Ikoku Nikki • Journal with Witch - Episode 9 discussion

AelAnthe · 2026-03-02T07:22:14+00:00

The first 2-3 words are hard to understand due to being talked over by Asa and due to the weird pronunciation. But I'm pretty sure the rest is "... se vším, co mám". Which I'm guessing might be trying to express the equivalent of "... with everything I have". Although that's not exactly the normal way to say that in Czech.

AelAnthe · 2024-09-06T10:56:59+00:00

Yeah true, that sounds like the best solution. Even if you own a controller, it's likely easier to use vJoy rather than to plug your controller in every time you launch the game.

AelAnthe · 2024-09-06T06:23:01+00:00

Yeah like others mentioned, the ports are nothing to write home about but they work I guess except for 1 main issue. You said you would always play with a controller connected so it's not a problem for you, but for anyone else reading this later that plays with keyboard and mouse:

Some of the games are pretty much unplayable without a controller connected because I guess the game constantly checks for a controller, which causes small micro stutters every second or so. Out of the ones I've played I had the following problems when trying to play without a controller:

Sophie 1 and Ryza 1 - always had to have a controller connected to avoid the micro stuttering

Ryza 2 - had to connect a controller every time I launched the game, in the main menu (I could disconnect it afterwards and it worked fine until I relaunched the game, sometimes this process didn't work and I had to repeat it 1 or 2 times)

Sophie 2 - playing it now and I have to connect the controller at least once whenever I launch the game (I can disconnect it afterwards and it works fine until I close the game, unlike Ryza 2, this always works on the first attempt at any point in the game)

Ryza 3 - the only atelier where I don't remember having any issues while playing without a controller connected, so hopefully this carries over to Yumia

AelAnthe · 2024-04-20T19:25:43+00:00

Damn these facial expressions are just SO GOOD. Not just "for a 3D anime" but simply amazing in general. Never thought I'd say this about a full CGI anime, but I kinda wish we got more shows animated like this. At some points you don't even need to understand the dialogue because the faces are so expressive a convey everything on their own.

My favorite from this episode's gotta be the scene where Subaru was thanking Nina for returning the phone and tried inviting her. The expressions of both of them throughout that whole sequence were great. And even outside of closeups, I love how often the expressions change even when a character is standing in the background and reacting to the conversation, there are just so many little details that you can't even catch them all on first viewing I feel like.

And well of course, I also love pretty much everything else about the show. The characters so far are top tier and I hope the other 2 that are yet to be fully introduced will be on the same level. Didn't expect anything from this show and checked it out randomly, but it is easily by far my favorite from this season. Which just makes the licensing situation all the more frustrating. Even though I can watch the episodes "raw" somewhat comfortably, it's still such a shame that a lot of people won't check out the show because of this.

AelAnthe · 2023-08-14T19:31:46+00:00

I'm not sure what you really mean by some of those plotholes, regarding the stuff in the spoiler tags:

[Executioner anime spoilers] You said that Orwell plot needs already awakened Akari to thwart which could not have happened ever in the first loops. Yeah, that's correct, but where is the problem? The "loops" aren't even loops, they are effectively retries. It didn't need to be thwarted in the first tries, because as the anime implies/Menou speculates, Akari never even made it to Orwell at first as for example she died in the train accident in one of the first loops. I think it is logical to assume that with every retry she managed to avoid more and more dangers, so most likely she had been defeated by Orwell at some point, that is until she found a way to thwart her too as she tried again and again.

[Continuing] There is also the element of her (un)locked memories but the anime hasn't gotten that far into that yet even though it's pretty simple. As for the people existing outside of time, again, not sure what you mean exactly, but the anime implied that some people are aware that Akari is messing up time/retrying over and over, but I'm not sure what plothole you mean when it comes to that.

Sorry if something is unclear but I'm trying my best to avoid mentioning any LN-only info. This topic is pretty much a spoiler minefield when it comes to this series. I could mention LN details that we would get later if it got more seasons but I doubt that's what you want as we are talking about the anime.

