Russia's Conflicting Priorities Problem

In his Rules for Rulers video, CGPGrey clearly outlined that the most backward dictatorship are very stable and the most free and advanced democracies are stable. Only countries that fall in between these two extremes are constant unstable ground for revolution. Because when people somewhat educated and somewhat connected, they have more opportunity to rebel and overthrow a dictator.

However, in places like Russia, China and Iran we see a consistent attempt to create people who would be educated enough to build spaceships and computers yet at the same time, too backward to desire democracy or freedoms.

The idea is absurd in itself. How would you prevent people from understanding what a freedom and democracy is, when you expect them to understand physics and complex math.

Predictably enough it goes not work. Computers they attempt to make do not work and to prevent them from rebelling a huge army of riot police is constantly employed. All three of these countries are plagued by constant problems, brain drain, protests, insurgencies and so on. Smart people emigrate to real democracies or if they can't, simply do not use their talents to help the state and rulers they detest. 

Dictator Inc rockets cannot fly as well as democratic ones. Iran and North Korea try to build nukes and consistently fails. Russia tried to create its own Silicon Valley, and it get them nowhere. Reality constantly reminds the rulers of these countries that the contradiction they attempt to achieve is impossible, rulers constantly ignore it.

Despite that rulers entertain themselves with fairy tales about ascetic genius Perelman and hope one day another such genius would build them weapons better than what Americans have.

Meanwhile the country suffers the bullshit of these rulers.

How to Reform and Replace Coring in EU V

Coring was part of EU since times immemorable. However, the game outgrew its coring system long ago.

During EU III it was a clever abstraction to represent both rightful claim on a foreign province and at the same time distinguish between provinces that were part of your country since forever from a newly acquired land.

Nowadays we have autonomy together with state/territory mechanic, years of separatism, claims and so on to represent these concepts. Compare to these coring feels ever more arbitrary and pointless.

25 years cores of EU III make more sense from practical point of view compared to click to core of EU IV. When you just conquered a province, people still remember that is was part of a different country and lingering separatist sentiments would continue for some time. It will take a while before locals would finally accept their new country and government. EU III coring represented just that.

Overextension is too arbitrary as well. Why having couple of extra provinces on periphery suddenly affect the entire country go haywire?

It would make sense to remove coring and overextension altogether (or make it represent end of separatist sentiment instead). Instead expand on reducing autonomy and make it a major system of internal management. Possibly rename it into integration as changes are rather extensive.

Reducing autonomy should go in stages, cost admin points to do, take time to do. In general, it should be much more central element of the game. Newly conquered provinces would begin at 100% autonomy (or 0% integration) and contribute nothing to the country. By spending admin points on integrating, it and reducing autonomy you finally get benefits from a province.

There could be a strategic depth and tradeoffs with that as well. If you blob a lot, you need to make choices what provinces you will reduce autonomy as your admin points will not let you do it everywhere so need to choose between say high value trade good and high manpower province based on what you need more at the moment, money or more soldiers for next war.

That would make internal country management more engaging and more important for the overall functioning of your country.

That is more realistic representation of differences in internal administration as some small countries are better managed and can field a better and bigger army. On the other hand, other countries maybe huge but most provinces there do not even know what country they are part of and contribute nothing to it. Thus, with this system better managed countries did better than poorly managed ones, this is a way to represent it.

Facial Expressions of Code Geass

 

Gode Geass is all round good anime and does everything right. One particular thing it head and shoulders ahead of other anime is its depiction of emotions and facial expressions. 

Emotions in Code Geass are both complicated and very deeps. At certain points in the show, Lelouch and other main characters, are happy, sad, angry, disgusted, focused, possessed, obsessed, intense and many more. Animators doing really great job at putting these feelings on faces of Code Geass characters. 

This is not a show where smug is the entire personality of certain characters. However pretty much every character can put a smug on their face when they feel it.

Here for example an aptitude of Lelouch. This is his happy and relaxed face when he is with Nunnally

Here is when he is stressed. You can clearly see intensity of his eyes.

Here is is deep in thoughts about his plans

Finally, here what he looks like when his plans working out and he revels in his victory

You can search for his name in any search engine and will get such a variety of emotions. 

