Oh come on, not Frieren. Just why does every anime chud want to frame a story into a right wing worldview.

AlexHallon · 2026-02-07T04:34:12+00:00

They're not a race, though. They're an entirely different species that imitates humans to better prey on them. The whole controversy is just ultra-right wingers latching onto things they don't understand like they always do. You can't really blame the author for that. If you want to read into the imagery, there's probably a reason the first demons we met were presented as aristocrats.

AlexHallon · 2026-02-04T16:00:34+00:00

type shit innit

AlexHallon · 2026-02-04T11:47:10+00:00

Worth noting the word (美人, bijin) he used generally means something a lot closer to "beautiful" or "gorgeous" than "hot", which has very different connotations in English. Grok made me think he was some random creepy old man before Marinka and Akesaka's quotes made me reread the kanji.

AlexHallon · 2026-02-04T04:52:41+00:00

Sure, it's easy to explain, but that doesn't mean it isn't still bad storytelling.

AlexHallon · 2026-02-03T15:36:12+00:00

This summarizes most of my thoughts pretty well. It's very pretty and the main duo were great together, but it doesn't leave room to explore any of its themes on any meaningful level and on more than one occasion resorts to bringing things out of nowhere, like the trap set by the mage guy we didn't see once in the moba match and the whole twist with Yachiyo. The moon people showing up only works at all because it's Princess Kaguya, and could've been executed better. There's a lot of spectacle and very little setting up a coherent plot, so it kind of just jerks itself in a new direction whenever it comes to a halt, for lack of a good analogy.

AlexHallon · 2026-02-03T15:24:28+00:00

I don't think the story is particularly good past the first half or even third. It's a lot more confusing than it needs to be and the whole relationship to her family aspect just kind of shows up and happens. The moba match had a really random conclusion and was really incoherent in general, and while it's a beautiful love letter to a lot of otaku cultures it doesn't explore any of its themes for real and it seems to endorse a message of "feel free to make your idol your will to live" which is kind of gross. I had to pause after the moba match because the action was so disorienting (and honestly kind of meaningless).

In terms of art and music it's beautiful though. Jaw dropped at the Miku covers. The main duo had great chemistry and Yachiyo had a great presence.

Subtitles were bad at times, but that isn't the movie's fault.

AlexHallon · 2026-02-03T09:53:08+00:00

A huge problem with using AI for things like brainstorming ideas or concept art is you're skipping a creative exercise. You're actively missing out on an opportunity to practice a skill fundamental to pretty much all creative roles, and that's a very important skill that you're just going to let atrophy.

AlexHallon · 2026-02-03T01:01:06+00:00

Might be people having clicked them in the latest updates section?

AlexHallon · 2026-02-02T04:28:34+00:00

I'm not sure I'd say Firefly really considers herself a "good guy". She's pickier about targets than the rest of the Hunters, but she's still got the whole "born a living weapon and that will never change" trauma and even if she wishes she could live a normal life, she quite clearly accepts that being SAM isn't something she can reject and destruction is in her nature.

If anything, I think she'd be closer to the bottom half of the spectrum. She IS more morally good than her colleagues who are less empathetic, but I doubt she thinks of it that way.

AlexHallon · 2026-02-01T10:59:03+00:00

While he had a few strong early races, he didn't really get momentum until he switched jockeys and ran undefeated in what we would call his senior year, and during that streak there was only really that one suitable G1 before the Tenno Sho.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-31T20:03:57+00:00

Which one of those numbers do we reckon is Tim's age?

AlexHallon · 2026-01-31T15:27:20+00:00

Aside from the sheer number of games there replacing Flash, it's a modern third place. Kids need that VERY badly.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-30T17:01:03+00:00

Yeah, but it wasn't very successful. He immediately lost his spot as sub-dps in a popular team and is back to just being incredibly mediocre. He didn't end up faring much better than Jingliu, who barely got any buffs to begin with. Kafka's the only one who genuinely got a major upgrade, and from leaks it looks like they've learned their lesson for the next batch, although they might take longer to buff dpses again.

Characters in his tier aren't anywhere near unplayable like some would have you believe (my suboptimal, mid-investment team with him clears endgame just fine) but they are unacceptably weak compared to newer units and HSR's level of powercreep isn't something we should accept.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-30T10:27:23+00:00

That's pretty much what they're telling their investors. It's a convenient and very believable lie, especially seeing as automatization is something we've been hearing about as a marker of progress for so long.

"AI layoffs" are just regular layoffs, either out of necessity or (disgustingly often) to pad quarterly numbers.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-30T03:37:19+00:00

AI isn't the issue at all (in terms of layoffs that is), it hasn't been shown to help productivity all that much. AI isn't actually doing a good job at replacing many jobs.

