June has gone: the yearly goals halfway mark

 So the year is already halfway down the "getting slowly back to normal" drain, meaning it's time to see how the goals are coming along.

With for one, the happy news I started painting again, albeit sporadically, AND even managed to finish some wargame figures!

 

So to that end, the first goal of painting 15 gasaphon Gundams for MechaTop has been starting to tick, with already 3 that came off the bench the past months.  And a whole batch standing ready!

 

On the reading end of things, it might actually look daunting to get the 100 books goal, though even I have been reading a lot, including manga, I'm still only at 24 books finished at the moment.  So I guess that might need some additional effort in both shopping and reading for sure, and work harder on that magnatheque.

 

On a movie level, it seems to go okay, standing just under the halfway mark with 7 seen so far.  The series seem to be a goal that will be achieved smoother, as Noshi has picked up watching these together in the evenings now, and as a result I`m at 9 out of the planned 15.

 

Of course, the anime goal will be reached as I keep devouring them, now standing at 17 out of the planned 25.  But of those planned ones, the Hitman Reborn large one of 203 episodes is still only at episode 23 at the moment.

 

 

The one goal that will seemingly hard to still obtain is the weight challenge though, as halfway I`m still a far way off the aimed 80kg, the lowest point has been 90,50.

 

Now to go onwards to the next update, end of september, by when I expect the first achieved statuses.

Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs

 Weeeelllll, time for a new romance comedy show!

And it is an isekai this time round, in which the hero is reincarnated into a... dating sim.  With magical girls.  And Mecha's.  And a cool opening theme!

They sure make the premises always go stranger and stranger hehe, but I don`t mind, I like the genre as some relaxing viewing.  But so let's dive into this isekai build around an otome game!

Officeworker Leon get's reincarnated in a dating sim where women reign supreme, and men are only allowed in sight if they are really beautiful.  But Leon remembers the game from his previous life, having completed it.  He becomes the master of an AI as he was send to retrieve it's core, gaining great wealth and joining the academy.

At the academy, he meets the characters from his otome game, he meets Olivia, a lower level girl, helping her get introduced to the most popular girl of the class.  But during a dungeon exploration, something seems off with a girl called Marie.  She seemingly influences game mechanics, putting Leon on the backfoot in his knowledge.  Angelica challenges Marie to a duel, and Leon steps in to be her champion and find out more about Marie that way.

Marie has 5 champion mecha warriors, ridiculing Leon and his lumbering Arroganz relic mech.  Until he pummels all his opponents out of the duel that is... and gets a promotion as a result.  Shortly after though, he has to stand in for one of the champions in a hoverbike race.  He wins it, causing people to even hate him more.  But one of the noble girls that really despise him, tries to force Olivia into betraying him and Angelica.

They get attacked by the Sky Pirates, but Leon stands up to them, recovering a powerfull necklace he is looking after while coming to Livia's protection together with one of the five heroes, Brad.  But then Hertrude of the Fanoss Kingdom attacks, an event not supposed to happen before the end of year three.  This results in the capture of Angie, while Leon is tossed in jail.

He rallies the other students to fight, as the Farnoss forces prepare to attack in one hour and kill them all.  But as they decide to blast the ship out of the sky instead, Livia intervenes unlocking her full powers as the Saint, while he captures Hertrude. So the Black Knight is send after him, the most poweful mecha pilot around.  But Leon overcomes him, taking a huge amount of spoils with him as a result.

This was a fun series for sure, and I look forward for a second season of this, even though it isn`t one of those mainstay series.  It's just what it is: a fun isekai show.

Lord Ipsqueek goes Kasterlee, part deux

 Hello followers and admirer's of my stellar looks!

 

 

It might have been a while since I turned word to you, but I finally got out on a city trip again, and it was back to daddy's "holy land" or as I call it, old man memories.

 

Kasterlee.

 

Now, part one, when I was just a wee baby not even half a year amongst you, was literally baked away as we had a heatwave 2 years ago, but now the weather was far more enjoyable (bar that one rainstorm that awoke me saturday night, blighters) and I could explore the village in earnest.

Though grandpa first had to go to the local emergency room of St Dimpna to get some stitches, as he had bumped his head.  But no worries, I enjoyed my "bammekes" in the fresh outside air in the meantime.

 

 

The next day started with some great bubbles fun!

Now, we stayed at a camping place which has a LOT of playgarden's suited for all ages up to 12.  Of course, being the conqueror (of hearts, but more on that later) that I am, I took to the one for the largest kids and showed them how to rock a swing like a real one.

One huge bonus was that the chair to eat was a huge comfort one.

So, an after lunch nap later, I was ready for my next adventure!

And that was a trip to the Kabouterkesberg, where gnomes live and I could go meet them.

