text:
Current treatment status and medical costs for hemodialysis vascular access based on analysis of the Korean Health Insurance Database
Korean J Intern Med. 2018;33(6):1160-1168
Korean J Intern MedJournal ArchiveKorean J Intern Med. 2018;33(6)
Publication date (electronic) : 2018 October 30
doi : https://doi.org/10.3904/kjim.2018.170
Hyung Seok Lee1, Young-Su Ju2, Young Rim Song1, Jwa Kyung Kim1, Sun Ryoung Choi1, Narae Joo1, Hyung Jik Kim1, Pyoungju Park1, Sung Gyun Kim1
1Department of Internal Medicine, Kidney Research Institute, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Anyang, Korea
2Department of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, Anyang, Korea
Correspondence to Sung Gyun Kim, M.D. Department of Internal Medicine, Kidney Research Institute, Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital, 22 Gwanpyeong-ro 170beon-gil, Dongan-gu, Anyang 14068, Korea Tel: +82-31-380-1942 Fax: +82-31-386-2269 E-mail: imnksk@hallym.or.kr
Received 2018 May 12; Revised 2018 July 2; Accepted 2018 July 24.
The Republic of Korea is a country where the hemodialysis population is growing rapidly. It is believed that the numbers of treatments related to vascular access-related complications are also increasing. This study investigated the current status of treatment and medical expenses for vascular access in Korean patients on hemodialysis.
This was a descriptive observational study. We inspected the insurance claims of patients with chronic kidney disease who underwent hemodialysis between January 2008 and December 2016. We calculated descriptive statistics of the frequencies and medical expenses of procedures for vascular access.
The national medical expenses for access-related treatment were 7.12 billion KRW (equivalent to 6.36 million USD) in 2008, and these expenses increased to 42.12 billion KRW (equivalent to 37.67 million USD) in 2016. The population of hemodialysis patients, the annual frequency of access-related procedures, and the total medical cost for access-related procedures increased by 1.6-, 2.6-, and 5.9-fold, respectively, over the past 9 years. The frequency and costs of access care increased as the number of patients on hemodialysis increased. The increase in vascular access-related costs has largely been driven by increased numbers of percutaneous angioplasty.
The increasing proportion of medical costs for percutaneous angioplasty represents a challenge in the management of end-stage renal disease in Korea. It is essential to identify the clinical and physiological aspects as well as anatomical abnormalities before planning angioplasty. A timely surgical correction could be a viable option to control the rapid growth of access-related medical expenses.
Keywords: Renal dialysis; Arteriovenous fistula; Endovascular procedures; Angioplasty; Administrative claims, healthcare
The population of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) who need hemodialysis (HD) treatment has increased over the past decade. Recently in the Republic of Korea, the proportion of patients with ESRD who received peritoneal dialysis decreased while that of ESRD patients who receive HD sharply increased [1]. These changes have resulted in an increased incidence of vascular access-related complications and increased medical costs for vascular access-related treatments. The Korean Society of Nephrology launched the End-Stage Renal Disease Patient Registry in 1985, but it has not yet provided a report on medical expenses and the trends related to managing the complications of vascular access.
South Korea has a National Health Insurance (NHI) system, which is a public single-payer system. The National Health Insurance Corporation (NHIC) is the only public insurance institution operated by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in this country. Healthcare providers are automatically eligible and obliged to treat patients with those services covered by the system. Every Korean resident is eligible regardless of nationality or profession. The coverage provided is comprehensive, including prevention, diagnosis, treatment, surgery, hospitalization, and rehabilitation. Insurance benefits for patients and payments to healthcare providers are supervised by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA), which reviews insurance claims and assesses the healthcare services [2]. These characteristics of the NHI system make the claims data valid for studying medical service use and costs. We analyzed the health insurance claims data from the HIRA to investigate the current status of treatments for access-related complications and their associated medical expenses in patients on HD in the Republic of Korea.
The Institutional Review Board of the Hallym University Sacred Heart Hospital approved this study (IRB number: HUSHHIRB 2017-I079). We analyzed the records of patients with ESRD who underwent HD between January 2008 and December 2016 in the health insurance claims database. The diagnosis codes were standardized according to the Korean Classification of Disease, 6th version, which follows the International Classification of Disease, 10th edition (ICD-10) [3]. We defined ESRD patients who underwent HD as those with a diagnosis of chronic kidney disease (CKD) (diagnosis codes: N18 or N19) and HD treatment (procedure codes: O7020 or O9991) or with the "rare/intractable diseases" code for HD (V001) (Fig. 1).
Diagram of the population selection. SD, standard deviation, ESRD, end-stage renal disease; AV, arteriovenous; PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty.
When patients in the NHI system receive healthcare, they pay a "co-payment" to the provider. Typical co-payment amounts are 20% for inpatient hospital care and 30% to 50% for outpatient care. The co-payment amount for patients with the rare/intractable diseases code for HD is 10% of inpatient and outpatient medical costs. Patients with ESRD who start HD are eligible for the rare/intractable diseases code if they undergo outpatient treatment on the day of HD or are hospitalized because of the ESRD or the HD. Thus, the rare/intractable diseases code is a useful tool to identify claims data related to examinations or treatments related to ESRD in patients on HD. We identified patients that had any procedure codes related to the following vascular access procedures: venography, fistulography, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), percutaneous thrombectomy, stent placement, surgical revision, arteriovenous (AV) fistula/graft placement, removal of infected graft, or tunneled dialysis catheter (TDC) placement. After excluding the treatment data not related to the vascular access of HD, such as angioplasty for renal arteries and stent placement for iliofemoral arteries, we analyzed the medical cost of each access-related procedure. To investigate the number of treatments for the access-related complications, we eliminated duplicated procedural activities. For example, when a fistulography was performed during PTA, it was considered a case of PTA, and when a PTA was performed during percutaneous thrombectomy, it was considered a case of percutaneous thrombectomy. A total of 77% of fistulography cases were performed during PTA, and 10% of PTA cases were performed during percutaneous thrombectomy in this study; however, they were not included in the analysis of the number of treatments. Therefore, the annual frequency of PTA cases analysis included cases where PTA was performed without thrombectomy and stent placement. We performed statistical analyses using SAS software version 9.4 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA). We presented categorical variables as frequency and percentage and continuous variables as mean and standard deviation (SD).
We identified 176,331 (41.9% female) patients with CKD who underwent HD between January 2006 and December 2016. The mean age was 58.5 years (SD, 14.6; median, 60; Q1–Q3, 49 to 70; range, 1 to 115). The annual number of HD patients increased 1.57-fold from 49,403 in 2008 to 77,933 in 2016. The total medical cost of access-related procedures increased 5.9-fold from 7.12 billion KRW (equivalent to 6.36 million USD) in 2008 to 42.12 billion KRW (equivalent to 37.67 million USD) in 2016. The medical cost of PTA increased 13-fold from 1.29 billion KRW (equivalent to 1.16 million USD) in 2008 to 17.02 billion KRW (equivalent to 15.22 million USD) in 2016. The cost of PTA was the main driver of the increase in HD vascular access-related expenses. The total medical cost for access-related treatment rose more steeply in recent years, reaching 36.10 billion KRW (equivalent to 32.29 million USD) in 2015 and 42.12 billion KRW (equivalent to 37.67 million USD) in 2016 (Fig. 2, Supplementary Table 1). The total number of procedures for vascular access (i.e., venography, fistulography, PTA, percutaneous thrombectomy, stent placement, access creation, surgical revision, removal of infected graft, and TDC placement) increased by more than 2.6-fold over 9 years. As the number of patients on HD increased, the numbers of interventional and surgical procedures related to vascular access increased. The increase in the number of PTA procedures was especially remarkable, leading the growth in the numbers of procedures (Fig. 3, Supplementary Table 2). During the past 9 years, the annual frequency of PTA increased from 14.4% to 26.5% of the total frequency of treatment procedures, whereas the medical cost of PTA increased from 18.2% to 40.4% (Fig. 4).
Annual medical costs of vascular access-related treatments (2008 to 2016). (A) Trend in annual medical costs of access-related procedures. The annual medical cost of each procedure was the sum of the procedure costs that included the unit cost and the adjusted rate, such as the reoperation discount or holiday surcharge. (B) Trends in the proportion of medical costs of access-related treatments. The expenses for vascular access care increased along with the increase in the number of patients on hemodialysis. The greatest increase was in the costs for percutaneous angioplasty. PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty; AVF, arteriovenous fistula; AVG, arteriovenous graft; TDC, tunneled dialysis catheter.
Annual frequency of procedures for vascular access-related treatments (2008 to 2016). (A) Trends in annual frequency of access-related procedures. The numbers of interventional or surgical procedures for vascular access increased with the growth of the number of patients on hemodialysis. (B) Trends in the proportion of annual frequency of access-related treatments. The increase in the number of percutaneous transluminal angioplasties was remarkable, leading the total growth in the number of procedures. PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty; TDC, tunneled dialysis catheter; AVF, arteriovenous fistula; AVG, arteriovenous graft.
Trends in the percentage of frequency and medical costs of each procedure relative to total treatment procedures (2008 to 2016). (A) Trends in the percentage of frequency of each procedure relative to total treatment procedures. (B) Trends in the percentage of medical cost of each procedure relative to total treatment procedures. TDC, tunneled dialysis catheter; AVG, arteriovenous graft; AVF, arteriovenous fistula; PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty.
Based on the annual number of patients on HD in the present study, we analyzed the annual frequency and medical costs of each procedure per patient on HD. This per-patient analysis showed growth in the number of PTAs per patient as well as the growth of the overall size of the population of patients on HD, which increased the annual number of PTAs. The annual frequency of PTA per patient has risen rapidly in recent years, and the frequency per patient per year increased from 0.1715 in 2013 to 0.1946 in 2014, 0.2055 in 2015, and 0.2261 in 2016. However, the frequency per patient per year of surgical revision gradually decreased from 0.0871 in 2013 to 0.0864 in 2014, 0.0856 in 2015, and 0.0852 in 2016 (Fig. 5, Supplementary Tables 3 and 4).
Trends in the per-patient frequency and medical cost of access-related treatment (2008 to 2016). The rapid growth in the number and cost of percutaneous transluminal angioplasties are attributed to the increase in the number of procedures per patient. (A) Trends in the per-patient frequency of access-related procedures. (B) Trends in the per-patient cost of access-related procedures. PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty; TDC, tunneled dialysis catheter; AVF, arteriovenous fistula; AVG, arteriovenous graft.
Ten percent of the total PTAs (9,110 cases) were performed in patients with the highest frequencies of PTAs (n = 624; 56% females; mean age, 60.5 years; range, 13 to 98 years). This patient group accounted for 1.7% of those who underwent PTA. The highest PTA frequency group underwent at least 11 PTAs during their dialysis period and had an average of 14.6 PTA treatments (range, 11 to 85; SD, 5.24; 95% confidence interval, 14.18 to 15.01). The average time from the first PTA to the eleventh PTA was 4.27 years. As the patients underwent repeated PTAs, the interval between procedures decreased and converged on 80 to 90 days. The most common time interval between PTAs was 90 days (Fig. 6 and Supplementary Figs. 1-8).
The time interval between successive percutaneous transluminal angioplasties (PTAs). (A) The time interval between successive PTAs among the patients who underwent more than 11 PTA procedures. The frequencies of time intervals converged on the 90-day interval as the procedure was repeated. The horizontal axis shows sequential PTAs; PTA2= the interval between the first PTA and the second PTA. The vertical axis shows the number of days in the intervals. (B) Frequencies of the time intervals between successive PTAs. This graph shows the frequency of the time intervals between the eighth and ninth percutaneous angioplasty. The most frequent time interval from the eighth PTA to the ninth PTA was 90 days.
