Alright we'll start with this cause I dunno if anyone else cares. Again, bold was my prediction to win, italics is who I want to win, underlined is who actually won.
Yuka Hanaki @ Natsuiro Kiseki
Tomo Asama @ Horizon In The Middle Of Nowhere
Shino Amakusa @ Seitokai Yakuindomo
This round was pretty weak in general, but I'm glad Natsuiro has the presence it does. It's a pretty decent show.
Komaki Jindai @ Saki
Iori Minase @ The Idolmaster
Mio Naganohara @ Nichijou
Glad to see Mio take second here. Iori seems like she'll be the most popular Idol.
Shinobu Oshino @ Ghostory
Ayame Shaga @ Ben-To
Shirayuki Hotogi @ Hidan No Aria
Lol "Ghostory", oh you Saimoe English reporter guy!
Nori @ Hidamari Sketch
Chris Yukine @ Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Sae @ Hidamari Sketch
This is just too cruel... Well, Sae and Nori's votes combined beat Chris's! Hidamari fighting!!
Hanyuu @ When They Cry
Kanade Suzutsuki @ Mayo Chiki!
Isumi Saginomiya @ Hayate The Combat Butler
This surprised me, I figured Hayate was too powerful.
Toki Onjouji @ Saki
Tsumiki Miniwa @ Acchi Kocchi
Airi Sena @ Mashiroiro Symphony ~The Colour Of Lovers~
Wow this was a huge stomp. Wow. Toki is really strong, I didn't realize just how strong...
Yuno @ Hidamari Sketch
Sakurako Oomuro @ Yuru Yuri
Azusa Nakano @ K-On!
This is the saddest round ever man... Three characters that all really deserved to go on. Oh well... Yuno will do better next year, with Honeycomb etc. Glad to see Azusa do well, at least.
Run @ A Channel
Ritsu Tainaka @ K-On!
Ami Kawashima @ Toradora!
Wow this REALLY surprised me. It was a really back and forth match, but I really had no idea A-Channel could topple even one of the least popular Keions. Amazing. I don't see her beating Azusa, though, not even to mention Akari.
Izumi Segawa @ Hayate The Combat Butler
Akari Akaza @ Yuru Yuri
Taeko Hiramatsu @ Kore Wa Zombie Desu Ka?
Here's another certified first-round beatdown. Wow Akari. Can she go ALL THE WAY? I certainly hope so. Toki will be a powerful opponent in group finals, as will Mei on her side of the group.
Mei Misaki @ Another
Rias Gremory @ High School DxD
Ayano Sugiura @ Yuru Yuri
Ah, poor Ayano. She did pretty well. Man, the YuruYuris have had some pretty bad first round matchups so far. Mei is really powerful.
Yozora Mikazuki @ Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai
Chihaya Ayase @ Chihayafuru
Nazuna @ Hidamari Sketch
Hmm... I overrated the extent that Japan dislikes Yozora. They just dislike her relative to Meat, I guess. Sorry Nazuna! Better luck next year!!
Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke @ Strike Witches
Mako Someya @ Saki
Ichika Takatsuki @ Ano Natsu De Matteru
Finally some witch victories! Granted this wasn't the hardest round ever by any stretch, and there's very low hope of her beating Mei, but oh well, nice job.
Group B prediction scores:
I predicted 9/12 correctly.
The Japanese had proper taste in 5/12.
So overall I've got 17/24 correct, and Japan's gotten 13/24 correct.
Group B Round 2 Predictions:
Yuka Hanaki @ Natsuiro Kiseki
Iori Minase @ The Idolmaster
Shinobu Oshino @ Ghostory
Chris Yukine @ Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Kanade Suzutsuki @ Mayo Chiki!
Toki Onjouji @ Saki
Azusa Nakano @ K-On!
Run @ A Channel
Akari Akaza @ Yuru Yuri
Mei Misaki @ Another
Yozora Mikazuki @ Boku Wa Tomodachi Ga Sukunai
Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke @ Strike Witches
Should be a pretty exciting group. Toki vs. Akari finals is my bet.
The rest of my predictions for round one are here.
Anime
Hyouka
Well the festival arc ended really really nicely I thought. Very satisfying conclusion. Very natural integration of all the plotlines. What's more, they transitioned gracefully between pure-SoL shenanigans and intense mystery-solving, that's what I was most worried about. And they managed even to transition into some pseudo-philosophical stuff about the obligations of talent and having expectations and such, and it wasn't ham-fisted or embarrassingly shallow. It was actually pretty interesting, even! I loved the structure of the last episode, too, with the conversation between Oreki and the culprit spliced non-chronologically throughout. And oh man the like, super-subtle twist of the president getting his message all along, switching up the excuse retroactively, that was actually pretty emotionally gripping. Animation, voice acting still top of the top notch. So again the only plausible beef with this show is this sense of like, the dramatic themes being incongruous with the relatively low level of actually dramatic events. I covered why I think this is a BS sorta complaint awhile ago, but I think it's still interesting to think about why Kyoani did this without the (totally valid) justification of "it makes a good show".
Okay so this is my theory: Kyoani wants to make something actually like, genre. I think they've realized that the moe boom might be ending, or, even if it isn't, it may be getting to the point where it's difficult to bank on. Like, what makes a good SoL? This is actually a pretty difficult question that I think probably deserves it's own post in the future, but I think it's pretty clear that after a certain point animation quality etc doesn't really matter. So like, how does Kyoani get an edge over all the other studios making moe SoL? Just by buying the best properties? But the success rate of the original light novel to the anime is sometimes pretty inconsistent too. So I think Kyoani wants to like, start adjusting their fanbase to something where they can really flex their muscles more. Nichijou did this by parodiously introducing tropes of other genres, now Hyouka actually structures arcs and episodes like a mystery show without actually making it "serious" enough for a mystery show. So uh that's my prediction for Kyoani's future uh I dunno I'm not gonna think too much about it really.
Oh but yeah the 18th episode was pretty good too. See like, why did they mention at the end that the people stranded in the mountains had died? Was it so Kyoani's audiences can start getting weaned on grim things? That's what I think. Anyways I'm excited for whatever the next arc is.
Was gonna post more about anime but I'm liking these daily (more than daily?) blog posts so I'm just gonna keep going with this one and worry about the other shows when I'm finished catching up with them
So uh what's else oh Music:
Four Tet - Pink
So I listened to this and I was pretty impressed, some really nice sounds going on there. I don't know if I like it as much as There is Love in You, which I think had a bit more of the "brightness" that I usually go to Four Tet for, the like, bubbliness and such. Now he's doing stuff kinda like "Moth" which is hype but doesn't really have the like, depth, or darkness, or something, that he gets from collaborating with Burial. Still this is more than good enough for me to play it a lot in the future wait no I can't do that because:
Trae Tha Truth - "I'm From Texas"
Animal Collective - Centipede Hz
Day one, have resisted listening to the stream again. Have also resisted downloading the downloadable version. Don't know how much longer I can make it. I want to GO HIKING.
The xx - Coexist
I was all ready to listen to this but instead I listened to "I'm from Texas" three or more times. "I SIP CODINE OUT THE STYROFOAM". I'll get to this soon though because people are saying it's good.
And that's it for this blog post
Expect more because I'm pretty sick and all I feel like doing is lying around writing crap and watching stuff.
I watched the first live action Lone Wolf & Cub movie last night, it was quite good, but I fell asleep like right after and I don't really remember what interesting thoughts I had about it, if any. I still really want to get a set of the physical manga.
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