Viewer beware: I write a lot of words. Subjects include, but not limited to: hobby game development, how much I love Touhou, rambling on about airplanes, occasional video games, unrelatable discourse on whatever my current hyperfixation is, and questioning my own terrible taste.
I forgot to write about this when I got it, but last year I was gifted this (huge!) VF-1 and I've been admiring it ever since. For more details on the toy itself, there's a good overview on it by Anymoon here.
For most of the time I've had it, I've left it in GERWALK, since I think that's the most visually interesting (and kind of my favorite?) mode, but the fighter mode and battroid modes are both equally gobsmacking in how detailed they look. I really wish I had photos of it in fighter and GERWALK mode, but photos really don't do it justice.
What I'm most impressed by though is the insane degree of articulation required to make this all work. Like, holy crap the engineering behind this thing, especially given how well everything fits together and how tight all the tolerances are, just blow me away.
More than anything else though, this has me 100% convinced that you could never actually build a VF-1. The number of moving parts, that all have to be powered, the way that the VF-1 design is actually three completely separate "units" (the fuselage, and both engine "nacelles") that are just attached together in the shape of a plane, it's just impossible. And I'm just talking about the transformation, completely ignoring the part where it still has to be a functional airplane with working engines.
The VF-1 transformation mechanism(s) have always been really sketchy. The VF-19 and onwards use a different and seemingly more complex looking system, but I'm starting to wonder if actually that's less implausible than the VF-1, because they don't require potentially detaching entire parts of the mecha from each other. It all stays together as one piece.
Finished Maebashi Witches! I decided to watch all three of the final episodes in one go, and that worked out great because it's basically a movie, and it was a great ending to the series.
I have two main criticisms of the show though and I want to get them out of the way before I talk about anything else:
First, there is a sort of "commercial stink" to Maebashi that is a bit hard to shake. This is backed by Sunrise, and it does feel like the show pulls its punches sometimes because they need to sell merchandise and are potentially setting up a franchise here. It can feel a bit clumsy at points because of this factor.
Second, it definitely needed another episode or four. It's very ambitious in what it's trying to do, and even with the really fast pacing it has, they clearly couldn't fit it all in 12 episodes. Kyouka's arc suffers the most, the main thread of which gets very conspicuously dropped. It's too bad, because Kyouka gets a lot of interesting setup and implied backstory that never pays off.
I think the biggest thing that had me coming back to Maebashi is that it feels like a passion project that the people behind it really wanted to make. This is despite the aforementioned "commercial stink." The writing in particular is grounded in a way that I don't see often in anime, let alone with a budget this big. The girls all have very real and modern problems. There's more to talk about here, but it's something that deserves its own post.
Another thing I really loved is just how detailed it was. Especially in the earlier episodes, this was one where I watched every episode at least twice. The episodes go by so fast, cover a lot of ground, and waste zero time. Almost every line, every shot, has more going on than you will pick up at first glance, and every reveal adds context or recontextualizes scenes from earlier episodes in a way you'd only understand on a rewatch. It was such a treat watching the episodes live and speculating with others!
One more thing. Azu! I love Azu so much! What a fun character. I love her self-loathing that she takes out on other people. I love her growth into being less of an acerbic asshole to others. I love her look. I love her purple. She's cute when she's fuming at others and herself, and she's especially cute when she does something nice, because Azu can never be honest about it and is afraid of breaking down the defensive wall of self pity and hate that she's made her identity.
Maebashi Witches is a bit clunky at times, but it's a really fresh feeling drama. The finale gets emotional in a way that got to me good, and the series ends on a high note. From what little I've seen, I get the impression this show wasn't very popular or well liked, but either way, I'm really happy I finished this and loved it.
Looks like Katherine is making her game debut! I recall seeing her name a couple times in old Endless Monday art so I went digging and with hindsight, she actually appeared semi-frequently pre-Dreams and Deadlines. It's all pretty early art, but I love seeing this stuff!
The first design for Kath was actually with green hair, shark teeth, and heterochromia, but she pretty quickly turned into the red/pink haired blue eyes design that she keeps for the remainder of her appearances. Funny enough, the most recent drawing of Kath (from 2020) has her wearing the same turtleneck that Penny wears in her final design. Before Penny had it, she used to just wear a white dress shirt.