Hardly any other shows can give you as many different facial expressions for the same character. 

Choujikuu Yousai Macross Review

Overall Rating 6.7 out of 10 - Interesting and original premise but inconsistent quality. 

I recommend watching.

Macross is a very interesting show. Just that fact that people still remember it 40 years after it originally aired suggests there is something extraordinary about it. Partially it did not disappoint. Sometimes it's as good as 8 and other times it falls to 5.

I will be being with the good. The story and premise. An alien spaceship crashed on Earth, humans rebuild it and used it as their own. However, Zentradi, opponents of the original owners of the ship, mysterious Supervision Army found it and do not know what to do with it. That creates an interesting dilemma. Zentradi have more sheer firepower but they want ship alive so they cannot just destroy it. That gives Marcross a asymmetric fighting chance as Zentradi get out of their way to capture ship alive.

As show progresses you get to learn more about Zentradi and their way of life. I will not spoil too much, but episodes that cover reality of Zentradi life and their surprising weakness are highlight of this show.

Finally, the Valkyrie transforming Jet. It can be a jet, a walking mech like Gundam and even something in between. A vert creative idea.

Now the bad. The drama. Show wants to prevent itself as love story in space, it takes a lot of time exploring its love triangle/quad between a few main characters. It's dragged out and mostly unpleasant. Both women in Hikaru's life are so short fused and emotional. No matter who is currently with him, the other one seems like a better choice. Both Minmay and Misa take too much undue advantage of Hikaru's kindness. Both first get angry when they see him with the other one, then cry long tears over him favoring their rival. At the same time, they both also like Kaifun and willing to run to him anytime, forgetting all about Hikaru. Then shamelessly coming back to Hikaru when things sour with Kaifun. This story is full of romance you want to avoid.

Kaifun is very annoying. Ever since he was introduced in the middle of the show, it turned worse. Only part of it is because of his anti-miliary pacifism. Kaifun is a slave drive, obsessed with a dubious sense of duty to society. He exploits Minmay to perform her songs to the point of exhaustion. He criticizes military and tries to rally the populace against them.

Finally, about length. The show it 36 episodes long. That is like three seasons. First 12/13 episodes are the best, overall. That is where show shines most. Middle 12 are the worst, they fell more like filler then a real show. The final 12 are mixed bag. Some of them very important plot developments and others just more of the same old drama.

Overall, it is a interesting and unusual anime. It gave birth the whole Macross franchise that has several more shows. I recommend watching, even if some episodes are better off skipped.

Dungeon ni Deai wo Motomeru no wa Machigatteiru Darou ka III Review

Overall Rating 4.5 - Poorly written agenda show that feels like trolling.

I do not recommend watching.

How to Not Pick Anime to Watch III

The longest of my currently watching is finally over. I picked this anime over Weine. First half of it was not very inspiring, but at the same time very ambiguous as to what direction the show will ultimately take. Thus, I was postponing it for other shows, returning to it when I finish other shows. Finally, when I decided to clean up my backlog I started watching it more frequently. By the time I got completely disillusioned with it I was already three quarters finished so I decided to finish it to make a more informed review as there is a lot to cover.

This show puts everything that is bad with contemporary anime industry in one single show. I will list is here while at it.

It has many poorly drawn characters and unlikable characters. Not the characters the creators wished to make cute and likable but could not draw well, like in DearS. Instead, it has characters that are deliberately designed to be aesthetically unpleasant. Some designs are so hideous like that Freya's assistant, that it feels more like a prank show, that an honest attempt at making something good.

It has a lot of female characters with unlikable personalities too. Show has so many women, but none are really waifu material. Instead, they all remind you why you do not want to deal with women in the first place. Wiene is somewhat likable, but that is not enough to justify watching it.

The whole Xenos idea was so poorly implemented, it feels more like cheap propaganda of inclusivity. When a lizardman calls a literal unicorn or a mushroom man his kind, it's just silly. Line between monsters and people is blurry too, catgirls or elves are people, but bird girls or girls with scales are not. Go figure, why? 