Both the overall number and the proportion of patients on HD has increased in the Republic of Korea. Patients on HD comprised over 90% of the patients on dialysis in this country in 2016. The incidence of vascular access-related complications and the number of procedures to treat these complications are thought to be increasing; however, there has been little or no investigation into the current treatment status and medical expenses of vascular access-related complications in the Republic of Korea.
According to a report by the National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency on dialysis modalities for ESRD, the total medical expenses in the Republic of Korea for HD was seven to nine times higher than that for peritoneal dialysis, and the annual cost per patient on HD was 4,100 to 7,400 USD higher than that per patient on peritoneal dialysis [4]. This report indicates that vascular access-related expenses could contribute to the relatively high costs associated with HD. According to the NHIC, the medical expenses for CKD was 1.56 trillion KRW in 2015 and 1.69 trillion KRW (equivalent to 1.51 billion USD) in 2016 [5]. The medical costs in the Republic of Korea for HD vascular access-related treatment were 2.3% of the total medical costs for CKD in 2015 and 2.5% of that cost in 2016. The United States Renal Data System statistics showed that yearly vascular access-related medical costs accounted for 1.2% of the total medical cost for CKD. In Japan, yearly vascular access-related medical costs were 1.4% of the total healthcare cost for CKD [6,7]. Our results indicated that the access-related medical expenses in the Republic of Korea accounted for a larger portion of the total CKD medical expenses compared with these other countries. The vascular access-related medical expenses in the present study reflected the procedure cost, and higher costs for vascular access are expected for inpatient services. Furthermore, the data did not include procedures and materials that were not covered by the insurance reimbursement, so the actual medical expenses for vascular access-related treatments are likely greater than the estimates in our study.
The increasing cost of access-related treatment is largely due to a steep increase in the medical costs associated with PTA. The annual frequency of PTAs has increased more rapidly than that of other access-related procedures. The increase in frequency of PTAs per patient has led the growth of the number of vascular access-related procedures. Patients with the highest frequencies of PTAs underwent more than 11 PTA procedures during their HD period, and the interval between PTAs shortened and converged on 90 days. The recent growth in the number of PTA cases could be due to an increase in the number of preemptive PTA procedures performed on a regular schedule as well as the increase in vascular access surveillance, which has been encouraged through the nationwide dialysis clinic assessment program. Some interventionalists routinely schedule repeat PTAs for patients on HD every 3 months. These regular, preemptive PTAs might explain the peak interval of 90 days. The National Kidney Foundation-Kidney Disease Outcomes Quality Initiative (NKF-KDOQI) guidelines emphasize that preemptive PTAs should be performed if an anatomical abnormality is associated with clinical or physiological abnormalities, such as decreased access blood flow, elevated venous pressure, decreased dialysis dose, or abnormal physical examinations, which should return to within acceptable limits following the intervention [8]. However, this consideration of clinical and physiological parameters is often overlooked in clinical practice. Several recent prospective randomized studies suggested that preemptive angioplasty failed to prevent access thrombosis [9,10], and a systematic review by Ravani et al. [11] reported that preemptive angioplasty for stenosis in a functional AV access did not improve the longevity of the access. While preemptive angioplasty could be promising in AV fistulas, it may also raise the risk of procedure-related adverse events and costs [11]. There is currently insufficient evidence to support the practice of performing repeated preemptive angioplasty. Furthermore, the scheduling of regular PTAs every 3 months is not presently supported by any evidence-based data, so the necessity of treatment for stenosis should be decided based on the clinical and physiological aspects of the access.
Clinically, timely surgical correction provides much longer access patency in certain cases, such as the juxta-anastomotic stenosis and cephalic arch stenosis with frequent recurrence [12,13], and reduces unnecessary endovascular procedures, including angioplasty and stent deployment. The NKF-KDOQI guidelines recommended that patients should be re-evaluated for possible construction of a secondary fistula following each episode of access failure [14], and considered for surgical revision prior to stent deployment unless they have a surgically inaccessible lesion or contraindications for surgery [8]. In the Republic of Korea, surgical thrombectomy, graft interposition, proximal re-anastomosis for juxta-anastomotic stenosis, aneurysmectomy, central transposition for cephalic arch stenosis, bypass procedure with a new graft, banding procedure for high flow fistula, and even proximalization of arterial inflow in distal hypoperfusion ischemic syndrome are uniformly classified as the same code of "repair of arteriovenous fistula (O2083)." The reimbursement benefit for repair of AV fistula is 428,010 to 467,670 KRW (equivalent to 382.8 to 418.3 USD), which is only 58% of the reimbursement benefit for PTA. This inadequate reimbursement for surgical revision, including the disbursement of insurance benefits for surgical correction when PTA and surgical correction are performed together as a hybrid operation, could be a barrier to timely surgical revision and might cause healthcare providers to prefer endovascular treatment rather than trying surgical salvage of dysfunctional access, especially when surgical revision is technically difficult. Rationalizing the reimbursement of surgical revision could therefore be an option to curb the rapid expansion of PTA expenses.
More than ever, endovascular treatment is preferred over surgical treatment, even when a surgical procedure is recommended. This trend is also reflected in the result of the present study, which showed the recent decline in the annual frequency of surgical revision in per-patient analysis. Regarding the current situation, the direct involvement of nephrologists in the monitoring of vascular access, timely detection of dysfunctional access, a policy for treatment modality, following of the functional aspects of access, and enhancement of interdepartmental cooperation could be important and productive goals for improving access care.
In the present study, the numbers of access placements included both the primary access creation in incident HD patients and secondary access creation in prevalent HD patients. The results therefore reflected the annual frequency of access creation itself but could not provide the information about the incidence of the primary access in incident HD patients or the prevalence of access types in prevalent HD patients. According to the Korean ESRD registry, the prevalence of arteriovenous fistula, arteriovenous graft, and TDC in the prevalent HD patients were 76%, 16%, and 6% in the last years, respectively [15]. Because this study investigated ESRD patients on HD treatments, the result of this study could not include data on access creation in predialysis patients. In addition, this study was of a retrospective observational study, and the medical claims data could not provide information about non-benefit items that were not covered by insurance benefits. Thus, the medical expenditures in this study were an underestimation of the actual expenses. Because more non-benefit items are currently being incorporated into insurance benefit coverage in the Republic of Korea, our knowledge about the medical expenditures on diagnostic and therapeutic practices for HD vascular access will be more accurate in the future.
KEY MESSAGE
1. The rapid growth in hemodialysis population has dramatically increased the number and medical expenses of access-related procedures.
2. Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) was the main driver of the increase in access-related costs, becoming a financial challenge in the medical expenditures of chronic kidney disease management.
3. PTA should be performed when an anatomical abnormality is associated with functional abnormalities; therefore, active involvement of the dialysis staffs in the monitoring of clinical and physiological aspects of vascular access is important.
No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.
This research was supported by the Hallym University Research Fund 2014 (HURF-2014-58).
Supplementary Table 1.
Annual medical costs of access-related treatments (2008 to 2016)
Annual frequency of procedures for access-related treatments (2008 to 2016)
The per-patient frequency of access-related procedures (2008 to 2016)
The per-patient cost of access-related procedures (2008 to 2016)
Supplementary Figure 1.
Frequencies of the time intervals between the first and second percutaneous angioplasties. PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty.
Frequencies of the time intervals between the second and third percutaneous angioplasties. PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty.
Frequencies of the time intervals between the third and fourth percutaneous angioplasties. PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty.
Frequencies of the time intervals between the fourth and fifth percutaneous angioplasties. PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty.
Frequencies of the time intervals between the fifth and sixth percutaneous angioplasties. PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty.
Frequencies of the time intervals between the sixth and seventh percutaneous angioplasties. PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty.
Frequencies of the time intervals between the seventh and eighth percutaneous angioplasties. PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty.
Frequencies of the time intervals between the eighth and ninth percutaneous angioplasties. PTA, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty.
1. Jin DC. Current status of dialysis therapy for ESRD patients in Korea. J Korean Med Assoc 2013;56:562–568.
2. National Health Insurance Service. National Health Insurance Program in Korea [Internet]. Wonju (KR): National Health Insurance Service; c2010. [cited 2018 Sep 6]. Available from: https://www.nhis.or.kr/static/html/wbd/g/a/wbdga0401.html.
3. Statistics Korea. Korean Standard Statistical Classification of Disease [Internet]. Daejeon (KR): Statistics Korea; c1996. [cited 2018 Sep 6]. Available from: https://kssc.kostat.go.kr:8443/ksscNew_web/kssc/main/main.do?gubun=1#.
4. National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency. Outcomes research of peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis for end-stage renal disease [Internet]. Seoul (KR): National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency; c2017. [cited 2018 Sep 6]. Available from: https://www.neca.re.kr/lay1/program/S1T11C145/report/view.do?seq=223.
5. National Health Insurance Service. National Health Insurance Statistical Yearbook 13th edth ed. Wonju (KR): National Health Insurance Service; 2017.
6. United States Renal Data System. 2017 USRDS Annual Data Report: Epidemiology of Kidney Disease in the United States Bethesda (MD): National Institutes of Health; 2017.
7. Takemoto Y, Naganuma T. The economic issue of vascular access within the Japanese medical reimbursement system. J Vasc Access 2015;16 Suppl 10:S9–S12.
8. National Kidney Foundation. NKF-KDOQI clinical practice guidelines for vascular access. Am J Kidney Dis 2006;48(Suppl 1):S176–S276.
9. Dember LM, Holmberg EF, Kaufman JS. Randomized controlled trial of prophylactic repair of hemodialysis arteriovenous graft stenosis. Kidney Int 2004;66:390–398.
10. Moist LM, Churchill DN, House AA, et al. Regular monitoring of access flow compared with monitoring of venous pressure fails to improve graft survival. J Am Soc Nephrol 2003;14:2645–2653.
11. Ravani P, Quinn RR, Oliver MJ, et al. Preemptive correction of arteriovenous access stenosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Am J Kidney Dis 2016;67:446–460.
12. Argyriou C, Schoretsanitis N, Georgakarakos EI, Georgiadis GS, Lazarides MK. Preemptive open surgical vs. endovascular repair for juxta-anastomotic stenoses of autogenous AV fistulae: a meta-analysis. J Vasc Access 2015;16:454–458.
13. Sigala F, Saben R, Kontis E, Kiefhaber LD, Forster R, Mickley V. Surgical treatment of cephalic arch stenosis by central transposition of the cephalic vein. J Vasc Access 2014;15:272–277.
14. National Kidney Foundation. NKF-KDOQI clinical practice guidelines for vascular access. Guideline 29: goals of access placement maximizing primary AV fistulae. Am J Kidney Dis 2001;37(Suppl 1):S169.
15. The Korean Society of Nephrology. Korean ESRD Registry 2018 [Internet]. Seoul (KR): Korean Society of Nephrology; c2016. [cited 2018 Sep 6]. Available from: http://www.ksn.or.kr/rang_board/list.html?code=sinchart_eng.
Copyright © 2018 The Korean Association of Internal Medicine


