piotr's recent activity

  1. Comment on Why I recommend against Brave in ~tech

  2. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    piotr
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    Re:ZERO S3 - I've written about it before and my opinion hasn't changed. This season the mystery part of the plot got sidelined in favor of some action heavy scenes. The pacing was poor and I...

    Re:ZERO S3 - I've written about it before and my opinion hasn't changed. This season the mystery part of the plot got sidelined in favor of some action heavy scenes. The pacing was poor and I don't watch Re:ZERO for the fights so I'm rather disappointed, 5/10
    Flower and Asura - It's about kids in broadcasting club. Initially, after hearing it's from the author of Hibike! Euphonium and studio Bind, I had rather high expectations, but the show turned out to be quite average. While the production quality was good, the plot felt somewhat random at times and the season ends in a weird place. A lot of the time was spent on introducing rather wide cast, so maybe if it was released as 2-cour anime, it would made more sense, but as it is it's 6/10 for me.
    Beyond the Boundary - It has great production quality, as expected from Kyoto Animation, and at the beginning the show is fun and interesting but the ending is disappointing and doesn't provide any answers. I thought that maybe the sequel movie would have a proper ending to the story but no, it has the same structure as the series and ending doesn't make much sense to me. 6/10 for both.

    5 votes

  3. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    piotr
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    Orb: On the Movements of the Earth The series depicts the history behind the idea of heliocentrism in 15th-century Poland. However, you can't see here many Polish accents at all. The story could...

    Orb: On the Movements of the Earth
    The series depicts the history behind the idea of heliocentrism in 15th-century Poland. However, you can't see here many Polish accents at all. The story could just as well have taken place in some imaginary medieval country. The story isn't very historically accurate as well. The scenes depicting the Church of that time are more in line with the feelings people have about it today - that it is backward and anti-scientific. However, the idea for the plot was quite interesting, and I would probably have a better opinion of the series if it weren't for a few flaws that I noticed. As for the plot itself, I don't have much to say, except that at times it was a little too obvious that it was the author who was speaking to us directly through the protagonist, conducting some kind of an amateurish philosophical monologue. It was a bit too on the nose. The whole series is very dialogue heavy btw. Other than that, in my opinion, the ending wasn't satisfying enough compared to the level the rest of the season had throughout the run. In addition to the historical inaccuracies, I was irritated by a couple of production aspects. Many scenes that took place at night were unnecessarily over-darkened. So much so that some episodes are impossible to watch in the daytime, as it's hard to see anything on the monitor. Although the night sky was beautifully painted in every scene that featured it, the other visual aspects were quite average. I also disliked the very average, very static cinematography. Some scenes felt out of place, even took me out of immersion in the depicted world. I guess, they were just taken straight out of the manga without much thought. Acting-wise, the series was fine. The standout character here is Nowak, played by Kenjirou Tsuda. He did a great job. I think it's going to be one of his more memorable roles. As a whole, it is a mix of good and bad qualities giving, in my opinion, a fairly average product. However, I am pleased that the series presents a fairly original story in a way that I haven't seen before. This alone made me not regret watching it. Ultimately, this is a 7/10 for me

    BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!!
    I started watching this series without any knowledge of the previous seasons of BanG Dream!, but their familiarity is completely unnecessary, as this season tells its own separate story. It's a story of several girls whose fates were brought together by the musical band they formed. In fact, the band here is mainly just a catalyst for interaction between the heroines. Of course, as befits a music series, we have many musical performances and pleasant to listen to songs, but mainly the series focuses on the dramas that take place in the lives of our heroines. This was the main advantage of the series for me, as the characters are diverse and interesting. Their story kept me curios throughout the whole season. As for the weaker sides, I'm certainly not a fan of the visual aspects. The series was mostly created with CGI. I'm not a CGI hater, but in this particular case I didn't like it. I don't speak Japanese, so maybe the translation is to blame, but I also got the impression that some of the dialogues were not very believable. Overall I think the series was pretty good, I think enjoyed it as much as I did with GBC. 7/10

