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Join us in the [Anime] thread to end all [Anime] threads

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Posts

  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Frieren question
    Does constantly suppressing your mana end up being a super work out for your mana gland or something?
    I think so? Though if it had that much benefit, you'd think that all mages would constantly be suppressing their mana. I think the only thing that has been directly told to us that increases it is living a really long time, and winning whatever genetic lottery determines that kind of thing.

    Manga (for now) spoilers:
    Keep in mind that Serie surpresses her mana.

    A lot of mages don't do it because a) it takes a lot of work to do it without looking like you are, and b) mages, like demons, want to show off their power - hence why Flamme points out that suppression makes a mockery of magecraft.

    Anzekay on
    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Madican wrote: »
    Frieren question
    Does constantly suppressing your mana end up being a super work out for your mana gland or something?

    Kinda spoilers for question in spoiler
    No. In fact someone who practices it would be weaker in terms of strength than someone who focused on developing their offensive magic for the same amount of time.

    I think the best way to explain it
    In addition to doing her regular practice which is all about efficiency in her attack and defense which does increase
    her mana Fern also has to suppress her mana at all times so she is getting stronger but most people wouldn't be able to tell and her attacks use so little mana that people/demons assume she's not working with a lot.

    I was wondering because
    IIRC Frieren wasn't terribly impressed with her mana when they started, just her control over it. So I was trying to think of a reason that Fern had become such a monster in terms of mana in such a short time.
    I also don't generally like this is how strong your magic is because of how you were born and nothing you can do about it type stuff.

    That actually gets explained in a flashback:
    Mana suppression is one of the first things Heiter taught Fern, based on his conversations with Frieren. By the time she meets the latter, she's been doing it for some time.

    Anzekay on
    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • shoeboxjeddyshoeboxjeddy Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Watched that Oda spinoff/OVA on Netflix with the needless title. Monsters: 103 Mercies Dragon Damnation. Essentially, it's a one-off story about what one of the guys who previously owned Zoro's swords was like. Very "semi-tragic backstory of a minor One Piece" character feel to it. For it to stand out, either the character, the situation, or the animation would need to be great, but imo, none of them are. Worth a skip unless you really like "lone ronin comes to town and deals out a small helping of justice" stories.

    Anzekay on
  • ZeroRegistryZeroRegistry Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Frieren question
    Does constantly suppressing your mana end up being a super work out for your mana gland or something?
    I think so? Though if it had that much benefit, you'd think that all mages would constantly be suppressing their mana. I think the only thing that has been directly told to us that increases it is living a really long time, and winning whatever genetic lottery determines that kind of thing.

    Manga (for now) spoilers:
    Keep in mind that Serie surpresses her mana.

    A lot of mages don't do it because a) it takes a lot of work to do it without looking like you are, and b) mages, like demons, want to show off their power - hence why Flamme points out that suppression makes a mockery of magecraft.

    I had forgotten that (manga spoilers)
    Fern notices that Serie's mana suppression is unstable. Kind of forgot where that whole thing lead to though, so I should probably do a re-read.

    Anzekay on
  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Frieren question
    Does constantly suppressing your mana end up being a super work out for your mana gland or something?
    I think so? Though if it had that much benefit, you'd think that all mages would constantly be suppressing their mana. I think the only thing that has been directly told to us that increases it is living a really long time, and winning whatever genetic lottery determines that kind of thing.

    Manga (for now) spoilers:
    Keep in mind that Serie surpresses her mana.

    A lot of mages don't do it because a) it takes a lot of work to do it without looking like you are, and b) mages, like demons, want to show off their power - hence why Flamme points out that suppression makes a mockery of magecraft.

    I had forgotten that (manga spoilers)
    Fern notices that Serie's mana suppression is unstable. Kind of forgot where that whole thing lead to though, so I should probably do a re-read.

    More manga spoilers:
    It's why Serie asks Fern to be her apprentice (which Fern turns down), and how Fern becomes a first class mage.

