Well_known_bear's recent activity
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
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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 )Link ParentI did end up briefly looking into Death Match Love Comedy after some post-game googling and discovering spoilers for DMLC that they share a character. It definitely doesn't sound anything like the...I did end up briefly looking into Death Match Love Comedy after some post-game googling and discovering
spoilers for DMLC
that they share a character.It definitely doesn't sound anything like the story they were setting up in the post-game extra episode, but I hear it also has a similar post-game revelation mode which might touch more on that storyline.
Interestingly, Kemco is also making a new werewolf death game called Depth Loop, but it isn't from this writer (and looks a lot more like a proper werewolf 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 (edited )LinkRaging Loop Japanese folk horror / mystery VN focused around a man forced to play a game of real life werewolf in a countryside village. On one hand, the overall writing is pretty good. There's a...Raging Loop
Japanese folk horror / mystery VN focused around a man forced to play a game of real life werewolf in a countryside village.
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On one hand, the overall writing is pretty good.
- There's a lot of layers to the narrative, a big cast with a lot of hidden agendas and skeletons in the closet, some well thought out mythology and folklore that ties in well with the story and setting and a clever but unreliable narrator who often doesn't show his cards even to the reader until the last minute. There's a rough, scrappy quality to it (on top of the whole "is this actually a curse or just a human conspiracy?" angle) that reminded me a lot of Higurashi no naku koro ni back when it was just some indie game you bought on home-burnt CDs at comic conventions and had no editor to answer to, so the writer would go nuts with whatever prose and ideas they thought would be cool.
- The "feasts" (rounds where the characters try to deduce who the werewolves are and vote on one person to kill) in particular are great, with a lot of "if I do X, then Y will do Z, so I have to do A instead... but then B would happen" moments where the characters are trying to outmaneuver each other.
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On the other hand:
- Despite having the usual flowchart and decisions, it's a very linear game that's designed to be read in a specific order. Branches are either firmly locked off until it's time for you to read them or lead to swift dead ends.
- Some of the answers to the core mysteries in the story are kind of ridiculous / implausible and feel like a bit of a letdown after being teased for so long.
- The deal behind one of the most interesting characters in the story is not covered in the main story at all. You have to read one of the extra side stories unlocked after clearing the game to get her background... but that side story doesn't tie into the main story at all. Instead of tying up the loose ends in the story you just read, it's a bunch of completely new lore dumping and world building that sets up an entirely different story which they never ended up making.
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One really cool feature the game does have is that after clearing it, you unlock a mode where you can read the inner monologues for all of the characters (including the unreliable narrator protagonist), as well as unlocking a few additional scenes that occur while the protagonist isn't around and a couple of neat secret endings. Playing through the game again with this mode on (which only takes a couple of hours given you can skip read text) not only makes the plot points much easier to understand (e.g. instead of having to read between the lines as to why a character is doing X, you can see them rationalising their decision), but also makes the existing story more believable by addressing some of what would otherwise be plot holes. It feels like watching a movie with the DVD commentary on.
Other games:
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Finished up Once upon a Katamari. The main campaign feels just about the perfect length for a game like this, although the final level is a little anti-climactic given the setup.
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Still slowly playing through Final Fantasy VII Remake. I'm up to chapter 9 now.
- The melee combat still hasn't clicked for me at all. You can't cancel out of the attack animation to block or dodge, so I feel like my options are to either very slowly hit the enemy one button press at a time and block when they're about to hit back (which turns every battle into a slog given how much HP enemies have), or just forget about defending and combo attack the enemy as fast as possible to build their stagger, which you can get away with on normal difficulty but also feels bad given how much damage I end up taking.
- I'm coming around to some of the new takes on the characters, though. Barret and Aerith in particular are great and feel like expansions of their original characters rather than outright rewrites (like Jesse / Biggs / Wedge). Aerith is also fun to play as with her ranged attack and busted double magic skill.
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Comment on Request for info: Is "Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro" respectful of it's child characters? in ~anime
Well_known_bear Link ParentI see that you like action, so here are some recommendations off the top of my head (assuming you're reading in English language). Golden Kamuy Japanese western (as in cowboys, etc) set in...I see that you like action, so here are some recommendations off the top of my head (assuming you're reading in English language).
