... Wait, there was a season 3?! Why didn't anyone tell me!

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Posted by: Pete Zaitcev at May 30, 2023 07:46 AM (LZ7Bg)

Posted by: Mauser at May 30, 2023 07:16 PM (BzEjn)

Posted by: Mauser at May 30, 2023 07:18 PM (BzEjn)

Posted by: Mauser at June 03, 2023 03:49 PM (BzEjn)

Posted by: Mauser at June 06, 2023 07:34 PM (BzEjn)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Maybe more, as I've got 8 of them in the queue...

AKA Kamikatsu: Working for God in a Godless World.

Of all the entries into an alternate world, this one had to suck the most. Our hero, Urabe Yukito, is the son of a cult leader, and has been raised since birth to be the chosen one of their god, Mitama. Needless to say, it really sucked to be him, and he doesn't even believe in Mitama. That suck is about to come to an end, because Dad decided the ritual to get Yukita to prove his holiness and emerge as the new leader of the cult is to have him bound in a barrel with only his head sticking out, and be thrown into the ocean. Supposedly he will return in three days because he is so holy. Yukito looks upon it as an end to his suffering. As his life flashes before his eyes, not a single scene of anything good appears. He silently wishes that if a god really exists, he would prefer to be reincarnated in a world with no gods or religion, so he can make friends and lead a normal life.

Which is where he basically ends up.

He wakes up by the side of a stream where a cute pink haired girl is trying to revive him, but with instructions that are apparently from a sex manual that she has read, but doesn't really understand. She apologizes profusely and swears to take care of him until he is fully well, and let him eat for free in the restaurant she and her sister run. She introduces herself as Alural. Her older sister is Siluril

Looking around at the rural medieval town he is in, he assumes that he's in some kind of game world. But it turns out there is no guild for him to join, no stats screens, no quests, no magic, gods, or quests. No levels to be gained from hard work. Although he does gain the friendship and good will of the rest of the village when he over-harvests the grapes they sell to a nearby winery, and shows them how to make their own. Life settles into a routine of working all day and drinking into the evening, and it's not bad.

But then they visit the Capitol, and Yukito witnesses an End of Life ritual, which seems like a cross between ritual suicide and an execution. To his horror, he learns that when the country orders it, people are expected to kill themselves. Rob, one of his best friends from the village explains that their village is treated differently, which is part of why they are despised by the people of the capitol, who popularly think they should all be disposed of because they are deviants (Thought criminals for not wanting to die, or something, it's not 100% clear).

Shortly afterward, the village is raided. Both of the girls and a number of the guys are taken. Yukito rushes to the capitol and discovers he is too late, everyone but Alural has been hanged, and since there is no room on the gallows, she is put to the sword. Yukito tries to save her, and is run through for his trouble. As he lays there, bleeding out on the cobblestones, he crawls towards Alural and touches the necklace he gave her, the only thing that transferred with him, the symbol of his cult's god, and prays out loud for Mitama to save these good people who were kind to someone as worthless as him.

And it works. Mitama appears as a child-like being clad in light. And is so happy that Yukito has finally called on her that she gets very perturbed to find that he's dead. Mitama consumes all the executioners with tentacles that drag them to hell, then gets right to fixing up Yukito, and apparently everyone else at the same time. The crowd of onlookers, having witnessed a miracle simply turn about-face and leave.

While the rest of the village celebrates their return, Yukita is very troubled by the fact that he has probably turned the entire government's anger on himself and the village.

Upstairs, Alural is with Mitama, trying to force her to wear clothes, and demands to know what her relationship is to Yukita "Since you were hugging him all naked." And she has no idea what the answer of God means. Mitama doesn't help matters by simply saying it's for life, and Alural is shocked, because her only possible interpretation is that Yukita is already married then, and to a little girl. It breaks her brain a little (To the point she's wondering if somehow she could be turned into a little girl if that's what Yukito likes. Ew.) While Alural is freaking out, Siluril explains to Mitama that Alural is in love with Yukita. Mitama sets her straight, mostly, saying that it's good that Yukita has friends like her.

