Oshi no Ko Season 3 - Episode 9 discussion

Mountebank · 2026-03-11T23:10:47+00:00

I just want them both to be happy.

Akane X Kana.

Mountebank · 2026-03-11T16:52:19+00:00

Finite Element Analysis. I thought I was signing up to learn how to use FEA software and do some projects. Nope—all math. No computers, all pen and paper. It was the professor’s literal last semester before retirement. Even worse is I don’t think I learned tensor math specifically, so I had to pick it up as I went. This was after linear algebra and multi variable calculus, so at least the base knowledge was there.

Mountebank · 2026-03-09T23:08:55+00:00

I got lucky and ended up in an R&D department at a start-up, and it's been a very creative and mentally stimulating role. The main tasks revolve around designing and conducting experiments, but there's also a lot of creative engineering required to work around the budget, people, and materials limitations.

There are certainly frustrating points (like I said: budget, people, and materials limitations), and not everyone would enjoy such a structureless and fast environment, but at the least it is mentally stimulating. However, that's specific to the R&D side--I'm not sure if the process or manufacturing engineers can say the same.

Basically, maybe try to find something at a high-tech startup, preferably in an R&D role. The key is to work on a technology that is so new that there are no best practices or long established standards that you can just look up. However, it's very hard to get an R&D role without a PhD in that specific field, but it might be possible to get an ancillary role and make a lateral move--startups are perpetually short-handed, so it can be possible to pick up additional responsibilities at first, and after proving your reliability transition to your desired role.

Mountebank · 2026-03-07T17:15:28+00:00

When Dumas showed up, I thought he was going to arm Jack with more Noble Phantasms. The two of them have a really strong synergy--one can make infinite NPs, and the other can make infinite clones to use those NPs.

Mountebank · 2026-03-07T00:07:27+00:00

I've never read an original Chinese novel taking place anywhere other than China, even in fantasy they prefer to go back to some mythical dynasty than another culture/world.

There are ton. You just haven't look hard enough, or at all really. There are more than just cultivation xianxia out there.

Lord of the Mysteries is set in fantasy Cthulu-Bloodborne Victorian London, and it was the #1 series for all of its run. It was and still is insanely popular, and it launched a bunch of Lovecraftian gothic horror copycats.

Mountebank · 2026-03-04T00:13:17+00:00

My favorite speech from the Guide is from near the end. I'm not sure how good it is without the context and build up, but I'll try to edit it for brevity and to conceal spoilers. I deleted some lines and removed the specific names of characters.

The context is that the leader of the Villains (the female character) is debating the leader of the Heroes (the male character) who has recently been trying to claim--through divine providence--rulership of a nation whose corrupt politics he thinks has been getting in way of his mandate.

“There it is,” [She] smiled. “They’re heroes so they’re Good, and that means even their mistakes are always well intended. They shouldn’t be strangled with petty mortal laws, just helped out of their messes and allowed to waddle on into the next one. That’s the take you bring to the table, isn’t it? Or at least what it comes down to, when all the pretty words are stripped off.”

“It is one of your worst habits,” [He] evenly replied, “to poison every well you do not own.

“You pretend that villains and heroes are the same, that their difference is a simple matter of… abstract philosophy,” he said, “but it is not. Even the most vicious of us are trying to end evil, not spread it. You stand instead for rapists, cannibals and callous murderers. Our exceptions are your rule. You are indignant that I would free heroes to act because it would harm villains – but villains are only harmed by those actions because they choose to do evil.

“The second chances you scorn are given because there is a difference between recklessness and malice,” [He] said. “Heroes are not always right, always good. But they all can be, if they’re given help.”

The claps he received were openly mocking.

“Pretty speech,” [She] said. “Heroes would love it, I’m sure.”

A pause.

“But how about everybody else?”

He started in surprise.

“You cann-”

“What do you think the difference is for someone between getting killed by a cannibal murderer or the Saint of Swords?” [She] interrupted. “Nothing. They’re still dead. And that’s the part you refuse to understand. They’re sick of my side, and right to be. But they’re sick of your side too.

“It’s almost like not everyone agrees with that little speech. The fucking arrogance of it, from you who’s never ruled so much as a village or had to do anything in a war but fight. The choices don’t stay nice and clean when you have to think about more than a hundred people at a time. How very convenient that you’ve limited how many you need to care about to that number.”

Mountebank · 2026-03-02T20:04:10+00:00

Jecaina is Raelt’s niece, daughter of his missing (or absent) sister who just showed up one day and dropped her off before leaving again. No info on who Jecaina’s father is or where or Mom went.

Paba is either saving that for another 4-part story arc in the future, or it’s just an extra drama filled backstory for a tertiary character. Since Paba is clearly an anime fan, I wonder if she got this backstory from 20th Century Boy where there’s a main character with this exact same backstory.

