Recommended Anime/Manga?

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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by Ji-L87 »

WelshMegalodon wrote:
Ji-L87 wrote:Did not expect to be so drawn into this :mrgreen: So happy at least this one is still on Crunchyroll. Originally I wanted to give Love Live! and Encouragement of Climb another go but season one and two respectively are no longer available it seems. :|
The best way to enjoy Love Live! is to listen to "Snow Halation" and then play School Idol Festival. Love Live! the anime is just so painfully average... not a trainwreck, but also nowhere near deserving of the ubiquity it has. I'd choose iM@S or Wake, Up Girls! over it every single time.

Heck, even PriPara and Pretty Rhythm are more interesting than Love Live!. There, I said it.

Haven't seen enough of Aikatsu to comment.

(P.S.: "Believe!" by iRis >>> any Love Live! song that isn't Snow halation or Aozora)
Like, I watched a few eps of Love Live! when it was new but dropped it pretty quickly. I've listened to the various music videos that predates the anime plenty of time but haven't tried the game.
I think when the actual, not Xenoglossia, IM@S anime finally came out my interested in the franchise was really vaning and I couldn't get through it either. Didn't watch Wake up Girls! since it seemed to be a bit different.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by MX7 »

Enjoying Eizouken and Dorohedoro this season. I don't think Eizouken is quite living up to the lofty heights of other Masaaki Yuasa adaptations like Ping Pong and Devilman Crybaby, but it has many wonderful touches. Dorohedoro makes me really annoyed I didn't touch the comic earlier. It's filthy, eccentric, 80's style insanity, baby, definitely a dream come true in terms of setting, mise-en-scene and so on. The CG animation is kind of frustrating but its stupid to be a luddite and it's nowhere near as shitty as the recent Berzerk adaptation so WHATEVER.

Anything else good this season?
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by Steamflogger Boss »

Sadly I have not kept up with this season but based on your description I will try Dorohedoro at some point. Hard to say when as Bobobo is 76 episodes and I'm about to finally give Galaxy Express a whirl. Plus I hate watching things as they air, need the BD to binge. Given how old the manga is it's a shame we never got it animated sooner but oh well.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

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I'm about 16 episodes in to Galaxy Express 999 and it's just everything I love about 70s animation. It might be even better than Yamato. I love how Tetsuro brutally avenges his mother in THE VERY FIRST EPISODE. Compared to to the politically chaste output of modern superhero tripe et al it presents violence as a legitimate reaction to a violent and bewildering universe. In fact I find all of Matsumoto's stuff politically fascinating. The ultra-leftist stance of Harlock and Co is such a diametric opposition to the cheerful fascism of shit like Darling In The Franxx and so on.

We live in depressing times.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by Steamflogger Boss »

MX7 wrote:I'm about 16 episodes in to Galaxy Express 999 and it's just everything I love about 70s animation. It might be even better than Yamato. I love how Tetsuro brutally avenges his mother in THE VERY FIRST EPISODE. Compared to to the politically chaste output of modern superhero tripe et al it presents violence as a legitimate reaction to a violent and bewildering universe. In fact I find all of Matsumoto's stuff politically fascinating. The ultra-leftist stance of Harlock and Co is such a diametric opposition to the cheerful fascism of shit like Darling In The Franxx and so on.
I'm not sure which is more offensive between Franxx and AoT. I was interested in neither of them on first glance, but yeah.

I want to grab Harlock too, but I have to hope it gets restocked by Rightstuf.
MX7 wrote:We live in depressing times.
Very much so.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by Xyga »

null1024 wrote:I was convinced to read Primal Gods in Ancient Times, and it's really good.
Not bad indeed, the art isn't the greatest, and the writing's pacing a bit messy but it definitely attempts to deliver originality and surprise, which are so rare these days.

It reminds me there's stuff in the same vein with 'youkai-gods-ancient-japan' which I definitely enjoy more than all that isekai garbage.
Like Sengoku Youko, or even Kekkaishi, Nurarihyon no Mago, etc
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by MX7 »

@Steamflogger Boss - I totally read Attack on Titan as antifascist satire. Not a perfect series but I love it all the same, albeit guiltily. I daren't read in to the authors intentions, but a lot of my commie friends seem to dig it. It's absolutely not on the same level but I read it as having a similar energy to Legend Of The Galactic Hero's benign dictatorship vs flawed communism. A PROBLEMATIC FAVE.

