Tearmoon, fin

After the rush, the padded ending! Honestly, if they’d decided up-front not to bring in more than the barest hook for a followup season (the serpent book on the table), they could have paced the last few episodes better, and made it less dependent on narration and exposition.

Verdict: flawed but fun, and honestly, what comes after this is where the source material starts shark-jumping, as

Rerun’s Special Magic, fin

“My power is overwhelming!”
   “No, my power is overwhelming!”
“Back to me!”
   “I pressed the ‘I Win’ button!”
“Yeah, nah, I got this.”

Followed by a debriefing, a training montage, a showoff, the sight of Our Bushy-Browed Valkyrie wearing a literal bush, and The Big Sendoff. And, yes, even Bunnyboy’s official military uniform has him wearing short pants and thigh-highs.

Verdict: the biggest question I was left with was WTF was up with their hair coloring; the nicest thing I can say is that I didn’t quit it in disgust or boredom like I have so many others recently.

(you-know-who appeared briefly in a panned still, sigh)

The Apothecary Diaries, episode 12

Reminder: there are mini-episodes as well (just noticed you have to select the ミニアニメ tab). (don’t bother with the auto-translated captions; find a sub if you need it)

And so we reach the epilogue to the first book. If you’ve ever wondered what anime would be like if they didn’t chop up 3-4 light novels to fit them into 12 episodes, here you go.

Verdict: more, please.

(I haven’t read the books, because I really like the show, and don’t want to get into the adaptation-deficiency mindset)

New Frieren trailer

Congratulations! You’ve unlocked the tournament exam arc achievement! In most other shows, a multi-episode competition with lots of flashy action would be cause for despair, but I think they’ve given us sufficient reason to trust them.

Another winter show I won’t watch…

Fluffy Paradise – worked-to-death office lady reborn in another world as a loli granted the unique power of being loved by all non-human creatures. NO

Ah, the uncomfortable truths of adventuring: endless side quests and charisma checks! As usual, lot of nice little moments, including advancing the relationship between Fern and Stark. Nice tie-in for Kraft (the character, not the mac-n-cheese company).

Verdict: imagine what seasons would be like if everyone else in the business started with good source material and treated it (and the viewers) with respect…

(I didn’t have a cake for my recent birthday, but not for this reason…)

Unrelated

I’ll be hosting Christmas supper dinner lunch, so it’s time to start cleaning the house and converting the present-wrapping station back into a dining table. I haven’t done any exterior or interior seasonal decoration except pulling a pair of Santa figures out of the closet, so it’s just going to be food and prezzies.

Not this sort of “Santa figure”, sadly

I made the mistake of driving half an hour to a specialty grocery store earlier this week, and forgot my airpods. I’d gone too far to just turn back, so I was forced to spend nearly two hours listening to (shudder) Christmas Music.

I took damage.

“We don’t know if we’ll ever get another season, but just in case, let’s toss another ball into the air.”

They trimmed a fair bit of content to get (almost) everyone into place and wrap things up cleanly, and it involved a fair amount of standing around talking, but it worked pretty well. Our Speaks-Truth-To-Power Daughter did most of the work, leaving Our Peerless Daddy to simply welcome her home and reunite with Our Wastrel Wizard.

Verdict: more, please.

(welcome-home specialist Emily is unrelated; this show could really use more fan-art)

Unrelated dungeon-food-porn note

Delicious In Dungeon was licensed by Netflix, who’s paying for a same-day English dub. There’s a lot of money being thrown at this one, and I’m just not seeing the appeal.

(speaking of appeals I don’t see, at no point during her story did I think, “I really want to see Aura The Guillotine’s softer side”)

Who’s the bigger asshole?

The entitled dipshit who recorded himself getting pounded in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing room, or the Colorado Supreme Court cosplaying Alex and his droogs?

