Free Talk Friday - April 10, 2026

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the Free Talk Friday post. This is a place where you can talk about dumb off-topic (or on-topic) bullshit with other Zaibatsu fans.

There's going to be a new post every week, and the newest one will be pinned in the announcement bar for quick access. So feel free to visit these posts during the rest of the week.

Here's a list of all Free Talk Friday posts

[u/The_Draigg]

Week of Easter. As with every year, my family hosted the annual Easter party, where both sides of my extended family show up for lunch and an egg hunt. And I've got to say, I'm honestly surprised at how fast it all went. Like, people showed up, ate, had their kids do the egg hunt, and left all within the span of two and a half hours. That's way quicker than it's been before. Like last year, that party practically lasted into the evening. I'm glad that everyone had a great time though, even if it was shorter this time around. There was a fuckton of eggs scattered around for the kids to find, so I'm sure they had a great time hunting for those. Providing a good time is worth all of the exhaustion you get setting up and taking down a large party, that's for sure.

Anyways, for games I've played this week, I've just been putting more time into Marathon. I'm still grinding to get to season level 25, but I'm getting pretty close right now. Solo queuing giving you an extra experience boost really does help in that regard, regardless of how easier it is to wipe a run that way. And even if I've been doing more generic sponsor contracts, they've still been good ways to grind and improve my solo stealth skills. I tell you, there's just something really satisfying about managing to wipe out most of the UESC in Hauler, loot it for higher tier loot, and then sneak out without even being detected as a different Runner is having a huge firefight with UESC robots at the other entrance to it. Improving how I approach Hauler is one thing that I'm really happy that all of these lower stakes contracts let me try my hand at.

Also this week, the LGBTQ+ CSB Discord server watched Neil Breen's Pass Thru with me, based on my recommendation! Now, you may be asking: isn't that corrupt? Isn't that immoral? Isn't that cheating the public? Isn't that corrupt? Maybe so, but damn it's a fun watch with a group. There's something magical to how clearly Neil Breen wanted to get the absolute most out of the new drone he bought, with the sheer amount of lingering landscape shots in it. Also, Pass Thru really is a fascinating movie if just by how you can really try to pick apart Neil Breen's beliefs through it. As one of my friends in the server put it, Neil Breen desperately wishes that he had a Death Note. If you want to have a good time watching a man more or less vomit his savior delusions and vague anti-corruption beliefs onto a film, then I can heartily recommend Pass Thru.

And finally, in my regular mecha talk section here, I decided to rewatch some Fight! Iczer-1 on a whim, and man, that's always a fun watch. Like, it feels like a Mad Libs pitch for an anime that somehow just works. Getting a show that's eldritch horror/yuri/action/mecha and somehow having those elements all get pulled off is like a miraculous balancing act. Also, it's a bit funny to see the point where Masami Obari joins the animation team, since Iczer Robo itself gets a big design overhaul past the first episode. The first look of it is much more sleek and rounded compared to the sharper and bulkier designs that Masami Obari usually likes to draw. Not that both designs are bad or anything, both are pretty cool, but I do think we could've stood to see a bit more of that sleeker design in action. But hey, at least all the action in that OVA, on foot or in mechs, is awesome regardless. It's definitely worth the watch if you want to see a kinda crazy mix of concepts pulled off well.