Rottcodd

I mentioned this in passing a couple of weeks ago, and this episode really drove it home - I think the overall theme of this series could be said to be "earn your iyashikei."

It is an iyashikei in the long run - it's comfy and soothing and heart-warming. But none of it's just handed out for free. You (and Yachiyo) have to work for it.

The hunt for a replacement part got genuinely scary for a bit there, and then the way she finally found it was sad and touching and beautiful. And that's more or less the way an awful lot of the series has gone - things end up relatively comfy and soothing and heart-warming in the long run, but it's rarely easy getting there. But in a way that just makes it that much more satisfying.

I really love this series, and I suspect it's going to remain a sentimental favorite for years to come.

Single episodes:

Little Witch Academia - the original OVA. There isn't a single wasted frame - it's just 23 minutes of pure genius. (And as a matter of fact, I just rewatched it again last night).

Sword Art Online S01E04 - The Black Swordsman. The introduction of Silica and Pina and just a great, warm, funny, satisfying standalone episode, and particularly because it's sort of an antidote to S01E03, The Red-nosed Reindeer, which is arguably better, but so emotionally devastating.

YuruYuri S01E05 - When Akari and the Cicadas Cry. Kyouko drags Ayano to Comiket, Chitose discovers yuri doujins, and Chinatsu kisses Akari. Funny and cute even by YuruYuri's lofty standards.

86 Episode 23 - the last third of this episode is quite simply the most beautiful and touching thing I've ever seen, and it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

Akudama Drive Episode 12 - It seems like it should be tragic, but it just kicks so much ass. " Serves you right."

Non Non Biyori S01E10 - We Watched the First Sunrise of the Year - I just love the dynamic between Kaede and Renge

Movies:

Spirited Away Duh. How could I not?

Ghost in the Shell (1995) Still the most concise visit to that universe. I like much of the rest of the franchise too, but that movie stands above them all.

The Disappearance of Suzumiya Haruhi Just a great movie from start to finish. "John... Smith!"

Redline Buried under the stylish carnage and sensory overload is a satisfying tale of honor and redemption, and a surprisingly cute love story.

Series:

Puella Magi Madoka Magica Even after all these years and all these rewatches, it just grabs me by the throat and drags me along.

Kemurikusa - Low budget done right. Great mysterious setting, good characters and satisfying story.

FLCL - I especially like episode 1 and episide 3, but it's short enough and there are enough other good moments that I figure I might as well watch it all, so I do.

And a couple of recent additions: Eizouken ni wa Te wo Dasu na! and Make Heroine ga Oosugiru! Eizouken is an unabashed love letter to anime with wonderful characters, and Makeine is a great multi-genre whatever-it-is, and Anna in particular is a terrific character.

Just a quick note on this season: Maebashi Witches is better than you probably think it is.

My current theory is that the author and his assistants (or maybe just his assistants and he quit bothering long ago) have a great big die with story tropes on each face and as necessary, they just roll the die and do whatever it says.

Since they finished the "sports festival arc," they had ro roll the die again, and it came up "study group."

And here we are.

Just caught up with this one last night, and it might even beat out the Harmageddon episode as my favorite so far. It was just wonderful - happy and sad and charming and bittersweet and chaotic and touching and, when all's said and done, contentedly optimistic..

And Yachiyo got her body back.

Her reaction when she first learned of the engagement was telling, though nobody really pointed it out. That was an emotional outburst at the thought of losing Ponko. I think she's a lot more human than anyone realizes.

That was great, but I have to admit I'm a bit disappointed they didn't do a display about her awesome stick collection. ⚔️

That was a great wrap-up — it settled pretty much every question I had about the story, and it was great to see Emi and Remilia face to face.

SAO was excellent here and there (Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer, The Black Swordsman, Mother's Rosario) and was at least decent all the way through.

It was just one of those series that became so commonly loved by normies that advertising one's hatred of it became an easy way to gain instant edgelord cred.

It's easy. The only difficulty is that it can't understand a link to a specific chapter - you have to get the link for the series and plug that in to Cubari, then go to the specific chapter on the list Cubari generates.

Yes. Yes she is.

Obviously this is entirely up to the instance owner, but it seems to me that, if anything, all of this actually makes our position stronger.

Scanlation's always been a sort of gray area. It's technically piracy - that part's black and white - but the publishers have generally turned a blind eye to it, at least in cases in which there are and will be no licensed translations available. The publishers appeared to generally see it, and correctly, as free advertising (and in fact, scanlation is the ENTIRE reason that manga has gotten as popular as it has outside of Japan).

So the basic rule of thumb for more or less legitimate scanlation has always been that if the series isn't licensed, it's fair game, and if the publishers take exception anyway, all they have to do is say so and we'll immediately "cease and desist."

In one sense, this is just a massive version of what's happened to MD all along. They've gotten takedown requests from the start, and just immediately comply with them.

The things that are notable about this one are the scale of it, and the fact that many of the titles do not have and likely never will have official translations, so it seems to be entirely vindictive. The publishers aren't losing anything by allowing scanlations of titles that they'll never license anyway, so they're not protecting themselves from any nominal loss - they're just being dicks.

And that's undoubtedly what's rattled MD - it's not the fact of the takedowns, which have happened from the start but the seeming vindictiveness of them.

But their response has been to formally shift responsibility to the uploaders. They're saying not just tacitly but explicitly that anyone who uploads anything effectively claims to have the legal right to do so, so if they don't, that's their problem and not MD's.

Which actually removes us even further from any liability. From our position, the uploaders claimed to have the right to do so, and MD accepted their claim, and all we're doing is taking everyone else at their word.

For whatever that's worth.