majestic

I have a one TB hard disk here, I kinda feel small.

For those who have not seen the film, warning, graphic.

There are some short specials for Tamako Market where the characters are all drawn like stickers and when something weird happens they peel off the screen. It was cute and funny, for the most part. Except for a silly scene where the girls finally end up in maid costumes because... because maid costumes. They were missing from the show, right? One more final insult for the road, good sir? Well, that's done and dusted. I really need to get this aversion under control, and as such, I have opted for exposure therapy, and will now be watching this: My Dress-Up Darling I'll let you know how that goes.

Not when it comes to any cult of personality person, that's fairly consistent. Rules are for the unwashed masses slaving away in the mines, and it is pepper spray for those stepping out of line. The elite? They can live by their own rules. You know what that spells?

One thing that makes me sad about this is how it gives lie to the statment I made immediately before, that fanservice is fine as long as it serves a narrative function. A couple of hours later I get some of that in a setting that is not the place for it, nor thematically fine for it to be there, and all of a sudden I have to rethink things again. That's also a thing, it's not exactly out of character for Tamako, but let me explain. Aside, yes, I do agree, it's the tone, framing and style of these scenes that's the issue, and the contrast they raise with the rest of the film. I'm pretty sure that there are people who enjoyed SuperS, for instance, based on the silliness that happens in the episodes, where I was sitting in front of the episodes being angry at Usagi for stalking Rei, rather than laughing at the antics, because it's doing a dissservice to the characters. Yeah, you mean like dedicating an entire season to a pedophile alicorn approaching a nine-year-old girl? Yeah. Honestly, between the more serious story episodes (although many of them are not bad, just not interesting) and the entire fourth season, it's a testament of the strength of the rest of the show that it's still so highly rated, right? Heh. So, regardless, let's go back to Tamako love story and examine what I meant by the first paragraph. Time to quote myself: Emphasis mine, obviously. This isn't true. These scenes have a reason for being in the film beyond pandering to the questionable part of the anime fandom. They also have a narrative function, they're just framed and focused so completely out of touch with the rest of the series and the film that the only thing I could think off was to facepalm and take screenshots even though I originally set out to not make a three hour watch-and-post of the film. I was happy with how it was going until then, these scenes are somewhat back to back in the early parts of the film. I need to stress this somehow for this to make sense. The film was great, overall, and the film was really, really, really so much better than the series, or at least consistently on the level of the final episodes sans the abrupt ending that ruined the series experience. This is doubly impressive because at a surface level this is just a silly romantic comedy film - the kind that I really don't like. Instead it didn't do anything of the sort, or at least differently enough for it to be worthwhile. Both of these scenes do have a purpose, they're just handled so badly that it becomes a major detriment to the enjoyment of the movie. Let's take the first one, where Tamako unhelpfully simply starts touching Midori's behind. She does that because she thinks it looks like mochi. She says as much, Tamako is always looking for new ways to shape mochi, and make new mochi, much to the chagrin of her father who is really conservative and just wants mochi to be mochi. Yes, we're essentially talking about small, ball-shaped rice cakes, but mochi is really important for Tamako. The scene is meant to establish Tamako's mindset and innocent nature. She doesn't think anything of touching Midori like that, and while it really bothers Midori (for obvious reasons) and Kanna starts to call her perverted from then on, Tamako just has butt-shaped mochi in mind, or at least compares butts to mochi. There's nothing wrong with that in her mind. It would be fine, in some ways, if Tamako wasn't seventeen already. If she were nine (or some such) like her sister that would be completely fine. The scene in the bath happens after she forgets to take out her contact lenses. They fog up and she doesn't see well, and runs into the big breasted woman. So far that's fine. There's just no need to focus shot like that and make Tamako say boing, which is the single most ridiculous thing the series did, and is contrasted with the rest of the series and the film one of the most offensive things that I've come across, and that includes the nude scene in the fifth episode of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. This wouldn't even be worth a thought in any other anime. Well, except for Cardcaptor Sakura perhaps. Tamako ends up talking to Anko (her sister) about making boob shaped mochi. Anko sure feels the shame that Tamako doesn't here, but that's not the issue. We're again shown that Tamako, while 17, still has the mindset of a child. There's no real need for two scenes like that, or to bother Midori with it. When I wrote in which universe a girl would tell a boy that she saw a woman with big breasts, then that's not really ours, I guess, but that's the point of the entire setup. Tamako thinks of Mochizo as her best friend, and there's nothing wrong with her telling him, to be honest. Just not like that. In the last scene there it's the writing, not the framing or that it exists. All of these scenes could be fixed easily by taking out the fanservicy element. Tamako could just poke Midori and say something about mochi shapes. She could run into the woman without saying boing, then wonder about how mochi looks a bit like breasts, and even tell Mochizo about it later. She could say that she accidentially ran into some woman with big breasts at the bath. But actually saying "I saw some huge boobs at the bath!" is... no, just no. Sorry writer(s), this is on you and you alone. That would do the same, serve the same function, establish everything necessary and not be offensive at the same time. It didn't. I don't even understand why it is there, which part of the fanbase of Tamako Market could this possible be meant to pander to? No one? Tone deaf, tone deaf, tone deaf. Framed badly. Not nonsense in general, just inserted in the worst possible way. Why? To get a big boob fanboy or two into the theater? They're not going to go and watch Tamako love story, are they? Fun fact: The forum just ate the post. Boy am I glad I saved it.

