PokeNirvash

And now the rest. FOOD WARS! - I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if the scene with Tsunozaki messing with Sonoka's tits out of frustration was cut for the Toonami broadcast, it's superfluous and sexual enough to rattle Demarco, or at least the goons in S&P, into cutting it. I'm a little disappointed that the extra beef Soma used as garnishes were all stuff he bought that morning. (So much for Meat-Meat's gift having any importance outside of inspiration...) On the flipside, I'm surprised the dub chose to refer to it as "honeycomb" instead of its more common name of "tripe". Whatever matches the lip flaps, I guess... Forget Disney Land, I'd rather go to Yukihira Land. [sees Clown-Mascot!Soma] On second thought, I'm better off staying home. Huh, never expected Mimasaka to be a former rich kid with cute meidos. I eagerly await the moment Erina quits refusing to acknowledge that maybe Soma's actually kinda good at what he does. Really, I'm just glad Hisako isn't there to make things worse. SAO ALICIZATION - Not even gonna bother watching this in fullscreen like I did with Food Wars (hence the protracted review), so it's going straight to picture-in-picture, like Flayaway before it. For starters, neither side's worth rooting for in this battle. The "good guys" side is all meh and boring, while none of the obvious bad guys, obviously, are remotely likeable, not even the ones who look like they could have at least a little bit of humanity in them. (Here's looking at you, Pugilist Boy.) "What's this 'Final Load Test' the gate speaks of?" Wrath and the STL: the Hollywood SFX industry's greatest enemy. We get it, you're evil, quit flaunting it like all your dicks are out at once. The transition to the OP was oddly appropriate-looking. Hate to break it to you dude, but your wife was a hentai protagonist, she wasn't worth it. THE ONLY GOOD GOBLIN (male) IS A DEAD GOBLIN (male). I'll give her credit, she was smart enough to aim for the biggest guy first. Shut up, murder lolis. They're gonna stab him again aren't they. Was his weapon always a whip? Oh no, stereotypically shaped smoke bombs! An Ethan Murray/Ezra Weisz character and purple smoke? Sounds familiar... Wait, that green-haired knight's a dude? 😮 RECYCLED ANIMATION NO JUTSU. Who knew goblins vs. a fire guy could look so boring, even with a Yuki Kajiura soundtrack to back it up? Oh hey, that guy finally speaks! This guy's fluctlight looks like it's about to go haywire. AND IT DID, WHAT A SHOCKER. I'll admit, seeing him glitch the absolute fuck out like that is honestly a cool scene. Yes, kill the cute girl with the freckles literal seconds after she gets facetime, that'll win me back for sure. >_> She looked prettier with pink lips, if I'm being honest. And then he was half the giant he used to be. Meanwhile, more goblins and humans killing each other like I'm supposed to care. Welcome to Namek Time, we hope you enjoy the next several weeks you'll be staying here the rest of today. I prefer the Council of Ten from that one cooking school in Japan, myself. And that one was half the goblin he used to be. Welp, Eugeo's mentor is doomed as fuck. Using your sword as an arrow is also too cool a move for this show. FAIYUR. Meanwhile, Bercouli's just standing around looking cool. I wish I was rewatching this week's JoJo right now. What is that she's making up there, a giant pinball? You suck, Green Zenitsu.

In/Spectre's already airing so I don't think it counts as a "coming soon". Also, I literally just remembered that it was God of High School that I read the first chapter of on Webtoon a ways back. I wonder if that promotional cow-girl ever showed up... Maybe now we'll get some actual plot and footage for HGS instead of more behind-the-scenes "muh diversity" videos.