    A bit more on mana suppression:
    Suppressing one's mana to quench your signature is something all mages can do, as it's a basic part of controlling mana. The issue is that doing so is draining for a mage (imagine holding your breath), and that if someone was to look at it their mana signature, it would be unstable and look like they were holding it in (again, imagine holding your breath.) That, as well as the fact that mana is symbolic of power for mages and demons, is why most don't even think you could go further with it.

    In order to be able to deceive others into thinking your mana reserve is less than it is, you have to train yourself to hold it back in such a way that your restrained pool looks natural. This training takes years, and pretty much requires the caster to continuously do it for their life - but when done, they can easily deceive others into seeing them as much less of a threat than they are (which is what makes Aura's "oh dear, I seem to have gone and fucked myself" look so delicious to see.)

    Anzekay on
    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • ZeroRegistryZeroRegistry Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Frieren question
    Does constantly suppressing your mana end up being a super work out for your mana gland or something?
    I think so? Though if it had that much benefit, you'd think that all mages would constantly be suppressing their mana. I think the only thing that has been directly told to us that increases it is living a really long time, and winning whatever genetic lottery determines that kind of thing.

    Manga (for now) spoilers:
    Keep in mind that Serie surpresses her mana.

    A lot of mages don't do it because a) it takes a lot of work to do it without looking like you are, and b) mages, like demons, want to show off their power - hence why Flamme points out that suppression makes a mockery of magecraft.

    I had forgotten that (manga spoilers)
    Fern notices that Serie's mana suppression is unstable. Kind of forgot where that whole thing lead to though, so I should probably do a re-read.

    More manga spoilers:
    It's why Serie asks Fern to be her apprentice (which Fern turns down), and how Fern becomes a first class mage.

    A bit more on mana suppression:
    Suppressing one's mana to quench your signature is something all mages can do, as it's a basic part of controlling mana. The issue is that doing so is draining for a mage (imagine holding your breath), and that if someone was to look at it their mana signature, it would be unstable and look like they were holding it in (again, imagine holding your breath.) That, as well as the fact that mana is symbolic of power for mages and demons, is why most don't even think you could go further with it.

    In order to be able to deceive others into thinking your mana reserve is less than it is, you have to train yourself to hold it back in such a way that your restrained pool looks natural. This training takes years, and pretty much requires the caster to continuously do it for their life - but when done, they can easily deceive others into seeing them as much less of a threat than they are (which is what makes Aura's "oh dear, I seem to have gone and fucked myself" look so delicious to see.)

    Manga Spoilers:
    I definitely need to do a re-read then as I thought the unstable mana thing was more serious than it really was. Serie's apprentice also notices that Frieren's mana suppression is also unstable, so for some reason I had started thinking it was some larger plot point. ADHD for the win I guess.

    Anzekay on
  • MadicanMadican No face Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Frieren manga spoilers
    Serie outright says that learning to suppress mana is a stupid thing to do because it takes a long time to learn how to do it naturally without instability and that anyone who used that time to instead develop their offensive magic would be much stronger after an equal amount of work.

    She then goes on to reveal she's suppressing her mana perfectly because Serie is both flexing and has the mentality of a child, and if Flamme could do it then by jove Serie was going to prove she could too. This mentality is also why she bans Frieren from any Mage Association building for the next 1000 years, because she's a spiteful brat.

    Anzekay on
  • shoeboxjeddyshoeboxjeddy Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Watching Komi Can't Communicate S2 on Netflix now that I know it exists. They seem to have fixed the major issue with S1 where none of the (very frequent) text was subbed or translated. I wonder if they updated the S1 episodes too...

    Anzekay on
  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] regular
    edited April 13
    The user and all related content has been deleted.

    Anzekay on
  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patlabor#Anime there's a fair amount of patlabor material, the TV series, an OVA sequel to the TV series called The New Files, an OVA prequel series that was made before the anime, and 3 movies in a different continuity.

    Anzekay on
    BahamutZERO.gif
  • DarkPrimusDarkPrimus Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    The first two movies are technically in the original OVA continuity. I think the third film also counts, but it is also based on a storyline from the Patlabor manga, which I don't know anything about but have to assume it is it's own continuity separate from the OVA or the TV series.

