Gaza Truce:

Something marvelous is happening now that Trump is coming to power -- Israel is backing down.  Its maximalist plan of destroying Hamas by destroying every last living person in the Gaza Strip is ending, to be replaced by an end to the bombing and the beginning of unrestricted aid moving in from Egypt to all the victims of Israel's attempted genocide.

Hamas will remain in charge of the Gaza Strip and will receive the prisoner exchange they were asking for from the very beginning, all they ever wanted since October 7th, 2023.  So basically this is a complete Hamas victory.  Israel gained nothing through its barbarism and murderism.  They did no better at defeating the enemy armed forces while losing the good will of the entire world.  This proves that state terror is not a viable tool for national leaders.  Only the good type of warfare that avoids civilian casualties ultimately leads to victory, like how Russia treats Ukraine.

This is a victory for humanity.  If Israel had fought a humane war like Russia from the start they probably could have defeated Hamas with the whole world's blessing.  I would've been totally fine with that.  But they chose to use the terror attack as an excuse to commit genocide against millions of women and children who had no foreknowledge or complicity in the event, turning all people with a conscience against them.  Because public pressure and condemnation worked, most of those women and children will get the aid they need and live.  But that doesn't mean Israel wasn't trying to kill them.  In their own words they've confessed multiple times their desire to kill all the Palestinians.  They were forestalled, by people like us, who raised our voices, and voted against Genocide Joe, Israel's enabler.  Now that Trump is in town Israel respects us again and when we order a truce we get a truce.  So just by voting for Trump I've personally saved millions of innocent lives.  I'm a saint.

Now if Trump fulfills his word and ends the war in Ukraine I'll have saved billions of lives, by forestalling nuclear war, as opposed to a humdrum Holodomor.  My ticket to heaven will be well and truly punched.

Winter 2025 Anime First Impressions: Part 3

Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku:  A very pretty show with likable talented girls.  This is another 'cute girls doing cool things' series, but this time it's recitation, as opposed to golf or figure skating.  Pass.

Isekai Mahou no Tsukurikata:  At least the first episode was excellent, challenging today's moral norms against incest in a very clever way -- what if the siblings live together forever but don't have sex?  What's the complaint then?  No deformed babies to whine about this time.  Pass.

Honey Lemon Soda:  Why do people take exception with the male's blond hair when literally everyone in the anime has strangely colored hair?  Why is the heroine so useless that all she can do is stand or sit silently and cry?  And the biggest question of all, why is the only possible way for a girl to become romantically attracted to a guy is if he saves her from immediate physical danger?  Where does that leave the other 99% of men who are not conveniently situated near crime victims?  Fail.

Around 40 Otoko no Isekai Tsuuhan:  A surprisingly good series.  An isekai'd guy is given the cheat power of being able to shop for Earth goods that instantly teleport to his new world.  The new world is obviously lacking in many Earth goods, so he can sell them at a high price.  Then he can exchange the silver and gold he earns in his new world for Yen, where silver and gold are priced highly, and make an overall dramatic profit.  With this simple cheat he's basically infinitely wealthy while still having access to all modern conveniences.  This makes him attractive to the ladies as well.  (Girls really are simple, aren't they?)  A light-spirited story about doing business in another world is a refreshing change from all the overpowered beatdown combat isekai tropes.  Pass.

Kanteishi:  So this boy is tortured for the entire episode due to foolishly deciding to dungeon crawl a dungeon that's way stronger than him.  But a dryad of the World Tree decides to bail him out for whatever reason.  It's implied in the opening and ending that from here he's granted free power from the dryad and then goes and wreaks havoc on monsters and impresses society from here.  I'm not interested.  The results have nothing to do with the decisions the character made so it's completely meaningless.  I wish a dryad would randomly take pity on me and give me ultimate power too, but that's not how reality or the human condition works. . .Fail.

From Bureacrat to Villainess:  Like every other villainess genre story, I fail to see the point.  If the lone obstacle in the story, the villainess, is removed, then what is there left to talk about?  Overcoming nothing?  Achieving nothing?  If the villainess is nice then okay, case closed.  The story evaporates on its own.  Fail.

Welcome to Japan Ms. Elf:  Marie is one of the most beautiful elves I've ever seen.  It's a shame she's stranded in such an awful show.  Fail.

Farmagia:  Take a lot of tired old gags from previous Hiro Mashima works, plus a lot of tired old character models from previous Hiro Mashima works, and some tired old plotlines from previous Hiro Mashima works, and you get Farmagia.  What a mess.  Fail.

