Summer mid-season anime impressions

Aug. 22nd, 2025 08:54 pm
petrea_mitchell: (Default)
[personal profile] petrea_mitchell posting in [community profile] anime_manga
(Crossposted from my journal.)

A bit late for first impressions, but I still feel the urge to get my thoughts out there.

Dekin no Mogura: The Earthbound Mole has ugly character designs and a ton of talking, and yet is a joy and a treasure and I can hardly wait for the next episode from week to week. This is an adaptation of a manga by Eguchi Natsumi, the author of Hozuki's Coolheadedness, and starts off with a similar mix of comedy and folklore geekery. But then it adds a lot more layers. First there's the giant supernatural cat antics, and then it turns out that Eguchi has been storing up a lot of thoughts about how girls and women are socialized to behave in contemporary society, and then there's the matter of the ongoing flashbacks to World War II.

Necronomico and the Cosmic Horror Show is great if you are well-versed in both the Cthulhu mythos and the anime death game genre, an overlap not likely to occur much outside Japan. The little problem with the subtitles in episode 1 has been ironed out and now my only complaint is that the new translator doesn't know how to spell Ticktockman. Because the show has borrowed him too, for some reason.

Sword of the Demon Hunter is getting into the big events of the late 1860s while shifting its tone ever further away from grimdark. It may be trying a little too hard at this point, particularly with a recent episode where it is implied that someone eventually reforms but we miss the most interesting part of their story.

Hanako-kun season 2 part 2 is still gorgeous to look at, but suffering badly from being watched the same day as Dekin no Mogura. It isn't dragging as badly as the previous cour, but it feels like it is ambling with unnecessary slowness toward an ending that can be seen a mile away.

I was all set to hate Ruri Rocks for the same reason the geology displays at some science museums annoy me. I hate when the exhibit is basically just "look at the pretty rocks" with no context for them. But this show actually wants to provide the geological context, so great! Plus it has really excellent character animation! Instead, it annoyed me by spending way too much time pointing at the camera at the chest and bottom of the adult lead, so I'm still not planning to watch a second episode.

Bullet/Bullet and Onmyo Kaiten Re: Birth Verse were okay for as far as I watched them (1 episode and 2 episodes respectively), I don't think I'd mind watching more, but I haven't gotten around to it, so clearly I didn't like them that much.

And nobody picked up the latest Cute High for streaming, so I don't know what I think of it.

(no subject)

Aug. 22nd, 2025 03:19 pm
jayblanc: (Default)
[personal profile] jayblanc
Just given up trying to read through a self published cozy romantasy. It has pacing issues, is in dire need of an editor, and uses terms and races directly lifted from D&D such as 'Tabaxi'. But what really broke it for me was when the characters just 'fixed the oven' like it's a modern appliance. And this was important because the setting involves someone trying to bake and cook meals for an inn. All feeling of place just came unmoored as it became clear that the writer just hadn't thought beyond the surface aspects of 'things in a kitchen'.

I can't imagine someone trying to 'fix' an AGA with what ever tools they have laying around. Let alone a wood fired stone oven that's part of the wall.
dewline: Text - "On the DEWLine" (Default)
[personal profile] dewline
A StarTrek StarCharts/StellarCartography question:

I suspect that HD 29172 used to be the preferred host star for Rotarran, thanks to the Hipparcos Mission data. Gaia Mission seems to have corrected the location of that star from 204 ly from Sol to 521 ly, though.

Granted that the shows as broadcast from 2017 are mostly sticking with the XY placements of known stars as published back in 2002. That's an editorial decision I mostly accept.

Here's some of the candidates I'm looking at, encircled for your review and discussion. Among them, HD 17224 is an A0V, and the thing that gives me pause about that star is that it's over 300 ly "below" Z=0.

I'm looking for opinions, rather than definitive answers here.