    Anzekay on
  • LanzLanz ...Za?Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Patlabor Continuities:

    Manga: the manga

    OVA: original 7 episode OVA, Patlabor The Movie, Patlabor 2, Patlabor 3: WXIII (“Wasted 13;” this one is an interview between the two films), The Next Generation: Patlabor shorts, The Next Generation: Patlabor —Tokyo War— (live action shorts and feature film by Oshii)

    https://youtu.be/UvrzWD5EezA?feature=shared

    https://youtu.be/3wm1XlwfHYI?feature=shared
    [I guess grey ghost is the German title]

    TV: TV Series+The New Files OVA

    Misc: MiniPato

    Then there’s Patlabor EZY, which has no date yet but staff were shooting for sometime this year. No confirmation if it’s set in any existing continuity but my guess is it would be a new one.

    EDIT: aaah okay here’s the deal with the Tokyo War/Grey Ghost Name:
    The movie's title is displayed as GRAY GHOST THE NEXT GENERATION -PATLABOR- in the director's cut, which is what Oshii regards to be the movie's "true title".[3] The movie also reuses some themes and ideas from Oshii's cancelled Lupin the Third film, namely the secret behind
    Haibara's identity
    , which he had previously wanted to use for Hoba in Patlabor: The Movie.[4][5] There are no significant changes in the Director's Cut, with the differences mostly being dialogue scenes being longer, and Oshii said that the theatrical cut was a shortened version made based on the director's cut due to producers wanting it to fit within 90 minutes.[6]

    Anzekay on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited April 13
    Anzekay on
    z48g7weaopj2.png
  • Butler For Life #1Butler For Life #1 Twinning is WinningRegistered User regular
    edited April 13
    Tsukihime and FSN getting English releases on the same year.

    We’re about to find out how much Nasu the human mind can tolerate

    Anzekay on
  • AbacusAbacus Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Read around, paraphrased:
    "On one hand, I want F/SN on my Switch, on the other, Nasu is going to do the Altria thing and that sucks and can't patch it like in Steam".

    Anzekay on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited April 13
    TryCatcher wrote: »
    Read around, paraphrased:
    "On one hand, I want F/SN on my Switch, on the other, Nasu is going to do the Altria thing and that sucks and can't patch it like in Steam".

    A whole new generation is about to realize what Unlimited Cooking Works means. The VNs are 10 hours of high octane action, 60 of low octane culinary melodrama.

    Anzekay on
    z48g7weaopj2.png
  • LockedOnTargetLockedOnTarget Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Is the Switch version going to have the porn parts tho

    Anzekay on
  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    TryCatcher wrote: »
    Read around, paraphrased:
    "On one hand, I want F/SN on my Switch, on the other, Nasu is going to do the Altria thing and that sucks and can't patch it like in Steam".

    Oh god yeah this is a huge point against this version ugh

    Anzekay on
    BahamutZERO.gif
  • BahamutZEROBahamutZERO Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Is the Switch version going to have the porn parts tho

    They took the porn parts out of all the rereleases after the original PC release

    Anzekay on
    BahamutZERO.gif
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited April 13
    Is the Switch version going to have the porn parts tho

    I think you answered your own question there.

    (Believe me, you are not missing anything.)

    Anzekay on
    z48g7weaopj2.png
  • LockedOnTargetLockedOnTarget Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Is the Switch version going to have the porn parts tho

    They took the porn parts out of all the rereleases after the original PC release

    Cowards

    Anzekay on
  • Mortal SkyMortal Sky queer punk hedge witchRegistered User regular
    edited April 13
    It's really not hard at all to find the relevant material if you go digging, though it's bad enough of erotica that people make memes of it on the reg and have since I was in at least middle school

    Anzekay on
  • KanaKana Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    You kinda get the sense that he put in the sex scenes just to help the game's sales rather than because he was particularly interested in actually having sex scenes.