The fact that Kath starts to disappear from the Endless Monday art around the same time that Penny and Whiskey start to make more prominent appearances (and the whole shirt thing), got me wondering if maybe whatever Kath's characterization was supposed to be, got split into Penny and Whiskey's role.
I posted about this earlier on BlueSky, and to my surprise, hcnone themselves actually responded! They also drew a cute picture of Kath.
katherine was kind of a redundant character when i was doing the old illustrations since blythe was a more interesting evil boss to me, but she still has a bunch of lore that i'm actually able to explore properly in a longer narrative context now, so i'm pretty excited about that
So it seems I was mostly wrong with my initial guesses, but no matter. It was fun diving through the old art and I'm really looking forward to the new game!
The hit 2023 video game and 2025 Game of the Year Endless Monday: Dreams and Deadlines, now has a sequel! Endless Monday: In Progress has a Steam page up for wishlisting!
"Endless Monday: In Progress" - New job, new Penny. Our favorite former corporate grunt is back, and working hard to live the drea
Look at how MOTIVATED Penny is!
I haven't watched the trailer yet and I almost don't even want to just to go in totally blind. There's no way I'm not going to buy and play it. I'm so excited for this! Endless Monday is seriously one of my favorite games of all time.
The other funny thing about this season is that allegedly Precure has been kicking around the idea for a detective themed show for a few years now. There's definitely some brainworm over there because even Idol had a fun filler episode with Hamori playing detective.
Friendy's design having a detective theme, which has almost nothing to do with either the show or her characterization, was always kind of strange. Now comes along Anna, who looks almost like an alternate universe Iroha, making the whole thing so much weirder. Hair ending in upturned curls. Similar hair and eye colors. Even their outfits are somewhat similar, and they're both purple Cures! One is the de facto leader of her team, and while the other is officially. The cherry on top is that Friendy still looks more like a detective than Answer, the actual detective Precure.
Okay having slept on it, I've currently gaslit myself into this 100% without a doubt being the Back to the Future Precure.
Anna (MC, left in the above image) goes back in time and inadvertently runs into her mother Mikuru (right in the above image) but doesn't realize it until later in the show. Keeping this a secret from Mikuru (who is not stupid) becomes a fun running gag.
Anna's over-arching goal while in the past of 1999 (which by the way, is ~30 years in the past just like Back to the Future's 1985 -> 1955) is to get back to her time. Helping her is our mad scientist inventor fairy boy Jett, with all kinds of wacky eccentric inventions and ideas.
During their adventures, Anna runs into her future father who ends up falling for her instead of Mikuru after Anna saves him from the monster of the week and a funny subplot of the show is Anna and friends trying to hook the two of them up.
According to my spreadsheet I only watched four things last year. That's not totally true, because I did watch the first episode of a few other shows (e.g. Ruri Rocks). However of that handful of anime, Apocalypse Hotel was the only one I finished. To be honest, the majority of my scant anime watching time was devoted to the currently airing Idol Precure, getting about 20 episodes into Star Twinkle, and finishing my rewatch of Sky Precure.
All that said, I want to do a big roundup of the everything I sort of watched, even if it was just for a couple episodes! This got way out of hand, but I've had this all bottled up for a while now and need to put it to proverbial paper.
Apocalypse Hotel: Finished it, was absolutely fantastic. This is one I've already written about. Don't really have much more to say about it other than it sticks the landing and has a great final episode. Will definitely be on the next 3x3. Might be one of the best anime I've watched. It's just so creative and heartfelt with themes that really resonate with me and my interests.
Mobile Suit Gundam The Movie: Only saw the first one, which I think covers about a third of the original series? It was okay? Made me think I should probably watch the real series proper. There's definitely good stuff in there, though I couldn't help but feel like I was missing a lot of context (particularly on the Zeon side) since this is a re-edit of the original series. I also thought it was very funny too that Amuro's superpower is that he read the manual. Despite my meager effort, I am still not absolved of my sin of never having watched the original landmark Mobile Suit Gundam.
