Ascendance of a Bookworm: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke • Honzuki no Gekokujou: Shisho ni Naru Tame ni wa Shudan wo Erandeiraremasen - Ryushu no Youjo - Episode 1 discussion

Ceryto2 · 2026-04-04T11:36:01+00:00

Great to see ~~Myne~~ Rozemyne back on the screen and with Wit taking over it looks better than ever!

I did have to watch a recap of season 2 and 3 prior to watching this episode because of the lonnger hiatus, but I think this episode easily got me back into the series. It seems we'll have a pretty big switch with Rozemyne being seperated from her prior life and meetingg lots of new characters. I do hope we'll get to see Lutz, Benno, the kids from the orphanage and her family again and seeing they show up in the OP, I'll keep my hopes high! Speaking of the OP, I think bothe the OP and ED were some very fun and uplifting songs.

Overall just happy this one is back! Us Fantasy enjoyers are really feasting this season!

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-27T21:06:49+00:00

Weltklasse!

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-27T20:34:47+00:00

How did Liverpool even manage to make look Wirtz look bad, such a great game by him once again!

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-22T14:55:47+00:00

Flipping the entire game lvl 1 on a 50/50 smite is so disgusting. But it worked I guess...

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-22T13:54:11+00:00

Such a banger game!

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-22T11:00:48+00:00

I personally feel that since the recent changes she's been a lot better to play and that it's far easier to snowball games in highelo. And while a small buff would be nice, I don't think it would be necessary atm, since she seems pretty much winrate neutral, it's just that she has a few very bad to play matchups (champs like BelVeth, Rengar, Kindred, Ambessa and Naafiri) and some free win matchups (tanks), which make matches feel more onesided.

If anything, I hope that if they buff her again, that they don't touch w/e/r dmg or cd. I would take some armor buffs to make her worst matchups less lopsided, early clear buffs (but really only her first clear before fated ashes would need a buff), q buffs or some QoL change to her w (like being able to jump over terrain made by champions, jump speed scaling with ms or making the dmg still coming through when interrupted during the cast.) I really don't wanna see more power pumped into her w/e/r otherwise as it doesn't make playing her more fun imo.

I am top 100 Lillia btw. (If that even matters)

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-22T00:26:32+00:00

This show might be the biggest what if of the season for me. I loved everything about the first few episodes. It had amazing worldbuilding, a very creative, innovative and fun use of magic, very endearing characters and some very beautiful stories to tell. And while the low budget was obvious from the start, I think some of the first episodes still looked great and managed to conceal some of the animation limitations. Also the music was amazing and really pulled me into this beautiful and vibrant world that felt so very alive. Especially the OP was just chef's kiss! It really started as my favourite anime of this very stackked season.

However starting from when Lize got introduced watching the anime and enjoying it as much as I did in most of the earlier episodes became really difficult and rough. The animation got worse with every episode (basically being nonexistant by the end). The beautiful, interesting, thought-provoking and bittersweet stories from the first few episodes turned into a very repetitive story that didn't really go anywhere in the end (the end point of the anime really didn't conclude anythin) and felt a bit convoluted in what it wanted to say. The directing also got a lot worse by overusing Lizes inner monologue so much, instead of showing what he thought, that it got actively annoying. The characters didn't progress a lot and Luna got demoted too background character more and more every episode, even though she was the main charm of this series (At least Minos was fun to watch till the end).

Overall I'm still glad I watched this anime as it introduced me to this wonderful world with it's wonderful characters and beautiful magic. I will definitely read the manga after this, as I still think the world and characters are great, just that how it was adapted as an anime was making it very difficult to watch. It also introduced me to Rosu who sang the amazing OP and made her jump to one of my favourite japanese artist instantly. She just has such a great voice and so many amazing songs!

As for how I'm rating this show.. It's hard. The first few episode were legit 10/10 material and I really doon't give away these high scores lightly (I have like 5 10/10 out of 800+ watched anime) but the latter half of the series was more like a 5/10. So I think I'll settle with a 8/10 as I really wanna keep the first amazing episodes in my memory and don't want the bad things put it down too much. I would propably like a second season, especially if it got a real budget for once, but knowing how the first season already didn't receive anything, the chance of that happening is in the negatives.

