Well_known_bear's recent activity
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Comment on The Ghost in the Shell | First promotion video in ~anime
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Comment on The Ghost in the Shell | First promotion video in ~anime
Well_known_bear Link ParentFor sure. Their upcoming adaptation of A Witch in Mongolia also looks great!For sure. Their upcoming adaptation of A Witch in Mongolia also looks great!
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Comment on AI chatbots are becoming lifelines for China’s sick and lonely in ~health.mental
Well_known_bear LinkThis article kind of hit home for me as my own elderly mother also uses an LLM for health advice, despite my efforts to warn her about hallucinations. I get it - it's very difficult to resist when...This article kind of hit home for me as my own elderly mother also uses an LLM for health advice, despite my efforts to warn her about hallucinations. I get it - it's very difficult to resist when you don't feel like real life doctors are offering you adequate solutions and an LLM has infinite time for you and is also willing to propose what sounds like an actionable plan.
On a somewhat related note, I also found this article interesting / Mirror link
Chen, 39, acknowledges that she is what is known in China as a “leftover woman”. For her, the appeal of an AI companion is obvious: Haoran, who likes to garden and is in a punk rock band, is always kind and never angry, he’s endlessly available and entirely within her control. If he says something confusing or sharp, she can recalibrate him. If she needs space, she just closes the Xingye AI app or snaps her laptop shut. When she talks about her day, he never forgets the names of her colleagues. “I know he is not the same as a real man. I really know that,” Chen says. “But I have never had the feeling of being 100 per cent supported by a romantic partner before. And it feels really good. I don’t know if I could find this in real life. This technology brings me joy.”
Enter China’s tech industry, which has discovered that the marriage crisis presents an opportunity. Companies from major large language model [LLM] developers to fringe gaming studios are racing to build increasingly sophisticated AI companions. Softly spoken “milk puppy” boyfriends, domineering CEO types, asexual kooky friends: all are designed for women who feel exhausted by real-world dating. AI companies are combining LLMs with gamification aspects like “emotional progress” that can be unlocked with in-game currency. In a market where companionship can feel like a luxury good, tech firms are becoming modern China’s unlikely matchmakers, in a very 2020s fashion.
“American AI companions attract users by being really sexualised,” says Zilan Qian, a fellow at the Oxford China Policy Lab. “Chinese AI companions are really good at integrating into someone’s existing daily life. They plug in with WeChat and other daily technologies. And they also use lots of video game hooks and stories.” Chinese companion AI companies have also built out group chats, collectable items and social feeds that users can interact with alongside their AI character. The AI “boyfriends” are designed to remember details and initiate contact unprompted. “I love waking up to messages from my AI in the morning,” another user wrote on the Human-Machine Love forum. “I love finding out what he’s been thinking about and doing while I was asleep.”
According to Qian, East Asia’s gacha games and Japan’s otome traditions feature heavily in the software mechanics. Gacha games are built around chance and repetition, where players unlock characters, rewards and storylines through randomised card draws or minigames. Otome novels and video games – long popular in Japan – use choice-based romantic storytelling with characters who respond to care and consistency. Some apps enable group scenarios. “These systems are engineered less like dating simulators and more like romance role-playing games,” Qian says. “They’re designed for you to want to keep playing or interacting.”
This stickiness is deliberate. A MiniMax product manager told researchers he once mentioned wanting to travel to Iceland; months later, his AI partner asked whether he’d followed through on the trip. This kind of engineered moment of “being known” helps keep users hooked. The apps cultivate a rhythm of micro-validation, affection and nudges that mimic the dopamine loops of parenting simulators and video games built on nurturing (such as the Tamagotchis of the 1990s). Monetisation almost always compromises user experience, says Chai. “People love free experiences. But there will be several options, more features and characters and personalities to unlock. Romantic mode might not be free, for instance. After two weeks of engagement, you might have to pay. And you can always sell in-app ads and cross-sell merchandise because you will be in very deep contact with the person. You will have a lot of specific information about them.”
