Winter 2025

Winter 2025, week 0

OK, our Fall season is over (well, it will be when we watch the last episode of Sengoku Youko this Friday). That means it's time for us to vote on shows and do any necessary (re-)sampling to make decisions about that. As time permits, we can watch episodes of potentially continuing shows like Moribito and Escaflowne, or sample shows from this new season.

Also, Anime Los Angeles is next week (Thursday January 9 - Sunday January 12). Guests include Shiniciro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo). The schedule is only available via Guidebook...

Black Friday sales really should be over by now, but:

Friday, January 3 at Alan's and on the PCAS Discord server

6:30 - 10:30 Trailers for features on the voting spreadsheet (YT playlist):
Sengoku Youko: The Thousandfold Chaos Arc 35 (CR). We'll try to save this until after intermission
Voting for Winter season shows
(Re-)sampling as needed. These shows might include e.g. Shows we only tried on Saturdays, such as
The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians (CR)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance (Netflix)
Astro Note (CR)
Older shows people might be curious about: Gungrave (CR) anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day (CR) Bamboo Blade (CR) As time permits: Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit 15-16 (HD, BD) Sample shows from new season, such as Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective (CR) Sorairo Utility (TV) (HD)

Attendance:

  1. Alan
  2. Stevezilla
  3. David
  4. Adam
  5. Brian
  6. Antonio

Notes: after an initial round of voting, we watched the trailers for features on the voting spreadsheet. Then we watched Demon Lord 2099 ep 2 (CR) Gungrave (CR) - Steve was confusing this with Gun Gale Online Sengoku Youko 35 (CR) intermission

After intermission, David left and Antonio logged in. After a bit more consideration of vote status, Steve requested we watch the 1st episode of shows he voted for and that are looking to be safely on the schedule but which he hasn't sampled yet: The Story of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians 1 (CR) - with a brief interruption for Steve to help Alan get his mother up from the floor. We then tried watching Silver Spoon 1 (BD), but the episodes from Alan's Blu-ray didn't come off in the order you'd expect, so episode 1 wasn't one of the 1st 3 episodes and wasn't available to watch tonight. We decided to try
Mawaru Penguindrum 1 (BD)
Rose of Versailles 1 (fs, though these days there's a BD)

Then we handled schedule-building.

Arthur made it on the call around 11:20, well after we had just gone to end-of-showings discussion. Sometime earlier in the night, Steve had asked about how long it takes Alan to rip Blu-rays. The answer is 1: MakeMKV to get video off the Blu-ray: it takes about 1 hour to get 3 hours of video off a Blu-ray (measured from Berserk BDs) 2: Handbrake to recompress a video: this can be down at 2-3 times playback speed, so 3 hours of video can be recompressed in 1-1.5 hours. 3: MKVToolnix to do things like change default tracks. This generally takes longer to set the requested configuration than it does for the file to actually be re-muxed, so maybe 1 minute for the sort of changes I'm making.

Saturday, January 4 at David's and on the PCAS Discord server

6:30 - 10:30 Schedule-building As time (presumably) permits Episodes of continuing shows, assuming they get voted in Vision of Escaflowne 14+ (BD) Sample new season shows

Short feature Look Back (Amzn - 60 min)

Attendance:

  1. David
  2. Brian
  3. Alan
  4. Arthur & Claire
  5. Adam

Notes: We spent a while talking, then started with (bad) samplers: Bogus Skill <> Beheneko Headhunted to Another World - actually OKish! Possibly the Greatest Alchemist of All Time

We then followed up with Escaflowne 14-15 Slayers Next 1-2

Our Winter planning looked a bit like this: 1/10 and 1/11 - Anime Los Angeles. Alan won't be hosting or streaming on Friday 1/10 1/17 and 1/18 - MLK Jr. Day weekend 1/24 and 1/25 - Lunar New Year on Wednesday 1/29. David's birthday week 1/31 and 2/1- IT'S GROUNDHOG DAY (on Sunday) 2/7 and 2/8 2/14 and 2/15 - Valentine's Day falls on Friday. Presidents' Day weekend. Anime Impulse. 2/21 and 2/22 2/28 and 3/1 3/7 and 3/8 - Daylight Saving Time weekend 3/14 and 3/15 - St. Patrick's Day on Monday 3/21 and 3/22 3/28 and 3/29

Fridays Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte (HD) / Urusei Yatsura (2022) (HD) Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (HD, BD ) / Apothecary Diaries S2 (CR) Samplers (no more than 1/night) Dan Da Dan (CR, Netflix, Hulu) / Dr. Stone Science Future (CR) Our 3 selected features: Josee, the Tiger and the Fish (CR, BD); My Oni Girl (Netflix ); and Rascal Does Not Dream of a Sister Venturing Out (BD) The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians (CR) / Silver Spoon (BD) Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. (Amzn) / Acro Trip (CR) Samplers (2/night) Vision of Escaflowne (BD) / NieR:Automata Ver1.1a Cour 2 (CR) Slayers Next (DVD)

Week 1

We built a schedule for this season. Also, there's a bunch of fires in the LA area; the Eaton fire in the Altadena/north Pasadena area is most relevant to us and is likely to impact or cancel some of the in-personness of our showings.

Also, Anime Los Angeles is this week (Thursday January 9 - Sunday January 12). Guests include Shiniciro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo). The schedule is available via Guidebook as well as on the web. Incidentally, Alan thought he would be unavailable to host Friday night, but there's nothing on the schedule for him after 5 PM so he'll plan to host and run showings Friday night...assuming he can get back from Long Beach in under 1.5 hours. Which or may not be plausible with all the disruption caused by the fires.

Friday, January 10 at Alan's and on the PCAS Discord server

6:30 - 7:20 Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte 2-3 (HD)
7:20 - 8:10 Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit 15-16 (HD, BD)
8:10 - 8:35 Sampler: ZENSHU (CR)
8:35 - 8:45 intermission
8:45 - 9:35 Dan Da Dan 2-3 (CR, Netflix, Hulu)
9:35 - 10:25 The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians 2-3 (CR)

Attendance:

  1. Alan
  2. Brian
  3. Stevezilla
  4. David
  5. Gene
  6. Adam
  7. Antonio

Notes: Gene got sick over the holidays, which is why he missed a couple weeks of extra showings at the end of our Fall season. Alan had to step out to deal with things halfway through Moribito and returned at intermission; David tried to keep chat going by using Discord on his phone, but he accidentally left thimself muted.

Saturday, January 11 on the PCAS Discord server and MAYBE at David's

6:30 - 7:20 Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. 2-3 (Amzn)
7:20 - 8:10 Samplers:


8:10 - 8:30 intermission
8:30 - 9:20 Vision of Escaflowne 16-17 (BD)
9:20 - 10:10 Slayers Next 3-4 (DVD)

Fallback Samplers:

Attendance:

  1. David
  2. Brian
  3. Adam
  4. Victor
  5. Alan

Notes: The fires were enough under control and air quality was improved enough at David's that we were able to hold showings there as usual. We started a bit late, so bailing halfway through I'm Living with an Otaku NEET Kunoichi!? didn't give us the time for another sampler.

Week 2

Friday, January 17 at Alan's and on the PCAS Discord server

6:30 - 7:20 Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte 4-5 (HD)
7:20 - 8:10 Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit 17-18 (HD, BD)
8:10 - 8:35 Sampler: Medalist (Hulu, fs)
8:35 - 8:45 intermission
8:45 - 9:35 Dan Da Dan 4-5 (CR, Netflix, Hulu)
9:35 - 10:25 The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians 4-5 (CR)

Attendance:

  1. Alan
  2. Stevezilla
  3. Brian
  4. Adam
  5. Gene
  6. David

Notes: David let us know his sister would be in town next weekend, so he wouldn't attend Friday showings in person on Saturday and might not attend remotely. However, he said he'd still be available to host Saturday showings.

Saturday, January 18 at David's and on the PCAS Discord server

6:30 - 7:20 Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. 4-5 (Amzn)
7:20 - 8:10 Samplers:

8:10 - 8:30 intermission
8:30 - 9:20 Vision of Escaflowne 18-19 (BD)
9:20 - 10:10 Slayers Next 5-6 (DVD)

Fallback Samplers:

Attendance:

  1. David
  2. Brian
  3. Adam
  4. Alan
  5. Arthur & Claire
  6. Antonio

Notes: Arthur was able to make it despite Lunar New Year being celebrated in his area.

Week 3

Crunchyroll may have had a data breach so now would be a good time to change your password there. You'll probably have to logout and use the Forgot Password option.

ANN has an article by market analyst Miles Thomas Atherton: The State of Isekai Anime. The chart of isekai anime by year is striking.

Friday, January 24 at Alan's and on the PCAS Discord server

6:30 - 7:20 Endo and Kobayashi Live! The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte 6-7 (HD)
7:20 - 8:10 Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit 19-20 (HD, BD)
8:10 - 8:35 Sampler: From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad's Been Reincarnated! (HD)
8:35 - 8:45 intermission
8:45 - 9:35 Dan Da Dan 6-7 (CR, Netflix, Hulu)
9:35 - 10:25 The Stories of Girls Who Couldn't Be Magicians 6-7 (CR)

Attendance:

  1. Alan
  2. Stevezilla
  3. Brian
  4. Arthur
  5. Gene
  6. Adam

Notes:

Saturday, January 25 at David's and on the PCAS Discord server

6:30 - 7:20 Magilumiere Magical Girls Inc. 6-7 (Amzn)
7:20 - 8:10 Samplers:

8:10 - 8:30 intermission
8:30 - 9:20 Vision of Escaflowne 20-21 (BD)
9:20 - 10:10 Slayers Next 7-8 (DVD)

Fallback Samplers:

Attendance:

  1. David and his sister
  2. Brian
  3. Alan
  4. Adam
  5. Arthur
  6. Victor

Notes: David's sister was visiting for the weekend (and David's birthday). They had pizza ready for in-person attendees.

Week 4