Ken Tensei had a wonderful first episode with great voice acting and animation. I expected as much, since I've had this series rated for about a year now before its first episode actually aired. But now that the first episode has aired I can breathe a sigh of relief and legitimately include it in my top anime rankings. There can be no further doubt, this is one of the top 200 anime ever made. About a week from now Eminence in Shadow will also start airing and then my top 200 rankings will be complete. All 200 slots will be filled by actual anime that's actually aired and is actually longer than a movie and therefore a series, not a film. Every single show will be bona fide qualified to belong on that list.
More good news about Eminence, it's slated for 20 episodes, not just 12 like Ken Tensei. 12 episodes is the minimum length a great series can be, and with all these sequel announcements and 2 cour first seasons there aren't actually many 12 episode series left. Most of my ranked series are well beyond that episode count, or at least eventually will be. Vividred Operation, Suka Suka, Grimgar, Majikoi, Rocket Girls, Ryuuou, Unlimited Fafnir, Outbreak Company, Schwarzesmarken, Sakura Trick, Rokka no Yuusha, Death March, Choyoyu, Hanayamata, Gekkan Shoujo, Btooom!, Atelier Escha & Logy, Kitakubu, Shikkakumon, Kamisama ni Natta hi, Boku dake ga inai Machi, Shuumatsu no Izetta, Joukamachi, Imouto Sae Ireba Ii, Girlish Number, and now Ken Tensei.
Other series are listed as having 12 episodes but they're longer than standard length eps so don't count. Katanagatari is really 24 episodes long for instance. Of these 26 series, 8 are self-contained series and genuinely did end at 12 episodes (bolded for clarity's sake), the remaining 18 were tragically cut short and should be much longer. It's those 18 series that are both short and without endings that shine the brightest. It means their plots were so good that they clawed their way into my rankings despite all those handicaps. They could all be much higher ranking if they were supported as well as Naruto has been.
But who knows, Ken Tensei has only begun. Unlike these other 17 shows who are doomed, it may still receive a sequel and leave 'the minimum 12 club.' Even if it does, a full 1/8 of my rankings will be forever 'minimum 12,' which goes to show that 12 episodes is often enough to outcompete series of any length so long as they're all solid eps. It also goes to show that 7/8 of the series I approve of received votes of confidence in producers and consumers such that they were in fact renewed beyond their initial public offering of the standard 1 cour. That shows my tastes are in line, 7/8 of the time, with the wider world's. Which means the remaining 1/8 of the time I'm probably also right and it's the world that's missing out, not my taste which has already been validated as generally on target.
The Fall anime season is underway with Ken Tensei out the gate first. What a great way to start this highly anticipated season. Bleach is coming soon. I'll write up a first impressions post for the series I don't know anything about once enough series have aired to justify a post.
Meanwhile, I'm playing Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Micaiah is very pretty and a sympathetic main character I can get behind. Unfortunately the gameplay is no good. The stages are ridiculously challenging. The only way to win is to use the overpowered 'escort' characters who can beat anyone, but they don't gain any experience when they kill people, which means you'll never get any stronger if you rely on them. It creates a Catch-22. Use your weak characters in the hopes of leveling them and strengthening your army overall, or actually winning the stage so you can advance the plot, you can only choose 1, and yet both are ultimately necessary. No matter what choice you make you'll feel dissatisfied at the end, like you lost instead of won.
This same problem existed in Path of Radiance but I think it's even worse this time around. Three Houses had so much better balance between your characters, none started off high level and everyone grew together as equals. I keep pining for all the gameplay features of Three Houses. But for the sake of the plot and the characters I still intend to win Radiant Dawn. I've come this far so there's no way I'll let the game's difficulty beat me.
Meanwhile, Russia is losing ground rapidly in the Kharkov area. Soon enough Luhansk will be in peril. There don't seem to be any Russian troops that can come to Luhansk's aid, they're just on their own. This ridiculous situation, where some troops are fighting and dying on the front line, while millions of trained and equipped Russian soldiers sit and watch from across the border, doing God knows what, playing tiddlywinks I guess, as their fellow soldiers die, is so repugnant. It's unfathomable the way Russia is fighting this war. They have the troops, the tanks, the guns, everything, but they're not allowed to use them because this is a 'special military operation.' They have handcuffed themselves in an existential conflict. No one in their right mind would do this.
Now that these four regions have voted to join Russia as constituent parts of the federation, no different from Crimea, Moscow or St. Petersburg, you would think their defense would merit the use of the regular Russian army, yes the conscripted Russian army. If your regular army is not even willing to defend Russia's home soil then it serves no purpose at all and should be abolished. You could save money and at least redistribute all their military equipment to your real military, whoever they might be, that is actually willing to fight for the Motherland. Any further delay after this point is criminal betrayal of all the people you asked to put their trust in you and join your nation at great risk of Ukrainian reprisal. Anyone who voted to join Russia, is abandoned by Russia's regular army, and then is conquered and killed by Ukraine, is entirely blood on Putin's hands. He could, at any moment, decide to save these people, and as of yet he has chosen not to. It's despicable. It's also unfathomable. No rational actor could simultaneously arrange for an invasion, a referendum, and a 'special military operation' that forbids using the vast majority of your army to actually succeed in said invasion and referendum. If Putin does not move in the real army to save Luhansk in the next week or so the rest of the Russian government should remove him from office and find someone with the guts to do so. They have a moral obligation to these people and if Putin can't see that well someone else has to, there is no other choice.
Your other choice is to nuke Ukraine's front line so thoroughly that Luhansk doesn't need extra troops any more, but that would invite western intervention in the war, which would quickly escalate to the whole world going up in atomic ash. It's an insane choice. It's so stupid when you have the answer sitting right in front of you, your army of millions of men ready to go whenever called upon, just sitting futilely at the border. Again, if Putin chooses nukes instead of his regular army as the solution he should be deposed and a sane alternative put in power. No matter what these troops need to be reinforcing Luhansk within the week. There's no more time to pussyfoot around. This is now Russian territory being conquered and Russian people being liquidated by Ukraine. If you will not stir for this then you may as well slit your own throat and be done with it. Russia as a nation will not deserve to exist.
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