GQuuuuuuX: The less I think about this one the better. I only made it 3 episodes in, because it was a huge disappointment from completely wasting such a great premise and setting. Just, ugh. This is a whole rant that I just don't want to do here. Also all the Mobile Suit designs, except for the space Zaku, are really ugly.
Maebashi Witches: I got 7 episodes in, but due to getting busy and falling behind I never finished it. It's one that I've really wanted to get back to because I love it! It's a very character-driven and "grounded" drama that uses the magical girl setting as a driver for talk about various real life issues. Really snappy and fast paced, but at the same time a show that is very dense with detail. It's a show where I watched every episode at least twice because there's some detail to pick apart and analyze in almost every line and every shot.
Maebashi's an anime original, with a somewhat niche subject matter despite the big Sunrise budget, written by Erika Yoshida who also wrote the terrific Bocchi the Rock adaptation. It's not perfect, and is a little clumsy sometimes, but it has its heart in the right place and feels like a work that everybody involved with really believed in.
Ruri Rocks: Absolutely gorgeous looking show about a hyper-specific hobby and also kind of educational? I only watched the first episode but I really liked what I saw. I want to get around to watching this some day, and while I greatly enjoyed my geology class in college, I'm not afraid to admit that 70% of the reason I want to pick this back up is because of the visuals.
City The Animation: Had this queued up, but didn't actually watch any of it until the past couple weeks. What a blast this was, and a worthy successor to Nichijou. There were a couple skits where I was laughing so hard I had tears in my eyes. It's got excellent cartooney animation and VA, a ton of charm and character, it's really funny, has jaw-dropping background art, and a catchy soundtrack. It's an easy recommend if you're into its style of absurd and sometimes surreal comedy. It was also nice to hear Yuuko Gotou again.
Watanare: Another great looking show with great VA, but oh man I cannot stand Mai. After the second episode aired I went through some of the manga because I really needed to see where it was going and... I didn't like where it was going. Ajisai, wonderful. Mai, just absolutely awful in a way that ruins the whole thing for me.
Apparently once the "Mai arc" ends, it's sort of a non-issue and she basically leaves the story, but I just can't look past how uncomfortable the sexual assault scene (which admittedly gets slightly toned down for the anime) was to read/watch. To be clear, I'm not saying you can never depict something like that. For me it's the uncanny valley presentation of both playing it off as playful comedy and a joke, but while also depicting it just realistically enough that it's not funny at all. The presentation (and an interview I read elsewhere) just gave me the impression that the mangaka thought this whole thing was funny, and I'm sorry, it's really not.
Maybe I'm just too old for this kind of humor now? Maybe I'm getting worked up over nothing and should have kept watching/reading. For me it really does just come down to the uncanny valley-ness of it, mixed with an apparent authorial intent that I don't think I vibe with.
I've heard from people who do like this show a lot, so I know it has appeal and I also remember reading a lot of people's comments at the time (who were up to date with the manga) saying they forgot how rough that first arc is and that it gets much better after that. While skimming the episodes for screenshots, I was reminded that there was actually a lot I liked from those first 3 episodes, but it really is just that Mai is that unlikable to me. Maybe some day I'll be in the mood to see where this goes and if there's actually a payoff to Mai's behavior (from what I've heard there isn't), but probably not.
That's kind of a downer to end this all on so here's a picture of Sora absolutely stuffed from eating way too much food.
It's taken me basically the entire year, but I finally finished my rewatch of Sky Precure and oh boy do I still really really love this show. Something I've been grappling with though, is why do I like it so much when it's so easy to poke holes in the quality and plot? Why does this show get such a pass? I think I finally get it.
Half of it is just that the things I love about the show, I really love. E.g. This is still far and away my favorite team of all the Precure teams I've seen so far, and how much I love these characters goes a long way in making it easy to just overlook the show's faults.
The other half of it though, is that the ways in which Sky Precure are bad, are all interesting to talk about. (E.g. Captain Shalala.) It's a very "fixable" feeling show, with a strong base to work with, and so many cool ideas, I can't help but think about all the what ifs.
Like, I can't believe nobody ever questions the fact that Big Princess seemingly just created life out of nothing? That is huge and raises massive moral and ethical questions! Big Princess in general is such a wild character to add the show and its lore. There's so much to unpack with just her character that it's something I could fill a whole embarrassing post with. Like, in another story, she could easily have been the villain here. I'm half-joking but the over-arching plot is basically about dealing with the consequences of her actions.
