Jman

You could have called this episode "QTE fails" and gotten the point across. The Shenmue II portion of the series has been pretty heavy on the detective work, which makes sense given he has nothing to really go on. I love how the thug fights are so passe we don't even see them. I mean, I get why, you see Ryo beat up one group of thugs to grind XP, you just want to fast forward to the boss. This episode is going to need a "Ryo gets knocked out" counter. "And if you do find Lan Di, and then you kill him, what next?" "I dunno, go to college?" Next episode - Boss fight!

15 years after the fact but still, GOOD.

Ryo's quest for Yuwanda Zhu leads him to the Yellow Turbans, the Triad that serves as the source of thugs muscle for Hong Kong's underground element. What do they want with Zhu and Ryo?

Meanwhile outside MSG during the NIT finals -

No thanks. I’d rather have the show on Netflix where the violence won’t be edited.

The Witch From Mercury isn’t out till October and odds are 50/50 it will be a Netflix show. (I know that’s not what you meant but still). As for replacements, most of the new stuff is locked down in the streaming bubble. Jujutsu Kaisen for instance, is worth way more to CR than on Toonami especially with the movie doing bank. Same with Tokyo Revengers and Shield Hero.

Today’s tactical Russian failure - Digging trenches in irradiated soil is a bad idea.

Jujutsu Kaisen 4-11 (over the last week or so). This show really loves its references. Wasn’t expecting a Cast Away reference of all things.

My pitch for Yacht Hunter continues to write itself.

What’s on the following week, no one knows.

There's a few reasons for that. Namely that the academy is mostly crusty old white dudes who just care about what their kids or grandkids watch to shut them up (which is why 9 times out of 10 Disney wins the animation category) and the people in the West defending animation as a medium...kind of suck at it. You got folks talking about The Owl House like it's not a canceled show for little kids because the lead girl likes other girls (when the audience couldn't give two shits and a holler about it) and stuff like Kaisen dismissed as "weebshit" because it takes attention away from their important, socially relevant stuff. It sends really weird signals when the guy defending animation as this big, mature medium lists his main credit as The Patrick Star Show.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/nielsen-ratings-sale-private-equity-1235121440/ Kind of wonder if this will affect how the handling of the precious ratings is done.

First female protagonist in a mainline Gundam series (0080 was mostly about young Bernie, and Twilight Axis doesn’t count).

Final Four is set. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj1s6K3luv2AhXajYkEHZ1-DAoQFnoECCwQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.espn.com%2Fmens-college-basketball%2Fstory%2F_%2Fid%2F33609470%2Fmarch-madness-first-look-2022-ncaa-final-four-men-basketball-teams&usg=AOvVaw0zsvtWeC0HvYaOynOuK6K7 Villanova vs Kansas and UNC vs Duke.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2022-03-28/netflix-live-action-one-piece-series-casts-peter-gadiot-as-shanks/.184123 We have a Shanks. Also a suggested Kureha -

The COVID delays really hit this production.

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/03/27/7334895/ “Sorry sir, we don’t have the fuel to go into Ukraine. But have some vodka!”

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/03/26/chinese-oil-gas-company-cancels-500m-investment-russia-dodge/ Given China's reliance on soft power (we provide you the materials you need for the products you want) to influence world policy, being isolated like Russia is a bad thing. So this is actually interesting to see.

"Move these books around. It was a minigame in the original game, we need to acknowledge it." "So, what's in these books anyway? It's dirty stories, isn't it?" Does the entire population of Hong Kong speak in riddles? Philosophical statements to confuse Ryo are the equivalent of "I'm walkin here!" in New York City. "You're so obsessed with that." Seriously, dude has a wooden dummy for a brain. Ryo, unlike his successor Kiryu, actually does beat up quite a few girls. This lady right here is an opponent in an underground fight ring minigame. Speaking of, here's the final boss of that little questline. "THAT'S MY PURSE! I DON'T KNOW YOU!" Everyone here is very egalitarian. Man, woman, hands are rated E for everyone. Landsharks, fights going on without anyone interfering, it's really amazing how much big cities have in common. Right down to the gentrification. Also if by soon you mean...10 or 11 years. "Why are you following that Japanese guy around?" Is everyone here boneheaded? The moral of the story, "avoid tunnel vision", I suppose. Also, of course she's the old master. I really hope he's writing all this down. Here's something that the games never really did well, or if they did, it got lost in the awful dub. Ryo's motive in the game is clear-cut revenge, but in the show it seems to balance between revenge and trying to prove his father wasn't a thug that deserved to die. The question of course boils down to "Is it about vengeance or justice?", but that's a question the game was happy to answer with "It's about vengeance." The show seems to be implying his motive is more about justice.

June 18 debut.

Don’t give the streamers any ideas. I’m going to wake up one day and see Amazon announce a LA Outlaw Star.

In proper animation to boot.

You have to wonder what’s safer, reporting to Putin or being in the field.

Ryo continues to not understand anything outside of kung fu while Joy is clearly hot for him. How this circles back to the main plot of Ryo trying to stand a chance against Lan Di is anyone's guess.

And they just beat Purdue. Lowest seeded team ever in the Elite Eight.