Recommended Anime/Manga?

[Bloodreign]

Just finished Maison Ikkoku, amazing show, amazing ending, everything but Yotsuya's work wrapped up (what the hell kind of job did he have? Probably none). Onwards to Kill la Kill, which has plenty of nice action, but I already dislike it's artstyle.

[Blinge]

I felt like that Berserk episode was better, but really what've they done to casca, she's white as snow now.

[Durandal]

I felt like that Berserk episode was better, but really what've they done to casca, she's white as snow now.

it seems to vary, in the OP she looks darker than in the flashbacks

[Blinge]

y'know, there's two Puck scenes that were trashed by this series.

I'm full of shit

Spoiler

First of all, his reaction to seeing An Evening With Guts (tm)
In the manga he's frozen in shock and can't handle the waves of emotion coming from guts cause he's a sensitive elf or whatever. He tries to describe Gut's mental state, and what he's just witnessed, and can only utter the word 'Berserk'.
Doesn't happen in the anime.

Edit: just had to refresh myself; this actually happens after the first apostle dies in the manga. Does that battle happen in the old anime?

Also in the manga he teases Guts by refusing to help him out of the cage first. Doesn't happen.

Farnese also appears to be missing two nipples.

[BIL]

Guts hunting down Snakeman is the '97 anime's first episode.

Spoiler

The sequence is done pretty well - even truncated and with Puck's absence, Guts's overwhelming hatred is apparent. Of course even in the manga it's only a glimpse, the real eruption of bile is reserved for Snail Count. Fuuuck I love those scenes, a sadistic indulgence that leaves Puck aghast and Guts himself shaken.

Puck's not in the '97 anime at all - to be fair on them, it'd be kinda self-defeating introducing him in episode 1, as the series skips to the Golden Age immediately after Snake Baron and remains there.

Give the first episode a look if you've time, it's still a great short adaptation of the Black Swordsman material. Possibly the best we'll get, given how poor the new anime's first ep was.

Not really bothering with the new anime, but I did see the cage scene... it's unfortunate really, but they just don't have the history to draw on.

Spoiler

At that point in the manga Guts and Puck have been travelling for a significant time and seen some serious shit, and there's that great scene just beforehand (at the end of the "Lost Children" chapter) where Guts finally grants Puck official sidekick status. So the cage break is a fun little buddy movie moment, and it's well-earned. In the new series it'd be weird if they were suddenly so familiar, so it's perhaps out of necessity relegated to a random convenience.

AS FO ME, now that JoJo Part 7 is complete, I decided to pick up where I'd left off some years back with Part 6. It was only partially translated at the time, 7 was ongoing, and I was kinda burnt out after binge-reading Parts 4 and 5 (bad idea for the former - after Part 3's relentless seek/destroy, its meanderings were hard to digest - in retrospect, it's a good change of pace). Back to ol' tricks:





OOO GUVNA, DATS GOTTA HOIT NO PORRIDGE 4 U 2-NITE Dude's o-face of inexpressible agony in the last panel is manga perfection ¦3

After Parts 3 and 5, it's predictably unpredictable. Enemy Stand users lurk about our new protagonists, plunging the most unassuming venues into sometimes perplexingly surreal, often skull-cavingly brutal duels. It's a fun sort of predictable, waiting for Araki to spring the next inexplicable mortal danger on JoJo and company.

[Durandal]

Thunderbolt Fantasy sure is... interesting
It's unique animation style is probably why it didn't show up on any anime season charts, though it definitely is anime as far as I'm concerned. You should see it for yourself to see what I'm talking about.
It's got a fantasy Oriental setting, nice music and that b-tier martial arts movie camera work being pretty charming. Urobutcher shows tend to start with a generic premise and then build up into something unique, as it is definitely very generic story-wise now, so I'm definitely looking forward to this.