    7th Time Loop
    This is one of those animes telling the story of reincarnation as a villainess, except that this time it is not about being isekaid into another world, but reliving one's life from a certain save point. As the title suggests, we meet the heroine as she relives her life for the seventh time. In each successive life, she draws on the experiences of the previous one. I found the first few episodes really good. It was interesting to watch the actions of the main character because of her competence, which was not some Mary Sue kind of crap, but it was acquired and justified by how the events of her life played out before. However, over time, this anime begins to fit into the familiar patterns of this type of shows and because of that the end of the season disappointed me. In terms of animation quality, this anime is a tad better than the typical representative of the genre. Overall, it was a very average show which in the beginning had potential to be something better but eventually failed - 6/10. I don't know if it was good enough for me to try watching the continuation, if that ever comes out.

    3 votes

  4. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    piotr
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    Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain - the film is a good continuation of the 2010 series. However, it's a little bit different when it comes to narration - some of the mood known from the TV...

    Mononoke the Movie: Phantom in the Rain - the film is a good continuation of the 2010 series. However, it's a little bit different when it comes to narration - some of the mood known from the TV series has disappeared. I don't know how to describe it exactly. The action is much faster, the camerawork is more dynamic, and we are constantly switching perspectives looking at the events through the eyes of various different characters other than our medicine peddler. It also seems like he is a little different character from the one we know from the series. The film certainly stands out with its much improved visuals, which are simply amazing. On top of that, it has an all-star cast and a great soundtrack. Overall it's a worthy continuation and I'm looking forward the next movie. 8/10

    The Colors Within - I like Yamada's films a lot, and in this one you can sense the style known from her previous works. However, this is not a movie in which we are dealing with some heavy subject as it was the case in A Silent Voice. It's a warm, enjoyable film without any great stakes. It is a great film for those looking for beautiful animation with excellent cinematography, combined with beautiful music, telling a story about growing up, friendship, expressing oneself in music, shedding the mask and coming to terms with showing others one's true self. Definitely worth watching. 9/10

    Suzume - I've watched a few Shinkai movies before and it seems Suzume reuses very similar patterns I've already seen in them. There's some self-discovery, some romance, some trauma, but none of these are explored deep enough to deliver a proper emotional payoff in the end. The main characters are likeable but the male protagonist is quite bland and uninteresting. Side characters don't bring much to the story either. Overall the plot is pretty average.
    As for the technical aspects, the visuals are beaufitul, as always in Shinkai movies, the animation is fluid, voice acting is good, and sountrack is great. Great production doesn't make a good story though. I expected more. 7/10

    6 votes

  5. Comment on Looking for lighthearted action anime in ~anime

    piotr
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    Hinamatsuri - great comedy - kid with superpowers ends up living with Yakuza The Fable - it has some dark undertones but the series is mostly comedy about legendary hitman so I think you may like...

    Hinamatsuri - great comedy - kid with superpowers ends up living with Yakuza
    The Fable - it has some dark undertones but the series is mostly comedy about legendary hitman so I think you may like it
    Golden Kamuy - This series has one of the best character writing mixed with some crazy comedy. It can get dark at times but the tonal shifts are handled really well. Just please don't be discouraged by the CGI bear in first season. It's literally the only glaring flaw I can point out in this series and it's only prevalent in the first season.
    Undead Unluck - it has some romance but generally the series is focused more on wacky interactions between super-abled people trying to kill each other. It has some great battles paired with ridiculous humor

    4 votes

  6. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    piotr
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    I've started watching Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror which consists of three separate horror stories. The first one was okayish, I guess. I probably wouldn't recommend it for casual viewer....