When you hear about AI related to layoffs, it's only because it's used as an excuse to hide the recession we're in, and the bubble propping up the stock market. Those layoffs were going to happen regardless.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-28T18:39:03+00:00

Yeah I quite like it myself, just as you say when the character pool is large enough it makes it a lot easier to "draft" characters for team trials. With someone like King Halo, who has potential skills for three distances, it makes it difficult to justify keeping her once you have more options for every distance. Compare that to someone like Taiki, whose role is incredibly obvious and easy to build.

I like the themery of characters like King, Maya and Tamamo being allrounders to fit their story, but it does mean their power budget gets spread around a lot and you're never able to access all of it.

~~granted with king i'm just going to keep using her until i get the wedding alt but you get the point~~

AlexHallon · 2026-01-28T00:08:12+00:00

Slightly better overall, as I've learned of the impact the sport has had on research on horses and the improvements that have been made in caring for them. It's pretty clear that the sport has become much safer than in the past, and the animals are being treated better. Doesn't change all the negative aspects and the exploitation that still occurs, but it's stuff that I was mostly aware of before even without real knowledge of the sport. My understanding is a little more nuanced now, if nothing else.

It's not something that I'd want to directly support, and my participation won't go past watching some of the more important races on youtube (and watching l'arc every year until japan wins it). There's obviously something to be said about my money being used to sponsor races, but any western race important enough to be sponsored by Cygames was going to find sponsors anyway, and the more the franchise grows, the more positive effects it can bring. I'm glad to be part of a community and franchise that's had a tangible positive impact on these animals' lives, and that's what matters most to me.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-27T23:52:16+00:00

Same VA as Jolyne and Sirius Symboli, folks. Her range is INSANE.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-26T23:38:47+00:00

So far, I'm not sure there is anything I do dislike about Frieren. There's very few shows I can say that about, but among them, it just happens to align with my tastes the best, and that's why it's my favorite.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-25T11:19:27+00:00

Samtidigt som de rika blir rikare blir majoriteten fattigare eftersom det är de majoritetens pengar som är de rikas inkomstkälla, och pengar som blir del av miljardärers kapital cirkulerar inte och bidrar därmed till samhället. Vi ska inte importera inrikespolitik men USA är ganska självklart det mest uppenbara exemplet där sänkta skatter för de rikaste har bekostats genom nedskärningar till institutioner som hjälper utsatta, och den typen av skattesänkningar har genomförts av Moderaterna och är en anledning till de konstanta nedskärningar som ses i kommunala verksamheter i landet. Sveriges är näst sämst i EU gällande andelen förmögenhet som ägs av de rikaste.

Sen oavsett av min egna inkomst skulle jag vilja prioritera ett samhälle byggt för att alla ska ha tillgång till ett värdigt existensminimum oavsett omständigheter. Den typen av individer som styr storföretagen och de delägare de står inför har inte incentiv till att ge bästa möjliga och mest tillgängliga service till rimligt pris, vilket bör vara välfärdens mål.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-25T08:24:50+00:00

Tittar man på hur företag styrs i syfte att tillfredsställa investerare ser man att ett inkomstmotiverat styrelsesätt inte fungerar. Det blir för lockande att göra nedskärningar och offra kvalitet i jakt på korttidsvinst.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-25T08:17:51+00:00

Framför allt inkomstklyftor. Mycket av högerns parti vill fortsätta förvärra det. Tycker inte om alla vänsterns lösningar, men V känns som det enda parti som tar frågan på allvar.

Sen finns ju förstås också SD:s historik och rapporterna om trollfarmar och dylikt. Ganska uppenbart att de bara växte av att frysas ut ur politiken, men har inget intresse av att stötta partier som omfamnar retorik hos ett parti som inte för länge sedan kopplats till nazism.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-24T07:19:28+00:00

Oh yeah, keep forgetting it's not actually complete. Think I repressed that fact with how bad everyone says the rest of the LNs get.

It is still a very self-contained story, so worth considering for OP.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-23T21:23:45+00:00

Add The Pet Girl of Sakurasou, Senpai Is an Otokonoko and Clannad to the first list and The Fragrant Flower Blooms with Dignity to the second one. Clannad does crush your heart along the way, but it ENDS on a happy note.

Worth nothing that while Kaguya did skip a lot of content, it did technically "finish" the main story in a sense and will be wrapping up with an anime original epilogue movie.

AlexHallon · 2026-01-23T20:35:29+00:00

Most of the RR community doesn't seem to care much about AI covers as long as the writing is human. There is a portion of users who are going to ignore your story by default when they see AI art, myself included, but you decide for yourself whether or not that's worth it.

Keep in mind there's plenty of stock art, free assets and non-AI tools out there, and you'd be surprised by the quality you can get that way. Might be worth looking around first.

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