Okay, so my DVR's been acting screwy again regarding what they consider "new episodes" of stuff, so I'm gonna have to root around in other places for this week's SAO and Food Wars. I'll get to those later, so for now, here's the other five. DR. STONE - God this show is great. If Toonami doesn't pick up season 2 immediately, I might just start watching the simuldub all on my own. Regarding episode specifics, full opening is a welcome one-week-only surprise, not sure if Chrome's as dense as everyone thinks he is, I'm amazed at how well Senku's dad planned ahead with communicating to him long after his natural lifespan, Taiju and Yuzuriha have been gone so long I forget how the latter sounded for a moment, and was that a Goku I saw for a second there? DEMON SLAYER - Great, an episode (mostly) focused on Zenitsu. For what it's worth, I appreciate him a little more now, even though I assure you he'll still get on my nerves more often than not. (Because he is the true Benji-kun.) And also because I watched this after Dr. Stone and not SAO, so things may change once the course it's taken starts making my blood boil again. BLACK CLOVER - You don't have to like it, you don't have to admire it, you don't even have to appreciate it, but you can't deny that the Black Bulls have some high-level teamwork going on when it comes to fighting. I'm surprised that guy whose ass and identity Zora kicked and stole respectively is still alive. Okay, show, you're starting to make me like Sally again, even if she isn't wearing her glasses right now. VENTO AUREO - Is it safe to say Giorno isn't even the main character of his own part at this point, because he had literally no lines this episode. I figured that random old guy was Prosciutto based on his pants. Bruno's my favorite for reasons both obvious and non to you. NARUTO SHIPPUDEN - God, that random mist ninja who killed Pakura is a Karma Houdini if I've ever seen one. He probably got unceremoniously killed off-screen before the show began, knowing the mortality rate of faceless ninja in this show. Also holy shit this episode was literally nothing but minor characters, unless you count that random pseudo-flashback Sai cameo. Also, I passed the first half of the grad school exit exams needed to get one of my two Master's degrees, so that's something worth mentioning.

My inner frustration with this community not liking one specific anime as much as I do put into words, that's what I'm talking about.

Tsubame's parents were way cooler than I expected, but man do I fucking hate that sharktoothed bitch from the student council who clearly only existed to serve as an obstacle for the Eizouken's anime screening. There should've been a scene where she tried to nab Mizusaki after the screening only to be stopped by the blacksuits working for her parents. Not only would it have been an improvement on the episode, it'd have made for some damn good irony.

I saw the first episode of Speed Grapher a little over a decade ago on a whim. I never really got back to it (yet), but I remember liking half of what I saw and being disturbed by the other half. Though it was more Saiga getting boners from taking pictures in warzones and Ginza threatening to use her gun while flirting with him that disturbed me than the ballet dancer who broke a little girl's arm to prove a very vague point or the scenes in and around the underground fetish club Saiga snuck into. By the way, the word you're looking for is "perverts", not "pedophiles". Two distinguishably different concepts that only occasionally overlap, like "sexism" and "misogyny".

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! #7: I Have to Do it For Myself! The Qwaser of Stigmata #2: Masked Friendship Case File No. 221: Kabukicho Sherlock #19: The Curtain Rises on the Grand Guignol