たまこラブストーリー (Tamako love story) Well, that's going to be more difficult than I thought it would be. On the one hand, it does a whole lot of things I hoped the actual series would do, and then it does a whole lot of things the series didn't do, and all of them were just distracting. There are moments in this that are so tone deaf that I wonder how and what the hell everyone involved was taking during the production of the film. It's baffling, and I know I've said that plenty of times before, but it's never been truer than here. There's a contrast between certain scenes that simply tears at the fabric of reality, or if it doesn't, then at least it breaks my mind. For a very, very large part this film is nothing short of amazing, and I mean that. It's also one of these films where not having watched the preceeding anime would hurt enjoyment, so I can't recommend watching this as a standalone feature, and I can't recommend watching the series for the reasons I've already posted about. Plus there are the parts of the film that really drag it down, but I'm almost - almost, that is - willing to forgive them being in there. Almost being the operative word. What it does is taking the confines of the show, the all permeating static nature of both Tamako and the shopping street she lives in, and introduces the most destabilizing element to Tamako's life that is possible. Mochizo tells Tamako that he will go to film school in Tokyo, and admits his feelings for her. Tamako does as Tamako has to, neither does she take it well, nor does she answer anything that makes sense. She very politely excuses herself, and runs way. What is the basic premise of every ridiculous teenage romantic comedy (or drama) ever begins a profound exploration of Tamako's existence and immobile nature. Spoilers from here, not that anyone cares, I think. Yeah, technically that comment above is also a spoiler, but in reality it's given away by the title anyway. So why the complaining, you ask, assuming you made it this far? Well, look for yourself, because this is very unhelpfully also a part of the film for no reason I can..., no wait, for no reason I want to think about:

Maybe, it's also possible that Mobius Digital initially did not want to provide Steam and Epic keys for the backers but relented eventually, but the bottom line is that they did. I don't know if the Steam verison also runs under Linux, but with Proton that's entirely possible. I had a Linux "phase" too, but that meant playing around with Wine (or it's more gaming focused and commercial offshoot WineX) in various ways, so I eventually stopped bothering. The most ridiculous thing I managed to get to run was Internet Explorer 4.0, and that was at a time when IE 4.0 was arguably the best browser on the market and Microsoft was busy pummeling Netscape into submission. Good old times, and all that. Gee, that was when... like 1997? People who waited for the Steam version of Phoenix point arguably got a much better game out of it. I liked even the release version well enough, but it was the ridiculous loading times that eventually made me give up until a hardware upgrade that keeps being postponed for various reasons.

