Mr Poltroon

Nemu's and Sakura's routes were probably the ones I liked the least, with Miharu's probably being the one I liked the most. Every other route was pretty decent, though they had a fair number of flaws each, and on different aspects too.

I finished Otome's route in Da Capo II: I'm currently playing Da Capo III. I maintain my optimism, but I don't believe it surpasses Da Capo II in any aspect thus far (I don't think I've finished the prologue yet? I think I'm around Free time 5 or 6). Thoughts so far:

Like I do! #usefulcontribution

Finished Akuma to Dolce. 8/10 Not the best depiction of "on a whim a powerful Devil helps a human" I've read, that honour goes to Hana to Akuma, but still a reasonably sweet story, in more than one sense. Frankly, it falls into some annoying stereotypes right at the start, but it soon became good enough that I forgave it. I'd like to speak in more detail, but I've forgotten all the minor details by now... I also -- god, what have I gotten myself into -- started Love Hina, after solemnly swearing that I would stay away from harems. Why did I start? Two reasons: 1) I reasonably enjoyed the anime, but it did not duly conclude. 2) People, in general, seem to regard it as something of a classic, and claim that the manga is better than the anime. Certainly I, after some judgement, concluded that the manga was sufficiently different, and that I had watched the anime sufficiently long ago, to merit that I read the manga. I still really like the cast. Putting aside the 'ecchi' misunderstandings, which I tend to skip, its been an enjoyable experience. I really like Naru.

Watched all available episodes of Youjo Senki. I knew, from the premise, settings and opinions, that I'd like it. What I want someone to tell me is why: Why do I, who loves all that is nice and fluffy, like a show about an extremely egotistical person and gruesome war?

Added Professor Layton and the Eternal Diva to the list.

In preparation for Da Capo III I decided to finally finish Da Capo II. Right now I believe I am missing Minatsu's, Otome's, Yume's and Sakura's routes, so I started with Minatsu. Additionally, I don't remember finishing Nanaka's route, but I do remember at least starting it... Minatsu Route Thoughts: In other news, Sawase Maya. I love the class president's voice actress -- that should be made clear. Unfortunately, I don't believe she should have been cast as the class president. She's very good at making her characters sound troubled, mad (in a comedic sense), and just generally humorous. Unfortunately, the only facet of the president I feel she can accurately represent is her exasperation. Her decisiveness and assertiveness are immediately thrown out of the window by her... sort of goofy voice. Not necessarily from being badly voice acted, mind you, but from the fact I know her other roles. Worse still, I've seen her in other roles. Other more serious roles, where she seemed to manage decently. In short, I'd go so far as to claim that whoever's responsible for directing the way she voices her character is at fault.

I was under the impression all heroines were made to be as hateable as possible whilst their problems persisted. This is clearly some sort of "social experiment" written where people are taken to their utmost extremes and show their ugliest side. You can be sure they all pissed me off, but I didn't really blame them, and after their issues were done and over with they were normal enough folks. But yeah, I'm pretty sure they were written is such a way that it's normal to hate them, but thankfully all's well that ends well. Main reason I could like it through all that is that they mostly get through it.

I don't see how giving them to you would stop them from being wasted... Well, this does seem like an interesting game... which is why I'm all the more annoyed that I found out about it by learning it stopped being translated.

What? And I got a bag of peanuts ready, too...

Small report on Ronja because I'm sure I'll otherwise forget it it: This is the first time I've really noticed sound effects like in this one. Excellent job. The sound effects are fantastic. One could say that them being unnoticeable is a job well done, but I think I prefer it when they so often stand out to my ears. The fireplace burning, or the water pouch moving, or the noise the spoon makes as it touches the cauldron...

I've finished Shirobako. 9/10 Very interesting indeed. It aims to introduce the various concepts and explain what goes into making an anime, whilst caricaturing many of the aspects for the sake of comedy. Good examples are the reckless car driving assistant producers engage in for the sake of saving time or the "cowboy scene" -- if you've watched it you'll know what I'm on about. I especially liked it because I find the producer's, or in this case the production desk's, to be one of the most interesting jobs in the making of an anime. I especially liked small bits of comedy like her spontaneous reaction to "give me three days" with "make that two". After a while on the job it becomes instinctual. Anyway, extremely informative, though not exactly accurate, view into what goes on behind the scenes. I've also started Sanzoku no Musume Ronja, something I've had on my list for a while since it was a series Studio Ghibli worked on. Interestingly, the bloody thing uses exclusively CGI characters, which is interesting to say the least. Shows how far technology's come, since it actually doesn't look half bad. Unusual, maybe, so it takes a while to get used to it. I really like the idea of anime using 3D characters like what's done here, and I'm sure nowadays' technology makes it more and more viable. I think 3D has a charm of its own, you see. Games nowadays have started using cutscenes using this kind of animation and I can't wait to see one of these pop up in anime on occasion. As for the story itself, it starts off rather cute, I can already tell it's going to be the adventure family shenanigans I'm used to and like.

