans or smaller bottles, which suggests that it’s the supply that’s the problem, and they don’t want to run out going into the holiday weekend.

Smokin’!

I haven’t bought a grill yet at the new house, because I’m waiting for the sale of the old place before ordering a deck with a built-in natural-gas grill. So I tried the simplest of indoor steak methods: a cast-iron skillet on the stovetop.

The over-the-range microwave/fan combo unit was as spectacularly useless as I expected it to be. Fortunately we had put screens in a few windows, so I was able to vent the smoke outdoors before all the alarms went off.

Unrelated, I briefly met another neighbor, the city councilman across the street. Seems nice.

Offered and accepted

On the one hand, the offer is $24K below our asking price. On the other hand, it’s the first offer in the 9 days the house has been on the market, and many of the other houses in the area just dropped their prices that much or more, out of fear of inflation-driven fiscal incontinence. On the gripping hand, it would still net more than enough to pay off the new house. And upgrade it.

Deals can fall through, of course, but we’ve got a pre-approval from a decent lender (that is, Not Cooper), so it’s worth getting started.

Coincidentally, I got a call yesterday from Mr. Cooper, apparently trying to get me to refinance my new house through them. I really wish I had a classic Bell landline phone, so I could have hung up with an appropriate level of force.

AppleTV, Go, Go, Go!

No, really, just go; don’t inflict a JJ Abrams live-action Speed Racer series on the world.

(picture is unrelated but froggy)

(classical reference)

Shield Hero 2.7

Theme song: Whole New World

In which the slate is wiped clean, and we are spared the presence of the bozo villain from last episode. And we get one small bonus: the return of L’il Raf.

RPG Real Estate 7

Theme song: Burning Down The House

After succeeding by failing, Our Boobie Newbie takes Our Dragon Loli home to meet her parents. And her little sisters, who were happy to show off their character growth.

(picture is unrelated)

Skeleton Knight 7

Theme song: I.L.B.T.’s

In which the side view is most impressive, and…, um…, oh yeah, Our Bony Hero raises the dead and gets to meet the ninja catgirl again. Sorry, gotta keep my priorities straight there.

(I’m not even looking for related pictures for this one any more)

Demon Girl Next Door 2.7

Theme song: National Brotherhood Week

Delayed. I guess that’s fair, since they really pulled out the stops last week to wrap up a big story.

Komi 2.4

Theme song: Deck The Halls

In which Christmas is Merry.

Next-Gen Forger

This is a very nice adult version of Anya.

Unrelated,

I had a big batch of incomplete-Edge-downloads due to the way it flags supposedly-insecure images it’s already displayed to you, and I wasn’t looking forward to clicking through the download-anyway-dammit dialog box 100+ times, so I went to see what they were actually storing in the .crdownload files.

Answer: the completed download it thought was too scary to download. A quick rename and the problem went away.

Speaking of scary and unrelated:

NSFW

Quick, drop her into a volcano!

Electrical Happy Dance

Scary warnings about rolling blackouts are not just for California and Texas. But I’m in Ohio now, and we’re apparently fine. Which is good, because it gets pretty darn hot and muggy in the summer, and I’m not used to that any more.

Shield Hero 2.6

Finally, the turtle story is over. Sadly, the scenery-chewing villain (more annoying than the OP song) ran away to fight another day, and Our Heroes came tumbling after. And is it just me, or did Our Noob Girl’s sudden competence come completely out of left field?

RPG Real Estate 6

In which Our Overworked Agents scramble to house a bunch of refugees. Then it’s Our Warrior Gal’s turn to pull the perfect property out of her back pocket, while Our Boobie Newbie frets about the trouble with half-dragons. In the end, the two halves are tied together quite tidily with a ribbon labeled foreshadowing.

Skeleton Knight 6

In which Our Bony Hero gets his pelvis handed to him by someone who actually knows how to use a sword, but in a good way. Once again, His Dark Secret is accepted without any difficulty, leading to that most precious of moments, Our Busty Elf Maiden walking in naked while he’s bathing (buythebluraybuythebluraybuythebluray).

(picture is unrelated; you know the drill)

Demon Girl Next Door 2.6

In which Our Demon Girl scores a significant victory and moves forward toward a new goal, with her best girl by her side.

Komi 2.3

Nothing demonstrates more clearly the difference between koi and ai than trying to read Our Komi’s mind. Our Pyscho Lesbian and Our Chuu-ni both fail to learn the lessons being taught by Our Hero, because their passion for Komi is self-centered, while his relationship with her has always been about understanding her feelings.

Sadly, this is followed by another round of Our Misunderstood Giant failing to communicate in awkward and embarrassing ways, which I just can’t get into.

