Natterings From Nepantla

On Saturday, I planned to make a voyage far into SE Portland to the one shoe shop that sells shoes that fit me. I decided to hit Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden on the way, since I've been meaning to go for ages and supposedly this time of year is the height of the rhododendron season.

And so it turns out to be. The garden was absolutely gorgeous. Even where some stairs had been blocked off for a long while and weeds were starting to grow on them, the weeds were amazingly picturesque. The garden smelled great, too.

There was plenty of wildlife. There were a pair of nutrias rummaging about near the shore of the lake, completely comfortable with a small crowd of humans standing just a few feet away. There were ducks escorting ducklings. And then there were the geese.

In the back half of the garden, there was a sign warning that this was goose nesting season and the geese felt threatened by people and dogs. It encouraged anyone who saw a goose on a path to just walk away. Luckily, that day, the geese were more interested in honking at the golfers on the other side of the lake.

One other unexpected sign I came across was a plaque on one of the benches. Most of them are dedicated to some departed person or other, but this one said:

JEAN AND RAY AUEL
IN HONOR OF THEIR 50TH WEDDING
ANNIVERSARY ON MARCH 19, 2004

Yes, I believe it was that Jean Auel. She is a Portlander.

The latest back-and-forth between CESI (Ohayocon) and Sekai Guild. Also the Gen Con plea hearing has been rescheduled aaaaaaaaaagh.

Out of 7 shows I was interested in checking out, 3 aren't licensed for streaming in the US. The buzz about Your Forma has been negative enough that I've lost interest in it, but I'd still like to have a look at Miru or The Mononoke Lecture Logs of Chuzenji-sensei if I get the chance.

As for the others, plus one where the reactions on my favorite anime Discord server convinced me to give it a chance:

Apocalypse Hotel: After episode 1, I was amused, because the punchline was easy to guess but the exact form it took was not. After episode 2, I was clearing a spot for it on my Hugo ballot next year. It's whimsical, melancholy, philosophical, absurd, and blessed with some excellent character animation in episode 2. If you thought the premise sounded even remotely interesting, you should absolutely try it.

Lazarus: Sure looks great, but the writing ranges from just plain dumb to complete nonsense. Also it turns out I still hate dubs.

Sword of the Demon Hunter: Sets its protagonist up with an origin story which is dark and edgy on paper, but avoids the gratuitous excesses that would normally go with it. Only the one person that needs to be horribly killed for plot reasons gets horribly killed, and it goes out its way to show its human characters having humanity, allowing the demons to look properly demonic in comparison. Although this was advertised as a time travel story, there's no going back and forth, it's just that a couple of characters are going to have very long lifespans.

ZatsuTabi: Yup, it's just low-key travelogues about journeys to obscure bits of Japan. It turns out that this is my kind of thing right now, but I understand if it isn't yours.

Kowloon Generic Romance: Sets up a fascinating mystery, but it's going to be a competition between my interest in that and my annoyance at how much time the camera spends ogling our heroine (although episode 3 was much better) and how the shortcut to showing us that the apparent villain is evil is to make him an effeminate gay man (episode 3 got much worse on this).

I also managed to stop watching The Apothecary Diaries in the middle of its first episode of the season, so you don't have to keep reading my complaints about it.

More Ohayocon/Sekaicon developments. I'd complain about how much I'm covering court cases these days, but looming ahead is the possibility of having to write about US tax laws before this one is over.

I managed to watch all of four shows the past anime season.

Aquarion: Myth of Emotions was the clear winner for me. Somehow it did manage to do justice to its combo of reincarnation plot, a quirky interpretation of quantum mechanics, and mecha fighting action, all while putting on an absolute masterclass in misdirection. It could still have used two cours rather than one, but it nailed the landing and I'll be remembering it when it's time to come up with the best shows of the year.

Tasokare Hotel was pretty good, although not at all the sort of story it first looked like. The laid-back exploration of people's pasts turned into a dark plot about trying to outmaneuver a serial killer. The last episode featured one of my least favorite twist tropes ever but then immediately recovered. I won't strongly recommend it, but I don't regret the time I spent watching it.

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun season 2 was very disappointing. Too many predictable developments, and a final arc that felt like it went on forever.

And The Apothecary Diaries, which I can't complain too much about because it was already showing all the signs of Cozy Mystery Disease by the end of season 1, so I knew what I was in for. The visuals continue to be lovely, but the mysteries keep getting solved faster and faster to make room for more character-focused storylines like the one where one character tries to drop a big revelation about his identity, one which has been clear since late season 1, to another character, and after trying for two whole episodes still hasn't managed to spit it out somehow.

I will probably still watch the rest of season 2 out of sheer inertia.

Looking ahead, I have a longer list than usual of shows I want to check out: Sword of the Demon Hunter, Miru, Your Forma, Lazarus, The Mononoke Lecture Logs of Chuzenji-sensei, Zatsu Tabi, and Apocalypse Hotel.