Kabukicho Sherlock 19

Well, the fact that the series gives focus to the lives of the main characters outside of the races and training for said races is the most prominent point of proof for that. It demonstrates them as being more than just the pilots for the titular sport's machines they're portrayed as in the media, almost as if they're actual people in their own right! Hence why we see not just the races, but the behind-the-scenes conflicts, especially concerning teammate infighting. Real world people aren't ideal. They have flaws, they contradict themselves, they can come off as petulant or even unlikable at times. Which is pretty much how many of the characters in IGPX - especially Takeshi in the first half of season 2 - are portrayed. A good example of the believability of character interactions that I never got the opportunity to bring up back when they reaired the show in 2013 was the relationship between Takeshi and Fantine, conceptually. Lots of people claimed it didn't make sense - except for Ranlsa, but who cares about her - but after giving it some thought (something people here are more often than not averse to), I realized that it did, but not in the way they thought. Takeshi didn't have as much chemistry with Fantine as he did with Liz, that's for certain, but that was the whole fucking point of it. Much like Takeshi, I was a teenager once, and when a teenager has someone of the opposite sex (or at least, the same sexual orientation) interested in them, they jump on the opportunity to date them, if only for the sake of having a girlfriend. Granted, I was too socially awkward to do it myself, but Takeshi took that opportunity, and felt the burn when his first romantic relationship ultimately fizzled out. A burnout that ultimately gave him the opportunity to realize who it was he had real romantic chemistry with. If that's not a realistic look at how a romantic relationship works for teenagers IRL, at least in comparison to your average lawlharem anime, then I don't know what is. However, despite my attempts to support the more realistic facets of IGPX, I'm not in any hurry to flat-out call it "realistic". Not after Metatronda claimed that Andrei secretly being the Rocket all along makes no sense when internet search engines can allow anyone to look up even the most shameful details of an athlete's private life. You know, despite the fact that Andrei claimed he wasn't trying to keep his past in the dark (just that it wasn't worth mentioning), on top of assuming the "confidentiality agreement" he claimed kept him from saying such things wasn't just a lie he told Takeshi to avoid talking about it right then and there, and assuming further that Andrei Rublev was his real name and he didn't change it to that after "Rocket G" left the spotlight all those years ago. My frustration with him utterly destroying me in that argument was admittedly what inspired me to conceptualize a sequel to IGPX exploring my headcanon take on those elements, alongside Top_Gun's 180 in opinion on the show come the second half demonstrating itself as most forced attempt at agreeing to popular opinion I've ever seen. Granted, my thoughts on all of this are way too in-depth for a show that's almost 15 years old and has likely been forgotten by most people by now, but my reasons for being so defensive of IGPX are valid. Besides my dislike of negative opinions towards stuff I genuinely like, I viewed IGPX as the "cool guy" show on Toonami back in '05-'06, no doubt in part thanks to it being at the ass-end of the block next to [as], in letterbox (the best aspect ratio preservation formatting), having really cool visual shots, and actually using profanity when the other shows couldn't! (11 year-old me practically shat bricks when he heard Miss Satomi say the ass-word in episode 12.) My official beginning-to-end watch in 2009 gave me a higher-than-before appreciation of the NINJA TUNE record label, to the point where I now own albums from several of their artists, including Mr. Scruff, Amon Tobin, Jaga Jazzist, The Herbaliser, and Bonobo. (The former's Trouser Jazz and the latter's Black Sands are some of my all-time favorite albums.) Not to mention somehow, I wound up integrating it into the timeline shared by several of my then-present and soon-future anime ideas, to the point where I viewed attacks towards IGPX's plot and characters as attacks towards that universe in general. It got so deep ingrained that not only did I create the hypothetical prequel IGPX Legend out of it, but I also snuck an extremely subtle reference into one of the chapters of the original anime idea I wrote up over a year ago. (By the way, Ben, your "Viewer Apathy Dynamo" comment from way back saw reference when I initially posted it here, so thanks for that.) IGPX is far from my favorite series, it's not even a 10/10 in my book! But I appreciate what it tried to do, what it succeeded at doing, and the unseen ways in which the former could be seen as the latter, and that's enough for me to consider it one of my secret favorites, if not an outright guilty pleasure. According to Anime News Network, IGPX's Japanese scripts were written between four individuals - one of whom was the director, another an animator, and a third an editor - but Demarco is listed as "senior writer" on the English side, so it stands to reason that he was behind more of the scriptwriting than Hongo and his team would make one think.

Another half hour down... 11:30 - Dr. Stone #24 - Voices Over Infinite Distance - TV-14L - SEASON FINALE 12:00 - Sword Art Online: Alicization: War of Underworld #6 - Battle of the Knights - TV-14V 12:30 - Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba #17 - You Must Master a Single Thing - TV-MAV 1:00 - Food Wars! The Second Plate #6 - Morning Shall Come Again - TV-MAS 1:30 - Black Clover #106 - Path of Revenge, Path of Atonement - TV-PGLV 2:00 - JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind #15 - The Grateful Dead Thankful Death, Part 1 - TV-MAV 2:30 - Naruto Shippuden #285 - User of the Scorch Style: Pakura of the Sand! - TV-PGV 3:00 - The Promised Neverland #8 - 021145 - TV-14LV 3:30 - Attack on Titan #15 - Special Operations Squad: Eve of the Counterattack, Part 2 - TV-14V

Sloppily written or no, it's still leagues better than Progressive. I do agree about the ending being weak, though.

In all fairness, the ending to Newhart is underappreciated genius, if only because of the laziness with which the trope is used nowadays.

I hate to admit it, but it was 4KidsTV that held my attention the most. (It was Fox Box for all of two weeks before it made the switch.) Even more weird, I was more into the magical girl shows than I was the action cartoons actually aimed towards my gender.