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Useless info needed -- where is this scene from? ("It's so HARSH!")
Scarlett67 November 6, 2003, 6:26pm #1
I woke up this morning with a snippet of a scene from some movie or TV show in my head, and I just can't place it. It's been driving me bonkers all day. Please help!
A young woman is freaking out and crying because something has happened to deny her from participating in some event. The tone is very much like the footage after Nancy Kerrigan got whacked in the knee and is sitting on the floor crying, "WHY? WHY?" But that's not it. The prominent line is something like, "It's just so HARSH!" spoken by this girl as she cries (and blows her nose?), and people are around consoling her. I think she is standing. It's in somewhat of a documentary style, but I'm pretty sure it was fictional. And I have a sense that the thing she is being denied is something fairly innocuous, like being left out of a competition, or not being able to go on a trip, or something. It's an irreversible event, but no one has died or anything like that. I described it to Mr. S this morning, and it sounded familiar to him too, but he couldn't place it either. I think it must be from something within the last 10 years or so.
It's NOT:
Tonya Harding crying about her broken shoelace
Tracy Flick crying in Election
Jerry's Bette-Midler-understudy girlfriend crying on Seinfeld
Miss Rhode Island after Jerry killed her doves on Seinfeld
GAH! It's just beyond my memory's reach! I had hoped that typing this out would trigger something, but so far nada. It's gonna drive me nuts until I have it. Please save my sanity!
Caricci November 6, 2003, 6:44pm #2
It's when Rachel on Friends thought she was being stood up by her prom date back in High School.
BiblioCat November 6, 2003, 6:48pm #3
Yep, that's it. It's from the home movies that Monica's parents give her (hence your documentary thinking), and we see Ross getting ready to be her stand-in date, when her real date shows up at the last minute.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! That's it. :smack:
[Chandler]Could I BE any more embarrassed that I knew that?[/Chandler]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