Seriously check out Seven Seas Harlock compendiums. Pure joy.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by Steamflogger Boss »

MX7 wrote:@Steamflogger Boss - I totally read Attack on Titan as antifascist satire. Not a perfect series but I love it all the same, albeit guiltily. I daren't read in to the authors intentions, but a lot of my commie friends seem to dig it. It's absolutely not on the same level but I read it as having a similar energy to Legend Of The Galactic Hero's benign dictatorship vs flawed communism. A PROBLEMATIC FAVE.

Seriously check out Seven Seas Harlock compendiums. Pure joy.
It's clearly anti-Semitic is the main thing I remember reading/hearing. Now like I said I haven't seen or read it myself because it doesn't interest me but I have heard it from people I trust.

Assuming those are like an omnibus? Just compiled multiple volumes?
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by MX7 »

Steamflogger Boss wrote:
MX7 wrote:@Steamflogger Boss - I totally read Attack on Titan as antifascist satire. Not a perfect series but I love it all the same, albeit guiltily. I daren't read in to the authors intentions, but a lot of my commie friends seem to dig it. It's absolutely not on the same level but I read it as having a similar energy to Legend Of The Galactic Hero's benign dictatorship vs flawed communism. A PROBLEMATIC FAVE.

Seriously check out Seven Seas Harlock compendiums. Pure joy.
It's clearly anti-Semitic is the main thing I remember reading/hearing. Now like I said I haven't seen or read it myself because it doesn't interest me but I have heard it from people I trust.

Assuming those are like an omnibus? Just compiled multiple volumes?
That's interesting. I can certainly see anti imperial/korean/chinese readings but not explicitly anti semitic, beyond the titans as a terrifying other invading a civilised walled nation. I guess the white walkers in Game Of Thrones fulfil a similar archetype, but surely this is a generic narrative paradigm?

Yep, lovely hardback tomes. Much recommended.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by Steamflogger Boss »

Found them on Rightstuf. I'll wait for a sale but definitely on my radar now.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by null1024 »

Xyga wrote:
null1024 wrote:I was convinced to read Primal Gods in Ancient Times, and it's really good.
Not bad indeed, the art isn't the greatest, and the writing's pacing a bit messy but it definitely attempts to deliver originality and surprise, which are so rare these days.

It reminds me there's stuff in the same vein with 'youkai-gods-ancient-japan' which I definitely enjoy more than all that isekai garbage.
Like Sengoku Youko, or even Kekkaishi, Nurarihyon no Mago, etc
The main page-to-page art really is kinda rough, yeah. I still loves how the kami get drawn.
Also, thanks for reminding me about Sengoku Youko, I've been meaning to get to that.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

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Mmm yeah Galaxy Express 999 is very enjoyable.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by null1024 »

Read Puella Magi Homura Tamura on a whim. A goofy 4-koma manga dealing with one particular Homura's [everyone calls her Tamura] misadventures as she travels to alternate versions of the Madoka world. It spoils everything in the show for laughs.
It's honestly pretty funny. Sure, most jokes aren't amazing and merit only a sensible chuckle, and a few chapters just entirely fall flat, but it really has its moments where it's laugh-out-loud hilarious.
There are a few bits that I kinda wish were able to become real story ideas instead of just a vehicle for gags, but alas.

spoilers
Spoiler
the resting spot world that was full of other alternate world Homuras has some pretty heartwarming bits, and the ending when Madokami shows up is lovely
also, apparently Tamura is like 26 with all the resets lol

It's kinda depressing seeing an entire town full of Homuras though, because you really do get to see the sheer constant extent of her failures.
Literally in no universe does she manage to save Madoka.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by Udderdude »

Read Murasakiiro no Qualia. It's pretty wacky.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by null1024 »

Udderdude wrote:Read Murasakiiro no Qualia. It's pretty wacky.
This is pretty wacky. I'm having fun reading it so far, thanks for mentioning it.
definitely a bit too "I read this article and now I'm infodumping" now for its own good though

[edit]
I'm a bit further in now, and it's so wacky that it's beautiful.
Stupid, but beautiful.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by BIL »

Angel Cop (OVA, 1989-1994) Robocop. Scanners. Columbo. The best of Western canon meets late-80s OVA garbage nightmare. It was fun. :lol:

Manga UK Dub never fails
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by Ji-L87 »

Angel Cop is fun, need to pick up that new release before it goes away.

