Good afternoon and welcome to CMC Markets and this week's Monday market webinar on Monday the 30th of January pretty much close to the end of the month. So I'll be looking at the performance of the key markets on a monthly chart to give an indication as to whether or not we could well be looking at a potential topping pattern. Certainly I think in the context of where we've been over the past month we've hit record highs on US markets. We've hit record highs on the FTSE 100 but we are starting to give back some of those gains and I think that does beg the question as to whether or not this particular rebound and the rebounds that we've seen over the course of the past couple of weeks or the record highs that we've seen over the past couple of weeks is sustainable. Certainly we're seeing a little bit of weakness today just going through the risk warnings for your perusal which I have to do for compliance purposes but certainly going back to what I was saying previously looking at the performance of some of these key markets certainly the fact that we've broken through the 20,000 level on the Dow Jones. The key questions I think the people are asking at the moment given what's going on over the other side of the Atlantic and some of the controversy shall we say being coming back coming off the back of the presidential executive orders. The big question I think people are asking themselves is whether or not Mr. Trump will be able to deliver. Certainly early indications would appear to suggest that the markets are giving him the benefit of the doubt for now but ultimately I think we are seeing a little bit of caution starting to kick in and I certainly think that's being reflected in some of the pullbacks that we've seen on the major indices. Let's start off with looking at the Dow Jones as a case in point. Now this is a four hour chart and this 20,000 level that was the trigger point for the move higher is now probably going to act as a decent support level on any pullbacks. We've certainly seen that on the intraday cash chart. We gapped lower on the open this morning in Asia. At the moment we are currently holding above it 19,980, 20,000. There or thereabouts is likely to be a key support area. We are looking a little bit oversold on the four hour chart but certainly I think if you look at it in the context of the daily chart probably not so much but that being said we are seeing a similar pattern play out not only on the Dow but we're also seeing it play out on the S&P 500 as well. Certainly not so much. We haven't come back and retested the previous highs which were 2282 nonetheless similar sort of similar sort of play out here. We've traded pretty much sideways for the past few hours and the likelihood is that unless we break below this key support area here then ultimately we're probably going to continue to chop around. We have gapped lower. Typically what normally happens when we do that is that gap gets filled. So I would anticipate some form of pullback towards 2295 in the short to medium term on the S&P and it's funny actually when you look at these sorts of charts that how similar they are. We've got a similar sort of story also playing out on the German DAX. This is the daily chart but again if I drill down into the detail we've seen a similar roll over here. So now what we've got on the DAX is resistance 11,800. Having pushed all the way up to 11,900 in the middle of last week we are now starting to drift lower again. One thing I think we do need to be aware of is the fact that Euro dollars looking a little bit weak as well and that could actually be fairly supportive of the DAX. That being said the Euro dollar and the DAX now do appear to be once again moving in lockstep with each other along with pretty much global markets in general. We did see some initial dollar weakness initially overnight. That does appear to be starting to be reversed but I think what we're seeing also here on Euro dollar is a little bit of a technical pullback after we broke that long-term uptrend line that if you've been following my chart forum posts I've been referring to over the course of the past few weeks. We've broken below it this morning. We've also broken below last week's lows around about 10650 and that would in all likelihood probably push us back down to this series of lows through here around about 10580. I've talked about that in my chart forum post this morning but I have also talked about it on at the end of last week as well. So you know these updates are fairly regular. I usually post them once a day and unless they haven't really changed that much then I won't bother. But ultimately this move lower here does appear to suggest that we are starting to pick up a little bit of US dollar strength. So I've been told that someone's lost sound. I'm guessing that you can all hear me otherwise I'd probably be getting more than one person telling me that I've lost sound. But moving on we also looking at the UK 100. Again I talked about this last week and I also last week talked about this potential bullish weekly reversal that we've seen in the FTSE 100 and that would appear to suggest that ultimately we could well have seen the top. But we need to be careful about calling the top on the FTSE because last week I also talked about the prospect that we could find support around about 7120 and we do appear to be continuing to find support at that particular level. That being said however if we look at the 4 hour chart we can actually see where that support comes in. It's the series of highs through here then support there. We are finding a little bit of support through here so we do need to be a little bit careful about trying to sell into a sell-off because ultimately we could actually get caught on a short squeeze back to 7200. So I'm being told that the sound is pretty much okay and that would appear to suggest that ultimately there's a problem with audio. Maybe it's your speakers, loose wire or somewhere like that. I'm just going to quickly check your speakers and your audio sound if you can't hear sound. So I'm just going to break away slightly the sound as audio okay elsewhere. Multitasking is not one of my strong points. Okay so we're looking at the UK 100 and for me I think the key level on this is really I think you've got to look at 7100 as a key level on that 7115, 7120. Simply because it was such a key level on the way up it was the previous all-time highs and ultimately what normally happens is those tend to reverse their roles but certainly in the context of what we've seen on the weeklies if I actually change this to a monthly chart that is actually even more significant because ultimately we've made record highs. There's only one more day of the month left apart from today 31st of January. If this candle is not able to sustain any of the move higher then potentially and this is potentially we've got what I would call a gravestone doji and I think that could be quite significant in the overall scheme of things. So please reply to this there's this three of you are trying to talk to me you need to please reply to the chat message that I've just sent out so please reply to the message that I've sent to you here otherwise I'm not going to be able to see your messages so that's Warren Clive and Adrian you need to reply to the message that I've just sent out if you have any particular problems either that or try and contact the help desk and they'll try and resolve any audio problems that you might have unfortunately I can't resolve them from here. So I think with respect to the monthly close I think need to keep a very close eye on the UK 100 certainly in terms of the weekly we are we are seeing some evidence that we could be running out of steam and could be due a little bit of correction so those are the warning signs that I'm seeing on the footsie let's see if we've got similar warning signs on the German DAX on the monthly chart drill down again and not so much we've made decent gains here but we are also very close to all-time highs on the German DAX on a monthly chart so we do need to be aware that we could be wearing we could be heading into what I would call nose bleed territory when it comes to stock market valuations certainly I think in the context of US equities while the longer-term outlook may well be fairly positive I think in terms of what we're seeing on a long-term basis we are we are struggling at these sorts of levels and certainly I think in terms of the dollar trade everyone's talking a higher dollar for me I think there is some evidence that again if we look at the dollar index and I'm going to show you a Bloomberg chart here because I think this illustrates the point quite nicely we are above a fairly key support area on the dollar index so ultimately as far as the dollars concerned we are what I would call in decision-making territory because ultimately while we're above 100 then I think we could well rebound but certainly if we break below 100 and I think that's really a key level for me 100 on the dollar index is likely to a break of 100 on the dollar index is likely to precipitate a quite a significant sell-off and we can see it probably it's better spawn out if I draw that in there so that comes in round about there and I think sometimes because we don't have we don't have a dollar index on the CMC platform sometimes it's nice to look at a proxy so a good proxy for the dollar index is say for example dollar Swiss or dollar YEM and yes they only make up a very small part of the dollar index but certainly if I look at this dollar Swiss chart there's a decent area of support through here and this is something that I looked at last week and it was 99.70 now throughout the whole of last week we didn't really break below that 99.70 area we sort of flirted a little bit below it but we never really took it out and at the moment