That’s one way of explaining online dating.

I nearly laughed myself to death this week, I did not think anyone would have remembered Library Wars from back in the day when Impz still blogged, but apparently the production staff remembers love for it. However, I cannot help but be a little disappointed that the protectors of the Celano Library were squaddies with guns and not some dread guardian who drives intruders and interlopers MAD. I am not sure how to feel about Kuuko turning into a switch hitter it kind of dilutes her unabashed pursuit of Nyaruko a bit. If nothing else it kind of highlights how Kuuko and Nyaruko have so much in common. I was surprised that the Celano Library was still full of books and tomes, but I suppose that either the powers that be despise e-readers with a passion or they simply prefer their forbidden knowledge to be weighty and bound by the skins of unfathomable creatures.

Quite why Mahiro needs to know the exact age of Nyaruko and Kuuko is beyond me. They are both certainly older than him (Kuuko is definitely over 18 given that she went to adult section), so really what is a couple hundred years to their eons of existence? Nyaruko and Kuuko were decidedly classy in discussing the matter even if they had to use a headlock on Mahiro and restrained Hasta. Even if Mahiro tries to gauge their age with the “parfaits and hot guys” remark it’s doubtful that their desires would subside with time. I for one think that both of them have aged rather gracefully and no doubt when over 900 years Mahiro reach, look as good he will not. Besides Mahiro should have just asked Hasuta since they went to space elementary together.

I wonder how much more crap they are going to sneak passed the censors because whatever Hasuta was doing to Shanta-kun was kind of scary and probably made some folks GO MAD! Speaking of Hasuta his battle form is much more intimidating, still since Hasuta can manipulate physical form I wonder why Hasuta hasn’t taken the guise of a girl in an effort to overtake Nyaruko. Combat mode Hasuta was pretty awesome but alas because the monster of the week was poorly written the conclusion was a lot less visceral even if the pen proved to be mightier than Nyaruko’s ray gun.

Nyaruko is a malign deity after my own heart, we already had the Locker Gambit and now we have the end acceleration tactic. NOW THAT is how you secure a BEST END. One day I hope that Nyaruko will head a shipping war arms developer, I can think of a number of poor otome who really could have used some of Nyaruko’s fearless and inventive stratagems. Certainly the mass proliferation of Ruined for Marriage Lockers can only help the women find True Love.

Kuuko is definitely invading Mahiro to claim Nyaruko, what’s more interesting is that Nyaruko isn’t fighting back against Kuuko all that much. Perhaps Kuuko’s persistence had finally paid off and Nyaruko has finally lowered her defenses, that or Nyaruko is hoping that Kuuko will weaken Mahiro enough for Nyaruko to stake her claim.

Lastly I am glad that we finally cleared up those nasty rumors that Mahiro started about Luhi’s takoyaki. They are made of all Earth only ingredients, and no soylent green or MSG. Still the damage has been done and Luhi should seek restitution from Mahiro. Even if Mahiro cannot pay I am sure Yoriko will be able to make amends…

Next week has Tamao doing make up and Nyaruko is going Big Deity Hunting.

Apparently her many forms didn’t include that one.

Okay so how many of you just had your MIND BLOWN?

Mahiro thought he could circumvent the Forbidden Knowledge restrictions.

Good to see that some one on the staff like to Remember Love.

Kuuko is so HAWWWT.

Kuuko is intent on having a break out season.

I hope Luhi can build her own food truck empire.

What has been seen cannot be UNSEEN…

Anime convention?

Wait did we just go back to the future?

Nyaruko picked their names eons ago…

NOW THAT is an accessory.

Can we get a Kuuko spin off?

Kuuko is so hawt she shoots lightning.

I guess city busters are considered to be small arms by malign deities.

I DAWWWWWED.

Too bad tree hugging scum…

Book thief…

That might take us a while your majesty.

Gohan was looking for work…

Nyaruko frowns upon tree-huggers.

Greedy ass tree-huggers…

To be fair the Saiyans were wiped out for bullying Hasuta.

Well that’s one way to dig for gold…

Typical hippie excuse, he probably was hitting the ganja too hard.

She makes it sound so innocent…

WORDS TO LIVE BY.

Apparently a pat on the back was not going to cut it.

Thanks for that one captain obvious.

Ah the draw backs of being the ACE.

Long live the KING!

Now your guys are dealing.

That’s going to leave a mark…

I take it that math was not a subject taken seriously in Space Elementary.

I think they could have made a better sales pitch by adding KAWAII DESU!

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the best.

Too bad no Super Saiyan 2 for you!

I guess Tamao is still going for a Dark Horse end.

]]> http://www.thatanimeblog.com/index.php/2013/04/haiyore-nyaruko-w-02-03/feed/ 0 http://www.thatanimeblog.com/index.php/2013/04/haiyore-nyaruko-san-w-01-there-is-no-escape/ http://www.thatanimeblog.com/index.php/2013/04/haiyore-nyaruko-san-w-01-there-is-no-escape/#comments Thu, 11 Apr 2013 05:03:11 +0000 Crusader http://www.thatanimeblog.com/?p=59413

Give yourself to Nyaruko…

Hell quarter is over for me but Mahiro is going to be in a very special place for another season. Nyaruko is still set on the plans of conquest and is already declaring her total victory to be inevitable. Still I do wish that they were stuck in some alternate dimension where they are in Bewitched. I confess I was whooping for joy but sadly there was no nose wag, it would have been fun to see Nyaruko’s Mom in such a setup. Sadly it was all a fake video and this time we will have new OP and ED themes. The first one was catchy, but new ones are kind of growing on me like lichen and moss on some abandoned cabin in New England. I am very much intrigued though as it seems that we will not only have a new friend joining Luhi, but we may have minions as well. One can only hope that this is the beginning of some cult…

Given how new girl looks ever so similar to Kuuko, I am hoping for her to be Kuuko’s onee-sama and for her to be as passionate about Luhi as Kuuko is for Nyaruko. Speaking of Kuuko I commend her for claiming the first times of Nyaruko and Mahiro. I suspect that this could be some new ploy for Kuuko as ingratiating herself to Mahiro would allow her to more easily access Nayruko. I hesitate to declare that Kuuko is Bi, as malign deities have for little use for gender (Nyaruko has 1000 forms) and tend to ignore it completely.