Okay, so I climbed all those stairs with mommy, so I could let daddy curse and clutz to get my steed up and off the mountains.  It's good for his physique, so no compassion from me, nope nope.

Well, I`m not all that bad a ruler, I allowed them to have an icecream for the efforts.

How do you find my crown of the gnomes by the way?

In the evening, we went to a neighbouring play garden, where I could rummage around to hearts desire.

And I charmed this lovely little lady to do the jumping, so I could enjoy some relaxing bouncy bouncy on the trampoline.  Conqueror of hearts indeed!

The last morning, we went to an indoor playground, where I discovered a bath filled with plastic balls.  How great to chill is that!

 

 

And I could touch a cute little goat!

So that now means dear parents you must provide me at home with a swing, a trampoline and a ball bath, okey?

 

So, that was a neat little trip for certain, thanks mommy, daddy, grandma and grandpa for taking me along!

 

Well, maybe not daddy, all he seemed to do was drink...

 

 

 

The Haul Report 323: Manga time

 This week, my monthly box from Archonia arrived.

So that means some more nice additions to the library, with these volumes.

From a variation of series, as more volumes appear or I pick up older ones, this means a variety in reading material as well.

I guess I`ll have some enjoyful reading to do the coming weeks, while contemplating already what to put into the next box.

Unboxing Demon Slayer Tanjiro

 The manga colour version, of which I also have Nezuko, finally arrived by boat.

Okay, so it took longer, but I didn`t have to pay import duties so fine with me.

Now, let's crack open the box and have a look at our hero.

Very nice figure indeed.

I know there is a Daki going to be coming to the crane game apps in the future, so that is one I`ll definitly be playing for, and I still need me to get a Zenitsu from this line as well.

Well, time enough to do so anyways!

That Time I got reincarnated as a Slime volume 6 - Fuze and Taiki Kawakami

 The adventure continues of the fledgling monster nation of the Jura Forest Alliance.

And it's ruler, Rimuru Tempest, isn`t given a day break to catch his breath.  Or magicules, as slimes don`t breath but you get the idea.

Because soon after settling in with the new Orc and lizardmen residents and incorporating them into the fold, they are visited by none other then the dwarven king himself, Gazel, who wants to see with his own eyes what this new nation is all about.  They hold a friendly duel to see if Rimuru is worthy of being chancellor in his eyes.

But Rimuru's victory over the Orc Lord has also caught the attention of the demon lordsm and one in particular, the ancient Milim Nava, goes to seek Rimuru out.  Because the manipulative demon lord Clayman wants to add Rimuru to the ranks of the Demon Lords.

But Milim arrives in town, challenging Rimuru.  Knowing she is far above his level, he convinces her with the help of honey that the town isn`t bad at all.  Milim decides to see him as her best friend, and move in into town, living with the monsters as she is fascinated by it all.

A volume in which I had the feeling that more details where added, especially in a comical sense, compared to the anime.  The first 5 books seemed to have been adapted page by page, but now funny moments are more a plenty, making it an even more joyous read.

Unboxing The Quintessential Quintuplets Ichika swimsuit price figure

 Okay, even if she is "just" a price figure scale, she is one of the cutest Ichika's I`ve seen around.

But how does she look in the flesh, or plastic is maybe better?  

Let's find out!

She is most definitly a fantastic figure, and one of the best Prize figures I scored this year so far.

So if you come along her and you like the Quintuplets, don`t hesitate to pick her up!

On the Painting Desk 206

 So, a long weekend has passed, and I took the opportunity to prepare some figures.

Namely, some more gasaphon Gundam models to start painting up soonish.

 

 

A lot of "main suits" in this batch like the Victory, Zeta, ZZ and F91 for example, not the grunt types of recent.

 

With a blistering heat now going over the county, I guess this weekend I won`t be doing anything, while next weekend I`m on holiday.  But do not fear, I hopefully will be going at them soonish again, beginning with glueing and basing.

 

I just need to get to a hobby store for some white paint...

That Time I got reincarnated as a Slime volume 5 - Fuze and Taiki Kawakami

 We are back for more Rimuru adventures, and this volume brings the Monster Nation to it's first real battle to help some potential allies.

Rimuru and his friends engaged the hordes of the Orc Lord, who ravage the Lizardmen lands and threaten their territory next.

Majin Gelmund, responsible for creating the Orc lord, intervenes in the battle but is quickly cornered by the Kijin, angry for the destruction of their village.  He commands the Orc lord to free him, but is instead killed and eaten by the beast, causing it to evolve into Orc Disaster.

Rimuru faces off against him, and while absorbing him into his stomach learns the truth of how he became to be the Orc Lord.  While he can't be forgiven for the dameges he did, his motivations where noble for his own people and Rimuru decides to absolve him and his people of their sins.