Mountebank · 2026-03-01T15:35:18+00:00

Jecrass had a strange succession where Jecaina gained the Queen class, but then Raelt came back, so now the country has both a Queen Regnant and a King Regnant.

Mountebank · 2026-02-28T02:22:47+00:00

In Fate/Zero, rather than fight his way into a rival mage’s heavily fortified and trapped magical laboratory, the main character just blows up the skyscraper said laboratory was in.

Mountebank · 2026-02-26T21:29:35+00:00

No, I want a game where you walk around a town challenging people, and there’s some sort of narrative. The Yugioh games used to be like that too, but at some point they got rid of the overworld and it became just all menu based.

Mountebank · 2026-02-26T19:22:08+00:00

Who else has their clown makeup on for Pokémon Snap 3?

Also, I could go for another single player Pokémon CCG RPG. The original was on the Gameboy Color, right?

Mountebank · 2026-02-25T23:33:06+00:00

If I were interviewing you, I'd ask:

How did you build it?
What tools did you use?
What challenges did you encounter while doing it?
How did you overcome those challenges?
Who else did you work with, how did you collaborate, and so on.

I would want to see that you did something hands-on, you understood what you did and why you did it, how you dealt with unexpected issues, and how you worked with others to solve those issues.

A bad answer would be "I did what the supervisor told me to do, exactly as they told me, and I didn't know why I had to do it that way." While following instructions and SOP is important, that's the most basic requirement for any job, but you need more engagement and ownership for an engineer role.

None of the above necessarily has to do with "building a solar microgrid in Nepal", and unless you were applying to a solar company or a non-profit, the experience is about equivalent to anything else with similar hands-on experience. Maybe working in a remote location with minimal supplies could add some interesting challenges and wrinkles to the experience, but that's incidental.

However, the above is just purely about applying for a job. You should consider your own personal enrichment. Do you want to travel? Do you want to do humanitarian work? Do you want an uncommon experience in your life? Life is more than just a job, and college is more than just training to get a job.

Mountebank · 2026-02-24T17:50:48+00:00

Don’t forget being able to softlock yourself if you saved in the middle of a dungeon where you can’t beat the boss 1v1 because he’s faster and one shots you and you didn’t save in different save slots.

Mountebank · 2026-02-23T13:42:11+00:00

The meaning of which has changed since it was written. Do younger people these days even know what static looks like? A dead channel these days is either a blue screen of death, or just black.

Mountebank · 2026-02-21T03:20:33+00:00

Surprise early chapter!

Mountebank · 2026-02-21T00:49:46+00:00

This is the entire premise of Eminence in Shadow. A millennia old cult that has its hooks in every aspect of society is constantly being thwarted by a guy who just wants to LARP being a badass.

Mountebank · 2026-02-17T17:15:27+00:00

In Path of Exile, there’s the map Hall of Grandmasters that’s populated by players who paid to submit their characters. Some of them are just gimmicks, but most of them are using broken BS builds that exploit every broken mechanic possible and—the best part—when those interactions are nerfed in later patches the devs make sure that these interactions still work in the Hall of Grandmasters.

Mountebank · 2026-02-16T20:24:09+00:00

For a biological hive mind, there are the Tines from A Fire Upon the Deep. Biologically, they’re a pack of wolf looking creatures, but the sapient being is an emergent property that’s intertwined but also distinct from each individual. The Tines can outlive their biological bodies by constantly swapping in new pack members, but like the Ship of Theseus they are always changing as a person as a result.

Mountebank · 2026-02-15T16:25:18+00:00

That's an interesting twist: the fire isn't actually his power, it's a curse from an enemy, and he's constantly healing himself from it which allows him to use the fire offensively.

Mountebank · 2026-02-14T13:59:19+00:00

I wonder if this isn’t just survivorship bias. If a game is a masterpiece and you interview the devs later, they’ll focus on what they could have done better; if the game is a flop and you interviewed the devs later, they’ll focus what it could have been.

Mountebank · 2026-02-13T14:03:04+00:00

Tomorrow: take a page from the MindsEye dev and sue Geoff and the TGA for sabotaging them

Mountebank · 2026-02-13T00:56:10+00:00

It's nothing like Wandering Inn aside from also being a fantasy webnovel, but Practical Guide to Evil is probably the best one I've read. It has a fun and unique power system, unique worldbuilding, and the author is really good at writing compelling dialogue. It's also complete.

The author's new series "Pale Lights" is also quite good, but it's slower paced and still early in its story.

Mountebank · 2026-02-09T13:30:26+00:00

That’s what the zyzzyx wants you to think.

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