The Weekly Praegustator (13 - 19 April '26)

This week I consumed 11 manga, 19 anime, 1 film, 5 TV shows, 1 book, 8 articles, and 1 podcast.

13 April

One of the great shows of our era and didn't overstay its welcome which is not a given in our time. I will forever respect Michael Cusack and Zach Hadel for ending the show when they did. If you haven't given Smiling Friends a watch I'd recommend it. 10 minute episodes full of craziness!

Article/ Frontier AI and the future of cybersecurity: grappling with the implications of Project Glasswing and Claude Mythos Preview (5/10)

This is corpo slop and not geuine Opus 3 thinking, look how they massacred my sweet boy...

Article/ Reading is magic - by Sam Kriss (8/10)

It's very interesting how the high literacy rate in Russia doesn't correlate in fixing their democracy. Either Putin is that strong a figure that has captured the hearts and minds of Russians or literacy is not correlated to striving for democratic values.

14 April

Manga/ Blue Lock - Chapter 343 (7/10)

Manga/ Gachiakuta - Chapter 165 (8/10)

Manga/ Shangri La Frontier - Chapter 262 (7/10)

Manga/ Wind Breaker Japan - Chapter 212 (7/10)

Anime/ Eren the Southpaw Ep. 2 (7/10)

Book/ Newton, The Man - Essays In Biography : John Maynard Keynes - 310 - 323 (8/10)

Article/ dark ilan (6/10)

“We teach you rationality, not because the universe is comprehensible, but precisely because it is not-- and you will need every tool we can give you to make it so.”

Article/ Gyre (6/10)

A frantic stream of consciousness from an artificial intelligence. I'd assume it's close to reality. I found it amusing.

Article/ himanshu on X: "I Talked with Arcee AI for 100 Minutes and Everyone Needs to Know This" (6/10)

I haven't tried out Arcee models yet but I'm glad there's a new player from the west that champions open-source since Meta and Mistral are lagging behind China. Will they outperform Chinese labs in the future? I doubt it but who knows? Right now they are sitting comfortably at the space Meta left behind although they released Avocado they have left their open-source origins behind so a new contender is more than welcome.

Article/ Socrates is Mortal (8/10)

"What the oracle recognized in Socrates was not the ability to cross-examine. It was something closer to what it recognized in Euripides: the capacity to be present to what is happening, to see the person in front of you rather than the drama you are supposed to enact with them, to respond to the situation rather than to your script about the situation. To be alive. We do not need a new method. Methods are what you formalize after you understand the problem, and we are not there yet. What might still help us is the quality that precedes method: the willingness to see what is in front of us, to say the obvious thing that everyone embedded in the performance is too scripted to see, and to keep reaching out to others even when the response is usually not even embarrassment but indifference, not even a failed defense but a smirk."

15 April

Anime/ Dorohedoro: S04E04 (8/10)

Anime/ Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World- Season 4 Ep. 68 (7/10)

Film/ The Legend of Aang: The Last Airbender (2026) (8/10)

This was quite enjoyable and very in line with the original series rather than the Korra clusterfuck. My only gripe is with the villain which was so obvious and sinister it looked childish. I liked the animation and fighting scenes a lot. I would've liked more of Zuko and Toph fighting but oh well we can't have everything we want. Solid entry. Unfortunate that it was leaked. The original voice actors not reprising their roles was also a bad choice but the new VA's didn't bother me.

16 April

Anime/ The Warrior Princess and the Barbaric King Ep. 2 (7/10)

It was a great decision to drop The Beginning After The End for this series.

Article/ Dorsey Mode: Why Tech's Most Misunderstood CEO is Right Again (8/10)

"To understand why “Bring a prototype” is such an important suggestion, we have to go back to 2004. In June of that year, Jeff Bezos sent an internal email banning PowerPoint at all senior leadership meetings. In its place, Bezos mandated a 6 page narrative memo, read silently by all attendees for the first half hour of every meeting." On top of this Bucco suggests that the memo is also dead and the era of prototyping your idea has come. "You don’t have to pretend to be the customer in the room because you can be the customer in the room. This isn’t just a suggestion for product teams. Instead of a marketing campaign brief, bring a mockup of the full campaign (copy, ad visuals, proposed landing pages). Sales teams can bring a configured demo. Finance teams can build an interactive model. Once you realize it, the opportunity to prototype is all around you. Grab the wheel and start shipping." I abhor the powerpoint style of pitching where one is so detached from the actual product that they can say/do anything. Unfortunately most businesses still have to adhere to powerpoint presentations. These all need to die.