we're seeing a significant rebound off that base so you know while we're above 99.70 on dollar Swiss then I think you need to be very very careful about being overly short of dollars because ultimately if we are going to trend lower then we really need to take that 99.70 area out and if we look at the peaks draw a line through the peaks that we've seen thus far since the beginning of January we are trading lower have been trading lower for quite some time but every subsequent rally has been shallower so if we break out through this series of highs through here which we look as if we could do we also need to take out this downtrend line from the peaks that we saw in early January to suggest that potentially we could have seen a top in the dollar so we are trending lower but trying to preempt a weaker dollar is fairly dangerous process so at the moment with respect to the dollar I'm still in buy the dip mode we can we can sort of see that quite nicely illustrated as well in euro dollar as well because if you actually look at the euro dollar chart we've looked at the support level but if you look at the 108107 above 107 we've not really been able to take that level out so again dollar weakness if we could get through 10750 on the euro dollar or these peaks here around 1077080 then again I think we could proceed some prolonged dollar weakness but at the moment that doesn't appear to be particularly likely and that's a worry for me at the moment I think yes the long dollar trade is a very crowded trade but everyone's looking to try and look for the break and ultimately I think that's the wrong way to do it at the moment you've got the dollar index which is well supported around 100 you've got dollar Swiss which is well supported at 9970 you've got euro dollar which is well capped 1077080 and what we want to see for a weaker dollar to unfold is for all those levels to get taken out and at the moment that doesn't appear to be that likely and 57% of the dollar index is euro dollar you then got the dollar Swiss on top of that as well looking at dollar yen again it's a similar sort of story we have pushed higher but we are finding a little bit of resistance at 1155060 but we've also got a very solid base around about 11250 so at the moment we're in a bit of a range trade on dollar yen we do have the Bank of Japan overnight and the Bank of Japan have been insistent that ultimately they are not put they will want to anchor their bond buying program around a 0% 10-year JGB which essentially means that ultimately what US yields do is very very important in the context of dollar yen and ultimately if the Bank of Japan is looking to anchor yields around zero and the gap between US 10-year yields and JGBs continues to widen then ultimately it's likely the dollar yen is going to find it very very difficult to go lower because the gap between 10-year US treasuries and JGBs is likely to get wider and at the moment it's around about two and a half percent because if we look at what 10-year US treasuries are currently doing and again this is quite useful for when the Bloomberg chart comes in if we look at a yield chart here we do appear to be building up for a significant move higher now if I take that out to a five-year chart we can see that we broke this downtrend in five-year yields quite some time ago and I remember talking about this in a previous video a few weeks ago we've broken this downtrend in yields and now what we're looking to do is potentially head back towards around about 2.7 2.8 percent 3 percent so ultimately US yields are likely to increase over the course of the next few months now obviously we we've talked about we talked about the Bank of Japan we also have to talk about the Fed and the Fed meets for the very first time this year later this week now there's no press conference we're not expecting any major changes from this Fed meeting and ultimately and a lot of the a lot of the narrative has been fairly hawkish with respect to the potential for further rate rises this year ultimately I still think there's an awful lot of uncertainty surrounding what the Fed may do in the first quarter I do not expect to see the Fed raise rates in the first quarter of this year there's still an awful lot there's too much uncertainty around a Trump presidency for the Fed to be able to act with any confidence about the outlook for the US economy we saw on Friday US GDP came in slightly weaker than expected that wasn't a surprise to me because of the fact that I think the third quarter numbers were artificially boosted by exports soybean exports in particular and what was notable was that net trade was a drag on Q4 GDP now the reasons for that are likely to be a strong dollar and we've already heard from certain US officials or US government officials Trump administrators they're not comfortable with the cover with with the current value of the dollar that suggests that they would like a weaker dollar and I think how does how does Trump react with Janet Yellen it's no secret that mr. Trump has been highly critical of the Fed in keeping interest rates artificially low for quite some time and ultimately he's felt that they are behind the curve but of course the rhetoric his rhetoric is likely to change now I think with respect to the Fed because ultimately he won't want the Fed to do anything that's ungoing to undermine his program of potential a fiscal stimulus and fiscal stimulus is have a habit of being inflationary we've certainly seen that reflected in the rebound that we've seen in bond yields over the course of part over course of the past week and the key level for me I think in terms of the US 10 year is 2.6% so there's also a slightly different narrative amongst Fed policymakers for this year as well because we have four new voting members on the FOMC and my hunch is they're probably not going to be as hawkish as say for example the Fed committee was last year so look for comments from Robert Kaplan Neil Kashkari and Patrick Harker because those are some those are three of the new voting members of the FOMC Patrick Harker has already suggested that there's no rush to raise rates anytime soon which is a slight departure from what he was saying a month ago when he was slightly more hawkish about the prospects for Fed rate rises so I think that the narrative is going to be particularly important and the narrative is going to be more important in the context of what the Bank of England has to say the day after because I think we've talked about last week about the strength of the dollar and potentially in the context of what we could what it could do with respect to the pound and we've seen a decent rally in the value of sterling over the course of the past week or so we are now starting to give that back certainly on the in the context of the daily chart we've broken lower and we are heading back towards the 100-day moving average which is still very very negative the 50-day moving average is starting to flatten out and has acted as support and resistance over the course of the past few months in equal measure I think we do have potential in cable to move back to this level of around about 124-2030 without undermining the overall up move that we've seen over the course of the past week or so last week I talked about this bullish reversal here we saw we've seen some decent gains over the course of the past week or so we've gone back to 126-75 and we're now heading back towards around about 125 now 125 we're finding a little bit of support at the moment there's certainly potential for us to fall all the way back to this moving average here and this series of peaks through here which acted as resistance on the way up we can draw a nice little horizontal line through it here around about 124-30 if I take that down into the four hour chart we can see that quite nicely through here how it acted as a peak here acted as a series of peaks here broke through here came back and acted as support before rallying back to 126-75 so we certainly got potential to come a little bit lower in the short to medium term but overall I'm still of the opinion that the risk for the pound is less to the downside and more to the upside and I think a large part of that could be predicated on this week's quarterly inflation report which is also due out at the same time as the Bank of England rate decision on Thursday so we're quite busy in terms of the central bank focus this week we've got the Bank of Japan early Tuesday morning we've got the Fed on Wednesday evening at 7 p.m. and then we've got the Bank of England midday on Thursday and I think of particular interest for me will be the tone of the quarterly inflation report will they upgrade will the Bank of England upgrade its growth forecasts I think that's highly likely I think they're quite likely to upgrade their inflation forecasts because if we look at if we look at where UK yields are and I think this is particularly important in the context of where forward inflation expectations are these are forward inflation expectations on a five-year basis for UK inflation so they're around that they're at significantly elevated levels 3.65% so one or two things needs to happen with respect to that if I type in the UK 10 year which is the yield that's currently at 1.46% that's a huge gap it's a huge discrepancy between what 10 year guilt yields are where 10 year guilt yields are and where the forward five-year five-year inflation expectations are so in that context I would suggest that there's potential for UK guilt yields to move higher if that does happen and I think the key level for that is really this particular this resistance level here which I'm going to draw on my Bloomberg chart and I will obviously keep you all apprised of that around about 1.52% all the way through here would bring us back to the levels that we saw pre Brexit referendum