Aoi and Momo:

I took Aoi and Momo from Vividred Operation out of '100 Waifus' because their names overlapped with others, and they only have small roles in a small, 12-episode series, so if someone had to go it was them.  But they're actually great characters deserving of fictional character hall of fame status, once they're no longer stepping on anyone's toes.  So I added them back in to my 'Wonderful Fictional Characters' permapost, though obviously not back into '100 Waifus.'  That's what the Wonderful permapost is for.

This got me to an even 60 characters in the Wonderful permapost but not in '100 Waifus.'  I thought this was a good opportunity so I made a special new playlist for the Wonderful characters, basically, 'had they been in 100 waifus, what songs would they have received?'  This let me add 60 more unique songs to the 'Wonderful + 100 Waifus' music playlist.  These 60 new songs, in turn, gave me a chance to completely represent Love Live!, Noir, Record of Lodoss War, Xenogears, Lunar 1 & 2, Ogre Battle and Xenoblade.  I also covered all 5-star vocal songs that hadn't been caught in the previous '100 Waifus' music dragnet.

A lot of my unrepresented Wonderful Fictional Characters come from Heaven Burns Red, so obviously the playlist also vacuumed up a lot of Heaven Burns Red themes to represent them.  Soul Calibur, Chrono Trigger/Cross and Final Fantasy Tactics also got some love.

Since Wonderful Fictional Characters are just as good as the '100 Waifus' characters, only left out for various reasons like too many overlapping names, I think I'll listen to this playlist from now on.  Also, the new songs that represent the new characters are just as deserving as the old songs for the old characters.  They too were only left out for non-merit based reasons (basically, I just couldn't fit them all.)  If I come across new great characters I'll give them new great theme songs too.  There's still plenty of great music to welcome them with.

I finished enhancing and reverting the Memorias of all my new characters.  As things stand, everyone's A Memorias are at max enhancement, everyone's S Memorias are either max enhanced or max enhanced other than tear enhancements (tears are kinda precious), and everyone's SS Memorias are max enhanced or max enhanced other than introjections/skill evolutions (nordstrom crystals are also hard to get.)  Obviously I'll be getting those introjections and skill evolutions as soon as I can, but that will still be months and months from now.  At least I've done everything I can, and that's all I can ask of myself.

Burn my luck:

I decided to spend all my quartz (12,000) in an attempt to get my Russian loli, Charlotta, her SS Memoria.  Instead of all things I got the Indian loli, Vritika.  In frustration I went to the purchasable with cash SS Memoria tickets to see if I could get the Memorias I wanted the easy way.  I had a 1/3 chance each time of getting the Megumi SS Memoria I was aiming for, but all three times I got the Erika SS Memoria instead.

Of course, I do like Erika so that wasn't a horrible result.  But what the hell?  I'll have virtually won the game if I could ever get a Megumi SS, thus completing an SS version of squad 31-A, and I had a 70% chance to do so with those purchases, but still Megumi eludes me.

So in even greater frustration I switched back to at least getting Charlotta.  I bought two more packs of quartz and platinum ticket rolls and aimed everything at Charlotta, with the knowledge that there was only 1 day left to get her and after that she'd forever be beyond my grasp.  All the rolls failed me (I got more Vritika's, which were exchanged for limit breaks, as well as another Muua I could exchange for a limit break, and a new Chie (the Fallen Innocence SS Memoria), but never the one person I originally wanted, the Russian loli.  Only by accumulating all 150 exchange points (meaning I rolled for Charlotta 150 times and failed 150 times) was I finally allowed to directly purchase her SS Memoria fair and square (exchange points are an in-game currency, so I finally could stop spending actual money.)  Those exchange points would have all been dissolved into mist tomorrow if I hadn't accumulated enough (150) to purchase Charlotta, so it was all or nothing.  I had to choose how much Russian lolis meant to me today, there could be no dithering on the question.  The answer is I'd basically spend anything for a Russian loli.  And now I've got her.