    Anzekay on
    A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
  • MadicanMadican No face Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    There's all kinds of apocrypha about why the sex scenes were so notoriously bad. He didn't want to do them and did them badly as a joke. He did want to do them to boost sales and is just genuinely that terrible at describing fucking. He only did them because it was expected that VNs would be eroge. Etc etc etc.

    I have no idea which is actually the case, but regardless of the truth the world was given two things: hilarious memes often involving Rin's butt and the entire concept of mana transfer through sex which birthed a thousand thousand doujins

    Anzekay on
  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    New Frieren manga chapter today:
    The more domestic chapters are always cute, and Fern and Stark Learning How To Couple are doubly so.

    Stark might be Eisen's apprentice, but...he's definitely got a bit of Himmel in him as well. I imagine Eisen wanted the best parts of his friend to live on, and so taught them to Stark.

    Given her last gift idea (and the fact that the box was moving), I am wondering what the hell Frieren got as a gift.

    Fern's choice of gift is...it's the sort of practical yet personal gift that makes it abundantly clear she has feelings for the boy.

    Anzekay on
    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • djmdjm Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    An all-too-relatable final line in the latest Marriagetoxin (75)
    t1kmsruug5b2.png

    and in the latest Fly Me To The Moon (258), great self-confidence:
    w3vaam28dlx2.png

    Anzekay on
  • initiatefailureinitiatefailure Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    My continuing journey of discovery in using the crunchyroll app just stopped having captions after 14 episodes of frieren. On the one hand that’s 14 eps more than I expected to get from them, on the other hand app development is just not as hard as they keep finding new ways to make it look.

    Anzekay on
  • MadicanMadican No face Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Tsukimichi S2 Episode 4
    The balls are definitely not inert.

    Anyway, time for class next episode!

    Anzekay on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited April 13
    My continuing journey of discovery in using the crunchyroll app just stopped having captions after 14 episodes of frieren. On the one hand that’s 14 eps more than I expected to get from them, on the other hand app development is just not as hard as they keep finding new ways to make it look.

    I noticed it doesn't have subtitles for episodes in other languages, unless I missed something(was trying to watch Chainsaw Man in Spanish).

    Anzekay on
    z48g7weaopj2.png
  • SomeWarlockSomeWarlock Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Kana wrote: »
    You kinda get the sense that he put in the sex scenes just to help the game's sales rather than because he was particularly interested in actually having sex scenes.

    This is the case, though F/SN was always meant to be an Ero-ge. Takeuchi was the one who pushed for the sex scenes in F/SN, and he was the more business focused of the two. It's similar to why we got Male Shiro and Female Saber instead of Female Shiro and Male Saber from the original draft(which would go on to be Fate/Prototype).

    You can see it in this fan-translation of old interview, which is about Tsukihime(with FATE in development at the time), but the underlying dynamics are the same. Key bits:
    Interview wrote:
    ———Is Takeuchi-san the one who said to make it into a visual novel with adult content?

    Nasu Yeah, that's right.

    ———To what extent was Takeuchi-san confident in it being accepted by others?

    Takeuchi For myself, I thought you would like it as long as you've read Nasu's novels. But after we announced it on our homepage and in doujinshi there was no reaction at all. So I thought that if it was an H-game, or even R-18, that there would be a chance people would read it.

    Anzekay on
  • cj iwakuracj iwakura The Rhythm Regent Bears The Name FreedomRegistered User regular
    edited April 13
    Kana wrote: »
    You kinda get the sense that he put in the sex scenes just to help the game's sales rather than because he was particularly interested in actually having sex scenes.

    This is the case, though F/SN was always meant to be an Ero-ge. Takeuchi was the one who pushed for the sex scenes in F/SN, and he was the more business focused of the two. It's similar to why we got Male Shiro and Female Saber instead of Female Shiro and Male Saber from the original draft(which would go on to be Fate/Prototype).

    You can see it in this fan-translation of old interview, which is about Tsukihime(with FATE in development at the time), but the underlying dynamics are the same. Key bits:
    Interview wrote:
    ———Is Takeuchi-san the one who said to make it into a visual novel with adult content?