Oh, don't I know that. Plenty of shows that could be better if they didn't give me the feeling that a large part of the content was made with the intention of having ridiculous otakus, weebs, or otaku weebs **** to it (since **** is probably still on the filter, substitute wring the one eyed trouser snake for the asterisks). It depends a lot on the frequence and severity too, and it doesn't mean that I'm against nudity as a matter of course - or against any and all sexual content, just as long as it's not only there to provide "entertainment"*. Neon Genesis Evangelion - the regular show, not the new films - is a decent example that provides both. While it does have prominent shots of various character assets that very clearly also come from the creative team's enjoyment of such (or spelled out more directly, I'm pretty sure Mr. Anno likes watching animated butts and boobs as much as the rest of the anime fandom), the scenes also almost always come with a narrative function or are part of the ongoing characterization, and often a reflection of the interaction between characters, like Asuka's feeble attempts at appealing to Shinji because she craves the one thing he can't give her (validation, not what's in his pants). There are borderline cases like Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha's Aleph/Arf (there are definite non-borderline ridiculous scenes in Nanoha too, but that's something else), a character that's always running around in unbuttoned hot pants and a crop top too small for her own good, but Arf is a decent character and by far and large not defined by how much she appeals to the audience on a base level. Whenever the balance stops working, it becomes problematic for me. Magic User's Club was a step too far, for instance, and ugh, I still have the TV version to watch. *sigh* Well that's... worse. I'm not saying you shouldn't like it... don't misunderestimate (intentional Bushism!) me here. *Varies a lot by the target demographic too. For live action movies and TV shows, the occasional superflous nude or sex scene doesn't bother me. It's content that appears to have specificially been made for the incel crowd that makes me feel embarrassed for liking the same medium.

I got both an Epic Store key and a Steam key from the development team. I don't know about the Linux support, I never cared and never will, in spite of having used various Linux distributions in one form or another for probably longer than the Valve apologist minority who use one exclusively know what computers are (what a sad that is, ultimately, but I deem it necessary to underscore my position here), but whoever claimed that Mobius Digital didn't give out both to backers is demonstrably wrong. That said, I find it really hard to blame small teams or even medium sized studios when they take up Epic's offer for a limited time exclusivity when Epic buys more copies than they'd sell on Steam by even the most optimistic projections. Phoenix Point in particular, when you look at the state the game was in when it released, proved that it probably was the correct decision from a management and economic point of view. Especially for Outer Wilds and Phoenix Point whose campaigns ran on Fig, which meant they didn't just have backers, but actual investors wanting some return on their investment. Getting a fixed sale of at least a hundred thousand copies (which is I think the number that was given, at least for Phoenix Point) solved all these problems and provided a financial boost that kept people employed. It also most likely cost Epic more than they gained from it. As an avid gamer that annoyed me too, but while I'm sure it wasn't an easy decision, I ultimately understand it. Fun thought experiment, if you'd offer Feargus to buy 500k copies of Deadfire for limited exclusivity on Epic, with the knowledge that the game would ultimately prove to be a disaster in terms of sales (if perhaps not directly in terms of finances with the money of the backers and investors, at the very least with long term issues attracting more investors for future projects), do you think he'd refuse it or take it? I mean, not that Obsidian didn't answer the question by making Outer Worlds time limited exclusive on Epic before being bought out by Microsoft. Just as food for thought. We also should not forget that ultimately, everything that weakens the Steam behemoth is good for the market (oi, now I'm poking a hornet's nest, I wonder if the fanboys will come swarming and drone something about their favorite quasi-monopoly being great while arguing for the wonders of the invisible hand of the free market in the Off-Topic political thread). Except for a minority of Linux gamers that seem disproportionally present in crowd funding campaigns, because there must be some reason beyond Unity supporting multiple platforms to always promise Linux support in one form or the other. I'll see, eventually. Part of the reason I didn't try it right after I got my key was that my controller was broken, and the game supposedly is borderline impossible to play without one, and after I got my replacement I already started playing something else. Combine that with a general sense of not really going to like the premise or the gameplay loop... Leaves the reason why I backed the game in the first place, and that was beause I didn't want Fig's first campaign to fail, and the fact that it looked like it would until the very last second makes me think that one of the owners chipped in with a last minute investment pledge, because that campaign missed like 10k dollars shortly before it ended until it didn't any more. Which seems like a silly reason, but I figured that could turn into an interesting platform, and since at the time I was backing several games, potentially making my pledge back in sales seemed like a nice idea. Except when Fig started to allow international investments, the idea was as good as dead, or at least I had lost all interest.

