Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - Stellar War Part 3

 Time for the third and final movie (or, if you watch the series, the 4 final episodes) that makes up the second season of this awesome space anime.

 

And with the political strife reaching climax, both galactic powers have to take care of the aftermath...

 

Once more, the movie has been beautifully animated, the space battles being some of the greatest works out there in the genre, and a strong storyline makes this a truly magnificent epos.

 

On the one side, in the Alliance the coup has begun, and it comes to Yang and his allies to try and contain, and later overthow, this uprising.  The Empire on the other hand is still divided in a civil war with the high nobles.  But as both manage to cull the issues, they also are at the cradle of the renewed and reinstated governments, which results in both of them finding themselves in positions of great responsibility as the dust settles.

 

Truly worth the watch, this is the sort of space opera modern day Star Wars can only dream off to achieve...

Asumi-chan is intrested in Lesbian brothels volume 4 - Kuro Itsuki

 Time for some more ecchi reading with the next manga that I grabbed, and that is the 4th volume of Asumi-chan.

 

And her quest to find her childhood friend and crush continues...

 

While Asumi keeps searching for her friend by booking female escorts, her roommate Nanao get a wrong idea.  Thinking Asumi is a call-girl herself, she books one that turns out to look like Asumi, but isn't her.  Because nanao has a crush on Asumi, and she learns the joys of girl love from this lady.

 

When they go on a day to the beach with Asumi's boss, they get to know each other a bit better, and during a date a few days later they finally confess that they like each other as well.  Telling their feelings and why they are on the look-out, they end up in front of a love hotel themselves, wondering if they should get in...

 

... which we will find out in volume 5.  Once again, even though it has some soft erotica, this series is a fun read.  Misunderstandings, comical situations but also some deep emotions form the backbone of the Asumi story, and I really like it beyond the obvious otaku / hentai reasons.

 

Really a good read to pick up to be honest! 

Call of the Night season 2

 It took far to long before this was made, and scandalously even longer before I watched it, but our favorite vampire Nazuna is back.

 

And "Ko-kun" is still in tow, hoping to become a vampire himself one day by being turned by her.

 

While the attraction between the two of them remains a central part of the story, to enable the tunring to even take place, there is a bigger issue present this season.  "Miss Detective" Anko is hot on the vampires trails to exterminate them.  She knows that every vampire has a sort of memento from their past that makes them vunerable, and chases these to advance her intentions.

 

Nazuna and Kou try to stop her, and try to learn what was the memento that makes Nazuna vunerable.  But during this search, Kou learns Anko was actually the first human friend Nazuna ever had a decade ago.  When it turned out Anko's dad was a vampire after he assaulted her and killed her mother, she swore vengeance on the creatures of the night, including Nazuna.  But slowly, Kou manages to reconcile her and make peace, as she wanted to frame Nazuna in killing her and quieting the night of people to starve vampires out.

 

When the dust settles, they actually become sort of friends again, while Kou is more and more accepted into the Coven even though he still hasn't turned.  But the final moment of the series seems to hint at this finally happening, yet keeps the story still open a bit by only suggesting it.

 

So yeah, this was another great mix of action on the one hand, but also some great humour at the other hand, making it a very enjoyable show to watch and definitly recommended.

 

The animation is once again top notch, and I just LOVE the closing theme (Nemure) of this second season, that might just end up my best music pic for this year... 

 

Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance

 So, the Netflix CGI made Gundam series, 6 episodes long.

 

And it takes us back to the Universal Century, eleven months into the One Year War.

 

We take the point of view from Zeon in this series though, as a base in eastern Europe has been captured by the Federation, and a force made up of various squads, including Red Wolf Squadron of captain Iria Solari are tasked to retake it.  Because the mobile suit the Federation sends in is not like the Zaku's of Zeon, but the Gundam EX that wrecked her squad when they first encountered it!

 

Now, this whole series, while very well made by CGI, as such feels like a long cutscene from some videogame or the likes instead of the regular drawn Gundam we are used to (but not as bad as the infamous live action movie mind you!), and that takes use to to watch actually.  But storywise, this is a great little series, as it balances Solari against loyalty to Zeon and her own personal convictions against a wartorn backdrop.  Will she prioritise the vengeance over the loss of her husband and friends, or fight to survive to get back to her daughter...

 

A good series for sure, but as I stated, it might take getting used to viewing with the CGI only. 

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - Stellar War Part 2

 Time to continue with the next movie that makes up the second "season" of this awesome space opera series!