Ubel Blatt:  Men who are rude to women are not automatically 'cool.'  They're just jerks.  Fail.

Guild Receptionist:  This story is so well animated.  Why must it waste all that budget on the same joke for the entire 24 minutes of the first ep?  It was funny the first time -- not the 80th.  Fail.

Sakamoto Days:  Not only is the main character fat, he's also silent and only talks by pointing at written signs.  It's ridiculous.  This kind of behavior, which is entirely voluntary on his part, is completely anti-social.  Does he think his wife and daughter enjoy their fat silent father figure?  Why should they have to put up with his random eccentricities?  Fail.

A-Rank Party wa Ridatsu:  A surprisingly decent show given its premise.  This very good looking red mage decides he could find a better party and hooks up with a bunch of his former female students who are all hot and very admiring towards him.  It's like paradise compared to his old party.  I just hope he isn't a pussy like all Japanese characters are and refuses to touch any of them moving forward. . .Pass.

Mahoutsukai Precure Mirai Days:  I'm always leery of sequels to stories that never intended to have sequels.  This one doesn't do anything offensive, but it also doesn't do anything promising, so I can't tell if it lives up to the original.  For now it's 'good' and we'll wait and see if it's 'great.'  Pass.

Sentai Red Isekai:  What if a Power Ranger went to an isekai?  This burning question at the heart of all philosophy is now answered -- a rather hilarious and exciting fusion is born.  Pass.

That's the full winter season.  18 series for now, which will drop down to 17 once Arifureta ends.  That's a fine season as far as quantity goes, but it's a bit lacking in quality.  No more Bleach or Fairy Tail or Sword Art Online to accompany us like last Fall.  But life can't always be that good.

* * *

Here's the good anime that's currently airing this season and is worth at least a try, in the order of how exciting each episode is week to week (not in the order of how good the series is overall, which would favor older/longer series too much):

1.  Ao no Hako

2.  100 Kanojo S2

3.  Class no Daikirai na Joshi to Kekkon suru Koto ni Natta

4.  Wonderful Precure

5.  Grisaia Phantom Trigger

6.  Ave Mujica

7.  Mahoutsukai Precure Mirai Days

8.  Arifureta S3

9.  Hana wa Saku, Shura no Gotoku

10.  Dragon Ball Daima

11.  Medalist

12.  Isekai Mahou no Tsukurikata

13.  Sentai Red Isekai

14.  Around 40 Otoko no Isekai Tsuuhan

15.  Sorairo Utility

16.  A-Rank Party wa Ridatsu

17.  My Happy marriage S2

18.  Rurouni Kenshin Remake Kyoto-hen

Trump's statement unravels America's entire fake moral foreign policy stance of the last 75 years:

America has been going around the world as a sort of policeman for the last 75 years, saying 'borders are sacred' and 'no country can conquer another's territory,' and bombing everyone who tries to do so.  That's why we intervened to save Kuwait from Iraq, Taiwan from China, South Korea from North Korea, South Vietnam from North Vietnam, Ukraine from Russia, and so on and so forth.  Every single war America has waged has been premised on this 'borders are sacred' or 'genocide requires humanitarian intervention' moral foundation.  But Biden and Trump have already thrown out the 'genocide' argument because they support Israel's genocide of the Gaza Strip.  The last argument they had was 'borders are sacred,' but Trump has unilaterally, in exchange for nothing, thrown out that last justification for U.S. foreign policy with the insane and reckless assertion that he is willing to conquer Greenland and the Panama canal for the sake of U.S. geostrategic security.

So it turns out borders aren't sacred.  Israel you could say was an exception because of its overriding security needs and the Holocaust blah blah blah.  But you cannot say that Greenland is such a vital interest to the United States that the U.S. risks being genocided if it doesn't first seize Greenland.  We have now just learned that the sacredness of borders ranks somewhere below the security benefits of conquering Greenland.  If that's true of the United States, since all moral laws are universal, this must also mean that any other country that could benefit its security by taking something more vital to its security than Greenland is vital to the U.S.'s security, ipso facto must have a green light.

It would be hypocritical of America to say otherwise.