Speaking of old things, I watched Dragon's Heaven yesterday. It was...okay. It has a lot going for it like the world, the Moebius esque art style with a hint of Nausica and the funky music. I read a review somewhere where the music was called boring, it's not - at worst it's mildly generic but it is still a banger IMO. Even the female lead, who is sort of out of place design wise because she's a regular 80s anime girl, is fine by me - granted, I like this kind of classic "anime babe design". Her upbeat personality meshes well with the tone of the OVA and it's good, since everything moves at such a brisk pace.

The scale of everything is big and impressive. The main issue is that everything is so very anti climatic. Every confrontation ends as soon as it starts because the weapons are so overpowered. There's not time to develop the rivalry between the hero and villain robot either. Instead, we spend time looking at a boring live action footage of the robot in the beginning and in the end we get to see it on the set and get some commentary about it.

It makes me feel like a bad person for calling the live action bits boring. I get massive second hand nostalgia from being a fan in this time period with all the garage kits and talented artists. It reminds me of all the good parts from Otaku no Video.
But it's just some shots of a mostly backlit robot with some smoke.

Dragon's Heaven is perhaps more successful as a representative piece of the fan (and professional) anime culture before the bubble burst than as a one-shot straight to video product. It's too compressed and it somehow manages to take the fun out of big explosions.

Still, take a look if it seems interesting. It really makes you want more of it. :mrgreen:
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

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Has anyone here seen Mr Tonegawa Middle Management Blues? It's something I am considering.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

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Having spent the last fortnight bedridden by a flareup of Cheeto Dust syndrome, I watched a few short series. :cool:

EAT-MAN (1997) Shoestring fantasy-noir, twelve eps (I recommend the 4hr "movie" cut, currently on Youtube). The episodic whimsies of immortal handyman/merc Bolt Crank, and the ladies who employ him. Bolt enjoys a diet of metal, gunpowder, and other good shit, which his glove materialises into big fuckoff guns. But this generally only happens when it's time to blow up the Problem du Jour. Mostly he just insults noobs with his superhumanly cold burns.

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Enjoyed, as much for its artful economy as the work itself. Comfily oneiric, its hazy retro-future haunted by wistful spectres of airships and the disarmingly odd Bolt. He's a fine Man With No Name foil to the elliptic melodrama - quietly impervious, with a knack for giving clients what they want, up to and including a good death.

Definitely not for everyone, with its languid pace and disregard for resolutions. It reminds me of mecha anime Goshogun (aka Macron One)'s wonderfully offbeat post-mortem movie The Time Etranger. Fans of that will probably dig this. Although its action scenes are threadbare, it's by no means unattractive, its imagery working enchantingly with Yuki Kaijura's OST. Apparently it's not very faithful to the source manga, which led to an "Eat-Man '98" supposedly lacking this one's baffling charm.

BAKI (2018)

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An adaptation of the manga's MOST EVIL DEATH ROW CONVICTS arc. Has a promising start, with these five alarmingly deadly motherfuckers tanking executions and busting out of prisons left and right. The devils are drawn to Tokyo, by an inexplicable primal magnetism! Desirous of DEFEAT, at the hands of the mighty! WHATS NEXT?!

Oh. They've gathered in the secret arena... opposite Baki and four of his friends/rivals... for a five-a-side tournament. Ohhh.

FUCK RIGHT OFF. I've still not recovered from the One Punch Man s2 fiasco! Don't waste my motherfucking time, Baki! OR SO I THOUGHT. In a merciful break from shonen shite, the battle takes the form of open city-wide warfare... at any time, at any place, a mortal ambush may erupt! While eating. While sleeping. "EVEN WHILE HAVING SEX!"

