Koikari After Hours finished:

Now I've read in full all the visual novels listed in my hall of fame.  I wouldn't endorse them to others if I wasn't willing to read them myself.  Unlike American foreign policy, I'm not a hypocrite.

As expected the remaining Koikari content wasn't very good.  It wasn't horrible or anything, just overall pointless.  Renai 0 Km should be coming out later this month, but until then I still have Happiness 2, so my visual novel marathon has no visible end.

I added two Bleach Espada to my wonderful hall of fame -- Ulqiorra and Starrk/Lilynette.  I find these villains were compelling, a lot more interesting and empathy-stirring than the Quincies have been.  Of course, Soul Society had the coolest 'antagonists,' since they actually thought they were doing the right thing.  But these Espada stood out when it came to coolness too.  I also just love Ulqiorra's character design.  He looked so strong when transformed, and his moves were so flashy.  The fight with him was the height of shonen action, in all of Bleach it's never been matched.

Ulqiorra got 'Answers' from FF14 as his theme song, which is especially appropriate since he liked constantly grilling Orihime with questions.  Starrk/Lilynette got 'Toto'Haha Island' from Octopath Traveler 2 as their theme song, which is also appropriate.  Toto'Haha stands for 'Father/Mother,' the two islands that were connected but separate from each other with their own designated gender -- that's exactly the situation with Starrk and Lilynette.  It's like the song was made for them.

Chihiro from Spirited Away was given 'Kaze no Toorimichi,' the theme song of Totoro, which is appropriate because they're both Studio Ghibli films with the same composer, Joe Hisaishi.  My version is sung by Sarah Brightman which makes it even more beautiful, though.

I'm really enjoying the winter anime season.  There are many more worthwhile shows than I expected.  The season hasn't remotely finished its debuts and I'm already watching 13 different series.  I could see reaching 20 by the end.  I did say this was going to be a fantastic season of anime and it looks like I was right.  Once everything has come out I'll say something positive about everyone at once.

The brief pause of football games ends today.  For the next four days it's back to playoff football, the best type.  I don't count the holiday season over until the Super Bowl.  :).  Then there's the Winter Olympics and March Madness, so really the holiday season doesn't end until April. . .