Kanokon Review

Overall Rating 6.2 out of 10 - Flawed, but mostly enjoyable and sometimes funny ecchi comedy

I can recommend watching

Kanokon is rather mixed bag show. I took half part of what I like and another half of what I hate, put them together in a blender and thoroughly mixed together into this show. It ended up a levelled experience with occasional ups and downs.

As much as bigger girl, smaller guy does not work, they put that here. Fox Girl (Chizuru) personality is mostly flaws, but she is very devoted to Kouta and willing to sacrifice anything for him. That is something I appreciate in women. Wolf Girl ( Nozomu) is somewhat better and more to my taste, because she is always very calm and gives stabilising feel. She is rather stubborn, however. 

Best girl is of course the Frog Girl. Frog Girl is very polite, caring and attentive towards that Weazel guy with spiky hair she is in love with. Clearly, Weasel Guy won jackpot in love and I want my own Frog Girl in maid outfit. Alas, Frog Girl also gets the least screen time of them all This is the shows biggest flaw. I cannot even remember if they even mentioned her name.

The Long Kaguya Style Hair Girl gets an honorable mention as the second-best girl in the show. I cannot remember all their names. 

Worst girl is of course the glasses one.

Show has moderately complex plot, that more or less keeps show from getting boring and gives some sense of progression.

There are a lot of fanservice like moderate nudity, pantsu shots and so on. My favorite maid outfits and bunny suits are also there, which gave this show certain score boosts.

Overall, just the fact that I can watch it without getting annoyed already means it's better than average, so you watch it too.

K-On! Movie Review

Overall Rating 7.7 out of 10 - Nice continuation for K-On! series with only minor issues

I recommend watching

In the very beginning K-On movie got me worried that movie team does not understand characters well enough and the movie will be a flop. If anything, one can expect Ritsu to support playing like Death Devil. It would be Mio who will be against.

Fortunately show got back fast enough to being the K-On we all know and love. All in all, almost two more hours of the goodness. 

Core plot is somewhat predictable as in OVAs at the end of last season they were getting passports and preparing for the journey. In the movie they finally got to do it, and they went to London of all places. 

London with its many iconic places is possibly the best fit for K-On! They went to Kyoto in second season and that was a blast with many jokes and silly behavior that was both unpredictable and at the same time very in character for them. London should have taken all that to a whole new level.

The actual movie somewhat disappointed in that regard. Many famous landmarks were left unvisited. They could have messed with Beefeaters in The Tower, take photos with celebrities in Madame Tussauds wax figures museum, try to get luck out of British Museum exponents or try to uncover some mystery in Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes Museum. Alas, creators of the movie missed all these opportunities.

That said while it could have been so much better, it was still fun and enjoyable. K-On! girls are still as likable as before: silly in a cute way and devoted to each other to the level of self-abnegation - something I very much like in female characters. These girls are few anime characters that still bring joy to my eyes and heart. They are not the "woke" mess more "modern" anime likes to place in their shows. In this regard movie have not disappointed so I gave it the high score I gave.

In those moments when show is not focused on London, it focused on another subplot from the second season centered around Azusa. I will not spoil more here.

Overall, it's a pleasant experience. I can recommend it for everyone. It is better to watch it after the series as plot continues from where the series have left it.

Meaning Behing Jigoku Shoujo Anime

This anime holds special significance to me. A lot of people misunderstand what it is about, including even those who made 3rd and 4th season. Many call it a horror. I made a review about it a while back but felt there is more to be said about it.

While some scenes are indeed cruel and gruesome, this anime is not about scaring people. It's about providing victims of abuse, bulling and other kinds of wrongdoing with relief and justice.

We all (at least most of us) would like to live in a helpful and supportive environment that cares and nurtures us. Something close to what Gochiusa or Bofuri depicts. 

However not everyone is lucky enough to be surrounded by such a nice people. Sometimes cruel and malicious people enter your life and stay there to keep causing you pain misery and suffering. No matter what you do, they do not stop. Sometimes it's the very knowledge that it hurts you, motivates them to continue. No matter how much you protest or cry, they keep causing you harm. 

Sometimes you or someone else can stop them, but other times they are too powerful or have too much control over your life to allow you to simply get rid of them. Back then I was in such hopeless powerless situation. There was nothing I could do to end the suffering they caused me.

I personally had to deal with a number of people just like that. There were certain cruel classmates in Russia, who thought that beating me and throwing away my belongings into rubbish bin was fun. Then they were my stupid parents who though that their crazy principles and rules are more important than my wellbeing and insisted on forcing them on me no matter how much I protested and cried. A true testament to "inhumanity of human nature", to quote Diablo II.

