Farm Harem Never 2, episode 9

Pouty Hakuren trying to make friends with a child should lead to sexy Hakuren making a child with friends, but it seems we’re never, ever going there. Related, having the Demon Lord defeated almost entirely off-screen is something I wish they would have done with Boxxo And Friends.

On the bright side, we got lots of Insane Tan-Elf Engineer Gals this week.

Verdict: mmmmm, tan-elf engineer gals.

(tan-elves earn the Esil seal of approval)

Witch Hat Atelier, episode 10

“This week, we’re going to tell a small story about overcoming disability and self-doubt.”

“Let’s animate the fuck out of it!”

Verdict: really, really hoping for a season 2 announcement soon.

Trailer Park: Busty Catgirl Slob With A Habit

Wrong kind of habit, though. She’s just what it says on the tin: Chainsmoker Cat (Japanese title yani-neko = tobacco-resin cat), and it looks like the sort of gagging gag comic that would drive me away even with the promise of big bouncy titties. And it seems she hangs out with other addict catgirls (as opposed to catgirl addicts, who might have thought “I can fix her”). Not one I plan to watch next season.

For fun, here’s the result of telling an AI model to generate an image based on an AI analysis of a manga panel:

Original:

NSFW

(and yes, that’s Jamie, the Little Blonde Titty-Witch from A-Rank Adventure Harem, drunkenly expressing her affection for Our Hero)

“Your ideas are intriguing to me…”

“…and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.”

Today I Learned…

…they opened a Buc-ee’s 30 minutes away from my house. Oh, dear.

(okay, they opened it two years ago, but it’s on I-70, and if I’m up that way, I’m either going west from I-75 or east from I-675, and guess where it’s located)

Well, that escalated quickly. It seems that God has a really good reason for protecting Our Shouty Shota with ridiculous cheat powers. This is either foreshadowing for the end of the season or a prayer that they get a second one.

Anyway, we’re off to the dungeon, and I must register a complaint with the guild that they did not install a sexy catgirl at the reception desk. A cheerful loli is not an adequate substitute.

On the B-side of the story, Button Elf is surprised and disappointed to discover that Ivell is not a good friend.

Verdict: do they really have a stopping place for this season? They just keep throwing out plot coupons and spending most of their time on Adventurer Basic Training.

Frontier Lord & Oni Gal teaser

Here. Our Hero is voiced by someone with a lot of experience in shows I didn’t watch, while Our White-Haired Tan Teen Oni Waifu has done a fair amount of shows, of which the only one I watched was the one where busty high-school girls hung out in a closed-down mahjong parlor.

(no fan-art for this one, so here’s a popular horn-y teen waifu)

(okay, the title would work better if Shouty and Farm Harem aired on the same day; WHA is definitely not a bust-forward show…)

Farm Harem Never 2, episode 8

This week, A Wild Loli Appears. Also, the most nudity we’ve had in this show all season. From the loli, sigh. At least Our Gorgeous Oni Chief Maid gets some good screen time, and maybe three frames of streaking across the room in pursuit of the naked loli.

After that, a huge helping of tell-don’t-show plot coupons, as Our Divine Toolsmith narrates the mystery found under the hot springs.

Verdict: another example of how removing all the harem elements has damaged the story. The behavior of Our OP Dragon Gals would make a lot more sense if they were openly attached to him, as in the source. As is, the only reason we’re given for their continued presence is a vague “we like it here”.

(ditto for these two…)

Witch Hat Atelier, episode 9

We’re well into the plot now, but there’s still time for character development for all four of our little witches, and our increasingly-complex teacher as well. Even a side character gets some respect.

Verdict: don’t make us wait too long for a second season.

Magilumiere 2 promo video

Here, introducing a magical-girl-research engineer magical girl whose civilian identity includes underrim glasses. Also, for those who might be interested, the ED song is by Marine Houshou.

Heartwarming, with a side order of titties

Finally got around to reading the manga for Cosplay Haremettes. The anime was a quite faithful adaptation, except for toning down the delightfully gratuitous nudity, and there’s enough material for them to do another 2 cours.

Also, in recent volumes there’s a thicc cutie with glasses and long braided twintails, insisting that she’s forever 17 (plus 20). And she gets more impressive the more we find out about her.

The shouting is particularly gratuitous this week, but at least the scantily-clad furry robber gal got some screen time.

Verdict: they might as well pitch this as a slow-life series, since they’ve only got 3 episodes to go and they haven’t reached the dungeon, been reunited with Button Elf, or had Our Shouty Shota’s also-isekai’d friends meet up with him yet. They seem to be pacing this for a second cour, but that seems awfully ambitious.

(Our Best Guild Catgirl only showed up for the credits again, sigh)

What could possibly go wrong?

OpenAI announced that their Mac app will allow you to remote-control your computer from anywhere, even when the screen is locked.

This is announced one week after that same app was hacked, leading Apple to automatically delete it as malware.

