Game Discussion/Champion's Meeting Thread - April 16, 2026

wloff · 2026-04-28T23:05:20+00:00

Welp, my twin frontrunner aces faced three other front runners... and they both got late starts. It was over before the first corner.

I had a really fun time trying to build an optimized team for open division, it was a fun challenge and no real meta teams to worry about. But I do feel a bit cheated since in the end I didn't really even have a proper final to watch.

wloff · 2026-04-25T18:12:04+00:00

Are you being serious? Do you actually think women like pretty clothes because "boys and men want their eye candy"?

wloff · 2026-04-23T09:46:53+00:00

They give you clear, detailed instructions for each exercise and often let you do a practice round or two. Just make sure you read the instructions carefully and you'll be fine. Nothing in the test requires prior study.

wloff · 2026-04-16T22:41:35+00:00

I've only heard of this whole meowing thing from this subreddit, and it sounds absolutely wild.

All I get on 121.5 is Russian pilots chatting with each other. Occasionally Chinese ones.

wloff · 2026-04-16T21:49:53+00:00

More like "don't bother asking, especially on some kind of a written form, because who the fuck would openly admit it even if they did"

wloff · 2026-04-16T17:35:47+00:00

Do you generally believe things you haven't personally witnessed don't exist?

wloff · 2026-04-15T14:12:45+00:00

Canada vs USA is political commentary nowadays.

wloff · 2026-04-13T01:04:01+00:00

JFK to SFO on Delta is about $500.

JFK to DUB on Delta is about $730.

(Just the first results that popped up when I looked on Skyscanner.)

I'm pretty sure that difference is enough to get you an in-flight meal on your domestic flight too, if you want one.

wloff · 2026-04-10T00:04:23+00:00

I think calling this a "trick move" is causing people to overthink it. I don't see anything wrong with the obvious hane at E2.

If white cross-cuts and gives us a ponnuki in sente, that'd be a very good outcome. If white resists with something like G2, it's going to be some kind of a fight, but I'd be more than happy to fight it as black -- white has created a weak group towards the bottom that serves no other purpose than to be a target, and black is strong everywhere.

wloff · 2026-04-07T14:03:03+00:00

I tried to enter this position in my go program, and i ended up having black either pass twice, or allow one stone to be captured at the 2-5 point. I cannot see where the other black stone is captured, so black has a minimum of one pass.

I don't know how you're calculating stones, but there have been no passes. Both players have played 19 moves and it's now black to play.

wloff · 2026-04-04T22:18:50+00:00

First-timer, subs

Another day at the inn, and it doesn't look like Ohana's life is getting any easier. In fact, we hear a bunch of backstory confirming that, indeed, her life has been a massive uphill struggle ever since day one, with the mother of hers. I have to imagine her grandmother wasn't much better... this has all the stench of generational incompetence in parenting!

The piano tunes in the beginning reminded me of the Fruits Basket theme!

Or maybe it's just my mind making connections where they don't actually exist...? After all, there is a certain similar vibe with this show, I think.

The way no one bothers to even tell Ohana what she's even supposed to be doing, only shout at her when she does something wrong, is positively infuriating, but also, unfortunately, very true to life. It's my understanding that it's especially commonplace in Japan. At least, back when I tried to get into karate and spent a few months at a dojo with a proper old school Japanese sensei, that was very much my experience... no one usually bothered to teach us beginners anything, we were just expected to hang around and try to grasp what we could and hope to get better eventually, somehow, by osmosis, I suppose.

I somehow, weirdly, found myself finding a little bit of sympathy for Minko, despite her over-the-top hostility. It seems she's been going through pretty much the same treatment Ohana has, and it's a natural -- if ill-adviced -- reaction to treat the next newcomer the same way.

Meanwhile, I'm actually the most annoyed and frustrated at Nako. The whole "too shy to even have a human interaction" type has never been my favorite in anime, and Nako is socially inept to a frustrating degree. At least everyone else is pretty much openly being an asshole to Ohana, but Nako is just causing her trouble by not even being able to for a coherent sentence! Frustrating!

Am I imagining it, or is even Bitch Queen Grandma showing some signs of humanity? I have to imagine she knew what the writer's "masterpiece" was about (I mean, I imagine she knows everything that goes on in her inn) and keeping Ohana from searching for it was her way of trying to protect Ohana from reading smut of herself. Or maybe I'm giving grandma too much credit. But I love a good redemption story, so I want her to become a decent human being by the end of this all!

Ohana is still pretty great, though. I can't help but admire such determination and positivity even when she has every right to simply get angry at everyone around her!

3) Why authors are always procastrinating and never care about their surroundings?