 

And like with the first one, it was later aired in 4 episodes, so you might find either of them on streaming services, but it are the same story.

 

As the consequences of the first movie's politacl games play out, Reinhardt is leading his fleet to quell the rebelling nobles, having labelled them traitors to the Empire.  In the meantime in the Alliance, a coup d'etat takes place suspending democracy.  Yang, unable to stand by this, leads his forces from Iserlohn to try and stop the revolution going on and restore the government.

But the battles don't go as smoothly as wanted, as reason has left the uprising factions on both sides.  yang is forced to lead an attack against an other Alliance fleet, while a nuclear attack is ordered within the Empire, ruining the powers of the noble houses once and for all.

 

And that leaves us with two opposing governments both on the brink of having to rebuild their structure, before they can look at each other once again.  With both having suffered serious casualties, this means an uneasy time of cease-fire is still in effect, but how will both Reinhardt and Yang take care of the fall-out within their population?

 

That is something I look forward to finding out in the third movie very soon! 

 

 

Casual Underworlds games 19th of august 2026

 So, this has been a while, but I managed to get to the Outpost for the first time in months (yay holidays) and get some causal games of Underworlds in.

 

And I took my Chaos Dwarfs along with the deck I played in Halle consisting of Pillage and Plunder with Emberstone Sentinels, as I haven't touched the game since then.  Still need to see what to filter in that one, so best to give it some mileage first... 

 

My first game of the night was against Peter and his Kanandora's Blades, running Wrack and Ruin together with Deadly Synergies.  I hate this match up, as I am forced to take stagger tokens in order to get my demon dice and inspire, while also needing to delve for my Pillage and Plunder.  And this gives his Bleed effect a field day!

 

Both warbands deployed, and we got ready for the battle. 

 

Morudok and Tokkor led the charge, in order to score a quick Carefull Survey as we went off, and damaging his big guy a little as he drank his healing potion.

 

The Dawi Zharr started their desolation works, inspirng some along the way as a result.  

  

 Morudok canny sapper'ed away, but Tokkor could not hold against the enemy and fell to the Bleed effect of the knife wielding barbarians as a result, while Imnidrin saw them close up on her.

 

But at the end of round 1, it still was a nice 6-4 lead for the Blood of the Bull, though it started to look warm under their feet with the horde of enemies approaching.

 

Imnidrin was the next to fall as slash after slash came her way as she was the chosen skull of the savages, her defences overwhelmed.

 

Soon after, Zuldrakka also fell as she missed her attacks to take down Throkk, and in return her armour was cleaved through by Kamandora herself in a battle of the ladies.

 

Morudok now tried to take down his leader as a result and the score stood now at the end of turn 2 at 11-15 for the Blades, but also failed to cause any significant damage on her, she was truly smiled upon by Khorne.  But the Blades took initiative and before long he fell to the return blows of the Blades' leader.

 

This meant Grisk's moment had come, using Hidden Paths he appeared on the other side of the board and managed to score some surges along the way in doing so.

 

He was pushed back all the way to the edge of the board, staggered and very, very afraid but had scored maybe just enough with his shennanigans in the opposing side.

 

 Because he was killed by Throkk, but as the lumbering brute didn't delve, it allowed me to score Strip the Realm and Torn Landscape, grabbing a further 5 glory and taking a last moment 19-18 win even after being tabled by the Blades. Nice going you brave Hobgrot!

 

And that means I will need to paint up a bare chested marauder for the slave regiment somewhere soonish!

 

My second game put me against Wouter, who brought the Gnarlspirit Pack with Pillage and Plunder and Wrack and Ruin.  That's a lot of and's in that deck description...

 

The warbands deployed, ready to fight each other over tokens to be flipped!

 

Morudok was assaulted on all sides, and he quickly was taken down by the enemy marauders, being the first to fall as even his inspired defences couldn't save him.

 

 The Gnarlspirit Pack celebrated with a little dance around the token he had charged on though, allowing him to at least score two surges before his demise...

 

 He was avenged though, as Zuldrakka took down Lupan, but sadly none of her three successes had a crit to allow her to slide onto the objective.  The first round as such ended on a 6-5 for the Blood of the Bull.

  

 In the second round, Zuldrakka continued her wrecking job, taking down Kheira.

 

 Before being a Canny Sapper and return to her side of the board.

  

 Grisk however was not so lucky, and he was taken out by a superspeedy Sarrakkar.