CUTTING BACK on fish harvests now would mean greater profits in the future for the fishing industry, according to a new study published in the journal Science. That's because when there are more fish, they are easier to catch, which allows fishers to spend less on fuel and other costs. "Our results prove that the highest profits are made when fish numbers are allowed to rise beyond levels traditionally considered optimal," says study coauthor Quentin Grafton of Australia's Crawford School of Economics. The researchers found that the most overexploited fisheries, such as cod, would see the biggest profit jump from a short-term reduction in take.


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text:
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type BalanceTransactionSourceType string

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// If the transaction's net funds are available in the Stripe balance yet. Either `available` or `pending`.
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	BalanceTransactionStatusPending   BalanceTransactionStatus = "pending"
)

// Transaction type: `adjustment`, `advance`, `advance_funding`, `anticipation_repayment`, `application_fee`, `application_fee_refund`, `charge`, `connect_collection_transfer`, `contribution`, `issuing_authorization_hold`, `issuing_authorization_release`, `issuing_dispute`, `issuing_transaction`, `payment`, `payment_failure_refund`, `payment_refund`, `payout`, `payout_cancel`, `payout_failure`, `refund`, `refund_failure`, `reserve_transaction`, `reserved_funds`, `stripe_fee`, `stripe_fx_fee`, `tax_fee`, `topup`, `topup_reversal`, `transfer`, `transfer_cancel`, `transfer_failure`, or `transfer_refund`. [Learn more](https://stripe.com/docs/reports/balance-transaction-types) about balance transaction types and what they represent. If you are looking to classify transactions for accounting purposes, you might want to consider `reporting_category` instead.
type BalanceTransactionType string

// List of values that BalanceTransactionType can take
const (
	BalanceTransactionTypeAdjustment                  BalanceTransactionType = "adjustment"
	BalanceTransactionTypeAdvance                     BalanceTransactionType = "advance"
	BalanceTransactionTypeAdvanceFunding              BalanceTransactionType = "advance_funding"
	BalanceTransactionTypeAnticipationRepayment       BalanceTransactionType = "anticipation_repayment"
	BalanceTransactionTypeApplicationFee              BalanceTransactionType = "application_fee"
	BalanceTransactionTypeApplicationFeeRefund        BalanceTransactionType = "application_fee_refund"
	BalanceTransactionTypeCharge                      BalanceTransactionType = "charge"
	BalanceTransactionTypeConnectCollectionTransfer   BalanceTransactionType = "connect_collection_transfer"
	BalanceTransactionTypeContribution                BalanceTransactionType = "contribution"
	BalanceTransactionTypeIssuingAuthorizationHold    BalanceTransactionType = "issuing_authorization_hold"
	BalanceTransactionTypeIssuingAuthorizationRelease BalanceTransactionType = "issuing_authorization_release"
	BalanceTransactionTypeIssuingDispute              BalanceTransactionType = "issuing_dispute"
	BalanceTransactionTypeIssuingTransaction          BalanceTransactionType = "issuing_transaction"
	BalanceTransactionTypePayment                     BalanceTransactionType = "payment"
	BalanceTransactionTypePaymentFailureRefund        BalanceTransactionType = "payment_failure_refund"
	BalanceTransactionTypePaymentRefund               BalanceTransactionType = "payment_refund"
	BalanceTransactionTypePayout                      BalanceTransactionType = "payout"
	BalanceTransactionTypePayoutCancel                BalanceTransactionType = "payout_cancel"
	BalanceTransactionTypePayoutFailure               BalanceTransactionType = "payout_failure"
	BalanceTransactionTypeRefund                      BalanceTransactionType = "refund"
	BalanceTransactionTypeRefundFailure               BalanceTransactionType = "refund_failure"
	BalanceTransactionTypeReserveTransaction          BalanceTransactionType = "reserve_transaction"
	BalanceTransactionTypeReservedFunds               BalanceTransactionType = "reserved_funds"
	BalanceTransactionTypeStripeFee                   BalanceTransactionType = "stripe_fee"
	BalanceTransactionTypeStripeFxFee                 BalanceTransactionType = "stripe_fx_fee"
	BalanceTransactionTypeTaxFee                      BalanceTransactionType = "tax_fee"
	BalanceTransactionTypeTopup                       BalanceTransactionType = "topup"
	BalanceTransactionTypeTopupReversal               BalanceTransactionType = "topup_reversal"
	BalanceTransactionTypeTransfer                    BalanceTransactionType = "transfer"
	BalanceTransactionTypeTransferCancel              BalanceTransactionType = "transfer_cancel"
	BalanceTransactionTypeTransferFailure             BalanceTransactionType = "transfer_failure"
	BalanceTransactionTypeTransferRefund              BalanceTransactionType = "transfer_refund"
)