Fairly entertaining. The five dudes are convincingly scary monsters, there's a real air of siege, and many stiff beatings are handed out. At 24 lean episodes, minus some pardonable teen drama, it's not a huge ask if you like your Hokuto-styled superhuman martial arts ultraviolence. It actually reminded me of an HNK that doesn't systematically kill its main characters. As a series newbie, I can't tell you how many times someone lost buckets of blood after getting unspeakably maimed, making me yell "DAT MOTHERFUCKER DEAD," only for them to pop up with a band-aid later on. I was so embarrassed! :shock:

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I went on to read a bit of the storied manga (there are four or so series, the latest ongoing), which was ok too, but eventually got a bit much with the utter worship of combat physiology. Loving paeans to the noble testes, the font of maleness, contrasting their situation with that of the brain and heart - tasked with continuing the bloodline, yet so cruelly unshielded! Plus ancient Chinese butt stuff, etc etc. I don't mind at all, knowing all too well the power of a good pair of glutes - TBH I consider this extreme subgenre of martial arts manga, where humans are ruthlessly forged into WEAPONS FOR KILLING, a kind of body horror. See also the truly gruesome, cruelly dark Shigurui.

It's more the cloying reverence I found a bit too rich. Hits a peak around Baki and co's vying to best PICKLE, the defrosted dinosaur-killing caveman - our young hero referring to the prospect of battle as "delicious" and "tantalising." Calm down son. Image (some of the comments on those chapters were hilarious... :lol: "MISS ME W/ THAT GAY SHIT NIGGA" "NAW, U THA GAY 1 BRUH" "*spluttering outrage* NAW U A FAGIT" goddamn noobs!)

Kengan Ashura (2019)

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Another brisk 24 eps of MMA-styled shonen action, slightly more grounded than Baki's inhuman feats. Really enjoying this. While its concept suggests untrammelled tournament arc shite, its execution has a real snap and vigour. Minimal "uwuu get strong w/ friends," maximal face-caving violence. Weenie salaryman YAMASHITA KAZUO happens across a Tekken 4 beatdown I.R.L. and is so moved by TOKITA OHMA's manfur display, HE HABE 2 FUCK AFTERWARD* (PRIMAL REACTION). (*HE FUCK A WOMAN HES NOT GAY Image)

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^ KIRYU GAY THO (^ω´ )

They are drawn into KENGAN - the underground (but NOT RLY) fighting scene, where corporations put up big bucks as their gladiators slug it out for dispute resolution and great deals! Like all shonen it's very silly. Like better shonen, it understands how to marshal this, keeping things moving with fiery characters, wily plots, a healthy sense of humour and punishing, unpredictable battles. I knew something was up when I found myself actually looking forward to seeing these fuckers fight! Kazuo and Ohma are a fine surrogate father/son act, too. Reminding me of good ol' Spike and Jet. This is what a KOF/Tekken anime shoulda been. Joe Higashi fans will mark out for THE HAMMER OF BURMA Saw Paing - even got Joe's classic VA, Nobuyuki Hiyama!

YOSHAAAAAA!
Spoiler
Image


Quoth a very good YT scholar, the CGI animation isn't great, but it's sure as shit not Berserk 2016 either. I warmed up to it a lot - got some brutal hits, vividly expressive faces and clean composition. The anime covers the first 136 chapters, reading on from there it's been good. Looking forward to season 3 sometime this summer, AFAIK.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by kitten »

BIL wrote:As a series newbie, I can't tell you how many times someone lost buckets of blood after getting unspeakably maimed, making me yell "DAT MOTHERFUCKER DEAD," only for them to pop up with a band-aid later on. I was so embarrassed! :shock:
i felt like i enjoyed baki a bit like a dimestore jojo - it has such totally silly turnarounds and hyperviolence, even if it can't articulate them nearly as well or execute them remotely as cleverly. it feels trashy but it's got this oddly compelling vibe to seeing how much more ridiculous it's going to get.