In the enuising talks on what to do with the orc population, the nation of the Jura Forest Alliance is created, with Rimuru suddenly finding himself the chancellor of it all.  He decides to split the orcs over all the villages, and the capital itself grows into a city with more then 10.000 inhabitants, prospering on all levels.

I really enjoy this series, and the aftermath pov story of Veldora is always a fun read as well.  Now to tackle volume 6 which is already lying ready here.

Unboxing Gundam SEED GAT-X105 Strike Internal Structure

 When this figure showed up on TokyoCatch, I just wanted to win one (though honestly, the 50/50 version was even more my target, but I didn`t get that one).

And recently, it arrived safe and sound from Japan.

So let's have a look at this model in all it's transparent glory.

So, while I'm not over the top wild of it, it still is a good addition to the Gundam cabinets, AND it is the Strike after all.

Until the next unboxing!

Terra Formars volume 8 - Yu Sasuga and Ken-Ichi Tachibana

 It's time for more heroic tales of our desperate survivors on Mars, facing off against the huge evolved cockroaches.

And with the knowledge the chinese delegation has betrayed them, they are now pressed on different fronts.

While the political battlefield rages on Earth, the battle flares up greatly on Mars.  As the Russian and Chinese division battle it out, with both general's being forced to their limits, the balance shifts to and fro.

But then the Terra Formars arrive en masse, but instead of straight out attacking, they send in their younglings to train on how to battle the humans.

As the expedition members become overwhelmed, they figure out it is the Annex I that they want.  When the chinese unleash a biological weapon that takes the cockroaches off from the Annex I, the russians are forced to withdraw.  But Asimov's son in law, Alexander, stayed behind inside the spaceship to try and take out some of the chinese divisions forces using guerilla tactics.

He manages to fulfill his mission of sabotaging the missile tube in the Annex I, at the expense of his own life, and with the Chinese division still in control of the vessel.  The Russians take off together with the Japan / US division, and Asimov decided to tell all he knows to their allies...

I really like this series and how it is drawn, it's every bit as "hard" as the anime was.  So now to pick up the next volume one of these weeks.

The Haul Report 322

 Yessss, another one of my long en route (or better, on sea) parcels came in.

And this week, it was the box from Toreba that was shipped in march.  

I actually suspect it was on the same boat as my AmiAmi order last week, but that aside...

So now Tanjiro finally joins my collection of Demon Slayer figures, to go alongside his sibling.

And a nice little acryll stand of the VTuber Mel Oguri in chibi style, which was back at the time a Toreba exclusive.

So, that was a fun parcel to receive for sure.

Picard season 2

 Jean-Luc is back in his remaining life as a synthetic life-form, or at least partial, after the final events of season 1.

And the Federation seems getting back on track in the aftermath of the Borg artifact and recognition of said synthetic lifeforms.

While he enjoys his life at his wine chateau, he struggles with his feelings for his Romulan friend Laris, trying to supress feelings of love.  In the meanwhile, Rios has become the captain of the brand new Stargazer, a vessel with a legacy for Picard.  When send out to investigate a spatial anomaly, Picard is called in as the anomaly wants to talk personally to him.

It turns out to be the Borg themselves, and a new queen starts taking over the fleet, forcing the Stargazer to self destruct.  But Picard suddenly finds himself back home, as Q intervened and rewrote time.  As a result, the galaxy became a Mirror universe like distopian nightmare, with the Confederacy conquering one after another civilisation.  Picard collects his companions also stuck here, and together with a Borg queen's assistance travel back to 2024 to try and set things right.

But they lose Elnor on the way there, as he is shot and dies after the slingshot effect.  In 2024, they have to search for the Watcher, and Picard finds Guinan to help him in this search, while Jurati tries to merge with the Borg Queen to get the location of the Watcher that way.

Rios, Seven and Rafi go into Los Angeles, but Rios gets injured upon arrival and finds himself arrested by immigration after being treated in a public clinic.  He is set for deportation, but his friends set out to rescue him.  Picard in the meantime finds the Watcher, looking a lot like Laris, and learns that the event Q is about to alter is actually the Europa space mission, and the involvement of Picard's ancestor, Renee Picard.

But Q itself also has some tricks up his sleeve, as he contacts doctor Soong, helping him out with illegal genetic procedures to try and cure his ailing daughter.

After a failed attempt at his ancestors life at the gala, Picard gets stuck in his memories, and Talinn goes in to free him.  Rafi and Seven discover in the meantime that the Queen has influenced Jurati, and taken over her body.  While she roams the city to build up power, Picard faces his past and seeks the help of Guinan to summon Q.  But instead, the FBI come in and arrest him as they saw him materialize.  During the interrogation, Q appears before Guinan, and she learns he is dying, and all Q are stuck in the past.

