Hello friends! It's been a while. January is my busiest month of the year for work, plus the tendonitis in my shoulder decided to flare up, so I've been away for a bit. Still lurking and liking, but not much posting. Hope you've all been doing well.

Lastly (for now), I watched the Holy Grail of Eris. Interesting twist on the villainess trope to have the villainess already dead. The main character is very milquetoast, but that works well to juxtapose her with the more brash characters entering her life. Not 100% sold, but pretty good so far.

Also watched the first episode of the second cour of Hell Teacher. Great start for the new season! Did a good job of subtly reminding us what happened last cour while still being compelling on its own. This isn't gonna be my favorite, but also won't be near the bottom. A solid show. OP rips too!

More anime premieres! Shiboyugi: Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table A+ on nailing the tone and having a distinct style. First episode set things up well. Hopefully some insight into the overarching message soon. I'm a bit worried that it's going to just be cruelty for cruelty's sake.

M9S cleared! We played a bit extra this week since we felt close to clearing last night and it paid off. I'm really pleased with everyone. We don't usually clear any fights week 1 since we raid blind and only 6 hours per week. Looking forward to M10S next week. Assuming reclear goes well. 😝

Lastly (for now), I watched the first episode of Journal with Witch. Early contender for anime of the season. This show feels like it's designed specifically to make me Feel Things™. Strong recommendation from me based on the first episode.

Watched the first couple episodes of the Hana-Kimi anime as well. Kinda like She's the Man, but in anime form. So far, I'm liking the cast and the humor is good. Hopefully this anime can avoid some of the uglier tropes that can come from these sorts of gender swap comedies.

A new anime season is upon us! Let's talk about it. Caught the first episode of Sentenced to Be a Hero. Pretty good! I think the conceit of being forced to be a hero as a punishment for crime is interesting. Also, its gorgeously animated and the English voice cast is stellar.

I tore my ACL at karaoke by jumping off a chair while performing a duet of "What Makes You Beautiful" by One Direction. I finished the song sitting on the floor, stayed a bit longer, drove all of my friends home, then drove myself to the ER.

Haven't done a gaming update in a while! Working through Hades 2 post-game. It's been a lot of fun, but I I still like the first one more. I think the main thing for me is that the Omega system doesn't work as well for my style of play. Probably also why my wife disagrees with me on this point.

Tried to start Fate/Strange Fake last night and quickly realized that I'm way out of my depth. Gonna spend some time catching up on other Fate materials to get a better handle on it. Given that, I've started playing the Fate/Stay Night VN. Probably something I should've done a long time ago.

Been putting together my list of things to watch this year and I think I've got my Winter 2026 anime list now. Obviously some heavy hitting returning series, but hopefully some new stuff will surprise me. Much of the best anime from 2025 were new IP. What are you looking forward to this season?

Happy New Year, friends! Hope 2026 treats you better than 2025 regardless of how 2025 treated you. Have fun out there.

Took some time to unpack a few thoughts on Expedition 33. Watching what I thought was a "pretty good" game get transformed into A Cultural Object has been disheartening. So I have some thoughts on glitz, glamour, and respectability... transgamerthoughts.com/post/8027631...

Local Carvana dispenser getting in the festive mood.

Wanted to see Wake Up Dead Man in theatre yesterday, but unfortunately still not comfy with leaving my pup alone at home yet. At least I won't have to wait long for that one to hit streaming. Really looking forward to it.

These are the next four games on my shortlist. Not sure I'll get to them all next year, but they're the only ones I've really got in my plans to play right now.

Well, that's one of the greatest playoff games in MLS history. Good night!

What are your ten favorite games from Square|Enix that aren't Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest? 🤔 🎮 Chrono Trigger Einhander Breath of Fire (NA localization, I'm counting it) Super Mario RPG Bushido Blade Parasite Eve Vagrant Story Illusion of Gaia NieR Automata Bravely Default

My Game Award picks. I don't take much stock in them overall, but I do think the nominees are a good springboard for conversation.

It’s Monday! Post some metal. Best I can do is post-hardcore. youtu.be/DZmHVOcBDQo?...

I mean... It's Chrono Trigger. Just play Chrono Trigger

Good news today for my doggo. The toe he had removed was indeed cancerous, but it hadn't spread anywhere else yet. Once he recovers from the operation, he should be good as new. So relieved to hear that from the vet today.

This week's episode of Sanda blew me away. Probably bumped it up to my current top show this season. Go watch this show, if you're able.

