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Snake!

Skyrim guards…

How is it that we are only learning about this now💀

little girls watching Gushing over Magical Girls

bruh💀

btw, the rules say all post titles must be “anime_irl”

Personally, I’d prefer if Takuya isn’t dense.

That’s Special Week.

…that’s just being tsundere

Personally, I have seen so many memes about exiting vim that by the time I got to use it for the first time, exiting it was a no-brainer.

For any newbies out there, the command is

:wq

It’s like how vaccinations protect us from illnesses.

I’d argue that if it makes you happy, that’s intrinsic value right there.

Me with Gunpla (unassembled):

insert studied-the-blade copypasta

This Season

It’s the third corner and Oguri Cap has moved up the pack, breaking into top 10 on both r/anime and AnimeCorner for the first time this season!

There’s only a few weeks left in this season. However, we all know that:

Past Seasons

Following my rediscovery of Umamusume, I spent last week finishing up the rest of it.

Season 3

Unlike other Umamusume series, Pretty Derby S3 felt more like a sequel - of season 2 - than a standalone show.

It felt like they tried to recreate the magic (and success) of season 2, but IMO they didn’t manage to do it.

To be fair, season 2 set a high bar - we aren’t getting a backstory like Tokai Teio’s (in real life) anytime soon. Still, they could have went in a new direction instead of trying to replicate season 2.

I would have given it an 8 / 10, but had to knock one point off - because of annoyances like overusage of reused animation and failed reuse of past gags - making it a 7 / 10.

P.S. I find it cute (and concerning / weird) that Kitasan Black and Satono Diamond are sleeping with plushies of each other.

Imagine if your best friend / roommate sleeps with a doll of you. Like, WTF!

Also, just how deep in the closet are they!? At this point, just confess and sleep together??!

Season 1

I decided to give Pretty Season 1 another chance while I am still obsessed with Umamusume.

It was better than my initial impressions back when I dropped it.

I suspect that I got turned off by the trainer as well as the idol concerts in episode 1 the last time I watched it.

The thing is, like other Umamusume series, it gets better as we progress through the episodes. The characters get fleshed out and there is in fact some drama.

I liked it more than season 3.

I think it could have been more moving if they include this IRL lore of Special Week’s jockey, perhaps by incorporating it into the trainer’s backstory:

It felt like they did so with Kitahara Jo of Cinderella Gray though, making him more of a character.

I enjoyed it substantially, so it gets an 8 / 10 from me.

Oath of BNW (OVA)

As with most OVAs, - Oath of BNW / BNW’s Promise is more comedic compared the main series. It got me to laugh a few times.

They tried instilling a bit of drama, but IMO the drama is not very well-developed.

Nevertheless, I am giving it a 9 / 10 just for

Final / Overall Thoughts on Umamusume

I can’t believe I got invested in an anime of horse girls racing each other. This is yet another show that proved that I shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

Besides the drama and touching stories, I enjoyed the cute running (no pun intended) gags: “can’t take another bite” while the horse girls were sleeping, “can’t keep up” when the horse girls were overtaken in a race, special drink, …There are too many to name.

I am looking forward to what’s in store for Umamusume after Cinderella Gray. There’s so much material to work with given how rich the history of horseracing is. There are “older” horses who haven’t receive the limelight (e.g. Vodka, Daiwa Scarlet and Gold Ship from Team Spica), and newer horses IRL (e.g. Almond Eye) who have yet to appear in the anime.

This (me looking forward) would not have been the case if not for the peak that is Cinderella Gray.

The way I see it, it invigorated the franchise by drawing new fans in the way Witch from Mercury did for Gundam.

Imma wrap up my yapping by listing my top-3 favourite horses:

1. Double Jet (a.k.a Twin Turbo) - I love Turbo’s running style. Why bother with elaborate tactics as a stayer / betweener / chaser when you are so strong that you are way ahead of the others. Truly the embodiment of “Eclipse first, the rest nowhere”
2. Hachimi (a.k.a Tokai Teio) - very basic pick but Teio’s story is just too good
3. Oguri Cap - very basic pick but Oguri’s story is simply peak

Honourable mentions:

• Gold Ship is too funny and likeable
• Haru Urara deserves a shoutout for

I still remember Geoff Hinton’s criticisms of backpropagation.

IMO it is still remarkable what NNs managed to achieve: some form of emergent intelligence.

ITT: people who obviously did not study computer science or AI at at least an undergraduate level.

Y’all are too patient. I can’t be bothered to spend the time to give people free lessons.

You’ve hit the nail on the head.

Personally, I wish that there’s more progress in our understanding of human intelligence.

Banner:

@rikka@ani.social

I think sing, therefore I am:

Past Seasons

I completed a bunch of top-tier anime over the past week.

Toradora

After holding it off for so long, I rewatched Toradora yet again so that I can give it a proper rating on AniList (instead of doing so based on vague memories of the show).

Even after so long, it is still peak drama. The animation quality from pre-2010s held up, as did its soundtrack and artstyle. But what made it stood the test of time is its character writing and story-telling.

