Rottcodd

It kept striking me reading it that Agents is much like Violet Evergarden, except that it just doesn't work as well. VE was a sort of unusual genre mix too, but because it was slower paced overall, the melodrama fit in fine, and the whole thing came together well.

There are other books in the overall series - another duology that follows the agent(s) of summer and a separate story of the agents of dawn and twilight, and I'll undoubtedly read them sooner or later, just to see if they work better. The author has obviously shown that she can tell a good story, and particularly a melodramatic one, and Dance of Spring does have some great moments to it (for example - after Hinagiku - the Agent of Spring - returns after being held captive by insurgents for eight years, she speaks slowly and awkwardly and refers to herself in the third person. That's not an affectation - it's extremely plot-relevant). It's just that, with this one, she apparently reached to create an unusual genre combination, and unfortunately it just didn't work out. Sort of like the cookies I made last week - I'm still convinced that I'm on to something, but they just... weren't good.

But meanwhile, So I'm a Spider is already sucking me in, as I was sure it would - I loved the anime, and was only disappointed that it ended so soon.

Poem the transdimensional tsukkomi...

And Mama Po was awesome as always. It's like her superpower is embarrassing Poem, and she does it with pinpoint accuracy.

Looks like we're setting up for huge events at the prom, and I'm looking forward to it.

Chokki-chan's rival is here.

I was thinking while her sentence was being decided that I'd really like to see an account of Heronia's (ultimately successful) efforts to reunite with Pii-chan.

I remain convinced that she's not a bad person. At some base level, she's actually the same as Bertia - she thought, just as Bertia did, that Cecil was destined to be with the heroine, and all it would take is just arranging for something resembling the right flags being tripped at the right moments. It's just that in both of them following pretty much the same strategy, Bertia came out the "winner" and Heronia the "loser." And she didn't deal with it very well.

Now granted, Bertia really is a better person than Heronia, but that's not really a fair comparison, since Bertia is a better person than virtually everyone, likely even including Cecil. How can anyone compare with her superhuman combination of genuine concern for other people, relentless optimism, and adorkable charm?

But still I think Heronia is decent at heart and I agree - I'd like to see more of her.

As has happened before, I found myself picking up more and more series over the past half dozen or so seasons, until it reached the point that I was invested in too many of them, and disappointed by too many of them this past season, and ended up dropping most of them (though I'm still planning on binging some of those sooner or later).

So this coming season?

The only thing I plan on definitely watching from week 1 is You and I Are Polar Opposites S2. Season 1 was brilliant, and (I already read the manga) season 2 might just be even better.

I'm sorely tempted to follow S3 of Mushoku Tensei - I really enjoyed the first two seasons, in spite of Rudeus, and there have been enough broad hints of things to come that I'm looking forward to seeing it. But even if I wasn't facing burnout, that's the sort of thing I'd tend to prefer to binge, so probably not.

Ghost in the Shell. I mean - a GitS reboot by Science SARU? That's like a dream come true. But again, it's the sort of thing I likely would've preferred to binge anyway, so...

Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia - Science SARU historical epic equals absolute must watch - yet again, the only question is whether I'll try to follow it or wait and binge it, and yet again, it's the sort of thing I likely would've preferred to binge anyway.

Possibly Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You. I mostly enjoyed the mini-episodes (Sasaki's recurring blithering panic got a bit tedious), and it's relatively low key, so I'll undoubtedly try the first episode and see.

Things I'll at least sample:

I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day - I can't deny the appeal of what looks to basically be Gunslinger Girls plus mystery plus GL.

Sparks of Tomorrow - the broad plot outline only seems somewhat interesting, but I'm intrigued by the idea of a KyoAni historical epic set in the middle of the Meiji era.

World is Dancing - fictionalized 14th century history of the creation of Noh? I love that idea. Depends on the execution.

Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. S2 - actually, I'll have to go back to season 1, since I didn't see it, but I'm intrigued. I might just do that this afternoon in fact.

And... that's about it. If this goes anything like past seasons, I'll stumble across things as the season goes on, or notice that something that didn't look promising is getting much more attention than it seems it should deserve, and at least watch the first episodes of those, but for now...

Vol. 1&2 - It took me entirely too long to wade through the first volume, but the second one went much faster.

They were... okay.

I started reading them in the first place because I was watching the anime, and it was intriguing but unfulfilling - it felt like there should be more there. But though there was more detail and more context in the novels, they still failed to entirely come together.

The problem is that the author tried to meld two distinct genres that just didn't work well together. The story is part action thriller and part weepy melodrama, so it kept shifting back and forth between car chases and shootouts and such, and teary-eyed, deeply emotional conversations and longing recollections.

Beyond the mood whiplash, the two different genres are paced entirely differently. It was sort of like riding one of those slow, romantic amusement park swan boat rides - drifting lazily along and enjoying the scenery - then it turns a corner and suddenly becomes a log flume, hurtling down a steep slope and whipping around a corner into... a slow, lazy swan boat ride. So pretty much just the time that I was entirely into the story and the pacing, it would change, then just about the time I had shifted to that, it would change back.

The two halves were both pretty good in their own right - the action/thriller parts were engaging and interesting, and the melodrama was thoughtful and included some really impressive revelations and insights. But all in all, it felt like what that meant is that there was potential there for two entirely different but more or less equally good duologies, instead of one that was only okay. I enjoyed the books all in all, but that was in spite of their flaws.

Then I went back to where I'd left off to read these, and finished Vol. 5, which was quite good, and ended on a really striking cliffhanger, which leaves me looking forward to the sixth volume, due to be released in English in a bit less than three months.

And I think I'm going to dive into <So I'm a Spider, So What?>. I loved the anime, and it was obvious that it only scratched the surface of a much larger story, so...

I just finished reading the light novels (two volumes), and that was the thing that stood out to me the most in the long run - the story was about 30% intrigue/thriller and about 70% weepy melodrama. And that's just not a very good combination, not only because of the mood whiplash, but because the two are paced entirely differently.

It is a good story all in all, and there were some great twists, but even in the light novels, where it had much more breathing room and context, the melodrama still felt sort of awkward and contrived.

Caught back up with this after taking the time to read the light novels.

The story was told in two volumes, and revealingly, when I finished the first volume, the story was at just about exactly the point at which I'd left off the anime, at the end of episode 10.

And judging from episodes 11 and 12, they really are going to try to cram the entire second volume into only four episodes.

I'm glad I read the LNs.

To its credit, that wasn't quite as repulsive as I thought it was going to be.

I hadn't considered using a barrage of emotional whiplash to disguise the fact that you're retconning your characters.

Edit to add, by way of quick example in place of the longer critique I'm tempted to write:

Issho's explanation would've justified failing them. It doesn't justify expelling them.

And Akane would've known that.

Ah... that was even better than I'd hoped.

I wanted to see Heronia and Pii-chan get some sort of happy(ish) ending, but that was a bit problematic for a couple of reasons. And the way they ended up handling it was just about perfect.

And most importantly, it satisfied Bertia - she could fit it into her fanon.

One more obstacle to be overcome though...

NegaPosi Angler - though about fishing, it's largely about forming human bonds, and plays off of the fact that people who fish tend to share an instant bond with each other.

Hanayamata -five girls who form a Yosakoi dance team - easily one of the most adorably uplifting and satisfying anime I've ever seen.

Sabagebu! - Survival Game Club - combat games with AirSoft guns - very stylized and often surreal and very funny in a sort of Nichijou vein.

Me too. This trip they're taking together implies at least that they might somehow be freed, and then the originals, as they're doing, go back to living their own lives, while the replicas, as they're doing, are free to go do as they wish.

Here's hoping...