I never liked Naraku's baboon pelt, especially when I learned that's what he wore before I started watching IY in 2004. My associative image of Naraku was what he actually looked like (as a humanoid), so to find out that he was hiding behind a stupid-looking robe for so many episodes was such a disappointment. I'm over it now, but I'll never forget that initial disconnect.

The Qwaser of Stigmata 2

Demon Slayer's good, but it's not 10/10 material. Also, Zenitsu sucks and Nezuko is overrated.

Just another day in the '80s.

I'll confess, Bloody Eye did play a factor in influencing the Bloody Scarab. Avoiding coming off like a straight-up ripoff aided in the drug being an insect as opposed to an artificial substance.

Well he is the guy who brought up Paranoia Agent failing in the ratings before admitting that he liked it just as much as the rest of us.

Every week of your life that SAO's on the schedule, anyways... MY HERO ACADEMIA - I'm guessing that above-ground Deku was actually Toga in disguise. (On which I was right!) For a second there I forgot Mr. Compress existed, even if the one we're seeing now is just a mud clone. If I'm being honest, I don't really know what to think of Eri; she comes off as more of a plot device/spectator than an actual character. Lightsabers are kickass, even when they're shamelessly ripped off. As well as it fit the scene, that somber insert song stank of Oscar bait so hard you could smell it across the state line. Good, he's finally using full power without needlessly breaking his limbs! If only unconsciously... Huh, so he was able to predict that far ahead. I should've guessed he avoided breaking his bones thanks to Eri's power. It's a gift and a curse. It's easy to forget that Japan is more anti-drug than a D.A.R.E. officer. I'm not sure if Chisaki planning to create a cure for the Quirk-erasing bullets is supposed to be a good thing, but it's nice that he thought that far ahead despite what he was doing to make that possible? 🤪 Why am I not surprised that he was the one who hospitalized him? ORA ORA. That's one way to gain a dying man's respect. DR. STONE - It's amazing how much more I like Magma after last episode, just shows that it was his lackey who was the real problem. Anthropomorphic Osmium looks like deserves his own lawlharem. No way, Kaseki's less than 70? 😲 REPLY TO ANGEL 1: "You ever just rip your clothes off in a display of intense emotion?" I know Erina's grandfather does whenever he has a really good meal. I miss the days when Kohaku was called a "lioness" instead of a "gorilla". [insert dearth of comments here] High fives, all around! And then they learned the joys of indoor heating. That rap number. Still better than Demarco's taste in these "anything not shounen or original is worthless for Toonami" times. OHAYOU SEKAI GOOD MORNING WORLD~. (It back!) That's the biggest ass cell phone I've ever seen. The more ads I see for this "Duncanville", the less enthusiastic I am about it. And I wasn't enthusiastic at all about it to begin with. SAO ALICIZATION - Ah shit, here we go again. "I see you brought the invalid with you." He's Kirito, why wouldn't she protect him? Kirito's such a Gary Stu, he doesn't even need to do anything to be the best there is, was, and ever will be. "Cost him his heart", give me a fuckin' break... 😫 Those two seem to be doing well after what happened to them last season. Is that how you pronounce her last name? "Eugeo died on the way back to his home planet." Sometimes I forget he's missing an arm. He says not to cry, and yet you're still crying. This shit is getting too soap operatic for me. REPLY TO ANGEL 2: "I'm sure this is very emotionally moving if you actually gave a shit about any of these characters." Well, at least you acknowledge that someone finds it emotionally moving, which puts you several steps above all the armchair critics out there who refuse to acknowledge that a show they hate could possibly be viewed by somebody as anything other than shit. I'm technically only paying 3/4 attention, how was she able to transform herself like that? YOU SUCK DUNCAN. Now that I'm riding the SAO hate bandwagon, I'mma be honest, "Pontifex" is a stupid-ass title, even stupider than "fluctlight" IMO. Fanatio and Lipica (the Dark Territory knight who got strangled last episode) look so similar I actually had trouble telling them apart for a brief while. I like how they call him "black-haired" like that sort of thing is an absolute rarity in this microverse. Upon closer inspection, that helmet looks like a bird. Kirito don't discriminate. "I thought if I saw him, I could try a few things that might stimulate his recovery, if