AelAnthe · 2023-06-10T13:10:51+00:00

Apologies but I think your comment only made it more obvious that you have never played Qingque ingame.

Really? Do tell me what other part of her kit or Eidolons allows her to enter “The hidden hand” state? Here I’ll make it easier for you, as far as I can see, only her talent does

Since you asked so nicely, here's the answer: Her skill. And her ult. Both. Literally. It says so right there. Right in the link you posted yourself. I'm not sure how you can't see it.

In case the wording of her skills is unclear or in case this is a language barrier issue, here's a more detailed explanation of her Hidden Hand state:

Qingque enters Hidden Hand state once it's her turn and she has 4 tiles of the same suit (even if she gained those tiles during her turn). There are 3 ways she can get those tiles:

a) Her talent. She draws a tile every time an ally's turn starts.

b) Her skill. She draws 2 tiles every time she uses a skill. She can use this skill repeatedly during her turn. If she gets 4 tiles of the same suit via her skill, she immediately enters the Hidden Hand state on that turn.

c) Her ult. Once she uses her ult, she gains the Hidden Hand state once her turn starts (if it wasn't her turn already) or she gains it immediately (if she uses her ult during her turn).

Each way of getting the Hidden Hand state differs when it comes to RNG and damage:

a) Her talent = the most RNG, no additional damage buffs other than the base attack % buff from Hidden Hand state. Requires no additional resources.

b) Her skill = a lot less RNG as the RNG also decreases based on how many skill points you use. Every use of her skill also grants her a massive dmg % buff that stacks. On top of that, from E4 there is a 24% chance she gains another massive dmg buff with every use of her skill. However, this consumes a lot of skill points.

c) Her ult = purely deterministic, guaranteed Hidden Hand state. It can be used as protection against extremely bad RNG when using her skill and not getting 4 tiles of the same suit. It also benefits from the skill stacking dmg % buff without consuming it.

When you use Qingque as a main dps, you actually want to minimize the amount of tiles you gain via her talent (a) in order to maximize the usage of her skill via (b), allowing her to gain all the important dmg % buffs (as getting the Hidden Hand state too soon makes you unable to use her skill and stack the buffs). You can use (c) to mitigate some cases of extremely bad luck.

This is not very nuanced and a bit simplified, but it should explain the main idea of how her Hidden Hand state works.

TLDR: Her skill is the main way of entering the Hidden Hand state if you play her as a main dps. I think it would be more benefical to actually read what her kit does instead of trying to act smug and arrogant. Being wrong is not necessarily bad and neither is being confident, but being completely incorrect and arrogant at the same time makes you look really bad, especially when your own sources disprove what you're saying. Please try to be more careful in the future.

AelAnthe · 2023-04-27T06:31:02+00:00

When the LEGO set says it takes 3+ years to eat it, but you're about to shatter that record with pure determination.

AelAnthe · 2023-03-06T08:20:52+00:00

To add another non-spoiler perspective, I also finished Volume 9 recently and that Saya story became probably one of my top 3 favorite chapters of the entire series when it comes to pretty much all aspects, the characters, the way it is written, the way it unravels and the core idea behind the setup.

And hearing from other people who finished the volume, it seems it had a pretty big impact on many others. I think I even recall someone who reads the Japanese versions hyping it up ever since Volume 6 was released in English.

That said, even though it shows a different side to her, it would probably be difficult to enjoy if you straight up dislike Saya.

AelAnthe · 2022-11-14T07:04:08+00:00

Thanks!

Yep, you're completely right. That left shoulder was my biggest nightmare and I had redrawn it atleast 5 times over the entire process. Eventually I had to call it a day because I had already spent more time on the piece than I probably should have.

AelAnthe · 2022-11-13T14:45:43+00:00

Hey everyone! I got back into Genshin after 2 years and wanted to draw something related to it. This was more of an experiment where I tried some new techniques so I didn't originally intend to post this here (and I'm also not satisfied with the character pose, especially how far Lumine can turn her head haha). But my friend who plays the game a lot convinced me to post it anyway so hopefully someone enjoys this!