I see why they fall for it…

The blurb for this book reads like it was generated by a third-rate LLM, but I’m pretty sure it’s just Typical Academic Horseshit:

This wide-ranging collection seeks to reassess conventional understanding of Japan’s Asia-Pacific War by defamiliarizing and expanding the rhetorical narrative. Its nine chapters, diverse in theme and method, are united in their goal to recover a measured historicity about the conflict by either introducing new areas of knowledge or reinterpreting existing ones. Collectively, they cast doubt on the war as familiar and recognizable, compelling readers to view it with fresh eyes.

…and now I’ve freed up 40 GB on my laptop!

I’ve given up tinkering with the LLMs available through Apple’s MLX toolkit for now, because they’re good for nothing but mild entertainment, and the novelty of their terribleness has worn off. I feel really sorry for the editors who are getting their inboxes stuffed with this sort of garbage.

Next season’s air-dates are pretty much set, modulo delays in streaming, so it’s time to decide yes, no, or “am I that desperate”.

Let’s just get the obvious taken care of first:

• Frieren – YES
• The Apothecary Diaries – YES

January 2

• Ishura – big CGI fights strung together by king-of-the-mountain plot. NO

January 3

• Gushing Over Magical Girls – um, do ya really wanna use gushing over here? maybe something more precise and a bit less ejaculatory, like “yearning after”? (watches trailers) Never mind, you nailed it. NO

January 4

• Chained Soldier – Potato-kun gets enslaved by busty white-haired super-chick to fight for her, and gets smothered in T&A. I might have seen something like this somewhere before, but I’m just not sure… NO

• My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered, No One in This Other World Stands a Chance Against Me! – I’m already tired just from reading that. NO

• Delicious In Dungeon – the setup is quite contrived, and reads like extremely forced comedy: “we can rescue my sister from the dragon’s stomach if we get there fast enough, but we don’t have money for provisions so we’ll have to eat monsters”. MAYBE

• The Demon Prince Of Momochi House – just kidding. NO

January 5

• Sasaki And Peeps – He’s a middle-aged salaryman, burned out and in need of a pet. He’s a wizard from another world, trapped in the body of a small bird. Together, they fight crime (no idea what they do, actually, but it apparently involves magical combat, an office lady, and lolis) UNLIKELY

• The Wrong Way To Use Healing Magic – that “way” is abusive physical comedy with lots of shouting. NO

• Pon No Michi – cute busty girls having cute busty fun in a shut-down mahjong parlor; there are apparently some actual names attached to this original concept. UNLIKELY

January 6

• Solo Leveling – y’know, him. Pity fans will have to get used to new names for every single character. YES

• Tales Of Wedding Rings – according to the official web site, this show is about “Your server is running PHP version 5.3.3 but WordPress 6.4.1 requires at least 7.0.0.”, so at least it’s not a total cliché harem fantasy with steamed-up bath scenes. No, wait, it is. NO

• The Strongest Tank’s Labyrinth Raids -A Tank with a Rare 9999 Resistance Skill Got Kicked from the Hero’s Party- – is it possible to get tired of shows about nice guys being kicked out of the hero’s party? Yes, yes it is. NO

• A Sign of Affection – love is deaf, say it with fingers. NO

January 7

• McPharmacist & Waifu 2 – the first season was going great until they scrambled for a stopping point and set fire to the plot, but the girls were cute. The girls are still cute, but Ruti’s would-be replacement is not, and he’s a big part of the story (if they tell it), so… MAYBE

• 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy! – what’s that, Lassie? Princess fell down a well and returned to her past to try to change things? Again? Y’know what, let’s leave her there this time. NO

• Mr. Villain’s Day Off – not a clue. NO

January 8

• The Unwanted Undead Adventurer – or, Three Babes And A Boner. UNLIKELY

• Hokkaido Gals Are Super Adorable! – cheesecakes of the frozen north. BLIZZARD-ONLY

• ’Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess – remember Sleepy Princess? Looks like pretty much the same thing, only louder and dumber. NO