// Returns a list of transactions that have contributed to the Stripe account balance (e.g., charges, transfers, and so forth). The transactions are returned in sorted order, with the most recent transactions appearing first.
//
// Note that this endpoint was previously called "Balance history" and used the path /v1/balance/history.
type BalanceTransactionListParams struct {
	ListParams `form:"*"`
	// This parameter is deprecated and we recommend listing by created and filtering in memory instead.
	AvailableOn *int64 `form:"available_on"`
	// This parameter is deprecated and we recommend listing by created and filtering in memory instead.
	AvailableOnRange *RangeQueryParams `form:"available_on"`
	Created          *int64            `form:"created"`
	CreatedRange     *RangeQueryParams `form:"created"`
	// Only return transactions in a certain currency. Three-letter [ISO currency code](https://www.iso.org/iso-4217-currency-codes.html), in lowercase. Must be a [supported currency](https://stripe.com/docs/currencies).
	Currency *string `form:"currency"`
	// For automatic Stripe payouts only, only returns transactions that were paid out on the specified payout ID.
	Payout *string `form:"payout"`
	// Only returns the original transaction.
	Source *string `form:"source"`
	// Only returns transactions of the given type. One of: `adjustment`, `advance`, `advance_funding`, `anticipation_repayment`, `application_fee`, `application_fee_refund`, `charge`, `connect_collection_transfer`, `contribution`, `issuing_authorization_hold`, `issuing_authorization_release`, `issuing_dispute`, `issuing_transaction`, `payment`, `payment_failure_refund`, `payment_refund`, `payout`, `payout_cancel`, `payout_failure`, `refund`, `refund_failure`, `reserve_transaction`, `reserved_funds`, `stripe_fee`, `stripe_fx_fee`, `tax_fee`, `topup`, `topup_reversal`, `transfer`, `transfer_cancel`, `transfer_failure`, or `transfer_refund`.
	Type *string `form:"type"`
}

// Retrieves the balance transaction with the given ID.
//
// Note that this endpoint previously used the path /v1/balance/history/:id.
type BalanceTransactionParams struct {
	Params `form:"*"`
}

// Detailed breakdown of fees (in %s) paid for this transaction.
type BalanceTransactionFeeDetail struct {
	// Amount of the fee, in cents.
	Amount int64 `json:"amount"`
	// ID of the Connect application that earned the fee.
	Application string `json:"application"`
	// Three-letter [ISO currency code](https://www.iso.org/iso-4217-currency-codes.html), in lowercase. Must be a [supported currency](https://stripe.com/docs/currencies).
	Currency Currency `json:"currency"`
	// An arbitrary string attached to the object. Often useful for displaying to users.
	Description string `json:"description"`
	// Type of the fee, one of: `application_fee`, `stripe_fee` or `tax`.
	Type string `json:"type"`
}

// Balance transactions represent funds moving through your Stripe account.
// They're created for every type of transaction that comes into or flows out of your Stripe account balance.
//
// Related guide: [Balance Transaction Types](https://stripe.com/docs/reports/balance-transaction-types).
type BalanceTransaction struct {
	APIResource
	// Gross amount of the transaction, in %s.
	Amount int64 `json:"amount"`
	// The date the transaction's net funds will become available in the Stripe balance.
	AvailableOn int64 `json:"available_on"`
	// Time at which the object was created. Measured in seconds since the Unix epoch.
	Created int64 `json:"created"`
	// Three-letter [ISO currency code](https://www.iso.org/iso-4217-currency-codes.html), in lowercase. Must be a [supported currency](https://stripe.com/docs/currencies).
	Currency Currency `json:"currency"`
	// An arbitrary string attached to the object. Often useful for displaying to users.
	Description string `json:"description"`
	// The exchange rate used, if applicable, for this transaction. Specifically, if money was converted from currency A to currency B, then the `amount` in currency A, times `exchange_rate`, would be the `amount` in currency B. For example, suppose you charged a customer 10.00 EUR. Then the PaymentIntent's `amount` would be `1000` and `currency` would be `eur`. Suppose this was converted into 12.34 USD in your Stripe account. Then the BalanceTransaction's `amount` would be `1234`, `currency` would be `usd`, and `exchange_rate` would be `1.234`.
	ExchangeRate float64 `json:"exchange_rate"`
	// Fees (in %s) paid for this transaction.
	Fee int64 `json:"fee"`
	// Detailed breakdown of fees (in %s) paid for this transaction.
	FeeDetails []*BalanceTransactionFeeDetail `json:"fee_details"`
	// Unique identifier for the object.
	ID string `json:"id"`
	// Net amount of the transaction, in %s.
	Net int64 `json:"net"`
	// String representing the object's type. Objects of the same type share the same value.
	Object string `json:"object"`
	// [Learn more](https://stripe.com/docs/reports/reporting-categories) about how reporting categories can help you understand balance transactions from an accounting perspective.
	ReportingCategory BalanceTransactionReportingCategory `json:"reporting_category"`
	// The Stripe object to which this transaction is related.
	Source *BalanceTransactionSource `json:"source"`
	// If the transaction's net funds are available in the Stripe balance yet. Either `available` or `pending`.
	Status BalanceTransactionStatus `json:"status"`
	// Transaction type: `adjustment`, `advance`, `advance_funding`, `anticipation_repayment`, `application_fee`, `application_fee_refund`, `charge`, `connect_collection_transfer`, `contribution`, `issuing_authorization_hold`, `issuing_authorization_release`, `issuing_dispute`, `issuing_transaction`, `payment`, `payment_failure_refund`, `payment_refund`, `payout`, `payout_cancel`, `payout_failure`, `refund`, `refund_failure`, `reserve_transaction`, `reserved_funds`, `stripe_fee`, `stripe_fx_fee`, `tax_fee`, `topup`, `topup_reversal`, `transfer`, `transfer_cancel`, `transfer_failure`, or `transfer_refund`. [Learn more](https://stripe.com/docs/reports/balance-transaction-types) about balance transaction types and what they represent. If you are looking to classify transactions for accounting purposes, you might want to consider `reporting_category` instead.
	Type BalanceTransactionType `json:"type"`
}
type BalanceTransactionSource struct {
	ID   string                       `json:"id"`
	Type BalanceTransactionSourceType `json:"object"`

	ApplicationFee            *ApplicationFee            `json:"-"`
	Charge                    *Charge                    `json:"-"`
	ConnectCollectionTransfer *ConnectCollectionTransfer `json:"-"`
	Dispute                   *Dispute                   `json:"-"`
	FeeRefund                 *FeeRefund                 `json:"-"`
	IssuingAuthorization      *IssuingAuthorization      `json:"-"`
	IssuingDispute            *IssuingDispute            `json:"-"`
	IssuingTransaction        *IssuingTransaction        `json:"-"`
	Payout                    *Payout                    `json:"-"`
	Refund                    *Refund                    `json:"-"`
	Topup                     *Topup                     `json:"-"`
	Transfer                  *Transfer                  `json:"-"`
	TransferReversal          *TransferReversal          `json:"-"`
}

// BalanceTransactionList is a list of BalanceTransactions as retrieved from a list endpoint.
type BalanceTransactionList struct {
	APIResource
	ListMeta
	Data []*BalanceTransaction `json:"data"`
}

// UnmarshalJSON handles deserialization of a BalanceTransaction.
// This custom unmarshaling is needed because the resulting
// property may be an id or the full struct if it was expanded.
func (b *BalanceTransaction) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
	if id, ok := ParseID(data); ok {
		b.ID = id
		return nil
	}

	type balanceTransaction BalanceTransaction
	var v balanceTransaction
	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &v); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	*b = BalanceTransaction(v)
	return nil
}

// UnmarshalJSON handles deserialization of a BalanceTransactionSource.
// This custom unmarshaling is needed because the specific type of
// BalanceTransactionSource it refers to is specified in the JSON
func (b *BalanceTransactionSource) UnmarshalJSON(data []byte) error {
	if id, ok := ParseID(data); ok {
		b.ID = id
		return nil
	}

	type balanceTransactionSource BalanceTransactionSource
	var v balanceTransactionSource
	if err := json.Unmarshal(data, &v); err != nil {
		return err
	}