    I've started watching Ayakashi: Japanese Classic Horror which consists of three separate horror stories. The first one was okayish, I guess. I probably wouldn't recommend it for casual viewer. Acting was stiff and visually it was very average. Which is why I skipped the middle story for now, and watched the last three episodes because the last story is an original that introduces the main character of Mononoke. Those 3 episodes were an improvement in every regard and are certainly worth watching as an intro to Mononoke. Then I've watched said Mononoke which shares the structure with Ayakashi by splitting the season into several smaller horror stories. Each of them is interesting and tragic in its own way. The series has an unique visual style and great sound design, which allow you to get well into the disturbing mood of the story. The show gets 8/10 from me.

    2 votes

  7. Comment on Best "complete" anime you'd recommend? in ~anime

    piotr
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    Things go from 0 to 100 in episode 12 IIRC and this continues till the end. The weirdness of MC is always there to some extent, but the story gets much more interesting in second half of the...

    Things go from 0 to 100 in episode 12 IIRC and this continues till the end. The weirdness of MC is always there to some extent, but the story gets much more interesting in second half of the season. Up until that point I found this series to be pretty boring and I was about to drop it, but after finishing the whole thing, I rated it 9/10. I usually don't recommend to watch something if you don't enjoy first 3-5 episodes, but this series is an exception to that rule, in my opinion.

    5 votes

  8. Comment on Everything is Chrome in ~tech

  9. Comment on Best "complete" anime you'd recommend? in ~anime

    piotr
    (edited )
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    Girls' Last Tour is unlikely to get second season but the anime is not complete. AFAIK it portrayed about 2/3 of the manga.

    Girls' Last Tour is unlikely to get second season but the anime is not complete. AFAIK it portrayed about 2/3 of the manga.

    3 votes

  10. Comment on Best "complete" anime you'd recommend? in ~anime

    piotr
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    Other than what others already mentioned, I can recommend: Attack on Titan Hibike! Euphonium + Liz and the Blue Bird Cyberpunk: Edgerunners Vivy: Fluorite Eye's Song Summer Time Rendering Sonny...

    Other than what others already mentioned, I can recommend:

    Some movies:

    I'm sorry for not providing descriptions but the list turned out longer than I anticipated. You can read synopsis in the links. A word about Attack on Titan - it's complete but it has somewhat controversial ending. Some people like it, some people don't, but I think it fits the story overall. On the surface AoT is your typical action anime but the deeper you go the plot gets more and more interesting. It's one of my Top 2.

    9 votes

  11. Comment on Firefox's new Terms of Use grants Mozilla complete data "processing" rights of all user interactions in ~tech

  12. Comment on Firefox's new Terms of Use grants Mozilla complete data "processing" rights of all user interactions in ~tech

    piotr
    Link Parent
    They've updated their blog post with this note:

    They've updated their blog post with this note:

    UPDATE: We’ve seen a little confusion about the language regarding licenses, so we want to clear that up. We need a license to allow us to make some of the basic functionality of Firefox possible. Without it, we couldn’t use information typed into Firefox, for example. It does NOT give us ownership of your data or a right to use it for anything other than what is described in the Privacy Notice.

    51 votes

  13. Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime

    piotr
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    I'm currently watching a bunch of seasonals: The Apothecary Diaries S2 - second season of my favorite gremlin Maomao solving mysteries and messing with Jinshi. IMO just as good as first season so...

    I'm currently watching a bunch of seasonals:
    The Apothecary Diaries S2 - second season of my favorite gremlin Maomao solving mysteries and messing with Jinshi. IMO just as good as first season so far.

    Solo Leveling S2 - It has mid plot and shallow characters, but damn, its action scenes are outstanding. This show is my guilty pleasure. I recommend it to anyone looking for some dumb dark power fantasy. Season 2 has a lot better pacing than season 1.

    Orb: On the Movements of the Earth - it's pretty good. Definitely the plot is its main strength. Production is good enough, though you can see that a lot of episodes were outsourced, many scenes are still too dark, but overall it's a very solid show.