I am surprised that Mahiro’s face is considered so desirable for other malign deities. If Tsuruko is any indication then it is doubtful that Mahiro could leave earth unnoticed. He can barely handle three malign deities, what hope does he have if they turn out to be legion? It seems that there is almost no hope of escape for Mahiro, I wonder if he will reciprocate Nyaruko’s affections or if MADNESS will take him first. I have to applaud Nyaruko for her locker gambit. It was utterly brilliant from a strategic and tactical point of view, Mahiro had no escape route of his own and given his lack of powers Nyaruko had all the leverage in the world. Such a public shaming would ruin Mahrio for marriage and he would have been lucky to leave the women’s locker room alive. Given that Nyaruko has peculiar tastes as it is I am sure she was being needlessly coy with the maybe.

I am not sure what to make of Hasuta at this point he seems to have somehow broken himself, thus far Nyaruko hardly considers the Trap in Yellow to be much of a threat. Thankfully for Nyaruko Hasuta isn’t very good at scheming, quite why Hasuta hasn’t tried to change form and re-entered school under a different alias is beyond my limited imagination. Still fun times ahead and I can’t wait for all wings to report in. Also methinks the entire production crew was binge watching Gundam Unicorn (I know I have to do some posts, but I had more pressing IRL matters).

Well Mahiro is right to be wary in any dealings with malign deities, not that his consent is worth much…

Judge her by her size do you? Well you should not… for she has an unspeakable bar and a powerful ally it is.

I wonder which pyramid Nyaruko commissioned…

Kuuko can bend reality to suit her will…your laws of nature are nothing to her.

Good thing Hasuta hasn’t tried changing into his girl form…

I get the feeling that these two will get along famously…

Finally we now have cultists!

Mahiro just ran all night and day…he couldn’t get away…

For some reason I heard a resounding YES when I got to this part…

It surrounds us, binds us…

I am placing my order for some Javelins right now…

Even the teacher is on the verge of MADNESS.

Do not underestimate the power of Kuuko’s love or suffer Nodens’ fate you will…

THERE IS NO ESCAPE, it is useless to resist…

I must say I like how Nyaruko is so fearless and inventive, she’s my kind of scum…

You really don’t want them to hear you scream.

I give you 2013′s winner of the BEST Ruined for Marriage Gambit.

Kuuko just pulled the annexation of Mahiro.

Unlike Zeon, which is EXHAUSTED.

I want that job so bad…

Yes fads and bodies…

It looks like Mahiro is going to have more than 10 minutes of fame…

I guess it was the last copy, but fret not I am sure you can all get it on ebay…

I am sure the scans are on tokyo tosho…

I am looking for Bernie have you seen him?

Dang, Mahiro is going to have to endure a handshake event…

NOW THIS is how you play the GAME.

MANLY TEARS were shed…

Many Bothans died watching MIB 3…

]]> http://www.thatanimeblog.com/index.php/2013/04/haiyore-nyaruko-san-w-01-there-is-no-escape/feed/ 4 http://www.thatanimeblog.com/index.php/2013/03/the-bad-guys-won-but-there-may-be-hope-thoughts-on-the-ending-of-shin-sekai-yori/ http://www.thatanimeblog.com/index.php/2013/03/the-bad-guys-won-but-there-may-be-hope-thoughts-on-the-ending-of-shin-sekai-yori/#comments Sun, 24 Mar 2013 18:19:17 +0000 ExecutiveOtaku http://www.thatanimeblog.com/?p=59399

Through the latter half of Shin Sekai Yori it’s been evident how terrible the human society of villages has been not just to their own people, but to the other major, intelligent inhabitants of the land. And even if Squealer’s rebellion was indiscriminate, one could definitely understand why he and the other bakenezumi did what they did. And the world might be better off without humans warping the world around them with Cantus leakage, creating all sorts of dangers and mutations. And as if this didn’t weigh against the humans enough, most of their leadership and the majority of the rest of the villagers refused to learn from what happened, slipping to depths of even more barbaric cruelty in the trial and sentencing of Squealer. So the bad guys won. Though hopefully people like Saki and Satoru can find another way to change things besides wars of genocide.

Out of all fiction, I really enjoy the stories where I can get inside the head of characters in conflict. Squealer’s rebellion had aimed to wipe out all humans, and the ethical and rules-of-war part of me was abhorred by it. But then, the humans are so much more powerful than any bakenezumi could hope to be, so does the existence of any Cantus-using human not constitute a existential threat, forever into the future? Think of things as Squealer: The humans have a history of wiping out whole colonies and executing individuals simply for failing to treat them like gods. And while there might be good individuals like Satoru and Saki, they clearly aren’t in control of policy. And even if they were and you signed a treaty recognizing your rights and sovereignty, within every Cantus user is the ability to destroy whole colonies. What if they change their minds, or a new regime comes to power? You have no power over them if they go back on their word. None of your military strength can compare, there’s no system of international law, and they’d either laugh in your face or execute you if you told them you were human too. Now that you have newer weapons, a mostly united bakenezumi alliance, and the Messiah, you’ve got one shot. Best to just wipe them all out rather than make a show of force and regret it later when they mobilize against you. It’s not like they view you as anything but animals anyway. The name of their “Office of Exospecies Control” says it all.

Saki, understandably, wanted to protect her home and people, and thus enabled the human victory by asking Kiroumaru to lay down his life. She’s now in a position of power on the Ethics Committee to try and change things for the better. And I think it might be an even more hopeful ending with the late reveal that the bakenezumi are just the non-Cantus humans that were engineered to be a subservient species. Since the fall of the Old Civilization, new societies were built up on the bodies of those they killed. The Holy Cherry Blossom Empire was ruled like North Korea and killed untold numbers. Then a successful rebellion toppled it, only for its solution to Cantus violence to require the mutation and domination of all non-Cantus humans. And stability came through a paranoid Ethics Committee that had countless children killed on the small chance that they might become karma demons or fiends.

The society of the villages, like most countries in the real world, has its darker moments in history. Atrocities and wrongs that were as much a part of building it up as ideals or laws. But despite everything that happened before, the right people can change the present and future. Violent rebellions like Squealer’s or the one that ended the Holy Cherry Blossom Empire aren’t the only way to change history. So in the end, Shin Sekai Yori offered that hope that the crimes of the past don’t have to continue into yet more bloodshed.

Little did Natsuki know that a legion of Haruka fanboys were in a frothing RAEG.

