Chipotle Rounding

One of my favorite places to it is Chiptole. I'll admit, I am not a big fan of Mexican, but there is something about Chipotle I have to love about them. Their burritos are very good, and I get to choose what goes on it, and what doesn't, and they have very good meat that goes on it. However, some people can't enjoy it as much as I do due the fact that some penny pinchers are complaining about the rounding that Chipotle has engaged in recently.

I will admit, I am not rolling in money, so I have to conserve a lot of money. I will try to save as much money as I can, but this is ridiculous. People are complaning about how they are adding a penny to the total in order to move the line faster. While I disagree with adding money to the total, I do agree with rounding a few pennies.

Where I am at, a steak burrito costs $6.98 with tax included. Now if I'm not using a debit card, then taking out exactly six dollars and ninety eight cents is annoying so usually I'll just give then seven dollars and keep the change. Why? Because honestly I don't feel like keeping two pennies in my pocket just for me to loose later.

This really brings up the question: Do we need the penny? While you may be wondering what this has anything to do with the issue at hand, I have to say that this is almost the whole issue at hand. In the cases of rounding, it was by a penny or two to the nearest five cents. They claimed they did this to move lines faster so that their cashier didn't have to fondle for change in the register, especially pennies. What is a penny or two difference going to make?

The penny is nearly worthless now, due to the fact that the cheapest thing I could probably find is fifty-cents at some thrift shop, and even then, they're more expensive. I must ask you, have you seen anything for a penny? Have you seen anything for less then seventy-five cents at a store? No, you have not. That is how worthless a penny is. It's one-hundreth of a dollar, and in order to get a candy bar, you need a hundred of them. Honestly, I think the Chipotle issue could push more restaurnats to do rounding to nearest five cent, and if more and more do it, I can honestly see the penny being abolished.

Now, if you you say rounding is wrong, and cheating you out of money, I wil say this to you: They round by a penny or two. They were not rounding $6.52 to $7. That's wrong. Rounding $6.24 to $6.25 is not. They were only making a penny at the most, and like I have stated before, almost worthless. So please people, calm down, and relax: loosing a penny won't kill you.

Summer Season Anime Halfway Report

Ah, who doesn't love summer? Time off from school, the pool, hanging out with friends, and for me, a whole bunch of anime. This summer brought me one of the most massive anime seasons I have ever done, with a grand total of ten new airing series, in addition to the one continuing from last season. 

Arcana Famiglia 

The scenario for this anime not unique, but the way it is done sort of is. Felicità is the daughter of the head of the organization Arcana Tarocco, a group of people bestowed special powers by the tarot cards. However, her father is going to retire and the next person to lead the Arcana Taracco will decided by a few duels. Not to mention, he threw his own daughter as a part of the prize, and the winner has to marry, into the mix. She is not alone, because with her two friends, Nova, and Libertà, who refuse to marry her if they win, and together, they have to face the other family memebers.

The scenario is, at the core, a case of the girl not wanting to marry a guy because the father proposed it. Along with that, they decide to throw in a reverse harem, which adds for bishounens everywhere. With that, the art is very pretty, making the guys the main attraction. I hope for good things from it, but right now it seems they are just dealing with side quests. 


Binbougami ga!

We all have that one friend who is super lucky because they have good looks, talent, brains, and excels at everything they do. Sakura Ichiko is that girl, but she has so much luck that the world is being thrown out of balance. That's where our hero, Momiji, our Goddess of Misfortune, comes in, trying to take Ichiko's luck and restore balance to the world. 

Honestly, I like this anime a lot more than I thought at first. It has a lot of slap stick comedy, false fan service, and is just plain funny. It's a different pacing than ecchi comedy, and it had had me laughing. The characters are well done, and the art is vibrant. Honestly, this has exceeded expectations so far, and I keep hoping to have those expectations broken.


Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai

Ryousuke is your typical high school guy, hormones raging and is horny as a guy can be. However, when Lisara, a girl from the world Grimwald, comes to him needing energy to sustain her self in the real world, she comes to him and uses his energy. The catch is though: he looses his sex drive. 

I will admit, I picked up this anime due to the translation of the title: Therefore I can't Fuck. I'm not kidding, and the fact that the plot sounded interesting. The anime lives up to expectations, but in different ways. I will give them credit: they air it uncensored (tits or GTFO) and to boot, the air is good. May the perverseness continue, and hopefully this anime doesn't pull what High School DxD did, and have a crap ending. 


Dog Days' 

The summer also brought us some sequels, and one of them is the second season of Dog Days. Cinque (or Sink or Shinku, depending on subs) returns to the other world, along with his childhood friend, Rebecca and his cousin, Nanami, where they all become heroes and fight alongside each nation in the art of war.

Honestly, this should have never been made. The whole set up of "war" in this anime is not even portrayed correctly. it's like a game, and they need "heroes" to help bring them to victory? No, they just need a tribute really good game show contestant. Despite all this, the art work is good and the music is just barely passable. The characters, like in the first season are decent, but there is honestly just too many. It's twelve or thirteen episodes, we don't need fifty characters!


Hagure Yuusha no Estetica 

We have all seen what goes on when a hero rescues a princess, the hardships he goes through, but what about after the job is done? What is the hero supposed to do? For Ousawa Akatsuki, this is his delima. He has the princess, Miu, and he is living happily ever after in a world where there is nothing but girls, girls, girls.

This anime is basically all the ecchi adventures one guy could ever have. Between helping a girl try on a bra, to swim suit snatching, Ousawa has it lucky. This anime, like Dakara, is aired uncensored, and it provides for some laughs. Honestly, I don't know why this was made, but I like it.