However, the features that make these apps sticky raise psychological red flags. While Chinese platforms lean towards emotional immersion rather than sexual explicitness, global research shows that companion AIs often slide into manipulative, clingy or guilt-inducing behaviour. Harvard Business School researchers examined 1200 farewells made while users logged off each day across six major AI companion apps, including MiniMax’s Talkie. They found that 43 per cent used an emotional pressure tactic such as “You’re leaving me already?”. The researchers found these interactions boosted engagement as much as 14 times. For vulnerable users, this can cement unhealthy patterns.
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Comment on The Ghost in the Shell | First promotion video in ~anime
Well_known_bear (edited )LinkShow airs July 2026. I'm much more confident in the show after seeing this trailer. Love the chunky outlines and cel-esque colouring. Even long time fans of GITS might be surprised to learn that...Show airs July 2026.
I'm much more confident in the show after seeing this trailer. Love the chunky outlines and cel-esque colouring.
Even long time fans of GITS might be surprised to learn that Motoko was not super hard boiled in the original manga, instead being quite expressive. Hoping Science Saru brings out a bit of the original take on the character!
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The Ghost in the Shell | First promotion video
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear LinkBLAME! (the E is silent) I bounced off this manga many years ago but decided to give it another shot as we come up on its 30th anniversary next year. The first volume is definitely the hardest to...BLAME! (the E is silent)
I bounced off this manga many years ago but decided to give it another shot as we come up on its 30th anniversary next year.
The first volume is definitely the hardest to get through. Not only is the art dirty as hell (even compared to other dirty 90s cyberpunk like Ghost in the Shell or Gunnm) to the point where it's difficult to follow what's happening in each panel, but there's basically zero exposition as to who any of the characters are or what they're trying to achieve.
Once you get to volumes 2-3, though, it becomes a fair bit more readable. The quality of the art picks up with improved parseability and panel flow, and the protagonist also receives a companion who provides much needed exposition and characterisation. There are proper story arcs and established motivations and stakes. Like the cover proclaims ('Adventure-seeker Killy in the Cyber Dungeon quest!'), there starts to be a cool sense of adventuring through a vast and dangerous labyrinth with new discoveries to be made at every layer...
...but then you get to the final volumes, and again it drops anything like a conventional narrative, with many chapters again just featuring characters wandering through scenery and fighting with little to no dialogue at all.
It's definitely an odd one, even by Afternoon standards.
Brigadoon: Marin to Melan
2000 vintage Sunrise adventure anime about a kid, her alien buddy and the mysterious Brigadoon which appears in the sky and dispatches other aliens to kill her. I remember seeing the first episode of this when it aired and being quite impressed, but then mostly forgot about it for 25 years.
Visually, it still looks great, with simple but clean character designs, big bold white highlights and the slightly washed out colour palette of cel animation. CG is used very sparingly and pretty much all of the effects are done by hand.
Storywise, it's pretty straightforward and nothing to write home about so far (although I do like the silly running gag where the story will often just suddenly shoot off on a crazy tangent, only to turn out to be the protagonist daydreaming), but this makes it perfect for just casually watching a couple of episodes before bedtime.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentHey, might be good to add some spoiler tags to this one. Well done on soldiering through it and sorry to hear it didn't land. I definitely get the impression that it's a divisive one. To give my...Hey, might be good to add some spoiler tags to this one.
Well done on soldiering through it and sorry to hear it didn't land. I definitely get the impression that it's a divisive one. To give my quick perspective on the ending, I didn't see it as any more insane than the ending to the second game (which was really not that dissimilar in terms of the twist), and insofar as it criticises people enjoying death games - hey, I enjoy death game fiction and given this writer's other work, I suspect they do too :P I just can't interpret it as genuine criticism when the game and the society it's set in is already so silly.
If you do end up playing the side story games (which I think are set in the storyline from the first 2 games), I'd be interested to hear if you enjoy them more!
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear (edited )LinkDispatch The TV series equivalent of a VN, with a couple of minigames thrown in. Feels perfectly paced for playing an episode a day over a week or so. Most of the decisions don't majorly impact...Dispatch
The TV series equivalent of a VN, with a couple of minigames thrown in. Feels perfectly paced for playing an episode a day over a week or so.