Later, Yukito is asking Mitama just how extensive her godly powers are, and when she claims omnipotence, he suddenly starts thinking in Isekai game terms again, and that Mitama herself is his cheat code. But when she sets out to prove how powerful she is, she totally fails. She then pulls up her own information, and sees that she has Zero followers, so she has no power. (Yukito apparently doesn't count, which pisses off Mitama, who used the last of her power to save them all.)

Suddenly news arrives that Imperial troops are on the way to investigate the incident in the Capitol. Yukito panics trying to figure out what he can do, but finally resolves that he will introduce religion to this godless world so that Mitama will gain followers and power so they can protect the village.

Roy becomes the first follower, although his vision about what that means is more than a little questionable.

Yukita starts making plans for how they will launch building their religion, which is ironic, since that was the fate he was resisting for his entire previous life, but Mitama has her own ideas, which go embarrassingly poorly. If there's one thing that makes me cringe, it's this kind of embarrassment porn.

Yukita then sets up a sort of demo to prove Mitama is divine. This is also cringe. And since Yukita is NOT a true believer, he's trying tricks like what he calls "The Barnum Effect". (Why he would have no faith at this point, since he knows everyone was dead but for Mitama, I don't understand. Even if his upbringing DID leave him utterly cynical about religion).

Mitama though ruins the act with arrogance, just to fuck with Alural over her voluptuous figure. This makes no sense because earlier she told her that she was glad she was a friend to Yukita. Why act jealous now?

Next he attempts a stage illusion, and a few other "Miracles" that fail horribly, until even Mitama's ego starts to flag.

But, like Chekov's gun, this cute, CGI fox creature who totally doesn't fit the style of the animation, which has been running around the town for the last two episodes becomes sick after eating some rat poison. The sisters are heartbroken. When all other efforts fail and the critter dies, Mitama resurrects it.

Achievement Unlocked: Perform a Miracle.

The sisters become followers, and Mitama who was completely depleted by the resurrection experiences a flood of power. Completely beyond what one would expect just by the numbers. Yukita suspects it's because they became followers after seeing a miracle, as opposed to Roy, who is just a perv.

Alural makes a request. She believes all the executioners were "Just doing the jobs they were assigned" and asks Mitama to bring them back. She does, although Bertrand, who was the chief executioner is the only one who comes back naked... and female.

Okay, that's two. I'm kinda iffy on the rest. Maybe one more to find out what the deal is with Bertrand.

Posted by: Mauser at May 29, 2023 10:39 AM (BzEjn)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

This format is getting a bit hard to justify with most series already being up to six episodes....

So, "Starting life in another world with my big sister," yeah, another questionable title translation.

Opening scene is after the adventure is already established, but it then jumps back to the beginning of the setup. Which is pure Isekai Trope. Our hero, Ikusaba Asahi, pushes a little girl out of the way of a car and gets killed. Looking down on the scene from the darkness, he's satisfied that the girl is alright, is annoyed that the new game he was waiting for hadn't come out yet, and misses his sister, Maya. Suddenly a light appears that sucks him in and dumps him on a outcropping outside of a medieval town, and a dragon flies by.  Then they totally hang a lampshade on the fact that there are signs in English and everyone speaks Japanese. Interesting to me is the total lack of divine intervention - No goddesses to explain the situation. But he's played enough games to know what to do, he sells his non-functional phone to get his starting gear and shows up at the adventurer's guild. And of course, there's a cute girl receptionist. Everything is going according to plan....

Then when he goes on his first quest to hunt "Killer" bunnies, he randomly encounters a huge wyvern just as he leaves town....

In the pressure to not die, he finally pulls up a stats screen, and while most Isekai'ed heroes have SOME cheat skill up their sleeves, he's got Level 1 rock throwing, which is useless. Where most people might be crying for their mommies about now, he calls out his sister's name, and she is summoned. She suddenly powers up, and kills the wyvern with a single punch.

She has a massive obsession with her little brother, it seems. Turns out he's merely in a Coma. As she waited faithfully by his bedside, he talked about the other world he was in, so she decided to join him.... by bashing her head against the wall until she was out too! And it turns out she has no idea how to get back either.

The story then resumes where it was at the opening, where Maya totally steps on Asahi's attempt to defend a village from the Three Orc brothers. (BTW, Maya's adventuring outfit borrows a whole lot of cues from Yoko from Gurran Lagan, but with the middle ages twist.) Asahi may be the nominative hero, but the story is about Maya being the one who is totally OP (and perverted towards her little brother).