So, on Sunday, instead of catching up on last week’s anime that I wanted to watch, instead I watched the available episodes of Virgin Road. It’s a real mixed bag. As much as I approve of the concept, the premise has massive holes in it, (apparently eventually explained in the novels, in a likely retcon), Our Psycho Lesbian is shallow and annoying, Our ExeCutie’s lack ofsubdued personality is handwaved away by her backstory, and Our Bubble-Headed Tit Queen is More Than She Seems. It looks like there’s a very slow reveal of what’s really going on, slow enough that this season is unlikely to catch up to anything that’s teased in the OP.

Now, let’s write up last week’s anime, two hours before this week’s episodes start showing up!

Shield Hero, episode 2.5

Are we there yet?

No, seriously, how long is this turtle story?

RPG Real Estate, episode 5

Let’s play house… in bikinis! Our Boobie Newbie excels at this game, despite assigning the Mama role to someone less top-heavy. Then Our Agents are bullied into finding a free house for a spoiler, and Our Dragon-Service Loli (or Loli-Service Dragon) hints at hidden depths. Or something like that. Fluff and cheesecake.

Skeleton Knight, episode 5

In which Our Bony Hero and Our Busty Elf free more slaves from mustache-twirling rapists, bond over their shared desire to cuddle the fluffy mascot, and head off to adventures in elf-ville. Oh, and apparently she likes her men stiff, since the revelation of his dire secret bothers her less than missing a meal.

The tone shifts continue to be jarring, with Miss Nearly-Nude Canada bouncing between crushing testicles and snuggling the fluffball. She’s kind of like the love child of Emma Peal and Benny Hill, constructed of equal parts Action Girl and Comic Relief.

(and, yes, she really is from the village of Maple in the forests of Canada; this world has been isekai’d many, many times)

(picture is completely unrelated, for the usual reason)

Demon Girl Next Door, episode 2.5

I like it when Shamiko spends time in Crisis Management form.

Komi, episode 2.2

This one was a pretty random collection of unconnected short chapters, with Our Komi being scared of a storm, several boys imagining date scenarios with their classmates, Our Psycho Lesbian obsessing over Komi’s panties, and a visit to a cat café.

Unrelated,

At first, I thought my dishwasher was broken. Then I found that it’s controlled by the wall switch right next to the one for the garbage disposal. I’ve never seen that before. It works, but is loud enough that I’ll be ordering a Bosch Real Soon Now.

The fridge is not just old and loud, but contagious. When the compressor kicks on, it generates vibrations strong enough to cause the toaster six feet away to start vibrating in sympathy, adding even more noise. It’s also set up for a man in a wheelchair, so I have to reach down even for the top shelf. Fortunately it’s currently only holding Diet Pepsi, lunch meat, and leftovers, but it’s now at the top of my list for replacement.

The washer and dryer are functional, and blessedly IoT-free, but they’re energy hogs. Hopefully they’ll hold out long enough for me to get new gas lines run, because I’d rather have a gas dryer.

I’m not a fan of the electric oven/range combo unit, but replacing it also requires running gas lines, so I can install a dual-fuel unit and have a gas range and electric oven. Since I’m still just starting to settle in, I’ve only used the range to boil water for the good ramen I brought from California, and it at least did that well, but I had to unpack some Le Creuset for it, since the only other pot I’ve unpacked doesn’t have a flat bottom that’s stable on the ceramic smoothtop.

And I really hate the “over the range” microwave oven/fan combo unit. In fact, I hate it more than I expected, even though it’s the only recent appliance in the kitchen. They’re astonishingly popular in new and renovated homes, but they’re just not very good. They’re too high up to use regularly as a microwave, and they’re simply poor range hoods. I’d rather buy one of the high-end countertop microwave/convection ovens; I’ve got plenty of counter space now.

While they’re installing gas, I’ll also have a line run to the back porch, so that when I get around to having a deck built, I can have a built-in gas grill that’s free of the tyranny of propane tanks. That’s a late-summer, post-old-house-sale thing, though, like replacing all the flooring and window shades.

Speaking of which, the old house goes up for sale on the 15th. It got thoroughly cleaned last week, staged, and power-washed, and I had the landscaper do some touchups to the yard as well. I haven’t seen the pictures yet; it probably looks like normal people lived there. 😁

Now to hire an adorably-precocious orphan and a lethally-gorgeous spinster to be my fake family…

Dear Expedia,

I’ll be traveling from Dayton to Salinas and back soon, so I went to book flight, hotel, and car rental. If I say “I’m going to Salinas”, then the only airport available is San Jose (San Francisco almost always has better flights). If I say “I’m going to San Francisco airport”, then the only available hotels are in and near San Francisco. In order to fly into SFO but stay near Salinas, I had to make two separate orders, one for air/car, one for hotel. I could find no way to put it all into one.