and it's also quite notable that here is the gap that we saw when we gapped lower in the wake of the June 23rd vote so we were there on June the 22nd to June the 23rd day after the Brexit vote we pushed lower we are now back above the levels that we were so that rate cap that the Bank of England instituted in August it's gone it's finished it was a complete waste of time and ultimately what we see now is UK guilt yields are unlikely to push that much lower and I think that rules out the prospect of any potential further easing of policy from the Bank of England over the course of the next few weeks simply because inflation expectations are running a very very hot indeed and I think that ultimately is likely to be fairly supportive of the pound now having been supportive of the pound is one thing in terms of propping up the pound against the dollar is another because you're looking at a central bank the Federal Reserve that's very much on a hiking cycle and a Bank of England which ultimately is not that's not to say that they won't try and dial back expectations of when the next rate hike will come but I think it'll be much more difficult for them to ignore higher inflation when you've got producer prices of factory gates trending at 16% per annum that is likely to filter through into the headline CPI numbers we're already seeing German inflation coming in at 2.3 percent this morning the latest CPI numbers out of Germany at your one o'clock in 20 minutes and there's already a significant debate going on amongst ECB governing council members as to the wisdom of running a very loose monetary policy when you've got inflation running at 2.3 percent in Germany and given the fact that a month ago or two months ago it was a 1.4 so it's jumped 0.9 percent in two months and a year ago it was negative so a significant dialing turnaround in inflation expectations not only here in the UK also in the United States but also in Germany as well and that is going to create tension on the governing council so it's going to be very very difficult to see how that dynamic plays out and further further losses in terms of the euro so in terms of euro sterling I'm not a big you know I'm probably more bearish on euro sterling than I am on anything else certainly if we look at it in the context of a very long-term chart here I talked about this last week potential head and shoulders reversal forming here on euro sterling you've got the left shoulder here you've got the head here you've got a slightly higher right shoulder here around about 88 and we've got a nice little uptrend line here coming in from those lows that we saw at the end of 2016 so we've seen a very bearish candle there if we look at the monthly chart it's probably even more interesting in terms of the monthly reversal that we saw in at the end of November so you've got this January candle here which for me I think is very very bearish because ultimately we tried to go massively higher we haven't been able to sustain any of those euro gains at all which suggests to me that ultimately for all the bearishness surrounding sterling I think the bias for me would appear to suggest that we could potentially go lower on euro sterling and look at that oscillator on the monthly chart as well that does suggest to me the potential for further weakness but ultimately trying to fine-tune that move lower is going to be very very difficult at the moment we're above this uptrend line we're above the 200 day moving average but ultimately while we're below 85 70 80 on euro sterling I think really you have to sell rallies on euro sterling this is slightly bullish here this daily candle slight bullish reversal though which would appear to suggest that maybe we could go higher but all the other indicators for me I think are pointing to a move lower decent support around about the lows that we saw last week on the four hour chart at around at around about these level around about these levels here let me just draw that horizontal line in there but ultimately around about 84 60 84 70 sell rallies back to this this move here I would expect to see euro sterling start to trend lower and retest the 200 day moving average and that trend line support from those lows there over the course of the next few months ultimately I think euro sterling is probably a sell and not a buy and all this nonsense about parity in euro sterling I think the dynamics of the price action need to change quite substantially over the course of the next few over the next few months for that to play out let's move on to commodities because I know a lot of you look at commodities looking at gold prices we are starting to see a little bit of a roll-off there it's not altogether surprising but I think there is decent support on gold prices around about 1180 we're seeing that there but be careful there's potential here I think for a little bit of a double top breakout we've seen that break lower we could trickle back down to around about 1150 or 1160 but for the moment we've got decent support 1180 decent resistance around about the 1200 level if we break back above 1200 then we can certainly retest that double top there at around about 1215 1220 but certainly keeping keeping an eye on those series of lows that double top breakout there through there so fight probably find resistance around 1198 1200 for a move back down to 1180 I think we'll probably see a retest of that Brent crude on Friday we saw rig counts move to the highest levels since November 2015 of 712 I think the Brent crude price is going to be very very much dictated to you by the strength of the dollar if the dollar strengthens then that's going to push crude prices down we're in a range at the moment on Brent I'm not anticipating a significant move one way or the other solid support around about $53 a barrel solid resistance around 57 I think this is potentially going to be a bit of a snooze trade here an arranged trade over the course of the next maybe two to three two to three weeks simply because we've been range trading for the past two to three months and I don't think that's going to change until we get the output figures from OPEC next week and when we'll find out whether or not they've been cheating on their output cuts at the moment the market is giving them the benefit of the doubt let's wait and see as to whether or not what the numbers come out like over the course of the next few days and weeks quickly have a quick look at see if I've missed anything out I don't think I have looking at guilt prices I think it's probably have a quick look at that because this is quite an interesting dynamic on our guilt chart here we are testing trend line support for on our guilt price chart from the lows that we saw at the beginning of 2014 and that also ties into what I was saying about yields on UK Guilts as well so running into a fairly decent support level on prices resistance that resistance level on yields I will be watching this very very closely for any push higher in UK yields relative to what US and German Bund yields doing as well and German Bund yields are 12 month highs as well around about 0.5% so worth keeping an eye on them as well as shown by this chart here we've pushed higher on German yields 0.5% if we break above there then you could find that that could be supportive but you need to put that in the context of what UK and US yields are doing as well under differentials between the two okay so it's 1247 hopefully that's giving you a bit of an idea of what to expect very data heavy this week apart from central banks we've also got non-farm payrolls on Friday my colleague Colin and myself will be hosting a webinar on that on Friday you're more than welcome to sign up for that on the day that can be found on this page here learn webinars and events go straight to here non-farm payrolls sign up for that here and we'll be covering that live from 115 on Friday to 130 we've got a whole host of data out this week ISM manufacturing manufacturing PMI service PMI's from the UK EU and the US so plenty of stuff to get our teeth into this week if you want to say if you want to sign up for the non-farm payrolls fairly easy to find CMCmarkets.com learn webinars and events and then select non-farm payrolls and sign up there otherwise unless there are any other questions thanks very much for your time ladies and gents always a pleasure and I will hopefully speak to you all on Friday at 115 when we will all cover the non-farm payrolls over one over the 130 numbers thanks guys and see you on Friday


