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Thursday, February 16, 2023

Danmachi S4 part 1 available in bluray:

[Almighty] has released a version 2 of his Danmachi bluray release, this time with correctly synched subtitles.  So it's finally time to upgrade from the tv version of the show to the bluray.  I've already watched this portion of the show twice, so a bluray archive isn't much use to me, but someday I'm sure I'll need it.

Meanwhile, The Eminence in Shadow ended without any announcement of a season 2.  I've already rewatched the series in full, so it definitely qualifies for my top anime rankings.  But looking back upon the whole series I would rate it a lot lower than it's currently rated.  It doesn't provide as emotional an impact as a lot of series currently rated below it, there's no one scene I can point to and say 'tremble and observe!'  Though it's much longer than Shikkakumon, it's probably worse.  It's definitely worse than Nonbiri Nouka.

There are a lot of franchises ending in 2023 that are a lot more important than Eminence in Shadow.  Attack on Titan is ending sometime this year with a couple of long ova's instead of a regular tv season release, since there isn't enough material to support a full tv cour.  This ending has been a long time coming, not that I much like the ending, but endings are always better than no endings.

Sailor Moon will end in Japan in 2023, but in America we'll probably see the ending in 2024.  But who knows, maybe we'll get lucky.

Kanojo mo Kanojo feels like it's going to end soon, so much of the climactic drama has already occurred it's hard to believe there's much more to say.  I love how things have developed recently and am totally satisfied with the author's answers to thorny questions.  This has been a rousing defense of polygamy to the point that it feels like no other argument on the topic needs to be made, from here on everyone can just point to Kanojo mo Kanojo and say 'case closed.'

Imouto Sae Ireba Ii is ending in a few days.  The final novel is slated for release on the 21st of February in English.  Most of the loose plot threads have already been tied up in the previous novels but there's still the Miyako-Haruto romance I'm hoping to see blossom fully.

It's likely that the final volume of 12 Kingdoms will be translated by the end of this year.  The translation is slow but a year is a long time.  I'd like to see Tai kingdom restored after all the suffering it's gone through.

Kiniro Mosaic Best Wishes is slated for release in March, which is the epilogue of this manga.

Choyoyu's final manga volume will be translated into English in July.  I'm interested in how they plan to wrap up the whole story in just one volume but I'm sure the author knows what he's doing, he's done a great job so far.  It's surprising that it's taking this long to translate one volume but whatever, the important thing is English readers will get to see the ending.

Card Captor Sakura Clear Card-hen is scheduled to end around the fall of this year.

Those are the sure things, but there's also some longshot opportunities that might come to fruition.  Majikoi A-5 is the last section of the Majikoi visual novel franchise left untranslated, and substantial portions of it have already been translated.  It's not hard to believe the remainder could be finished any day now.

Likewise Aiyoku no Eustia has already been fully translated.  I'm not sure what is keeping it from being released, but whatever the reason it might be resolved any time this year.

Kud Wafter should also be fully translated this year.  The people working on it are reliable and have succeeded in translating Summer Pockets so they should be able to knock out this comparatively short story any time now.

There's also a good chance Rewrite Harvest Festa will be fully translated this year, since people have been working on it forever.

The final volume of Eromanga Sensei is already out in Japan, at any time an English speaker could pick up this project and translate it.  It's the only volume in the series not yet translated, so it's a very easy project.  It feels like this series is cursed to never receive its resolution, because English speakers are stupid and don't appreciate good romances, but I thought that about Unlimited Fafnir and lo and behold it was eventually translated.  There's always hope.

Add in the self-contained stories that will be finished the moment they're released:  Final Fantasy 16 and Octopath Traveler II, and we're looking at an eventful year.  It's also possible that the Akatsuki no Yona manga, the Fate/Kaleid Liner manga, the Broken Blade manga and the Kimi ni Todoke manga could end this year.

Fire Emblem Engage's last downloadable content with its extra story is also slated for release this year.

If everything goes well that's the endings to 20 great artistic franchises.  (I have no hope that the three remaining Bakemonogatari novels will be translated this year.  We'll be lucky if one of them is.)  Before I die of old age, I'd like to see the endings to all 300 of my enshrined and recommended series mentioned in '100 Waifus,' and 20 in a single year is well on track to getting that dream done.

2023 doesn't have a World Cup, an election, or an Olympics, but there's a ton of stuff to look forward to nonetheless.  I don't want any new great art, I can barely keep up with the franchises I already love, but I desperately want to see the resolutions, the denouements, of everything that's already hooked me.  That to me is my most fervent achievable dream, the capstone of this otherwise well-spent life.  Not knowing the conclusion to one of these 300 franchises would be my only regret that would turn me into a ghost once interred.

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