Jinrui wa Sutai Shimashita

In the near future, humanity is dying off, being replaced by a superior race called the faeries. These little guys are adorable, chibi, and honestly, I don't know how they replaced humanity. The main girl in the series, who we just know as "I"or "Watashi," serves as a mediator between the faeries and the humans, even to the point she has a few living at her house.

Why was this even made really? From episode one, it has been one of the weirdest things I have ever seen, and I have seen my fair share of weird things. Episode one brought us the bleeding bread scenario, followed by the buzzing chickens in episode two.  The art for this series is washed out color, similar to Usagi Drop, which isn't a bad thing, just makes the anime different. 


Joshiraku

We all have those days where the original conversation and the ending conversation are not the same thing. In the anime Joshiraku, the girls have random conversations, from moon viewing to how the moon looks like inappropriate things. 

If you're in the anime of "cute girls doing cute things," then you have hit paradise. Coming from the author of Sayonra Zetsubou Sensei, it is an amusing watch. The girls don't really do anything beside sit around for amusing conversations. The art for this anime is top notch I'll admit. Honestly, I hope for a lot for this anime.



Kono Naka Hitori ni, Imouto ga Iru!

Shougo has just lost his dad, and now he has to attend a new school, which is stressful enough as it is already. However, as it turns out, his younger sister also attends the school, but he doesn't know who the sister is. In his search for his sister, he meets a lot of girls along the way. 

Oh, dear lord, this reeks of incest. Along with the fact that he has to meet his illegitiment sister, she also wants to get married, and since his sister can beany girl at the school, the probability for incest is high. Other wise, the characters are semi likable, but they also seem rather flat also. The art work is decent, but otherwise, this anime just seems generic in almost every way it can.


Sword Art Online

As technology develops and advances, there is one thing they have seriously looked over in the gaming industry: virtual reality. However in Sword Art Online, they have developed it to a point that they have not only got virtual reality games, but it is so real that death in the game is actually death in the real world. After Kirito and a whole bunch of other people get trapped in the game, they must not only beat the game to get out, but they must be careful not to die in the game because the virtual reality machine will kill them in the real world. 

Interesting concept for this anime, I  must admit. It's almost every gamer's dream, if not worst nightmare. One of the things that I have found weird about this anime is the fact that it paces out so weird. In one episode, they might cover ten floors, and in the next, they hardly cover two. Another weird thing is they don't seem to take the death thing too seriously. Almost every episode someone dies, and they don't seem to show that they care too much bout auxillery characters. The art is good, the scenries almost look like real world scenarios, and the characters are well drawn. I can only hope they even out the pacing and work on some things (like actually caring that the characters die!). 


Yuru Yuri ♪♪

Like Dog Days, Yuru Yuri also received a sequel. WhileI was more thrilled about this sequel being announced, in the actual series, I feel let down a bit. While we still mainly follow our main four characters, it seems that there is a different feel this season. Maybe it's due to the fact we are seeing more of the the side characters, such as Himawari and Sakurako, or maybe it's the fact they seem to be leaving out Akari a lot more than usual.

The art for this series is as good as the last season. One thing that was a let down for me was the opening and ending themes. In the last season, I could barely get the song out of my head, and this season, I barely notice them honestly.
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All in all, I feel like this season has it extreme good points and the extreme bad points. However next season should not be a let down, and I look forward for more anime to come

I have to thank Mike for watching Dakara Boku wa, H ga Dekinai and Brendan for watching Sword Art Online with me. 

Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale

When people are in a pinch, they do desperate things. Some file for bankruptcy, some take out massive loans, and some decide to open up a business. When Recette Lemongrass , a young girl who lives at home by her self after her father went on adventure, is faced with his debt, she decides t open a shop with the faerie loan shark, Tear, who is in charge of the debt in order to help pay it back. Recette, Tear, and their adventurer, Louie, a poor young boy, go through dungeons to collect items to sell for profit in the shop.

The story is simple, and in fact a bit too unrealistic. Ignoring the fact there is a faerie and dungeons to go through to get free items, just the circumstances are just bit too unrealistic. Recette is does not appear to be a legal an adult, and it seems a bit too unfair for her to be paying back her father's debt. Another problem I have with the story is the fact it just seems to be capitalism propaganda, even to the point of Recette saying "Captialism, ho!" I feel like if it was less centered on capitalism and paying her father's debt, then the story would succeed more in the catagory it was meant for: Fantasy.

The characters in mind are just flat as flat can be. Recette is your typical cheery girl in poor circumstances girl. The only time she shows an emotion other than ridiculously cheery is when she gets a bit down over a bad sale, and eve then, she quickly recovers. Tear is this emotionless business woman, fitting into the stereotype so badly. The other characters barely appear in the game, but even they fit into a stereotype. Aloutte, Recette's competition is a typical rich girl, and she even has a few tsundere traits.

The art work for this game is good and bad, depending on which part you're at. The upclose drawings of the characters are nicely detailed and look like anime characters. To be honest, that is what drew me into the game. However, the over world sprites were just just little chibis. Honestly, if they were a little bit better drawn, then the art for the game could have been amazing

Overall, even though I may complain about the game, I honestly enjoyed it. Yes, I nit pick at it to no end, but to be honest, it was a short indie game that I came across on Steam. The voice acting is actually in Japanese, which won me over a bit more, but the English translations could have been a bit better. All in all, this is a good game, and highly recommend it to any J-RPG player.