[Ji-L87]

Just finished Maison Ikkoku, amazing show, amazing ending, everything but Yotsuya's work wrapped up (what the hell kind of job did he have? Probably none). Onwards to Kill la Kill, which has plenty of nice action, but I already dislike it's artstyle.

This reminds me that I'm still slowly working my way through Maison Ikkoku. I think reached episode 20-something or the early 30s, but it's comforting to know there's a carrot in the shape of a nice wrapping up. I get too easily distracted when watching longer shows so I kinda forgot about it.

[soprano1]

Why did they introduce Biba in Kabaneri? It started so good, then it went to shit, along with the animation and that fuck you ending...

[BIL]

Finished JoJo Part 6. Really liked it overall. I'd heard the ending was a WTF and was bracing myself for a cop-out, given the switch to the alternate timeline in Parts 7 and 8. It was flawed, but I think Araki did well in his denouement of the original timeline's Joestars v Dio story.

Big problem was

Spoiler

the total absence of Josuke, Giorno and their respective circles. Part 6's climax is sold as Dio/Pucci's drive to exterminate the Joestar bloodline and establish their "ideal world" - the ignoring of Parts 4 and 5's protagonists cheapens this slightly. The confrontation itself felt suitably grave, but this took some suspension of disbelief.

OTOH, the series-long theme of Joestar/sacrifice vs Dio/self-obsession was beautifully played. Dio's legacy defeated the Joestars in a literal sense... but Jolyne giving her life for Emporio, and his destroying of Pucci and Dio's "heaven" saw the Joestar spirit transcend genealogy. Emporio's reunion with Jolyne and co in the restored world felt less trite shonen cop-out, more genuinely precious, hard-won reprieve and validation for our long-suffering heroes.

A suitably feelgood ending for a loveable, brutal, emotive fighting manga.

Onto SBR, I guess, though I'd almost rather wait until Part 8 finishes. I like to keep a nice buffer between myself and the dreaded "wall" / waiting game, haha! Might kill time with the new animes instead... I'm glad the series seems to be doing so well in that arena, it's been interesting seeing Part 4 in particular gain a little mainstream traction.

[Mortificator]

The furthest JoJo I've read is the end of part 4. The first half was fun, and the latter half built up a sense of dread with an awesome villain.

Spoiler

But though all the pieces were in place for an incredible finale, Araki just didn't put them together. There's only a BS fight that breaks the way the Stand powers were established, rather than showing creative use of them, and then...

Spoiler

the baddie gets backed over by an ambulance.

It's too bad the anime's been so slavish to the manga (probably because too many manga fans complain every time an adaption changes something). With a better ending, Diamond could be unbreakable.

[Mrhide]

Why did they introduce Biba in Kabaneri? It started so good, then it went to shit, along with the animation and that fuck you ending...

yeah ... Mullet power to the ....WTF

[Skykid]

You mean Guts vs Emperor Cloud Man aka Ganishka?.

Yeah that was it.

TBH I was getting a little bored by that point. It seemed the theme of little loli witch saving Gatts from offing himself in dog mode, then bestowing stoical gratitude post 60 page battle was being repeated ad-infinitum. I felt like the imagination was bubbling more when Gatts was a loner.

Does it get more interesting? If so I might go back to it.

Also I've waited about three years now, anyone know where Vinland Saga is at? That one I'm looking forward to catching up on.

[Squire Grooktook]

Hagane and Xyga had some debate about Vinland Saga's recent development a few pages back in this thread. Might be worth reading for some differing opinions.

Hey BIL, what do you think of Jojo part 5?

[BIL]

dog mode

I felt like the imagination was bubbling more when Gatts was a loner.

Does it get more interesting? If so I might go back to it.

Still very much in (as BryanM nailed it) Scooby Doo mode last I checked. 3: The world has undergone a significant change at Griffith/Femto's hands, but the group dynamic you mention is still there and stronger if anything.

