Fall is fully upon us. With the cooling of the days, I’m physically more comfortable (Down to 80o F!) but with the shortening of the days, I can feel my old nemesis of SAD (seasonal affective disorder) seeping in. Yes, even in southern California I can feel that lethargy and lack of good cheer stirring. In another month it will be in full bloom.

My life has been a combination of hectic and completely unproductive as of late. My daughter was having difficulties with her pregnancy, they did a C-section two months early. It wasn’t until today baby Morgan could come home. She was born at 4 lb. 3 oz. and now she’s up to 6 lbs. Both are now fine and healthy.

  • Morgan in the NICU.
  • Morgan upon arrival home.

But I’ve also generally been in the doldrums. I watch anime but I don’t feel like writing about it. I think about going on a hike but never do it. I’ve been hanging out on Autistic Forums and doing some writing there. I have also been doing some writing on the nudism sub-Reddit and contributing to a newsletter on Substack called The Naturist Community. It really doesn’t account for a lot of writing and I’m not feeling huge amounts of satisfaction from it.

Maybe I’m finally burning out?

This season, like most, we have a few good anime.

There is another season of Restaurant to Another World. I’m not getting the same vibes I did from the first season. Maybe seeing the same old trope over and over is wearing thin. I’m not a huge fan of food porn. I find myself watching the bits about the characters and skipping the food.

Mierku-chan has an interesting premise but the fan service is really detracting from it. Either be a horror show or be a puerile celebration of juvenile fan service. I am so excited by a girl in a pink floral bra (not) or yet another shot of tight panties or someone’s boobs or butt put on display (not). I left my panties in the locker room. Oh well, can’t be bothered to go get them. I guess I’ll go commando. Good grief. This is time they could have spent on actual character or plot development.

But there seems to be less idiotic fan service in the later episodes. Ever so slowly, she is learning how to navigate her new world. Very slowly. I would have expected that after this many episodes she would have just accepted that the ghosts are harmless if she ignores them but she’s still filled with shock and horror. That much stress will eventually destroy her.

Even if they are clinging to her bestie, the ghosts can’t really do anything. Eventually, she’ll learn not to get all worked up or it will become boring.

Every ghost is not evil. Some of them – we don’t know what percentage – are good. The cats hanging around their former master. The old man repeating the combination to a safe. Perhaps the spirits of the shrine. Maybe even the monster chomping on the ghosts walking into its maw is a good ghost.

I really hope they get their act together. There is potential for humor but they are missing it. The horror is ok but this show obviously needs more than ghosts and fan service to be outstanding.

I did a real quick binge on summer’s TSUKIMICHI -Moonlit Fantasy. For yet another overpowered isekai, I really have to admit it was fun. This is the trope of the asexual harem king being pursued by his lassies done fairly well. I let this vintage wash across my palette and I’m also tasting hints of Slime and Konsuba.

I saw a review by K at the Movies about a 29 minute OVA, Call Me Tonight and I HAD to watch it. It is a fun bit of mid-1980s ecchi. It’s about a woman who runs a telephone sex hotline – Telephone Communication Madonna – and a guy who becomes a real monster when he gets aroused. Michael Landon, look out! This brings new meaning to the teenage werewolf trope. I’d like to have seen them try to run with this in Twilight. Or maybe Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I did see another overpowered isekai that tickled my fancy. Watched it as a binge of last year and up to episode 3 of this year. It is a Chinese show titled The Daily Life of the Immortal King that I caught on Netflix.

There wasn’t much backstory presented but somehow ordinary baby Wang Ling is born to an ordinary family. However, Wang isn’t so ordinary. For reasons not explained he is really an immortal being with powers so great the world could be destroyed if he went out of control. Dad realized that his power has to be suppressed so he buys a seal online that will limit his son to only 5 % of his power. That 5 percent is still pretty amazing, as at 6 years the kid easily defeats a monster that a team of the greatest heroes on earth was unable to deal with.

But the hard part is still ahead as he grows up and enters senior high school. Of course, it is a magic school and he manages to fool the power measuring test into thinking he’s a 5 when good students are hundreds and the best are thousands. There’s a girl, beautiful and rich and yet not stuck up. who falls for him. He falls for her too. And of course, there is a magical tournament that simply must go on at all costs and the girl is being pursued by assassins.

It is based on a Chinese novel of the same name. I suppose if I read the novel I’d know all about the backstory but that’s a very unlikely thing to happen.

I also manage to binge on Blue Exorcist, an anime I’d been wanting to see again. Currently bingeing on Killer B on Netflicks and enjoying it. I am enjoying Jobless Reincarnation, Platinum End, and Banished from the Hero’s Party. Banished is very relaxing and I’m enjoying the romance. I expect it will soon get a bit more violent but I almost wish it would stick with the quiet life of two retired adventurers just living together in a slice-of-life.

Well, that’s where I am now. Stuck in the doldrums without a whole lot of inspiration. We’ll see what the future holds.