(better than Button Elf any day)

Farm Harem Never 2, episode 7

Y’know, usually when you finally reach the hot springs episode of a series, you don’t spend half the episode actually building a hot springs resort. This week is an attempt to catch up to the plot while scrubbing any traces of harem motivations from the adaptation. This also means that the audience is not rewarded with fan-service when a bunch of the gals strip down and go for a soak.

Verdict: sigh.

(no new fan-art from this series, because they haven’t really done anything new, and I used up pretty much everything from last season)

Witch Hat Atelier, episode 8

We begin this week on a sinister note, as the shoot-first-don’t-ask-questions-ever enforcers of the magical world instantly decide that Coco is one of those witches, and move straight to the memory-wipe spell, only to discover that the element of surprise works both ways. The quite serious confrontation is defused when Our Scruffy Roommate points out that there are a bunch of civilians still in need of rescue.

The week also ends on a sinister note.

Verdict: the plot thickens when stirred.

(do not mess with Witch-Daddy’s daughters!)

Well that explains it!

When I updated the OS on my Mac Saturday, the first thing it did after rebooting was delete the ChatGPT app as malware. This was not negotiable.

Why? Hacked.

The Shout is strong in this one, with Our Not-Just-A-Slave-Dealer kicking it off, and even Our Lusty Busty Landlady gets in on the act, demanding a magical bubble bath in return for a peek at Milfy Muff that somehow doesn’t faze Our Hero in the slightest. Meanwhile, we get to see Our Best Guild Catgirl, but only fully dressed from neck to ankles. There is no justice in this shouty world.

Verdict: half-credit for milf-service.

(lack of catgirl-service is… Torture)

Schrödinger’s Delivery

Packages originally promised by 11 AM Friday:

1:15 PM Your package is out for delivery!
…
1:15 PM Now expected tomorrow by 6 PM

Clear as mud, thanks. Fortunately they arrived at 4:30 PM. Friday.

Just A Job To Do…

“It started out as a simple fender-bender, but then a case was filed with the WWWA and since the Central Computer chose to dispatch you two, the conflict was resolved by setting a city on fire, dropping a continent into the ocean, and then the entire planet’s atmosphere was contaminated with noxious gas.”
– The Dirty Pair Strike Again, 1985, chapter 1

(suddenly I have an idea for a New Dirty Pair series…)

“What’s the pretty lady going to do with that?”

(classical reference)

Waifu Wallpaper

For amusement, I used Sigal to generate a gallery of all the cheesecake wallpaper I generated for my 4K vertical monitor.

[Update: Sigal automatically handles sub-albums, so I used split to break it up into a bunch of 100-pic galleries. I had to delete the whole thing and re-upload it, because I'm low on disk space on this server...]

Download links are included for the full 4K images. Newest stuff is at the end.

Waifupaper

[Reminder To Self: I've temporarily moved this to my new test machine, which I built with a bigger disk; eventually I'll move the IP address and generate a bunch of fresh certs, and it will take over for all my sites]

Farm Harem Maybe 2, episode 6

At this point, I have to conclude that they’re just taunting the audience. First we have Our Plowing Hero officially winning the right to bang angels, including Second Wife Tia, but not noticing that that’s what just happened. Then he mediates a marriage between Hakuren’s Wimpy Little Brother and His Stalker Fiancée, leading Hakuren’s Other Brother to hint that everyone knows she’s looking to ride the divine tool, and the dragon lady herself to openly state her intentions, both of which fly right over his head.

Verdict: sanitized for your (over-) protection.

(dragon princess is unrelated)

Witch Hat Atelier, episode 7

In which many lessons are learned, and the animation budget is once again well-spent.

Verdict: gosh, it’s like someone’s out there pulling the strings!

Mythos Mostly Mastered Marketing

According to the author of curl, the AI model “too dangerous to release” not only ain’t much to write home about, but the people invited to try it were only allowed to watch someone else use it on their behalf.

Last week ended with Our Shouty Hero being given a seriously over-powered bow. This week, he uses it (and the power of Our Shouty Loli Sage) to rush back to the rescue of Our Shouty Furry Knight. With incredibly convenient timing, he temporarily restores Furry’s Full Power, making quick work of the undeafeatable silver wolf that had just defeated them all. Meanwhile, Our Shouty Button Elf is squeezed into a strapless magical dress; it has to be magical, because it held up far better than her usual buttons. Upon discovering that she was called home to become the wife of someone with even less common sense than she has, she promptly fled back to a life of adventure, but not before giving her lesbian maid one last free show.

If this sounds over-packed, it was, to the point that they finished wrapping up the plot threads over the ED music, denying us the wholesome sight of a dark-skinned catgirl in lingerie.

Verdict: no dark-skinned catgirl in lingerie.

(silver wolf is unrelated)

Wow, desktop Linux is catching up to Windows!

I ran apt upgrade last night on agott, and came back eight hours later to find it sitting at a screen demanding I set a Secure Boot password. No explanation of why this didn’t come up when I was installing the OS or during the two previous sets of upgrades. No option to not use it. Makes me feel all worn and fiery inside.