Golden Kamuy
Japanese western (as in cowboys, etc) set in frontier Hokkaido right after the 1904 Japan-Russo war, centred around different factions racing to find a massive deposit of gold. Really cool action setpieces, heavily researched historical / cultural flavouring and a good dose of drama and comedy too.Heavenly Delusion (Tengai Daimakyou)
Post-apocalypse sci-fi about a couple of kids traveling through the remnants of Japan, now infested by strange monsters. Complex plot but lots action and funny dialogue, with some surprisingly dark twists.Kingdom
Historical epic about the Warring States period (around 475BC - 221BC) during which the kingdom of Qin deposed six rival states to unify China. Loads of action and tons of characters and storylines loosely based around actual historical records. Be warned though that this series is super long and still running.Happy to also suggest some titles in Japanese if that's an option.
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Comment on New protein-based gel repairs tooth enamel in ~health
Well_known_bear LinkAs someone who religiously brushes their teeth twice a day, doesn't drink soda or eat sweets, flosses and rinses after eating anything and sees the dentist twice a year, I still find enamel decay...As someone who religiously brushes their teeth twice a day, doesn't drink soda or eat sweets, flosses and rinses after eating anything and sees the dentist twice a year, I still find enamel decay to be unavoidable - to the point where some of my teeth have started to go translucent.
This is very much one of those 'in 5 years!' types of tech articles that may not pan out, but I really hope they succeed!
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Comment on How has AI positively impacted your life? in ~tech
Well_known_bear Link ParentI'm sure it'll even write the memo for you :PI'm sure it'll even write the memo for you :P
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear LinkThe dive into Chinese animation continues. I finished watching Link Click / Shiguang Dailiren and came away quite impressed. The story revolves around two friends with complimentary abilities:...The dive into Chinese animation continues.
I finished watching Link Click / Shiguang Dailiren and came away quite impressed.
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The story revolves around two friends with complimentary abilities:
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Cheng Xiaoshi, who can look at a photo and travel back in time into the body of the photographer at the moment that photo was taken.
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Lu Guang, who can look at a photo and see everything that happens afterwards for the next 12 hours, starting from the moment that photo was taken.
Together, they run a service to help people retrieve information from the past, subject to their agreed rules:
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No staying in the past for more than 12 hours.
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No changing the past itself.
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Season 1 is largely episodic and mainly serves to familiarise the viewer with the premise, although it ramps up towards the end as the focus shifts to the larger overarching plot.
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By season 2, it's assumed that the audience fully understands the premise and this is when the show really begins to dial it up to 11. The story and the ways in which the time travel and powers are used become increasingly surprising and elaborate (to the point where I occasionally had to go back and re-watch parts to make sure I understood what was happening), while the animation and direction - particularly the action scenes - also keep getting better as the series progresses.
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Season 3 looks great visually, but I didn't think the story measured up to the excellent season 2. Despite only running 6 episodes, it's pretty slow paced, there's a lot less of the time travel / powers stuff which made the earlier seasons compelling, and there's no satisfying resolution to the plot that it does set up.
I wouldn't fault anyone for glossing over this one due to the terrible English title that makes it sound like malware, but it's worth checking out. Be warned, though - it gets pretty dark!
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Comment on How has AI positively impacted your life? in ~tech
Well_known_bear LinkI have found LLMs useful for: Working out the name of half-remembered shows and games from my childhood. It's really good at getting these if you can recall elements like story, characters, art...I have found LLMs useful for:
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Working out the name of half-remembered shows and games from my childhood. It's really good at getting these if you can recall elements like story, characters, art style and time period.
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Generating slop to populate meaningless TPS report forms at my job. I would never use it for something someone might actually read or rely on, but sadly my job involves a fair amount of useless paperwork like describing personal strengths / goals on performance review forms that are mandated by management/ HR but, as far as I can tell, are never used by anyone.
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Well_known_bear LinkBeen playing Once upon a Katamari. This is the fourth game in the series that I've played, after 1-2 on the PS2 and the one on the PSP, so although this game is basically just more of the same,...Been playing Once upon a Katamari.
This is the fourth game in the series that I've played, after 1-2 on the PS2 and the one on the PSP, so although this game is basically just more of the same, it's been long enough that it feels fresh again to me.
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The gameplay is basically the same as in the earlier games, with the only new addition being items you can pick up and use. None of these last very long or are particularly powerful, so the experience remains pretty familiar (a good thing in my book). In addition to just rolling stuff up into a monstrous all-consuming blob (my favourite style of stage), there's a decent variety of challenges like only rolling up certain types of items or trying to get your katamari to a specific size by eyeballing it. My only real complaint is that most of the stages have a hard time or size limit, so generally they end just when you've gotten the katamari to the right size to go on a real rampage, but there's probably the ability to unlock free play somewhere in there too if it's like the earlier games.