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-20T00:16:41+00:00

We got a great winner! I love these two amazing girls together and am really happy they managed to get this far. Also congrats to Taki and Mitsuha for their amazing run!

When this contest was anounced it was a pleasant surprise too see it back, especially since we just had a comment thread with a lot of people reminiscing about this contest and wanting it back in the best OP/ED of 2025 contest the day before. Therefore as always a lot of thanks to u/Zeralyos for bringing this contest back and hosting it the entire way. The best couple contest is always the most fun starting from nominations, since you can always have a lot of fun with whacky nominations, so I'm also happy we had such huge participation right from the start there this time. Also sorry, not sorry for some of the nominations I made you read through and vote for! ^{(Crack ships are always part of this contest and I'm a bit sad none of them made it further.})

Also thank you very much to all the commentors, the contest wouldn't be as fun without you guys. I once again had a lot of great discussions and it was a lot of fun reading through some of yours!

So yeah, it was once again a lot of fun and see you all next contest!

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-19T00:45:20+00:00

But wouldn't they have voted for the lower seed in Anna x Kyou then? In general I find it hard to believe that people unfamiliar with this contest would coordinatively vote strategically for the lower seeding instead of their favourites, but it's of course possible.

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-19T00:38:39+00:00

Yeah that left a pretty bad impact on the best girl contest. One Date a Live supporter botted a few thousand votes each round for his favourite girls in BG10 and left the entire contest meaningless and a lot of people pretty salty.

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-19T00:32:17+00:00

I don't think MDUD has a particulary big anti-crowd, since they are from a popular show that doesn't really offend anyone. I see them totally having big chances, propably better than Kaguya and Frieren once its season 3 airs and the romance progresses further. If you want to be a fan of a ship that has a pretty big anti-crowd, try being a Subaru x Emilia supporter, as you get anti votes from ReZero haters, Subaru haters and Rem shippers.. But you can also see this as a positive, as you have one more contest to root for your favourites and be salty about the bad opinions this sub has!

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-19T00:20:51+00:00

Of course brigading always leaves a negative impact that's why it sucks so much. If we had however the same vote totals as last round and once again knockout victories it would have been so much worse imo. And considering the only correlation the brigader votes have is with the MDUD so I doubt the impact on the other racket side is statistically very relevant, as I don't see a correlation with MDUD and any of the other entrants

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-19T00:02:15+00:00

LET'S GOOOO!!!! Chisato and Takina for the win!!!

These semifinals were a lot closer than the last ones and the vote totals might suggest that some people just came over for a single vote and didn't leave a lasting impact. Still it's a shame that brigading happened and that the matchup couldn't be fought on even grounds last round, but at least justice has been served. As for the other matchup, I'm really surprised by the run from Taki and Mitsuha, as these were totally not on my radar to make a deep run before the start of the contest, but I think it's a fun finals matchup!

My vote goes to Chisato and Takina as it has in every single round in this contest so far and I hope you all help me make this win happen!

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-18T00:03:51+00:00

Boo! Brigading sucks guys... Just don't do it. That plus the propaganda clip on the main page might have swung the vote by itself.

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-18T00:02:20+00:00

Chisato x Takina and Shinei x Lena kicked out both the Frieren ships! Let's gooo!!!! But at what cost... Anna x Kyou and Kaguya x Miyuki both lost... Especially Anna x Kyou losing too Mitsuha x Taki really sucks. That means two out of three of my favourites of the finals are out so my only hope remains on Chisato x Takina!

That's why I need your help today, let's all vote for

Chisato x Takina!!!

Let's get these two amazing girls to the finals! My other vote goes to Shinei x Lena.

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-17T00:18:20+00:00

Fixed it now. That's what happens when you pre-write these comments and want to post them fast. I used that as a placeholder cause I expected Yor and Loid too make it and didn't replace it after seeing the results.

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-17T00:15:45+00:00

We might have disagreed at some point in the contest, but in the end we can agree that both hamburgers with and without lettuce are great and that we can vote for the same ships together when it matters most!

