$19 Heaven:

Heaven was offering a deal that was too good to refuse -- 10 protean shards, a ten roll recruitment ticket, and a guaranteed SS-Memoria with a resonance skill ticket.  So I bought it for $19, and boy did it pay off.

The guaranteed ticket got me Diva Ruka, one of the two best memorias in the game.  I then used the 10 protean shards I got, combined with these newfound Diva Ruka shards, to get her to max limit break level 4.

But it was the ten roll recruitment ticket that surprised me most.  I got both base Adelheid and base Charlotta.  Adelheid moved up to limit break level 2, and Charlotta to 2.5.  Earlier, for reaching a new player rank, I got a recruitment ticket that luckily turned into base Misato, which gets her to limit break level 3.5.  And today I got a free SS-Memoria recruitment ticket just for logging in, which netted me thunder Yuina limit break level 2.  That's a lot of SS for $19 bucks.

I added Doctor Strange to my wonderful fictional character list, seeing as how I've liked him in every Marvel movie he's featured in.  He received WOODMAN STAGE for his theme song.  I also added Ichika and Ciel back from Precure, figuring if Ayumi qualifies surely they do too.  Ichika received the theme song GO! GO! MANIAC.  Ciel received the theme song Watashi no Koi wa Hotch Kiss.  I'm really enjoying my new expanded wonderful playlist, full of amazing 5-star songs and above-expectations 4-star songs.  They mesh perfectly.

The Railgun manga came to a satisfying end, after a long 19 years of serialization.  On the other hand, Fate/Strange Fake was a disappointment.  The series ended on a cliffhanger and there was no announcement of a second season, despite there being plenty of source work material to work with.  I added a new season of Fate/Strange Fake to my anime wishlist because this should be a high priority for the anime industry.  Fate/etc. is my #11 favorite anime, and many other people would rate it higher than that.

P.S.:  Okay, now they've at least added a 'to be continued' video to the series, which I guess is the same as announcing a second season, so I'll take it back off my wishlist.

The winter anime season has almost come to a close, and the spring season has already begun.  Spring has a lot of stuff to like, but I'm already looking forward to the summer and fall seasons, which are going to be jam-packed with hits.

Sousou no Frieren S3 announced:

Like Oshi no Ko S4, Frieren S3 is not a surprise.  This is a popular series with plenty of additional manga material, so making another season makes eminent sense.  In addition, the next season of Frieren covers a great portion of the manga, it will be much better than season 2 was.  Frieren S3 starts airing in October 2027.

When I added back in all the fictional characters from my own books, I had forgotten Marcellus from Illyria.  So I added him today and gave him the excellent and appropriate song Fatal Struggle from Lodoss War.

The previous owner of the Rise song, which the Tachikomas got because it's a Ghost in the Shell song, was given Enemy Attack (FF10) instead.  Since Yoji is the protagonist of GATE, and the first thing that happens in that anime is an enemy attack, the song is perfect for him.

When I recruited those 7 new SS Memoria, momentarily I didn't have all my characters at full skill levels again, but now they're all up to snuff.  I also have all the skill evolutions in the game.  The latest score challenge was tackled by my thunder squad, who scored 1,485,000 points.  They blew the opponent away in 4 turns.  That felt pretty good.

By combining all of Mitsuru Adachi's baseball romance anime into a single work, I made room for two more anime to enter my top anime rankings.  For now, Mao will be ranked at #180 and Demons Crest at #67.  Mao starts airing in a week, Demons Crest won't be here for a while, but I may as well rank them now since I know they'll be ranked once they start.  Unless something surprises me with its quality, this should be the full gallery of my ranked anime.  This is a future-proofed list.

Tsugimonogatari read:

There's an intriguing aspect to Yotsugi's creation, which is the curses all the specialists received from bringing her to life.  It turns out no foreign entity cursed them, it was a restriction they put on themselves to fuel the necromancy.  They called it sharing a part of their souls with the corpse.  We also learned the precise nature of everyone's curses -- Kagenui can't step on the ground.  Gaen can't look away from any problem.  Kaiki can't be a good person.  Oshino can't sleep in a bed or with a pillow.  All of this was mentioned in passing or hinted at in the past, now we get the precise rundown.

Why did all these specialists get together to do such a difficult thing?  It turns out they were trying to revive Gaen's imouto, but accidentally revived the wrong corpse, due to a case of mistaken identity.  So we got the completely irrelevant Yotsugi instead.  It's a cute twist.