    Nasu Yeah, that's right.

    ———To what extent was Takeuchi-san confident in it being accepted by others?

    Takeuchi For myself, I thought you would like it as long as you've read Nasu's novels. But after we announced it on our homepage and in doujinshi there was no reaction at all. So I thought that if it was an H-game, or even R-18, that there would be a chance people would read it.

    Relevant:
    6d2pts2diy41.png

    Anzekay on
    z48g7weaopj2.png
  • The Zombie PenguinThe Zombie Penguin Eternal Hungry Corpse Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    I finished binging through all of Black Clover.

    It's uh, not very good. All flash, zero substance. Shame, because it's got some ideas that could do with exploring, and the art is generally pretty good.

    The fanservice though is just creepy.

    I also read the entire Apothecary Diaries manga that's out so far. Now that was a good time, and it's delightful seeing where and how they expand on the manga in the anime. Looking forward to more of that

    Anzekay on
    Ideas hate it when you anthropomorphize them
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  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    An all-too-relatable final line in the latest Marriagetoxin (75)
    t1kmsruug5b2.png

    and in the latest Fly Me To The Moon (258), great self-confidence:
    w3vaam28dlx2.png

    Speaking of Marriagetoxin, it's been officially added to the Shonen Jump app (though it's in the process of being backfilled.)

    Anzekay on
    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • djmdjm Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    An all-too-relatable final line in the latest Marriagetoxin (75)
    t1kmsruug5b2.png

    and in the latest Fly Me To The Moon (258), great self-confidence:
    w3vaam28dlx2.png

    Speaking of Marriagetoxin, it's been officially added to the Shonen Jump app (though it's in the process of being backfilled.)

    I noticed that too -- they have a different translation, which generally says the same thing, except when they're trying to translate (I'm assuming) a pun:

    Viz:
    ed7jjvbky1se.png
    Mangaplus:
    4mlrauw7gcmm.png

    Anzekay on
  • Moth 13Moth 13 Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    An all-too-relatable final line in the latest Marriagetoxin (75)
    t1kmsruug5b2.png

    and in the latest Fly Me To The Moon (258), great self-confidence:
    w3vaam28dlx2.png

    Speaking of Marriagetoxin, it's been officially added to the Shonen Jump app (though it's in the process of being backfilled.)

    I noticed that too -- they have a different translation, which generally says the same thing, except when they're trying to translate (I'm assuming) a pun:

    Viz:
    ed7jjvbky1se.png
    Mangaplus:
    4mlrauw7gcmm.png

    Looks like it's based off the volume release. I heard Oshi no Ko also had a different translation between the Mangaplus release and the volume release.

    Removing Jawshua is a straight downgrade though.

    Anzekay on
  • AngelHedgieAngelHedgie Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    An all-too-relatable final line in the latest Marriagetoxin (75)
    t1kmsruug5b2.png

    and in the latest Fly Me To The Moon (258), great self-confidence:
    w3vaam28dlx2.png

    Speaking of Marriagetoxin, it's been officially added to the Shonen Jump app (though it's in the process of being backfilled.)

    I noticed that too -- they have a different translation, which generally says the same thing, except when they're trying to translate (I'm assuming) a pun:

    Viz:
    ed7jjvbky1se.png
    Mangaplus:
    4mlrauw7gcmm.png

    Yeah, the two have their own translations - I imagine the MangaPlus translations are more international, while the SJ translations are more US-centric. The most noticeable example is Kaiju #8, where the MangaPlus version translates the title, while the SJ version uses it as a loanword (since kaiju pretty much is one in American English these days.)

    Anzekay on
    XBL: Nox Aeternum / PSN: NoxAeternum / NN:NoxAeternum / Steam: noxaeternum
  • LarsLars Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    This month I read all 14 of the officially released light novels for Ideal Sponger's Life (there's a 15th in Japan, but it just came out a few weeks ago, so who knows when it'll get released over here) and I want to talk about them.