I originally wanted to reply to this picture with the usual confused blinking guy gif, but that's not nearly enough, so stoned Jeff Bridges will have to do instead: Yeah, so fanservice isn't any better if its naked buff dudes playing throne for a woman. Sheesh.

I see. The only thing I know about the game is what the crowdfunding campaign told me about it. Anyway, I'll try it eventually. If the mystery unravelling part is good enough that should keep me entertained for 20 or so hours.

Finished the Tamako Market series, there's the movie left. I... really have no idea what to think of the series, and the finale. For a while, I thought I'd be able to preface this differently, because for almost 30 of the 40 minutes of the series' final two episodes, it was actually quite good. Doubly so now that I've realized that the finale was actually written by... yep, the Love Live! guy. Ahem. I have a hard time coming up with any series ending that I thought fell this hard on its nose after being actually really, really good for three quarters of its runtime. A lot of series finales are just bad. Some are decent, some are no endings at all, some are thematic endings that provide no narrative closure. This isn't bad at all, for a long while it was great, on the verge of making it worth watching the anime for, and then it falls off a cliff. For a moment I felt like Wile E. Coyote after he realized that gravity is a thing and that the Road Runner's gotten the better of him again. Whee, down the gulch I go. Worst: Probably a "me" thing. I'm sure most watchers were perfectly happy with the anime as a whole, and the ending. Dunno. I think this is how Caesar must have felt when the Egyptians presented him with the head of Pompey, denying him the sweet victory of brining him home to Rome in chains.

It's pretty much everything. Open world, exploration based, quick loop resets, the entire concept is pretty much the opposite of what I normally enjoy, so I never really tried to play it. The much more interesting question is why the hell I actualy backed the game in the first place, and that's not easy to answer. I haven't read up on anything, is there even a point to the game? Something to find out, or some goal to achieve?

Those were mostly there not to worry you. I, on the other hand, am pretty sure I wouldn't enjoy this anime, even though the premise is silly enough to be somewhat funny or interesting.

Fun fact: I backed that game for 90$ or some such (pledge + shipping for some goodies). I have received my key, activated it and promptly proceeded to not play it at all, even though everyone who tried it seems to have enjoyed it.

Didn't get much done in between, so I'm kinda not where I wanted to be at this point. I should get to more Carried by the Wind soon(tm). Tamako Market, episode 10. I'm going to go ahead and give this series credit where it is due, this is the only the second time I've watched a series that had a (high) school festival and had no maid café. The other one barely counts because it was Cardcaptor Sakura, and Sakura was an elementary school girl, so not even junior high. CCS really had something similar with Sakura in a pink maid costume. Yikes. It's not really the same, but close enough. Woops. At one point they all yell out what's important to them, Tamako says mochi, and Dera yells ore. Yeah, that fits. He sure is the most important part in his life. In the final moments of the episode, Choi really convinces herself that she found the princes' foretold bride in Tamako, and tells her so. She looks at the camera unblinking for a bit, then goes huh?, cue outro. The comedic timing in K-On! was definitely better than in Tamako Market. The episode was good, but not great. That's a little sad, but not entirely unexpected. I'll get to it eventually, if half the thread - or really everyone except myself, that is - thinks the show is great then I'll have to check it out. If it's not my thing, I'll just stop, right? Right? But first I really need to wrap up Carried by the Wind, Tamako Market and the two Nanoha movies that are left. Looking forward to the Nanoha films so I can finally go back to what we anime fans really crave. I'll cry myself to sleep tonight knowing that it was meant as a joke, but is probably closer to reality than I'd like to admit. Sheesh.

