Mercuri

Episode confusingly starts with a flashback to when Wilhelm from Re:Zero visits a 14-year-old wine-drinking Noel. I mean, look at this guy:

We learn that Overdeath was killed fighting some new super strong monster that defies comprehension and has the power to destroy the world. Yay! More plot!

Back in the present, Wilhelm rejects Noel's clan application, which only fires him up more. He boldly declares they'll become Regalia in 6 months!

@rikka@ani.social

Noel levels up to Strategist. Then decides he's going to do naughty naughty things to the top B-ranker. Scary!

Can't wait to see what Noel is plotting!

OMFG this episode! My nerves were already getting wrecked at the start. Alicia's second guessing herself. Duke's giving her the cold shoulder. Then this masterful display happens:

@rikka@ani.social

I couldn't be more proud for our Villainess.

Alicia decides to be true to herself AND to her ideals as a villainess. Liz bears witness to this display and we as viewers receive another shocking development: Liz's activation of the brainwashing power . It seems to me that Liz's power is triggered by her negative emotions. We know girls used to bully her so she might've gotten upset and that triggered the brainwashing. Here she seems to gets jealous, which triggers it.

Yes... yes... we are ALL upset that the prince's love interest is a basically a child. But seriously, this whole chibi sequence was too cute. Alicia is over the moon that Liz thinks of her as a romance rival but affirms she wants to be a full rival in everything.

Freckles-chan tries to turn people against Alicia by falsifying a recording. What was cool here was that people stand up for Alicia, so it's clear that Liz's brainwashing doesn't work on everyone. There must be some special conditions but right now I cannot fathom what they might be. I also liked how Liz seemed to be actively trying to learn from Alicia. Alicia is doing well with her Watcher work.

Afterwards we finally get to meet Mel!

I was straight up wrong about Mel. She's just an Earth magic user who is also Duke's spy. Earth magic lets you manipulate sounds, so that's why she spoke with an omnipresent voice. And since she's been spying on Alicia, she's a huge fan and knows Alicia wants to be a Villainess! No supernatural entity stuff nor game knowledge here.

And if all these stunning revelations weren't enough, at the end we find out that Will is the older brother of the current King! Now maybe we'll find out why the portrait of the previous king is missing in the castle. And for sure we'll find out why Will was sentenced to exile in Roana.

Right? It's crazy how doing just simple changes make it go from "omg this is so stupid" to "okay, that's perfectly reasonable" while still getting the point across.

or My Dress-Up Darling

or Maid Sama!

or Komi Can't Communicate

or Kubo Won't Let Me Be Invisible

or Don't Toy With Me, Miss Nagatoro

or Bottom-Tier Character Tomozaki

or Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and the Inexperienced Me

or Shikimori's Not Just a Cutie

or...

But yeah, seems like a overly basic plot, right?

Thanks! And wow, the Bount arc? I think that was the first "big mistake" filler arc that everyone universally hated. Whelp, might have to give the new stuff a try. Couldn't hurt at least.

The slightly unfortunate thing is that the Pixel 6 is a bit old and in the world of cell phones if it's older than last gen then it's a relic. That by itself is going to make finding a case more difficult, but definitely not impossible.

The other unfortunate thing is that most cases online are going to be cheap chinese garbage. This is especially true on Amazon and eBay. Even some "officially licensed" stuff is pretty crap, as they just take their existing case and slap what amounts to little more than a sticker on it.

So basically you're going to want to find a quality case manufacturer and go directly through them. I found a case I liked on Amazon from SkinIt and have been using that for my Samsung phone. I would recommend going through their website though as it has a lot more options. They have some anime choices like DBZ, Cowboy Beebop, and My Hero, and you can even custom upload an image. This link is for the full silicone "pro" case but they also have a cheaper clear case option: https://www.skinit.com/collections/google-pixel-6-pro-case

Nobody really understands magic, and the writers just have to make up shit to fill up the pages at the expense of a logical conclusion as to exactly why one side won and the other side lost.

Reminds me of Bojack Horseman where they're fighting the improv troop on the boat and they're literally just making stuff up that's absolutely ridiculous. I think this can work well when the series establishes the rules and conditions for powers and then doesn't break those rules (ie pull anything out of their ass). Sadly we only got the most basic explanation of the rules of magic in Demon Lord 2099 so it comes off as a "say wut now?"

That being said, the fight basically boiled down to Veltol surpassing the Familia device and that was good enough for me. I didn't need the extra nonsense about leylines and wordless casting.

Okay, real talk: is Bleach still good? I used to absolutely LOVE the non-filler arcs but I gave up on it after they did the whole "Final Bankai" thing and then were like "JUST KIDDING! It's not over! We need to milk this cash-cow for all its worth!"

Overall a good episode thanks to some nice character development. I mean, the fighting was better from last episode but still pretty silly. Mercenary commander guy just picking people up by their heads and stabbing them and then one-shotting the enemy commander. Rietz's duel was descent, even if the finishing blow was just a slash across the armor that drew no blood.

@rikka@ani.social

"Hey, I know you were like, on death's door and everything and it's a miracle you're even alive and you're probably weak from blood loss and DEFINITELY shouldn't be standing up right now but... here's a baby still covered in vernix to hold!"

But the character development was really good. I especially loved how Ars is remembering all the fallen soldiers at the end. He knows all their stories and is genuinely sad about their deaths. They're not just a statistic to him. They're faces and memories.

Right? He's literally on death's door. Stands up. "Hey, hold this baby."

I started watching it but still need to finish it. It's pretty funny, as it parodies harem tropes. And one of the redeeming aspects is that the MC genuinely seems to want to make every girl in the harem happy.

I will say you probably don't need to use the 3 episode rule for this one. The first episode by itself is a good litmus test, IMHO.

I need to go back and finish season 1. It's a ridiculous premise but I like the fact that the MC is actually trying to love all the girls.