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The soundtrack is all new and generally quite good, although it definitely has a bit of a leaning towards pop. I remember the first 2 games having all sorts of odd tracks like a guy just straight up talking about katamaris for 5 minutes or a children's song, and there isn't quite that level of variety here.
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There's a ton of unlockable outfits, cousins and whatnot, but if you're like me and don't really care about achievements or cosmetics in games, the game is pretty good about letting you just ignore all that too.
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This is totally on me, but this is the first one I'm playing in Japanese and it turns out that the King of the Cosmos speaks in all katakana, which is a real pain in the ass to read. You can skip all of his long winded talks and just get to the gameplay most of the time, but sometimes he does provide helpful information about your objectives (unfortunately, usually during the mission when you're trying to focus on rolling stuff up).
Great game for short sessions in the evening when you want to space out.
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Comment on Kyoto Animation announces next show (20-seiki Denki Mokuroku / Sparks of Tomorrow) in ~anime
Well_known_bear LinkAiring 2026 Adventure series set in a steampunk Kyoto Trailer- Airing 2026
- Adventure series set in a steampunk Kyoto
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Kyoto Animation announces next show (20-seiki Denki Mokuroku / Sparks of Tomorrow)
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Comment on Third season and movie confirmed for Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (The Apothecary Diaries) in ~anime
Well_known_bear LinkSeason 3 to air in 2 cours in October 2026 and April 2027. Movie to be an original story written by the novel author, releasing December 2026.-
Season 3 to air in 2 cours in October 2026 and April 2027.
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Movie to be an original story written by the novel author, releasing December 2026.
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Third season and movie confirmed for Kusuriya no Hitorigoto (The Apothecary Diaries)
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear LinkWatched season 1 of Jigokuraku / Hell's Paradise, the adaptation of the Jump manga about a condemned ninja who is sent with nine other criminals and their guards to a mysterious island rumoured to...Watched season 1 of Jigokuraku / Hell's Paradise, the adaptation of the Jump manga about a condemned ninja who is sent with nine other criminals and their guards to a mysterious island rumoured to be the afterlife. Each is tasked by the shogunate with finding and retrieving the elixir of immortality in exchange for their freedom.
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This is very much your standard Jump action / fantasy fighting show, but it also has a fun adventure element. Almost right off the bat, the cast is thrown into this alien world filled with danger and mystery, and it's interesting to see it slowly fleshed out as the characters run into one weird thing after another.
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The animation is fine, albeit a bit rough by Mappa's standards, with flat colouring, minimal composition and action sequences that occasionally get a bit choppy.
Not super deep, but fast paced and fun to watch.
Also finished watching cour 1-2 of To Be Hero X. We're absolutely inundated with superhero anime these days, but I really enjoyed this one!
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In addition to the show's signature '3D with 2D composition' style, the show actually has a good number of episodes where it's just fully traditional 2D animation. Fortunately, the quality of the 2D animation really picks up, and by the time it's regularly 2D, it looks great.
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The story is told non-linearly in a series of short but interrelated arcs, each focusing on a different character (usually one introduced in an earlier arc). Each of these arcs has its own premise, but all of them are based around the key theme of the show and how it affects that character.
I'll reserve judgement on the main story until the series is complete, but the individual arcs are all enjoyable in their own right, with the focus generally kept on the characters as human beings with human-scale drama and motivations rather than dudes beating each other up with super powers or saving the world.
Impressions for this season's shows
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Boku no Hero Academia Final Season: Pacing is back on track now that they're no longer trying to tell 5 stories at once. Animation is also excellent even by this series' high standards. I think they've dragged the central conflict out too long for the drama around the main characters to hit as hard as the series' peak moments, but I'm generally satisfied with how they're landing the plane so far.
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Gachiakuta (cour 2): Pacing is still incredibly slow, but the antagonists are at last being introduced and the plot is finally moving forward. The main character is still a bit of an unlikeable maniac, but that feels about right given his background.
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Fumetsu no Anata e S3: I was a bit worried by them bring back so many past characters in the first couple of eps, but this week's ep has me convinced that the plot is heading in a good direction. The new characters are interesting and firmly in the driver's seat.
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3-nen Z-gumi Ginpachi-sensei: I had to drop this. All the original characters are there with their quirks and voice actors intact, but the context and story which all of that plugged into is just completely stripped away. The result is something that looks the part but doesn't feel it, like a reanimated corpse.