This book was particularly good because it was hilarious and very informative about characters heretofore shrouded in mystery.  A prequel that reveals all secrets.  A series of events that beggars belief but has a satisfactory explanation.  It's pure genius.  The book was so good I moved the worth of the light novel series, overall, up to my 4th favorite.  I like when Oshino met all the loli versions of the girls Araragi would eventually end up helping when they were grown up.  This prequel is not set in the distant past, only seven years before the beginning of the series.  Yotsugi is not very old.

I had hoped Chapter 5 Part 2 Act II of Heaven Burns Red would start today, but no such luck.  Maybe next week.  For now there's March Madness.

Oshi no Ko S4 announced:

I had predicted this.  There's no reason to animate S3 of Oshi no Ko unless you've already decided to animate S4.  This is because S3 is a rather dull 'things plodded along' section of the manga, with the fireworks all coming at the conclusion.

Nevertheless, it's nice to have it in writing.  We will have a fully animated adaption of the Oshi no Ko manga.  I gave it the ranking of 29th on this basis, so this won't affect its ranking.  The 29th best anime of all time is extremely high praise.  That's much higher than I rate, for instance, Sousou no Frieren.  I can't wait to see the conclusion to this anime.  It's a brilliant conclusion.  I'd say Kimetsu no Yaiba has the best conclusion of any manga, but Oshi no Ko is up there.

Mayonaka Heart Tune is also getting a sequel season.  It's no Oshi no Ko, but it's nice to have.

Ranma 1/2 is getting a third season, but it's still retelling stories the original anime covered perfectly.  It doesn't help us at all.  What we need is a Ranma season that covers material the original anime didn't.

People might dismiss Transformers as a franchise as just a toy commercial for kids.  But the Transformers animated movie was exceptional.  I did like Transformers toys as a kid, but that movie should be impressive to anyone.  That 1986 movie, where the Autobots and Decepticons work together to overcome the planet-sized devourer of Cybertron, Unicron, deserves to be immortalized.  It's essentially an anime, with art direction coming from Toei.  And it was a war movie in the truest sense, with people actually dying in battle one after the next.  Nothing came easy to the protagonists.  As such, I've added it to my movie hall of fame, taking out The Music Man to make room.  I barely have any memory of The Music Man.  It can't have been that good, considering I have vivid memories of the Transformers movie.  Now Transformers being in my wonderful hall of fame makes sense -- wonderful movies produce wonderful characters.

On the Heavenly front, I got Squad 31-B to defeat Skullfeather 1st form for the first time, giving them precious title badge experience.  Squad 31-B is really strong now, hosting Erika, Kozue and Sumomo, who all have eternal daphnes, so I knew they should be able to do it.  I tried to get Squad 31-C to win too but they were far too weak.  31-C, 31-D, 31-F and 30-G aren't keeping up with my premier squads.  At least I got Mari and Adelheid, who both have eternal daphnes, from 31-C to win by teaming up with non-31-C members.

Meanwhile, Tsugimonogatari has been fully translated and is available for reading.  This is the next book in the Monogatari series, one of my favorite light novel series.  So this is a day to celebrate for many reasons.

The Silver 116:

With the newly expanded wonderful hall of fame, it's interesting to note what franchises made the wonderful list but not the '100 Waifus' book.  These are the series that shouldn't be left off the radar when it comes to seeking future entertainment, once the over 300 options in '100 Waifus' are exhausted.