Let me remind you that we are having the quiz on Tuesday. Okay, now I remember. It's Friday. Okay. All right, calm down. It was just a refresher for the morning. All right. All right. Okay. So we'll have the quiz on Friday. And we know you'll remember that the quiz covers part one. And this morning we are continuing with the first case in part two, the case of Britain, comparative politics, or British politics in comparative perspective. And last time we were discussing state tradition in history. And the plan for this morning is to continue with it. So we are, we've been, we've done a quick introduction, which was followed by British state in historical perspective. So this morning I'll continue with that and switch to political economy of economic and social policies in Britain in, again, in historical perspective. Okay. Where did we leave off? I think we just began to talk about, we did talk about new labor and third way, but we didn't talk much about conservative dominated coalition under David Cameron and Daniel Clegg, which was formed in 2010. May 10 was a surprise, the election on May 10 was a surprise for British citizens because the election did not produce a majority in the parliament. So no party had the majority of seats in the parliament. This is what we call hung parliament. So the parliament cannot move, it just feels hung. That there was no majority. This meant that for the first time since World War II, there emerged a British government which combined elements on both sides of the spectrum, political parties on both sides of the spectrum, political spectrum that is. So we have a conservative government, well, a conservative party coming together with left of center political party. So the conservatives formed a coalition with liberal Democrats. Liberal Democrats, I know we haven't covered the parties and party system yet. In British politics, we have three, well, two and a half major parties. One is the traditional conservative party. The other is traditional labor party, which has always been there for more than 100 years for both cases. And the third party is this half party called liberal Democrats. Liberal Democrats, as we shall be talking about, were part of the labor party. They in a way seceded from the labor party. They got separated from the labor party and other factions joined them. So this is a more left of labor party. So liberal Democrats are on the political spectrum, on the left-hand side, even on the more left-hand side of the labor party. For the first time, there was a coalition of right and left-wing parties coming together. The coalition was in a way a blend of the conservative commitment to dynamism of free markets. The classic ideas of laissez-faire. Conservative ideals of laissez-faire. Let them do, let them make, let them pass, let the free market do its job. Leave it to the markets, and things will be better. Through the workings of the invisible hand, markets will clear. So much less state intervention into the economy, as we shall be talking about in the next minutes, few minutes. We have a government, or we have a political ideology, which sees a political party with an ideology that sees state intervention to be relegated to the realm of justice and basic infrastructure. And main institutions. So conservative commitment to free markets blended with a liberal Democratic commitment, Lib Dems, liberal Democratic Party's commitment to decentralization, which meant that there emerged a new program, a coalition program, in which there were radical ideas of what they called big society. And this big society, or under this big society, the coalition by Cameron and Clegg emphasized empowering of citizens. This meant, from their eyes, a move or transfer of power away from the state towards communities, as well as individuals, families, individuals, so collectivities and communities. So the state would intervene less increasingly, less in not only the economy, but how the society should be run. So even police officers or post offices, all of these, in the governance of these services, citizens would have, according to the big society program, citizens would have an increased say. So that was in a way, in the eyes of many, a quid pro quo for all the cuts that were to follow. Cutbacks on the British welfare state in social services. In the sense that citizens, this was for citizens, the government saw this as an appeasement, a tool for appeasement to keep citizens happy in the wake or after the Great Recession.  That really shook not only Britain, but much of advanced naturalized world. So the Great Recession, which translated into the Eurozone crisis right next door on the continent, really shook British politics in that respect. There were bank bailouts, there were increases in massive, or massive increases in unemployment, inequality and all that. So Cameron came to power as the prime minister, his finance minister, which is in the British context, called the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne. They formed a team and Daniel Clegg, representing the Liberal Democrats, joined them. And they tried to carve some space from the establishment, carve out some space from the establishment of British politics, and they wanted to appeal to a broader clientele. So they wanted to emerge more like a catch-all party, like the way Blairite New Labour tried. So they wanted to have a broader appeal, not just business and labour, but all other sectors or segments in society, a more non-ideological appeal to British politics and to citizens. And of course, recently, 2016, 2015 elections, 2016 July, the referendum decision on Brexit. So I think this is where we are in terms of state tradition and what we make of the state tradition for contemporary politics. Now let me turn to political economy of economic and social policies. And here, I know we've discussed parts of this, but let me emphasise here the role of the state and the economy. We know that the British have always opted for the laissez-faire approach. But there were some fluctuations. There were some ebbs and flows in their understanding or how governments interpreted the British tradition of laissez-faire. Intervention can only be limited to macroeconomic policies. What do we mean by macroeconomic policies? Macroeconomic policies, what are, what were macroeconomic policies? Any ideas, ladies and gentlemen? Good morning, everyone. Macroeconomic policies. Price floors and price ceilings are microeconomic policies. Wait, let me come back to price ceilings and price floors. These are microeconomic policies in the sense that they are directed to one single market, such as the housing market or markets for oranges. So they are microeconomic policies. When we refer to macroeconomic policies, monetary and fiscal policies. Who is in charge of fiscal policy? Okay, let me begin. Who is in charge of monetary policy? Who makes, who designs and implements monetary policy? Central bank. Okay, central bank. In an increasingly higher number of cases, we have central banks, which are more or less independent of the executive, i.e. the government. Okay? So more enhanced political autonomy from the government. So we have an increasing independence worldwide, a trend towards independence of central banks. Bank of England, for more than a century, has been independent, politically independent of the government. So, but in general we have central banks who design and implement monetary policies. Who designs and implements fiscal policies? Governments. So, how does a central bank design, how do they play, what are their instruments? Let me put it this way. What do they, or how do they stabilize the economy? Okay, open market operations, discount windows. So they basically play with the interest rate. And the interest rate, they play with the interest rate through the workings of the money supply. So they expand monetary base, where they withdraw from the market.  If total stock of total supply of anything decreases, what happens to its price? Increases. So if the central bank sucks up money, liquidity from the system, its price is the interest rate. What would happen to the interest rate? If central bank takes away, sweeps into its coffers all the money that's available in the economy, in markets, what happens to its price? I.e. the interest rate. Increases. Okay, so there's scarce money in the system, therefore interest rate increases. If interest rate increases, I'm trying to remind you what you've learned a while ago, if interest rate increases, you as consumers, would you like to buy more of other goods or less of other goods? Or can you buy more of other goods with your credit cards and stuff, with the possibilities of borrowing, or would you like to buy less of goods? Okay, think of yourselves, put yourselves in the shoes of an investor. Would you expand your investment, or would you reduce your investment? If that makes sense, huh? Because the cost of borrowing is higher. You won't be able to borrow money in case you need money. Okay, so investment also decreases, consumption decreases. If you want to, I mean, for imported items, would you be able to buy more of imports or less of imports? Less of imports. So all these accumulate, and if the interest rate increases as a result of the operations of the central bank, all demand will decrease. As producers, as firms, because you'll be investing less, will you be employing more workers or less number of workers? Okay, so people, there may be unemployment, or there will be lower levels of employment. Okay, this means that people will have less in their pockets, workers will have less in their pockets, and this means that they will be able to purchase less of the goods that are available on the market. So this is one way how the transmission mechanism works through the workings of the central bank through using its monetary levers. So the central bank plays with the monetary base, which is called high-powered money. You may remember that too. So money, like monetary base, money supply, the central bank plays with money supply, increases money supply through expansionary policies or decreases money supply through restrictions or a recessionary monetary policy or a tight monetary policy. And in that case, the central bank tries to control the economy, stabilize what's called the business cycle. And the government also plays with what levers in or while designing fiscal policies. What are the instruments here, policy instruments? How does the government design and implement fiscal policies through taxation and spending? So if the government expands spending, purchases goods and services in the markets, builds roads, builds housing, engages in construction projects, purchases all kinds of goods. So firms will make more money, employment will increase, output is likely to increase. Or the government decides to implement tighter fiscal policy. That is to say, they want to increase taxes, which includes corporate taxes. Corporate taxes are taxes on firms, corporate units. If taxes on firms, imagine yourselves as a firm.  If you know that the government is increasing taxes, would you be willing to produce more or willing to produce more?