I find it readable but not really as enjoyable as the first three arcs. Despite some jolts of vile horror as potent as anything from those, the core group feels too cosy. Golden Age could get away with it by its nature as a doomed flashback to halcyon days. Maybe it's a transitional phase that'll lead somewhere similarly biting - I do like the ominous implications of Griffith's "angel of light" routine. But with the series moving at such glacial pace, that's unfortunately a bit moot.

Hey BIL, what do you think of Jojo part 5?

TBH, it's been so long and I only binge-read it once... but I remember thinking it was both a nice return to the fast pace of Part 3, and also slightly familiar in that regard. Protagonist and a handful of rivals-turned-allies hitting the road, versus a motley-yet-deadly organisation of Stand users headed by an elusive baddie of demigodlike power. Much tactical Stand duelling ensues on the grueling path to the final showdown.

Certainly didn't dislike it, just felt like the series had settled into a Part 3-modeled groove by that point.

[null1024]

Part 5 is great.
Like, sure, Giorno manages to almost have less of a personality than Jotaro and be even more of a plot device, but it's a fun ride -- it was pretty cool to see the kind of shit Araki'd come up with in a more battle oriented series after experimenting like crazy in Part 4 [which is my favorite part, and Josuke is my favorite JoJo].

Its biggest faults are that 1: the action is non-stop to the point of excess, there's pretty much no breaks between the fights and 2: Giorno should have been a better character. Otherwise, it's a solid and fun read.
oh, and the ending was kind of naff, like the entire set of ending chapters

Mista's probably my favorite character from it.

[Skykid]

now it's almost a slice of life/comedy manga, slow and boring

No, not really. Vinland Saga quickly turned from starring a random shonen hero (it started being serialized in a shonen magazine for a reason) whose entire personality could be summed up as "VENGEANCE GRRR" to focus on Askeladd's machinations to getting back to Thorfinn and actually giving him a personality worth a damn. The whole slavery arc was huge for developing the main character and was superbly written, a nice account of what meant to be a slave in the Middle Ages.

He goes from an empty shell with no reason to live when he couldn't exact his petty revenge, to a man who wants to change things through means completely different from the usual of the era. He tries to resolve everything peacefully now, trying to follow his father's footsteps (who also chose to get away from all the killing despite being a prominent warrior) but his views are naive and there will be a point where his efforts will be proven to be pointless in an age of constant bloodshed, if the author chooses to follow the sagas.

Also later, in Hild's backstory, it's nice how his dumb former self is exposed for what it was (or how huge an impact his drive for revenge made on the lives of common people; this is, he turned into what he was supposed to take revenge at).

I have nothing but praise for an author as bold as Yukimura. There are comedic tones here and there, but to say that this is now a comedic manga is silly, and to put it on the level of something like Berserk, which is nigh unreadable now, even worse. It certainly wasn't like that in the slave arc, and it isn't like that now with Hild. It is still one of the greatest manga, for people who can appreciate things other than "HORSE PUNCH LOL XD".

I completely agree. The slave arc is beautifully written. I love all of Vinland Saga, even Shonen hero Thorfinn. It's an incredible manga.

I find it readable but not really as enjoyable as the first three arcs. Despite some jolts of vile horror as potent as anything from those, the core group feels too cosy. Golden Age could get away with it by its nature as a doomed flashback to halcyon days. Maybe it's a transitional phase that'll lead somewhere similarly biting - I do like the ominous implications of Griffith's "angel of light" routine. But with the series moving at such glacial pace, that's unfortunately a bit moot

I definitely think Berserk excels when its at its most subversive. Kings desperate to make love to their underage daughters, trolls having interspecies rape orgies with human prisoners in underground caves, brutal graphic dismemberment of innocent bystanders and rookie infantry, burly black homosexual pederasts on the battlefield: life takers and ass breakers.