As a Russian patriot who wants Russia to conquer Ukraine, it's the least I could do.  Rarely does my love for Russia and this particular video game so perfectly intersect, and when those powers combine I'm defenseless.  ^^;

The gift pack I purchased also included protean shards which allowed me to choose two more characters to limit break.  I decided on Chiroru and Charlotta.  (What would be the point of spending so much to acquire Charlotta if she were too weak to actually wield?)  Now hopefully, once I level everyone to max, I can field a Dark Element squad of potential strength similar to my Fire Element squad.  I'm close to getting enough protean shards to limit break another character, and I have a variety of good options to choose between -- Seika, Misato and Miko being the most reasonable.  I guess I'll lean in to my Dark Element theme and go with Misato next.

It would probably have been more reasonable to limit break a select six people to the max limit break of 4 and try to make one ultra-squad, but there are good reasons not to do that.  For one, I like more than six characters in this game, so restricting myself to only playing 6 isn't fun.  (There are only 4 characters I like who I still don't have an SS Memoria of, so I'm actually making good progress on this front.  It's just that not having Megumi after all this time is so utterly ridiculous.)

For another, limit breaks don't transfer between Memoria.  So if I get an SS Memoria to max limit break, only to discover that a later version of the same character has a new, stronger SS Memoria, I have to choose between sticking with the old version because I've maxed out its limit breaks (a sunk cost), or starting all over with the hope of reaching the higher potential strength of the new SS.  I'd rather keep my options open and be able to start over, which means not putting all my eggs (limit breaks) in one basket.

It costs twice as many shards to go from limit break 2 to 3 or 3 to 4 as it takes to go from 0 to 1 or 1 to 2.  So the reasonable balance is to get your character to a level 2 limit break and then stop.  I now have 8 characters with level 2 limit breaks and zero with 3 or more.  The sole exception is Ruka, who the plot gave me a max limit break version for free, so she hardly counts.  This is all part of the plan.

4 new songs:

Heaven Burns Red is the gift that keeps on giving.  I've added 4 new songs to my music hall of fame from it.  'The Changing Earth - Prologue -', 'Crystal Palace,' 'Desert Cave' and 'First Star.' They're background music, so it's okay to keep them at 1-star, though honestly they should be rated higher.  This way I can keep my tiers symmetrical and only kick out bad Valkyrie Profile music.

Via another monthly premium pass, I got another SS Memoria guaranteed ticket, but all it did was give Kozue a limit break.  Limit breaks are nice, but I'd rather have had an all new SS Memoria with all new skills.  Speaking of limit breaks, the premium pass guarantees me another limit break by the end of the month, which I'll probably spend on Hisame.  But who knows.  We'll see.  At that point I'll have 12 limit broken characters, enough to fill up two different squads, which is the bare minimum I need to handle these multi-squad boss battles.

I also finally got an Attacker-class Euphoria necklace through endless retries, which means people like Ruka can finally keep up with their squad mates in terms of sp and luck.  That necklace is probably worth more than the SS Memoria.

The SS Memoria I most wanted was Megumi.  After that Erika, Adelheid, Mari, Yingxia and Charlotta.  But it seems the game isn't so forgiving as to provide exactly what you wish for.  I'm still overjoyed at the miracle of getting Tama in a swimsuit.  That's basically the only good luck I ever got in this game.

Meanwhile France has proven that it, like Romania, is not a democracy, by convicting its leading presidential contender to a nonsense campaign finance crime and coupling that conviction with a nonsense ban on running for office.  Obama violated the campaign finance rules and no one cared.  It's only when 'proto-fascists' do these fake crimes that suddenly the courts pounce.  The intended purpose is obvious.  I'm so tired of America supporting our 'western civilization allies' when none of them uphold western civilization.  What purpose does NATO serve us?  Why are we so intent on providing free security for random uncivilized dictatorships on the other side of the globe?  How are we protecting the 'rules-based order' when Ukraine, Israel, Romania and France don't actually follow those rules?

Why must we get into all these wars for all these other people we share nothing in common with?