Soong is faced by his daughter, who learned she is nothing more then a genetical experiment.  He is recruited by the Borg Queen to try and take La Sirenna, and remove Picard, but as she is about to succeed Jurati manages to convince her to merge into something new and maybe manage to change the Borg in the future, as they take off in the ship.  But Soong wants to prevent the Europa mission, to create a future where he left behind a legacy, no matter how grim it might turn out to be.

They manage to prevent him stopping the launch, but at the cost of Talinn's life, leaving him behind a broken man while his daughter Corey is recruited to the Travellers by Wesley Crusher.  Q returns all of them bar Rios to the future, who stays behind with the love he found there.  They return moments before the self destruct, but deduct the Borg queen is actually Agnes, and she seeks them out to use the fleet and stop a quadrant destroying galactic event from happening.  With the event stopped, Picard returns to his Chateau, and gives in to his feelings for Laris.

Not a bad series at all, giving of a vibe that makes it a mixture between The Voyage Home and First Contact, making for a nice adventure.  Though I can`t stop to feel for the agents of the Temporal Agency, because the amount of infringements against the Temporal Directive...

Gigant volume 7 - Hiroya Oku

 Our favorite adult actress Chiho Johansson is back with more of her efforts to save the world from invasion.

And while having to protect Japan from a giant that laid waste to the United States, she also has to cope with the scancal of her relation coming out with her younger lover.

While she is seperated from Rei, who not heartily had to break up with her last volume, she is visited by a group of travellers from the future, there to assist her.  They came to destroy an orbital AI which is the cause of all the destruction, and that has grown to strong in their time, reducing Earth's numbers to under 85 million.

So now in the past, they are looking to stop it here together with Chiho, and they teach her more abilities the mysterious dial grants like flight.  But then she discovers she is pregnant, and reunites with her beloved Rei.

But people start to commit mass suicide, as the terrible giant called Satan, who ravaged the United States, makes landfall in Tokyo...

It's still a series of good fun, and the, errm, carnal levels, where really down this volume, which was a change from earlier volumes.  Now to see how it will evolve... and with the handsome time traveller that develloped a crush on Papico...

No Game No Life Practical War Game - Yuu Kamiya

 An "in between" light novel collection of short stories of the No Game No Life series, this book came out between volume 9 and volume 10.

And it focusses again on the Great War in the first story, but from the point of view of Fiel Nirvalen, the Elven maid's, relatives: the two only octacasters ever known, Think Nirvalen and Nina Clyve.

While the siblings think it is the same person, in truth Think disappeared after she was defeated by a Dwarf.  But she reappeared in the dining room of Nina Clyve, and decided to make her the next Grand Magus to handle bureacratic duties, so she could focus on her goal: destroying the world and all on it to achieve ultimate victory.

As she reveals her plan to unleash the Aka Si Anse, a doomsday device bend on destroying the source of all magic, the spirits, the dwarves engage the elves.  She faces her nemesis, Loni Drauvnir, the artificer king, and realises she can't overpower him as easily as she thought.  But right as she wants to play her ultimate trump card, Jibril crashes into the battle...

Twenty four years later, as Think is recovering and putting her plans into motion once again, she is visited by Riku.  And suddenly the War is over.  With the new Ten Covenants in place, she is unable now to hurt Loni, but she vows she will find a way around the rules and destory every living thing on the planet.  But first, she and Nina need to form a nation in this renewed world they find themselves in.  And she starts with placing some wagers, including becoming married to Nina who reveals she is actually a man.

In the second short story, Sora is explaining to Steph the art and skill of reading microexpressions in a person's face, and how that helps in playing, and winning, games.  This leads Steph to sort of snap, thinking she has to become a pervert to beat Sora.  Unknowingly, she actually nearly did, but she is comforted by the siblings on how she is the only one capable of doing politics.

In the thirds story, we learn mora baout Clammy Zell and her relationship with Fiel Nirvalen, on how she grows from being just a slave, albiet one Fiel sees as a friend, to a partner.   In order to achieve this, Fiel is planning on overthrowing the whole system of Elven Gard itself, all to make Clammy, and as such herself, happy.

Rounding it out is a two part story, we get the famous tale of how Jibril became the only Flugel known to single-handily slay a Dragonia, a tale of trial and error and giving a look at the origins and abilities of the mighty dragonkin.  But also how the "Irregular Number" tries to please their creator, the god of war Artosh, and her relationship with her peers.

So it was a fun volume, that provides some good insights in the characters surroungind Sora and Shiro.  This due to the fact they barely play a role in the book, only appearing in one story.  So one might consider this a sort of lore volume, not only going deeper in some of their companions, but in events taking place in the Great War as well...