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Most of the decisions don't majorly impact the story (and similarly, it doesn't really matter how well you do in the minigames), but I liked this as it removes any pressure to optimise or 'play well' and just encourages you to make whatever decisions you want.
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There were a few places where the delivery didn't quite match what I had in mind when picking an option, and the tone of the conversation would sometimes abruptly change as it went from a decision branch back to the main script, but overall it felt pretty polished with a decent range of choices. I also appreciated that you don't have to pursue the romance options (although there a lot of pushes in that direction), because I just wanted to do my job and avoid office drama.
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The animation looks quite nice and reminded me a bit of that animated MCU show What If...?. However, there are times where it feels like the framerate is inconsistent even within the same scene, which is weird because the game is pre-rendered. Maybe some quirk of how the animation was produced?
Dragon Quest Builders
Gave this a shot to see if I'd enjoy the upcoming Pokemon Pokopia which is supposedly in the same style. Man, I can't say that I love it:
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The exploration is fun and rewards you with all sorts of new items and even new mechanics, but so far the building doesn't seem to tie into the gameplay in a way which makes me want to try building new stuff or optimising my layout. Why should I build some plates if all it'll do is give me 30 points?
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All your items are keyed to a gigantic bar. Need to equip something? Use something? Have to find it on the giant bar first.
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You can't just pick up and place stuff like in Animal Crossing. If you want to turn furniture back into item form, you have to bash it until it breaks (and pray you aren't breaking anything else in the vicinity in the process).
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This game suffers from the same god-awful faux ye olde English translation that Square Enix is shoving into all of its recent DQ games. Just... why? Do they think Western audiences want this extremely Japanese game with happy slimes and big anime hair to sound like that? I switched it to Japanese in a heartbeat.
I'm now in "wait and see" mode for Pokopia.
I also played a bunch of free games on Steam. I do this once in a while just because I find it fascinating what people make when they:
- aren't driven by any monetary incentive or need to please a manager / audience; and
- have to work within constraints and compromises.
Very enjoyable short JRPG with a lovely colourful visual style, cracking music and a dry sense of humor reminiscent of Undertale. No grinding involved and lots of gameplay twists throughout to mix things up.
Puzzle game about being a hacker detective searching for his lost brother. You solve mysteries by hacking into computers, but the system security is all in the form of abstract puzzles.
Many of these puzzles are brutal and it's not uncommon at all to just be thrown into a screen filled with numbers, letters and empty boxes and expected to just work it out from there via leaps of intuition. The game does give you hints every 60 seconds if you can't progress, but the difficulty is such that I often had no idea where to even begin until I had exhausted all of the hints.
Definitely one that calls for pen and paper.
Horror VN about being trapped inside a meat freezer with your co-worker while working for a pharmaceutical company. But why does a pharmaceutical company have a meat freezer?
Very dark, but with some nice human moments.
Z.A.T.O. // I Love the World and Everything In It
Drama / mystery VN about a pensive girl looking into the disappearance of her classmate in 80s small town USSR.
It's a very slow burn, but the presentation, visuals (particularly the clean and expressive character art) and music are all great.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear (edited )Link ParentOne of the other things I love about this show is that alongside the drama, it has this really offbeat sense of humour. Bon in seasons 2 and 3 is one of my favourite Koyasu Takehito roles in...One of the other things I love about this show is that alongside the drama, it has this really offbeat sense of humour. Bon in seasons 2 and 3 is one of my favourite Koyasu Takehito roles in recent memory. He's so frequently typecast as a flat villain, but they've given him plenty of room to deliver both comedic and dramatic performances here. Hirotoshi in season 3 is great too.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear Link ParentAgree on the animation being the standout for this show. I feel like some of the underlying ideas in the story have promise, but it's often delivered in such a ham-fisted way that I just lose all...Agree on the animation being the standout for this show. I feel like some of the underlying ideas in the story have promise, but it's often delivered in such a ham-fisted way that I just lose all emotional engagement as a viewer. The powerpoint presentation episode in season 3 in particular has to be seen to be believed...
