So, Konosuba’s back, after the highly successful Megumin spinoff which made even me a fan of Megumin (who I hated beforehand). What’s not to like about the show coming back? You get Darkness, Aqua, Kazuma… and yes, even Megumin.
This episode starts out very funny, but as it went along, it kind of lost the funniness. The whole gag with Kazuma not wanting to help out a cute girl because he knew it was a villain was amusing, but also highly predictable. The best gag the rest of the way was probably Aqua offering Kazuma toilet paper. Bathroom humor.
Now the gang is going to meet Iris, whoever that is. Princess Iris, in fact – are they referring to the Crown Princess of the Midgar family? Because that’s an Iris I wish would get more screen time in The Eminence in Shadow. For now, though, Konosuba is back, with a lightly humorous start, and the potential of all kinds of good stuff to come.
One of my favorite Olympic sports, weightlifting has suffered from doping scandals which have rocked the sport and put it on the verge of extinction. I sure hope the sport can figure it out by 2028, so I have the chance to see it live in person for the second time (the first time at Atlanta in 1996).
This is my attempt at reviving the former blog I kept on anime from 2008-2017 or so, without getting into trouble. If this works, I may make this a regular feature that I update all the time. We’ll see how it goes.
Badminton is a fascinating sport; to the untrained eye it’s almost impossible to tell what’s a winning shot. It looks like a player has just won the rally, when the rally ends up going on another 20 shots. As much grief as it gets in the United States for being an Olympic sport, it’s actually a very good staple of the Olympic program.
Tokyo 2020 results:
Medal
Men’s singles
Country
Gold
Victor Axelsen
Denmark
Silver
Chen Long
China
Bronze
Anthony Sinisuka Gintling
Indonesia
Medal
Men’s doubles
Country
Gold
Lee Yang Wang Chi-lin
Taiwan
Silver
Li Junhui Liu Yuchen
China
Bronze
Aaron Chia Soh Wooi Yik
Malaysia
Medal
Women’s singles
Country
Gold
Chen Yufei
China
Silver
Tai Tzu-ying
Taiwan
Bronze
P. V. Sindhu
India
Medal
Women’s doubles
Country
Gold
Greysia Polii Apriyani Rahayu
Indonesia
Silver
Chen Qingchen Jia Yifan
China
Bronze
Kim So-yeong Kong Hee-yong
South Korea
Medal
Mixed doubles
Country
Gold
Wang Yilyu Huang Dongping
China
Silver
Zheng Siwei Huang Yaqiong
China
Bronze
Yuta Watanabe Arisa Higashino
Japan
Outlook (as of June 26, 2023):
This is one of the sports China needs to do well in for their hopes of knocking the United States out of the top spot. They had two golds in Tokyo, but that wasn’t enough. However, in all three events that they didn’t win gold, they ended up with silver. That should be a concern for the U.S., because all the Chinese need to do is flip two of those three, and they take the medal count.
Of course, the inverse is also true. Perhaps China flips two of those silvers to golds, but then also has the golds swapped to silvers. But it’s not that easy! Keep in mind that one of those events was a gold-silver finish for China. So even if it was flipped, it’s still a China gold. Because of that, I’m going to be very bullish on China’s prospects in badminton for 2024.
Update (as of June 25, 2024):
Chinese players have rocketed up the men’s singles rankings, and China always does well at this event. Players from Indonesia are still high up there, but I have to add a Chinese player to my medal predictions, if not two. My women’s picks are the same as they were a year ago, except in different order. Doubles gold medal picks remain the same, but there are some changes in the other medals.
Tommy A. Phillips 