June Anime Recommendations
I’m doing a quartet of isekai’s this month.
This one is where the protagonist goes from extremely underpowered to extremely overpowered, but the progression is interesting to watch. I love how the world is built.
This one is another with a pretty decent story and good world building. The protagonist is sometimes cringey.
I really liked the how the protagonist solves problems in this one and the general earnestness.
This is one where the concept is intriguing, although sometimes it plays a bit fast and loose with its own “rules”.
Promise to the Magic Heart – Chapter 6
The Heroes of the Empire were an odd collection of people who were in disfavor when they first came together. Jevin is probably the best-known example – the last leader of the Crystal Guard who was cast out of society after he failed to stop the murder of the emperor and the kidnapping of the princess. I tend to favor Marteen the Scythe. One of the few who emerged from the Reclamation War with an honorable and feared reputation, who fell from those heights to being a lowly drunk, then disappeared for a decade, only to become a central figure in not only the band of Heroes, but the post-return Empire. This is why the story of the Heroes will endure. Not only its sheer drama, but also its theme of redemption. – Aleessa Torrik, in the foreword to her “Collections of Accounts of the Heroes of the Empire”
MARTEEN
Marteen twitched. Damn these clothes. They were tight and pinched in the oddest places. It didn’t help that his head was throbbing. Marteen didn’t even bother asking Kurt for some wine or ale to take the edge off. The dwarf absolutely refused to give him anything stronger than water. He briefly considered asking Rin, but quickly decided against it. Rin was just as bad as his father. Both were merciless when it came to Marteen’s pleas for mercy. It was like they enjoyed watching him suffer.
He staggered back to the small clearing where they set up camp for the night. Marteen’s eyes settled on Rin. He couldn’t believe how old Rin looked after only ten years. Marteen knew humans lived short lives, but he never thought of that happening to Rin. There was tension between Kurt and Rin. Marteen suspected it had something to do with why Rin left. Marteen understood why Rin needed to go. It was the same reason a much younger Marteen joined the Army of Reclamation. At least it looked like Rin’s adventures hadn’t ended in the same kind of horrific disaster. Marteen wasn’t sure if he was happy or angry about that.Rin tended a pot cooking over the fire. From the smell, it was a porridge of some kind. At least his friends were being conscientious of his guts if not his throbbing head. Rin handed Marteen a bowl before handing another to a frowning Kurt.
“Why didn’t you arrest Lord Valera?” Kurt asked, angrily. Oh, maybe the tension was from something else.
“For what? He wasn’t breaking any laws of the Republic,” Rin said, calmly. Marteen couldn’t believe his ears. His anger flared up as his head throbbing strengthened.
“He’s selling guns!” Marteen bellowed. “Everyone knows Valera is responsible for all the illegal guns coming into the Empire!”
“Do you have evidence we could take before a magistrate? Or perhaps a writ of attainder from this Lady Sonya for Valera’s removal?” Rin asked, with an infuriating calm. Marteen scowled at Rin, but the boy didn’t even flinch.
“I didn’t think so,” Rin said.
“Everyone knows Valera’s the source,” Marteen said. “Why are you being a sheep’s ass? We can go back and grab him. We’re Heroes of the Empire, for Light’s sake.” Rin fixed a cold gaze on Marteen before speaking.
“How well did that work for you, Marteen?” Rin asked.
“I was drunk last time. I’m not now.”
“No, you’re worse than drunk. You’re useless.” Marteen got to his feet and stormed towards the boy.
“Rin, you may be all grown up for a human, but I can still whip you,” Marteen said. Rin’s hand shot up and yanked Marteen off-balance. The elf hit the ground hard, but he rolled and sprang back up to his feet. Rin slapped Marteen across the face before Marteen could get into a fighting stance. Marteen fell back to the ground, his face stinging.
“Not right now, you can’t,” Rin said, “Right now, you’re that same drunk I found in that tavern when I was a boy.” Marteen’s head throbbed and his face still stung. Rin loomed over him. No, he really wasn’t in any shape to take on Rin.