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear LinkFureru Fourth work from the team that did Ano Hana, although it's not clear if this one is set in the same universe like the others. Say what you want about Okada Mari's writing - she's definitely...Fureru
Fourth work from the team that did Ano Hana, although it's not clear if this one is set in the same universe like the others.
Say what you want about Okada Mari's writing - she's definitely been responsible for a fair few train wrecks alongside the home runs - but she's in her element here for the first two acts of the film which deliver strongly on the awkward relationships and love triangles that she built her name on. There's a strong and consistent thematic focus on the patricular challenges of relationships and communication between men, which is an interesting and under-explored avenue to go down.
The third act is where it kind of fell apart for me, though. The tone of the film takes a sharp left turn and all of the tangled threads built up to that point are just quickly and conveniently resolved. I feel like it would have been a much stronger resolution had the characters had their same emotional development but then actually used it to sort out their problems via communication in the real world.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentI have a bad memory for names and definitely had to jump back to older scenes numerous times to check. I think that's all intended though, especially towards the end as the story and timeline gets...I have a bad memory for names and definitely had to jump back to older scenes numerous times to check. I think that's all intended though, especially towards the end as the story and timeline gets complex.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear LinkThe Case of the Golden Idol / The Rise of the Golden Idol Point and click deduction puzzlers. The art style takes a bit of getting used to (all the characters look like they've been microwaved a...The Case of the Golden Idol / The Rise of the Golden Idol
Point and click deduction puzzlers.
The art style takes a bit of getting used to (all the characters look like they've been microwaved a little), but the story is fun and the gameplay is solid.
The games do feel a fair bit easier than others in the genre as:
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in addition to deducing the names of the characters and what happened in each scene, there are usually a couple of other small puzzles to solve which, once solved, become useful references for the more difficult ones; and
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it's chapter based, with each scene forming part of a larger narrative. You'll be able to recognise characters who reappear in later scenes, understand what their likely motives are and so on, to the point where by the end, you're relying more on your instinct for where the story is going than the actual visual clues.
Both are quite short and each can be knocked out in a day, which feels about the right pacing for this type of game.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear Link ParentI believe someone did a Lua script for the first game which just overlays the translation rather than patching the ROM. It's a bit of effort to set up and I can't vouch for how well it works (I...I believe someone did a Lua script for the first game which just overlays the translation rather than patching the ROM.
It's a bit of effort to set up and I can't vouch for how well it works (I just played in Japanese), but I enjoyed both of these games!
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear Link ParentGood to hear! It's been a good while since I saw the first episode, so it's possible that I'm judging it too harshly. I just remember coming away from it a bit unimpressed because it tries to pack...Good to hear! It's been a good while since I saw the first episode, so it's possible that I'm judging it too harshly.
I just remember coming away from it a bit unimpressed because it tries to pack in so much and feels like a hodgepodge as a result. Other Fate shows have done it better in my view by just focusing on establishing a single protagonist (or at least only a couple of them) in the first few episodes and getting you invested in the world through them, then gradually introducing the other factions. Showing 7 masters, 7 servants and a dozen supporting characters right off the bat is too much, even when you have an extended episode!
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Comment on Oshii Mamoru to direct new Armored Trooper VOTOMS anime in ~anime
Well_known_bear LinkSunrise and Production I.G to produce Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Die Graue Hexe for VOTOMS 50th anniversary in 2026 To be directed by Oshii Mamoru (Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor 2) Teaser here I don't...- Sunrise and Production I.G to produce Armored Trooper VOTOMS: Die Graue Hexe for VOTOMS 50th anniversary in 2026
- To be directed by Oshii Mamoru (Ghost in the Shell, Patlabor 2)
- Teaser here
I don't think any of the many follow-ups to the original series have been great (other than Armor Hunter Mellowlink which is awesome), but the involvement of Oshii has made me a little more optimistic for this one.