There are better written shows that have inclusivity, for example Code Geass where Black Knights have their fair share of disagreement and mistrust over ethnicity but are intimately united by their common goal and faith in Zero. After all people do not unite just for the sake of diversity or inclusivity. People unite because they have common interests. Code Geass shows that just well.

In contrast here Bell and Xenos are willing to die for each other for no particular reason at all. it's just poor writing by a lazy scriptwriter.

Plot just throws random unpredictable curveballs to avoid being predictable. People just betray and switch sides with no real reasons or explanations. Just to make things less predictable. However, that fails as they make no sense either.

Occasionally show tries to be dramatic, like when Wiene would tear out here claws and wing when Ais accused her of using these to harm people. However, it does not work. Perhaps due to other faults of this show, you just cannot take it seriously. Perhaps something else.

Finally, the world is poor too. It has some families headed by gods, mostly from Greek but also other mythologies. There is Ganesha too, but <spoiler alert>, he just wears silly elephant mask and does not have proper elephant head. Who is in what familia is random and the whole organization system is not compelling. Why would you want to be a subordinate of some god or goddess? It calls for a Lermontov's quote about "blue suits" and their loyal people. Gods plot their own games with each other and so on.

One thing that shows occasionally is that this show could have been better. For example, architecture of non-essential buildings the city is very nice. Too bad good buildings are shown only briefly, and a lot of time characters spend in some plain dungeons or rooms. Ouranos lair, Bell's home and other named and important for the story locations are all very poorly designed.

Finally, Bell is an unlikable martyr hero.

This show feels like a deliberate attempt by creators to shoot themselves in a foot. It's not as bad as say Guilty Crown, but still a waste of time. Hopefully anime will get better. We need DearS and Hand Maid May remaster into full HD graphics. 

Saikano: Another Love Song Review

Overall Raing 5.6 out of 10 - A retconned insert an anti-Chise for different tastes in women.

I guess you can try this is you do not find Chise attractive.

This is a parallel OVA that introduces a new female protagonist and inserts her into original story.

Mizuki is a human weapon just like Chise. However, personality wise she is basically anti-Chise. I guess those who do not find Chise like girls attractive wanted their own weapon girl.

Compared to the original, this OVA somewhat retcons Chise and Tetsu. Around half of screen time is used for Mizuki's exposition and the rest is to connect her to the original story. Sometimes these efforts look ham-fisted.

Overall, however its watchable. Chise still gets good amount of screentime, she is somewhat different but not too much. Mizuki is not my type, but I do not hate her as say Flay from Gundam SEED. 

I guess if hard women are your thing, then you can watch it. I prefer Chise like girls.

NieR Automata Game

In my recent review of Nier Automata anime I mentioned that it was an ultimately flawed adaptation that could not replicate everything that made the game so deep and compelling. I decided to write an article on reasons for such conclusion.

Partly anime simply did not have enough time to cover it all. However, the main issue is that anime focused on main characters and overlooked the boarder world in which the game was set. The game, after the prologue section, deliberately has a slow start to give players better feel just what kind of world Nier Automata is set in. It is a very compelling world. To see it for yourself you have to watch the game walkthrough that is available on Youtube. I can link two different ones by different players. Unfortunately, each have different flaws in it, one skips dialogues and the other sometimes struggle to find his way in the world.

Now on what I picked from the game, that was missing in the anime. Androids may be fight machines for humanity, but each of them is societies in their own right. 

Androids are programmed to respect humans and see them as advanced and sophisticated civilization that is worth fighting for. Because of that they wander among the ruins of apartment blocks and shopping malls like we do around some ancient Egyptian or Greek ruins. Their assistant pods narrate in dictionary definitions what this or that is, for example: "these structures are called apartment blocks, these were used by humans as dwellings" This is typically followed by a remark from android on how interesting and mysterious humans were. It's both curious and insightful to see them wonder over things ubiquitous to us as pen or shopping mall. When 9S asked what pen is for, the only thing pod could find is that is figures in phrase, 'pen is mightier than a sword.' meaning unknown. Pod knows neither what pen is for, not what the phrase means, but he connected these two together like that, just like archeologists would connect pieces of ancient civilizations that they dig out from the ground. It makes you think that ancient ruins we currently preserve were also ubiquitous and ordinary to people who build them. 