I like how every character can simultaneously be immature and mature. I love how the drama put their relationships through the wringer.

There’s no doubt that it is getting a score of 10 / 10 from me. Each episode got me hooked and wanting for more.

The harder test is whether it can enter my top favourites (i.e. top 10). For an anime to make it to my top favourites one vague criterion I have is rewatchability: it must leave a deep enough impression for me to want to rewatch it multiple times. Ultimately, I dropped Belle in favour of Toradora.

Link Click season 1

I heard that Link Click shares the same director as To Be Hero X. Apparently, he is a master of plot twists.

So I know I just had to check Link Click out. And boy, it certainly did not disappoint. I love the non-linear story-telling, as well as good it is at building suspense. The soundtrack Sign helped a lot.

Most importantly,

Also,

This is peak suspense, well-deserving of a 10 / 10. I will be picking season 2 up real soon.

Umamusume: Pretty Derby

With how good Cinderella Gray turned out, I thought I should give the series another chance after dropping season 1 - only one episode in - a while back. Shout-out to @selayar@ani.social for the movie recommendations.

Also, I inadvertently found out that the series is based on real-life race horses and ended up spoiling myself (probably like many others).

Road to the Top

Personally, I find that Road to the Top is quite a standard sports anime. It was a well-made movie. It knows how to get you to empathise with the protagonist’s struggles.

Normally, there would be more that I would comment on, but it got completely overshadowed by the next one I watched. I actually can’t remember some details of the show (e.g. I forgot Admire Vega’s name and had to check the AniList characters page).

It’s still really good though, so for now, I’m giving it a 9 / 10.

Season 2

This is it. Straight-up the best show I have watched all week. I don’t think I will be able to find a 1-season(12/13 episodes)-long, standalone sports anime that can rival Umamusume: Pretty Derby - season 2.

I noticed that its rating is higher compared to season 1 and 3, and heard that each season can be watched as a standalone show, so I decided to give it a shot. Its rating was lower than that of Beginning of a New Era though, so I saved what is potentially the best for the last.

Cinderella Gray may have been the lure to get me hooked, but Season 2 is the powerhouse that truly reeled me into the series proper.

When it comes to sports anime, I would expect an underdog story - one of a protagonist who’s constantly underestimated (and often ridiculed) by others, but eventually achieve their dream of being at the top through sheer will and effort.

Pretty Derby did not follow this formula. Instead, it gave us Tokai Teio, this cheery horse-girl who’s in her prime and nigh-unstoppable (neigh-unstoppable? XD)

Her story reminded me of

I thought I couldn’t draw parallels to any other characters till I realised there’s no need to limit myself to sports anime (or even anime).

Notice that the previous paragraph applies to Tokai Teio too.

A meta similarity is that both are really just high quality commercials:

And you know what? It’s working - on me, and on the numerous fans.

Also, the show-creators definitely knew what they were doing by portraying Teio as a happy-go-lucky, extra cheery girl. It is just like

In short, Pretty Derby S2 is the most moving show I have seen in the last few weeks. Also, I have lost count of the number of times that I have rewatched that legendary last race.

You know the score it’s getting: 10 / 10, easily

Beginning of a New Era

After the peak that is Pretty Derby S2, I had superbly high expectations for Beginning of a New Era.

I can immediately see why it received such a high rating: its animation is on-par with the best animated shows of all time.

Unfortunately, I find that Tokai Teio’s story set the bar too high for Jungle Pocket’s to clear.

I can definitely see the similarity:

However, I prefer Teio’s story.

It doesn’t mean its not good. I just don’t find it as good as Pretty Derby S2. 9 / 10

Now that I’ve went deep into the Umamusume rabbit hole, season 3 is next on my list. I may even try season 1 again for completion’s sake.

This Season

Meta thoughts:

I like how Cinderella Gray’s rankings on various anime charts mirror Oguri’s rise in the anime. Truly an underdog story.

I also like the implication of this rise:

• the episodes just keeps getting better and better
• its low popularity at the start is only due to a lack of hype - the moment people gave it a chance (like I did), they immediately recognise how good it is

Also, these anime-ranking sites’ treatment of To Be Hero X

Anime Trending

Girl of the week

week 3 rank: 17

week 4 rank: 13

week 5 rank: 8

week 6 rank: 2

week 7 rank: 1

week 8 rank: 1

Anime of the week

week 1 rank: 26

week 2 rank: 21

week 3 rank: 21

week 4 rank: 23

week 5 rank: 9

week 6 rank: 5

week 7 rank: 1

week 8 rank: 1

Anime Corner

week 1 rank: 31

week 2 rank: 33

week 3 rank: 35

week 4 rank: 28

week 5 rank: 23

week 6 rank: 15

week 7 rank: 12

week 8 rank: 14

r/anime

week 2 (episode 1) rank: 21

week 3 rank: 20

week 4 rank: 17

week 5 rank: 19

week 6 rank: 16

week 7 rank: 12

week 8 rank: 12

week 9 rank: 11