The way women choose their mates is sub-sentient:

In a depressing new article(https://www.unz.com/article/decadence-the-corruption-of-status-hierarchies-female-hypergamy/), Roger F. Devlin cites various statistics showing that women 'fall in love' and choose to marry men exclusively based on their educational degree status and/or their incomes.  At no point do they ever consider the character, personality, virtue, beliefs or behavior of their partner in life.  While men are judging women individually, based on their nature, women are fine with any cookie cutter android that is designated by society at large as 'impressive.'  They apparently can't even see our faces.  When a girl looks at a boy, she sees only a paper certificate floating taped to the head instead of a mouth, eyes or nose.

When you combine this system where every girl absolutely judges based on societal recognition, with the fact that 'societal recognition' has been captured by evil people who elevate your status not based on your merit, but specifically on your willingness to embrace Satan (obvious lies and a desire for mankind to go extinct), then you have the worst of all possible worlds.  Embrace nihilism in order to get a girl and not have your gene line annihilated, or defy the degradation of your spirit and allow your gene line and beliefs to be annihilated through the natural process of old age.  It's a catch-22.  If you do what it takes to get a girl you lose yourself, and if you don't do what it takes to get a girl you also lose yourself, just over a much longer timespan.  The only way out is surrogacy.  Reproduce without winning the approval of a girl.  But even that is expensive, which still means you have to get societal recognition (someone has to give you a high paying job, which is largely based on aforementioned educational degrees.)  So surrogacy is somewhat a solution searching for a problem -- by the time boys can afford surrogacy girls will be fawning over them anyway.

The only real solution is to win the lottery and then resort to surrogacy, which is a pretty narrow path to victory.  There's also the chance that people who specifically sacrifice their life prospects for the chance to spit in Satan's eye will be rewarded by God in heaven for all the riches they forego on Earth.  It just makes sense that the righteous should not end up worse off than sinners, specifically because they chose righteousness.  Or in other words, if you prove that you love God more than you love yourself, God will reciprocate.  In which case, in the long game, you'll come out well ahead.

A humorous aspect of the Devlin article was how accurate it was in describing my life -- men without degrees and jobs, which necessarily means without wives or children, spend their life playing video games, and self report as being quite happy with this result.  Yep.  Video games are superior to real life, and the real winners of the rat race are the rats who jump off the race course and start playing Heaven Burns Red.  I can personally attest to this.

Speaking of Heaven, I've decided to elevate Rumi, Saki and Nanami to my fictional character hall of fame.  Rumi is the ideal daughter every boy wishes he had -- sassy towards fools but respectful towards you, beautiful, hardworking and never complaining.  Able to take delight in life and the world no matter how bad it actually is.  She's even able to let you go if you're needed elsewhere and understand the larger picture.

As for Saki, she has a razor wit that gets to the nexus of every issue and resolves it instantly in a satisfactory manner.  It makes sense that she's the commander, because she honestly takes command and successfully resolves every issue that comes before her.  Nanami, her second in command, has similar qualities of, for instance, having the courage to attempt risky operations and send people to their deaths, when the alternatives are even worse.  But Nanami also has the virtue of being beautiful and hilariously calm no matter how nonsensical Ruka or others act around her.  By keeping her cool she keeps the Seraph butai on task, which is the only way anything ever gets done.

Ao no Hako and Ave Mujica get sequel seasons:

For a moment I had Ao no Hako on my anime wishlist, but it's promptly been removed with this good news.  I added a wish for a Heaven Burns Red anime in its place.  I don't really need an anime for myself, but I want the world at large to be able to enjoy this amazing story, and a lot of people don't like gacha games for whatever reason so anime is the only way it can reach them.

If there ever were a Heaven Burns Red anime, it would be a great anime, just not as great as the game.

The remaining content of Ao no Hako isn't nearly as compelling as what has already aired.  A season 2 won't really improve the rankings of the show overall much.  But more anime from a great franchise is always welcome.

I feel the same way about Ave Mujica S2.  It won't really move the needle on how highly BanG Dream! is ranked, but more is always welcome.  Also, I added the final song from the final episode of this season, 'Musica Caelistis,' to my music hall of fame, kicking out Valkyrie Profile to make room.  It's mesmerizing.