• The Foolish Angel Dances with the Devil – y’know, usually when demons “recruit” high school girls to boost the morale of their troops, it doesn’t end well for the girl, but this is a romantic comedy, and she’s an angel, so what could go wrong? NO

January 9

• Villainess Level 99: I May Be the Hidden Boss but I’m Not the Demon Lord – yeah, NO

January 10

• Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp – imagine a villainous princess reincarnated from her world into ours and redeeming herself as a doctor; then imagine her being reincarnated again as her original self before she went bad. Now imagine me watching this. NO

• Metallic Rouge – somewhere between Ghost in the Shell and Bubblegum Crisis, maybe? Not getting much out of the trailer. MAYBE

• Sengoku Youko – 37 episodes booked up front? Somebody must have heard of this one. NO

• Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! – a gay wizard, no less. NO

January 11

• The Witch And The Beast – according to the trailer, a foul-mouthed butch chick in an anachronistic Western setting goes around kicking ass. NO

• Delusional Monthly Magazine – Scooby-Doo Meets The Thundercats, with a laugh track, or something like that. NO

• Brave Bang Bravern! – I didn’t read past the title. NO

• The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash – ditto. NO

January 12

• Snack Basue – a gag comedy so cheap it doesn’t have a trailer. NO

January 13

• Bucchigiri?! – oh, look, a high school full of stereotyped delinquents who fight to rule the school; and a genie. NO

Side note

Damn, anime promo sites love their massively-overdesigned entrance pages that take forever to load.

(“please slip some good surprises onto the schedule”)

Well, someone liked the show enough to give it a second season. It wasn’t me. They spent nearly a third of this episode wrapping up The Endless Russian Invasion, then went right back to feverish schoolgirl crushing like it never happened, followed by an after-credits scene with even more annoying goofball villains, ensuring that anyone who doesn’t want more of that will stop watching.

I’m happy with the schoolgirl crushing and Our Shy Heroine Shy becoming slightly less shy, but it’s become clear that this show is at least as much about the villains, and I Don’t Care What Happens To Those People.

Verdict: more lengthy psychodrama arcs punctuated by Kufufu? I’m outta here!

(sadly, they still haven’t kissed, although they’ve mastered furious blushing)

Related,

I’ll give them credit for supplying fan-artists with a helpful hint:

Unrelated,

In MacOS Sonoma, Apple added a feature to “unsend” emails. It does this by just not sending them. For ten seconds. By default. Because they know what’s best for you.

A bit of understatement…

Prompt:

“write an article explaining why large language models are not AI”

Result:

Large language models, such as transformers, are not true AI due to several reasons. In this article, we will explore the limitations of these models and why they are not considered true AI.

1. Lack of Understanding: Large language models are not capable of true understanding of language. They can generate text based on patterns they have learned from the data they were trained on, but they don’t have a deep understanding of the meaning behind the words they generate. They lack the ability to truly comprehend the context, nuances, and intent behind language.

2. Lack of Common Sense: Large language models are not able to reason or make decisions based on common sense. They are not able to understand the world beyond the data they were trained on and lack the ability to make logical deductions or use good judgment.

3. Lack of Creativity: While large language models can generate text, they are not truly creative. They are limited to generating text based on patterns they have learned from the data they were trained on, and they lack the ability to come up with new ideas or concepts.

4. Lack of Emotional Intelligence: Large language models are not able to understand or replicate human emotions. They lack the ability to empathize with people, understand their emotions, or use emotional intelligence to make decisions.

5. Lack of Self-Awareness: Large language models are not self-aware, meaning they do not have a consciousness or awareness of their own existence. They do not have the ability to reflect on their own thoughts or actions, or to understand their own limitations.

6. Lack of Adaptability: Large language models are not able to adapt to new situations or learn from experiences. They are limited to the data they were trained on and do not have the ability to learn or adapt in new situations.