“Fine, you win. This time.” Satisfied, Rin held his hand out for Marteen. The elf knocked the proffered hand away and stood up on his own. Maybe he wasn’t at his best, but that wasn’t any reason for Rin to rub it in.
“Even if we don’t have enough evidence or a writ, Valera’s activities need to be stopped,” Kurt said.
“Yes and no,” Rin said. Marteen and Kurt looked at him like he’d grown another head. “The Empire may want to curtail some of Valera’s more egregious activities, but if it were up to me, I’d keep him where he is.”
“Why, under the God of Iron’s gaze, would you suggest that?” Kurt asked.
“Because you’re thinking of him as a rebellious lord,” Rin answered, “He’s not betraying the Empire for some grand cause. Valera’s a black-market merchant who just happens to be a noble. He’s not about to endanger his profit by doing something stupid or allow someone else to endanger his profit by their stupidity. If you handle Valera properly, he can be a useful asset.”
“You know how to handle men like that?” Marteen asked, snidely. Rin was acting too much like Pallus with his lecturing. Marteen stopped thinking about that. The less he thought of Pallus, the less he thought of Sonya, and the less he felt the pain. That went doubly since Kurt wasn’t going to let him have anything stronger than water. Couldn’t he understand Marteen needed to do something about the pain?
“Not really my strong suit,” Rin answered.
“Oh, then what is your strong suit?” Marteen asked. Rin gave him a flat look. It was almost a mirror of Kurt’s when they thought Marteen was being an ass. Well, they were being asses. And his head hurt.
“I’m more used to dealing with demons and bandits than people like Valera,” Rin said. Demons? Why was Rin dealing with demons? There was only one answer that made sense. Marteen took a second look at Rin. Yes, working in the Badlands would explain the new hardness in the boy. Dear Goddess, why would Rin go there? Didn’t he remember everything that Marteen told him over the years when they were on Kurt’s farm?
“Who would know how to do what you’re suggesting?” Kurt asked, breaking Marteen’s train of thought.
“Maybe the constables in Lisandra? If not, talk to the rangers at the Mareian Embassy.”
“Do you know any of them?”
“Kurt, I’m not going to Lisandra. I’ve got a sorcerer to hunt down, and I wasted too much time dealing with Valera,” Rin said. Rage overtook Marteen at the callousness in Rin’s voice.
“Wasted too much time? You didn’t do anything. You should have arrested him. He’s selling guns to the Purists!” Marteen screamed at Rin. The human shook his head.
“You’re wrong about that, Marteen,” Rin said. “Valera is not selling guns to these Purists. The way he talks about them? He despises them as much as you.”
“No one hates them as much as I do,” Marteen shouted. Rin stared at Marteen for several long moments before turning to Kurt.
“Who are the Purists?”
“Traitors and murderers,” Marteen seethed.
“Not all of the people have been happy with events in the Empire since the princess returned,” Kurt said.
“Not happy? After what they’ve done, and you say not happy?” Marteen snarled. Kurt shot a warning look at Marteen before explaining further.
“The Pursits came to the Crystal Palace’s attention about eight years ago,” Kurt said, “At that time they were just circulating pamphlets decrying the state of the Empire. To the Purists, the downturn in the Empire’s fortunes since the Daemon War is due to the poisoned state of the Crystal Blood. If the Empire wants to regain its glory, the Blood must be purified. Preferably by killing the current descendants.”
“What?” Rin asked. Marteen saw the flash of outrage on Rin’s face. From how cool and composed the boy acted since leaving Valera’s, Marteen didn’t expect that. Rin quickly managed to return to his impassive look.
“I’m assuming there’s more to these Purists than just circulating wild theories. Even before I left there were dozens of crackpot groups. None of them cause us as much concern as you two are showing,” Rin said. Kurt and Marteen traded resigned looks.