From this new vantage point, it becomes obvious that Argentina's security is threatened by Britain's control of the Falkland Islands.  Ireland's security is threatened by Britain's control of Northern Ireland.  China's security is threatened by Taiwan's independence.  Spain's security is threatened by Britain's control of Gibraltar.  Russia's security is threatened by NATO's control of Ukraine.  (And for that matter NATO's control of Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Finland.)  Ethiopia's security is threatened by Eritrea cutting it off from the sea.  India's security is threatened by Bangladesh almost cutting off its land access to its eastern provinces.  Indonesia's security is threatened by Malaysia occupying half of its island.  Kuwait denying Iraq most of its access to the sea is denying Iraq national security.  Guyana not giving over its oil revenue to Venezuela is threatening Venezuela's security.  And I'm sure there are many, many more reasonable cases of national security being put at higher risk than America's risk of not owning Greenland.

But Trump has stated that Greenland is necessary for U.S. security.  Not even 'valuable' or 'pertinent,' but necessary.  It is a do or die, must, issue.  So if Greenland is that important, every conflict listed above and more are morally justified.  There is no logical way out of this puzzle.  By even asserting this, not actually doing it, but asserting it, you have justified every possible land grab on Earth.  Because you cannot hypocritically demand other people not look to shoring up their security while you say it is 'necessary' to annex Greenland for your own.  People will swallow shit, but they cannot swallow too much shit without gagging it back up.

I wanted Russia to win the Ukraine war and expose America's hypocrisy with regards to Israel compared to Ukraine, but this Greenland/Panama/Canada rhetoric has actually already fulfilled all my desires.  There is no way America can any longer complain about Russia violating Ukraine's sacred territorial integrity, because in the space of a week America has already said, three times, in three different places, that it no longer holds territorial integrity to be sacred anymore.  It now thinks nations should act in the best interests of their own security and woe to the conquered.  So if that's the new system, then what are we fighting Russia in Ukraine for?  For a completely amoral goal of just randomly weakening Russia because we don't like them?  For no moral purpose at all, but out of pure malice?  Because Russia is a potential adversary in a future world war?  Why are they a potential adversary?  They were our ally in World War I and World War II.  If you're nice to Russia they have a historical record of being nice back to you.  If the only reason we need to antagonize Russia is so that we can beat Russia after antagonizing them, wouldn't it be wiser to just not antagonize them in the first place?

There is no argument.  There is no moral argument, there is no practical argument.  Trump has scuttled all possible arguments for why we are bombing Russia before he even took office.  This is ridiculously embarrassing as an American, because it exposes what weaselly hypocrites we are to the entire world, but as a pro-Russian it's like music to my ears.  Keep talking Trump.  This is why I elected you!  Keep burning our reputation down to the very ground and then melting down through the basement all the way to Hell.  That's where our reputation belonged all along, but now, finally, it's visible to everyone.  The pretense has been ripped off and the ugly truth has been exposed, naked, to the world for the very first time.  Every single foreign policy act America took was not out of moral concern but naked self-interest.  And all those tens of millions of people we killed for the sake of 'world peace' and the 'international rules-based order' were actually massacred for American self-interest.  Suddenly we've perpetrated a genocidal war on the world with more victims than Hitler.  If you add up all the American interventions since World War II you can easily reach that number of civilian deaths.  And now there is no moral argument for a single one of them.  There is only the brutal, unclad, iron American fist.  Saying, 'this is in our interest, this is for the sake of our security.'  Well two can play at this game.  Ukraine is in Russia's interest, full stop.  The entirety of Ukraine is in Russia's security interest -- and Latvia too.  Woe to the conquered.  Actually three can play this game.  Taiwan is in China's security interest.  And South Korea is in North Korea's security interest.  Actually everyone can play this game.  Let's go.  Let's throw the whole table over.  Now that we know what the real rules of the game are -- not the phony 'borders are sacred' and 'no genocide' rules, but the real rules 'this is in our interest therefore it's okay,' let's get everyone playing the game at once.  Not just America.  The whole world deserves to play this new game.  And let the chips fall where they may.

Winter 2025 Anime First Impressions: Part 2

Medalist:  I love figure skating, but I was unsure about the art style of this show coming in.  Luckily it looks great when it's trying to be serious (sort of like Kimetsu no Yaiba).  The show has too many dumb gags, but if you ignore all those it's a story with real heart and soul.  It talks about real things head-on and doesn't flinch away from saying what's important to people.  A surprisingly good success.  Pass.

My Crush always speaks in Okinawan:  Or whatever the real title is.  The point is this useless guy has a crush on a girl he can't even communicate with.  (So it's clear what he likes about her, huh?).  Meanwhile he feels nothing for a girl who likes him, can speak his language, and is nice to him.  Because apparently that's not good enough and he'd prefer this doll with whom he can't communicate instead. . . Fail.