you know what I mean~." This lawlharem background music sounds an awful lot like the first verse "With a Little Help From My Friends". Bercouli's too old for this bullshit, just another reason he's my new favorite Underworld character after the unwarranted death of Dark Knight Blum. Oh hi Liena. I've never seen those two knights before. If by "ogres" you mean "wolfmen", then yes. Kirito looks like he's unconsciously enjoying two girls taking care of him. If you fall in battle, of course you're gonna call for him with the last of your breath, such is your fate as one of his haremettes. "You are the greatest swordsman ever." Oh god they aren't even trying to hide his Gary Stu-ness now. Congratulations, by telling him to survive, you just doomed his sorry ass. OH YEAHHHHHHHH. I still don't know who those two knights are, and I have a feeling they're going to die before I do. DEMON SLAYER - FUN FACT: Bryce is able to nail Inosuke's gruff voice by drinking black coffee, which he hates, before each dialogue take. I love his "I don't know what to feel but it's definitely gratitude" reactions. God, Zenitsu, you suck. For a second there, I forgot that female demon slayers exist. This demon boy must be serious business, if he's able to make his own mother go from confident to trembling in a hot second. Having your limbs broken hurts like hell, just ask Deku. I bet he's gonna get her stuck in something so she can't move even if she wants to. Or just hang her from a tree branch, that works too. I like how Inosuke's aiming to do things just as good as Tanjiro, and not necessarily better. Ooh, secret weapon time. So that's what the plot of that new Pixar movie about the blue elves is... I can see it working. GOD, ZENITSU, STOP SUCKING ALREADY! Please peck his eyes out for me, sparrow friend. Welp, fuck this bitch. It's headless, wasn't expecting that. Whenever Zenitsu has any screentime, a bit of my soul dies. Please eat him for me, random spider demon. Tanjiro's such a reliable guy, like Koichi before him. YOU'VE BEEN DISARMED. Dislegged, too. So what you're saying is, if not for that Rui kid, you wouldn't have snapped those three's necks? DOUSHIO. Only the most painless beheading for those who welcome death with open arms. This show does domestic abuse commentary better than SAO does feminism commentary. Sorry, but your crush was a hentai protagonist, it was never going to work out. FOOD WARS - I ate some leftover Chipotle tortilla chips and a homemade brownie while watching a Pete Smith short on TCM about making roast duck and baked apple before this, so if that didn't get me ready for Food Wars this week, I don't know what would. Did they intend to have Meat-Meat barge in the moment meat was mentioned in their conversation? And then Hisako left the show, never to return. Say what you will about their dubs, but you can't not love the effort Sentai puts into their subtitles. Sucks to be Anime Jimmy Olsen here. You fool, she only likes yaoi when it's in the second dimension! REPLY TO ANGEL 3: "This journalism student weirdly knows a lot of unrelated cooking terms." Well he does attend what's technically a cooking school. Wow, beef stew is even deeper than I thought. Yeah, those Japanese sure love their miso. "It's like I'm being chased by my own shadow." ...Persona? I don't believe it, Erina has another character quirk besides being a stuck-up bitch! Her aggressive dislike of Soma is just hilarious at this point. "If it gets me to read the next volume, then I guess I have no choice." Her tongue is so godlike she can taste the mere aroma of food. There she is, that's the Erina we all know and tolerate. I didn't even notice that they were including Sentai's subtitles in the clips for the bumpers. Not sure if lazy or extra-dedicated. Both door-closing scenes were missing the sound of a lock latching shut. You suck, Mayumi. 😲 Oh shit it's Mimasaka. It's a good way to get into your opponent's head, yeah, but nothing will beat Inspector Lunge holding a pair of chopsticks while saying "I am Japanese" over and over again into a mirror to get into (what he thinks is) Tenma's headspace. Rule #29: Do not interrupt Soma's meditation. "Even Chef Inui is going to be here!" And there's a 100% chance she'll hit on Megumi again. Don't be so tsuntsun, of course you're doing it for him, why else would you have been in his cheering section? From this point on, it's no visitors allowed. It ain't a multi-day marathon cooking session until you've tried to drown yourself in the sink at least once. MEANWHILE, IN LE FRANCE. Takumi's spent this last week angsting the fuck out. Those two judges on the right look new. And after two minutes, I