“They didn’t concern us – at first. The Purists would harass Imperial officials, spread their pamphlets, and maybe some petty theft from Imperial buildings. About six years ago, they started attacking imperial holdings and minor nobles. The Frontier Army went out and managed to round up some of the small bands. We thought they were done. Then, a couple of years ago, they came back with a vengeance. From what we’ve managed to learn, someone called the Edess Kul rebuilt the Purists into a real army.”
“Let me guess. The Frontier Army had as much trouble finding them as they’ve had hunting down the dwarven independence groups,” Rin observed.
“Worse. Purist militias ambush the Frontier Army’s patrols,” Kurt said, “They’re using guns, which many of the patrols don’t have. They’ve done more damage to the Frontier Army than the dwarves have for the past fifty years.”
“So, what’s being done?” Rin asked.
“Marteen was sent out,” Kurt answered.
“Why did they send you?” Rin asked Marteen.
“Because they attacked Lock Keep and slaughtered everyone!” Marteen snarled. Rin was clearly confused. Marteen’s rage threatened to consume him. How could Rin not understand?
“Ela was at Lock Keep,” Kurt explained. Rin’s eyes went wide as his mouth dropped open in shock.
“Ela?” Rin asked. Marteen felt a small evil satisfaction that this broke through the boy’s composure. Rin held up his hand. “Wait, I thought Selene arranged for Ela to go to a hospital in Lisandra. What is this Lock Keep?”
“Ela’s mind sickness kept getting worse. She escaped from the hospital multiple times. She killed three people during her last attempt. At that point, we were forced to send her to Lock Keep. It’s where many of the mind sick from the Reclamation War were sent. They could deal with her.”
“For some Goddess-only-knows reason, the Purists attacked the Keep,” Marteen snarled.
“They killed everyone?” Rin asked, grappling with the news.
“Killed and burnt,” Marteen answered. Rin’s face was slack with shock.
“Ela’s dead?”
“What do you care?” Marteen snapped, “After what you did to her.” Marteen never saw the punch. All he knew was there were suddenly stars in his eyes, a pain across his jaw, and the cold ground on his back. Rin stood over Marteen with a dark look in his eyes.
“Damn it all, she was my sister too!” Rin screamed at the elf. Marteen saw the tears streaming down Rin’s face. “Ral’s betrayal broke her. None of us saw that – including me. I never blamed her for what she did. I didn’t want to hurt her like that. I was just protecting…” Rin paused, his jaw working.
“She was the one person on this whole damned continent I knew didn’t betray me.” Rin grabbed the front of Marteen’s shirt and glared into the elf’s eyes. “If you ever say that sheep dung to me again-” Rin was cut off as Marteen embraced him. Both men stood there for long minutes and quietly wept for the woman that had been their sister. Soon Kurt joined his son and his best friend in their grief.
Ward Manor Happenings
Grill Happenings – Late last year, I got rid of my Weber grill because we were looking at upgrading, and someone said they might have a line on some good deals. There were good deals, but nothing that made me want to put more money down. Plus, I hadn’t been smoking much, so it didn’t seem to be worth laying out cash.
Well, now we have some events coming up where I have been asked to smoke some ribs and other meats. After discussion with The Wife, we ended up picking up essentially my old grill, but this one was built into a little cart with a folding table. After doing some comparisons, we bought it on Home Depot for delivery to Ward Manor.
Monday morning comes and Home Depot says they delivered to my house. Great, but the cameras didn’t pick up anyone delivering anything. I go check their tracking and look at the helpful pictures. It was not my house. It was not my subdivision. It wasn’t even close to my street number. Jump on customer service chat – because Derek hates talking on the phone. The chat associate was helpful to a point. They offered a refund, and I asked if they could refund and reorder. After alll, I still needed my grill. No problem. Except it was kind of like I got disconnected in the middle of the chat. Essentially, I had to restart the ticket again. Second associate joins the chat. Nope, refund not processed, reorder not placed. Hey, do you mind if I contact the warehouse and see if they can arrange for a redelivery? Sure. After all, I still need my grill. While the associate was talking with the warehouse, they must have realized their mistake because, magically, my order appeared on my driveway.