I did try to talk to my parents, but they mocked my complaints instead of doing something. I tried to complain to teachers about bullies, but they did nothing.

Sure, not all people are like those above. Some are nice and helpful. Some can even be friends. There were certain periods in my life when I was surrounded only by friendly people, and these were happy times when I could forget about past troubles.

However, one cruel monster often enough to eclipse 100 good guys. The amount of pain they caused leaves psychological scars that occasionally come back to haunt you in your nightmares.

Back then I could surely wish that I could just contact Jigoku Tsushin and get Enma Ai to solve my problems. Watching Jigoku Shoujo now let me feel glad that at least on-screen victims eventually got their relief and justice. That was the help I did not have, I had to constantly wake up back to the same old nightmare, my evil parents decided to plunge me into.

Nowadays I often blame bad things in my life on my parents. I somehow feel they are creeping somewhere around me discreetly to poison my life as much as their diminishing ability still allows them. However it could be some other malicious actors, who act against me in secret. 

I am far too familiar with spiteful and malicious side of human nature and can easily suspect that such people are behind the hard times we are currently experiencing. Everything around us is a sick joke by these bastards. These bastards are too evil to be defeated by 'no kill policy' Batman or other superhero. They way they will break out and cause more harm. Only one way trip to hell for them will save us from misery and suffering they are spreading around.

One of the rules of Enma Ai's contract is that a person who made a pact will go to hell after their death. For most of the victims that is still a relief as their abusers make their lives worse than hell and getting out if this hell even briefly is still a relief. Many of the victims, whom Enma Ai helped, especially in the first season, saw her as a savior. 

I can fully understand that sentiment. I can also understand a desire for revenge, people who caused me harm, deserve to suffer in return. 

First season is the best in that. It takes on the matters with utmost seriousness. First it shows just how bad humans can be and makes sure very person Enma Ai sends to hell certainly deserves it. Then it executes justice in a somber and dignified manner.

Perhaps there are people out there that blame themselves instead of perpetrators like Shinji Ikari from Eva. There are also people who like to do victim blaming either out of favor or bribe from the abusers.

I am not one of them. I blame those who caused me suffering and want to see them suffer in retaliation for pain they have caused me. When it comes to depicting this psychology, there are surprisingly little anime out there. Other than Jigoku Shoujo there is also Elfen Lied and that is all.

I do hope that Enma Ai will eventually send everyone who ever caused me pain to hell. This is the kind of happy end that will make me happy. 

Hamidashi Creative Review

Overall Rating 5.7 out of 10 - Random Filler Anime

I recommend watching it instead of other fillers

More like Hamidashi - Lack of Creativity

This is an anime that has nothing in particular going for it but at the same time nothing in particular going against it either. It is just 12 mostly unconnected to each other short episodes with half of the screen time are taken by an outro. Even then scriptwriters struggle to fill the remainder of 4 minutes long episode with dialogue. I presume most of "creativity" went into girl's design and most creative time into drawing their very detailed eyes.

On the other hand, there is nothing in this show that annoys me. That is an achievement in itself as world is full of woke agenda shows that are hellbent to deny man his rightful entertainment. I can recommend it just for that reason if you have nothing else to watch or simple need a show to watch in breaks to something heavy like Kaiji, Akagi or Umineko. Despite its lack of creativity, this show has a purpose. 

Kimi wa Meido-sama Review

Overall Rating: 6.2 out of 10 - Relatively OK show.

I can recommend watching.

Komi-san, now in maid flavor

Problem with popular tropes is that they often attract creators who would rather make a different show. However, either producers or editors insist that they go for proven receipts or they themselves opt to do it, craving fame and publicity.

Maids are one such trope. Feminist "liberation of women" left men unable to find women who cleans, cooks and serves man. Entertainment industry figured out how to fill the void with maid cafes and shows about maids. Thus, anime about maids near guaranteed to sell.

Creators of Kimi wa Meido-sama seems thought that women who simply cooks and cleans would be too boring, so they decided to spice it up with assassin backstory, "challenge of being normal" and a few more twists. Some of it good, some not so much. All of it however takes the show too far from its core purpose. It's clear that creators want to make this show into a sober narrative about one's approach to live. While I can understand what they trying to say, it hardly makes the show more enjoyable to watch, it adds some sympathy towards Yuki but that is about it. Neither does it covers the existentialist questions sufficiently enough. It's just too far to be next Umineko, Byousoku 5cm, SEL, Utena, Kaiji, Akagi or any other decent attempt at literary fiction.