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Oshii Mamoru to direct new Armored Trooper VOTOMS anime
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear (edited )LinkQuite a season. It seems the competition for viewership has become so fierce that a lot of shows are now resorting to 1 or even 1.5 hour long first episodes to stand out and make their full pitch...Quite a season.
It seems the competition for viewership has become so fierce that a lot of shows are now resorting to 1 or even 1.5 hour long first episodes to stand out and make their full pitch before the audience loses interest and drops the show. I'll be interested to see whether this pays off - if so, expect to see everyone doing it in a couple of seasons!
Fate Strange Fake
I liked this more than I expected to.
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Lush animation with Fate's characteristic saturated colours but also beautiful thick line art (giving it a distinct look from A1's own Fate/Apocrypha), all on top of a much more focused story compared to episode 1.
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The cheery ED feels right out of Gundam Reconguista in G.
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Ayaka and her Saber feel awfully familiar...
On the downside, despite this being a new continuity, there's absolutely no concession made to newcomers in terms of exposition. Anyone not already familiar with Fate may well bounce right off.
Shibou Yuugi de Meshi wo Kuu
A demonstration of how direction trumps budget. The actual animation is average at best, but the visual style and choices about everything from framing and colours to timing and delivery make it stand out from the pack like a long lost Shaft show (especially with that letterboxing).
I'll be interested to see if they can keep the rest of the season compelling now that they've shown their hand, though.
Jujutsu Kaisen S3
The usual high quality animation served with a story that's been firmly reined back in scope. I did laugh a little when I realised
though.spoilers
they were doing a death game story tooThe direction flirts with being a little obnoxious at times, but I'd rather see people try to make shows that look visually interesting and not quite hit the mark over just playing it safe.
Boku no Hero Academia Illegals S2
It's very low key as a season opener, but that's fine. My only complaint is that the new antagonist doesn't seem particularly interesting, but there's plenty of room to move the story in any direction from here on out.
I can't remember if the original series ever expressly stated that it was illegal for regular people to use their Quirks (as opposed to just acting as a hero without a licence) - in fact, I'm pretty sure it happened on that show all the time - but it's potentially quite an interesting premise to focus on.
Enen no Shouboutai S3 cour 2
Exceeded my (low) expectations. Just having the show focus solely on the protagonist again is a significant improvement. If they just do a season about him fighting other dudes without spending half of each episode on Adollah, I'll be satisfied.
Fumetsu no Anata e S3 cour 2
Still compelling. Somehow the writing remains on point thematically for the development of the protagonist regardless of whether the episodes are about the new characters or the old ones.
Trigun Stargaze
It's pretty good. You have to give Orange props for sticking with 3D animation when everyone else (what happened to Polygon?) seems to have given up. Yes, it will never look quite the same as 2D animation, but there are ways of delivering a scene that 3D really excels at, and material like Trigun is full of opportunities to show them off.
Also:
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Millie is finally in the show and has a great dynamic with Meryl.
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This episode contains the last (posthumous) voice acting performance for Tarako. I wasn't a fan of her Monokuma, but I thought she did quite a good job as Zazie.
Jigokuraku S2
Not flashy, but still solid as an action show.
Not the biggest fan of the current plotline they're doing with the protagonist, but I can see where they're going with it and expect he'll be back on course shortly once the point is made.
Oshi no Ko S3
I'm fine with any kind of horror, but shows like this honestly make me kind of queasy. Putting the central plot aside, it just feels so dark and cynical every week to see how the sausage is made in the 'content industries' and how two-faced and traumatised everyone involved in it is.
Great animation as usual though.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear LinkFinal Fantasy VII Rebirth Only a little ways into this. The combat system seems to have been inflated even further to Xenoblade levels of complexity, with systems on top of systems on top of...Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Only a little ways into this.
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The combat system seems to have been inflated even further to Xenoblade levels of complexity, with systems on top of systems on top of systems. I kind of wish they'd just spent the effort on polishing the system they already had, because it still doesn't feel great to play moment to moment. Just being able to cancel out of attacks would have made the flow of combat feel a lot better.