For this fall season, I tried watching as many shows as humanly possible. I think I failed, but nonetheless, here are my thoughts on the shows that aired that I was able to watch. Now keep in mind, this is brief because it's a lot. So let's get started. Bleach, Thousand Year Blood Arc After a decade since the Lost Agent Arc aired, Bleach is finally back in a two-day force. Animated once more by Studio Pierrot with an ensemble production team. This new set of Bleach episodes have wonderful animation, kinetic action and visual direction that really emphasizes the story that Kubo created and a final war story between the Soul Reapers and the evil forces known as the Wanden Reich. It has been a lot of fun to revisit the world of Bleach after so long and also to marvel at the fact that life has changed so much in 10 years. This huge gap in time certainly helped the adaptation, creating a desperation as we see our heroes in their bleakest moment. Certainly this arc of Bleach is one of the best anime out of 2022. Shinobi no Itoki An original anime produced by DMM Pictures and animated by Troika. Shinobi no Itoki tells the story of Itoki Sakuraba, an ordinary student whose life is churned upside down when he finds out he is the heir to the Ega Ninja Clan. These ninjas are currently in a battle to defend their territory against their rivals, the Koga Clan. Our main character is forced into this new life to protect himself and the village. I will be completely transparent with you guys. The only reason I checked out the series was because of the poster, which features a dusk colored backdrop with modern ninja in the foreground. While decently animated, I wasn't loving the series as I thought I would. It's like a Naruto story, but in modern times, but dull and batantly paced with a lot of bland characters. I like the initial hook, but it being an anime original, it suffers like many of its kin. It throws multiple plot lines at you in a span of 12 episodes. I mean, heck, several manga to anime adaptations suffer from this as well. A good effort by updating the ninja element, but it ultimately fell flat for me. Chainsaw Man You have Bleach Mondays. Tuesdays were all about Chainsaw Man. Or is it Chainsaw Tuesdays? Regardless, Chainsaw Man finally arrived. Announced back in December of 2020, this has been people's most anticipated anime adaptation for the past two years. And boy did Studio Mappa deliver. You can feel the energy and care that went into this. Honoring Fujimoto's chaotic modern masterpiece, Mappa went out of their way to craft and experience. The action's intense, visceral, and quite shocking to the uninitiated. The story reminds me of all the badass extremeness of the 90s when it comes to comics and manga. This adaptation features some of the best CG work in anime. An A-list voice cast, and really good art direction. Love Flops Another original anime, this time by the folks at Passion, Love Flops is a harem romantic comedy with a pretty surprising twist. The story begins with the character of Asahi Kashiwagi, an average high schooler in a not-too-distant futuristic earth. On one particular day, Asahi's life is flipped upside down as he encounters five beautiful girls as he dodges their odd love confessions. Look, a lot of people clown on this.  This isn't the best rom-com you'll see. Or is it? Let's get some things out of the way. The fan service on this show isn't the best, and it turned off a lot of viewers. Love Flops goes for the classic ecchi humor and rather risque animation. This is of course being drawn by Passion Studios, so it isn't too surprising. They've made a name for themselves with good character designs and infamous titles, just say that much. The series starts out as you would expect. However, I, like many, kept noticing subtle changes in oddities each episode. Maybe I was just numbed by all the shows I was watching this season, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it at first. The series throws several twists on the genre that really make you question just what the heck you're watching. Some bad, some actually quite hilarious. However, it isn't until the story's final act that you realize what is really going on and man, I was not ready for that. Maybe the fan service in bad ecchi humor was just a distraction to subvert your expectations or it was all in poor taste. Regardless, Love Flops proves that one shouldn't judge a book by its cover or at least give it a few chapters before judging it. The Human Crazy University. Quite possibly one of the craziest and most underrated shows of 2022. The Human Crazy University is entirely unique and utterly bizarre. Based on a manga of the same name, Human Crazy University explores the world of Satake Hirafumi, a prisoner on death row for murdering his fiancé. He's also an undead man that has survived many extreme situations. For it, he's earned the interest of the Human Crazy University, which studies weird phenomena and the people that survive extreme moments. Escaping death row, Satake is now trying to remember why he would kill his beloved Chie in this odd ball of a show that really looks like it came out of a Newgrounds animated video. As bizarre as the overall concept is, even weirder is the show's obsession with the odd trivia it presents. In this show, you'll learn about famous near-death experiences, geography, the culinary world, world trivia, and so much more. In all its gonzo-like comedy, the story of why an honest man would commit such a heinous crime and escaping near-death experiences is actually quite compelling. If you're eager to try something different and way out of the norm, I highly recommend watching the Human Crazy University. The Eminence in Shadow Where do I begin with this one? The Eminence in Shadow is many things in disguise. In it, we follow a young man that wants to be a mastermind who exerts power from the shadows.   Now reincarnated in a fantasy world with magic, he goes by Sid Kageno, where he turns to metahumor to live a mediocre life so as to not stand out as he secretly runs his organization called Shadow Garden. With it, he will combat the deadly cult of Diabolos with his squad of powerful girls. This adaptation is certainly reaching for every trope. Some would write it off as a power fantasy for the adolescent youth, but I honestly just thought this was going for a Frank Miller comic with a twist and hot anime babes. Because why not? I wasn't too engaged with the series. Unfortunately, I never found the main character to be that compelling, nor his allies. If what I read online was correct, while the anime extends beyond the typical 12 episodes, it mostly just sticks to adapting one volume of the light novel, which is pretty wild if you ask me. The heroics involved give off a Code Geass vibe, only not as engaging. If you're into overpowered main characters, fan service, vigilantes and isekai tropes, look no further, and the eminence in Shadow. Immoral Guild Initially, I made the silly decision to ignore what Immoral Guild was about. Having only read the original Japanese title, which is Futoku no Guild, I just assumed it was an action comedy fantasy. And that is accurate, but like I mentioned, I was not paying attention to the immoral part of the equation. The show, based on the manga of the same name, is brought to us by TNK Studio. The ones responsible for such series as Redo of Healer, School Days, and High School DXD to name a few. I don't even have to tell you that this is definitely not for kids, or families, or anyone with the same life. Immoral Guild follows the character of Kikuru Madan, one of the best monster hunters in town that decides to quit because of fears that he might be wasting his youth. However, he thinks the guilds will suffer with his absence. The receptionist at said guild assigns Kikuru for recruits. The Beast Woman Hitamuki, Maidenna the Prodigy, a laid-back Toxiko Danor, and the stalwart Hanabata, probably butchered all those names. Though they possess skills, they are also extremely clumsy and unintentionally perverse. Almost the entirety of the series has a lot of sexual humor and nudity, which made it really difficult to recommend the show, unless you're a degenerate. These are fictional characters, after all. But I understand and respect people that don't want to engage with shows of this nature. I don't really mind, and actually had a pretty fun time with the majority of the episodes and the ditzy humor presented, as the girls tried to train under the main character, only to end up disappointing him and finding themselves in rather risqué situations. The jokes don't always land, but I appreciated the effort. The show, however, does have nice art. Yeah, let's go with that. Reincarnated as a sword. Another Isekai. But hear me out. A good one at that. This takes the idea of that genre and shakes it up a bit. Our Isekai character is a secondary one. The true star of the story is Fran, the badass and adorable cat girl. Oh, and the one character that is now in this fantasy world? He's been reincarnated as a powerful sword. Escaping slave traders, Fran encounters the sword and with his help is able to strike down her captors and set out on a journey to grow as a warrior and help those in need. Seriously, as corny as it may sound, this is a really fun show. Fran is wholesome. She's a character that you instantly want to root for. She's a little oblivious with how the world runs, but under her master's guidance, you can immediately see her growth. The art varies from good to great. The acting has a lot of quality to it.  