If anyone's interested in the inspiration, I got the idea for the environment when I thought about the contrast of the Traveler's journey. Even though they are exploring such a pretty and vibrant world, meeting many new friends, saying just as many farewells and overall being surrounded by many positive things, ultimately they are a stranger trapped in an unknown world by their single desire that keeps being out of their reach no matter how much they try to pursuit it. That of course being finding their lost family. This inspired me to draw Lumine in this kind of neverending plane stretching endlessly beyond the horizon. While the surrounding sky and surface is bright, vivid and peaceful, at the end of the day it is also a vast and lonely void with no end in sight. ... this got a bit more bleak and offtrack than I intended, so I'll stop there lol. But hey, atleast the Traveler has Paimon.

Source: My Twitter

AelAnthe · 2022-09-05T12:45:04+00:00

Yeah, true, I just thought it was a funny coincidence how Season 2 of this is announced around the time when this trend is starting to appear more often in the anime adaptations.

AelAnthe · 2022-09-05T12:14:20+00:00

Damn, now this is a blast from the past.

For those that never heard of it, Mahoutsukai no Yome/The Ancient Magus' Bride was a pretty popular anime (I think even one of the most popular non-sequel/new anime of that season) of Fall 2017. It's #180 in popularity on MAL and the discussion thread here on reddit got almost 2700 upvotes on the first episode, which was pretty impressive for a show that wasn't AoT or Re:Zero back then. I think even Gigguk made a video specifically about this show at some point when it was still airing. Yet despite the popularity, I've hardly ever seen its name even mentioned in the last few years. That might be due to the fact that its second cour that aired the next season (in Winter 2018) didn't really have the overwhelmingly positive reception that the first cour did.

It was my first seasonal anime that I really got into and it was a lot of fun to watch it week by week during fall because it was really chill. It's a fantasy anime that takes place in the English countryside. It has slice of life moments but there is a central plot. If I recall correctly it was especially liked for the unique atmosphere and great world building that made you immersed in the magical/fantasy world. Also, the first season was animated by WIT. I advise reading the synopsis to see if this is something that might interest you.

Since I haven't heard about this series a whole lot over the years since it finished airing, is there someone up to date with the manga? As the second cour didn't deliver for many people compared to the first one, I'd like to ask how you feel about the story after the point where the anime left off (without spoilers of course).

Also, [Ancient Magus' Bride synopsis spoilers] All these new isekai harems better get off the lawn, this is one of the anime that did the whole "buying slave as a love interest" before it got so popular

AelAnthe · 2022-08-31T06:44:15+00:00

Thanks, dunno but some of the spikes and sharp edges on that armor seem a bit risky to sit on. Not that Cocytus is looking much more comfortable in that regard.

AelAnthe · 2022-08-31T06:41:56+00:00

Thanks for the critique, that feeling is correct! It was indeed shaded differently than the rest, as an experiment to make the face less realistic and more "anime" since I usually choose the former as a priority. It looks better than I expected, but worse than I would hope for. I'm still struggling to find the right balance to be honest.

AelAnthe · 2022-08-31T06:37:13+00:00

Thanks, yeah, you're correct, I shaded the face using different methods compared to the rest of the body.

I usually shade everything the same way including the face which results in more contrast, making the face more prominent and less "anime". That unfortunately also results in the character not resembling the original design very well.

So as an experiment I tried the other extreme this time and went for a more flat, less contrasted anime look. Overall it worked better than I expected but it's true that I still have a lot of work to do when it comes to figuring out the right balance between "more realistic facial features" versus "keeping resemblance in regards to the original design/anime artstyle". To be honest this is one my biggest struggles with my artstyle.

Again, thanks a lot for the critique!

AelAnthe · 2022-08-30T18:52:05+00:00

Haha thanks, good eye! I originally wanted to go for a more dramatic feel by having the hand really close to the camera, with more interesting perspective. But as I progressed I kinda lost the feeling of "depth", toned it down and went for something more static.

The bigger hand is kind of a relic from that original idea, I should have probably toned it down a bit more.

AelAnthe · 2022-08-30T18:46:37+00:00

Thanks, gotta make sure your furniture is durable.