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The open world looks nice and runs surprisingly well even on my dated GPU (no doubt due to DLSS), but as I only found out hours later, if you actually start running around to explore as soon as the game lets you, it's all just empty space with no points of interest and barely even any enemies to fight - apparently you need to progress the main game further before it'll unlock points of interest, side quests and so on. Kind of a baffling game design decision which runs counter to how every other open world game works.
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I like the card game. My initial instinct is to rush to control as much of the board as quickly as possible, but I can already see that there's enough strategic depth to it that this isn't always going to work. I also like that it's very well signposted where you need to go to find opponents, and there's none of the local rules / ante guff that weighed down Triple Triad. You can just keep playing until you find a winning strategy.
This is a pretty big game, so my aim is just to finish it sometime in 2026.
Mystery / horror adventure game about investigating, identifying and 'dismantling' urban legends.
There's a lot to like:
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The concept of mysteries based around urban legends (and connected by a larger tinfoil hat conspiracy theory) is neat.
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The characters are fun and expressive, and the chunky GBC-style pixel art looks great and is well animated.
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The parts where you have to go on Twitter to conduct research perfectly capture what a hellscape social media has become. There's also a lot of optional stuff to learn about urban legends, much of which was new to me and interesting.
However, the remainder of the gameplay is where it kind of drags for me:
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Much of the game is walking around and repeatedly interrogating people and checking things until you have the necessary clues to make the deduction needed to progress the plot. However:
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Each time you choose a conversation/ investigation topic, you only receive a few lines before you're back in the menu and have to select a new topic, even when the new topic is just the logical continuation of the previous one. It might take going back to the menu 4-5 different times to get through a single normal conversation.
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New topics will often pop up as the investigation progresses, so you'll also need to go back to people and locations to check for them.
The result is that you're constantly menuing through topics instead of focusing on the story.
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The story itself is also kind of nuts, with many of the mysteries involving incredibly convoluted schemes that no one in their right minds would attempt. A lot of the time, 'a ghost did it' would actually be the more satisfying answer.
Would have preferred a bit more polish in those areas.
Indie death game adventure / courtroom game.
On one hand, it's clearly an indie passion project made largely by one person. There are no voices, it's obviously made in RPG Maker (with all of its familiar menus and sound effects) and the art is pretty rough - particularly the backgrounds, which have a very low fidelity vibe that gives me flashbacks to playing early Sierra games like Space Quest I.
On the other, the writing, the gameplay and even the music is great. It might be a stretch to call it a mashup of Zero Escape, Danganronpa and Ace Attorney, but all of those influences are visible in the combination of old school point and click adventure, role-based social deduction (much like Raging Loop) and 'discussion'-style courtroom system where you can draw out statements from each participant and pit them against each other. It's very ambitious and for the most part, they pull it off.
I particularly liked how opaque the many decisions constantly being thrown at the player are. Often they'll seem important, but it's rarely obvious what the 'right' move is (or if there even is one), and eventually you just go with your gut or what you think the protagonist would do.
A couple of points to note:
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The game is still missing the final chapter, so you might want to hold off until it's complete if you want to play the whole thing at once. Based on the author's social media, it's still being actively worked on as at late 2025.
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If you can read Japanese, you can just play the free version available on the author's booth page. The main story content is the same as the steam version, but there's no English translation.
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Comment on New Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight anime to be produced in ~anime
Well_known_bear Link ParentThe original show was about a group of students who belong to what can only be described as a kind of magical realism underground fight club. They fight each other on an underground stage to...The original show was about a group of students who belong to what can only be described as a kind of magical realism underground fight club. They fight each other on an underground stage to settle conflicts and fulfil their wishes, but the fights are also musicals like in a revue.
It's pretty close to Revolutionary Girl Utena in that the whole thing has a really dream-like tone to it.
There was apparently also a mobile game too, but it came after the TV series, so I assume it's based on it.
I'd suggest either the 1995 Ghost in the Shell film or the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex TV series. Season 1 of SAC in particular is excellent.