Mob Psycho 100 Season 3 Another long-awaited fan favorite show returned this year. Mob Psycho 100 is back with its third season and probably its most emotional and vulnerable. Studio Bones spared no expense to bring these adventures to life. The signature style is there and when stuff hits to fan, you'll be in for a treat. Artistically speaking, this season balances out action-packed stories such as the Divine Tree and Psycho Helmet's arrival with more personal stories of growth for our main lead, such as choosing his career path at school, meeting a yokai hunter, to helping out the recently disbanded telepathy club make contact with aliens. The cast is as lively as always. You can't help but be in awe as Bones once more flexes their muscle with finely crafted, high-octane choreographed fights while also not being afraid to try out new styles for these subtle character-defining moments. Do it yourself. With each season, there's always the cute girls doing mundane wholesome things genre. And this season wasn't the exception. DIY is an original anime by Pine Jam about a group of girls revitalizing their school's DIY club. In it, we follow the free-spirited yet clumsy Setofu Yua which her name cleverly resembles the title of the show. Setofu has always been a crafty girl and is now joining her school's DIY club after failing to join the elite girl's vocational high school with her friend Miku Pudding Sudide. Crashing her bike and meeting the only remaining member of the Do It Yourself club sets our main character on her journey to join Set Club which is in danger of being closed if it doesn't get more members. I've been here before with these kinds of shows. It's not so much the plot but the characters and journey that really matter. Setofu is a lovely character and she's joined by other quirky, wholesome girls which all share a passion for crafting. The highs and lows are to be expected in these kinds of shows but between the great indie art style by Pine Jam and the cast I've found myself tuning in week after week for some DIY relaxation. One of my favorite anime of 2022 is Akiba Made War a phenomenal mashup of genres in an original show by one of my favorite animation studios Progressive Animation Works. This one is so bonkers that I can't help but genuinely love it. Akiba Made War takes us on an unconventional action-packed drama comedy ride all the way back to 1999 as we follow a 17-year-old girl named Nagomi Wahida as she begins her new job at a pig-themed maid café trying to follow her dream of being a cheerful and hard-working maid. However, she soon discovers that this world isn't as sugar-coated as she thought it would be. This cutthroat version of Akihabara is filled with violent, made gang-like wars which have spanned for many years. The maids at the Onkidonk café are all pretty unique and provide much of the show's excellent humor and action. This show is violent as it is funny and successfully parodies a lot of Japanese film and TV genres mixing otaku culture with things like Mafia and Yakuza films and even women in prison film tropes. Unfortunately, I found that Akiba Made War flew under the radar and I think this is one of the best shows of the year, just so happens that it came out in the same season as other hitters like Bleach and Chainsaw Man. Urusei Yatsura. David Productions' new take on Urusei Yatsura is one of the season's prettiest shows. A fantastic reboot of a beloved classic, zanier and wackier than ever. This reboot brings a lot of humor, charm and wit with a fantastic dynamic between the lovable lum and the lettreous and unlucky Ataru. Adapting select chapters from the classic manga by Rumiko Takahashi, David Productions went all out featuring some of their best work to date. There's not much I can add to my overall impressions of the show. It retains the humor from the original and it looks great with modern animation. I love the voice cast and eagerly await new episodes every week. Thankfully, this one will run for 20 episodes and has already been picked up for a second season. One thing to note is Sumire Uesaka's performance as Lum which is a complete one-aity from some of her previous roles such as Hayase Nagatoro. While some of the humor and jokes in Urusei Yatsura may be a little sincerity and honesty with telling a fun story is one of my favorite things about it. By Master Has No Tail, the Yokai and Rakugo show. This was pure delight and wholesomeness. By Master Has No Tail follows the character of Mameda, a tanuki in disguise as she is trying to cure her boredom in an era that doesn't fall for tricks from shapeshifting raccoon dogs. In this modern era, or rather the 1800s, she is trying to find excitement in her life through a different source. You see, one day she happens to come across Bunko, a master of Rakugo an art form that uses storytelling to entertain audiences. Enamored by the strange power that Rakugo has on people, Mameda is now focused on trying to get Bunko to take her on as an apprentice. So hopefully one day, she'll use Rakugo to trick humanity. The anime is handled by many films, which can be hot or cold for me, but in this case the art is extremely vivid and colorful. The character designs are a bit more cartoonish in nature which lend themselves pretty well with the overall aesthetic of the show. Something I'm very fond of. Also, did I mention tanukis? I love Yokai and Japanese folklore. Some of my favorite stories involve the two. So I was more than happy to give this show a shot and came out pleasantly surprised. Rakugo is a very difficult art form to present worldwide. The stories in humor may not translate well to people watching around the world but as you continue watching, they make it compelling and fun enough for the audience to understand why it was such a hit with people. Also they include an extra segment after each episode with Mameda explaining to the audience the stories that got told in the episode. So that certainly helps a lot. At the heart of it, my master has no tale is a charming comedy with the dash of the supernatural an enthusiastic main character that makes you care about her struggles. I highly recommend giving this series a shot. Welcome to Demon School Irumakun Season 3 Irumas back for a third outing in this hit fantasy comedy this time in order for the misfit class to continue using the royal classroom they all must achieve the fourth rank Daela. To help them each pair of students is matched with a personal tutor to train them for the upcoming harvest festival competing against fellow classmates in the jungle for food and points. At this point, if you've enjoyed the previous two seasons, you'll have more of the same with season 3. Which is not a bad thing. I'm really fond of the series and its wacky characters. However, there's never a huge sense of danger in the story arcs. And now with this new season we get the traditional training and tournament tropes which are so well known in the Shonen manga department. Iruma is now under the training of Bachiko and she's voiced by the legendary Junko Takeuchi. His efforts along with everyone else and their respective teachers lead them to new power levels as they take part in the festival. The majority of this first half of the season deal with every student's journey and growth which is something that I've been wanting to see for a bit. Usually with a large cast, the story tends to stick around to just a handful of characters but having arcs like this can give everyone their time in the spotlight. Uzaki-chan wants to hang out season 2. After a pretty long wait, we have more Uzaki and Sakurai content to consume. After the first season, the two have gotten a lot closer but are too stubborn to move that relationship to the next step. Which causes at least 95% of the jokes in this second season. That can be just fine or super annoying for the audience. I don't know, for some reason I wasn't feeling it this time around. I do like the characters and enjoy the first season back