Maid in question, Yuki, is likable enough and that should be a good enough reason to watch this show. Due to trends in anime industry, even half decent shows are hard to find. Pink haired girl, that appears in second half of the show is also likable. The same cannot be said about male protagonist's sister and nurse that later became PE teacher.

Still show somewhat recovers closer to the second half. More than half of the scenes are enjoyable to watch. Not a stellar endorsement, but so many other shows are horrible in almost every scene. 

Overall, it's OK and can be enjoyed during periods of few good shows.

On Representation of Siberia in Europa Universalis Games

Europa Universalis is one of my favorite games of all times. It has a very realistic depiction of history. However not all areas are equally well represented in games. One example of problematic area is Siberia.

Siberia is divided into many large low development provinces of roughly equal sizes. The whole area is never-ending field of these provinces. It makes playing there boring and repetitive.

Actual Siberia has several major rivers that serves as pathways for its exploration. Russian explorers travelled these rivers in every direction and claimed the whole area for Russia. Nowadays areas around rivers are much better develop that everything else in Siberia. In fact, areas far from rivers are likely unexplored even today, much less back then.

Because of that Siberia should be represented similar to how Nile and Egypt are represented in game. Areas around major rives and contact points between them should be colonizable tiles and areas far from rivers should be wasteland. That way there will be direction in colonization effort and limit to this never-ending space. That would be both much more realistic and much more interesting from gameplay perspective. 

It will also reduce overall value of Siberia as despite owning that much land in theory, Russia utilized but a fraction of it. Game should represent this reality like it does in Australia and in the Americas. Nevada desert is much more habitable than half of Siberia, yet in game Siberia is colonizable and all of Nevada is wasteland.

Hopefully Paradox will find this post and implement my ideas in their new Europa Universalis V.

Touhai Densetsu Akagi: Yami ni Maiorita Tensai Review

Overall Rating 8.7 out of 10 - Deep and Profound Psychological Anime about Gambling

I recommend watching.

This is the original show from creator of Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji. Similarities between shows are many, including art style and even looks of the main character. They are also similar in their use of metaphors to describe different game situations and actions of key players. Finally, they are similar in their psychological and philosophical aspects as well. More on that later.

When it comes to differences then Kaiji is more diverse and flashier than Akagi. Games there are different from each other and cast is more diverse as well. There are more show elements and everything is flashier. 

In contrast Akagi is always about Mahjong. There is often rather somber, even dry mood. Sometimes it gets repetitive. However, at the same time it allows this show to maintain its unique grounded focus.

Finally main characters maybe look alike, but they have very different personalities. Kaiji is greedy and wants to get rich quick. That is what drives him to play all these games. Kaiji is both emotional but also charismatic, these qualities sometimes lead to mistakes, but they also sometimes allow him to pull together and get people on his side.

In contrast Akagi is very sober and dry. His biggest strength is in ability to face risk and death completely calm. Akagi is attracted to risk and thrill of putting one's life on the line, he deliberately seeks such situations. Personality wise Hyoudou is closets to Akagi character from Kaiji anime. Hyoudou's age fits too as Akagi is set in mid 20th century and Kaiji in modern times.

Now for the core value of this show. While it is about gambling it is not there to advertise gambling to its viewers. Instead, it uses gambling to showcase psychology and inner workings of its characters. Unlike Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji, that covered broad existentialist topics through events of the show, Touhai Densetsu Akagi is more grounded. It focused on gambling techniques and psychologies of players and what drives them to play or not play.

There are all sorts of people gamble in this show, from simpletons like Osamu to extremely skilled like Urabe and Washizu. They and others each have their own mindset and way to play the game. Some rely on tricks, others on calculated probability, some on downright cheating and others on ability to read the opponents. Akagi's own style is based on manipulating his opponents psychologically. There are also people who normally do not play themselves but instead look for talents and arrange games for them to a share of winnings. Some are smart enough to understand they are not that good themselves but capable of recognizing ability when they see one.

Show covers variety of techniques and tricks that players may attempt to use in Mahjong. How not to deal in opponents' hand, swapping tyles while distracting opponents, signaling between players and generally play collaboratively against the opponent. 

Mahjong is played by four players, but the show often depicts it as duel between Akagi and one key opponents. Other two players are present but seen more as fillers. Only occasionally side players get any attention.

Overall, it is a very good and insightful show. It is only somewhat weaker and drier than Gyakkyou Burai Kaiji, but what it lacks in flashiness and existentialist philosophy it compensates in in depth psychology. I can certainly recommend watching.