Not off to a good start. The nicest thing I can say is that the characters are drawn well. Unfortunately, the episode rips through a rematch with the Big Bad they barely survived against at the end of last season, and in their moment of triumph, he starts monologing and explains in detail how they just fell into his trap.

Verdict: they worked the recap in tolerably well, but my problem is what they worked it into: a generic “let’s go fight the demon lord’s general again!” plot. Fighting CGI mooks and a cliché villain is not what I’m looking for in a show about a sentient vending machine and his adorable super-strong busty girlfriend.

(also, the subtitles were a bit sloppy, which seems to be a theme with Crunchyroll this season, who got caught leaving AI droppings in one of their subs)

Unrelated, LLM != ML

I say this for the benefit of anyone who might be subjected to corporate training that conflates “agentic AI” (LLMs that can make API calls) with more traditional (and proven useful) Machine Learning approaches, in order to claim their successes.

Slow-motion gut punch.

eBay abort/retry/fail?

The delayed delivery supposedly landed in the US on the 24th and was supposedly handed over to the last-mile carrier on the 26th. Who discovered its arrival on the 27th. What will happen to it next?

The last episode of Apothecary Diaries 2 will air right before the first episode of Call Of The Night 2. Coincidence? I think not.

Slime-Killing Witch 2, fin

This week, everyone who’s ever had a speaking role shows up for about a minute. Hopefully this will provide enough screenshots for a comprehensive LoRA. Or at least one for the busty undead shut-in gamer catgirl.

In-world, everyone seems to prefer the middle-school-aged red dragon, but I’d like some variety.

(fortunately the catgirl is the sort of “undead” that looks completely healthy and alive and just stops aging)

Bumpkin & Harem, fin

They put more effort into integrating the CGI for the fight scenes this week, so apparently they’d held back a little money in the budget. Our Teaching Hero defeats Our Traitorous Busty Blue-Hair without killing her, and of course it turns out she was blackmailed into it, as well as lied to about the reason the royal family punished the NecroCardinal earlier in the season. All the Not-Haremettes get cameos, and he goes home and has dinner with Our Adopted Daughter.

Verdict: the story wouldn’t have been as good if it had gone down the harem route, but they oversold the fan-service to get people to watch, which resulted in Thirsty McWhiteHair’s ridiculous outfit. Seriously, how does she get everyone to respect her authority when the men who aren’t staring at her cleavage are staring at her thong panties?

Also, Bumpkin 2 next year.

(when will we get season 2 of that other Sword Daddy?)

Why you shouldn’t get too clever naming your product

Headline: “Apple Intelligence is Down”

😁

Daily scam calls

Most common: skinsuited computers pretending to offer me improved Medicaire/Medicaid benefits, who refuse to parse the words “put me on your do-not-call list”, and just call again the next day from another random in-state phone number. Sadly, there are a certain number of unknown in-region numbers I have to accept calls from, so I can’t just lock out the scammers; fortunately it’s still only 2-3 a week.

The second most common scam is pseudo-people cold-calling and offering to buy my land. Because that’s what reputable realtors do.

I’ve gotten a few more ore-ore calls, but they’re a distant third.

How to respond to Science-by-press-release

“Thank you, Simone.”

(classical reference)

Slime-Killing Witch 2, episode 11

God Fight Tonight! (as foretold in the prophecy). It’s painfully shouty, with Kikuko Inoue’s Eternally-Young Goddess turning it up to eleven and Our Eternally-Young Witch constantly freaking out. Not their best effort.

Bumpkin & Harem, episode 11

This week, more poorly-integrated CGI swordfighting (with simplified character art that makes Beryl look a lot younger, and there’s an odd texturing effect on everyone’s armor that doesn’t move when they do), as the international incident escalates. Busty Blue-Haired Foreign Knight Gal manages to convince White to warm up to her, but she’s not fooling Our Sword Daddy, who confronts her in the woods.

Verdict: only one more to go, which suggests a rather abrupt wrap-up next week. Can we get another glimpse of Hot Teacher, please, since she’s the only age-appropriate potential partner in this show, and most of the haremettes presented to us turned out to be no such thing?

(hot teacher is unrelated)

The Librarians: The Next Chapter

So far, this is not good. I made it through the clumsily-written first episode, helped by Christian Kane’s guest appearance and Jessica Green’s bouncy running. I couldn’t make it through the second episode, because the Serbian actors that fill out the cast are just not very good, and the core cast are still figuring out their characters.

I hope they can make it work, but that’s not the way to bet.

Dear eBay…

I’m going to go out on a limb here and guess that this package will not arrive today in Miamisburg, OH…

(despite the tracking insisting that the package originated in Florida, it was handed off to USPS by “Yun Express”, a company in Shenzen, China…)

Internet Of Kitchen Sinks

I do not need a $650 app-enabled remote-controlled kitchen faucet, because if I’m using the water, I’m guaranteed to be standing right there at the sink. I know some people who like hands-free control, but that just requires a simple sensor on the side.

I also don’t need a “connected” fridge, oven, range, range hood, microwave, garbage disposal, dishwasher, toaster, blender, mixer, coffee maker, can opener, washing machine, dryer, etc. I kind of wish it were still possible to buy a TV that wasn’t tarted up with apps and spyware.

Good news: all the plot threads have come together.

Bad news: next week’s episode has been bumped.

Call Of The Night manga ends

There were some missteps in later volumes, but the end is properly focused on Nazuna and Ko’s relationship.

Restaurant To Another World novels resume

I bought book 5 in 2020. Book 6 comes out in December.

Tell me you haven’t watched Dungeon People…

…without saying you haven’t watched Dungeon People.

Early summer debut: Marry Me, Let’s Have A Baby!