in 2020 but maybe it was the stale nature of the one recurring joke that got to me. Yes, there is progress and the series shakes things up a bit by introducing and getting to know more of each character's family but in the end, it just circles back to the will they won't they stick. The animation is perfectly serviceable, the performances are well acted and hilarious to listen but like I mentioned, the overall presentation was just alright. But hey, at least Saori Hayami is back as Tsuki. I consider that a win, folks. Beast Tamer. Remember ages ago in this video when I talked about Immoral Guild? Man, I gotta stop watching so many shows at once. Anyways, Beast Tamer is like Immoral Guild but without the sexual innuendos and lewdness. In fact I'm actually doing a disservice since Beast Tamer is not that bad. It isn't an isekai either so that's a relief. It's an adventure fantasy series about Reign, a character that can tame Beast to aid him in battle and daily life. However, his former group fired him for being too weak and simple. Devastated, the kind-hearted Reign sets out to do smaller quest until he has a fateful encounter with Kanade, a strong wholesome cat girl. The art on this series is perfectly fine. The talent is there but the show never really tries to be an outlandish thing. Beast Tamer is just pure comfort food. Animated by EMT squared, makers of such cozy content as Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear, drugstore in another world, and I am quitting heroing. The plot is fairly standard. Reign is upset over what happened as he really is a genuinely good guy. They got put into the worst team imaginable. Now that he's outside that circle of negativity, the character can flourish with the Beast girls that he's met. Don't worry, this show doesn't go the route you're probably thinking of. Instead, he's contracting dragon girls, fairies, and more as they go around town solving quests and getting to know each other more. The standard villains you would expect do show up but it was just an overall pleasant experience to be had. Spy Family Part 2. The second half of the first season of Spy Family picks up immediately where the first half left off. However, this time around, with all the characterization out of the way, the show could really flourish with its main trio and their journeys together. This time, we get the long awaited debut of Bond, the Forger's lovable dog. Yours attempts at cooking and even the famous underground tennis tournament. The action in these episodes continue to excel. The combined efforts of Witch Studios and Cloverworks really provided us with one of the year's best animated shows. Every expression, movement, and scenery feels alive and well. Contrasting with the espionage and thrilling mystery of the plot is the heartwarming bond that is being developed by the Forger family. Definitely one of my favorite aspects of the show. I'm the villainess so I'm taming the final boss. We've all gotten used to isekai by now. Love it or hate it, they'll keep pumping them out. However, I recently noticed a trend of multiple otome-based isekai. Characters that are either trapped in dating sims or have been reincarnated into worlds based on their favorite dating sims or dating simulators. You've had stuff like my next life as a villainess, trapped in a dating sim, and the coming I'm in love with the villainess. For this fall season, we were graced with I'm the villainess so I'm taming the final boss. In this show, we follow Eileen who has regained her memories of her past life and now realizes she's in the world of her favorite game as the villainous character who is destined to perish. Working out a solution to this problem, she chooses to capture the heart of the final boss, the Demon Lord Cloud. This was a charming little series with fun characters. I haven't read the original novels or the manga so I didn't know what to expect. I enjoyed Eileen, she's a great lead character that took matters into her own hands, but also she's kind and empowered. She doesn't go by the game's logic being able to dabble in politics, tactics, and other skills. This adaptation, however, rushed through much of the novel's contents from what I've read online. It adapted three story arcs at quite the rapid pace and I felt it was pretty noticeable. Some elements are hand-waved while others remain underdeveloped. I enjoyed the artistic direction and characters, even with the average writing. It isn't going to win any awards, but the neat cast of characters makes this one worth watching if you're interested in Ultime based Isekai. Raven of the Inner Palace Set in a fictional version of ancient China, Raven of the Inner Palace follows the Raven Consort, a 16 year old living in Ye Ming Palace and I'm sorry for butchering these names. Liu, as she's known, is able to use mysterious arts to communicate with the deceased, find lost things, and take on any curse. Meeting her in secret is Gao Jun, the current emperor who was disinherited as a child after his mother was murdered and he seized power in an uprising against the corrupt Empress Dowager and had her executed. I'm not going to sugarcoat this, this is a really wonderful show, but I was unprepared by the amount of worldbuilding, characters, and backstory that we have to deal with. It isn't difficult to follow, but when you've got other shows on your mind, it can all blend pretty easily. The setting, world, characters, and art are all great and one of the years best in my opinion. There are some genuinely touching stories told here as the Raven consort deals with the tragedy of servants that have lost their lives, as well as those that still live and grieve for their loved ones. There are political conspiracies and drama involving the main characters that pay off the more you watch. A majority of this adaptation is mostly dedicated to solving mysteries and some people may be put off by that, but I still would like for everyone to check out Raven of the Inner Palace. I think it's worth your time. Bochi the Rock, one of my favorite anime of the year. In it we follow Hitori Goto or Bochi, a high school girl who starts learning to play the guitar because of her dream of being in a band. But the problem here is her shyness, so extreme that she hasn't made any friends. That changes when she meets Nijika, a girl who plays the drums and is looking for a new guitarist for her band. Where Bochi the Rock succeeds is in its relatable characters. Having been a massive introvert through most of my life, I see myself in a lot of moments with Bochi. The fact that she's able to make friends and be part of a band is fantastic. Also her bandmates both compliment and sharply contrast our main characters Quirky Dilemma. Ikuyo, Nijika and Ryo are wildly different from extroverts to bubbly personalities to the cool calm and collected and weird. What resonated with me however is the fact that Bochi is super talented at the guitar yet each episode she's seen struggling with various social interactions and new scenarios that are presented to her. Yet she's able to slowly overcome something I find super inspiring in a character and immediately makes me want to root for them. The art on this series is spectacular. In my opinion, one of Clover works finest efforts. The amount of skill that it takes to sequence and the dexterity involved in the instrument playing is something that I'm always marveled by. Not to mention this series has a wild time highlighting our lead character's social anxiety and worries. Changing art styles to reflect the severity of the moment to hilarious effects. The series is a character piece first and foremost. Yes, you could say it's one of those shows about cute girls doing mundane things but thankfully there's no fan service to be had. It's just a straightforward wholesome time with greatly written characters going about their lives dreaming of success and stardom sharp writing and clever jokes. Bochi the Rock is one of the best anime of 2022. Blue Lock couldn't be a season without some sort of sports anime and this time we have one of the most anticipated adaptations. An anime all about soccer or football. In it we follow Isagi Yoichi a high schooler with dreams of making it big and participating in the Japanese national team competing for the World Cup. His playing style and failure to qualify to the nationals has him down and questioning himself. That's when he receives an invitation for Blue Lock. A facility designed to train the greatest striker out of 300 high school aged forwards so that Japan can have an opportunity at winning the FIFA World Cup. Isagi is joined by several other characters in a complex facility to determine who will lead and win in a battle royale style survival sports drama.  