The monthly refresh and New Year's festive awards gave me a lot of rewards -- samurai Inori reached her max power, limit 4 level break. Diva Ruka reached her level 1 limit break. Rocket Risa reached her level 2 limit break. Waitress Erika reached her level 2 limit break. Datenshi Chie reached her level 2 level break. Plus I got two all-new SS Memorias -- pirate Aina and vendor Chiroru.
The rewards aren't actually done yet. I'll get one more free SS Memoria next week. It's not enough to beat Skullfeather, I need snow white Yuki to at least get one limit break before I have a realistic chance. But it will help. Best of all it's all free.
Ukraine celebrated the new year by firebombing a party gathering of innocent civilians celebrating the New Year in Kherson -- killing dozens and wounding scores, including children. These are supposedly their fellow Ukrainians they're butchering that they are supposedly fighting a war to 'liberate' from the evil Russian occupiers. And yet this is how they treat their 'own' people. That tells you everything you need to know about who is right and who is wrong in this war.
It's the same parable as can be found in the Bible. When Solomon suggested he split the disputed baby in two, the real mother cared about the baby more than the argument and gave up her claim, while the fake mother thought slaughtering the baby was the perfect solution. At this moment Solomon knew who to award the baby to. And today we learned who Kherson province should belong to.
The party-slaughter is indisputable, there are videos and pictures of the burned out building complete with the burned to ash bodies of the victims. The only argument Ukraine can make is that Russia deliberately burned its own citizens to death just to make Ukraine look bad, and I'm sure they will make that argument, but it's the equivalent of literal Holocaust denial. You burn children to death and then smugly say you didn't do it in the face of overwhelming evidence. Perfect for wannabe Nazis. Like their invasion of Kursk, they want to ape Nazis in every way.
Ukraine also celebrated the new year by attempting to assassinate Putin. Like the previous Holocaust Denial, Ukraine denies everything. But Russia provided the actual downed drones with the intact flight and targeting data to US inspectors, proving exactly whose drones were going exactly where, so this is also no longer up for dispute. I suppose you could make some long and convoluted explanation of how Russia built drones using western components that normally appear in German factories, then attacked their own president with them, and then shot them down, to make Ukraine look bad. But you could also make a long and convoluted argument that the Holocaust never happened. Occam's Razor has a much simpler explanation -- Zelensky literally said he was wishing for Putin's death as his Christmas present, and so he tried to get his declared wish. He must have thought his Christmas speech was very cute, knowing that he was about to execute the attack within the week. He's confessed to his guilt already, there's no need to listen to his protests of innocence now.
What's the big deal with attempting to assassinate the leader of the bad guy gang who's so unfairly invading you? The big deal is that Russia's nuclear doctrine states an attack on their president merits a nuclear reprisal, so this is the second time Ukraine has attempted to blow up the entire world with nuclear Armageddon. This is also the second time Russia has elected not to nuke Ukraine despite Ukraine richly deserving it. Honestly, after the New Year's holocaust they pulled, that is the third time Russia could have justly nuked Ukraine but refrained. That's more patience than Buddha showed.
Watanare reached a satisfactory conclusion with the protagonist deciding to become not just a lesbian but a polygamous lesbian. In for a penny, in for a pound, as she explained. Now she can date both of her friends who confessed to her without hurting anyone. This makes a lot of sense to me, and seems to be the obvious solution whenever two girls are fighting over the same girl (or guy.) It's weird that only now in 2026 do we see writers coming to this obvious solution. But I do enjoy the progress. Kanojo mo Kanojo led the way, with 100 Kanojo following, and now Watanare adds a lesbian twist to the same ideal answer.
As for football, I was disappointed in Texas Tech being completely shut out in their playoff match. If their useless qb hadn't thrown a pick in the end zone they could've come back and won, but it was all downhill from there. The same exact thing happened to aTm. They were about to make a comeback against Miami but threw an interception in the end zone. So both my Texas representatives lost in their first match. I guess I'll cheer for Indiana from here on, because they've never won anything in football before, so it's a fun underdog story. I also suspect that if I cheer for Indiana I'll actually be happy at the end of the game instead of frustrated. . .
Ole Miss beating Georgia in the Sugar Bowl, despite losing to Georgia in the regular season, really goes to show how valuable these extra games are. In the old format Ole Miss never would have gotten a chance, but now we see they're actually the better team, the semifinalist who belonged there all along. The same for Miami, with the expanded format they got a chance to play Ohio State and beat them, something no one saw coming. Extra games means we learn a lot about teams we thought we already understood -- but clearly didn't. It turns out Miami not only belonged in the 12-team playoff, they belonged in the 4-team playoff -- because that's where they now are.
Demon Slayer Infinity Castle movie 1 is out for regular at-home viewing. I rewatched it, following the rule of rewatching all great anime, and sure enough it was still great. I'll never forget how awesome Infinity Castle looked in theater though. It was much more imposing there than my home tv.
I also finished Limelight Lemonade Jam's after stories, which is a full clear of the visual novel. I like that as a reward the game showed a new title screen with all four main heroines laying down in the grass together looking up at me. What a great last memory of the game.
Now I'm focused on finishing Aoi's route from Tenshin Ranman. Aoi's route isn't compelling and Aoi isn't very likable. She's inoffensive, and pretty, which is all I can say in her favor. The problem is Hime and Ruri are even worse than Aoi -- they actually are offensive. They're annoying people. One of them is constantly mocking Haruki and the other one is constantly biting him. There's no way I'd want to date either of them. On top of that this version of Tenshin Ranman is the annoying censored one with no sex rewards at the end of a conquest, so there's absolutely no reason to date Hime or Ruri. So once I finish Aoi's route I'll simply declare the game beaten and move on. There's still Koikari After Hours and Happiness 2 to play after Tenshin Ranman so there's no point banging my head against this wall.
I can't say Tenshin Ranman is great, especially this censored version, despite Sana's route being everything I love in a visual novel. Sana made me laugh and cry. She's so perfect. It's a shame she's stranded in such a bad visual novel overall. . .
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