An excerpt from a Work-In-Progress map of the Rotarran region of Klingon space

Due South Geography Questions

Aug. 18th, 2025 09:02 pm
dewline: "Thank you kindly" - text only (Thank you kindly)
[personal profile] dewline
Does anyone in the fandom hereabouts remember the address of Fraser's first apartment building, as well as the general neighbourhood of same?

I'm thinking this is a thing that must be added to The Atlas of Imagined Cities, and it didn't get included in the Chicago section.
dewline: A fake starmap of the fictional Kitchissippi Sector (Sector)
[personal profile] dewline
I'm wondering about two stars, WT 767 and 768, both in Indus (I believe, after checking Gaia Sky), and it looks to me as if they're barely a light-year from each other. If I'm correct, they might be a candidate as "host" stars for Sullivan's Planet from "The Sehlat Who Ate Its Tail".

In which case, maybe HD 205156 can serve as "Helicon"?

I'm also asking my WT 767+768 question on the Celestia Discord server.

Bleach fic

Aug. 17th, 2025 02:17 pm
thawrecka: (Bleach - fighting is better back to back)
[personal profile] thawrecka posting in [community profile] anime_manga
Limbo (1014 words) by thawrecka
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Bleach (Anime & Manga)
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kira Izuru & Matsumoto Rangiku, Kurosaki Ichigo & Kurosaki Isshin
Characters: Kira Izuru, Matsumoto Rangiku, Kurosaki Ichigo, Kurosaki Isshin, Tia Harribel
Additional Tags: Bittersweet, Grief/Mourning, Post-Winter War (Bleach), Awkward Conversations, Angst
Summary:

Three different shared griefs, in three different places.



The Ordinary Ever After Part (5552 words) by thawrecka
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Bleach (Anime & Manga)
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Ayasegawa Yumichika/Madarame Ikkaku
Characters: Madarame Ikkaku, Ayasegawa Yumichika
Additional Tags: Fluff, Slice of Life, Established Relationship, Humor, Smut, Post-Thousand Year Blood War Arc (Bleach)
Summary:

A series of moments in Ikkaku and Yumichika's life together.

Update: 16 August 2025

Aug. 16th, 2025 09:04 pm
dewline: Text - "On the DEWLine" (Default)
[personal profile] dewline
I got the bins from Canadian Tire.

I'm still recovering from the shopping trip. Considering that I walked half of it in the weather I did, I should have gone directly to bed.

Came downstairs to the office, instead.

Thinking about cleaning the iCan-branded computer-mouse, particularly the scroll-wheel. If I knew where on iFixit to look...

Checking In - 16 August 2025

Aug. 16th, 2025 12:58 pm
dewline: Text - "On the DEWLine" (Default)
[personal profile] dewline
Chores.

That's my word for today.

Bedding-laundry, shopping, computer-mouse replacement, new colour-pencils for Mom, and if I can push myself the rest of the way, new storage bins to keep the basement reorg process going. Not sure that last item is going to be doable with today's local weather. Hot and humid.

Talked with the writer of San Francisco 2161 last night about proposed maps for his now-finished Trek-inspired fanfic project about the negotiations to co-found the Federation. What maps should there be attached, what forms they should take, that sort of thing.

I'm also toying with an idea for a prose fanfic project of my own centred on one of the participants in that story and a prequel, In the Raptor's Claws about the Coaltion-Romulan War that preceded the Federation. Specifically Nathan Samuels, whom Enterprise-watchers may remember as portrayed by Harry Groener. Not sure if this is going to go anywhere beyond maybe a couple of paragraphs before getting derailed by a job offer or loss of housing or whatever.

We'll see.

The Birthday Fortnight

Aug. 15th, 2025 08:30 am
jakebe: (Default)
[personal profile] jakebe
The first half of the month has been pleasantly busy. Our very good international friend has been visiting since the end of July, so we've been pretending to be good hosts. Honestly, it's been a great time. I got to bake a batch of key lime cookies, found a decent recipe for strawberry icebox pie, helped Good Dog with a coffee walnut cake and Three Cup Chicken, a Taiwanese dish that might be the best chicken thigh dish I've ever had. 