Speaking of Heaven Burns Red, I added another song to my music hall of fame, 'Zetaku na Kanjou.'  This song plays at the end of Chapter 4 Part 1, and it's designed to make you cry and it succeeds, given what's happening while this song is playing.  Aoi Koga, the voice actress behind Tama, carries this scene and this moment.  Honestly she carries the whole game.  Her voice is incredible in every single scene in the entire game.  I would add Aoi Koga to my beautiful voices hall of fame, except she's already there, and precisely for her role as Tama Kunimi.  I've been well aware of how beautiful her voice is for a long time.

I kicked out a Valkyrie Profile song to make room.  And I'm fine with Zetaku staying at 1-star.  It's a kind of ballad that I wouldn't normally like except for the situation the song represents, so 1-star is reasonable.

I completed almost all the songs in gig mode on normal difficulty, but one of them really trips me up.  I just can't seem to mentally grasp what the rhythm game is asking of me, since I have to hold down all the keys while still playing them quickly from one to the next.  Even as someone who practiced piano for years this is overwhelming.  I was so close to achieving my goal, too. . .

All that's left is to replay the recently released Chapter 4 Part 2.  After that I really will have to move on from Heaven.  I wish I could dwell in Heaven forever, but alas.  Well, I guess I could always do the event stories next. . .

Spring 2025 Anime Preview:

I don't expect much from the spring season, so I think I'll only list the series I have favorable expectations for:

Uma Musume Cinderella Gray

Hero Academia Vigilantes

Summer Pockets

Killing Slimes for 300 Years S2

Kimi to Idol Precure

If there's anything else good in the spring season I'll mention it in my first impressions post.  Honestly all I need from anime is Summer Pockets anyway.  It's good enough to carry the whole season.

Meanwhile I've been enjoying March Madness (there are still plenty of Texas teams left to cheer for) and Heaven Burns Red.  I defeated the Astrarium boss at X difficulty, but not in the crazy 12 turn limit that would give me maximum rewards.  Likewise I can't beat the challenge score boss at the maximum score reward.  I don't know who is stronger than me and capable of these feats, but I think I'm playing pretty well with the girls I've got and am achieving almost everything the game throws at me.  That's good enough.

At least I've caught up on all the recollections available.  So that puts me up to date with all the actual narrative aspects of the game.  I also promoted Dance! Dance! Dance! to a 3-star song alongside the other She is Legend themes, which is only fair.  I demoted Omega from Xenosaga to make room.

Charlotta and Yingxia immediately repay my faith in them:

My prescience is unbounded.  A day or two after I promoted Charlotta and Yingxia to my fictional character hall of fame, a new short story event was released in Heaven Burns Red featuring them as the main characters, where they soared to newfound heights.  This might have been the best event story the game has featured.

In this event we learn more about Charlotta's tragic backstory.  I had thought before she just had bum luck, but there's an actual and plausible reason for why she's the sole survivor of every battle with the Cancer, despite not being particularly stronger than her squadmates.  This makes her character a lot more relatable, because it's a lot more believable.  But her past intersects with her present, because she's confronted with the same Cancer that killed her friends in the past, but working together with her new friends, this time the duel ends differently.  My emotion as I went to avenge all the indignities this Cancer had done to my precious Russian loli was off the charts.

I've said it before and I'll say it again -- this is the best game ever made.  I've never seen so many tearjerking, heartfelt, absolutely momentous and memorable moments produced by any other game.  They are rattling these incredible products off on a biweekly basis.  It's absurd.  A writer could be proud of producing one such story in their entire lives, but Jun Maeda can make a new one every two weeks.

Heaven also added some more bonus features -- lots of free loot for logging in or completing flashback battles, and a new game mode called the Astrarium where you can get quartz and other goodies for defeating challenging bosses while only being allowed to fight with different squads in each phase of the fight.  I haven't had much time to fight at the Astrarium because of March Madness, but starting Monday I'm gonna be grinding there for quite a while.