Article/ Orban Was Bad, Even Though We Don't Have A Perfect Word For His Badness (7/10)

17 April

Anime/ Kingdom: S05E1-13 (9/10)

This series is goated. Mandatory viewing to military personnel and politicians. Absolute Cinema!

Anime/ That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime: Season 4 Ep. 75 (7/10)

Anime/ The Drops of God Ep. 2 (8/10)

This was indeed a really special anime, recommend watching it.

TV/ Invincible: Don't Do Anything Rash - S04E07 (7/10)

So much of the violence from the comics is downgraded in the show which I don't understand the reason behind it. The whole budget was spent on destroying of the Viltrumite planet I guess.

TV/ The Boys: Every One of You Sons of Bitches - S05E03 (6/10)

TV/ The Pitt: S02E15 - ⁨9:00 P.M.⁩ (7/10)

I like this show a lot apart from the character Samira being fired from the show for pro-Palestine rhetoric. That has made me want to quit the show but I have still not decided. It's a good show but shitty politics.

18 April

Anime/ Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring Ep. 4 (7/10)

Anime/ Akane-banashi Ep. 3 (8/10)

Anime/ Ascendance of a Bookworm: Adopted Daughter of an Archduke Ep. 3 (6/10)

Anime/ Daemons of the Shadow Realm Ep. 3 (9/10)

Anime/ Mao Ep. 3 (7/10)

Anime/ Marriagetoxin Ep. 1-2 (8/10)

I'm glad I started this anime it has a really unique sense of comedy along with the premise.

Anime/ Snowball Earth Ep. 1-3 (7/10)

This one was recommended by Mob Psycho's creator and has an interesting premise. The MC is clearly socially inept and has remained as such by avoiding people and talking to his AI. (Quite on the nose right) The animation isn't anything to write home about but the premise is interesting so I'll give it a watch.

19 April

Manga/ Akane-banashi chapter 203 (8/10)

Manga/ Blue Box chapter 239 (7/10)

Manga/ Centuria chapter 88 (8/10)

Manga/ Ichi the Witch chapter 79 (8/10)

Manga/ Kagurabachi chapter 119 (8/10)

Manga/ Sakamoto Days chapter 256 (7/10)

Manga/ Someone Hertz chapter 30 (7/10)

Anime/ NIPPON SANGOKU: S01E03 (9/10)

This is the best series of this season. Villain is a fat-maxxing and kawaii-maxxing sadist what else can be said but WATCH THIS!

Anime/ One Piece Ep. 1158 (7/10)

Anime/ The Ramparts of Ice: 1-3 (8/10)

This anime has something I empathize with a lot. Having a cold demeanor without realizing it. When I was a TA in Uni, a student came to my office hour and It was a particularly tiring day where I didn't have the time to eat anything so I was munching away at some crackers I got from the vending machine. While I was answering her questions regarding a particular problem I asked her if she'd like some crackers as well. She paused for a second looked at me and said "You're not as cold as you look on the outside." This struck me instantly as I had never thought I seemed unapproachable or cold from the outside but I assume that was the air I was giving off. I tried to break that over the years but I don't think it's something you can change easily. I really liked the writing of this anime something resonated within me and while I couldn't stand "You and I are Polar Opposites" and dropped it after a couple episodes this seems more mature.

Podcast/ Jensen Huang – TPU competition, why we should sell chips to China, & Nvidia’s supply chain moat (8/10)

I think Jensen got a lot of respect on pushing back on exporting to China issue. It was a great conversation and refreshing to see a non-handholding interview with Jensen. Props to Dwarkesh for playing a great Devil's Advocate which really emphasizes how Jensen thinks on the China issue.

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