Well I suppose the post for the older episodes can wait because it isn’t often that Hayami-sempai is the one on the wrong end of Hosaka. I am all for healthy eating but I think that the Headless Horseman is advancing some wicked vegan agenda. Nevertheless with less tourists heading to New England these days I suppose we should be glad that an otherwise unemployable tourist attraction has resurrected his career on a kids show. Still since the power of the Headless Horseman is most fell and dread I wonder why Kana seemed immune… After all if those powers of persuasion altered Hosaka why didn’t they alter Kana if mental obtuseness between them both is relatively the same? Perhaps the Headless Horseman was still getting the rust off his Jedi mind tricks?

Other than the Headless Horseman raking in money for Agri-business I wonder what the chances are of AtsukoxTouma. The latter seems rather intent of close contact while the former seems rather confused as to what she should make of it. Whatever happens I hope for the day when we hear Touma-kun starts using Atsuko nee-sama. Touma got a close encounter but I think Natsuki nearly started a war Haruka has many suitors and we all know that Mako-chan has the edge in the Hosaka vs. Natsuki. vs. Chiaki vs. Mako-chan fight. Hosaka still hasn’t said hello while Chiaki is easily bribed, Natsuki however sucks at girls and I think Mako-chan can make short work of him despite the protestations of Mako-chan being manly and cool. After going to a two piece bathing suit I don’t think even the onset of puberty can bring back Makoto. Thankfully for Hitomi, Natsuki didn’t get fed so there is hope for her yet.

As crazy dancing goes I guess whatever that was will have to do but maybe someday they will do the Bernie or the dreaded Harlem Shake. I think the curry song is still number one but between the barbecue song and the vegetable song I think Hosaka needs to release an album so fans everywhere can revel in is music. They may as well make those bad karaoke contests somewhat instructive on the merits of curry, barbecue, and vegetables. I still didn’t buy into bitter melon, that shit is gross no matter the song and beyond the powers of the Headless Horseman. Still why is there no love for broccoli? Did its unholy union with beef make it a pariah?

Always prepared, if only Hosaka could see them now…

Chiaki is easily bribed…

Damn I was hoping they would do the Bernie or Harlem Shake…

Can I get a Kira?

Well I guess after a while killing Ichabod Crane gets too stale…

Most terrifyingly of all she wishes to exceed the 2-3 servings per day suggestion…

That came out rather wrong…

NO, FRUIT!

So more organic…

Hayami forgot that you can make Vodka out of potatoes…

How the tables have turned…

Zeon will soon fall to a barrage of fiber, and Side 6 will soon be one massive Whole Foods.

I wonder if the thought of playing at a coffee house ever crossed Hosaka’s mind.

I take it that Pumpkin Pie is off the menu…

]]> http://www.thatanimeblog.com/index.php/2013/02/minami-ke-tadaima-08-veggie-tales/feed/ 4 http://www.thatanimeblog.com/index.php/2013/02/notes-on-being-an-adult-where-the-nine-hells-can-i-find-a-time-machine/ http://www.thatanimeblog.com/index.php/2013/02/notes-on-being-an-adult-where-the-nine-hells-can-i-find-a-time-machine/#comments Thu, 21 Feb 2013 18:09:09 +0000 Crusader http://www.thatanimeblog.com/?p=59286

So yeah instead of focusing on a few addictions I picked up a new one…

So I am not really dead yet but I have managed to fall off the face of the Earth for the better part of two months now. No, I am not calling it quits but it seems that EO and Hana are having a merry old time sipping tea with the Queen of England. Hopefully they will be back soon, but I can’t fault them for no longer being starving students. Having finally achieved one year of full employment I thought I would have more time, but buying and renovating a house was more trouble than I had anticipated, and it didn’t help that my crappy car (my Kingdom for a Prius!) had two major breakdowns and as of this date still is in the shop (egregious home loan means that I cannot get a decent car loan without getting gouged). As problems go they aren’t insurmountable and hardly qualify as soul crushing, nevertheless I cannot wait to be rid of them. I wonder if there is really a way to balance work life and keep this place running, but I am still paying a hosting bill and have yet to figure out how to make the time to do much. Suffice to say there will likely be recruitment drive soon because there must be some college student out there who is looking to pass the time cheaply. Until then I suppose this will have to serve as a means to get the ball rolling again.

Being gainfully employed isn’t all bad though and it does mean that for once I will be able to attend Sakura-con in March and actually get the full AX experience for once. So far my limited foray into the convention circuit was Anime on Display in San Francisco which is one of those events that probably almost no one has ever heard of. Still it was a chance to meet with old comrades and start planning our convention schedules. Given how every anime con has a board game room it was only a matter of time before I gained another obsession and hence that modest starter collection that I amassed in three months. I would have gotten Settlers of Catan but my convention comrade already has a copy and between me and another trooper we have the 5-6 Player expansion and Cities and Knights (still it makes me vomit a little when the expansions cost as much as the core game…).

I bought Netrunner as a standalone game for myself but I swear Fantasy Flight Games will be the death of me. Not only did I get a second core set to be competitive I am also foaming at the mouth for monthly data packs. Rare chasing and money bag decks may be dead to me but for better or worse this LCG format has me in an endless cycle of tweaking and re-tweaking.

Star Wars is making a forceful comeback now that Lucas is recused himself from ruining it any further. The LCG is fairly interesting but the Miniatures games is addicting, the models look ace and I am willing to throw my money away for the Millennium Falcon, Slave I, A-Wing, and TIE Interceptor (because Wedge vs. Soontir Fel MUST HAPPEN). Also where is the Jek Porkins promo? If Biggs Darklighter gets a card then Porkins should get one too.

I finally finished my first Warhammer model in years and during the last meeting I challenged ExecutiveOtaku and R1CK_D0M to contest of mecha building. Hopefully as the first one to throw down the gauntlet they will both follow suit. R1CK_D0M has a Perfect Grade that needs to be completed but since I swore off new kits until I built the ones I had, I have to finish a couple High Grades. EO probably will have to finish another diorama soon.

With soul crushing unemployment far behind me now was a good a time in a long time to finish the things I started or at least bought. It only makes it worse when I contemplate my pile of unfinished videogames and yet another Fire Emblem game to get me into a more serious shipping mode, because Chihayafuru is lite on shipping and Hosaka has no shot at Haruka (thought I wonder if Hitomi and Natsuki can make it). I tell myself that every new year will be different and even if I will back slide later at least I have made some long overdue progress (also I now have Mako-chan to venerate).

So yeah tl;dr back to work or at least make the attempt…

Yeah I know I need to finish basing this one…

I kept the hood a nice shadow grey so that opponents can’t make lame red riding hood jokes while howling like a wolf (or rather whimpering like a puppy).

