Nurse Witch Komugi-chan R Dropped:

There's a lack of sincerity in this show.  Dumb things are played off as gags that don't make any sense and weaken the quality of characters.  There's too much focus on fanservice and not enough plot to explain its existence.  I just don't feel like the animators are actually working hard to produce a good product on this show.  They just slap together whatever and think it will work by relying on cheap jokes and girl's bodies.  The previous Komugi-chan had amazing effort put into it by Kyoto Animation.  The comparison between this thrown-together product and that all-star product is immeasurable.

That leaves us with 17 shows left for the winter season.  Still a huge number and a fantastic season, with the 2nd half still to come.

There are 5 shows currently airing who aren't in the category of great, must-see, top ranking series.  But they also aren't dead or discarded yet, and therefore have the chance to rise up to the 'good' or even 'great' category.  Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm, Schwarzesmarken, Luck and Logic, Musaigen no Phantom World, and Konosuba.  I suppose they also have the chance to be dropped down to the mediocre level as well, like Komugi-chan was, but I have a good feeling about the remainder of these shows so I doubt that will happen.

I finished Five Portraits, the latest Xanth novel, which makes me all caught up on this series.  Like Index, the series is infinitely long, and there's still no sign of it coming to a close.  But like Index, I've read it all.  No author can defeat me.  Isis Orb is slated to come out later this year, so the slog will resume soon enough.  I also finished Shikamaru's Story, which leaves me waiting for Sakura's Story to come out this May.  It's important to note that Shikamaru's Story occurs before the events of 'The Last: Naruto the Movie."  Sakura's Story occurs after.  Someday it would be nice to see all this content animated in chronological order.

Hopefully the Republican controlled Senate will not allow a new Supreme Court Justice to be appointed by Obama.  It would leave the courts, and thus the entire government, since the courts are all powerful under our system, in the hands of the liberals for the next 30 years or however long the next appointee lives.  If we can just hold out until Trump is elected President, that would flip around and create a conservative majority for the rest of our lives.  The stakes couldn't be higher.

The Durarara Ten special finally came out translated.  That just leaves Tamayura and Wake Up, Girls! waiting for their translation.  It was a cute episode.  I'll miss Durarara when it's gone.  The sales of the anime have been horrid, so even though the light novels continue past this season of anime, there's no way they'll ever get animated themselves.  This season is sadly the end of the line for both Durara and Baccano as far as the anime goes.