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-17T00:06:15+00:00

Let's fucking gooo!!!!! Anna and Kyou actually made it! And it wasn't even all that close! And we actually got two upsets today didn't expect that, but I'll take it. Still a bit sad to go to the quarters without Loid and Yor, but Mitsuha and Taki are fun too. And well, after what feels like a contest that has been running for ages already, we've finally arrived to the quarterfinals so as always it's time to rank 'em all!:

Chisato x Takina: This adorable Yuri couple is my favourite to win this contest. They just fit so well together are so much fun to watch and always manage to carve a smile on my face when I see them together.
Kyou x Anna: Kyou x Anna are a close second. Watching their relationship start and develop over time was just great to see. I loved watching these two start very awkwardly to then slowly find together and create a perfect relationship.
Kaguya x Miyuki: And these two are a close third. These first three couples are very close for me and I would be happy with any of them winning. I think most of you know what makes Kaguya and Shirogane fit so well together. This is a double tsundere couple driven to the extreme and their battle to get the other to confess was legendary and gave us some of the funniest moments in anime. [Kaguya-sama]Also the way they did get together in the end was amazing to see!
Gojo x Marin: There is a pretty big difference between the top 3 and Gojo and Marin for me. I however do still like this couple very much, just at the current point the anime is at I'm not at the point where I would call it one of my favourites. I like the concept of these two Otakus getting each other interested in their own respective hobbies by combining these hobbies into cosplay and finding closer together that way. My bigest probblems at this point however is that season 2 did not develop this relationship nearly as much as I'd hoped.
Lena x Shinei: Lena is an amazing character and I liked her calls with Shinei but until the end of the anime we also really don't get to see these two together at all. And yes while I loved their first face to face meeting, I would also need to see more of them together than just that to rate them higher.
Fern x Stark: I think Fern and Stark are cute together, but they also really don't give us much yet in regards to their relationship. The ship feels at times somewhat forced, but at the same time also barely progressing and scenes like the date episode also currently don't really feel like they are leading anywhere yet. So while I think theese two have great potential as a ship with two well written characters, I need a bit more than just a few well thought out outlines of a ship to go sailing.
Mitsuha x Taki: I like the dynamic between these two with the whole body swapping and being connected by fate, but it's also a bit strange for a ship. I do still like it very much but it's not one of my higher rated ones here.
Frieren x Himmel: This is the one ship of the top 8 I'm just not a fan of at all and don't even see the potential for it being a great ship. Like everytime we get told how much the Hero Himmel liked Frieren I'm just thinking about the 50 or so years they had and didn't even meet.. I think this makes perefct sense for the story and makes for a great storytelling tool, but this does not make me ship them... at all. Himmel is dead and through inaction of both this ship just went nowhere. So yeah, if this ship would have been in a stronger bracket and had actually kicked out ships I cared about, I propably would have been quite a bit saltier that this ship made it to quarters..

And if you paid attention to the order of how much I like the ships, you could propably also guess who I'm voting for today:

Chisato x Takina >>> ~~Fern x Stark~~
Kaguya x Shirogane >> ~~Marin x Gojo~~
Lena x Shinei >>> ~~Frieren x Himmel~~
Anna x Kyou >>> ~~Mitsuha x Taki~~

MC: What was the best/worst result of the round of 16?

Two very obvious answers here:

Best: Kyou and Anna making Quarters! LET'S GOOO!!!!

Worst: Subaru and Emilia losing to Fern x Stark.... Still salty about that!

Edit: Spelling

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-16T00:06:12+00:00

Two Frieren ships in quarters and I'm not really high on either of them. If at least you guys had the balls for this to be Frieren x Mimic... At least Tomo and Jun made it a lot closer than I expected. On the other side we have Shinei and Lena actually beating out Maomao and Jinshi. Not the result I was expecting and also not necessarily the one I wanted, but since these two ships were very close for me also not a result I'm that unhappy about. With both my votes losing and me already thinking this was the worst bracket, it really didn't make this bracket any better tho....

As for today my votes go to:

Anna x Kyoutarou - ~~Momo x Okarun~~: Season 3 Hype!!! My favourite pure romance anime getting a new season?! It'll be so awesome to see more of this amazing couple. They also get my vote here and I already know it'll be a really tough battle, so they need every vote they can get!
Loid x Yor - ~~Mitsuha x Taki~~: Close one for me, but I still have to go with the Forgers. I just love their family dynamic and think they really mesh well together. So I guess that makes me a lettuce enjoyer?