So for my next mecha non-GW project I will be working on this long forgotten model from a long forgotten movie.

Starting small this year, besides I was never rich enough to buy the Perfect Grades and Master Grades when I was a starving college freshman.

I will need to add a cloak and shield but after I get the whole thing painted or at least the rider.

A dragon is a dragon and even if it is the obsolete model at least it came cheap in 2007.

/

Shin Sekai Yori episode 19 (and a bit on 10-18 too)

The Show To This Point: I’d purposefully let myself fall way behind on this one so that I could then watch episode after episode to avoid cliffhangers, but for the sake of being able to write about it weekly, I caught up from episode 10 to episode 19 this past week. Some episodes felt a bit lacking, though never bad, but things really started to get real after the latest timeskip. From the very beginning of this show, I knew both Mamoru and Maria would be trouble, even before the future-Saki narrator mentioned the bit about Maria causing the deaths of so many people somewhere down the road. Mamoru had “I’m going to freak out and get everyone killed” written all over him from Day 1, and Maria’s mix of exceptional powers and mental unpreparedness for the role planned for the Group 1 members was clearly a villain in the making. Now, we’re seeing that seed grow and bear fruit.

The other major point I came away from my catch-up was how incredibly stupid the humans are. If they all get killed off now, they’ve got no one to blame but themselves. Saki is not innocent of this either. They seem to have no ability, as a group or individuals, to process intelligence and think strategically. I very much doubt that zero copies of ancient-to-Old-World military histories survived, given that we today have an amply supply of books from 1000+ years ago (Herodotus, Sun Tzu, Thucydides, &c), and that’s without the benefit of the False Minoshiros. Which the Ethics Committee has studied in the past. Yet no one seemed able to piece anything together about Squealer von Bismark/Yakomaru’s social and industrial advancement until it was staring them in the face. And Saki, for her part, seemingly didn’t inform anyone of the Robber Fly’s social or industrial advancement until TEN.YEARS.LATER. More understandably, she still hasn’t told anyone about Maria and Mamoru still being alive somewhere outside the Barrier. Rather than ignorance in this case, she did so out of mistaken loyalty/love. All together, the strategic/intelligence failures shown in the most recent few episodes are beyond facepalm-levels.

This Week’s Episode: Squealer von Bismark’s sneak attack was thwarted at high cost once the humans were under the direction of Esper Char, but the main thrust being blunted left plenty of other ambush groups out there, and Saki and Satoru head to a hospital with three others for one of the most suspenseful anime episodes I’ve seen since Shiki. Quick thinking disposed of the bakenezumi ambushers, but the real threat, and focus of the episode, was their secret weapon: a Fiend. There was no stopping it, and it took out everyone but Satoru and Saki, but for some reason it left a few people in the hospital alive but tied up. My guess is that the Fiend is a Mamoru that finally went bad. Or perhaps was induced to do so by Yakomaru? There’s a chance that it was Shun, somehow unleashed against the town. Though it’s abundantly clear by now that Maria leads the Robbery Fly’s esper force. The Fiend would be too imprecise for the type of esper intervention used to defeat Kiroumaru’s forces, so it would have to be her, or her and Mamoru if he indeed is not the Fiend. There is the outside chance that Maria and Mamoru aren’t behind giving the Robbery Fly their tactical/operational advantage, however I only present this idea as a matter of due diligence. Given that this is fiction and has a narrative in place, it would not make sense for them to not be the ones behind this.

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha episode 06

My adoration of Knight continues unabated.

This Week’s Episode: Victory at Aurora Island! There’s now a military and morale improvement to go along with the agricultural one in the Demon King’s chosen country, the Winter Kingdom. With the retaking of Aurora Island, Winter Kingdom is now positioned as the most prominent country in the South, with aspirations to remove itself from its linkage to the Center. Gateway City has also been reduced to insignificance since the Crusade army within was marched off to Aurora. (The teleportation of WHOLE ARMIES being shown makes for a rather big change in how one thinks about warfare in this world, doesn’t it?) Where to go from here should prove interesting. It doesn’t seem like enough to make Winter Kingdom’s position any less precarious if the Central Nations take notice of its ambition. I can only imagine that the clock is now ticking before the Central Nations notice and start turning the screws, or igniting a proxy war between their southern allies and Winter Kingdom if they feel threatened.

Also, both adorable and badass moments for Knight this week. After watching this episode, I hereby declare her Mai Waifu of the Season, Winter 2013! Dem freckles! Dat composure! And not to mention the display of magic and swordsmanship! Hero is plainly an idiot, but what can you do? Pffff, canon couples, what the hell is that?

Tamako Market episode 05

Welcome to KyoAni, where even the boys are moe and the plot doesn’t matter!

This Week’s Episode: Mochizou is so desperate that he asks for advice from Dera, of all ‘people.’ And he might have had a chance to get somewhere if it weren’t for Midori. But that’s alright with me, since I ship Midori X Mochizou as of this episode! That’s right, you heard me. Mochizou’s just a bit misguided in his crush on Tamako. But after Midori blocked his confession, they enjoy a nice conversation together on the beach that evening. To me, this was about all that mattered this episode since there was a high amount of ‘cute girls doing cute things’ this week. Can’t you just see it? They communicate with and understand each other so well by the end of the episode. Hopefully they can both realize that Tamako isn’t the one for them, but each other!

Kotoura-san episode 05

This Week’s Episode: Full-on comedy this week, which was pretty fun. I’m with Manabe about Moritani being let into the group so easily. Yes, she’s trying to make up for what she did, but what she did was pretty messed up. That said, I’m glad that even Kotoura is getting a good laugh at her expense after Manabe gave her the Mori Mori Mori poster. Kotoura, for the most part, is just too nice, too forgiving, so it was both nice to see her laughing so hard at Moritani, and funny/cute in its own right. Also, Muroto continues to be my second favorite character here. He doesn’t have the spotlight much, but when he does, he shines.

Minami-ke: Tadaima episode 05

This Week’s Episode: Man, what’s gotten into Fujioka lately? I don’t remember him being so aggressive and obsessive about finding ways to spend time with Kana, heh. The repetition in the cold noodles skit was probably my favorite part, complete with the repeating/escalating responses from his classmates. Keiko, as usual, being the only one in the know about the whole thing. The summer vacation planning was also really good, and it makes me happy and relieved to see this new season continuing to live up to the standards of seasons 1 and 3.