Androids in many ways are more advance than humans are, yet they revere past just as we do. That makes you think this reverence of the past is misplaced.

Androids are electronic devices, essentially robots or even computers. Because of that they have certain advantages and disadvantages. For example, they can back up their consciousness and if they die, their memories from the moment of back up will remain. On the other hand, removing OS chip can cause them to die. There are also other chips, that either enhance performance or display certain elements of GUI, if you remove them, you will not be able to see certain data on your screen.

Androids look down on their enemies' machines, thinking that latter are primitive, imitate human speech without understanding it and otherwise horrible inhuman spawn. This is just like propaganda of our times that used to dehumanize enemies in wars.

While machines indeed look much less human compared to androids, machines actually adapted many of the human structures such as factories and use them for their own needs. Much like androids they also strive to imitate humans in their own way. In certain behaviors they even seem more human than androids. For example, machines have religions, form kingdoms, obsess over beauty or even ponder over philosophy. In contrast android society is more militarized and regulated.

Then there is also Emil (his clone to be precise) who mourns his friends from original Nier (Gestalt and Replicant) games. He helps you at first because you found a flower that reminded him of his past. However later he goes hostile and if you later fail to defeat him, he will blow the entire Earth, turning it into lifeless rock floating in the endless uncaring universe. 

Language and phrasing they use throughout the game is unmatched. That alone makes it a work above others. Language conveys thoughts and feelings of greater world indifference to you and your happiness.

There is more. Blowing up bunker and thinking how commanders stern face probably float somewhere in the space. Eating mackerel. Deserting from duty like A2. Marx that fails to boot. Satre who talks on whether essence preceds matter or the other way around and then leaves to find himself. Satre's female fans, who do not get him, but love him because he treats them cruel. Plato, who fails to meet standards and stuggles with his own mediocracy; and many more.

All in all game is simply bigger than an anime could be. Watch it and see for yourself.

Saishuu Heiki Kanojo Review

Overall Rating 8.4 out of 10 - Rather unusual, but well written and very relatable love story

I recommend watching.

I tend to criticize various romance stories a lot. Most of them are unrelatable and unlikable. This however does not apply to this one. Saikano is good. For me its relatable on many levels. At times I even feel like it's written about me. 

Saikano is a good and well written romance. Some wild elements such as war in the background or the fact that she is a weapon might prevent you from taking romance seriously. However, romance is core of this show and its good. 

I gave Saikano slightly less than 5 cm per Second. However, 5 cm per Second is purely pleasant and sweet meanwhile Saikano is somewhat rough at edges and overall darker and sadder than former.

Shuji is one of few characters that do resemble me, especially in the early parts of the story. Just like me Shuji is aloof, cold and distant from people. In contrast to him however I do not blame myself for anything or help people much. 

In addition to Shuji, I find Tetsu to be relatable as well, I guess as I grew older became more like Tetsu. Chise and Tetsu's wife were involved with both of them.

Now the best part, Chise. She is very likable, just the kind of girl I like. She is cute timid and shy in a good way. She tends to blame herself for everything and tries to do everything on her own. She is adorably small, has very cute haircut and nice soft large soothing eyes. Also, she cries at many important moments, it's so cute and likable.

Chise's smile looks just like that of TrueHellDei. Several times in the series when the just show her lips feel like. Just like True, Chise is not stupid and knows various thing about the world and such. It's so interesting how she seamlessly switches between being an adorable girl and a killing machine.

Most importantly however is that Chise truly cares for Shuji. Everyone has their limitations, and she has more than others, but at least she is not indifferent to his happiness and wellbeing, like so many other girls IRL and even in anime are.

You might call Chise emotionally dependent, but that is not that much of a problem. Much worse are women who see you as source of money or a gofer for their whims. In contrast Chise does stuff for Shuji as much as she can and asks for nothing in return.

There are also other characters with their own emotional considerations. They are well written and interesting in their own way.

Overall, it's a good show and one of few proper romance shows. I recommend watching.