They need a black car so they can form Voltron.

I hate that I know exactly what this is from...

Suzu and Kaede will always be together.

As a fan of the show, I'm always surprised by how bunny girl never gets cold.

This week I only made it through two books: Trapped in a Dating Sim Volumes 10 & 11. I'm currently smack dab in the middle of Volume 12 and Volume 13 comes out this week. It feels like we're approaching the end of the series.

Previously I had said how I thought there had been a minor retcon for the third story arc in book 9. I was incorrect. I went back to Book 1 and saw that there was a brief mention that I had forgotten. Honestly that revelation was kinda cool, seeing something near forgettable from Book 1 become relevant in Books 9+.

When reading the earlier volumes, I had mentioned how lackluster the character development has been in the series. I'm happy to say that it's gotten better in volumes 10 and 11. In fact, one of the side characters was the prominent focus for Volume 11. It was actually fun for the narrative to move off the MC. However it's still not great, especially for Mr. MC. I feel like he still makes the same mistakes. He's too quick to dismiss things in the world as "game logic" or "because those game devs made it that way" even though every time there has always been some underlying reason or hidden meaning. Time and time again things were never as they seemed but he still dismisses deeper theories because he's just in a "game world." Even if it is just a "game world," it should be clear by now that it's well thought out with everything behaving a certain way for a reason.

The series also suffers from the typical trope of "I can't tell anyone I'm a reincarnation!" That of course leads to all sorts of misunderstandings and is, IMHO, lazy writing. Initially the logic was, "they'll never believe me," and "they'll think I'm lying to get out of telling them the truth," and that might have been true at first but 12 books in and he STILL can't tell his closest companions? His companions have proven themselves capable numerous times and he still continues to keep them uninformed and try to do everything himself. It's frustrating to see the same mistakes play out repeatedly.

Anyway, in Volume 12 we're finally getting into the overarching world plot that's been hinted as since volume 1. It feels like a lot of things are coming together for a final payoff. I would be surprised if Volume 13 isn't the final book.

I enjoyed season 1 even if some parts were cliche

Same. it was fun

I'm getting Hi-Score Girl vibes. Definitely going to watch this.

I judge people by their lack of library, not what's in their library. 46% of Americans didn't bother to read a book last year. I personally find that ridiculous.

I will also say that if they only have religious books, I don't think that counts either. But aside from that, doesn't matter if it's highbrow or lowbrow, isekai or scifi, as long as they read SOMETHING. Besides, some of the stuff I read is trashy so who am I to judge.

I remember reading the show description and it was something like "Generations after the defeat of the demon lord, an elven mage takes an apprentice," so I thought it was going to be a lighthearted relaxing little story.

NOPE!

I started watching it but still need to finish it. It's pretty funny, as it parodies harem tropes. And one of the redeeming aspects is that the MC genuinely seems to want to make every girl in the harem happy.

I will say you probably don't need to use the 3 episode rule for this one. The first episode by itself is a good litmus test, IMHO.

Oh man, what a cool action episode. It's explodes right off the bat with Sunraku vs Rust which has the entire Nephilim Hollow community going wild.

@rikka@ani.social

Sunraku understandably loses. After all, he hasn't played this game in months and was fighting the #1 undefeated ranker! Rust is pissed at Sunraku for losing and we get some more of Rust's backstory. Seems she's on a quest for someone to reach her level. She wants a real rival, and I get the impression she was thinking of quitting the game right before Sunraku came back. Sunraku, the only person ever to come close to beating her. Rust really becomes a full-fledged character instead of some background NPC. Who knows, maybe Rust will end up playing SLF too!

Anyway, Sunraku tells Rust to give him a day to shake off the cobwebs and build a new Crimson Twinblade killing mecha. And of course Sunraku builds something completely ridiculous by the standards of the current meta. And it seems to work!

We were kind of spoiled this episode. We got two good fights, although the second one hasn't quite reached its conclusion. Twinblade seems like it's still capable of fighting and Rust doesn't seem like the type of person that would give up just because they lost an arm. Also, we've yet to figure out the full secret to Sunraku's sneak attack, and that one scissor claw can't be the only weapon Crab mecha has!

On a side note, I was really impressed with the animation this episode. The mecha movements felt very fluid, the background city was detailed enough to feel like background without being distracting, and the overall feel resonated "This is a video game" in my mind. I could even imagine it running on a different game engine than SLF. Just a lot of great nuances and artistic direction to really nail the look and feel of a video game.

I don't know what you're talking about. I'm still a super young and fresh 90s kid... cries in middle-aged