Four weeks into the season and I still wasn’t sure what to blog, so I figured I’d go with EVERYTHING! Well, in a much shorter format, but basically, I’ll be writing briefly about every show I’m watching this season as it goes, which currently stands at: Maoyuu, Kotoura-san, Tamako Market, Shin Sekai Yori, and Minami-ke: Tadaima. So here’s my thoughts on the shows thus far, and a weekly comment on each. Winter season has had a few shows I ended up surprised about.

NOTE: Currently I’m pretty far behind on Shin Sekai Yori since I like letting it accumulate to watch in batches. But for next week I’ll try to be caught up to comment upon it weekly.

Kotoura-san episode 04

The Show To This Point: Kotoura-san was one of those shows at preview time that didn’t have a lot of info that could really give you an idea of how it would turn out, and the first episode definitely had a big mood swing halfway through. The way it was so depressing and sad early on made me think that it was some sort of prequel to Shin Sekai Yori that explained why all the ESP-users decided to destroy civilization. When Kotoura was in the park in the rain in episode 01, I half expected people’s head to start exploding as she succumbed to an ability-powered murderous impulse. But then the halfway point it and BAM! it’s lighthearted and comedic. For the most part anyway. No amount of KOSHI DEMO YOSHI completely obscures the past trauma and continued social problems that are a part of Kotoura, but it’s hard not to see this as a feel-good show this season. Manabe alternates as much and as well as the tone can, between a kind, virtuous stand-up dude and a complete lecher. Reminds me a bit of Miroku from Inuyasha in that way, or Sugisaki Ken from Seitokai no Ichizon. I’ve also found Muroto to be pretty cool, and of course ship him and Yuriko. Especially the way his comic appearance is used as a foil to his seriousness and thoughtfulness.

This Week’s Episode: Muroto tracking down Kotoura via webcam hacking was both hilarious and easier than you might think. His devious side is pretty great, and it also highlighted how much more knowledgible in general he is. His comment near the end of episode 03 to Yuriko about how she’s not much of an actress, much less a villain, seemed to show a bit of disappointment with her, but also patience and an understanding of his childhood friend. At Kotoura’s grandfather’s mansion we get to see a pervert to rival Manabe, and then the group’s reunion. But the most significant part to me was Moritani showing up to apologize…and Manabe acting LIKE HE RIGHTLY SHOULD and not accepting that psycho’s apology. Serious. Fuck.that.

Maoyuu Maou Yuusha

The best.

The Show To This Point: I’ve been really back and forth on this one. Wanting to drop it one week, and wanting to continue the next. On the one hand, the characters are almost universally very fun and interesting. Demon King and Hero’s romance is sweet if immature (seriously, not even a kiss yet?) And Knight is kyyyyaaaaaa! Be still my heart! And the full cast hasn’t even been introduced yet. But on the other hand, the way it treats a lot of its key material is pretty simplistic. It displays a fetishism for economics that just seems ridiculous to me. As in, it’s of the school of thought that thinks that economics can explain and solve everything from wars to religion. It’s not the worst oversimplification or anything, I think it just bothers me because I know too much. It’s hard to buy into a lot of the simplified economics and politics when you have a master’s degree in international affairs, heh. That said, there’s enough to keep me watching, especially after things seem to have started moving this week.

This Week’s Episode: The recruitment of the southern merchants Alliance into Demon King and Hero’s plans seems to have finally given the scheme legs. On their own, the protagonist duo has almost no real power, but they are managing to exert their will via the Alliance’s actions. The failed first expedition to retake Aurora Island looks to be the first step in securing the South. My guess is that the Alliance and sympathetic southern kings such as the newly enthroned Winter King will secure any human lands taken by the demons, then have the momentum to break off their arrangement with the Central Lands. This may result in some civil wars in the South as any kingdoms still loyal to the Central Lands and/or the Church fight it out with the Maou-Alliance-Winter coalition. Or maybe it’ll just be a Central-South conflict. Either way, the military movements in this week’s episode are a welcome change from the less believable ‘economic can cure war’ stuff.

Minami-ke: Tadaima

The Show To This Point: It’s another season of Minami-ke, what’s not to like? And thankfully, despite the studio change, this seems to be more in the spirit of seasons 1 and 3. Sure, there’s an added touch of fanservice to it that wasn’t there before, but it’s not too frequent or blatant, so I can live with it. However I do eagerly await the Hideyoshi-esque Mako Cakes fanservice.

This Week’s Episode: The glorious return of Hosaka! (and Sensei-Ninomiya-kun.) Most of the episode featured him in some capacity, from his sunny side up vs turn over debate, to the insane levels of self-delusion that it took to transform a plate into a tea kettle. And even a few Hosaka and Asami moments to satisfy my shipping urges.

Tamako Market

The Show To This Point: I absolutely love the setting, and the characters have mostly been more interesting than the formulaic ‘cute girls doing cute things’ I expected/feared from Kyoto Animation. The shopping district setting itself is very pleasant and nostalgic. From what I gather, the post-WWII sort of shopping districts are something of a dying breed now that they face big box store competition, but they are a wonderful setting, replete with ‘traditional’ post-WWII Japanese charm and neighborly warmth. Everyone knows everyone and seems to get along, even with the rivalry between the Ooji and Kitashirakawa family mochi shops. So far it seems to serve as a backdrop for story-of-the-week stuff, though I expect we’ll see more connecting storylines or maybe arcs involving the strange origin and mission of Dera. There’s also the sometimes-featured love story angle, with Mochizou having fallen for Tamako and Midori seemingly interested in Mochizou.

This Week’s Episode: While I can’t say I really like Anko, this week’s episode that focused around her was still pretty decent. She seems to have a crush on a rather odd-looking classmate, and spends the episode trying to go to a museum with a group of friends that includes him, and then hiding from him when he shows up later. What I liked the most about the episode was the circular story of Anko and the Usagiyama festival. This year she actively wants to avoid it, wishing she weren’t the daughter of a mochi maker and thus forced to help out. Though she does manage to arrange her schedule so she can go to the museum with her friends, she ends up being sort-of dragged into helping out. But then she chooses to stay. The episode starts off with her hating the little kid’s costume she had to wear for the parade when she was younger, but now she tells a little girl that she “looks cute” and “like a princess”, the same words Tamako told Anko back then. And she decides to spend time making sure the little girl gets into and enjoys the parade, at the expense of going to the museum. Despite disliking the festival initially, she’s come to realize her fondness for it and its traditions. Which is kind of sweet, or kind of terrible in that she’s become a cog in the gear of the tradition machine she once despised. Depends on your point of view, I guess.