Anime Question of the day; What is your favorite music based anime? It's RockLady for me. I love these foul-mouthed misfits. The themes of putting up appearances, managing societal expectations, and authenticity are fantastic too. #anime What's yours? Comment or quote!

Anime Question of the day: What is your favorite original anime? (No source material, anime came first) It's probably Apocalypse Hotel for me. Slice-of-life that's funny, but maintains an air of melancholy appropriate for an apocalypse. It's an all-timer. What's yours? Comment or quote!

Friends, it has been a week. My pup had to get a toe removed and the aftercare has been exhausting, hence why I haven't been posting much. He's doing okay though and is recuperating. On top of that, we had our fuse box replaced. It took 14 hours. We felt so bad for the poor electrician.

Caught up on the FFXIV Live Letter. Seems like there's some good stuff. - Smartly delaying Savage till after holidays - I'm sure you glamour fiends are happy (though no more space yet) - New Variant (I'm mixed in the Criterion charges) - I hope the strategy board is better than Duty Recorder

Playing a game tonight. It's called "Will my phone battery die before the electrician finishes installing the new fuse box at my house?" Wouldn't recommend. Mechanics are boring and what's with that title? Someone really needed to punch it up a bit.

Alright, I've watched at least two episodes of almost every anime from this season that I'm planning to watch (one day we'll get One Punch Man dubs). Here's my current top three based on initial impressions.

Video game fears: - Poor checkpointing - Bad endgame/ending - Stingy autosave - Boring gameplay loop - Multiplayer achievements - "Several cutscenes will play in sequence" (IYKYK)

Okay okay. I know I said that I thought I was near the end of Metaphor, but this time I'm pretty sure I actually am. Trials complete. No side quests left. Final day. Just gotta wrap up this last bit. Looking forward to the last bit!

Watched the first episode of S2 of Fionna and Cake and I'm so excited for this season.

Happy weekend friends. Friend was such tonight, so we didn't get to game together, but that means I got more time to Metaphor. Hoping I'll wrap up my first playground this weekend, but we'll have to see if that plays out. Tomorrow will be mostly Frosthaven though! Should be fun.

Not my home but I know my way around 🙂‍↕️

Goodnight friends. I hope you had a good week so far. If not, tomorrow is Friday and I hope your weekend is better! Got a good amount of gaming done tonight. Think I'm nearing the end of Metaphor. Though I'll probably have to play it again for all the trophies.

My Top 5 JRPG franchises of all time 1. Final Fantasy 2. Persona 3. Mother 4. Paper Mario 5. Like a Dragon

YouTube serving me a 2-minute ad break on a 4-minute video: Fewer ad breaks on this long video Whhhyyy YouTube? What does long even mean anymore?

Good morning friends! I gotta be honest. Posting is harder than it looks. It's so so easy for me to just fade into the woodwork around here getting by on lurks and likes. I dunno how you all do it with such consistency! I'm not sure what point I'm trying to make. Just a thought I had this morning.

Share a TV show you love from the 2010's. Infinity Train. (Not sure if this is cheating, but S1 aired in 2019, so I'm counting it)

#LetterboxdFriday #LastFourWatched

Good morning friends. I did not, in fact, finish with work early yesterday. However, raid got cancelled, so I did get a chance to do the new MH trial (just the normal for now. it was okay! Will try the EX tomorrow.) and unlock the Deep Dungeon.

This is unsurprising in basically every way.

Got a "new" game. Gonna have to give this one a try once I finish Metaphor.

Good morning friends. I'm a bit sleepy today, but I'm going to get through work quickly and get to try out the new 7.35 content in FFXIV. It's also raid night tonight, so hopefully I can lock in and we can make some more progress. Hope you all have a good Tuesday.

Good morning friends. Had a busy weekend, so I wasn't around too much. Hope your weekends were all great and that your Mondays aren't too menacing. Have fun out there.

Fall 2025 anime first impressions thread incoming! I usually post my initial thoughts about the new anime I'm watching, but i figure that I'll just keep it in a thread this time so it's all in one place.

Hello friends! Happy October. The Fall anime season is upon us. What's everyone planning to watch? I've got my list set, but am curious to see if I'm missing anything big.

I haven't always been onboard for the last couple of cours of Dr. Stone, but these last few weeks are probably the best the show has ever been. Including the fantastic first season. Last week's episode was especially good. It brought some humanity back that I think had been missing recently.

It's Monday! Post some metal!