    Re:ZERO S3 - I liked the previous seasons but this one in my eyes is definitely a big disappointment. Weak pacing, a lot of bullshit dialogues, the whole season is basically one giant fight spread too thin, sort of repeat of what we already saw in season 2. The animation is much better, but this season pretty much turned into some battle shounen with pretty visuals but weak fight choreography. I'll probably stay till the end but I cannot say that I haven't considered dropping it.

    From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated! - another take on reincarnated as villainess type of show. This time it's actually pretty funny. It didn't make me laugh out loud but I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of production and comedic scenes.

    Flower and Asura - show from the author of Hibike! Euphonium and the studio behind Mushoku Tensei. So far it didn't pull me in like Hibike did, but nevertheless it's quite good so far.

    Other than that I finished watching From Me to You S3. It was okay for romantic story but I'm disappointed that they didn't delve more into some drama like they initially did in S1. S3 was pretty average.

    5 votes

  14. Comment on Why do you live? in ~humanities

    piotr
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    I'm alive because my self-preservation instinct is too strong to let me kill myself. Also, my mom would be sad. And I want to see more seasons of my favorite anime ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    I'm alive because my self-preservation instinct is too strong to let me kill myself. Also, my mom would be sad. And I want to see more seasons of my favorite anime ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

    2 votes

  16. Comment on Why did you select your username for Tildes? in ~tildes

    piotr
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    I wanted a short, cool username but did not have an idea for one. So my current username means Peter in Polish, which is my actual name in my native language.

    I wanted a short, cool username but did not have an idea for one. So my current username means Peter in Polish, which is my actual name in my native language.

    6 votes

  17. Comment on Fitness Weekly Discussion in ~health

    piotr
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    I started training to prevent health issues that come with sitting in a chair for long hours at my job. I mostly do bodyweight exercises (r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine) with addition of...

    I started training to prevent health issues that come with sitting in a chair for long hours at my job. I mostly do bodyweight exercises (r/bodyweightfitness recommended routine) with addition of some kettlebell use. It's been exactly a year since I started training more regularly and I've gained 10 kg over that time which makes me kind of proud of myself. I went from 75 to 85 kg at 187 cm of height, so I basically went from somewhat skinny to average looking. It feels great to be stronger, clothes look better on me, improved looks brought me a little bit more confidence, and training regularly helped me reduce mood swings that I had before. I hope that over next two years I'll be able to gain another 7-10 kg. That would be my dream shape :-)

    1 vote

  18. Comment on Twinkle Tray: FOSS display brightness control in ~comp

    piotr
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    There's also similar program called Monitorian which serves the same purpose and unlike Twinkle Tray it's not an electron app. Although I had some problems with it causing random CPU spikes and...

    There's also similar program called Monitorian which serves the same purpose and unlike Twinkle Tray it's not an electron app. Although I had some problems with it causing random CPU spikes and cursor lags so I'm using Twinkle Tray myself now. And if you're using Linux there's ddcutil and ddccontrol

    4 votes

  19. Comment on What do you use for note taking/writing? in ~creative

    piotr
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    I only use a note taking app on desktop because on mobile I only need to keep some short temporary notes, so I put them in Note to self in Signal. On desktop I use Zim. I like that it's offline,...

    I only use a note taking app on desktop because on mobile I only need to keep some short temporary notes, so I put them in Note to self in Signal. On desktop I use Zim. I like that it's offline, cross platform, let's you edit in simple wysiwyg editor, and notes are stored as simple human readable files in a directory.

    1 vote

  20. Comment on <deleted topic> in ~tildes

    piotr
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    Probably only that it doesn't make use of prefers-color-scheme CSS media query so user has to manually flip the switch to enable dark theme.

    Probably only that it doesn't make use of prefers-color-scheme CSS media query so user has to manually flip the switch to enable dark theme.

    9 votes