    There's a manga version as well, but it is a bit hornier at the start (even page 1 is NSFW, but it eventually settles down) and skips a lot of content (for example, every novel has a bonus chapter at the end focusing on the maids during the events of the novel, and the manga skips all of those).

    It's also been announced that it's getting an anime, but I don't know how that'll go because it takes a few books to really start getting to the good stuff.

    Anyways, the series has a premise that sounds really shitty, but bear with me for a few minutes. For one, it's an isekai, which is a turn-off at the start for a lot of people. It has no video game elements though, and the main character isn't a hero with a cheat skill or anything and actually never gets into combat with anything since he freely admits basically everyone he meets could kick his ass.

    The premise is that Zenjirou was a mid-20s salary man who suddenly finds himself summoned to another world by Aura, the queen of a country. She explains that there was recently a war, and the entire royal family except her was wiped out. This world has two kinds of magic: Elemental magic that anyone can cast if they learn the spell and have enough mana, and Lineage magic that is specific to certain bloodlines. Most powerful bloodline magic users became the royal families for different countries.

    Queen Aura's bloodline magic is "space-time" which is why she was able to summon him. She tells him that hundreds of years ago, someone from her royal family escaped with their lover to another world and that Zenjirou is their descendant. That means he carries the potential for space-time magic in his bloodline, so she wants him to marry her and become her Queen Consort. Otherwise, she'll have to go into a political marriage with one of the nobles who will likely try to usurp her role since the society is very patriarchal. She promises Zenjirou he would have no responsibilities and could laze about the palace as long as he helped provide heirs.

    Zenjirou thinks this is a pretty great deal and he accepts. Aura tells him that he can return to Earth for a month to put his affairs in order, and then she'll summon him back along with anything he can place on top of a specific carpet that she gives him. After that, the stars won't align to allow travel back to Earth for at least thirty years.

    Back on Earth, Zenjirou spends his month researching what to bring, figuring out how to get ahold of a water-powered generator and the knowledge to set it up, and downloads tons of useful information to his computer. Once summoned back to Aura's world, he happily gets set up in a room in the inner palace with a TV, video games, a large fridge, fans and AC.

    Why fans and AC? Well, this isn't your typical vaguely-England fantasy setting. It's actually a very hot jungle, with the people described as looking like people from India or southeast Asia. Additionally, it turns out a large amount of recipes he downloaded to his computer are useless, because there are no large mammals on this continent, and thus no milk.

    What does this continent have instead of large mammals? Dinosaurs. For some reason Zenjirou never seems to acknowledge that they are dinosaurs and just calls them by their local names instead, but the descriptions make it obvious (as do the manga illustrations). The animals they ride instead of horses are called "dash drakes," I haven't nailed down what dinosaur they are but I think they might be hadrosaurus. With no beef, their primary meat comes from "meat drakes" which are triceratops. There's also vicious pack animals called "swarm raptors" that cause a major problem in the early novels who are, well, raptors.

    Technologically, they are also a bit further back than a lot of isekai settings. Glass hasn't been invented on this continent yet, so windows just have wooden shutters and that's it.

    Ok, so it's got dinosaurs and the setting isn't your usual isekai landscape, but the premise still sounds like crap, right? Well, he never actually gets his ideal sponger life. Almost immediately he keeps getting dragged into political affairs. For one, being one of only two people in the world with the space-time magic bloodline, a lot of nobles keep trying to force a concubine on him which he explicitly does not want. There's also those scheming to try and place Zenjirou on the throne as a puppet instead of Aura who they can't control.

    But things really start to hit the fan early on when Aura gets pregnant. Remember how Zenjirou's ancestor fled this world hundreds of years ago to be with the woman they loved? It turns out there was a reason for that. The woman that guy loved was a royal from another country who had the bloodline magic for Enchanting, and "stealing" the bloodline magic from another country is a big no-no. So they fled to another world where it wouldn't be an issue.

    Zenjirou and Aura didn't find that out until after she got pregnant though, but now they have to deal with the political ramifications of both Zenjirou and her unborn child carrying the bloodline magic of two royal families. There are things happening in the most recent novels that are still building off of the ramifications of that.