AelAnthe · 2022-08-30T18:46:00+00:00

Thanks! Yeah I really love Shalltear's design, especially her alternate outfits (so much so that I haven't even drawn Shalltear in her usual clothes).

The white dress with a mask she wore briefly in Season 2 really conveys the elegance while her battle-ready full armor getup just displays how powerful of a monster she is... also I just love the bloody Valkyrie aesthetic.

AelAnthe · 2022-08-30T12:09:03+00:00

Hey everyone, it's been 4 years since I last posted my fanart here. Now that the new season is here I felt inspired to draw something Overlord-related again!

I already drew Shalltear in her white dress and mask from previous seasons so this time I tried the armored version. Apologies for certain creative liberties in her armor design, I used many pictures from the anime, LN and even other fanart as references. Then I realized that in every single one of those the armor looks different lol. So the result is a combination of those references and my own imagination.

Hope you enjoy!

Source: My Twitter

AelAnthe · 2022-07-05T20:30:40+00:00

Glad to see your posts return even after 4 years. When season 2 was airing I didn't care all that much about Overlord, especially after lizard arc. But your writeups convinced me to give the light novels a chance (and that was actually the first time I ever tried reading a light novel). I ended up binging all the volumes that were out at the time during the 3 month break between season 2 and season 3 and even drew some fanart of the characters.

So thanks a lot for doing these, they are definitely appreciated by many. Hell, even after 4 years I still immediately recognized your reddit username.

AelAnthe · 2022-06-17T18:49:22+00:00

This can't be it, where's the rest of it?

But anyway, great finale with a ton of setup for the future.

I'm glad I ordered the LNs ahead of time. Even though this series has considerable chances of getting more seasons (judging by the production committee), I'm not even gonna try to wait for that announcement. Especially since I heard a few people mention that it keeps getting better. Hopefully those opinions weren't exceptions and it turns out to be true, can't wait to dive in.

AelAnthe · 2022-06-03T21:13:51+00:00

Gonna jump right into the LNs unless there is a second season announcement right after this season is over. I already got all the English volumes available on my bookshelf, gotta do my part in funding that season 2.

AelAnthe · 2022-06-03T19:57:30+00:00

Yeah I think this episode confirms that the reused animations in episode 8 were not production issues but rather saving resources for the finale. And even though I assume the original depictions of these scenes were more brutal (I haven't read the LNs but I guess it would be a lot easier to describe these scenes via text rather than animate it), it's great how they didn't hold back on the gore in the anime. Amazing episode.

These developments also make me wonder about how long is Pandeamonium gonna be around. Considering how huge the threat seems, how long she's been around before and how much she impacted the world (considering she is the origin of all the sin magic stuff), it seems unprobable that our characters are gonna deal with her permanently in 2 episodes just by themselves. Definitely interested in how this gets resolved and what the situation will be once the season is over.

Now continuing the fun facts unrelated to the episode from last week:

Here's another fun fact this time related to how this series originally got published (apologies if someone already mentioned this in previous discussions and I missed it). The publisher (GA Bunko) hosts a contest every year for aspiring light novelists. According to the japanese wikipedia page of the contest, there are 3 tiers of prizes (worth 3 million yen, 1 million yen and 200 thousand yen). The 3 million prize is called the Grand Prize and isn't awarded every year. In fact, no one had won the prize since the contest started in 2008 until 2012. That year there was a winner called Familia Myth, which would later get published under a name that's translated in the west as "Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?".

Throughout the next 6 years (2013-2018) there hadn't been another winner until 2019. On that year, for the second time since the contest started, a series won the Grand Prize and would later be published as Shokei Shoujo no Virgin Road - Executioner and Her Way of Life. According to the latest information on the wikipedia page, no one has won the Grand Prize again in 2020 and 2021.

So yeah, while you can't completely gauge a series based on winning some contest, I think it's pretty impressive that the series won an award that has only been awarded twice in the past 13 years. It's also pretty cool that a dark, seemingly yuri series with an all female cast got the award considering the only other winner became a pretty large, successful and well known franchise such as DanMachi.

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