[S_Fang]

Boku dake ga Inai Machi. Disappointment of the previous season. The first 4 or so episodes were pretty much flawless. Then it started to drag, and finally culminated in a contrived ending that didn't explain anything it should have. I read the manga to see if it was due to bad adaptation, but in fact the manga was much, much worse (seriously, it's laughably bad). It's like the author got a good idea from somebody but was too bad to execute it in any kind of a satisfactory manner.

I speed-read the whole manga days ago and I noticed, after a convincing start and the "past" ark, it got weaker around the last three-four volumes. May because it was slower, may because the explanation of the "power" 's side effect wasn't very convincing (or maybe I missed some details), may because the final showdown was very stupid.

Spoiler

The teacher used the same old tricks and got fooled by a well- thought distraction, the logical-mind that managed to get scot-free for years

Also, the protagonist is a moronic lucky bastard: if it wasn't for his power, he couldn't never reach his goal.


In regard of anime, I watched the hentai Amakano: it was very sweet and cozy, without being rauchy as most hentai.
Granted, it didin't adapted all the girls' akrs (one was missed), but I don't care as long as the main experience feels pleasant and compleated.

[BryanM]

I definitely think Berserk excels when its at its most subversive. Kings desperate to make love to their underage daughters, trolls having interspecies rape orgies with human prisoners in underground caves, brutal graphic dismemberment of innocent bystanders and rookie infantry, burly black homosexual pederasts on the battlefield: life takers and ass breakers.

That's what they do to trick you in! Start with the edgy gorn, and you go "oh this is so gorny and edgy" and they take it away from you and shove a comfortable pillow in your face that doesn't have to go anywhere.

Goblin Slayer's comic adoption could very well turn out like this. Yeah the main character is a mary sue self-insert (which lets be honest here - almost all the main cast of successful shows have someone its fans can self-insert. Berserk Man is edgelord mary sue personified.), but he's not some jagoff special snowflake with unique superpowers or a magic sword or a 13 inch penis. He's just a guy who's really, really careful.

Does it get more interesting? If so I might go back to it.

Currently the gang is on Elf Island, a magical tropical retreat where time moves faster on the inside than the outside. The inhabitants of said island include a gaggle of pointy hat witches, one of which is a young sassy girl bored of the island life and foreshadowed to be destined to become another one of Gatz's nakama.

Meanwhile, Rickert and his adopted little sister are going off to live in hiding in the mountains with a group of strange but muscular men they don't really know much about.

We get six issues a year a day, so my next book report on this series for you should include lots of exciting and interesting happenings.

[BryanM]

We get six issues a year a day, so my next book report on this series for you should include lots of exciting and interesting happenings.

My predictions:

* +1 witchy girl to nakama pokedex.

* Casca gets fixed from her rape by a sexy androgynous elf boy. Hopefully this cure won't involve more rape.

* By the time they leave the island after tea and crumpets, years will have passed on the outside. Rickert will have mastered the secret exotic martial art of Cho Aniki from his friends. He'll be totally shredded and probably have a few scars to show he's now finally an edgelord, too.

[Squire Grooktook]

Was just discussing how banal Goblin Slayer looked, actually.

It's the shoehorning in of rpg tropes for "deconstruction" that makes me think the author is just a try hard attempting to seem hip and edgy whilst drawing snuff rape porn.

At least Drakengard/NieR had something interesting and clever to say about rpg progatanists. And not "HURR HURR your cutesie light hearted little rpg party would totally get GANG RAPED in real life HURR"

We'll always have goblin babies being splatted though. That shits rad I'll admit.

[BryanM]

A deconstruction is when you take a fantasy trope and try to hammer a little reality into it.

For example, in Evagelion, the only aspects that are really deconstructed are the archetypes of the children: Shinji, Rei and Asuka are typical anime clichés. Aside from Shinji who's attitude toward life is understandable, the two girls are a complete fantasy who can never exist as what's presented on the surface. For someone to act anything like they do, they have to have massive development issues, presented in Eva being in large part the responsibility of their parents.