Dropped

Sasami-san@Ganbarani: I always give SHAFT shows a shot, but after the second episode I dropped this one. The story just didn’t seem that interesting, and the whole thing just felt hollow somehow, even with some pretty fun characters. The animation also just doesn’t quite feel like SHAFT. I think all the soft textures in everything kind of ruin the stark, separated visual style that SHAFT usually goes for.

That’s it for this week. Join me next time when hopefully I’ll be caught up on Shin Sekai Yori too!

If your Christmas tree is still up, it’s not too late to post on Secret Santa! Every year for a while now, Reverse Thieves has done an anime Secret Santa project where you sign up, receive a person to pick three shows for, and someone else secretly gives you three recommendations. This year I gave out series to Nazarielle (who picked xxxHolic), and received The Idolmaster, Yuru Yuri, and Kujibiki Unbalance from Kevo. I’d wanted to check out Idolmaster for a while, mostly due to the harassment recommendations from CrazyDave and Aeroblip. Plus I’d tried Yuru Yuri when it aired and it wasn’t for me, and everyone, EVERYONE I talked to on Twitter said that Kujibiki Unbalance was terrible even if you liked Genshiken. So Idolmaster it was, and I have to say that while I’m not as in love with it as many in the Greater AniBlogoTwitter Realm, I did enjoy it quite a bit.

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The Show

[This portion of the post contains no spoilers.] The premise of the show is that 765 Productions, a small up-and-coming idol production company, is starting off with a group of new idols and attempting to find them work and start their careers. This ranges from the usual concert bookings to TV show segments, commercials, photo shoots, and other things you’d expect to see idols in. The show follows the group’s careers and everyday antics in a mostly lighthearted and fun way. Drama does feature in the show somewhat, in the form of personal issues with some of the idols and the clash with 765′s nemesis 961 Productions. That said, this is mostly a for-fun show, though one drama arc does work really well.

Idolmaster is definitely fanservice. It’s just character and personality fanservice rather than visual. The characters are at their cores a bunch of different archetypes familiar to any anime fan. There’s the spoiled, rich young ojousama (Iori), the mischievous twins (Ami and Mami), the tomboy (Makoto), etc. But, Idolmaster really succeeded in making them more than the sum of their tropes. The archetypes were taken as starting points to build actual characters around, which was nice to see and something many shows are too lazy to do. Some characters get a lot more development than others (Chihaya, Miki, and Haruka seem to get the most) while others more or less have their episode and then only feature as side characters (Yayoi and Hibiki, for example.) But you do end up liking all the characters to varying degrees, enjoying the part they play in 765′s attempt at fame. Except Yukiho, but we’ll get to her later.

As a last word on the dramatic elements, the way that Chihaya’s character arc was handled should be a lesson to all shows trying to build up to a ‘big deal’ moment. We get hints here and there that something is going on in the background with Chihaya for a while. A phone call that she hangs up on or briefly seems upset about. Maybe a hint at her dissatisfaction with why or how she’s singing. This goes on for a long time before her arc starts, and then blows up all at once. But you had some idea that it was coming. It’s not out of the blue like the very forced drama at the end of the recently-finished airing Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shitai. Those who’ve watched it know of what I speak. [From this point on in the post, there may be spoilers.]

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One of the things I enjoyed most about watching this show was the feedback I got from people on Twitter as I tweeted while watching some of the episodes. There are a lot of passionate fans of Idolmaster out there, and it was great fun discussing the show with them. Particularly fun was people asking me who my favorite characters were, and then arguing over them. Since there are so many characters, this took the form of ranking them. Or ｒａｎｋｉｎｇｕ after Akira/Desucabforcutie facetiously termed it when he, Lelangir, and I met up to discuss all the classic anime RAGE topics. Such as how Mao is the best girl in Kimi Kiss: Pure Rouge. So here is my ranking after having completed the series. It changed a bit over the course of the show, but not majorly.

Moon princess Takane is obviously the best. I could listen to her talk elegantly about ramen all day. Close second is idol-turned-OL Ritsuko for her managerial skills and office lady style. Yukiho is so far from the top that it would take light from the top millions of years to reach her. I generally hate androphobia as a character trait, and she reinforced my hatred with her whiny style and overall lack of any appeal whatsoever.

Best Moment

The full scene, if you want to see it again. Chihaya’s comeback concert after all the tabloid smears about her brother dying in a car accident when they were younger was absolutely the best moment in the show, as far as I’m concerned. The gradual buildup to her arc made the drama all the better, and the comeback concert was great emotionally in two ways. The 765 girls’ support for her and her overcoming her depressed state was a feel-good moment, and it was also enjoyable to see 961 and the paparazzi’s plans frustrated so thoroughly. I can’t say why exactly it was so good though. It’s basically the same ‘pure-of-heart good guys support each other and overcome dastardly tricks’ stuff that you’d expect to see in a crappy teen movie or something. Even the singing on stage together after the false start. Maybe it’s just that the characters are better than in most similar situations? I can’t quite put my finger on it, but it was emotional in a way that I didn’t expect it to be.

Thanks for reading, and thanks again to Reverse Thieves for running Secret Santa, and to Kevo for the recommendation! Also, I plan on returning to posting weekly during the new winter season. Haven’t decided which show to blog yet, but I am going to start again with this new season. Though I’m going to try some shorter post formats since I don’t have as much time to spend on blogging as I used to (as I’m sure you can tell by my being sparse on here lately, heh.)

What’s special about this match is that you can smell Ooarai’s big mistake way before the match even starts, even the dimmest of people should be able to see what’s going to happen when Miho listens to her team’s “idea” of essentially running straight at the enemy as fast as they can, if not when she specifically notes that Pravda’s specialty is counterattacks in her notes.

So when the match starts Ooarai drives off towards the enemy at combat speed, ready and willing to shoot them full of holes. It takes a while, but first contact comes in the form of 3 of T-34/76’s, Pravda’s weakest link.

Still better than most of what Ooarai has though

They take two ofthe T-34’s down without so much as a scratch. This only serves to fuel Ooarai’s bravado, and they immediately move to chase down the third T-34 when it runs. All is going well for the Ooarai team so far, their outing only tainted by a “this is going too well” by Miho.

I wonder why they didn’t just aim for the center tank here.