    That's one of the reasons I liked this series, because the world building is really good. I also enjoy that almost all of the "action" scenes in this series are just...people sitting in a room talking, with nobody saying what they really mean and having to navigate that.

    The magic system is also pretty good. To cast magic, you have to say the correct pronunciation of the spell in the language of magic, correctly picture it in your mind, and offer the correct amount of mana. Failing any of these criteria and nothing happens. As a result, people who can use magic in combat are extremely rare. Impressive spells also take up a lot of mana (and as far as I can tell, you can't change the amount of mana you were born with). They also establish that people who have a lot of mana usually have trouble casting small spells due to having trouble working with the small amount of mana they use (like trying to fill up a thimble when all you have is a bucket).

    However, Enchanting gets around most of the criteria. They imbue a spell into an object (usually with a certain amount of uses), and then you only have to touch the object and say the activation word to use it. However, it takes a very long time to enchant an item, and only the royal family of a nearby country can do it. They also base a lot of their economy on it.

    Zenjirou does eventually learn a few space-time spells. While he also has the bloodline for Enchanting, it's dormant in him so he can't use it. Any kids he have might though. Of course, learning magic doesn't make his life any easier, in fact it makes him busier than ever. This is because one of the few spells he learns in Teleportation. Being one of only two people in the world who can cast it (and Aura having a country to run so she can't really be teleporting around), he quickly finds himself having to do a lot of foreign diplomacy and/or transport people to and from his kingdom. He only has enough mana to cast it a maximum of two times a day though.

    So between the uncommon setting, the world building, and the political intrigue I've enjoyed this series despite it's initial premise sounding pretty bad. It's also got a lot of fun characters (like Princess Freya or Princess Margarita), and of course the maids of the inner palace (who are almost entirely absent from the manga version).

    Unfortunately I have no where to talk about this series, so this thread gets the above word vomit.

    Anzekay on
  • shoeboxjeddyshoeboxjeddy Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Watching Solo Leveling and A Sign of Affection on subsequent days provides some kind of amusing tone whiplash.

    SL episode 4:
    The MC breaks a snake's neck with his bare hands while angrily crying about how life isn't fair.

    ASoA episode 4:
    They go on a date to Costco. Good Tiramisu there!

    Anzekay on
  • JayKaosJayKaos Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    Yeah I've read a decent chunk of the manga after someone (here, I think) convinced me to get past the initial "oh this is a porn setup". Definitely pretty fun and interesting political stuff.

    Though your descriptions of the drakes (dragons in the translation I read) make me a bit disappointed that the manga made them all various sizes of raptor instead of more variety in the dinosaurs.

    Anzekay on
    Steam | SW-0844-0908-6004 and my Switch code
  • LarsLars Registered User regular
    edited April 13
    The manga was what I read some of originally, through means you wouldn't learn from any Jedi.

    Later I found out both the manga and the light novel were licensed and officially released over here (I think Seven Seas has the manga and J-Novel has the light novel). I ended up deciding to collect the light novel version since it was the source material, but I never got around to reading them. They were just filling up my Kindle backlog. Then this month I decided to do something about that and ended up reading all 14 of them.

    There's a lot of cool stuff built up that I want to see where it goes, but no idea when the next novel will come out over here. In Japan it apparently took over two years between volume 14 and volume 15 releasing. There's definitely enough stuff set up that they could keep going for a long time.

    Which is another reason I'm glad I went with the light novel version. Looking at the cover of the latest manga volume released in Japan, it looks like the manga has adapted up to around the 12th or 13th novel already, so it's probably going to run out of source material and end before much longer.

    The flipside of figuring out the identities of the dinosaurs based on their descriptions is when the maids are interacting with the stuff Zenjirou brought from his world and having to figure out what they are talking about without the book actually saying what it is. Like one time they were obviously playing Mario Kart on his DS, and at one point they got a reward for beating his high score in a game: It was a bag made of unknown material with colored circles on it, and what felt like beans inside, with no discernible way of opening it.
    It was a package of M&Ms.

    Anzekay on
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