	*b = BalanceTransactionSource(v)
	var err error

	switch b.Type {
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypeApplicationFee:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.ApplicationFee)
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypeCharge:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.Charge)
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypeConnectCollectionTransfer:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.ConnectCollectionTransfer)
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypeDispute:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.Dispute)
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypeFeeRefund:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.FeeRefund)
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypeIssuingAuthorization:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.IssuingAuthorization)
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypeIssuingDispute:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.IssuingDispute)
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypeIssuingTransaction:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.IssuingTransaction)
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypePayout:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.Payout)
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypeRefund:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.Refund)
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypeTopup:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.Topup)
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypeTransfer:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.Transfer)
	case BalanceTransactionSourceTypeTransferReversal:
		err = json.Unmarshal(data, &b.TransferReversal)
	}
	return err
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
Tag: my hero academia
Best anime opening of 2019
December 31, 2019 by tfwanime·4 Comments
Time to continue my little anime look back on 2019. This time I'll rank my favorite opening sequences. The concept remains the same, I'll pick 3 of my favorite openings from each season, and then I'll rank the 12 picks in a final top list. Only this time I'll skip the part where I'll separate the list into sequels and non-sequels because honestly in the context of anime openings it doesn't really matter too much if its a sequel or non-sequel…
The Rising of the Shield Hero Opening 2
Shield Hero may have missed out on a spot in my top 12 anime of the year, but the same is not the case when it comes to anime openings. Both of the openings from this series would be a great pick, but I'll limit myself to picking just one opening from a single series. This second one takes the first spot because of the feel of the song as well as the context of the anime… At the point when this opening was first shown, the characters from the series have started to realize they were wrong about Naofumi, and suddenly there was this increasing need for the four heroes to finally start working together. Basically this opening was like an indication that things could finally start getting a bit better.
The Rising of the Shield Hero first impressions.
The Promised Neverland Opening
This opening song is incredible, catchy and memorable. It works so well to increase the hype levels, especially when Ray, Emma and Norman gather their hands on top of each other, with Emma's confident facial expression. Just that scene alone made me so excited to see what is their plan to escape, even if literally the next few seconds after that moment actually serve as a good way to foreshadow what happened. Another thing is something that could just be a coincidence, but around the 20 second mark, when the title of the anime is shown, Norman is the only one crossed by the line, and his head is perfectly aligned with the Japanese letter "no", and guess what, his name starts with "no". You could even think of it as them telling you that "no", he won't be among those who escape. Ok I'm probably looking too much into the whole "no" thing but in terms of Norman's body being crossed by the line… I could see that being a nice little deliberate touch.
The Promised Neverland first impressions from January.
Episode 10 thoughts.
Manga Volume 5 review.
Mob Psycho II Opening
It was hard not to pick Kaguya's opening or even the Boogiepop opening, but Mob Psycho II takes the final spot here. I just couldn't ignore the cool visuals from this opening, which is basically entirely filled with those. My favorite moment is probably around the 43 second mark, with the Body Improvement Club in action. I also love how the sequence ends with the message "Your life is your own" written out. It doesn't seem to be a common thing to write out the song lyrics in an anime opening, and I'm very welcome of the idea.
Fruits Basket Opening 2
If you read my post from a few months ago, 7 more openings and endings that make you feel everything will be alright, you may recall that Fruits Basket's second opening was on that list. Allow me to be a bit lazy and just quote myself from that post, because I don't have much to add to my previous words on this sequence.
This makes me smile all the way through every single time. To put it simply, everything from the song and the visuals just makes me so happy. I love the umbrella theme and the different designs each character has. I love going through the sequence and seeing each character being introduced.
I also love how it ends with Tohru running towards all of the characters and then all of them throwing their umbrella in the air. To say I don't mimic some kind of an umbrella throwing move every time at the end would be a lie.
Except a comment about the colors. Pink background around the 56 second mark. Each character is represented well with the color of their umbrella. Brief checkboard segments with pastel colors. So much things to love about this sequence.
First impressions from April.
Saki Hanajima analysis.
Fruits Basket AMV.
Saki Hanajima AMV.
Shingeki no Kyojin Opening 5
You couldn't really get a bigger contrast between the themes of this anime and the previously mentioned Fruits Basket. And yet they both have the same thing I will comment on: colors.
There is a notable colder tone of the colors in this sequence. The transitions (through the first part) have a gradient of the colors that are "splashed" on the screen. I love this because it works so well with the mood of the song at that part of the sequence. This song is like a mashup of the previous Linked Horizon openings and endings and I can't deny I've had a period of playing this opening non-stop. The way the song picks up and runs towards the end is incredible – and all those flashing scenes before a final cut to the basement with those guitar notes… What a way to hype the basement reveal.
The reason this opening is here is simple – the way the song picks up around the 50 second mark. The series itself had potential at the time travel part of the story, but it wasn't without its issues. And with the emphasis on fanservice, it's understandable why Yu-No kinda fell off the radar.
YU-NO first impressions.
Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo Opening
This is another opening from 2019 that was included in that post I mentioned. (7 more openings and endings that make you feel everything will be alright). Can I cheat once more and just quote myself?
There is a hint of melancholy in this song as well as a feeling of empowerment and liberty. I also love the way that instrumental part at the beginning was used, with the characters reading out lines as they would in their school literature club. That same instrumental is, by the way, how do I describe it, heavenly. Full of lovely visuals as well, there is so many things to love about this opening sequence.
It reminds me of that time when I went on a multi-day solo trip and I smiled in the bus with this song playing. This song also got me to check out other songs by the artist, CHICO with Honeyworks, and let me tell you, they have some lovely music. And music videos, not the least the one for this particular song. It's actually a part of an ongoing story told through their music videos and I really love that concept.
My very own Araburu Kisetsu AMV using the Araburu Kisetsu opening song.
Dr. Stone Opening 2
How do I put it. This song feels like the embodiment of rising from the ashes, or building everything from zero. Which, guess what, Dr. Stone very much is all about. It's motivating and empowering. There are cute visuals of Kohaku and Ruri around the 30 second mark. I love how they added the scene from the 1 minute 22 second mark. And I don't really know what else to add, I just really love this sequence.
Fire Force Opening 1
Back in the time when I still watched Fire Force every week. Not that I dropped it, but I still haven't seen its new opening sequence, that's how behind I am on it. As for this particular opening, I don't really have much to say, other that it's just a great song.
Maki Oze AMV.
Boku no Hero Academia 4 Opening
In my top anime of 2019 post, BNHA suffered from my "3 from each season" system. Without that, I think it would find itself on my list. But in terms of openings it managed to avoid this problem. It's a really good song, fitting for the mood of the season. I especially love the scenes from around the 1 minute 8 second mark, with Deku trying to catch Eri during the dusk. I'm still not the biggest fan of that scream at the end though.
Hoshiai no Sora Opening
Since the last time I wrote about Stars Align, the final episode aired and we found out the anime was actually supposed to be 2-cour if it wasn't for some really unusual circumstances. It's really a pity, because this anime had amazing potential and I really wanted to see the rest of the story for these characters. Maybe one day, hopefully, I guess.
During the last episode, they abruptly stopped the opening around half-way through. At first I thought it was to indicate that things are about to go bad in the story, but now when I know the situation in terms of the anime, I think it could be a way to symbolize the situation. It makes sense – an abruptly cut opening for an abruptly cut anime…
Why is this opening one of my picks though? It's just a nice calming and kinda motivating song. I also love how they played with the colors and the silhouettes.
Sword Art Online: Alicization – War of Underworld Opening
Always expect great songs from SAO. Alicization WoU did not disappoint in that respect. Haruka Tomatsu, the voice of Asuna, fittingly sings the opening song. I just really enjoy her singing voice. In terms of the visuals from this opening, I especially like Asuna reaching out around the 12 second mark, the old SAO crew joining in around the 46 second mark, and the whole mood at the end, with Alice walking towards the red sky.
SAO Alicization WoU AMV.
My top 12 anime openings of 2019
And so it's time to rank those 12 picks. Before that though, the best season for anime openings in 2019? This is probably another title that goes to Summer. Although this is a bit trickier because a few of those openings have actually been first shown during a different season than the anime started in. For example, Fruits Basket's second opening was first shown during the Summer season instead of Spring when it first started airing. Would this then be a point for Summer? I'm not really sure, but just looking at the three picks from each season, Summer takes the win.
One last thing: Happy New Year (and decade) to everyone reading this! This is my 80th post, 57th in 2019. That would mean I did almost 5 posts on average every month. It doesn't say the full story on my consistency ofcourse, and in the recent months it's been less than at the start of the year (sorry) but it's still a decent number in my book. I hope I could bring you something of value through these 57 posts in 2019!
And now, the ranking!
Top 12 anime openings of 2019
12. Kono Yo no Hate de Koi wo Utau Shoujo YU-NO OP
11. The Rising of the Shield Hero OP 2
10. Hoshiai no Sora OP
9. Mob Psycho II OP
8. Boku no Hero Academia 4 OP
7. Sword Art Online: Alicization – WoU OP
6. Fire Force OP
5. Attack on Titan OP 5
4. Dr. Stone OP 2
3. The Promised Neverland OP
2. Fruits Basket OP 2
1. Araburu Kisetsu no Otome-domo yo OP
5 Anime where the Side Characters are Better than the Main Character
February 24, 2019 by tfwanime·0 Comments
Seeing the comments on the Winter 2019 anime season, many people seem to prefer Chika Fujiwara to Kaguya Shinomiya, the main character of Kaguya-sama: Love is War.
And while I strongly disagree with that opinion, it has become an inspiration for this post, as I got reminded of the situations when I liked the side character of an anime more than the main character.
Here are five such situations I could think of:
New game! (MAL link)
I didn't really had any problems with Suzukaze Aoba. She was an enjoyable character and her story left a similar impact on me as the story of Shirobako did.
It motivated me to work harder towards my goals of working as a video editor, and perhaps one day in anime.
In fact, it helped me feel better about not being in my first choice university. My current one, computer science, isn't exactly the media editing course I aimed for, but it does have some subjects related to it.
And one of those subjects is "video game making".
But the most relatable character of New Game! for me was Takimoto Hifumi.
Her battle with social anxiety reasonated with me more than I'd like to admit, and seeing her try her best and doing well really warmed my heart.
Boku no Hero Academia (MAL link)
To be honest I'm not sure what to write about Izuku Midoriya.
Good shonen protagonist, nice growth, some funny moments here and there.
I just find Shoto Todoroki, his quirk, personality and background much more interesting.
Heck, even Bakugo who I used to hate just stands out that bit more.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood (MAL link)
The bond between Edward and Alphonse was fantastic and I really can't think of much to criticize about the Elric brothers.
But the Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood character that ended up among my favorites on myanimelist was Roy Mustang.
There is only one word I can describe him with: badass.
His fight with Lust tells you everything you need to know.
Or wasn't it too one sided to be called a "fight"?
Madoka Magica (MAL link)
Like with some other entries on this list, I don't have much bad to say about Kaname Madoka.
She is just not as memorable for me as were Kyouko Sakura or Akemi Homura.
I mean just think of what Akemi Homura went through for Madoka. It's a whole other level of friendship goals that you can't help but think may be even more than just "friendship".
Hunter x Hunter (MAL link)
For Hunter x Hunter it's a bit difficult to define, as myanimelist considers Gon, Killua, Kurapika and Leorio as main characters.
On the other hand, many consider only Gon and Killua to be the actual main characters.
For the purposes of this article, let's say Gon is the main character.
His motivations are nice and all, trying to find his father. It made for some really sweet moments and a great mystery surrounding Ging.
But I couldn't help but feel a bit annoyed with Gon at times. Especially because of what he told Killua in episode 116.
Instead of Gon, my favorite character is Kurapika. His fight with Uvogin on episode 47 remains probably the most hype-inducing moment I've ever had while watching anime.
Let me know what anime did you think had better side characters than the main character!
Top 10 Openings of 2018
As the year comes to an end, its time to make a few of those "best of x year" posts. My first one for this year will be about anime openings.
Before I get started, I feel like there is one thing I should note: I actually don't watch a lot of seasonal anime. It turns out that out of the 4 anime seasons in 2018, I only watched 21 seasonal anime (Fall 2018 included).
The reason for this is that I only watch stuff that I feel I would like. I don't think starting dozens of anime each season just because they are airing at that moment would work well for me.
While this means I could miss out on a lot of amazing anime, I do make the decision to occasionally pick up shows later on in the season if they are talked about a lot, or if I see signs that I would enjoy it.
The reason I'm telling you this is because when I'll list my favorite endings in a later post, there will be a few situations where the same anime appears both in this and that list.
And also, I understand my approach to seasonal anime can mean I missed out on a lot of potentially great openings or endings that would be fitting for this list.
So with that out of the way, let's start with the list!
10. Shoujo☆Kageki Revue Starlight Opening (Starlight Kukugumi – Hoshi no Dialogue)
Revue Starlight may look like your typical idol-anime.
But it is anything but that. It tells the story of 9 girls wanting to become stars, but it does it with a huge twist, and one that works much better than I expected it would.
There is drama, there is action, there is a shocking plot twist that even Madoka Magica wouldn't be ashamed of.
And there is great music with an opening that sets the theatricial mood of the anime really well.
9. Boku no Hero Academia Season 3 Opening 2 (Lenny code fiction – Make my story)
A lot like in season 2, the second cour of My Hero Academia season 3 feels like the calm after the storm. The storm full of breathtaking action and in this season more than ever, emotion.
The opening reflects that in a way. I love the retro feel it gives me.
And that Uraraka moment before the chorus hits is so damn good.
8. Irozuku Sekai no Ashita Kara Opening (Haruka to Miyuki – 17 Sai)
It's not the first time I'm talking about this opening, as I've made a breakdown of it already.
The visuals are really polished and the song feels refreshing like the early morning sun in autumn.
Which is fitting for a Fall 2018 anime.
Go watch Irozuku Sekai for a unique story about personal growth complimented with stunning visuals.
7. Steins;Gate 0 Opening 1 (Kanako Itou – Fatima)
One of the highlights of the year – Steins;Gate 0.
Or should I say lowlights due to all the pain and sadness it has provided?
In any case, it was fantastic to watch new Steins;Gate content, even if the waiting for each new episode part was really nerve-wrecking.
The opening song is amazing and the visuals include snow, which is the most important thing to take note of.
That last part wasn't serious, by the way.
6. Harukana Receive Opening (Kana Yuki and Saki Miyashita – FLY two BLUE)
Since I already mentioned this opening among the 7 Openings and Endings that make you feel everything will be alright, it's perhaps no surprise it made my top 10 openings of the year.
The OST of Harukana Receive is really one of 2018's finest.
As is the eyecandy.
5. Yagate Kimi ni Naru Opening (Azuna Riko – Kimi ni Furete)
A few days ago I decided to pick up this anime. Just like with Harukana Receive, I'm not actually entirely sure why I did that.
But its not been a bad decision at all.
The opening visuals are beautiful and while I understand this could be recency bias, the song is nothing short of amazing. I fell in love with it on my first listen.
4. Wotaku ni Koi wa Muzukashii Opening (Sumika – Fiction)
This opening sequence is great for lifting your mood.
The song is catchy and those movements of the characters… You can't help but smile and want to do the same movements as them.
3. Kokkoku Opening (MIYAVI vs. KenKen – Flashback)
Doesn't it feel so long since the anime community was going crazy over the Kokkoku opening?
Everything about this sequence is special, and different from the anime openings I've seen so far.
It's visually captivating and intriguing and the song is an absolute banger.
2. Sword Art Online: Alicization Opening (LiSA – ADAMAS)
Another opening sequence I made a breakdown of.
I can't help but lipsync the hell out of this song even if I don't know most of the lyrics. It's for sure the most hype-inducing SAO opening so far.
And don't forget the epic visuals with iconic handshakes and sword synchronization. And that's just a part of it.
Note that the embedded video is an edited version of the opening cause I can't find the proper one anywhere on YouTube, sadly.
1. Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho Opening (saya – The Girls Are Alright!)
Just like everything else related to Sora Yori, the opening never fails to improve my mood and make me feel inspired.
Everything about this anime is a gift from the anime gods and I'm so glad I decided to pick it up after the Winter 2018 anime season.
Cute, likeable and relatable characters? Adventure? Slice of life? Drama? Comedy? Inspiring and emotional story? Unique plot and setting?
Sora Yori mo Tooi Basho is all of that, and even more, so do yourself a favor and go watch this wonderful anime.
Do you agree with my picks? If not, what would you add or remove? I would love to know!
I was at a gaming fair
November 26, 2018 by tfwanime·0 Comments
Reboot InfoGamer, held in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, is "one of the biggest games shows in the world", according to their official website.
And my university was kind enough to take care of the transport and ticket costs for our one day visit.
I was looking forward to this day a lot because I've seen Bandai Namco would be featured.
This gave me some hope that they will present Jump Force.
It turns out my hopes were actually fulfilled.
Trying out Jump Force
Since it was announced that the Hunter x Hunter characters Gon and Hisoka will feature in this game, I knew I wanted to buy it.
And when they announced Kurapika will also be one of the playable characters, it's fair to say my hype levels were quite high.
Seeing I could actually try this game out made me so happy.
Unfortunately, the version I could play didn't involve Kurapika, but I guess you can't have everything at once.
Compared to a game like Blazblue, Jump Force felt simpler. As always with fighting games, I didn't know exactly which button did what, but I don't feel it would take too long to get the hang of it.
I enjoyed playing Hisoka the most. He felt easier to handle for a first-time player and was simply very fun to play.
My anticipation for playing this game was worth it. It was so fun, i came back to it two more times.
Worth buying. Especially when you consider Kurapika will be there too, as well as Killua.
More fighting games
After the hype and fun I had with Jump Force, I played Soulcalibur VI with friends.
And again, unlike Blazblue, this game felt so much easier to get into.
I keep mentioning Blazblue, and it's because it was the first anime fighter I played.
The amount of combos each character has felt like too much for a newbie. Also, catching up on the story of the game takes a lot of investment. But I guess that's not surprising when the Blazblue I bought is Chronophantasma Extend.
After Soulcalibur we played Street Fighter II on the Super Nintendo.
It was pure fun. No complicated hard to hit combos. Super enjoyable with friends. I almost wish I have the Super Nintendo now.
There was also the One Piece game, World Seeker. It's anime related so I had to take a picture.
Some time later I found out that a Balkan visual novel is a thing.
I don't know about the details, I didn't end up playing it but in hindsight I probably should had done so.
In any case it was nice seeing something like that in this country. Maybe it's not all so dark for the Croatian otaku afterall.
Here you can check out the website for the visual novel.
Other than a bit of Yu-Gi-Oh and Light Yagami and L POP toys that were being sold, that was pretty much all anime related stuff I could see.
Well, at the gaming fair, at least…
Hunting for manga
I knew Zagreb was possibly the only place in this country where I could buy manga.
The entire day I was excited for Jump Force and the prospect of buying actual manga later on.
One of those things came true and I had to make the latter come true too. I knew I would have regrets otherwise.
Leaving the gaming fair area would mean you can't go back inside. I wanted to make that move around an hour before our scheduled departure time.
The friends I hanged out with didn't have reasons to leave yet. In the end, 30 minutes before the scheduled departure, I left the gaming fair area.
The store where they apparently sold manga was some 10 minutes away. If you were extremely fast, that is.
I had to do it. It was a crazy thing to do. Stupid maybe. But I had to do it.
I don't remember the last time I was walking that quickly. I reached the store some 15 minutes before departure time. That meant I only had precious few minutes in the store.
It didn't help that the store was on the third floor of the building. I had to use the moving stairs.
Finding the store, I quickly glanced from the window and saw the "comics" section. If it was somewhere it would have to be there.
I went inside. Quickly scanned through the things they had. Actual manga. In Croatia. Had no time to be shocked.
Titles included Noragami, Attack on Titan, Fairy Tail, Ansatsu Kyoushitsu, My Hero Academia.
I took the only Ansatsu Kyoushitsu volume avaliable. Volume 5. I wanted to support the author of one of my favorite anime ever.
Volume 5 is when Nagisa has his first true badass moment. No regrets.
The second manga I bought was the latest My Hero Academia volume that was available. It was volume 13. I didn't know exactly which volumes has the anime covered but I knew 13 was a close number.
It turns out volume 13 covers the final episodes of season 3.
Coming back from the store I even ran for a while. But I came 2 minutes before the scheduled time to leave.
No regrets. 100% worth it. I still can't believe I'm now a manga owner. And that it actually happened in my own country.
In the bus I opened the MHA volume and the friend next to me said "it's like anime in small". Pretty obvious but it's actually such a cute way to put it.
That would sum up what was overall a great day…
Until I dropped my phone.
At first it was a minor purple spot, but the phone basically started to bleed internally and by morning I knew I won't be able to use it anymore.
So if you are wondering why I haven't been active on Instagram, this is your reason.
It's also a part of why the blog hasn't been updated for a week.
The other reason is simply – university.
Tough times before a tough exam on Wednesday. And more of them next week too.
Which, ofcourse, doesn't mean I should simply stop posting. I feel bad for the inactivity.
I'll try my best to do better. Please look forward to it.