I don't really care for soccer but I'm always down to watch sports anime. The highs and lows the drama involved with teams tournaments and championships all lend themselves to wonderful dramatic storytelling. I never found myself caring for the technicality presented with the soccer playing but the actual matches are fun to watch. I was invested in the drama and was incheered for these characters to advance. Fortunately this first season isn't cut off by 12 episodes so there's a lot of room for the story to flourish. Yeah there are some sports cliches throughout as well as some pretty ridiculous eye-rolling moments but at the end of the day you can't help but see past it and enjoy the ride. There are some CG moments with the bald movements that kind of took me out of it for a bit but overall the show is great. Even if you don't care for it it's compelling enough that I'd happily recommend it for the manga. The little lies we all tell. Okay so for this one we have a school comedy that follows four friends at an all girls school. Seems normal at first right? But then we learn that they are an alien space pilot of former kunoichi a girl with supernatural powers and a boy in girls clothing. The little lies we all tell is one of my favorite comedies this year. I love this bizarre humor, outlandish scenarios and the dim-witted yet wholesome characters. Each girl brings something unique to the story as they just simply hang out around school and try to do normal adolescent things. It just so happens they all share some incredible secret from each other. Rika is actually an alien. Her ship crashed into the school but everyone is mind controlled to not see it. Chiyo is a former ninja. She escaped her clan to be a normal girl in school. Sekina has psychic abilities and can read the minds of all the girls in school except for Siyoshi. He's trading places with his sister and posing as her. That's sort of the gist of it all. The majority of the series is focused on the slice of life elements with the wacky shenanigans the girls get involved with and how they try to solve these problems. Mamosu Gundam the Witch from Mercury. It's always great when we have a new Gundam show. It's always it's also greater when a new one shakes things up considerably. It is the first TV series in the franchise to feature a female protagonist. We follow Soleta Mercury a young girl that is transferring to the Esticacia School of Technology run by the Barrett Group which currently dominates the mobile suit industry. In this series the solar system is currently split between spaceians and earthians. Inhabitants of space colonies and earth. The Vanadis Institute created an advanced man-machine system called the Gund which helps humans survive the harshness of space but a mobile suit development council led by different development companies ordered a ban on Vanadis while secretly deploying a team to destroy the facility. The only survivors are a test pilot and her daughter. Now in present time going by Soleta Mercury the young girl is in the Esticacia School with her Gundam aerial hoping to befriend others. That weird nutshell is Witch from Mercury. As of making this video the story isn't finished but I can safely geek out over how much I enjoy it. Soleta survived this horrific incident growing up and is now in the academy alongside her Gundam to prove her worth as a pilot. She's a timid girl with trouble communicating with people but it isn't until meeting the rebellious Miorin which I probably butchered that makes her open up and befriend people. I love how every character feels unique and inclusive and when stuff hits a fan and there's an action scene it's really epic in scope. I highly recommend it. Go check it out. To Your Eternity Season 2 The Return of To Your Eternity one of my all time favorite manga Season 2 is now being handled by Drive Studio which does a commendable job of imitating the previous art direction from Brainspace. However the adaptation has been rather underwhelming for me. I just don't see the attention to detail and love that came from the original source material. It all looks serviceable helped by the fact that it has a fantastic narrative driving it forward. This is the best arc in the series with some of the best characters you'll meet. Fushu's journey continues after suffering from heavy losses in the first season and has now secluded in isolation. He is forced to return to rid the world of the knockers. Along the way meeting fan favorite Prince Bon the selfish and arrogant royal that you can't help but love and as the series progresses you'll start realizing the facade and his true intent as well as his growth as a character. Also worth mentioning is the improved world building. Fushu is going to new places and experiencing firsthand the world he inhabits and the people that have now come to worship him. However I just wish the art could be improved to match the original source. I still recommend to your eternity this is the best arc in the story with some really memorable sequences and fights characters and settings that should be seen or read by all. Hell just get the manga while you're at it. Read that instead. Holy moly after a marathon we arrive at the finale for this video. Wow. Who thought it was a good idea to marry teenagers as a school social experiment. More than a married couple but not lovers is a rom-com that has a very eye rolling premise. Characters take part in a mandatory couple practical course. In it they must demonstrate that they have the necessary skill set to live with a partner of the opposite sex while presenting a level of harmony to the video surveillance that grades them. Yeah. Okay. First of all. Do you really expect teenagers to behave living together with another person and not get horny? Well, apparently not in this show. Our main couple is Jiro Yakuin and Enakari Watanabe. Jiro is an awkward introvert nerd with self-esteem issues that in a shocking twist is paired with the beautiful Gyaru Akari. The two are not supposed to work together. She is obsessed with another hot guy in her school while Jiro would rather be with his childhood friend Shioti. Now both will work together to raise their scores so they can eventually change partners. Only that in yet another plot twist that no one saw coming Akari and Jiro actually start potentially liking each other and have quite the chemistry together. At first glance this isn't the type of show I would recommend but after a couple episodes the silly dynamic actually grows into an interesting love story about opposites attract. Akari has a lot of insecurities to her and Jiro.  In most of the episodes he doesn't really understand his feelings towards Akari. He's sort of liking her and blushing a lot but still wants to be with Jiro but then gets mad at Akari for her feelings towards her initial crush Minami. And you might think Akari is this extrovert and confident person but deep down you learn that she's super caring and sweet natured towards her friends and loved ones. A dynamic that hooks you on the show like a good telenovela. You want the two to hook up but a majority of the plot and episodes are dedicated to providing risque scenarios that try to push the boundary only to reset itself by the end and in an actual shocking twist for this guy making this video the color palette for this show is actually my favorite out of everything that I talked about today I really enjoy the overall look and design and colors for the characters. The plot while having a bunch of cliche tropes is not terrible. I found myself enjoying the show even with the silly premise. A perfectly serviceable fan service romcom if you will. And that's about it. I am spent. If you made it all the way to the end give me your favorite emoji in the comment section.  Seriously what was it like 25 different shows? Making this was a labor of love so I truly appreciate it if you watched all the way through. Really means a lot. Thank you everybody for tuning in God bless. Stay safe out there. I will catch all of you on our next episode.


I have found a thing that I've actually been using in the office from Targus, their sustainable energy harvesting smart keyboard. And what that means, it's a full size keyboard. It is Bluetooth. So, you know, it is wireless and it is also solar powered. So it charges itself with, you know, a variety of I haven't, I, you know, I don't use it outside and it has stayed charged for me. So there you go. And it's also in the EcoSmart realm, it's made with like 85 percent recycled materials, but it's got a nice touch to it. It's it's much quieter than my clacky keyboard that I have in the office. Pretty 119 bucks. Yeah, it looks like it has a number pad and I hit. Yeah. Sorry. Yeah, it's a number pad. It's full. It's a full size keyboard. Yeah.