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One Punch Man S3: Pretty awful. Despite the story really not being deep at all, the first episode has about 8 separate plot threads going at once, with none of them getting more than a couple of minutes of screen time. The animation is somehow even worse than S2, and I'm pretty sure there was one scene where a guy's still image was just mouse dragged across the screen when he was supposed to be walking. It is still absolutely watchable with your brain turned off, though.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Well_known_bear (edited )LinkOnly following a few shows this season, so I've been checking out some Chinese shows too. They've come a long way in recent years and now feel competitive with a lot of what's coming out of Japan....Only following a few shows this season, so I've been checking out some Chinese shows too. They've come a long way in recent years and now feel competitive with a lot of what's coming out of Japan.
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To Be Hero X / Tu Bian Yingxiong X
3D animation which often features overlaid 2D effects and occasionally uses full 2D animation in a variety of styles. The plot revolves around superheroes whose powers come from the trust of the public (or their fear, in the case of villains). Basically, they're kind of like gods who become whatever people believe they are, but they have to constantly market themselves in order to keep the public's attention.
The 3D animation is quite good and the characters come across as very expressive. The quality of the 2D animation is more variable, although some of it (e.g. the OP) is also pretty impressive.
Apparently this is just the latest series in the Tu Bian Yingxiong franchise, but it doesn't feel like you need to have seen the previous shows to follow the story.
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Link Click / Shiguang Dailiren
Time travel thriller / drama about two friends who can enter the pasts of others through their photos.
Haven't watched too much so far, but the story seems interesting, the animation is smooth and clean and the backgrounds have this colourful, stylised look which I quite like.
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Daily Life of the Immortal King / Xianwang de Richang Shenghuo
Your standard shounen action / comedy about a kid who goes to magic school and is secretly the strongest but has to pretend to be weak in order not to destroy the world with his powers. The show would be terrible if it took itself seriously, but fortunately it's quite silly and filled with dumb jokes. The animation starts out a bit janky but picks up towards the end of season 1, and by the start of season 2 it's actually pretty good.
Other thoughts:
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I'm guessing this is a censorship thing, but they don't have blood in these shows. Instead, you get stuff like people spurting gold. It's very surreal. (Edit: Having watched some more, this isn't always the case and seems to vary even within the same series!)
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All of the above shows are directed by the same guy, Li Haoling. I think he does a good job (particularly given how different the tone of each show is), but I guess it also shows how small a pond the anime industry is over there at the moment.
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Comment on Frieren manga announces indefinite hiatus in ~anime
Well_known_bear (edited )Link ParentThere's a bit to unpack here, but my high level thoughts: Weekly serials are a bit of a rare beast nowadays due to how punishing the schedule is, but the big three (Jump, Magazine and Sunday) are...There's a bit to unpack here, but my high level thoughts:
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Weekly serials are a bit of a rare beast nowadays due to how punishing the schedule is, but the big three (Jump, Magazine and Sunday) are still generally seen as the most prestigious and where the 'big hits' are made (leading to fame and riches). Hence, there's a lot of competition to run in these serials, and a lack of popularity can easily lead to getting cut (especially at Jump, the big dog). As a result, I suspect a lot of mangaka put pressure on themselves to put out the best product they can so they can shoot their shot, rather than the magazine editors directly grinding them with demands for X quality in Y time.
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More and more, mangaka are choosing not to participate in that grind. With online electronic distribution being a thing now, there are plenty of smaller competitors to the big weekly serials. Monthly magazines are producing their own share of hits now (e.g. Jump+ with Spy X Family and Chainsaw Man) and also host some big names who want to gear down (e.g. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is monthly now). Some mangaka are even selling directly to the customer (Blackjack ni Yoroshiku attempted something like that, IIRC, and plenty more just make and sell adult content through DLsite - I believe even a couple of former weekly Jump mangaka!)
Even back in the olden days, though, I think people realised that the weekly grind was kind of BS. Mizuki Shigeru once famously said that the reason that he outlived his famous contemporaries like Tezuka (who often ran like a dozen serials at once) was that he just got adequate sleep, and the dude was no stranger to hardship - he became a mangaka after losing his arm in the war!
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Comment on Frieren manga announces indefinite hiatus in ~anime
Well_known_bear LinkThis got me curious to check who currently actually serialises weekly in Sunday. I just want to point out how insane it is that Takahashi Rumiko, a 68 year old lady who is a millionaire many times...This got me curious to check who currently actually serialises weekly in Sunday.
I just want to point out how insane it is that Takahashi Rumiko, a 68 year old lady who is a millionaire many times over, is still doing a weekly.
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Comment on Financial collapse? in ~finance
Well_known_bear Link ParentJohn Bogle (founder of Vanguard)'s Little Book of Common Sense Investing is also a good, short and simple read which makes a similar recommendation. Tune out the FUD and invest broadly and for the...John Bogle (founder of Vanguard)'s Little Book of Common Sense Investing is also a good, short and simple read which makes a similar recommendation.