Graduating students Robert Alan Brantley and Camille Serrano were named the 2018 Distinguished Students of the Year at the annual Students of Distinction banquet on Friday, May 11. They are among the 20 Fullerton College students who were selected as the 2018 Students of Distinction through a nomination process involving faculty, staff, and fellow students. The awards are divided into four achievement categories: Academic, Competitive, Personal and Service.


What are Managed Care Organiziations?
What exactly is managed care? The National Library of Medicine, defines managed care as programs or organizations "intended to reduce unnecessary health care costs through a variety of mechanisms, including: economic incentives for physicians and patients to select less costly forms of care; programs for reviewing the medical necessity of specific services; increased beneficiary cost sharing; controls on inpatient admissions and lengths of stay; the establishment of cost-sharing incentives for outpatient surgery; selective contracting with health care providers; and the intensive management of high-cost health care cases".
In a shorter version, managed care organizations are about two things: health insurance and delivery of health care at low cost.
There are several types of managed care organizations, which will be discussed below.
Health Maintenance Organization, or HMO: This is the first form of managed care. The Health Maintenance Organization Act passed in early 1970s had led to the rapid growth of HMOs. HMOs refer to organizations in which physicians, hospitals, and insurance plans are either closely affiliated or in the same organization. Kaiser Permanente is a prime example of HMO. An HMO owns the hospitals, and pay the doctors by salaries (with performance bonuses, of course). Unless in the case of emergency, patients in an HMO plan have to use the plan-affiliated care provider.
One of the advantages of HMO plans is that they have a fixed amount of money to spend on medical care of the enrollee. This enables strict cost control and motivates patients and physicians to choose the more cost-effective treatment or drug. Thus, you pay less for an HMO plan in comparison to other plans. However, this is also one of the disadvantages of being HMO enrollees. HMO plans notoriously promote cost control over quality of care.
Fee-for-Service, or FFS: In fee-for-service plans, patients have the most freedom. They can choose any doctor or health care provider they want. Physicians receive a fee for each and every service, including visit, procedure, test, etc. Freedom of course comes with higher cost and patients in an FFS plan tend to pay significantly more.
Independent Practice Association, or IPA: In an Independent Practice Association, physicians work independently. They can have patients from both FFS plans and HMO plans.
Preferred Provider Organization, or PPO: Physicians provide care at lower rate in exchange for more patients directed towards them. This benefits both ways, patients get better care and better freedom for their bucks (presumably) and physicians get more business.
Point of Service Plans, or POS. POS is similar to HMO in many aspects as there is a capitation arrangement with providers for their enrollees. The difference is that doctors do not have to work in specified hospitals. Doctors receive compensation based on per patient per year. Patients in a POS plan are encouraged to use POS doctors since they have to pay out-of-pocket for doctors not in the plan.
Managed care refers to techniques and programs aiming to reduce health care cost and improve the quality of care. This series of articles will provide a 360 degree view of managed care from the history of managed care to the impact of managed care on current and future health systems.


text:
New YorkYankeesNYY
88-47, 39-27 Away
SeattleMarinersSEA
56-78, 29-40 Home
Yankees bash 4 more HRs, sweep Mariners with 7-3 victory
SEATTLE -- A day after hitting a milestone homer, Aaron Judge followed up the 101st of his career. He wasn't alone in another home run barrage by the Bronx Bombers.
Gary Sanchez, DJ LeMahieu and Mike Ford all followed Judge's lead with long balls, and the New York Yankees finished off a three-game sweep of the Seattle Mariners with a 7-3 win on Wednesday.
After opening their West Coast swing by being swept in Oakland, the Yankees rebounded to win five of six and continued to bash home runs. New York is 11 1/2 games ahead of second-place Tampa Bay in the AL East, its largest division lead since September 2006.
"They're very resilient and they're very hungry and that's why I talk about sometimes you're going to have a series where they get you, but from a mindset standpoint I've never had reason to be considered with these guys and what they are going to bring for the next day, for the next series," Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. "That's why I was confident going to L.A., why I was confident coming up here."
Sanchez hit a towering two-run homer in the first off Seattle starter Justus Sheffield, a ball that barely stayed fair and nearly bounced out of the stadium. Ford snapped a 2-2 tie with his sixth home run in the past 14 games, and Judge, who was the third-fastest player to reach 100 homers, broke the game open with a two-run shot off reliever Matt Wisler as part of New York's four-run fifth inning.
LeMahieu added his 23rd of the season in the ninth. The Yankees have hit 70 home runs in August and raised their season total to 250, already eighth-most in major league history.
"That's what we've been doing this whole road trip, trying to get ahead of guys and let our pitchers do their thing," Judge said.
James Paxton (11-6) had a shaky outing facing his former team for the first time. The big left-hander allowed only one hit on Kyle Seager's two-run homer in the fourth inning that just eluded the reach of Judge at the fence in right field. Despite giving up just the one hit, Paxton was done after only five innings due to control problems. Paxton issued a season-high five walks, four in the fourth inning alone. He'd allowed six walks over 24 1/3 innings in his previous four starts combined.
Paxton threw 86 pitches, 45 for strikes. Paxton spent his first six seasons with the Mariners, including throwing a no-hitter last year, before being traded to New York in the offseason.
"I was trying to be aggressive. I was just having a hard time finding the zone a little bit," Paxton said. "I was just trying to get into the zone, but then I was able to correct it in the fifth inning and get those outs when we needed them."
Seattle had just one hit until Tom Murphy doubled in the ninth.
"Definitely strange being on the other side," Seager said. "I obviously played with him for quite a few years, known him for quite a few years. I'm definitely happy for him and the success he's having over there, but he definitely got the better of us."
Sheffield (0-1) was just as much in the spotlight as the centerpiece of what Seattle got in return in the Paxton trade. Sheffield showed flashes in his second career start, like striking out Judge looking in the first inning on a sharp slider at the knees. But he missed his spots on the pitches to Sanchez and Ford and paid for it, giving up the long ball.
Sheffield allowed six hits and struck out five.
"Certainly not an easy lineup to try to get through. I thought his stuff was really good," Seattle manager Scott Servais said. "He gave up the home run early to Sanchez, but he settled in and I thought he threw the ball really well. It's something to build off of there."
ANOTHER INJURY?
The Yankees pulled 3B Gio Urshela in the fifth inning after he felt tightness in his groin. He was replaced by Didi Gregorius, who was going to get one more day off after suffering a bruised shoulder last Sunday, but was needed. Urshela said he felt the muscle tighten early in the game and didn't want it to get worse. It was unknown if Urshela would need an MRI.
Gregorius walked and grounded out in his two at-bats.
Yankees: Boone said reliever Dellin Betances (right lat strain) will pitch one more simulated game Saturday and will go out on a minor league rehab assignment if all goes well.
Mariners: Servais is considering leaving OF Mitch Haniger home as Seattle heads out on a 10-game road trip. Haniger is recovering from a lower back injury he suffered while rehabbing from a ruptured testicle. The team is hopeful Haniger can play again before the end of the season.
Yankees: After an off day, LHP CC Sabathia (5-8, 4.99) takes the mound when the Yankees play at home against Oakland on Friday. He is 0-4 in six starts since picking up his last win on June 24.
Mariners: RHP Felix Hernandez (1-4, 6.09 ERA) makes his second start since returning from the injured list on Thursday at Texas. Hernandez pitched into the sixth inning in his first start off the injured list last weekend.
Regular Season Series
NYY wins series 6-1
New York YankeesYankeesNYY
Seattle MarinersMarinersSEA
2019 American League East Standings
New York 103 59 .636 0 L2
Tampa Bay 96 66 .593 7 L2
Boston 84 78 .519 19 W1
Toronto 67 95 .414 36 W2
Baltimore 54 108 .333 49 L1
2019 American League West Standings
Houston 107 55 .660 0 W3
Oakland 97 65 .599 10 L1
Texas 78 84 .481 29 W2
Los Angeles 72 90 .444 35 L3
Seattle 68 94 .420 39 W1
Perez feels bad for Beltran
Eduardo Pérez reacts to Carlos Beltran being out as Mets manager following his involvement in the Astros' sign stealing scandal.
Mets agree to part ways with manager Carlos Beltran
Carlos Beltran, before beginning his first season on the job with the New York Mets, becomes the third MLB manager to lose his job as a result of the Astros' sign-stealing scandal, joining A.J. Hinch and Alex Cora.
Mendoza disagrees with Fiers outing Astros for cheating
Jessica Mendoza strongly disagrees with Mike Fiers publicly announcing that the Astros engaged in cheating while he was on the team.
Potential candidates to replace AJ Hinch as Astros manager
Who could fill the unexpected managerial opening in Houston? From veteran MLB skippers to rising stars, here are some names to watch.
Backstory: Banned For Life* preview
Don Van Natta Jr. explores the banishment of "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and Pete Rose from baseball in the next episode of "Backstory."
Source: Astros interview Buck Showalter for managerial vacancy
The Houston Astros have interviewed Buck Showalter for their managerial vacancy, ESPN has confirmed.
All Baseball News


