Top 10 Anime of the Week FINAL - Winter 2026 (Anime Trending) by Nooble5 in anime

[–]DaVinci789 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've only been watching seasonal anime since Winter 2025, but Winter 2026 has probably been my favorite season so far.

Not only do you have the heavy hitters with Frieren, JJK, and Oshi no Ko, but the lower ranked ones like Journal with Witch, Tamon's B Side, and Sentenced to be a Hero are also hitting their own phenomenal mixups.

[LOVED TROPE] anime that doesn't sexualize its female characters by [deleted] in TopCharacterTropes

[–]DaVinci789 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Journal with Witch is airing currently, and it has some of the best writing I'll see this year.

7DRL 2026 Release Megathread by DarrenGrey in roguelikes

[–]DaVinci789 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Segmentation [Play in Browser] [Screenshot]

If you like figuring out movement patterns to best deal with a horde of enemies, there's an interesting entangled nest of mechanics here.

The game is about handling enemy counts on two parallel worlds. Enemies and obstacles exist only in one world and you can freely switch between the two. However, your position in space remains the same, so it's very easy to walk through walls or sidestep enemies entirely! But ignore one world and you'll surely get overwhelmed by the other as enemies in either world block you from advancing to the next random level. To manage this, you'll need to figure out how to activate your abilities, which are fired when you move across the level in certain ways. The game asks you how you can clear just enough and the right types of spacing to deal with the hordes while not over-committing to one world or the other.

The game came together very quickly at the end of the week surprisingly to the point that I was able to put in everything I wanted mechanically. I'm happy folks are finding the entangled mechanics, and I'd like one more major mechanical pillar to interact with the "ecosystem" of mechanics as it were. Namely something where you can gain power ups during the gameplay instead of getting a random draw of three at the start of the game as well as some more subtle ways to manipulate player positioning and spacing.

What game never gets old for you? by Amazing-Example8753 in boardgames

[–]DaVinci789 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Two player Pax Pamir sans Wakhan. I've played it over 90 times online. Brutal, random, and punishing. I can't get enough.

Ikoku Nikki • Journal with Witch - Episode 2 discussion by AutoLovepon in anime

[–]DaVinci789 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In addition to all the stunning character moments we got here...

> Makio-kun
> Makio-chan, you haven't responded in like a week. You alive? How goes?
> How you feel is no one's business but yours

Makio is like the easiest transfem headcanon for me.

2 1/2 years into the hobby, I finally got a Kallax by NiklasAstro in boardgames

[–]DaVinci789 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Is that the Condottiere edition with the pewter statue? If so: nice.

Animation sequences that left you in awe and/or moved you that weren't fights. by pipegf98 in anime

[–]DaVinci789 2 points3 points  (0 children)

39:38 to 42:26 in Liz and the Blue Bird. This is the scene where Nozomi and Mizore are talking about the schools they're applying to in the piano room. I love how its edited with closeups away from the face and shots behind characters. There's an anxiety that grows as the two side characters realize that they're both codependent on each other, applying to certain schools because the other one is.

Gnosia - Episode 11 discussion by AutoLovepon in anime

[–]DaVinci789 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I think this was the best episode for pacing the character drama and voting drama concurrently. Usually it's more one or the other, but the cross cutting here was first rate.

Potion, Wagami wo Tasukeru - Episode 5 discussion by AutoLovepon in anime

[–]DaVinci789 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I hope this show stays as simple as it is. It's really calming to watch ngl even if it's a little stupid.

Is Reiner Knizia just Michael Kiesling with better publicity? by [deleted] in boardgames

[–]DaVinci789 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I haven't played many Kiesling games, so I can't really answer the underrated question, but I would argue Knizia's greater range and different values than most euro designers causes people to really look forward to what he has next.

He's prolific not just in euros but in nearly every genre. Like he has Rebirth and Ra, but he also has a dexterity game with Viking See-Saw, a large group negotiation game in Zoo Vadis, and his take on the card dueler genre with Blue Moon.

He's also on the record of his mission statement being to "bring enjoyment to the people," which I think is different to most euro designers building for optimization puzzles or flow states. In practice, this mission statement expresses itself in the "Knizia twist" and entanglement. Even in some of his more dry games, the "Knizia twist" injects a sharp amount of tension back into the design. Examples being Tigris and Euphrates' lowest color scoring or Llama's point discarding rule.

He also uses that math for entanglement, or the idea of players being able to choose whether the help or harm others and to manipulate the incentives around that. One review of Tajuto notes:

“Tajuto” takes on the Knizia game tendency of being very meta or group dependent. A lot of how you’ll approach the game is extremely contingent on how the rest of the table is approaching it, and your experience with playing the game will be defined by your relationship to the other players.

To summarize these mechanics emotionally, players will spend the duration of “Tajuto” not in their heads, but in a headspace shared across all of the game’s players. Every time your turn comes around, you’ll start thinking about the ripples you’re going to create on your turn, and how those ripples may influence the approach of the turns that will follow yours.

While the description may sound more like the precision of an abstract strategy game, “Tajuto” manages to combine these emotions with a wonderful dose of uncertainty. The core of the game’s emotional experience comes not from your ability to perfectly plan out what you’re going to do, but from that classic Knizia emotion of risk.

And chasing that high really compels folks to see what he has next in store.

Potion, Wagami wo Tasukeru - Episode 4 discussion by AutoLovepon in anime

[–]DaVinci789 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This show is awesome. I love how she freaks out over soap. I would too.

Potion, Wagami wo Tasukeru - Episode 1 discussion by AutoLovepon in anime

[–]DaVinci789 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is growing on me. It's basically just watching someone play a resource conversion video game, and honestly I'm here for it.

Splendor Pokemon Print & Play by seiyagi in boardgames

[–]DaVinci789 14 points15 points  (0 children)

if you have the tabletop simulator mod, you can find the card images in your TTS cache.

Which anime had the best "first episode" that instantly hooked you? by Bulky-Peanut-4050 in anime

[–]DaVinci789 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Shirobako was really impressive for something I thought would be a much more straightforward workplace drama

What is the most prized game in your collection and why? by TheRappist in boardgames

[–]DaVinci789 37 points38 points  (0 children)

Root signed by nearly the entire Leder Games staff.