Yeah, it's pretty red.

Before I get into it, I need to provide a bit of background. The lock screens of all my computers and mobile devices are pictures of whatever they happened to be named. For example, the lock screen of my old Android phone that I designated MIYU had a picture of its namesake from My-HiME. The laptop named Kaede has a picture of the corresponding Cinderella Girl on its lock screen. So, anyway, I recently bought a red Vaio laptop (probably because of Evangelion, to be honest). Vaio, if you haven't heard, isn't a Sony property anymore, although their computers are still made in Japan. And I can certainly see the lineage connecting this Vaio SX14 to the Sony Vaio Z2 (VPCZ2390X Model PCG-41313L) which I got in 2012.

Doesn't even bother using a mouse.

Anyway, you're probably here because of the post's clickbait title and wondering where the fuck the obscenity is. Well, I'm getting to that. If you've watched Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata, you may recall that Kasumigaoka Utaha bangs out her work on a red laptop (which survives quite a bit of abuse that no Vaio I've ever owned could possibly withstand, incidentally). Naturally, I've named my new red laptop Utaha. However, it's got a 4K display, and the lack of sufficiently satisfactory Utaha pictures at that resolution has led me to use a picture of her rival, Eriri, on its lock screen instead for the time being. I can understand if you're feeling sort of judgmental about this, but at least I'm willing to cop to it, okay.

A mid-fight flashback so Cardinal can explain Eugeo's attack.

Claims that the Alicization arc of Sword Art Online is the "good one" may have been exaggerated. It's different enough from the previous SAO arc that it at least seems to be the result of writing styles and priorities changing, but whether it's necessarily better is debatable. From an SAO-tolerant non-fan's perspective, its biggest problem to me is that it's not very engaging. I'm basically only watching the show now out of general principle, and not because I care about the outcomes or the characters.

Fuck your deban, Asuna.

Frankly, the show sort of drags. That's probably my biggest problem with it. I suppose other viewers might argue that the sexual assaults are a much bigger problem, but those aren't unique to Sword Art Online: Alicization. They're about par for the course when you consider the previous times the subject has appeared in the franchise. (For what it's worth, Kawahara claims he's moving beyond this sort of thing henceforth, but I presume that won't impact future episodes of Alicization, which I believe is based on already completed light novels.)

This ledge keeps changing size.

Alicization strikes me as a series that contains too many elements that might work as text, but bogs down the viewing experience in anime form. Not having read the books, I can't authoritatively claim that's really the case, but it at least seems all the explanations and details that constantly interrupt the anime's narrative must originate from the light novels. I'm starting to see indications there may be a break before Alicization's final two cours. I can't see that being good for the show's pacing, but I guess I'll find out once that third cours starts, whenever that is.

Emi has an epiphany.

Infini-T Force is my surprise of the season, not because it was necessarily better than I was expecting, but rather because it got me to understand the appeal of its related superhero series and sentai-type antics in general. I typically have a very low tolerance for nonsense which I characterize as shounen jive. In particular, characters described as having "a strong sense of justice" irritate the Bejesus out of me and I usually avoid any such shows if at all possible out of general principle.

The face of a Best Girl trapped in a harem comedy with a loathsome protagonist.

Despite some very questionable components, I liked the first season of Saekano a decent amount. Unfortunately, its Saenai Heroine no Sodate-kata♭ sequel (How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend Flat) isn't working for me. All of the problems I have with the show were present during the first season, but either the execution was better or I was simply more willing to accept its shortcomings, something I acknowledged when I blogged about it. Ultimately, it's Potato-kun being a shitbag and the show's proselytization of the Otaku Virtues that kill my enthusiasm for Saekano Flat. These are the sort of bits that can sort of work from a meta perspective when lightly used, but the heavier a show relies on these tropes, the less meta it feels and the more bona fide it becomes. And then you just end up with regular ol' tsundere bullshit and a harem comedy gravity well which pulls inversely proportional to its hold on reality.

I bet those boxes are empty.

What I'm left with is loathing for Potato-kun and open disdain for every other character on the show with the sole exception of Megumi, who has rocketed so far ahead in the show's Best Girl standings that she can almost assuredly boat race the rest of the competition from here on out. And this is nearly entirely a consequence of her (thus far, through six episodes and one pool-romp prologue) refusal to go along with Tomoya's high-intensity idiocy. That said, I'm still not quite as hostile to the show as these couple of paragraphs might suggest, so it's not as if I intend to drop it. I'm just disappointed Saekano Flat keeps tumbling into avoidable pitfalls. The show is unworthy of its animation and its Misaki Kurehito superlovely character designs. I guess it does deserve the glare of displeased long-hair Megumi, though.

It didn't actually cost me seventy-six hundred yen.

Due to the friendly currency exchange ratio of the U.S. dollar to Japanese yen, I import a lot more Japanese merchandise these days. These goods include the first Blu-ray set for Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!, my fourth-highest-rated show from the 2016 winter season according to my chart. Notably, I don't currently have any plans to do the same for any other series from that season, to include the three shows I ranked higher than Konosuba. There are a variety of reasons for this.

Nice hat.

Saenai Heroine no Sodatekata (Saekano: How to Raise a Boring Girlfriend) is an anime adaptation of an ongoing series of light novels about a group of high school kids developing a visual novel game for Comiket. It's a harem comedy and relies heavily on tropes and common character archetypes. Tomoya is an unapologetic otaku clad in birth-control glasses. His tsundere childhood friend is hopelessly in love with him, but naturally he's completely oblivious. Since she is in a harem comedy, Eriri has plenty of competition from more aerodynamic rivals who offer Potato-kun the green light early and often. Really, the only reason the "YES" embroidery on his bedroom pillow isn't completely worn down is due to the preservative powers of the Otaku Virtues. The damn shit's better than Woolite.

LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE!

selector infected WIXOSS is the very model of the Ayako Doctrine at work. There was basically no chance I would even consider watching this show were it not for her presence in the cast. As a reminder, the Ayako Doctrine does not claim that any anime featuring Kawasumi Ayako will be good. Rather, it only purports that any show she is in will be better than it would have been without her presence.

Hachiken's actually about to have his mom's home cooking for the first time in ages.

I feel as if I watched too many shows last season. However, there also isn't anything that I regret not dropping. Does that mean the winter 2014 season was particularly good or does it mean I'm not making very good use of my spare time? Maybe it's both. There were quite a few good shows, or at least okay shows with lots of good moments.