Dynasty Warriors, Star Control, The Emperor's Son (my own book), The Greatest Vision (my own book), Illyria (my own book), DC Comics, Isekai Meikyu de Harem o, Tonikaku Kawaii, Kenja no Mago, Mega Man, The Twin Spires (my own book), Wind (my own book), Sellsword (my own book), Imouto Paradise, Kemono Friends, Lucky Star, Bravely Default, Class no Daikirai na Joshi to Kekkon suru Koto ni Natta, Mode, Kakkou no Iinazuke, Soul Calibur, Saved by the Bell, The Teen Web Novelist is a Girl Magnet, The Legend of Zelda, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, Hunger Games, Prism Rondo, Spy Classroom, Super Mario Bros., Azumanga Daioh, Ghost in the Shell, Noucome, Incarnations of Immortality, Nicholas Nickleby, Shuumatsu no Izetta, Phantom Brave, Alien Nine, Full Moon O Sagashite, Indiana Jones, [Sakura, Saku], [Omoi, Omoware, Furi, Furare], Strobe Edge, Die Hard, Cobra, Grave of the Fireflies, Back to the Future, Ojamajo Doremi, Saber Marionette, Growth Cheat, Charlotte, Hyakuren no Haoh, Gundam, World Dai Star, 16bit Sensation, Henjin no Salad Bowl, Ginga E Kickoff, Samurai Showdown, Kitakubu Katsudou Kiroku, Power Stone, Bio of a Space Tyrant, Apprentice Adept, Seitokai no Ichizon, Kamitachi ni Hirowareta Otoko, Shinryaku! Ika Musume, Iria: Zeiram the Animation, Ninja Scroll, Catch me at the Ballpark, X, Usagi Drop, Tears to Tiara, Noble Works, Saint Tail, The Parent Trap, Yume ka Utsutsu ka, Gone With the Wind, Clair Obscur Expedition 33, Yuusha Party wo Oidasareta Kiyoubinbou, Minami Kamakura Koko Joshi Jitensha-Bu, Ren'ai 0 Km, Onii-chan Dakeshimete, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Tenjou Tenge, Slow Step, [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon], Aladdin, The Little Mermaid, Life with a Flirty Step-sister, The Matrix, The Fifth Element, Silverado, Transformers, Triplet, Tangled, Moana, Nichijou, Devil Hunter Yohko, Harukana Receive, Idoly Pride, Nanare Hananare, The Wizard of Earthsea, Atlas Shrugged, The Belgariad, Jaran, Penhaligon, Middlemarch, Little Dorrit, Little Women, Pride and Prejudice, Where the Red Fern Grows, The Brothers Karamazov, War and Peace, Dead Souls, I Am Charlotte Simmons, Bonfire of the Vanities, Vanity Fair, The Count of Monte Cristo

Before my leniency update to my wonderful hall of fame, necessary in order to secure more songs, it was the Silver 65.  But now it's the Silver 116.  Almost double the number of great series above and beyond '100 Waifus.'  If '100 Waifus' mentions around 304 great franchises, that would bring the total up to 420.  A lot of what I did was cannibalize from the 'copper' group.  I took unmentioned hall of fame series and mentioned them.  Another thing I did was mention things I thought beneath mention by lowering standards.  But there's also been a lot of recent good art that wasn't around last time I did this.

Between the three processes here we are.  We live in a bountiful world with at least 420 gold or silver works of art.  It's so much that even I, who doesn't work, can't keep up with it.  I haven't played Xenoblade X or Octopath 0 despite belonging to golden franchises and despite the games sitting on my bookshelf.  And now Heaven Burns Red is saying that Chapter 5 Part 2 Act II is coming out soon (which explains why the Part 2 I played was so short, it was only Act I apparently).  Obviously Heaven always takes priority, so the backburner will continue to burn.  To make matters worse, Akaneiro's visual novel is slated for release soon.  Since Yuuhi is one of my '100 Waifus,' I've been looking forward to playing it for years.

On the bright side, at least I'm caught up with great anime.  By finishing my rewatch of Spy x Family S3, I've now watched and rewatched all great anime that came out before 2026.

Speaking of great anime, I officially inaugurated Release that Witch into my top anime rankings.  It was given rank #121.  To make room, I combined the Higurashi and Umineko anime into a single franchise, which is fair enough because it is a single franchise.  Release that Witch has been the highlight of every week.  My only fear is the anime won't cover enough of the story and end after a single season.

Utilizing Star Control:

Star Control does have characters, but they're all forgettable.  What stands out is their diverse alien races.  The aliens in Star Control actually feel different from humans, in exciting and interesting ways.  If we view every species as a 'character', they could all make my fictional character hall of fame, and I could give high praise to Star Control while I'm at it.  Two birds with one stone:

Arilou:  Relic of Ancient Times

Chenjesu:  Tanjou

Chmmr:  A Battle Of Teamwork

Druuge:  Galbadia GARDEN

Humans:  Wild Child

Ilwrath:  Growing Fear

Melnorme:  Delightful Day

Mmrnmhrm:  Hanrangun no Theme

Mycon:  Deep Labyrinth ~Main Theme~

Orz:  Seymour's Ambition

Pkunk:  Life or Death

Shofixti:  Predicament

Slylandro:  Born into this World

Spathi:  The Silent Beyond

Supox:  Kokoro

Syreen:  How Can I Keep From Singing

Thraddash:  Fighting KOS-MOS

Umgah:  Albedo

Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah:  Gnosis

Ur-Quan Kzer-Za:  Proto Merkabah

Utwig:  Eruyt Village

VUX:  Forbidding Corridors

Yehat:  Followed Space Shuttle

Zoq-Fot-Pik:  Escape

Androsynth:  Book Of Days

That bags me another 25 songs.  Because Starcon is sci-fi, I finally found a reasonable place for all my high quality Xenosaga music.