Mari Makinami is boring for a reason. She's just a pokemon, not an actual character with anything going on. Much like Gatz's nakama are today.

That the idea "your enemies don't always lose" is somehow considered deconstructive is a pretty damning indictment of fiction as a whole. The fight sequences in Dragon Ball aren't fights - they're drawn out exterminations.

"Torture snuff porn", you could say.

[Squire Grooktook]

A deconstruction is when you take a fantasy trope and try to hammer a little reality into it.

Yes, exactly. And its only facepalm worthy when you're not actually communicating anything meaningful or clever with it.

Drakengards whole "rpg player characters don't give a shit about the billions of animals, guards, and mook henchmen they slaughter to level up" is clever and interesting. "hurr hurr your waifu gets raped because cutesie fantasy elements are inexplicably existing in the same realm as realistic fantasy elements because durrr" isn't.

If it was just a dark gritty fantasy setting with a dark gritty aesthetic it would make sense (ala Berserk). As is its just a mash up of edgy cliches with a cookie cutter art style.

[Xyga]

A deconstruction is when you take a fantasy trope and try to hammer a little reality into it.

IIRC Derrida wrote an essay on female characters in anime, basically he's behind the 'she is not your waifu' meme. No wonder he had so many enemies.

[Lord Satori]

The Japanese dub of Boruto: The Movie is finally out. Also watched the 7th movie "The Last" again just for kicks. I really feel like Shippuuden should be finished by now. The feeling of closure would really help. I feel like if they hadn't done all of that "Jiraiya Scrolls" filler bullshit, then the series would be done by now. I do they think they can't have any downtime until the Boruto series starts? If we can wait however many years it took for the Hunter x Hunter manga to start again, we can wait a little bit for Boruto.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

But though all the pieces were in place for an incredible finale, Araki just didn't put them together. There's only a BS fight that breaks the way the Stand powers were established, rather than showing creative use of them, and then...

Spoiler

the baddie gets backed over by an ambulance.

Really surprised by this, actually. I've always thought the final battle of part 4 is probably one of the high points of the entire manga - tense as hell, with a lot of fantastic character moments and creative use of powers on both sides of the conflict. What didn't you like about it?

[copy-paster]

Also watched the 7th movie "The Last"

The Last bores me for some reason, even though it was the "last episode" for Shippuden series.

Also I've been planning to watch Your Lie In April/Kimi Uso, is that show good? Because some people states that the anime will make everyone cry and I never get into musical genre so....

[soprano1]

Also watched the 7th movie "The Last"

The Last bores me for some reason, even though it was the "last episode" for Shippuden series.

Also I've been planning to watch Your Lie In April/Kimi Uso, is that show good? Because some people states that the anime will make everyone cry and I never get into musical genre so....

It was a NarutoxHinata fanfest, maybe that was the problem?

[lilmanjs]

Finished off Hanasaku Iroha after going through 3 episodes a day for the past week. I didn't think I'd enjoy it as much as I did, but it was a good one. Anyone know what season of Silver Spoon is on netflix? That was recommended for slice of life anime when I asked a while back.

[Skykid]

Catching up on Vinland Saga now, but quickly. After a little while I'll have to put it aside another 2 years before being able to catch up.

With that in mind any recommendations for worthwhile seinen manga? I'm done with Berserk I think, too repeaty and less offensive than it used to be, but I'd like something that reflects its earlier profile of barbarism, violence, rape and destruction; or something as beautifully composed as Vinland Saga (although that's wishful thinking, and I've read everything else Yukimura has done).

What's Hiroaki Samura doing these days? And has Jiro Matsumoto done anything new of late?

[Bloodreign]

2 episodes into Gurren Lagann and Ruronin Kenshin (I knew that one looked familiar, it was on Toonami back in the day). After seeing some of the Kenshin dub back then, kind of shocked to see the main character voiced by a female in the Japanese series, but perhaps a guy for the movies.