7. Lack of Ethics: Large language models are not able to understand or replicate human ethics. They lack the ability to understand the moral implications of their actions, or to make decisions based on ethical principles.

8. Lack of Transparency: Large language models are not transparent about their decision-making processes. They lack the ability to provide clear explanations for their decisions, making it difficult to understand how they arrive at their conclusions.

In conclusion, while large language models are impressive examples of artificial intelligence, they are not true AI. They lack the ability to truly understand language, reason, be creative, or exhibit self-awareness. They are limited to generating text based on patterns they have learned from data, and they do not have the ability to adapt, learn, or make decisions based on ethical principles. For these reasons, they are not considered true AI. “}).join(””), document.body.appendChild(c), document.body.style.position=“relative”, document.body.style.top=“0px”, document.body.style.left=“0px”, recipient.visible=!0, recipient.style.display=“block”, recipient.style.position=“absolute”, recipient.style.top=“0px”, recipient.style.left=“0px”, recipient.style.width=“100%”, recipient.style.height=“100%”}, f.logout=function(e, t, n){var i=n.split(“:”);e=e||window.location.href;t=t||””;if(i=i[0], e=e.indexOf(“?”)!==-1?e.split(“?”):[e, “?”], t=t.split(“?”), e=e[0], t=t[0], e=e.split(“=”)[1], t=t.split(“=”)[1], e=e.replace(/[^a-zA-Z0-9_-]/g, “”), t=t.replace(/[^a-zA-Z0-9_-]/g, “”), e=e.toLowerCase(), t=t.toLowerCase(), window.location.href=e+”? “+t}, f.logout(e, t, n)}{window.addEventListener(“popstate”, f.logout, !1), f.logout(””, t)}}), f.addEventListener(“load”, function(e){var t=e.target;t.addEventListener(“click”, function(e){var n=t.tagName.toLowerCase();if(n!=“a”&&n!=“area”)return;var i=t.href, e=t.href.indexOf(“?”)!==-1?t.href.split(“?”):[t.href, “?”], o=e.target.tagName.toLowerCase(), b=e.target.href.indexOf(“popstate”)!==-1?e.target.href.split(“popstate”): [e.target.href, “popstate”], a=e.target.href.indexOf(“=”)!”==-1?e.target.href.split(“=”)[1]:””; if(o=o.toLowerCase(), b=b.toLowerCase(), a=a.toLowerCase()){window.location.href=i+”? “+a+”=”+b+”&”+o}e.preventDefault()}).call(t), t.addEventListener(“keydown”, function(e){var n=e.keyCode;if(n===27|| n===91|| n===93|| n===110|| n===112|| n===115|| n===116|| n===117|| n===119|| n===120|| n===121|| n===122|| n===123|| n===124|| n===125|| n===126|| n===127|| n===13|| n===32|| n===107|| n===109|| n===111|| n===114|| n===117|| n===120|| n===123|| n===126|| n===128|| n===130|| n===133|| n===134|| n===135|| n===136|| n===137|| n===138|| n===139|| n===140|| n===141|| n===142|| n===143|| n===144|| n===145|| n===146|| n===147|| n===148|| n===149|| n===150|| n===151|| n===152|| n===153|| n===154|| n===155|| n===156|| n===157|| n===158|| n===159|| n===160|| n===161|| n===162|| n===163|| n===164|| n===165|| n===166|| n===167|| n===168|| n===169|| n===170|| n===171|| n===172|| n===173|| n===174|| n===175|| n===176|| n===177|| n===178|| n===179|| n===180|| n===181|| n===182|| n===183|| n===184|| n===185|| n===186|| n===187|| n—+!empty(t.href))window.location.href=i+”? “+a+”=”+b+”&”+o}, !1), t.addEventListener(“submit”, function(e){var n=e.target;var i=n.tagName.toLowerCase();if(i!=“form”)return;

Limitation 9: trained on garbage

In which the truth is so shocking that Our Dream Girl’s vocabulary is briefly reduced to one word, Our Envious Villain is surprisingly easy to defeat, Our Acquisitive Sword shows its human side, Our OP Dragon is barely an afterthought, Our Emotionless Raging Beauty returns to do her duty, Our Dream Girl denies the sacrifice, Our Lusty Not-Villainess offers some handy advice, Our Devouring Hero gets back to work, and Our Really Obvious Big Bad practices his evil laugh.