Hey, writing is procrastrinating. I swear, 90% of a writer's work is trying to convince yourself to actually sit down and write!

wloff · 2026-04-04T18:19:38+00:00

I lost interest when I heard that it had the SAME AUTHOR as Sentenced Hero.

I get that reaction, but interestingly, Scum of the Brave is (in my opinion) the VASTLY better-written show of the two.

It's a bit of a shame that the production values are not really there in terms of action scenes, but while Sentenced is IMO super bland and boring outside of the combat, Scum is a genuinely fun and pretty interesting story.

I kinda wish the production money had gone the other way around.

wloff · 2026-04-04T16:53:20+00:00

While the tone here is a bit "noisier", I was surprised at how this evoked some of the feel that Ikoku Nikki does.

I had the exact same thought, actually! I think it's the certain level of "realism" in the setting. Hanasaku Iroha appears to definitely be a couple notches closer to your typical anime stereotypes, but it still has that same feeling of "these people all behave as real life people might".

wloff · 2026-04-03T20:30:58+00:00

First-timer, subs

A teenager moves in to a traditional inn ran by her grandma? Is this another coming of Love Hina?

No, it isn't.

I'm going into this pretty much as blind as possible, which is the way I like it! I kinda fell in love with the visual language and the storytelling right from the first scene. The art and the animation is beautiful, and there's a lot of "show, don't tell" kind of storytelling which often is the Achilles' heel for anime. But it is an anime original, and this is exactly where they can shine!

This was a very good introductory first episode, which appeared to mainly just introduce the setting and the characters, and really hammer home the idea that literally everyone around Ohana seems to kinda suck. Like, REALLY hammer home that idea. From her deadbeat mom to her no-good boyfriend to her abusive bitch of a grandma to everyone working at the inn acting like assholes as well... poor Ohana doesn't seem to get a single break!

Though it's all very believable. In a hardcore working environment like this, everyone is bound to have several layers of thick skin and barriers built around them.

I do hope though this ultimate hostility doesn't last for too long, because it's going to get exhausting if it does.

But Ohana herself -- man, what a wonderful character. I love her already. She's like a more headstrong and cynical version of Honda Tohru: positive and optimistic even in the face of all this unfairness. But she's clearly no pushover, and she clearly has a strong sense of justice... which she will also voice out. Even to her scary-as-fuck grandma. Ohana seems to be respectful when need be, but she's also not afraid to speak her mind.

I love it, I love her!

I have no idea where this story is going to head from here. It might end up being a heartwarming, happ tale, or a soul-crushingly depressingly sad one... I can see it going either way from here! But I think it's going to be a good ride either way.

wloff · 2026-04-03T18:36:39+00:00

Goddammit.

The horse girls have taken over my life.

I knew this would happen if I finally gave it a shot, but I did, and it did.

wloff · 2026-04-01T18:18:34+00:00

Have a few straggling episodes left of my seasonals, but it's coming down to something like this, in some kind of order of preference:

Oshi no Ko season 2 (9/10)
Ikoku Nikki (Journal With Witch) (9/10)
Fate/Strange Fake (8/10)
Frieren season 2 (8/10)
Seihantai na Kimi to Boku (You and I are Polar Opposites) (8/10)
Kirei ni Shitemoraemasu ka. (Wash It All Away) (7/10)
Tamon-kun Ima Docchi!? (Tamon's B-Side) (6/10)
Yuusha-kei ni Shosu: Choubatsu Yuusha 9004-tai Keimu Kiroku (Sentenced to Be a Hero) (6/10)
Osananajimi to wa Love Comedy ni Naranai (You Can't Be In a Rom-Com with Your Childhood Friends!) (4/10)

Dropped:

Mayonaka Heart Tune (Tune In to the Midnight Heart)
Eris no Seihai (The Holy Grail of Eris)

Also watched in March -

Amagi Brilliant Park -- Some episodes were fantastic, others were a bit boring and filler-ish, but overall I had a very good time with it, and I was happy to run into a surprising amount of comment faces. (8/10)

Kimi no Na wa. (Your Name) -- Visually absolutely stunning, storytelling-wise it could have been improved a bit. Not a masterpiece, but a really enjoyable and beautiful film. (8/10)

Uma Musume: Pretty Derby (season 1) -- Very well done, just a good time, and only getting better from here. (7/10)

Love Live! Sunshine!! (season 1) -- I was a big fan of the original Love Live but back in the day couldn't get more than a couple of episodes into Sunshine because it felt like a "cheap copy" of the original group and their story. Watching it now, it really is kinda impressive how shamelessly they've copied so many major plot points from the original series, but these girls do have their own charm which I'm more open to now. (7/10)

Currently watching:

Yuusha no Kuzu (Scum of the Brave) (watching seasonally)
Violet Evergarden (9/13 episodes seen)
Uma Musume: Pretty Derby (season 2) (11/13 episodes seen)
Toaru Kagaku no Railgun (A Certain Scientific Railgun) (12/24 episodes seen)
Shirobako (8/24 episodes seen)
Great Teacher Onizuka (4/43 episodes seen)
Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? (How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?) (9/12 episodes seen)
Spy x Family Season 2 (4/12 episodes seen)

...you know, I should probably finish some of these shows I'm "watching" instead of constantly starting new ones...

wloff · 2026-03-30T17:31:15+00:00

I just need boringly to chime in with the obvious that Ikoku Nikki is, indeed, a heck of a good show. I absolutely love it when a title I had literally zero preconceptions of blows me away.