No, I didn’t watch it. First, it’s only streaming on OceanVeil, which wants you to pay a stiff fee for their small collection of hentai and ecchi shows. Second, it sounds really dumb: boy meets girl, boy panics and runs off because he can’t get it up, boy goes to erectile disfunction doctor, doctor is girl, boy gets it up for girl, girl demands babies.

The official promo pic for this 8-short-episode series has her flashing steamed clam in a wedding dress. And the character designs have really wonky eyes in the teaser trailer.

(unrelated cosplayers are more likely to make babies than the couple in this show…)

Youtube clarifies Apple’s new UI

(they’ve “fixed the glitch” since this was screenshotted)

An NFT? In 2025?!?

Coming June 25, Shinsei Galverse is an OVA featuring a number of well-known voice actors shilling for NFTs of the characters. But not just the characters in the OVA; there are 8,888 shiny new NFTs for sale. Y’know, they could have picked up a bunch of Bored Apes at fire-sale prices, but maybe these tokens are somehow special.

…

Nope, just checked. They’re about as original as typing “draw a headshot of an anime girl” into Stable Diffusion, with painfully randomized “character names”. So their only value is based on gullibility, just like every other NFT.

I find it reassuring…

…that ordinary Midwestern Americans (like the gal who just cut my hair) have no idea who Gavin Newsom is, and that they recoil in horror when they find out what he’s done to San Francisco and California.

[Unrelated, anyone playing the current season of Diablo 4? I can't quite hit Pit 55 or take down Belial in Torment 3, either of which will complete the achievements for me so I can get the new cat pet]

[Update: suddenly realized I didn't need to beat Pit 55 before the clock ran out, just eventually; my problem was single-target DPS, not survival, so I just nibbled on the boss until it went down.]

The Apothecary Diaries 2, episode 21

It is often the case that Maomao solves a problem in a unique way. This may be the most Maomao-ish solution yet. It’s a small moment in an episode packed with dramatic revelations, which makes it all the more precious.

Slime-Killing Witch 2, episode 10

Idol concerts are the Demon Lord’s workshop, and those who do not have fluffy foxgirls are doomed to invent them by slipping some special shrooms into dinner. The chase scene was way too long and shouty, but the episode had enough Best Girl Beelzebub to pacify me.

(Pecora is best consumed in small doses, however)

Bumpkin & Harem, episode 10

Good news, bad news.

Good: a flashback reveals that there were a lot more cute gals in his dojo than we’ve met yet. Busty Blue-Haired Foreign Gal was apparently a much more recent student than the others, so there’s still a few in the pipeline. Not that Beryl’s laying pipe…

Also good: Our Father-Figure Hero is finally developing a danger sense about Thirsty McWhiteHair’s obsession with him.

Still good: more daddy/daughter bonding over dinner, dashing the hopes of certain fan-artists who want to see Mewi as a proper haremette (just saw a set of pics where the entire female cast was about six months pregnant, sigh).

Bad: the big fight scene was entirely CGI, with poor character art. Disappointing, since they’d been doing a good job handling the sword work with mostly 2D.

(nice touch having Mewi reluctantly ask for help reading; it’s a realistic problem for a girl raised on the streets, and it makes sense that she’s afraid her classmates will look down on her if she reveals it)

Getting a piece

…of dinnerware, that is. Years ago, after a visit to my house in Salinas, my sister ordered my mother to go in with her on replacing my dishes. “Oh my god, mom, he’s got Corelle!!!”

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A-Cup Alchemist, the novels

The yuri subtext seen in the anime has finally become straightforward gay-marriage-of-convenience in the recent novels. Not that it will necessarily stay convenience. Most of the cast is clearly open to the idea of sharing a big bed; it’s just not likely to turn into onscreen lesbian porn.

This one needs two cours…

…for its deep, penetrating story, if it ever gets licensed:

That Time A Forty-ish Office Worker Who Reincarnated As The Logistical Genius Who Got Kicked Out Of The Hero’s Party Stumbled Across The Hero’s Mom At A Slave Market, Banged Her Silly And Made Her His Wife, Then Went Back To His Hometown To Wife Up The Moms Of The Other Hero Party Members, Who Despite Having Adult Children All Look Like 23-Year-Old Supermodels And Used To Be S-Rank Adventurers, So Now His Harem Is The New Hero Party.

I might have left a few things out. I’d have to actually read it to be sure.

(hot cosplay teacher is unrelated)

Slime-Killing Witch 2, episode 9

Last week ended with Our Heroines about to brave the depths of a dungeon filled with undead to… convince another undead shut-in to come out. Surprisingly, they didn’t send for Our Busty Undead Catgirl Gamer to join the quest. Fortunately Best Gal Beelzebub is around, and Our Queen Of The Undead turns out to be a nerdy cutie. Second half has Our Legal Loli Plant blossoming; it seems concentrated fertilizer makes everything grow.

Bumpkin & Harem, episode 9

Red seems to have grown out of her crush on Our Daddy Figure, and to signal this, the show went out of its way to avoid some very obvious opportunities for fan-service. She still dresses for it, but despite all the action as she horsed around in the woods, they even skipped showing her heaving bosom when she was sweaty and out of breath.

White, on the other hand, is still easy to rile, such as when a brand-new contender for Most Affectionate Former Student suddenly appears.

Verdict: Beryl is a total dad now, buying school supplies, saving up for Mewi’s future, and even walking her to the school bus carriage on the first day. He even works in a dad joke. The only flaw is that we didn’t get to see hot teacher.

(Mewi’s uniform and bustline are both much more modest than this, but she’s getting good nutrition now…)

The algorithm is learning…

I scrolled my xTwitter “for you” feed all the way to the end, and it filled up with half-nekkid Japanese gals.

Then when I went back to the top, it had more of them. Finally, AI I can live with!