Kunoichi NEET:  I stopped at the halfway point because this show is dumb.  If a boy already owns a place, keeping a girl in it doesn't cost more than $5 a day.  The idea that she should feel bad about freeloading at his place in exchange for slaying the constant demons that are attacking him is ridiculous.  A soldier receives hazard pay in a warzone far higher than $5 a day, so she's actually giving him a huge discount.  Fail.

I want to escape princess lessons:  There was nothing wrong with the first episode.  It looked good and had an interesting scenario.  Unfortunately the opening and ending sequences show that everything that happened in the first episode is about to be undone, and instead a mindless, dishonorable, stupid show is about to begin.  I've never seen such an ominous opening that makes me want to run away from the story at maximum velocity.  Openings are suppose to entice people to watch your show, not avoid it. . .Fail.

Zenshu:  Girls shouldn't cover their faces with hair.  Fail.

I Have a Crush at work:  Lying is bad.  Fail.

My Noble Lineage is Faltering so I tried magic:  Or some title like that.  The point is this guy is a genius mage who has it all -- wealth, fame, power, women -- all by the first episode.  So if he's already achieved all his dreams what's the point of the rest of the series?  Fail.

Medaka Kuroiwa resists my charms:  Or some title like that.  A super cute blonde girl is used to being adulated by everyone around her, so is annoyed and intrigued when this random classmate Medaka blows her off.  Since he occasionally shows her gentlemanly kindness she's hypnotized by his tsundere moves and genuinely falls for him.  At the end of the episode we learn Medaka is aspiring to become a Buddhist monk, which includes taking an oath of celibacy, so he's purposefully ignoring the girl's temptations.  This is apparently a real thing that Buddhist monks really do, but why anyone in the modern era would actually prefer to become a Buddhist monk over the husband of a cute blonde girl who loves you is unbelievable.  I doubt there's a single boy on Earth who would actually choose that.  Fail.

Mahoutsukai no Yakusoku:  This is clearly based off of some otome game where a girl is surrounded by pretty boys who all vie for her affection due to her special magic which she didn't know she had until she randomly appeared in this new world.  Clearly I'm not the target audience.  Fail.

I guess I'll finish off my first impressions with the remaining series that haven't debuted yet in a part 3.

Most Precure rewatched:

Precure keeps getting longer and longer, so rewatching it keeps getting harder and harder.  But I mostly managed to do so today -- all that's left is a handful of Wonderful Precure eps, Max Heart and GoGo.  There's also the new Mirai Days and You and Idol Precure to worry about, but they'd have to first prove themselves to be great before rewatching them becomes a concern.  So I have either 2.2 seasons or 3.5 seasons to go (Mirai Days is shorter than regular Precure seasons).

Max Heart and GoGo aren't particularly good seasons of Precure, they basically used all their best ideas in their first iterations, Futari and Yes, so of course the second seasons of the same group of Precure would be worse.  So I can already say definitively that the best three seasons of Precure were Happiness Charge, Splash Star and Healin' Good, in that order.  After that is Doki Doki, and then a morass of about equal seasons:  Suite, Smile, Star, Wonderful, Yes and Mahoutsukai.  A tier down from those are Futari, Princess, Fresh and Tropical.  The worst was Heartcatch.

I wish there was a 'Precure Kai' that cut all repeat animations.  Even better would be an edit that cut all meaningless, episodic fights where no new skills were used by either the good guys or bad guys.  Then they could also cut all repeat gags or dumb side characters who exist solely for comic relief.  Next they could cut any 'inspiring speech' where a Precure says something that a previous Precure in any previous season has already said.  At the end of all that I think there would be a solid core of Precure about 1/3 as long as the existing series.  I'd happily rewatch that series again.  But it's going to be a long time before I want to rewatch the Precure I just rewatched again.  This took entirely too much time and effort.

The insane length of Precure is a blessing and a curse -- it's ranked #4 because it's so much longer than everybody else, but due to being so much longer actually watching it is the biggest chore in the world.  And it doesn't look like Precure is going anywhere, so that length is just going to keep growing from here.  At this rate 1/10 of my total ranked anime episodes will all be from Precure. . .

Meanwhile, Russia finally took Kurakhove, a town of only 19,000 people before the war began that somehow managed to occupy Russia's military for the last three months.  But a win is a win.