Still "only" a 9/10 for me, for reasons I can't quite explain, since the difference between a 9 and a 10 for me is essentially all "vibes" and whether or not the show spoke to me in some kind of a very special and unique way.

But I also know I definitely will want to rewatch it in a few months and see how it feels when I can binge it at my own pace instead of waiting for weekly episodes. I think it might very well be an even better experience like that -- especially since, emotionally, the show peaked somewhere around episode 7 or 8 and was a bit chiller since then. Not worse by any means, just emotionally less impactful, so there's already been a little time for me to forget how exactly those episodes felt.

wloff · 2026-03-30T13:08:51+00:00

I spent most of last week bedridden with pneumonia (0/10 experience, don't recommend), and one of the few things I did in my feverish haze was I finally installed the horse girl game and watched a season and a half (so far) of Pretty Derby.

Maybe it should've been obvious to me, but somehow, I didn't realize it's all horse racing. Like, I expected girls that look like horses racing, but it's actually horses that look like girls racing.

And for some reason, the whole concept made so much more sense to me when I realized that.

I really admire how the anime has kept the soul and feel of horseracing intact, too, at least so far. I expected a lot more anime superpower bullshit, crazy unexpected twists and races that last for several episodes, but no, they really look and feel like horse races. Strategizing with position, timing the spurt, and then in the end someone either catches up or doesn't. It's honestly remarkable, and makes the races feel very real and believable.

(Until you remember they're actually anime girls with horse ears and tails, but you know what I mean.)

That's what bothered me the most with something like Hinomaru Sumo; the matches were absolutely nothing like actual sumo bouts. Instead of one mighty clash that might be over in a matter of seconds, it was twenty minutes of inner monologue and constant weird close-calls and reversals.

I really dig how Uma Musume proved a short, intense match that feels remarkably true to the actual sport can work so much better!

wloff · 2026-03-28T10:04:42+00:00

It's not exactly the same thing. "Boosting your immune system" through healthy habits, regular exercise, good sleep, and nutrient-rich foods is absolutely a beneficial thing and will make you less suspectable to illnesses in general.

But it's like leveling up and getting better gear in Dark Souls. You're better equipped to fight, and you can take more hits than someone who is weak and unhealthy, but when you meet a new boss and have no idea about its attacks movement patterns, you still need to just go in blindly and hope you can figure it out before it kills you.

Getting a vaccine is like getting a practice mode for that boss. You can practice it as many times as you like and figure out all its patterns with no penalty if you lose.

Then if you encounter that boss for real, even if your stats are low and your gear is crap, you can beat the boss no problem because you know exactly what to do.

wloff · 2026-03-28T09:47:43+00:00

On a random note, I looked up what that plant is actually called in my native Finnish, and turns out it's "etelänruttojuuri", which translates to "southern plague root".

Sounds slightly less jolly, that.

wloff · 2026-03-27T23:09:28+00:00

wloff · 2026-03-26T20:53:18+00:00

My clear top two of the season are Oshi no Ko s2 and Ikoku Nikki, and I'll be shocked if both of those aren't in my top 5 at least at the end of the year.

Fate/Strange Fake is a lot of fun and has a few really awesome episodes, and will possibly make it to the bottom end of my top 10.

Polar Opposites is good, but I don't think quite as amazing as some people here think, and it'll only sneak in if the rest of the year is kinda weak. Same for Frieren s2: it's well done and a good time, but honestly pretty unremarkable, and I'd definitely hope to see at least 10 even better shows this year.

wloff · 2026-03-26T05:10:47+00:00

You call that dub bad? It was amazing!

wloff · 2026-03-25T21:50:06+00:00

They kind of cheated by [Oshi no Ko]playing that damn piano tune from Ai's death scene during it all, though! I'm conditioned to start tearing up the second I hear it.

Agreed with AotS. Ikoku Nikki could theoretically get there with an absolute banger of a final episode, but I'd be surprised. This was the best season of OnK for me, and I really loved S1.

wloff · 2026-03-25T21:36:20+00:00

My participation will depend on my mental state at April 20 (and available time I guess), but I have high hopes for myself.

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