The Ooarai team is led to what is the definition of an “irresistible target”. Two T-34/85’s and three T-34/76’s, one of which is their flag. And, true to the meaning of the phrase, they fail their Willpower checks and jump right in.

One of the 85’s goes down before the rest beat a hasty retreat, now the willingness to lead with their face is in full force with Ooarai as they chase them straight into a huge mistake. That is, a town, or in otherwords: a nest of blind spots and cover.

A hive of cute girls and russian tanks.

Miho loses control of her own team at this point. She clearly knows something is terribly wrong but at this point the head can only follow where the body drags it and try not to get into too much trouble.

While her team shouldn’t have chased too far in the first place, all this could have been avoided if miho grew a backbone and bigger lungs. At any rate, into the town they go, where 3 of the 4 tanks mysteriously disappear…

The flag tank however, is in plain view as it (very expertly, I might add) plays peekaboo around the corner of the building and manages to play hell with their aim. After like 8 shots into dirt, Pravda finally springs their devious trap, all of their tanks come out of hiding places behind buildings and in holes and all over the place to reveal that they have their prey surrounded an a death net of bad feelings and sad times.

Luckily for Ooarai, Pravda proves to have marksmanship only slightly better than Saunders, only managing to break a couple modules (main gun, tracks, turret ring, etc.) before Miho and company manage to take cover in a large church.

At this point Miho is given a choice of unconditional surrender, or the destruction of their tanks. There is also a short break where they do some plot revealing, morale boosting, and on foot recon (as well as an episode’s break somewhere in between) before plans are prepared and everyone rolls out again.

This is where the fight really takes off. As expected, Katyusha put up a net around the only door in the church large enough to fit a tank. As Miho and co break out, they head straight for the strongest part of her net, which was the obvious thing to do. (both plot-wise and possibly strategy wise. Katyusha does reveal that she left a hole in her net on purpose, so which way to go is dependent on your confidence in your troops and how deep you read into the situation)

After another rather miraculous set of misses as Ooarai leaves the church, they get in formation and zigzag straight towards their exit point. Due to surprise (as I’m going to believe it), Ooarai breaks through the net easily, and to delay at least a part of their pursuit, the Pz38(t) goes on a rather interesting streak.

This is marked when the president takes over the gunner’s seat (why momo was ever in there is a mystery to me) and knocks out a T-34/85 rather nonchalantly on the way out with a point-blank shot into the side of its turret.

She stares down her prey through those german optics

Important! This tactic is very effective.

After that, the 38(t) takes on the IS-2, a t-34/85, and two t-34/76’s. The Student council team does some truly brilliant maneuvering here, better than any I’ve seen so far in the show. Knowing the strength of her gun, the president only takes shots when close enough to matter. She even goes for the tracks to stop them from moving, a first (non-accidentally, anyway) in the series. (btw if I were doing that 12 days thing, going after the tracks would definitely be in there)

After all of that, the Pz38(t) is knocked out of the battlefield, leaving two knocked out T-34/76’s, a tracked T-34/85, and unfortunately, and IS-2 with naught but a damaged exhaust pipe.

Meanwhile, Miho and co are busy leading the rest of Pravda on a merry chase. That is, until our tank commander hits upon the idea of taking the StuG with her and going off in search of their flag tank.

And so when they come upon a hill, they wait in a blind spot on either side and wait for Pravda to pass. While I’ll admit it’s hard to see when you’re focused on a chase and inside a tank, come on I know how much people like to poke their head’s outside someone should have made a perception check.

I hope it is immediately obvious how unsafe this is, especially as the tank is moving.

Anyway, they get away clean and now it’s a chase to see who can kill the flag first (sound familiar, anyone?). Of course, realizing they only have a foggy idea of where Pravda’s tank is, Miho asks Yukari to go out and recon once more.

After finding the elusive tank, Miho immediately gives chase. Meanwhile, Ooarai loses the M3 Lee. And so the chase starts properly, with the type running across the snowy plains, and the T-34/76 running between cover and leading the enemy into her friendlies.

NO NO THE MACHINE GUN BOWL

Speaking of leading, First up on the list of obstacles was the KV-2. Normally a very tough armored beast, it is here reduced to an example of the second revelation: weak points! Yes, armor has weak points! Are we finally going to take advantage of them? YES FINALLY. It may be because they’ve finally learned to shoot well enough to take advantage of weakpoints, but it’s taken them long enough. (also note how the KV-2 has angled its hull to maximize chances of bouncing, they clearly know what they’re doing)

At any rate, the KV-2 is dispatched without the chance to fire, and Miho is back to chasing the flag tank, and Ooarai has lost their Char (lol) B1! Tension!

Miho realizes what the enemy flag is doing, and has the StuG play the waiting game like a good TD while she leads them into their trap. A very good strategy, one that finally takes advantage of the StuG’s ability to hide, but also extremely dependent on how your target reacts to being shot at, so very risky at the same time.

best example of StuG camo yet.

Both the IS-2 and the StuG shoot at nearly the same time, and both hit the target. The episode breaks here for a cliffhanger, but as I clearly saw (and a couple people doubted me on: https://twitter.com/R1CK_D0M/status/278971960229249025), the IS-2’s hit was shallow, only tracking the type, therefore giving Ooarai the win.

That concludes the battle between Ooarai and Pravda! Now to wait for the episodes with their fight against Kuromorimine. Hopefully I’ll be able to confirm what tanks Maho is using by then.

PS: Why is it that whenever the enemy notices a tank missing or something else out of place it’s always “who cares?” or “Probably just broke”? Please care for once. They are most likely doing something.

PPS: Also, what is the obsession with making your flag tank the smallest weakest thing to run around with and get shot and die? Why not make your flag tank the biggest baddest thing on the lot, something that can fight on its own and draw in enemies to their death while being supported by friendlies, like the IS-2? Or better yet, a tank that’s easy to hide, like the StuG in the above picture? Finding that thing would be dead hard.

A fearsome force indeed. This formation automatically makes them look much more disciplined than Ooarai.

The Pravda team makeup consists of two different types of T-34 medium tank, and the heavy tanks IS-2 (or JS-2, as named in the show), and a KV-2 (too bad there wasn’t a kv-1 as well, but the kv-1 is basically a slow t-34 with heavier armor so oh well).

First in line are the two t-34 models, the t-34/76 and the t-34/85. They look very similar, but the easiest way to tell in this series is that the 85 is the one with the bigger turret and a sizeable commander’s cupola.