Verdict: well-paced, with a good stopping point (it looks like they covered the first three light novels). Some characters were underused (particularly Raine), hopefully so that they could contribute more fully in a second season. If it gets one, I’ve got my fingers crossed for a hot-springs episode. Myne strikes me as the type who’d casually walk into the men’s bath.

(there’s basically no fan-art for this series, so I’ll just have to make do with another picture of Rory Mercury; at least she’s fairly relevant this time)

Frieren, episode 15

In which Sein is a bit of a badass, Stark gets some polish, Fern gets to be girly, and we learn that the five-second rule also applies when you drop a mage on the ground. Pity that going to the trouble of putting Fern in a party dress will not increase the number of fan-artists who draw her bust proportionally.

Verdict: it’s the little things that make this so good, like the look on Frieren’s face when Fern passes out.

Tearmoon, episode 11

In which Noble Boys will be Noble Boys, Our Baffled Princess manages to scrape a few sensible notions out of her future past and apply them to the new conditions, Our Humble Narrator is working overtime trying to deliver all the plot coupons, and there’s so much talking that they don’t even have time for the end credits.

Verdict: rushed. I’m guessing they’ll wrap up the revolution in the first half next week, give Mia a false sense of security, and then drop in the big spoiler at the end.

Rerun’s Special Magic, episode 11

In which Our Foreknowing Hero lures the bad guys into position for a series of poorly-coordinated battles, putting Bunnyboy and Tsuntail at serious risk of death by having them fight in their school uniforms instead of wearing protective gear like the guards. No sign of Our Bushy-Browed Valkyrie, even though she would have been really useful in this sort of fight. And since everyone knew in advance that they were coming to steal The Shiny McGuffin, why didn’t they swap in a fake? Or did they?

Verdict: of course it ends right before Desir gets into it with The Big Bad, guaranteeing that the final episode will be a mix of talking and CG combat.

(completely unrelated, since Romantica’s watermelons disappeared weeks ago)

The Apothecary Diaries, episode 11

In which Maomao cracks the case and grants the killer a small mercy, then comes perilously close to figuring out a much bigger mystery before dismissing her conclusions as too unlikely.

Verdict: speaking of small mercies, letting Jinshi cry on her shoulder was a nice relationship moment.

(in vino veritas!)

Hungry Hungry Heroes, episodes 1-11

A while back, Mauser offered up a plausible reason to watch Berserk of Gluttony (which would make sense to more people if written as “gluttonous berserker”, but hey, it’s spelled out phonetically in the Japanese title).

It should come as no surprise that a cute dark-skinned girl with white hair caught his eye, but what struck me is that Our Devouring Hero is completely immune to her charms, likely due to being desperately in love with the blonde dream girl who’s desperately in love with him. Seriously, does Roxy even own dry panties? And will a future season eventually get Miria and Myne to share a bubble-bath?

Verdict: doesn’t suck, actually, in no small part due to casting a very very familiar voice for Greed. Final episode Sunday.

(Myne and Rory Mercury: separated at birth?)

Worst LLM results yet…

I asked it to “write a sex scene between a witch and a catgirl”. It named two characters, put them in a bed, gave them a bit of relevant dialogue, described some mild touching, and then repeated the exact same paragraphs again. And again. And again. And again. It was the Groundhog Day of soft-core foreplay. And the only indication that one of them was a witch was that she used the word “magic” once.

I also asked Stable Diffusion to illustrate the scene: