iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

I hope it turns out these complaints end up being redundant because Cinderella Grey and other spinoffs already addressed them like 1 to 4 years ago

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Nice Nature's advice is cute, and contrasts well with Rudolf's, but Teiou's first serious conversation with Kitasan was weirdly late (in ep 7?) They could've replaced the Rice Shower and Mihono Bourbon cameos in that training episode with actual mentors

Why aren't there more girls in official support roles, instead of just the boring trainer guy? Teiou and Rudolf were such a cute pair, S2 could've had more of their relationship, and then Teiou in turn could've been more of a mentor for Kitasan Black

The "generation" business still feels weird. Is Gold Ship around the same gen as Kitasan, despite the fact that she joined Spica WAY earlier? What are Teiou, Suzuka, et al doing with all their free time in S3? They don't seem to be actually retired (like Symboli Rudolf is?)

Uma Musume S3 is good, but it still has some of the problems that hurt S1 and S2 Who did Daiya even beat in her first G1 win? Is it just historically accurate that she didn't beat anyone notable? Kitasan's rivals other than Duramente are underdeveloped and not very interesting

Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 13/08/2026

A Man Who Defies the World of BL vol 5 is out, lettered by me This series always reminds me of the word hyakkaryouran, despite the fact that it's a little bit female-coded. I wonder if there's a male-coded equivalent

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

In 2023, the iM@S U149 anime and the third season of Uma Musume BOTH had scenes touring the same temple in Chiba Was this just a coincidence? Or was this the work of some department of tourism?

J-Novel Club @jnovelclub.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Reposted by Greg Deng

"Mercedes and the Waning Moon: The Dungeoneering Feats of a Discarded Vampire Aristocrat" (Manga) - Volume 5 eBook Out Now! Mercedes finds herself at the center of a shadowy struggle for the throne. Now, she is dead set on ousting the fake king bit.ly/4wbiOOL

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 05/08/2026

Today I learned that Adobe InDesign thinks the best way to hyphenate the word "greatsword" is greats-word ($100 billion company btw)

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

It's EXTREMELY funny to me that Akina, voice of the rapper Kurogane Tama from Denonbu who rolls her R's singing Itadaki Babel, was chosen to voice the completely stoic Duramente And of course there's absolutely zero trace of Tama in Duramente, also extremely impressive

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Reposted by Greg Deng

Square Enix Manga & Books @square-enix-books.com · 29/07/2026

🚨COVER ALERT🚨 Shirakami Fubuki and Ookami Mio’s search for allies takes them to Akihabara, where they meet Sakura Miko, a shrine maiden moonlighting as a pop idol! Holoearth Chronicles Side:E Yamato Phantasia, vol. 3 arrives in September! 🛒: sqex.link/5rvg

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Watching Kisekoi S2 is such a surreal experience for me S1 was one of the first anime I ever watched in Japanese, and I've never felt my improvement this clearly before. I'm spending 4x less time looking up words and replaying lines this season, according to my time tracker

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Reposted by Greg Deng

Yen Press @yenpress.com · 18/07/2026

⚔️ Old friends reunite, and new threats loom on the horizon... The attack on Altus Plateau has begun! Aseo and company's journey to the Erdtree continues in Elden Ring: The Road to the Erdtree, Vol. 9! 📕 Pre-order now: buff.ly/NSLKJvr

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

As usual, AZKi's anison streams are peak ef has such great music. That team of nbkz lyrics and Tenmon composing is so iconic, and Shaft's anime adaptation built on it so well AZKi sang the English really well too (I wonder if that karaoke service even has the JP version)

Square Enix Manga & Books @square-enix-books.com · 09/06/2026

Reposted by Greg Deng

Clip this, chat! 🎬 My Favorite VTuber Is Scary IRL Volume 2 is out TODAY! ⬇️ Check the comment below for a free preview! 🎮

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Also this is my first time seeing furigana BELOW kanji, that's a clever way to keep subtitles more compact, since there's rarely going to be more than 3 lines of text

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

It was so funny actually seeing one of these scenes of characters breaking the fourth wall and directly telling the audience to cheer for them I've seen this parodied by other anime, but the real deal is SO MUCH FUNNIER. This scene is like a full minute long too

Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 21/06/2026

Finally got around to watching the Hugtto / Futari wa Precure All Stars movie, what an insane spectacle Has anyone ever made a Precure musou game? Could be sick

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

I started reading Sounan desu ka, a manga about girls stranded on a deserted island after a plane crash The mystery must've been so different during serialization - "when will they be rescued?" back then, but now, it's "why did it take TEN WHOLE VOLUMES for them to be rescued?"

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

It's useful to know which of your idols and plans are strongest/weakest - both of my top 2000s were with Logic Yaruki units, Miracle Na Now Mao and Sekirara Sena Considering I started right after their first anniversary events, I'm pretty happy with my placements overall

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 16/05/2026

I really like how Gakumas designed their season rankings. It's an okay benchmark of your progress that doesn't take much time because it's mostly completed during normal gameplay. Rewards being all cosmetic avoids a rich-get-richer situation

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Five whole people are credited as dedicated ambigram designers, which yeah, that sounds about right Likely ALL of these would have been bespoke designs, they couldn't have borrowed previous work because who the hell would've thought to make an ambigram for 十風五雨/絵空事 before this

Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

Maybe this speaks more to my interests than anything else, but the official music video for song used in Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun S2's OP is absolutely jawdroppingly stunning Every kanji in the first half is an ambigram of a kanji in the second half, INSAAANE design work

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 18/04/2026

Anison covers seem pretty popular these days thanks to The First Take, CrosSing, and vtubers, but I feel like full-on remixes are kind of at a nadir, relatively speaking 2019's Imagination Vol 1 had so much vtuber AND producer talent but they never made more albums quite like it

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

I'm whelmed by most of the other covers though. The arrangements are so similar to the originals, almost note for note. I feel like the bands' personalities could've been incorporated more into the songs. They're in an uncanny valley, just a little different from the originals

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 14/04/2026

Morfonica really stands out in Bandori's cover albums. The violin makes their covers feel pretty unique, like in their cover of Shirobako's OP1. MyGO only has 3 songs so far, but they're fantastic. Their singer is incredible, Girls Band Cry's OP is a great fit for them

Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 07/04/2026

I was kind of apprehensive about Miki's problem in Sasayou vol 11, but the author shifted the focus to Momoka and Hajime anyway. They're such an interesting pair, two completely different people dealing with the same tragedy These two pages of Miki calling Ayaka are insanely cute

Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 22/03/2026

Polaris wa Kienai volume 2: still insane

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 15/03/2026

Girls Band Cry's main seiyuu sound kind of amateury, but I kinda like it in these kind of underdog, fish-out-of-water stories. Reminds me of Shirobako casting 5 newbies as the leads (And I say this as someone who's probably going to watch Meitantei Precure just for Touyama Nao)

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

MyGO's environmental designs were really good though. Maybe it's kind of heavyhanded, but I loved how much personality there was in character's houses/bedrooms

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

It's a lot more visually memorable than It's MyGO, which I guess is the obvious closest comparison. It had some cool shots, but they were few and far between

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

I don't quite love how Girls Band Cry looks visually, but it at least has a distinct style. It's clearly inspired by anime, but it doesn't try to imitate traditional anime as closely as possible, nor is it too unconventional - which could be distracting in a drama

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 08/03/2026

Why does ashidematoi use 足手, when 手足 and other words starting with 手足 exist?

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 24/02/2026

Hey, I lettered My Favorite VTuber Is Scary IRL! It's about a vtuber with social anxiety and the DoorDash guy who gets her delivery orders. Y'know, just your typical romcom setup This story leans more toward comedy, but the main couple kind of reminds me of Horimiya bsky.app/profile/squa...

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 21/02/2026

Chapter 25 of Koi yori Aoku is basically just a montage of Tsukasa not understanding why everyone is embarrassed by the idea of showing their writing to their friends, then learning why first-hand Extremely cute

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 18/02/2026

My favorite source for learning Japanese, zexy dot net slash lovenews

Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 11/02/2026

I can't tell if this a typo or a pun in Amazon's subtitles for Sorairo Utility I'm guessing a pun?

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Reposted by Greg Deng

Square Enix Manga & Books @square-enix-books.com · 06/02/2026

HOT OFF THE PRESS! 🔥 An introverted delivery boy befriends a shy but intimidating shut-in who happens to be his favorite VTuber IRL! My Favorite VTuber Is Scary IRL, vol. 1 goes on sale February 24th!

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

This manga also got me thinking, I would absolutely watch a sequel to Ingrid Goes West, that movie where Aubrey Plaza stalks an Instagram influencer, that borrows the impersonation premise of Polaris wa Kienai

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Having an idol named Sora and a fan named Mizuumi is blunt, but effective Vol 1 raises lots of questions about where the story might go. How did Sora die? Is she actually dead? Did they know each other? How far is Mizuumi willing to go to keep Sora culturally relevant?

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

Started reading Polaris wa Kienai, a manga about a girl who starts impersonating her favorite idol who died 2 years earlier She begins by uploading videos online, pretending like she's just back from a break, but when she starts doing street performances, things get crazy

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

Sadly Healer Girl played it safe and was a pretty unremarkable slice of life show, one that avoided getting too deep into the question of exactly how different their society is from ours. But at least it wasn't actively bad, I guess

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Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

It seems like singing is extremely at good at healing minor diseases and injuries, but isn't that good at chronic diseases, and is really labor-intensive. Recordings of singing being slightly effective is interesting too

Greg Deng @gregdeng.bsky.social · 26/01/2026

The Healer Girl universe is actually pretty cool, having this magical singing in modern times, coexisting with "normal" medicine, science, governments, and other institutions.