Man, someone (this director) needs to take some lessons in pacing. There are limits to how much plot you can fit into 3 minutes without leaving the audience lying on the floor.

Before this there have been a couple of girls, one dressed like a miko and one like a school girl, who have shown up briefly a few times and don't seem to be friendly. In ep 10 we find out who they are. The miko is Goura, and the schoolgirl is Ashinoko. And they are also hot springs spirits.

In ep 11 we find out who they are. Originally there were 7 hot springs in that area, and each one had a spirit. But later there was a lot more development and now there are 20 hot springs resorts, and 20 spirits. Since it's all gotten divided, the old time spirits (like Hakone and Miya) have been weakened, and they all ended up unconscious. Hakone and Miya are the only ones to have wakened.

Hakone thinks they can get help at the shrine where all the hot springs spirits are born. Which, it turns out, is in Ashinoko, which is the schoolgirl spirit's domain.

So in ep 12 we ride on the Tekkousen, a tour boat which looks like a European galleon. And they get attacked by Goura and Ashinoko, who want to steal the magic boxes which contain a lot of Hakone and Miya's power. So we get a fight in the rigging. And it is a stalemate, but it lasts long enough to reach the other side. End of the episode has Hakone and Miya running towards the shrine.

So ep 13 wraps of the series. In three minutes we get all of the following: Hakone and Miya reach the shrine and regain their power (and grow to adult size), Hakone lectures Goura and Ashinoko about the fact that a hot spring heals not just the body but also the soul, and you cannot heal a soul with stolen power, Goura tries to convince Ashinoko to give up, Ashinoko blasts Goura, Ashinoko and Hakone have another battle, Ashinoko's powers go out of control, Hakone sacrifices herself to bring Ashinoko back, Hakone goes flying and lands in the lake and they don't see her again, months pass, Miya and Goura and Ashinoko are all working back at Dreamgirl's resort, Our Hero is cleaning Hakone's shrine, he accidentally drops a steamed bun in the water, just like he did in the first episode, Hakone appears again, and we get a happy ending.

Man, it was like watching a normal story at 4x speed (if not even faster). You kind of have to breath hard at the end. They apparently felt that they needed to have some sort of story, but it was a distraction from the travelogue and they didn't want to waste any more time on it than absolutely necessary.

So, was it worth watching? Ordinarily I'd say "no" but watching the entire series only takes three quarters of an hour, and it is fun. It really is. But it has zero rewatch potential. The only reason I went through it twice was so I could plunder it the second time.

Goura, Ashinoko, Dreamgirl's father, Miya, Our Hero, Hakone, Dreamgirl, Dreamgirl's sister, Dreamgirl's mother.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 10:25 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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It's been a while since I've done a nudity post, and since I don't have anything else to post today, I'll go with one. These are from the first episode of the Strike the Blood OVA. I'd like to thank them for not including Nagisa, the younger sister of Our Hero, but it's a pity they didn't include La Folia.

NSFW below the fold.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Cheesecake at 05:36 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Every season going in I complain that there's nothing worth watching, but it seems that most seasons end up pulling a surprise on me. So just for the hell of it I thought I'd go back and review the Neregate charts for this year and review how I actually ended up feeling. (I first thought of this about a week ago, but the Neregate site was infected by malware, which has now been cleaned up.)

Winter 2015:

Absolute Duo was a near miss. It could have been a lot better than it was.
Shinmai Maou no Testament was a near hit. Same comment.
Dog Days 3 hit it out of the park.
Isuca was reasonable for plundering but it had a weak story.

Spring 2015:

Re-Kan was unexpectedly good. What made it work was making Hibiki a Yamato Nadeshiko.
Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha Vivid also hit it out of the park, but I seem to be the only one who thinks so. Sadly, it didn't finish the story, and there's no sign of a continuation. Worse, it never came out on BD, and that's a very bad sign. I think this franchise might be dead.
I didn't care for Shokugeki no Souma but it just made a big contribution to the top rotation.

Summer 2015:

For me the prize was GATE: Jieitai Kanochi nite, Kaku Tatakaeri. And we're getting the sequel in the upcoming winter 2016 season.

Fall 2015:

This season really was a disaster. I followed two or three shows for a couple of episodes and then dropped them like hot rocks. The only show I watched all the way through was Shinmai Maou no Testament BURST and that only out of sheer desperation, and fan service, which was its major virtue. Had there been anything with the quality of GATE or Nanoha Vivid I wouldn't have bothered with SMnTBURST at all.

Please note: these are my opinions. (Mine! Mine! No one else would want them.) I am aware that other people found other shows they really liked, even in the Fall season, but that doesn't change my opinions, which is what is written here.

And the only thing I'm really looking forward to in the upcoming season is the continuation of GATE. However, There are a couple of shows which have a slight chance of being decent, particularly Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm (AKA "Flying Shoes").

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in General Anime at 10:49 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Here it is.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in linky at 09:48 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Can I marry Mary Christmas? That would be merry!

