Fear and Isolation

The end of season 2 of Ascendance of a Bookworm circles back to the head priest mind melding with Myne to see where she (Urano) came from. I thought he would be the noble to adopt her (which makes the title of the next arc make sense) in order to keep the other nobles from trying to kill her for being a commoner, but instead he has the other knight commander do it. As with Beno almost adopting Lutz, I thought her family would be very much against it, but they don’t even know about it yet other than she needs to stay for the winter anyway (which they were also very much against). Given what almost happened at the end of season one, I thought something would’ve happened to her family, but I’m glad that’s not the case. As for Urano, the best we get is her reading at the table and being rude to her mom. Assuming she has friends, she’d probably do the same to them. Not all bookworms are like that, I swear! No reading at the table! Eat your dinner! I’d find it more relatable if she had been excluded from being a librarian because established librarians are no longer shushing old ladies but grown-up mean girls and their chosen. Maybe there will be another OVA to bridge to the next season. I want the Seteth character to come back. He wanted to meet Myne, so let him come back already. Iggy too; Myne made sure to voice her concern for his safety. Forgot to say this last time, but during her rage over the library, an abridged version would’ve evoked Yami’s censored rage at Yugi from that abridged series. “Sideways!” BlueDrakmaVA, who made Fate Apocrabridged, cancelled his series due to similar burnout to Team Four Star (and LittleKuriboh, but he's got bigger issues), and he expressed the notion that abridging was dying. The pandemic certainly didn't help, but Journeyman Abridged is still moving forward with its Naruto and Digimon full arc abridged series, so check them out if it suits you. I plan to join them later as Yolei when they get to Zero-Two.

“Sorta Cinderella,” or “It’s Cinderella-ish,” made for the best episode so far this season. It perfectly encapsulates what’s going on in Fruits Basket right now. It was amazing to see the play in color and in motion. Such attention to detail! Then there was Machi’s episode, which ended in Akito injuring Yuki at the New Year's Banquet. And of course they ended the season with the reveal that Akito is actually a woman. The dub is now eleven episodes behind. We’re finally through with the summer vacation arc and getting down to the nitty-gritty. Laura’s younger Tohru voice used for the flashback really got me. Can relate. Wanting to see your dead loved ones is fine, but don’t go after them. Speaking of, Molly has risen from his grave on Critical Role, so we'll see what Matt and Taliesin have come up with for him.

DuckTales season three finally came back from hiatus. Scrooge is one of those characters who knows magic is real but still thinks it’s bullshit. The girls all but said “Friendship is magic,” to which Magica said, “Gross.” Magica has her amulet back now that Lena has harnessed her own magic via the friendship bracelets, but I was enjoying the de-powered, pathetic Magica. She was very funny in this episode.

Inspired by the ruby chocolate Kit Kats sampled by Phelous and others, I tried the ruby cacao Haagen Dazs bars. It was like if red velvet cake was an ice cream shell. It was worth trying once.

Trying to Catch Up

I watched the four-episode prelude to Recorded by Arizal, which took an unexpected turn. She wanted to do this with her friends, but the record-keeper she interviewed warned her that it was a solitary experience (and you need lots of toilet paper – topical), and then one of her friends…died? It was left vague. My husband and I have been watching more of the Achievement Hunter livestreams when we can, and I discovered their archive so I went back and watched Lindsay play Stardew Valley by herself. It was also interesting to see Chris, Gus, Barbara, and Blaine race to kill their Sims families first by either drowning, burning, starvation, or a combination thereof.

Mayuko’s voice actress hit it out of the park in episode 12. Can’t wait til the dub of 20 where Laura Bailey gets to say something along the lines of “I’ll be more evil than the devil himself” when referring to the play they’re doing. Episode 23 of Ascendance of a Bookworm is where that clip I saw came from. It was good, but it could’ve been better too. It definitely would’ve been even funnier if someone did an abridged series: “I cleared a shelf just for your magic books. Where are they?” “I lied, they’re not here.” “But my OCD!” Good boy Fran is like Dimitri but without the murderous issue. I would ship him and Vilma if she could move further past her issues. Almost at the end, and it’s definitely taken a turn. Damuel sounded like Ignatz too, but I can’t confirm.

The Melody of Memory box art looks good. I was looking forward to seeing most of the lab scene voiced, but I thought it was Yen Sid talking at first because Cory Burton doesn’t differentiate between him and Ansem enough. Ansem’s character model also looks more like Flynn from Tron, who he may or may not have met in canon. It was nice to hear them reinvent Dearly Beloved as a jazz tune. In the Union X update, Maleficent sums up the story in a nutshell: “How convoluted.” Nomura is Darkness confirmed, lol. Meanwhile, the conversation between the Master of Masters and Luxu is starting to sound like a conversation between Rick and Morty. Even Luxu saying “Sigh” over and over reminds me of a fan comic where Demyx said “Pout” in the same way, adding “I SAID POUT, DAMMIT!” at the end.

I’m trying to think of a royalty-free Christmas song I can use this year, but even music that should be in the public domain gets copyright claimed, including the ones in my video editor. This year’s holiday video will try to focus on Fire Emblem Three Houses, including at least one Seteth Says.

The Nashville hot chicken chips were fire, just as I expected. I ate one and could do no more, though suffered no adverse effects. Just smelling the bag burned my nose. My husband and his friends loved them. I also got to try the regular apple pie Kit Kats, which are cream colored and do not evoke the taste of a McDonald’s apple pie but are just as good.