Holy cow what a year. I don't think I've ever had this many games that I wanted to highlight, and even crazier, almost all of these games actually came out this year! As always, the rules here are only that I played it in 2025, release date doesn't matter.
Game of the Year: Endless Monday
A game that wears its heart on its sleeve. It's a wonderfully crafted little thing with fantastic art and a charming everything. Penny is my new favorite girlfailure. Skye's post-employment antics break my heart. Tiger-chan has got me ending sentences randomly with, "As they say." It's as funny as it is both relatable and depressing. I love this game so much I bought merch (Penny plushie) as soon as it went on sale. It's an incredibly specific game for an incredibly specific kind of person, but if the words "Jira jumpscare" mean anything to you, I highly recommend checking Endless Monday out.
Best Building Game But Good: Aviassembly
If I see somebody start using blocks to build a spaceship/boat/whatever I immediately tune out. I just can't do these kinds of games anymore, because to me they feel more like physics toys than games. Aviassembly though, is weird. There's gameplay. You have specific goals to accomplish, a limited budget, a limited partset, and it's up to you to put something together than can accomplish the mission. Missions reward you with bigger budgets and more parts. I got sucked into this game hard when it came out, to the point where I beat the entire ~14 hour Early Access campaign in 2 very long sittings over a weekend.
Best Glidecore Game: Desecrators
We've seen plenty of Playstation looking games. We've seen a handful of N64 looking games. When are we getting the 90s hardware accelerated Voodoo graphics games? It's a very specific look, and Desecrators absolutely nails that late 90s look when everybody figured out colored lights and lens flares and blending and you got games that looked like tech demos. Desecrators plays as smooth and polished as it looks too, and is an easy recommend for anybody looking for a 6DOF shooter.
Best Warthog Game: Easy Delivery Company
I stumbled across this on a Next Fest, gave it a try, and immediately fell in love. It has a ton of charm and character, and the vibes are immaculate. You recklessly drive your little kei truck with really fun physics and bouncy suspension to deliver packages around snowy mountain towns all set to a great soundtrack that I've actually listened to outside of the game. I'm very picky about vehicle physics since that's kind of my thing, and I love the way the truck drives in this.
Best Game I Can't Recommend: skate.
This game is the very definition of slop. It is the most edges sanded off shareholder approved soulless grating online-only microtransaction driven live-service game you could possibly make about something that is fundamentally a counter-culture staple. And yet, I keep playing it. It's a comfy game that I keep coming back to because skating around and doing tricks by flicking and rotating the thumbstick just satisfies a very specific part of my brain. I actually like this game a lot, but man, I really can't recommend it because it's basically everything wrong with modern games.
Best Examples of Good Indie Gamedev: Easy Delivery Co. / Hijong Park's Defender Patrol
Both Easy Delivery Company and Hijong Park's Defender Patrol are extremely tightly focused and narrowly scoped games which were made in a little over a year. That's amazing. Two games, by two up and coming developers, who have the wherewithal to know when to say "no", know exactly what they're making, and the experience they're trying to create. This is how indie games at this scale should be made, and it's genuinely inspirational to see. I love both these games, not just for the quality of the games themselves, but for what they represent in showing just how possible it is to make great games on a small budget and short turnaround.
I love Endless Monday. The most I've talked about it has been over on my Blue Sky account, and searching on there sucks so I want to have some record of it here somewhere more "permanent."
The reasons I love it are so deeply personal that I'm not sure I could ever get across why it affected me so much. I tried my best to explain it in a Steam review I wrote, and the night that I started playing it I had a public crashing out in a random Discord server. The first 10 minutes of the game hit me so hard.
It appeals to a very specific kind of person, with a very specific set of life experiences, and I happen to be the bullseye of that target. It's a perfect balance of whimsy and reality that keeps you on your toes with the most charming cast of characters I've seen in a long time.
No way, random Endless Monday reference in the wild!
I haven't written about it here on Tumblr, but I think Endless Monday has become one of my favorite games of all time. I was absolutely obsessed with it for about a month, and I still think about it daily.
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