know more about them than those two rando knights in SAO. I've never had ox, but I assume it tastes somewhat similar to beef. Erina actually liking what Soma's planning is something I'm not used to. "Here's my twist!" It's a shame we won't know what it is 'til next week. BLACK CLOVER - Magna seems like an almost different person when the shades come off. Asta was heading there anyways, the red thread of fate just got him there faster. AGAIN, SEIZURE WARNING MUCH? Luck's mother used to be a hentai protagonist in her day. If there's any time to de-possess him, better now than later! Oh hey, she has eyes now. Well, had. Go away, Gauche, nobody likes you. Luck ugly-crying like a One Piece character is also something I'm not used to. [drunk moms singing the Divinyls' most famous song in front of one of them's disturbed teenage son] Viewer discretion advised, indeed. Luck feeling empathy for someone, the things I'm not used to are only increasing this week. I feel like I like fightsexuality mode Luck more than I did before, and you know what goes here. (Not too big on him laughing more than talking upon return to the base, though.) Asta having known Henry longer than the other Black Bulls knew him (if at all) is a very specific kind of trope that I can identify with through my own work. Does this count as being multilingual? OH SHIT CHARMY'S BACK. Angel's right, she is one of the better characters. (Though I still find her hard to take during the periodic Black Bulls one-note gag roll call.) EAAAAAAAT. Like I said, she'd do wonders at Totsuki. Oh wow, he can talk normally, if only mentally. That terrible CGI, man. Puts GONZO's to near-shame. I saw two episodes of Ballmasterz once. Wasn't really a fan of it. Too obnoxious and in-your-face. VENTO AUREO - Abbacchio has it rough. If anyone's the real perv here, it's definitely Mista. Tell me about Pesci, why does he have no chin? Technically, it was Narancia and Fugo who killed Formaggio and Illuso, but if you wanna play the blame game with their direct superior, go right ahead. LA SQUADRA. Meanwhile, Bruno is experiencing big dick problems at their most metaphorical. Don't let Hisako know about that turtle. I DIDN'T SEE NOTHIN'! Sometimes a STAND is just a STAND, other times it's a goddamn fishing rod. Great work, now the train has no pilot. You can just here Foley's mind breaking at this whole "secret turtle room" scene, assuming he's still around to do so. Narancia, you giblethead. Careful, Pesci, turtles are known to bite. GRATEFUL DEAD. That STAND's got more eyes than a bad potato. Toss me a pineapple juice while you're rootin' around in there, Mista. SHIT COUNT: 2. Narancia's tooth hanging out his mouth by what I assume is a distended portion of one of his gums is nasty, but not as nasty as Flayaway. 😨 Ah geez, Giorno looks just as old as Joseph now. Meanwhile, the only physical diffeerence in Abbacchio is an abundance of wrinkles. That old man toddler is some fucked up shit, man. Narancia's nails peeling off remind me of Esidisi for some reason. The body heat thing makes sense, IIRC the ones who aren't aging as much were drinking stuff from the fridge. ICE ICE BABY. That turtle is 150 years old, and still young. You just got baited. NARUTO SHIPPUDEN - Sai's in too serious a mood to call you "Bushy Brow" right now, Lee. It still feels weird seeing all these ninja swords in action here after seeing them in action in Boruto. It's awfully fitting that Sai is capable of spitting up ink as if it were blood. And cry it as if it were tears too. Remember when "condom" used to be a taboo word on TV? Nowadays, they go so far as to drop the word in commercials that have jack all to do with condoms! Oh man, he's even sweating ink too! "Why doesn't anger come with negative feelings for him?" Because he's too hard-headed to experience consequences. I'll be honest, that's a pretty sick sealing jutsu. This episode played out a lot like canon for what was technically a filler.

Fixed.

Let's compromise: Programming was behind the first block reduction, Demarco was behind those that followed.

Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! #5: An Iron Giant Appears! Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken! #6: Let's Do Better Than Last Time! Kengan Ashura #14: Master and Pupil Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions! #6: The Atoned... Messiah (Innocent) Gungrave #12: Kind The Qwaser of Stigmata #1: The Trembling Night (rewatch) Case File No. 221: Kabukicho Sherlock #17: Looking Back on Saudade Case File No. 221: Kabukicho Sherlock #18: Lots of Animals

Well it kinda implies/states the other character featured is a bad guy.