text:
Джон Дрю:
 Джон Дрю (1827—1862) — ирландский и американский театральный актёр.
 Джон Дрю (род. 1950) — американский актёр, писатель и продюсер.
 Джон Дрю (1809—1957) — английский астроном.
 Джон Дрю (1883—1977) — американский бейсболист.
 Джон Дрю (1954—2022) — американский баскетболист, игравший в НБА в 1974—1984 годах.
 Джон Дрю (1853—1927) — американский театральный актёр.
 Джон Дрю (род. 1948) — британский преподаватель, фальсификатор, продавец подделок картин известных мастеров.
 Джон Дрю (1865—1947) — австралийский политик.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


'A magazine report for 'Dragon Ball FighterZ" details four new characters, story mode elements, and online matches.
Bandai Namco's new IP continues to stay on the radar of gamers, especially fighting-game aficionados. The publisher has continually released small snippets of information to steadily build the hype around the new game. Just recently, the official character rankings for each announced character in "Dragon Ball FighterZ" was updated on its official web page. Just like the reveal for Piccolo and Krillin, four new fighters have been confirmed to join the roster of Arc System Works' new brawler. Moreover, more information about the game's story mode has also been released.
News regarding the new fighters was apparently revealed in the latest issue of Jump. According to their report, "Dragon Ball FighterZ" will feature Super Saiyan Blue Goku, Super Saiyan Blue Vegeta, Android 18, and Android 16. It should be noted that the article did not confirm if the powerful forms of both Goku and Vegeta will be separate characters or special transformations. Another interesting tidbit about the reveal is the appearance of Android 17. He is supposedly summoned during one of Android 18's special combos, but he could be speculated to appear as part of the roster as well. Namco Bandai has not confirmed anything yet, but fans seem to be hopeful about his inclusion.
More information about the fighter's story mode also reveals that Android 16 will be featured as a major character. The story mode will reportedly explore a "what-if" scenario that presumably revisits important events in the franchise's lore. There will be a storyline included that suggests a scenario where Android 16 was revived in order to clash with Goku, Piccolo, Krillin, as well as the other cast members. Meanwhile, the article also shares some details about the game's online mode, which allows up to six players to participate in a 3v3 party match.
We know that "Dragon Ball FighterZ" is currently confirmed to come out for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC next year. However, a Nintendo Switch port seems to be also possible, according to Tomoko Hiroki. It is speculated that its appearance on Nintendo's new game system is dependent on how well "Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2" for the platform performs. Fans can expect more details about the game to become available during the Gamescom show next week.


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Reliance Is Betting That It, And Not Walmart, Will Be Amazon Arch-Rival In India
The buildup to Diwali, the Indian festival of light that takes place in November this year, is already under way and nothing signals this event as decisively as the frenzied bouts of shopping taking place across India.
In the online world, the ritual is enacted with great fanfare in a fierce competition between the two reigning kings of e-commerce: Amazon, and Flipkart, purchased by Walmart for USD 16 billion earlier this year. Both Amazon and Flipkart have made it a habit to loudly and publicly declare themselves victorious during these months.
This is grossly misleading, since the real war in e-commerce will in all probability be fought not between these two companies, but instead between a juggernaut equivalent to Amazon in moxie and clout, if not in market cap. Namely, Reliance steered by India's richest man Mukesh Ambani.
Bezos built Amazon from the ground up in the 90s, while Mukesh Ambani inherited the petroleum-to-textiles empire from his legendary businessman father Dhirubhai Ambani and expanded it further. Yet, the Ambani scion has risked everything in an all-in bet that wants to very soon provide and control pretty much everything you consume, from your phone to its data, to content from India's leading publication, to your jeans, groceries, milk, your television, and any programming on it. The list is endless, and Ambani wants it to be so.
This is Ambani's grand triple play, a breathtaking if it works – marriage of carriage, content, and commerce, unprecedented in India and probably the rest of the world, and so far unfettered by any shackles from bodies like the Competition Commission of India that looks out for monopolistic practices.
Ambani himself pointed this out to his shareholders by declaring that the company was staring at its "biggest growth opportunity in creating a hybrid, online-to-offline new commerce platform".
The first salvo of Ambani's assault has been the "carriage" part — or the around USD 40 billion bet on telecom that introduced Jio to India in 2016, and has caused carnage in the industry since then.
In just 2 short years, propelled by the seemingly bottomless coffers of the Reliance oil and gas business, Jio has gobbled up 250 million subscribers that once belonged to other operators, lured some new ones in, and caused widespread bankruptcies and consolidation in the industry.
Another component of the "carriage" play is in the form of JioGigaFiber, fixed-line fibre broadband via set-top boxes scheduled to proliferate in 1100 cities across India targeting 50 million TV watchers.
Just this week, the company announced the acquisition of majority stakes in Hathaway Cable and Den Networks, giving it an instant 24 million cable-connected subscriber homes through which it could piggyback its fibre, giving you an idea of how fast it is moving to make the cable play a reality.
Reliance's ultimate plan is to have people buy as many things from it as possible that's how the company will make all its money and cover its bets. But for that to happen, it first needs eyeball stickiness, which means buying, building, or sharing content on company pipes so that the consumer never has to leave her phone or television.
Unfortunately, as I had observed in this piece, with content at a premium and a dearth of players in the market, apart from inking the usual content sharing deals with the few usual suspects, Reliance has decided to launch a production house of its own and has begun hiring scriptwriters.
With carriage and content taken care of, Reliance wants you to be firmly guided in the direction of its vast retail empire in what Ambani says will be a fully immersive shopping experience using holographs and augmented reality.
The retail empire that will now also be available online is a sprwal. It includes Reliance Retail, with 7500 stores in 4400 cities, which apparently experiences 350 million footfalls and with total revenues of close to USD 7 billion and growing at a 100 percent gallop. This includes Reliance Trends as well as consumer electronics brand Reliance Digital. It also includes the Reconnect brand of consumer appliances and electrical goods, and operates the largest portfolio of 41 international brands like Gas, Steve Madden, and Diesel.
Part of its plan for nationwide retail domination involves building a stronghold in the nascent grocery delivery industry. Existing players such as Big Basket and Grofers could get a rude awakening when Reliance gets serious about the grocery play.
Ambani's company already sold over 500,000 tonnes of groceries last year, and its on-ground chain stores Reliance Fresh and Reliance Smart, which number over 500 outlets across the country, are just begging to be integrated into its online grocery delivery website RelianceSmart.in, which is yet to take off. As India grows from a USD 35 billion e-commerce market to a predicted USD 202 billion in 10 years, Reliance is betting that it will be perfectly positioned to pounce.
The long and the short of it is that Jeff Bezos could have a real battle ahead of him. Mukesh Ambani plays to win regardless of the costs, is street savvy, is on home turf, and is politically connected like no other businessman. This has a direct connection to the next point — which is how critical legislation has become to setting down basic rules for the e-commerce terrain that lies ahead, and in generating wealth for those fortunate to be close to the corridors of political power.
The draft policy for e-commerce rules that the government was scripting, for instance, has two crucial stipulations that are going to impact a company like Amazon negatively.
One, foreign e-commerce outfits — which includes Indian startups with majority foreign funding like Flipkart cannot hold inventory, something that Amazon will find almost catastrophic, since its competitive advantage stems from its logistics operation. Two, data generated from e-commerce activities will have to be stored locally after a period of two years, thereby significantly ramping up costs for foreign outfits.
Both of these clauses were hugely influenced by Reliance officers who were present during the draft discussions, while representatives of Flipkart, Amazon, and Uber were not suggests the Indian technology publication Factor Daily.
Of course, it is entirely possible that the sheer scale of Reliance's gambit, which involves all parts firing together at full power, may be ultimately too difficult to orchestrate or that another disrupter creeps up and upends e-commerce in India as we have known it.
As it stands, Ambani has not set the world on fire with his USD 10 billion bet on oil fields or his USD 8 billion bet on shale gas in the US. And to really win in this game that intertwines e-commerce with innovation, like Tencent has done in China, especially with WeChat payments and gaming, Reliance needs to demonstrate a culture of dazzling, cutting-edge innovation, which it is miles from embodying.
Someone who has been at the confluence of cutting-edge innovation and commerce is Jeff Bezos. Bezos has proven himself to be the kind of global businessman with extraordinary leverage, piles of cash, and boatloads of cunning that Mukesh Ambani will have a hard time outspending or outsmarting. It will be fascinating to watch the two go toe-to-toes in a retail slugfest where hopefully the real winners will be India's consumers. — ZDNet