So, I finally watched those last two Slayers episodes. 8/10 It tried. It tried really hard to slip into my 9/10 category, but in the end, its serious parts are still too cringy for me to handle. I'll give it credit for the great humour in the last couple of episodes, and I'm game to proceed to the next seasons sometime. I think the other problem I had with this one has everything to do with the inconsistency between the characters abilities and powers. One episode a certain character is really powerful and another they're nearly powerless. The comedy exacerbates this issue, actually. For the sake of gags our main protagonist is presented as all-powerful against most everyone and everything, but some episodes, for the sake of plot, all she's able to do is tie them down for a bit or maybe she even loses.* Egregious examples are when she's shown to be able to tackle a group of ogres with ease on one episode, but on other episodes similar groups of monsters are presented as large threats; or when she deals with a mage that gives her a lot of trouble on some episodes, but is easily handled on others. It's kind of similar to the typical shounen situation where the hero keeps getting stronger but the stakes just get higher and higher and the "most powerful foe" you handled last episode doesn't even compare to the "most powerful enemy" you have to deal with this episode. Add to this that the rules of magic they use were never properly explained, and it's a really big problem. I found myself incredibly surprised when a character said "don't exhaust/waste your magic power" when up to that point there hadn't even been a mention of such a thing, and after that point I saw no more mentions of it. Credit where credit is due, they do explain some rules for magic, but nothing that helps me discern why her power is so lacklustre when she's so supposedly powerful. She knows a lot of magic, she can cast some of the most powerful spells... Now someone tell me why every Average Joe mage she encounters, unless its for comedy, poses a threat to her? *There are also a couple of episodes where she lacks power, but those are justified by the plot. I'm talking about all the other occasions. Concurrently I also started and finished Genshiken. 9/10 I'll be honest, I still haven't figured out its genre. It might be a romantic comedy of sorts, despite so not focusing on romance. I started this anime thinking it'd be a simple slice of life and... I was clearly mistaken. This is a comedy. This is definitely a comedy, and maybe even a romcom. It might be slower-paced than the typical 50 gags per minute, but it's indubitably a comedy. Maybe. Genshiken presents us with a club for otaku college students and shows us about the (Japanese) otaku lifestyle; how accurate it is is beyond me, but it definitely dabbles in a lot of matters, from going to conventions, playing videogames and buying physical goods, to building "toy" models, watching anime, reading manga as well as cosplaying. Even eroge is mentioned (I saw Muv-Luv in there). I thought it included too much 18+ stuff and fanservice, but considering what actually sells in this market, it's probably an accurate depiction of a young adult's interests. I'd say the most interesting points were learning a bit more about the market in Japan, from the consumer's eyes (represented by the Genshiken members) and the comedy, especially the situation regarding Saki, a non-otaku who is present for most of the show as one of the members' girlfriend, as she complains about the issues of having an otaku boyfriend and slowly gets used to the otaku lifestyle she is forced to deal with. She makes for a good contrast to the rest of the members, and, by not mindlessly hating but simply being uninterested, she makes for a good character representative of the non-otaku. Finally, her personality as is is already plenty interesting, as is her relationship with her otaku boyfriend. It seems the sequel may dab in the fan production side of things, by participating in conventions as creators and organising cosplay sessions more professionally. So yes, I'm exited to continue in the near future. You may have noticed I've been using "otaku" a lot. In this case, let's say it refers to characters who like anime and manga and games and light novels and models and cosplay and such. At @Fred the Barber's recommendation I ended up also starting a finishing New Game!. 8/10 I'll just echo his thoughts. The characters may have been childish and fanservice-y and by no means a real depiction of working adults, but a lot of small details regarding the fact that they are working at an office can make a person empathise and just better the gags all around. I mean, trying to work quietly at your desk whilst, for one reason or another, a complete pandemonium seems to be taking place at your back? I can just imagine the giant sweat mark as I try to pretend it has sod all to do with me. I have enough crap to deal with without knowing what drama is going on at the office today. My issues, as usual, lie with the moments it tries to be serious, as the characters are too infantile for me to take seriously, as were a lot of their drama/problems. Nice comedy, not the best I've seen, but an excellent setting. In some ways, Working!! is similar, except it has less yuri, more episodes and more character variation. Having watched New Game!, I decided the next anime to watch would be Shirobako. New Game! gave me a very light and superficial introduction to the industry, and Shirobako will develop that a wee bit more.

Can I say "none of the above"? They're just there to introduce me to the setting and characters. I mean, at least the common routes I liked the most did nothing but that.

Hmm... I suppose that does make sense. I somehow got the impression his average job required killing. In fact, I was fairly convinced. I didn't read the very end of Meikyuu, so that's probably why I didn't get what he was referring to. @castor212, read Decay's response. It explains it better than I ever could.

Interesting question. Generally speaking, you could take Majikoi A as a sequel. The only real difference between A and S is that S contains a common route, albeit short, that continues from the original Majikoi, and all routes are unlocked via choices you make in this common route and its derivatives. Majikoi A branches off Majikoi S's common and character routes. Therefore, Majikoi A is an agglomerate of scenarios/routes that branch off other titles in the series. Majikoi S is a full story -- more or less. Imagine that Majikoi S is a tree that grew out of one of Majikoi's branches, whereas Majikoi A is an agglomerate of random branches added onto Majikoi S. Majikoi S Routes Spoiler: http://exp4all.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/majikois-big.png Take this image. Majikoi A would add, for example, an extra branch to the "Future Without a Relationship", or a branch further along to "Future With Monshiro". In short, Majikoi A complements its prequels, it does not continue where they left off, and it does so in an unconnected fashion, where you have a menu where you select a heroine, and then have a route with her fitted onto the timeline of Majikoi S. No common route or getting into routes based on choices. Also of note is that Majikoi S did contain a bit of fandisk-y content, as it included even more afterstories for Majikoi's heroines. (Actually, I'm not really sure of the timeline for Majikoi S. When, exactly, does the Kuki plan start? 2nd Year 1st semester? Wasn't that when the last game took place? Not sure.)