 

 And then I made a mistake that would cost me the game in all probability.  Sarrakkar, on one wound left, was in range of Tokkor and he fired on her instead of charging adjacent.  He saved the damage so he didn't die, but if I had charged him, I would have been charged out and Zuldrakka could have moved on, and delved, the objective in the centre to allow me to score Supremacy.  Now, I needed to charge with him in his final activation at Gorl on the Aqua token, and he didn't even get him off in the end... resulting in a 10-11 lead for the Pack instead...

 

In the third turn, Sarrakkar did fall though to the flamethrower, but this would prove to little to late.

 

Zuldrakka now did turn the objective she needed to have flipped previous turn.

 

But Gorl in turn used Canny Sapper, appearing before Imnidrin and taking down my last hope for Supremacy.  With no chance of getting Tokkor to move anymore due to not being able to charge out, I couldn't score that anymore.  My final chance was to focus, with 4 objectives left in my deck, and if Strip the Realm popped up, I would still be able to steal the win on tiebreakers.  But alas, it was the other two that came to my hand, and as such the Blood of the Bull tasted defeat with 15-18.

 

So, a good evening, and I now what I must do with my deck now to have it run a little bit less clunky, so that's a good thing.  The playmistake was purely due to not having played for months now (since Halle in June) so I can sort of live with that as well.

 

Now to see if somehow, sometime I can try out the changed deck before the next event... 

 

 

 

 

 

Burn the Witch

 Burn the Witch is set in the Bleach universe, and was a movie released in 2020, but streamed on Crunchyroll in a 3 piece anime series.

 

So I sat down for the movie, and for some hopefully good fantasy storytelling...

 

In London, dragons are still around, yet unseen to the general populace.  But there is a "mirror dimension" called Reverse London where these creatures are visible and can be hunted down to protect the people.  Ninny is a girl that in our world is member of the band Reverse London, but travels to the other dimension where she is a witch, monitoring those beasts.

 

But together with her partner Noelle, they must protect Balgo, who has a strange connection to the mythical creatures.  The movie has some decent humour, and an okay storyline.  Essentially a side story to Bleach, it does offer another point of view on that world, and was incorporated in the main story through a mobile video game.

 

Well worth the watch for some lazy afternoon anime watching, though I wouldn't say you MUST see this to have your anime life "complete". 

Legend of the Galactic Heroes: Die Neue These - Stellar War Part 1

 Time for some good hard science fiction anime, as we continue with the Die Neue These reboot of Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

 

The second season, Stellar War, was actually made as three cinematic movies, later each split in short series of 4 episodes each.

 

Only downside being I only seem to find a dubbed version online overhere, but heck, while not ideal it doesn't distract from once again the fantastic visuals and strong story. 

 

Following immediatly after the huge battle at the end of the first season, the remnants of the fleets are gathering together after their failed invasion.  While Yang keeps organiszing a fighting withdrawal, the losses are catastrophic and shifts the momentum of the war to the Empire.  But when the Kaiser dies without naming an heir, civil war stirs underneath their successes, buying the Alliance time. But the losses also have taken a toll on Alliance leadership, and unrest stirs between the surface there as well...

 

This first part of the second season / first movie kicks off intensely, with the huge battle, but also the politics behind two galactic forces adding a layer of intrigue.

 

I look forward to watching the next instalment for sure! 

Yuru Camp season 2

 In our continueing journey to watch a 1000 anime series before 2030 (meaning that over a period of 42 years I would have seen 25 series a year on average), I finally continued Yuru Camp.

 

A lovely, innocent slice of life series about the Outdoor Activities Club, a small group of school friends that want to go camping outside in Japan.

 

There is nothing bad to say about Yuru Camp actually.  It has no love issues, no drama, and of course no action sequences or even tragic injuries or god forbid, deaths.  No, what you get is a group of school girls going out into the landscape of Japan to go camping, and their journey getting there.  And that is both literally, as by figure of speech, as well as what they learn along those paths with the solemn goal of having a good time and enjoying the view.

 

And that is just fine for me, every now and then you just want to watch that innocent yet enjoyable anime series that just puts so many smiles and good feelings in your head.  From how Rin and Nadeshiko each go solo camping, the first being experienced in this, the latter all learning on what it encompasses.  Before they reunite and go on a big camping trip together after they gathered the necessary funds for the undertaking... and to go enjoy the onsen in the region.

 

And so we are taken along for 13 episodes of pure cuteness and cute adventures, and for the 700th anime I completed in my lifetime, that is just fine!