We've also been making dinners for the household through Blue Apron, though our recent experience with those deliveries have convinced me to finally shop elsewhere for a meal-kit home. Two of the dishes came without the knick-knack bags, which contains most of the fiddly bits of the dish (and incidentally, most of the things that make them special -- like spice blends, specialty ingredients and the like), so we had to improvise. The pulled-pork enchiladas didn't need that many substitutions, but the chicken shwarma quesadillas couldn't be prepared as the recipe envisioned. Instead, I used a quick spice blend I found online for both the quesadilla filling (chicken and onions) and the roasted carrots that came with them. The quesadilla spice blend was a total hit, and I'll definitely have to keep that in my back pocket for later. 

Honestly the best part of my time off last week was getting to spend so much time in the kitchen. With the Blue Apron substitutions and the non-Blue Apron dinners we made, I really got to learn about spices and step outside of my comfort zone with them. It makes me realize how important they are to the success of the dish -- especially getting them in the right proportions. 

I experimented with baked salmon last night using a simple blend of lime juice, lime zest, honey, crushed red pepper, garlic powder, salt and pepper all mixed with olive oil. It came out more like a marinade than a glaze though, so I think I should have poured the concoction into a bag and left the salmon fillets in the fridge for a couple of hours. The flavor that came through was mostly red pepper and garlic, so I'm guessing that the lime juice and honey cooked off in the oven. Still, folks seemed to dig it quite a bit so no complaints there. 

The more time I spend in the kitchen, the more time I *want* to spend there. I'd love to learn how to make simple things well (and quickly!), just to see if I can improve the quality of the household diet with fewer prepared foods and more whole, raw ingredients processed at home. >.>

I've been back at work since Tuesday and playing catch-up all this week. Our IT department decided to update our database software without telling anyone, so the technicians in the field ran into a hose of version-mismatch errors trying to upload their reports. When that happens, the QC department gets to transcribe these reports manually. Work's been swamped with these requests since my vacation last week and we're still trying to dig our way out. 

At least this time, we have a way of determining the impact of this issue by pointing to the decision-maker who caused the kerfluffle to begin with. If all of the QCAs are following proper procedure, we should have...thousands of logged errors under the IT manager's name. It'll be interesting to see the data that comes out of it.

It's taken a couple of days to get back into the swing of things, but it's like falling off a bike, right? Two positions within the company opened up at last, so I've applied for both and gotten two interview requests! One is for a Metrology Technician job -- basically, I'd be calibrating, maintaining, and logging the instruments our field technicians use in their daily work and certifying client instruments that make their way to the lab. Since I'm dealing with real equipment, I'd have to go to the Sunnyvale office every day -- but the pay is a lot higher than I get now, so hopefully that would offset some of the wear and tear on the car. 

The other position is for a Field Services Coordinator job, where I'd be managing the schedules of technicians and working with clients to schedule whatever work they need. "Schedulers", as we call them, would also be in charge of making sure client protocol is followed and any special instructions were given to the techs. It's a MUCH more social job than what I'm doing now, but it's also fully remote and a bit closer to what I'm doing now. Alas, the pay is lower than the Metrology job and, well, it's possible that the position could be eliminated and off-shored to Mexico -- which would leave me exactly where I am now. 

Still, these are the first interviews I've gotten in this year's job search so I'd be a fool not to go for both of them. The Metrology Technician job would be a real stretch for me, but the things I'd learn there would definitely set me up for future success. The pay and potential career path are a lot higher, too, so I can't sniff at that. And if that falls through or they find a much more qualified candidate, I can fall back on the Scheduler position. 

At any rate, I'll definitely be looking elsewhere. It's...not a great idea to stop looking for opportunities after you've found the first one, right? :P

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