The ergonomics were so bad in this thing that american’s couldn’t understand how you were supposed to fit through the hatch in winter clothing.

The T-34/76. Note the rather streamlined silhouette and the lack of a 360 degree vision block/cupola

The T-34/85 has a 3-man turret. And unlike the T-34/76, the hatch was a lot lighter and wasn’t known to jam and trap the crew inside.

The T-34/85, however loses the rather streamlined sides for a larger, rounder turret for more crew space and capable of equipping a bigger gun. Also notice the larger commander’s cupola with a 360 degree vision block.

The T-34 is the most produced tank of WWII and largely considered to be the most successful. Having been produced throughout the war, the T-34 was also being constantly revised and innovated upon, whether that be for technical improvements or production improvements.

Over the course of the war, the Russians managed to reduce the number of parts required for a T-34, while more than halving both its production cost as well as production time, even though experienced factory workers were constantly being sent to the front lines, to be replaced with women and children.

In addition, the T-34 was also evolving technologically. Featuring top of the line optics, the T-34 also ran into several drive train problems that were later fixed, as well as a couple turret design changes which gave crew more room, etc. This resulted in several models of T-34, such as the T-34/85 in the show.

The initial production model, the T34/76 equips a 76.2mm gun (similar to the KV-1), and has about 45mm of hull armor. While on the thin side, this tank has decent sloped armor and high mobility as well as a moderately effective gun (especially against early war tanks.) While inadequate against the Tigers of Black forest, they are more than enough to deal with Ooarai.

The T-34/85, however, retains its armor thickness but gains a larger profile for a bigger turret that mounts an 85mm gun. While not quite on the level of a panther, the T-34/85 is more maneuverable and is fantastically dangerous with that 85mm if used correctly. As the 85mm is able to penetrate a panther’s armor, this tank would make short work of Ooarai’s tanks.

However, as cheap and plentiful as the T-34 was, the tank was without its shortcomings. Even though it is considered one of the most successful tanks of WWII, it is also the tank with the highest mortality rate (in respect to the number produced), whether through mechanical failure or otherwise.

The t-34/76 early on was plagued with transmission and drivetrain problems, even with several fixes in early production. The driver’s vision blocks were insufficient, and the KV-1 wasn’t the only tank that needed to be gearshifted with a mallet.

As for the Turret, it was a 2-man affair, where the commander’s vision blocks were also wholly insufficient (fixed in the T-34/85). The commander also had to gun, which was distracting when one had to command a tank, man a gun, and also possibly command a tank platoon at the same time. The loader also suffered from ergonomic problems concerning shell storage placement. Overall the T-34 was hell to drive.

The t-34/85 fixes most of these problems, making the turret a 3-man affair (with the addition of a dedicated gunner) as well as 360 degree vision blocks for the commander. The addition of a larger, longer gun had its own problems however, as they had to be careful not to let the gun dig into the ground when dealing with unlevel ground.

Also of note: the T-34/76’s usually were not equipped with radios due to a lack of supply (only commanders would get them). Most tanks had to signal with flags, which limited a tank’s operational range. I wonder if this will pop up during the fight.

Overall, these tanks are more than enough to take on the Ooarai team, but there are enough individual mechanical problems with these tanks that I have to wonder if they are going to feature in (and maybe cause the downfall of) Pravda’s match with Ooarai.

By the way their flag tank is a T-34/76, and I mock them for this decision.

The sound of this thing firing was a lot quieter than it should be. You disappoint me, japan.

One of the most hilarious additions to the Pravda team is the KV-2 tank. Built on the KV-1 chassis, the KV-2’s weight makes it even slower. The cause of this weight is a combination of the 152 mm Howitzer (fuck huge) and the house sized turret needed to mount the monstrosity.

The reason for the KV-2’s unreasonably large size is because it was meant to bust bunkers. However, with the fluid tank on tank combat that developed during WWII the KV-2 quickly lost its place. That’s not to say, though, that any tank (of sufficient early design) hit by this thing wouldn’t instantly be reduced to a burning wreck of tears and sadness.

The KV-2’s success in this scenario (the match between Ooarai and Pravda) hinges on if it manages to get in the battle. The KV-2 is turtlish enough that it can’t keep up with even the other heavy tank, the IS-2 (although in the show they don’t seem to have a problem with that…lol speed issues again), because if it manages to find something to hit (and then manages to hit it), there’s no doubt it’ll blow up.

Fortunately Pravda seems adept at luring patsies into traps and counterattacking, so the KV-2 is right at home.

an IS-2 showing a lack of training by facing its weak side armor to the enemy. Not like it mattered, though.

Last but not least, is the powerful IS-2 (Or JS-2, depending on what country you’re in) heavy tank. Developed as a solution to the German Panther and Tiger, the IS is sprung off of the KV line. However, while having better armor in the front, the IS has a much better weight ratio due to better armor design as well as lightening the armor on the sides and rear of the tank.

The IS-2 retains moderate speed and mobility while still being a heavy tank. The evidence is not just in its armor, though, as the IS-2’s 122mm gun is nothing to sneeze at. The IS-2 featured in girls und panzer seems to feature the D25-T, as seen by the existence of (what looks like to me, but I’m no expert at recognizing muzzle brakes, as with my earlier snafu with St. Gloriana’s Churchill) a double baffle muzzle brake. This means that it is a later model IS-2, as earlier models were equipped with the A-19 122mm gun, which loaded much slower due to using a separate shell and powder charge.

While the D25-T is obviously more dangerous, both guns will do serious damage to Miho’s team, seeing as how it can easily penetrate both the Panther and the Tiger at combat ranges (although the A19 has serious trouble if the panther sits at an angle). I look forward to seeing how they conquer this beast (although more than likely they’ll just run away from it).

As an aside, I’m finding it rather hilarious how the teams just get more and more dangerous for Ooarai while they just kind of add another shitty tank to their roster. Saunders was hard enough, by all means Pravda should just be impossible with their mid-to late-war tech. I’m starting to sound like a broken record with “this tank could wipe the board with Miho and friends”, but then again if they didn’t it wouldn’t be a show I guess. At some point though it really does have to get impossible though.

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Also, a link to an article that proves that although the british may have had a hand in naming the M3 Lee/Grant, the americans did in fact name their tanks: http://worldoftanks.com/news/1833-chieftains-hatch-whats-name/

As well as a link to a series of videos of a very interesting panel on WWII tank history: http://worldoftanks.com/news/1771-chieftains-hatch-operation-think-tank-youtube/