Tuesday night, The Wife, MIL, and I put the grill together. It wasn’t as bad as some of the assemblies we’ve done, but still not the most helpful. I also sacrificed to the Assembly Gods when tightening a nut, and the drill spun the little piece of metal. A nice little chunk of my thumb was removed near the knuckle. It was one of those, “oh I guess it wasn’t that bad” until The Wife mentioned I was bleeding. Then the pain hit. Not enough to go to urgent care, but enough to be annoying. And bloody.
But I have a functioning grill that will get consecrated this weekend for Father’s Day.
Derek’s Mildly Useful Reviews – Josee, The Fish, and The Tiger
Okay, so this movie has been in my “to-watch” list for a while. However, this video kind of spurred me to suggest it to The Wife for watching.
The general gist is a college student who is saving money to study abroad takes on the job of watching a paraplegic woman – Josee. Her grandmother refuses to let Josee out of the house to protect her, and hires the MC to watch her in the afternoon. Events happen where the pair start “sneaking out” for adventures and draw them closer.
I strive for no spoilers in my reviews, so I won’t spoil the major plot twists. This is anime, so expect the normal love triangle and gorgeous animation. Josee is also a tsundere extreme. This was a sweet, cute, romance with a few bouts of intensity. I think it’s a great couple movie.
Monday Links
This is going to be a bit long, so buckle up buttercup.
One of the casualties of the current trade war is America’s soft power. This is going to be one of those “we didn’t know what we had until it was gone” types of things.
MAGA’s recent turn against the Federalist Society bodes ill for originalism. MAGA only likes originalism when it allows them to use power against their enemies. When originalism says no, then it has become an enemy of MAGA.
I will give credit to Trump for two things this week. Pardoning some divers who rescued sharks they didn’t know didn’t need rescuing. And improving relations with the new Syrian government.
The US Supreme Court rejected the idea that “environmental impact statements” have to be so comprehensive that they have to include ridiculously vague “downstream impacts”. There’s a lot of nuance here, so I would recommend reading the article.
As with the right to keep and bear arms, Great Britain shows what happens when a nation doesn’t back up it’s freedom of speech with strong constitutional protections.
Is the ABA’s accreditation monopoly about to end? Accreditation is a racket when it’s written into the laws for who can become certain professions. Goes the same for the ABA, the AMA, and AICPA.
Let those who want it pay for public broadcasting.
Florida woman is fighting excessive code fines all the way to the Florida Supreme Court. The way some counties approach code enforcement is less about protecting people and more about fleecing for cash.
Another lingering symptom of closing the schools – chronic absenteeism. The damage done to the kids and schools are going to be one of the more long lasting impacts of the reactions to the pandemic.
Now on to some gun stories.
From The Reload, the US Supreme Court tells Mexico to pound sand in its suit against Smith and Wesson. It doesn’t matter. The process is the punishment.
From NHPR, the New Hampshire legislature granted Sig Sauer immunity from lawsuits surrounding its P320 line. Sig is doing all of these things that just scream “we can’t be trusted”.
From National Review, Citi is walking back its “de-banking” policy. Great. Wonderful. I still don’t fucking trust you. You have proven you will cave to the mob. It’s just the MAGA mob right now.
A couple of thinkpieces for you.
From The Free Press, an examination of the woke right. Horseshoe theory on stilts.
From The Dispatch, don’t bail out the farmers to protect them from tariffs. Don’t bail out any of the industries. This country needs to feel the full force of the tariffs.
Some odds and ends to finish off the week.
From 404, the CIA ran a Star Wars fan site?
From the San Antonio News, a look at an overly broad Texas law that could have impact on Texans watching anime.
From news.com.au, the Japanese are cracking down on unusual baby names. This is one where you have to read the reason why.
From Radio Insight, Dr. Demento is retiring after a 55-year run. I’ve never listened to the show, but you can’t deny the impact. Weird Al is the most striking example.