Tune out the FUD and invest broadly and for the long term.
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Comment on Chainsaw Man movie releases in North America on October 24, with early screenings on October 22 for some Crunchyroll membership tiers in ~anime
Well_known_bear (edited )LinkIt's interesting that this strategy of: building the following via the TV series; and then making the actual profit by putting the rest of the story into movie(s), has now become the de facto...It's interesting that this strategy of:
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building the following via the TV series; and
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then making the actual profit by putting the rest of the story into movie(s),
has now become the de facto standard among the high end studios (Ufotable, Mappa, Kyoto Animation, etc).
The economics are what they are, so I don't begrudge anyone for doing this. Some thoughts off the top of my head, though:
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This is a pretty substantial shift away from what franchise movies tended to be in the past - i.e. stories that stood on their own with distinct ideas. I'm thinking in particular of classics like the Patlabor movies which had a totally different tone from the TV series. Are we now going to see a lot fewer of these?
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Are some stories just better suited to episodic storytelling? Is pacing sacrificed by having to adhere to movie format and running length? I'm inclined to think this is true at least to some extent for shows like Demon Slayer, especially given how it has to be chopped up into separate movies that come out like a year apart.
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In the past, step 2 in the above strategy was to make the profit via goods (particularly videos / DVDs). Have we now seen a decline in that to the point where it's no longer sustainable, at least for high budget animation? How much has the shift to streaming contributed to that?
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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 Remake Not an actual remake. The need to stretch what was originally around 15% of the original story into its own full story with a proper arc, along with its outright...Final Fantasy VII Remake
Not an actual remake.
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The need to stretch what was originally around 15% of the original story into its own full story with a proper arc, along with its outright abridgement in many places, leads to it feeling like a totally different narrative.
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For better or worse, the characters don't feel like their original selves. Cloud in particular has gone from merely aloof to some kind of alien who has no idea how to interact with other human beings.
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The combat system feels like it's unsure what it wants to be. The player is asked to play as if it's an action game, but you constantly need to menu to use skills and items and give orders to party members. Attacking feels weirdly floaty with no weight to any hits, and sometimes you'll just be attacking thin air for a while (FF1 style?) after killing an enemy because the targeting won't switch to the next one. Simply repositioning yourself in a fight so you can actually hit the enemies feels like a chore, with the default movement being a slow walk. Enemies can sometimes just walk away while you're preparing to do a special move and you'll just whiff instead of tracking them. Blocking seems to work even if you're being hit from behind. It all just feels jankier than the high production values would suggest.
Despite all of that, it's not a bad game and I'm enjoying it for what it is.
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The visuals are on point and faithful to the original designs. Having facial animation in particular adds a lot.
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It seems that a lot of people don't like the side quests since they kill the pacing of the story, which yeah, they do. I don't think the side quests themselves are too bad, though. They're short, usually let you warp to the quest giver as soon as you're done, and you can even get a little bonus story segment for doing them. If the alternative is just grinding 30 mobs so I can afford the equipment upgrades on offer, I'll take the side quests.
Chadley's side quests do seem a bit grindy though, so I'm not going to go too far out of my way to do those.
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The seamless transition between field and combat is a welcome change. I wish they'd just limit the battle result pop-ups to just loot and level ups, though. As it is, there's too much info to parse in the quick time that it scrolls by (some of which is utterly useless info like "enemy X defeated" - yeah, I already know!), so it's easy to miss stuff.
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The game runs pretty decently on my PC (albeit with the occasional crash), which you can never take for granted when it comes to AAA PC ports.
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Chinese animation season continues.
Super Cube
Boy gets super powers from space cube and fights other dudes. Bog standard fighting show with a pinch of light novel progression fantasy (power levels, skills, levelling up stats and all that). Inoffensive stuff albeit rather bland.
The animation for the bulk of the show isn't anything to write home about, but in a couple of episodes, it goes super hard on the action scenes, at which times it genuinely looks amazing. It's a shame they didn't have the budget to make the rest of the show more on par with this level of quality.
This show also features a (possibily unintentionally) funny 'This is dangerous! Do not imitate!' disclaimer in every scene where the characters do anything remotely risky, like sitting on a ledge, hanging out over a railing or just doing an edgy pose. I still haven't worked out whether this is a serious warning or just a really tongue in cheek running gag, but it's great either way. To add to the comedy, it's completely random whether they bother to show the disclaimer during actual fight scenes where people are beating each other senseless.