Unfortunately, Maya's power gets attributed to Asahi, so he goes flying up the guild ranks, which he can't really justify, and which could get him in serious trouble. And of course, rather than say, registering Maya with the guild and getting everything straight, they set up for future hijinks by deciding she needs to keep her skills secret and keep pretending it's really him.

The end scene shows the big rival, a hot demoness who is so overpowered she's bored. She sensed Maya's arrival, and hopes to fight to the death.

In the second episode...

The demoness basically one-hits the top adventuring team who left to take her on in the previous episode. Asahi sneaks out of the inn to try to take on quests on his own so he can gain EX and be stronger on his own. And Maya... she is seduced by Asahi's still warm blankets.... It's so over the top it's actually funny more than creepy.

The adventurer's guild girl is named Tanya. She has tanned skin and pinkish hair. She presents Asahi with two quests that his inflated "Ogre Class" rank qualifies for, which would surely kill him. He somehow manages to impress her by asking for something simple, close to town so that he can come back quickly just in case of an emergency, so she gives him a mushroom picking quest (with a beware of bear warning).

Of course the bear shows, and chases him, and out of the blue, a bolt of magic blasts the bear, and the shockwave sends him flying into a pair of breasts. Only it's not who he expected, it's not Maya, but the demoness. She seems tickled by Asahi calling her big sister. When a dozen bears show up, she throws him in the air, one shots them all, and catches him. Killing that many bears provokes the forest guardian, the Kaiser Bear, and he's heard of her, referring to the demoness as Kilmaria of Corruption. After she one-hits the Kaiser Bear, she identifies herself as one of the Demon King's six generals. Then she reassures him that she won't hurt him, because she has zero interest in fighting weaklings. But then she asks if he's heard of an adventurer named Ikusaba Asahi, because she's heard about this guy flying up the guild rankings and all the one-hit kills he's made, and she'd love to fight him to the death.

He tries to sneak off, but he drops his ID/rank coin from the guild, and she sees it, and reads his name... Seems like the jig is up....

But Maya has a flash of Spidey-Sense! Will she get there in time?

Of course, it's only episode 2.

Kilmaria is flying after Asahi as he's running away ("That's cheating!"), and a sudden blast splits them up, sending Asahi into another pair of breasts, but there's no mistaken identity this time.

Kilmaria comes over to confront whoever interrupted her fight with this legendary hero. Maya says she felt that Asahi was in danger, that his virtue was threatened....

The look on Kilmaria's face is priceless!

They come to blows! They are both shocked that one hit didn't end it!

Their epic battle is totally off the scale, and they're evenly matched! But eventually Maya prevails. However Asahi won't let her finish Kilmaria off (After all, she saved him from bears several times).

The episode finishes with them returning home, having dinner made from the mushrooms, and Maya taking a bath that might be more visible on a BlueRay.

All in all, I found it funny, and the OP promises lots of cute girls. That they drop to a lower art style for reaction shots is a little cheap, but okay. And they managed to set up the series in two episodes, which is rare. I imagine that some people might be turned off by Maya's over the top brother fixation, but it's played for laughs rather than being as creepy as some other shows.

Posted by: Mauser at May 14, 2023 12:20 PM (BzEjn)

Posted by: Mauser at May 28, 2023 02:41 PM (BzEjn)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Originally written for the series of Malta anthologies (All pretty good stuff), it was supposed to be in the upcoming 4th volume, but got bumped, and there won't be a fifth. So I'm free to give it away.

It was written to be both the latest in my Dr. Mauser stories that have been running on Deviant Art, but also an introduction, so it includes a lot of backstory. And of course it had to be related to Malta, so I did a lot of historical and geographic research (Which was really frustrating, I had to change major plot points several times, but I think it ended up a little better).

I think my favorite comment of all time was when I showed it to Martin Shoemaker (fantastic writer), and he said, "Your worldbuilding is twisted."

If you're curious about the Malta anthologies: Ghosts of Malta, Knights of Malta, Saints of Malta.The fourth volume will be called Falcons of Malta. (Amazon Affiliate links)

So allow me to present Dr. Mauser and the Guns of St. Mary's. (Deviant Art)

Hide Comments | Add Comment

This is clearly the series where the animators took ALL the Drugs.