Tamako Market, episode 9. Okay, looks like it finally happened. Not only do I have nothing bad to say about this one (much like the others), this episode was fantastic from start to finish. Looks like this wasn't a complete waste of time, after all. It's a little late, but if the remaining three episodes and the movie are about as good, then I might even walk away with an overall positive impression. Huh.

Yeah, move on. Erm... luckily Tamako Market isn't very long. I've installed a SRS tool to learn kanji with. It features the "education" (i.e. everything Japanese students are supposed to be able to read at the end of high school) kanji, their meanings, readings and compound uses, as well as a basic vocabulary that you should know before starting. Keep in mind that these are the kanji necessary to achieve literacy, i.e. to be able to fluently read a book that does not contain obscure or outdated characters. Spoilered for formatting reasons mostly. As you can see, it'll be a while yet... It was a less than ideal evening, for a lot of reasons, but hey, that's a story for another time, because otherwise this post becomes a fourty page story on how much of a failure that was. Still, the film was something she wanted to watch, and I just went along with it, but ultimately was supposed to say no to. How was I supposed to know that? I have no idea. I probably missed some very obvious clue, but being who I am, well...

Tamako Market, episode 8. Choi calls Dera a chicken after he doesn't fit into a bird house Kanna built for him, and has to go on a diet. Whenever something happens that Dera doesn't like, either Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D-Minor or Beethoven's 5th symphony starts playing. Can't say this isn't trying its damndest to be appealing. Many of the jokes in this episode made me have an inward laugh. I could appreciate the jokes, but they didn't land for me. Par for the course, I'm beginning to wonder what the difference to K-On! is, because K-On!'s jokes were... funnier? Maybe better timed. No idea, really. Haven't watched Okko's Inn, but the experience sounds familiar. I'm not sure something like this happened before***. Sure, there's plenty of films** (or series) I didn't really enjoy but not hate, but those I can always find flaws with, but this doesn't... really have flaws, outside of being too meandering, perhaps. Only four episodes left, and there wasn't even the barest hint of trying to resolve any of the ongoing minor storylines, i.e. Dera's quest for the princess or Tamako and Mochizo's, uhm, would be romance*. The writing is decent, sometimes good and very occassionally brilliant, there's a lot of effort that went into making this and it doesn't look like dreck (okay, that's debateable, but it looks a bit similar to K-On! which I've grown to, well, maybe not like, but not to... mind, I guess). The voice acting work is good, some of it is great. Kanna and Shiori could be better, but they fit their character, so that's not exactly a problem I can find outside of personal preferences. It just doesn't appeal to me that much. I want it to, but it doesn't. In this episode Tamako and her friends go and buy Choi new clothes because it's autumn and getting colder. That should work for the character stuff, but it doesn't. Not really. edit: The footnotes are out of order because I edited them in out of order and didn't want to shuffle them around, plus there's a certain timeline to follow. *Given that the follow-up film is called Tamako Market: Love Story, I'm not expecting that to be resolved in the series though, to be honest. **I suspect that there are films like that and I just haven't watched them. Like Pretty Woman, for instance. Never saw it, and I most likely never will. If I did, it would probably be similar, given its apparent quality but total lack of appeal for me. ***I just realized that it did. I watched The Devil Wears Prada (at the theater, no less, for reasons I don't want to disclose**** ), and the experience was similar, I guess. I didn't hate it, it was actually a pretty well made film with decent performances all around, but just not my thing. ****

Nitpicker in me says Electra complex, but yes, that's not really DEATH PHANTOM's fault.

I'm not sure forced father/daughter incest (editor's note: forced by the daughter, dear reader, in case you don't know what this is about) is any better than a pedophile alicorn bringing little children to his crystal lake where they can only visit when they don't tell their parents about him and the three rapists he saved can watch. Wait, now that I have typed this out, nope, not even Manga!Black Lady is as bad as Pegasus.

WISEMAN, also known as DEATH PHANTOM, gives out free boobjobs to anime girls, whether they want them or not. Hello, don't mind me, there's nothing else going on. Don't believe the people who tell lies about me.

Yeah, now I'm confused too. I could swear that wasn't there before. Maybe I just read over it. Haven't slept much recently.

You forgot Turkish Star Wars.