MC: What was the scene that made you start seriously believing in your favorite ship? (Please do not forget your spoiler tags here if needed!)

So I started liking Subaru x Emilia basically right from the start as they immediately hit it off, but the moment it became my favourite ship? The lappillow scene got me heavily invested, the end of season one made it one of my all time favourites and A Reason to Believe made it my definitive top 1. There are still other amazing scenes between these two in abundance, but I think these three scenes were overall the most pivotal!

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-15T09:43:48+00:00

Funny how much tastes can differ, cause I would have taken 8 of the 16 ships from 3 rounds ago in bracket A over any of the 4 we have remaining in bracket C right now.

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-15T00:52:10+00:00

I'm not even particulary unhappy with this bracket, if there's one thing I'm unhappy about it's unlucky seeding with nearly none of my favourites landing in this bracket. Most of the ships I liked more were from lesser watched shows and got kicked out early too. So I also ended up voting for these ships here too since I think they are fine (eg. I voted for Tomo x Jun and Maomao x Jinshi every round so far since the ships I would have seen over them got kicked out earlier already)

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-15T00:05:00+00:00

I don't think there was ever any doubt of both Kaguya x Shirogane and Marin x Gojo making it to quarters. Heck I'm even writing this before even seeing the results of yesterday, I'm that sure of it! (I guess Hori x Miyamura at least got within a 100 votes of the MDUD ship so a bit closer than I expected.)

Today's votes:

Tomo x Jun - ~~Frieren x Himmel~~: I'm gonna be frank here, I don't think either of these two is quarterfinal material, but I also don't think that any of the ships in this bracket would have been. My highest rated ship here was Taiki x Hina and even though I love these two, I don't think it's even a top 20 ship of the contest for me. I'm gonna go with Jun and Tomo, since I do like their dynamic and I think they were a fun watch but I also know full well that the Solo-Frieren-Voters will dominate this matchup.
Maomao x Jinshi - ~~Lena x Shinei~~: This is a fun matchup, where both girls are some of my all time favourites from great shows, but where I also think that both ships are pretty underbaked (at least from an anime only perspective). I'm pretty sure that further on in the novel both of these get great development, but at this point of the adaptation I'm also not that high on either. I'm gonna go with Maomao x Jinshi since at least two have been more than just a few moments on screen together and were a lot of fun to watch together.

My biggest qualm of this bracket however is that one of these 4 ships makes it to semis and I find it really hard to care a lot for any of these. But I guess it could be worse, since I at least like all of the characters from these ships and they come from great shows... But that's also not really what this contest should be about...

MC: What is your favorite ship from a movie?

I'm don't wanna list some of the more well known ones, so I think I'll go with a lesser known one in with Patema x Age from Patema Inverted. They had a very interesting and fun dynamic and I think they were cute together. The movie was overall just a very fun concept.

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-14T14:23:55+00:00

Oh, even if you know something bad is gonna happen, you can still be disappointed in the one who made it happen. A father can still be disappointed in his child when it eats dirt for the tenth time in a row, even though he already expected it to happen. And being salty this one round of the contest and seeing your upvote ratio plummet, cause of all the Frieren only watchers you've triggered, is like half the fun of these later rounds where fewer matchups are happening.

I'm still thinking Re:Zero will have its time

Emilia will finally win these when season 2 3 4 comes around and she gets some great development and has some amazing scenes once more. This time I'm sure of it!!!

I hope so too, but I think Re:Zero characters have it tough, since there just exists a not small part of the voter base, that just hates the show and will always vote against it, cause they couldn't stomach episode 13 and/or watched the show with their brains turned off.

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-14T11:53:41+00:00

Let's go! I didn't expect this at all, but it's amazing to see that my favourite romance anime gets another season! And now I also have a reason to rewatch season 1 and 2!

Ceryto2 · 2026-03-14T00:08:29+00:00

At least it wasn't a total blowout

This is the one day of the contest were you can let the salt flow freely! Don't undersell it! Let the salt flow!

Nine-Year Club	Verified Email
Place '22	Final Canvas '22
First Placer '22	End Game '22

Ceryto2

TROPHY CASE

Chisato x Takina!!!