I also defeated somebody today -- the last level II Orb Boss, which was resistant to fire attacks, making it a real challenge for my fiery sextuplets.  I don't think a game called 'Heaven Burns Red' should have any fire resistant enemies, it's like false advertising. >.<.

The NFL Playoffs are set with lots of intriguing matches.  It's a shame the Bengals didn't make it -- they were much better at the end of the season than the beginning.  But the Broncos are looking pretty good too.  I think the Bills are going to win it all, but there are so many talented teams there's no telling how this will play out.

Biden giving Presidential Medals of Freedom to George Soros and Hillary Clinton is one of the most inverted and ironic things I've ever seen.  I hope these two old losers enjoy their earthly treasures now, because very soon now they'll be burning in Hell for eternity, and the taste of their current adulation will be like ashes in their ever-burning mouths.  Like Biden, the giver of these fake honors, these are two of the most evil people to have ever walked the Earth, so of course America honors them as two of the best people.  It's so rich how Satanic America always strives to be.  But they're both at death's door, all three of them are at death's door, wrinkled and worthless.  All three lost the election to Trump despite trying their best, despite trying to kill him twice, despite trying to jail him four times, despite trying to bankrupt him, despite trying to defame him, despite trying everything they could to get him.  In a few days Trump will be in power and they will be absolute nobodies.  Their medals will shine like pyrite on their sunken, sagging chests.  And then they will die and meet their Maker for the justice that was delayed far too long, but not denied.  Never denied.  Justice comes for us all.

Konozora Snow Presents finished:

Kotori isn't my favorite girl from Konozora, but she's still worthy of a fictional character hall of fame entry, so spending an entire visual novel with her isn't bad.  I feel like it would have been better if there had been less sex and more substance, but honestly all the 'substance' was covered in the original visual novel so there wasn't much left but sex with Kotori to talk about.

Meanwhile, I finished my rewatch of Mahoutsukai Precure in preparation for the Mirai Days sequel, which starts in 6 days.  Now I'll actually remember all the characters.  I'm continuously amazed by how beautiful this season is compared to the other Precure seasons.  The budget for this season must have been twice as big as everybody else's.

I also cleared the two new events Heaven Burns Red came out with in their latest update.  One of them involved the Ohshima sisters, my favorite sextuplets, so of course was amazing.  Yet again the game leaves me hanging.  I want to see what happens in the main plot, not beat my head against unbeatable challenges in various training modes.  This game would be perfect if only it were actually released.

Next up is Hatsuyuki Sakura, which should have more substance because it's the main game, not a fandisc.

Winter 2025 Anime First Impressions: Part 1

Behemoth Neko:  I gave up at the halfway mark when they proudly displayed their transgender, nearly nude guild receptionist.  Fail.

Kinomi Master:  Why didn't he eat all the fruits in the crates, and then go produce more skill fruits and eat all those too?  What kind of world just gives random farmers free live-in-lolis?  Why is it acceptable to attempt murder in this world with no reprisal or even rebuke?  Fail.

Izure Saikyou Renkinjutsu:  There's nothing particularly offensive about this show, but it's so bland and scatterbrained, including a bit of every skill and plotlines from so many different series, as well as bad female character designs, that I can't be bothered to keep watching.  Fail.

Salaryman ga Isekai:  This is a clever plot, summoning a salaryman from Earth to be part of the Demon King's army for the sake of his commonplace on Earth but rare in Demon World ability to negotiate contracts, but the execution is off.  The art isn't great, the pacing is too slow, the gags aren't funny, etc.  Fail.

Momentary Lily:  The plot is similar to Heaven Burns Red, but like usual it's all in the execution.  The first problem is the 'anime' is full cg.  The next problem is it spends too much time trying to look cool.  The third problem is the characters aren't very likable.  So overall it's a dud.  Fail.

Class no Daikirai na Joshi to Kekkon suru Koto ni Natta:  The best new winter anime.  I've been following the manga for a long time so I knew this would be great.  Unfortunately the anime isn't as pretty as the manga (something that happened to New Game and Kiniro Mosaic as well), but the cute voices of the girls make up for it.  Pass.

Sorairo Utility:  Cute girls doing sporty things is always a good formula.  Previously it was fishing, cycling, hiking, hockey, etc., but this time it's golf.  I'm not a big fan of golf, but I'm not a big fan of those other things either, so in the end it comes down to how cute the girls are.  The heroine is quite cute this time, so I'm hooked.  Pass.