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Cheesecake at 09:30 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Merry Christmas!

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Cheesecake at 08:26 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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Total number of images is now 6637. There are 548 new ones, about 8% of the total, including the following:

48 -- Ani Tore! EX
48 -- Classroom Crisis
28 -- Onsen Yousei Hakone-chan
69 -- Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry
71 -- Senran Kagura OVA
76 -- Shinmai Maou no Testament BURST
146 -- Shoukugeki no Souma
32 -- Strike the Blood OVA
30 -- Yozakura Quartet OVA 1

Just to review: the button in the upper right corner opens the current image in a new tab or window. The button in the lower right loads a new image. The button in the lower left switches to the main Chizumatic page. If you hover over the button in the upper left it shows a bunch of debug information I need sometimes. Clicking it loads a new image.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Site Stuff at 07:22 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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One frustrating thing about plundering a show like Shinmai Maou no Testament BURST is that there's so much stuff I can't use. NSFW below the fold, for an example.

UPDATE: Shinmai Maou no Testament BURST was good for 77 candidates. I think Hakone-chan is next.

UPDATE: Onsen Yousei Hakone-chan was good for 34.

UPDATE: I tried, I really tried. But ten minutes of trying to plunder Shomin Sample was all I could handle before I gave up. And I just couldn't force myself to revisit Etotama. So since I have considerably more than 500 candidates anyway, I'm on to the next stage. After plundering is complete, the next step is the most dull and painful: resizing and trimming the images.

The grabs are 720p or 1080p, and I resize those to 667*375. Then I have to trim that down to 600*375, which is the size of the flash window.

Usually that means just taking 600 out of the middle of the image, but a lot of the time I have to use the leftmost part or the right most part or to adjust the part I take to match aspects of the image. It's all manual and it seems to take forever. And sometimes I get a grab which I just can't trim reasonably, and then I have to delete it. What prevents this from being absolutely painfully dull is that I see the pictures as I'm working. Cheesecake.

So I've processed all but three series. 230 images yet to go. I should get this finished this evening some time, but right now I'm taking a break.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Cheesecake at 09:56 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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So far, the following candidate grabs:

48 -- Ani Tore! EX
49 -- Classroom Crisis
78 -- Rakudai Kishi no Cavalry
71 -- Senran Kagura OVA
150 -- Shoukugeki no Souma
32 -- Strike the Blood OVA
35 -- Yozakura Quartet OVA

Which is 463 so far. I've also got 44 from the last three episodes of Etotama, but I am having a hard time getting into that to do more. Next is Shinmai Maou no Testament BURST. Stay tuned.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Site Stuff at 07:40 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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UPS finally delivered my garbage can, so that's now decorating my kitchen. I also ordered the second BD of the Strike the Blood OVA.

I specified Fedex Overnight, which means it should have arrived this morning. But the online tracking site says that it arrived in Memphis about an hour ago. They are still saying it's due to be delivered today, but I don't see how that can happen.

I am making allowances. For UPS and Fedex this is hell week, the worst week of the year, and I understand that it's a problem. But...

A rip of this BD showed up online this morning and I've already downloaded it. I paid a premium price for the BD and the shipping, to get it as fast as I possibly could legitimately, but I still got a bootleg sooner. I guess that means something, but I'm not totally sure what.

In the mean time I've been sitting here rewatching Yozakura Quartet. It's really a very charming show; I like it. What is coolest about it is how comfortable everyone in the town is with each other. Sakura Newtown has a large percentage of people who are not human. But they all mix together and it isn't considered remarkable by anyone. Humans and Youkai are friends and hang out together, and sometimes humans get into trouble and youkai use remarkable powers to help. So someone like Kotoha, who has what amounts to a super power, can use her abilities in public and no one is afraid of her. It's widely known that she has those powers and everyone is cool with it.

I just noticed that there's a huge jump in the story between episodes 8 and 9. The OP of episode 9 is a reprise of the stuff that they left out: Zakuro attacks the town and there's a huge fight and ultimately she's defeated. I'm going to go look at the manga now and catch up.

UPDATE: Online tracking says the package just left Memphis, and they say I get it tomorrow. I believe that; it'll reach Portland this evening, and go to Lake Oswego before the trucks load for tomorrow's delivery -- if everything goes well. One time, at least, one of my BD packages spent a night at the Portland sorting center because they didn't notice it was supposed to be expedited. And of course, if they don't manage to deliver it tomorrow then it'll be next Monday.

UPDATE Thursday 0830: The tracking site says it's scheduled for delivery in the next two hours. It also says the package was at Lake Oswego (the local truck barn) at 0800. Did it make it onto a truck in time for delivery? My bet is "no", but we'll soon find out.

UPDATE 0930: The UPS computer seems to be horrifically backlogged. Just now I checked again and it has an 0800 entry indicating that the package is out for delivery. So I will get it today, though perhaps not before 1030.

UPDATE 1015: And it was just delivered.

Posted by: Steven Den Beste in Daily Life at 10:41 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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