Episode 157 of Key Frames, a podcast about anime. Man, when you have a strong season it's almost as difficult to talk about what the best anime are as when you have a weak season. Ben? Ben would fight to the death for Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia, and he'd probably be fighting against Duncan and Goodbye, Lara. Andy would likely keep his skin, but only because he barely watched the second season of You and I Are Polar Opposites and hasn't touched anything else. And are any of these fools willing to face up against the cultural juggernaut that is the latest Ghost in the Shell reboot? At least we won't have this issue next season... I hope.
Discussed:
You and I Are Polar Opposites Season 2 (1:58)
The Elusive Samurai Season 2 (15:30)
The Ghost in the Shell (2026) (20:19)
Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia (29:53)
Red River (41:02)
Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You (45:50)
Planetes (52:15)
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You Season 3 (53:48)
Kaiju Girl Caramelise (58:22)
Gintama: the Final (1:01:21)
Draw This, Then Die! (1:03:12)
Victoria of Many Faces (1:15:48)
Nu Lai (1:22:52)
Goodbye, Lara (1:28:00)
Le Chevalier d'Eon (1:42:27)
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Have I really never linked Kieron Gillen's essay on New Games Journalism before?
COMITIA is indeed not Comiket, turns out
I'll take any excuse to link the Rumpus article on Hans Christian Andersen, terrible houseguest
Hey, someone made a one-page RPG out of the incident!
Hey, someone made a web version of the one-page RPG!
Okay, let's not lose focus. Who was the Chevaliere d'Eon?
Who was King Louis XV of France?
Heyy
I had a weird fascination with Youjo Senki / The Sage of Tanya the Evil about a year ago or so. I think it feels more like first as opposed to second world war, but definitely a mix of a lot of beats and vibes from both. But that's not what I thought was interesting about it. Have not watched the anime yet, but reading into the light novels was quite something.
You get these really bizarre corporate manager monologues inside Tanya's head all the time, all endlessly circling around questions of efficiency, logistics, market dynamics, the folly of social projects, the value of and satisfaction from hard work, and so on. This makes some diegetic sense, as the person who got isekai-ed fits comes from exactly that corner of society, but it's also contrasted against the bleak prospects of late stage warfare, from the perspective of what amounts to a fancy foot soldier. It's honestly fascinating how Tanya can't get herself to conceptualise war from *any* other perspective than the perils or opportunities of employment - all of that, mind you, when she spends winters on the Russian front, has a live-feed view of the German general staff dismantling itself and the one remaining superstar general personally taking great interest in working her specifically to death.
So I'm not sure if 'Nazi getting bullied' fits the bill. Tanya is what I imagine to be something much more tangible to a Japanese mangaka or perhaps even ex-dark-company employee. The story drags on for quite a bit, and it's also not quite clear where Tanya will end up when the German Empire finally disintegrates. For now, it just reads like a very intense ritual of ultraliberal self-punishment.
Nod