While I'm at it, Ged from Wizard of Earthsea can have Somber Memories.  The Ghibli film of Wizard of Earthsea is quite decent, and I've read the entire book series.  Dagny from Atlas Shrugged can have The Hunters.  Garion from the Belgariad can have Caribbean Blue.  Tess from Jaran can have Breeze The Conductor.  Johauna from The Penhaligon Trilogy can have The Legendary Sword.  Tertius from Middlemarch can have lamentation.  Parry from Incarnations of Immortality can have Eternal Ruins.  Norton from the same series can have This Journey without End.  Nicholas and Kate from Nicholas Nickleby can have normal battle 2 and a push on the back.  Amy from Little Dorrit can have Port Noir, Harbor Town.  Amy from Little Women can have Symphony.  Romeo and Juliet can have Battle, Battle's End and shitsui.  Elizabeth from Pride & Prejudice can have Mhaura.  Billy from Where the Red Fern Grows can have At the Edge of Dawn CASE 2 ED.  Ivan from The Brothers Karamazov can have Ivan's Theme.  Pyotr from War & Peace can have Relaxation.  Chichikov from Dead Souls can have Bouken Suisei.  Georgi from The Red Wheel can have Immoralist.  Charlotte from I Am Charlotte Simmons can have Koibito no Mukashigatari no Yuugure no.  Sherman from Bonfire of the Vanities can have TEMPERED SOUL.  Becky from Vanity Fair can have Calmly Travelling.  Edmond, the Count of Monte Cristo, can have Karma.

I've read all these authors, all this great literature, so I should avail myself of their fictional characters.  I earned it!  It also allows me to honor the authors of these franchises within my wonderful hall of fame, putting them front and center alongside all the modern popular anime and video game characters.

With this, I've reduced the unassigned quality songs down to 10.  And if I haven't found a good use for these 10 after all this time in all likelihood the songs aren't that great anyway.  I think I'll just drop these remaining 10 and declare the project complete.  My new wonderful playlist, containing all the best music and all the best stories in the world, stands at 1781 songs.

Utilizing the Book of Swords:

I added Shiori Amsynth, Sacripant, Isolde and Hitomi from my own books.  I also added Rapunzel and Moana from Disney's Animated classics, Arthur (Aquaman), Eri from Boku no Hero Academia, Ayumu 'Osaka' and Chiyo from Azumanga Daioh, Mio from Nichijou, Yoko from 12 Kingdoms, Yohko from Devil Hunter Yohko, Sakura from Idoly Pride, Haruka from Harukana Receive, Kanata from Nanare Hananare, Tachikomas from Ghost in the Shell, Chocolat and Oka from Noucome, and Jun from Medalist.

About half of these characters had been in my hall of fame previously, but were cancelled due to being too weak.  But now that I'm desperate for more names they're welcome again.

The boldest move was to add the 12 magic swords from The Book of Swords.  They truly are the main characters of the story, and it's embedded within the lore of the story itself that the swords are alive and have a will of their own.  I remember those swords so vividly it's like I read the series yesterday:  Coinspinner, Wayfinder, Sightblinder, Doomgiver, Shieldbreaker, Woundhealer, Townsaver, Farslayer, Dragonslicer, Stonecutter, Soulcutter and Skulltwister.

That let me incorporate 32 more songs into my wonderful playlist:  The Past, Blood on the Cobblestones, song of departure, killing, Unused Track 6 (Air), Beyond the Deep Blue Seas, Beach of the Void, will, Under her Control, Shuffle or Boogie, the world starting to move, Another World of Beasts, Come, Fukai Mori, Starting Up, Adventurer's Challenge, Rise, Al Bhed Tribe's Chi, Thunder Plains, unblessed soul, Inaccessible Road, Dry Trail, Anakin's Betrayal, Invidia, The Darkness Nova, marche, A Ship Soaring the Skies of Conquest, Pain the Universe, APOCALYPSIS NOCTIS, The Azure Cavern, In the Abyss of Despair (True Ending Final Boss Cartesia) and #1 Crush respectively.  They had to match the personalities of the characters they were matched with, though, so there's still a lot of great songs I frustratingly keep not including.

That leaves 62 songs without a master.