AP 2 Draft 5, Chapters 21-25: COMPLETE!

Y’know, I’m beginning to notice that this book is a bit longer than the first one. The first book has 27 chapters. This one currently has 35. (Not including prologue and epilogue.)

It’s not because Abandonment Party 2 has tons of filler; I wouldn’t waste time writing unimportant chapters. This book is longer because I know you’re READY for it. I know you’re HUNGRY.

The first book was introduction. That’s why it’s ‘short.’ But now that you know how magic works and who the characters are you’re waiting to see how it all takes off from here.

‘What happened to this world? Why did everyone die? What sort of wild story is behind it all?’

Now you’re ready to be rewarded for your patience and experience it for yourself. You’ll be like ‘eight more chapters than the original? HELL YEAH!’

And hopefully you’ll also understand why it’s taking me such a long time to get it all ready, ha,ha.

Hey. Have you heard of the game Silksong? It’s also a sequel that’s taken a long time to finish. The original, Hollow Knight, was a surprise hit back in 2017. The developers decided to make a sequel, and they have had almost ZERO communication about their progress for years. I thought it was pretty funny, and it was interesting to watch their fans go insane waiting.

Sigh. If only I had fans to drive insane. Maybe someday. 😅

I’ll buy the game when it comes out next week, but for now let’s discuss two shows I’ve been watching. One is a classic, and one caught me by total surprise. Spoilers for Rorouni Kenshin seasons 1 and 2 and Keijo!!!!!!!! (Yes the title has eight exclamation points.)

Rorouni Kenshin –

Like Ranma 1/2, it’s a remake of a manga that I read a long time ago.

The story is about Kenshin, a ‘rorouni’ and… uh, I have no idea what that is. The show doesn’t even explain it. Let me go check a wiki.

Ah. It’s a word totally made up by the author. Sort of like a wandering samurai. Isn’t there already a word for that? 😒

Anyway, Kenshin’s main gimmick is that he uses a REVERSE katana blade: the blunt edge is on the curved part while the concave edge is sharp. And he doesn’t kill people anymore, but he USED to kill people in some Japanese war. I don’t think we get his full backstory yet.

Season 1:

First we set up the main characters: The dojo master girl that acts tough but is useless in a fight; the weak child character that’s a better fighter than the dojo master for some reason; the tough dude that is kinda strong, but gets beat by everyone anyway; and Kenshin, who is vastly more powerful than all of the others.

There is no main ‘arc’ for this season. Most of the antagonists are just dudes that challenge Kenshin in an attempt bring out the ‘Hitokiri Batosai’ side of him. It means something like ‘sword-using manslayer.’

So that’s season one. Kenshin struggles with reverting to his killing ways, because bad guys kidnap all the women in his life.

Season 2:

Now we get a real arc going: Shishiro makes an appearance. He’s got a plan to take over Japan and he even has a group of evil henchmen. Classic stuff.

The highlight of the season has to be the battle with Cho. This guy is hilarious. He loves swords, and he’s got them equipped all over his body. He’s got a normal sword. He’s got a double sword. He even has an enlongated sword that somehow bends around like a tentacle and stabs at Kenshin from different directions.

The only problem I have with his season is that it doesn’t cover the whole Shishiro arc. In fact, it ends with the villain’s plan foiled completely without him ever being fought at all! Even most of his minions were only used as distractions without being battled by anyone. Kinda weak.

Shishiro is upset as his warship explodes and is like ‘Oh well, I lost. I guess I didn’t take Kenshin and his buddies seriously enough. The next time I take over Japan, I’ll have to kill them all first!’

Then he is allowed to leave? I seriously don’t remember this.

The final fight happens next season I guess? 😔

Keijo!!!!!!!! –

There I was, scrolling through Crunchyroll when I see a list of sports anime. ‘Sports are boring’ I told myself, right before I saw this show’s icon pop up:

Yes, girls in swimsuits surrounded by water. I was thinking ‘What in the world kind of sport is this supposed to be?’

So I clicked. Here’s an explanation from part of the show description:

A lucrative endeavor, Keijo is a popular gambling sport where female players stand on floating platforms on the water and must push other players off by only using breasts and buttocks.

I had to do a double-take. Breasts? Buttocks? You gotta be kidding me. How have I not heard about this? I put it on my list and started it up the day I got done with Kenshin.

And it did not disappoint. The theme song is hilarious. Have a peek:

Yes, these girls indeed fight with their butts. And I was laughing mine off the entire time. What makes it even funnier is that no character thinks for a second how absurd this sport is. They state with stoic resolution stuff like ‘You’ll have to train your butt to the limit if you want to master the Vacuum Butt Cannon.’

And there is no shortage of named techniques these girls use: ‘Gatling Butt.’ ‘Quickdraw Bazongas.’ Just when I think I’ve seen it all, some new, nonsensical move gets whipped out and every onlooker acts as though they’ve just witnessed some amazing revelation.

I was devastated to learn there were only twelve episodes, with any more seeming doubtful. Thankfully, there is a manga, which I am reading now on the Mangadex site:

Give it a shot, and you might even witness some genuine heart and devotion between these girls as they train to become the QUEEN OF BUTTS.

See you next time! 🍑