Seriously, it's as coked-up as Gurren Lagan, psychedelic as Flip Flappers, and whatever FLCL was on, they had some of that too.

In two episodes they're still getting the band back together, so they haven't gotten TOO far into who and what the villains are, but basically ten years from their present day, Akihabara was invaded by goons in armor with spherical smiley-face helmets who were confiscating anything Otakus were into, as well as arresting and taking away the Otakus, claiming they were taking them under "Protection" but actually placing them in camps.

In the intervening time, one who escaped their grasp to become Otaku Hero has pulled together a small revolutionary force to fight back, and their first (and largely only) victory was to re-take the ruins of Akihabara. Part of his army were three magical girls, Anarchy, Blue and Pink. But in the last few years a war of attrition has eaten away at Otaku Hero's will to fight. Blue has been captured, Pink disappeared, and Anarchy is trying to keep things going, but can't quite do it without him.

They manage to repel what could have been the final rout, and OH rediscovers his will to fight. But he knows they need all three girls. So they set off to rescue Blue. There's an Otaku prison under the now shuttered Tokyo Big Sight, and Blue is in a 7th level sub-basement, heavily bound and hanging in a spiderweb. When they arrive to free her, a big boss robot emerges from the floor, but it is no match for Anarchy, who is so bored she gets out a kotatsu and tea while it's trying to pummel her into the floor. And once they defeat it, and unbind Blue, well, we learn that Blue is the perverted nympho of the magical trio....

In the second episode, they track down where Pink is running an eternal rave party, and it's practically next door to their headquarters. But persuading her to leave being queen of her followers isn't going to be easy. Understanding her isn't easy either, as she's a small blonde Loli in a pink dress... and a gas mask she never removes, which muffles her words to the extent that only Blue can translate for her. Her condition to rejoin the resistance is that Anarchy and Blue must defeat her on her choice of battlefield - her mind - after giving them pills to bring them into mental unity. Fast forward through the insane kind of crap that goes on in this kind of psychic warfare outside of reality, and they eventually convince Pink to rejoin them.

They're quite a mixed batch, even as Magical girls go. Anarchy uses a wand, Blue a weird demonic-looking scythe, and Pink wields an enormous hypodermic. And don't get me started on their transformations....

Yeah, it's fucking weird as hell, so it interests me enough to stick with it long enough to see if they can make sense out of it.

Hide Comments | Add Comment

I've got maybe 5 things picked out this season. This is the one I took a total flyer on. I seem to recall it was a J-list article about it that made me say "Eh, why not?"

The basic plot is that our protagonist, Rokudo, is one of three geeks in a class, no, a school full of nasty delinquents. One day when he gets home he has a package from his long-deceased Grandfather that contains a magic scroll that the family has had for generations. It's SUPPOSED to protect you from Demons. There is probably some Japanese language gag in there that explains what really happens, because all the delinquent girls who have been bitchy to him start acting nicer, but this has no effect on the bullies.

Hijinks ensue.

I wasn't expecting too much out of it, and frankly, I have serious issues with the art style, but halfway though the first episode I've already gotten a serious laugh out of it. (And that's before he meets the baddest of the bad girls who is destined to be his Girlfriend).

Rokudo Tosuke: The main character. Not entirely sure what his geek specialty is, but he's been a lifelong target for bullies. Also has zero experience with girls, and some exceptionally old-fashioned ideas about them (Which is why he doesn't like "Bad Girls", because they defy traditional roles).

"Taisa" (Chief) Kijima Kota & "Colonel" Hinamoto Masaru: Rokudo's two best, and only friends. They're with him when he opens the scroll, and they see it glow when he first takes hold of it, and the purple pentagram that appears on his forehead (which nobody else seems to notice). Taisa already resembles a middle-aged businessman, and Colonel is a military geek.

Himawari Ranna: "Miss Sukeban" A callback to the old school bad girls of Japanese cinema. She's an Amazonian blonde who wears a long skirt and carries a hardwood bokken. She's a devastating brawler and has a perpetually grim demeanor, until she sets eyes on Rokudo, then she lights up and blushes. She totally terrifies him.

Iinuma Haruya: the primary bully in Rokudo's class. Notable for having half his hair bleached.

Tsubaki: girlfriend of Iinuma. After Rokudo touches the scroll, She becomes a lot more solicitous, actually apologizing to him, and she is quite concerned when suddenly Himawari joins Rokudo in class (She sounds almost jealous, and her boyfriend really picks up on that.).

Tsunoyama Takeru: Lieutenant of Iinuma. Himawari puts him in the hospital by beating him with a desk when he punches Rokudo. (This is why Rokudo is terrified of her. At first she just SEEMED scary, this was the first confirmation - beyond the blood on her hands when they first met at the mall after she trashed a dozen guys at a food court.).

It turns out the gang of thugs Himawari took out was a gang Iinuma was considering joining. When he meets his contact who is in the same hospital as Tsunoyama, the guy tells him about how terrifying she is. That she takes out gangs and Yakuza families just because she's feeling pissy.

Because of his weird old-fashioned beliefs, when he runs into Himawari on the bridge he pledges that as a man he will protect her from the revenge the bullies must be plotting for her. This makes little sense because moments earlier he was talking about transferring schools to avoid her. All she hears from his impassioned speech is that he doesn't like delinquents, so she says she'll slaughter them all for him. And he has no clue what he'd do anyway, since he can't even protect himself.

He has to be careful though, his power over Himawari seems to exceed mere suggestion - she takes a minor beating because he made her promise not to fight - and his outdated ideas about manliness are going to lead him to even more trouble.

Like standing up to his Bully himself.

---

In the second episode, they introduce Tsuyukusa Mizue: The Student Council rep. She is a total good girl, so apparently the spell from the scroll has no effect on her. Except apparently she does like him a bit, and it ruins him in her eyes to see all the trash girls suddenly hanging off of him.

Iinuma apparently is somewhat impressed at Rokudo for actually standing up to him, and decides they're friends now. After school he takes him off to get some Ramen, but they never get around to talking until the very end, where he warns Rokudo that the top dog at the school, Osanada, is after him now.

It's not exactly a timely warning. One of Osanada's gang comes up to him just as Iinuma leaves him in front of the ramen shop. Apparently the beef is something to do with Rokudo "Messing around" with all the girls. The thug grabs him and expresses doubts that he knows anything about being a playboy, but then the pentagram flashes, and the thug's girlfriend suddenly starts defending Rokudo. Obviously the curse doesn't know tactics or strategy. Iinuma reappears and gives Rokudo a choice. Be a weakling (which he loathes) or stand up to Osanada. But if he stands up, he will back him (This makes the thug start to sweat). Chief and Colonel, who were spying on Rokudo the whole time come out to try to talk him out of it. But Rokudo has a burst of newfound determination. He convinces his friends to back him. Then Himawari shows up too, and the thug is cowed into backing off.

Osanada knows where to find him, the message goes, he's not going to be dragged off.

Then Iinuma drops a bombshell with deeper implications. Osanada is a girl. (And is revealed then to be a cute little girl with pink hair, and a length of pipe in her hand, who rides on the shoulders of one of her biggest thugs.)

Rokudo thinks that all he has to do is have the curse work on Osanada, tell her not to fight, and he'll be okay.

Of course, it doesn't go that way. When Osanada drops by his classroom, the pentagram fires, but she's apparently immune. The thought of boys and girls together just grosses her out.

Or perhaps not so immune, as she tries to punch Rokudo and it comes out like a love tap. To make sure, she tests her punch on the Colonel and nearly puts him through the wall. Then she decides Rokudo isn't necessarily all that bad and agrees to talk instead of fight.

And that talk leads to big complications....

I still hate the art, but I think I'll keep on with this. It's overblown and a bit screamy, but the characters are so unique.

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Not quite as impressive lyrically though.

Hide Comments | Add Comment

Okay, I know I watched the first season, but it's not on my drive. I don't normally delete anything except for American TV shows. (Purged my Marvel/DC folder recently. Mostly unwatched.)

I realized this because I noticed how bad my backlog was with the recent two-season part 4.

Hide Comments | Add Comment

So these are the images I've been trying to put up since I did the bit about "My Dress-up Darling," just to show off some of the wonderful costumes. Pixy has finally managed to root out the obscure bug that was making file uploads fail.

Hide Comments | Add Comment