it's so obsessed with its turnarounds i doubt that anyone can watch it and walk away with an impression far from what you've described, though. the fights lose so much dramatic tension because of how overt and humiliating it will allow some of the wailings to be before pulling the rug out from under you and letting the other character win, often to unbelievably goofy nonsense.
BIL wrote:Quoth a very good YT scholar, the CGI animation isn't great, but it's sure as shit not Berserk 2016 either. I warmed up to it a lot - got some brutal hits, vividly expressive faces and clean composition. The anime covers the first 136 chapters, reading on from there it's been good. Looking forward to season 3 sometime this summer, AFAIK.
any cg anime you can recall really getting into? houseki no kuni and beastars (by the same studio) finally turned me around on cg in television anime. beastars' manga is actually done by the daughter of the author of baki the grappler, which is kinda neat.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

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TBH I don't watch a lot of anime, and when I do it tends to be catching up with 80s/90s stuff I've missed. Not out of any bias, I'm just a total slowpoke with my hobbies... I think Kengan may be the first CG-based series I've watched from start to finish. For me it's been more "phew, this isn't too bad" than any real enthusiasm for the CG itself.

In Kengan's case, I've seen manga fans castigate the CGI as a disgrace, which having caught up I think is hyperbolic. It does lose a shade of nuance, and it totally feels like watching Virtual Pro Wrestling 2 at times... but it gets the gist across without any stylistic howlers, it's got some undeniable intensity, and frankly, VPW2 fucking rocks (I know I've expounded my feelings on it to you in the past :lol:). As a Berserk (1997)-style "trailer for the manga," it's perfectly fine by me. (not a slight on that anime, I still enjoy rewatching it occasionally... not likely to do the same with the more recent Golden Age movies)

I can recall going "yikes, WTF" at CG here and there over the years, but the only production I've been outright turned off by is the aformentioned Berserk (2016)... which had a ton of issues besides that. Interesting video on it here - apologies if it's old news, probably beating a dead horse at this point, but I recently saw it and liked how it emphasised the problems being not merely technical, but stylistic. I thought the Golden Age movies were decent enough by comparison, though as above, nothing I was particularly wowed by.

Yeah, I recall reading that about the Beastars mangaka! I thought the anime looked very cool, in a Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox way (I think you posted it in this thread?), but IIRC it'd just started - I always wait for seasons to finish so I can binge. :3

Does the helicopter scene from Golgo 13: The Professional count? Image :mrgreen: (in total seriousness, the intro has scawy CG skeeltens and more importantly some bangin' Japanese disco Image)
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by Steamflogger Boss »

Been watching Yugioh again, lmao.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

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BIL wrote:Yeah, I recall reading that about the Beastars mangaka! I thought the anime looked very cool, in a Wes Anderson's Fantastic Mr. Fox way (I think you posted it in this thread?), but IIRC it'd just started - I always wait for seasons to finish so I can binge. :3
s1 of beastars has wrapped up (13 episodes, abt 24m apiece) and concludes at a pretty decent point to take a break, good time to get your nose wet if you're interested. i enjoy it for a lot of the same reasons i really adore the hannibal tv series, tbh. there's a lot of exploration of taboo sexual psychology via desire getting conflated with predatory urges. a lot of people seem to take it weirdly at face value because the characters are animals divided between predator and prey species, but there's a lot of obvious allegory going on. i'm sometimes genuinely totally baffled as to what people will swallow and what they'll balk at when it comes to that stuff! vampires are probably the most historically rife material for crossing territory people wouldn't accept without the pretense of them being fantasy. bringing this up in proximity to beastars reminds me of the scene in bram stoker's dracula where drac turns into a wolf and then starts chomping on a woman to the point of blood fountain orgasm/death.

there's a lot of class commentary going on in beastars, too. homeless people literally selling parts of their body as live meat is a bit cutting!

you might have only seen the intro if you were reminded of wes anderson's stop motion, though. it's shot totally in stop motion and is really superb. i've probably posted about it in here, i've been trying to sell a lot of people on it.
Does the helicopter scene from Golgo 13: The Professional count? Image :mrgreen: (in total seriousness, the intro has scawy CG skeeltens and more importantly some bangin' Japanese disco Image)
man, i really unironically love the cg in the professional and think it works. the intro is obviously great (i put on "pray for you" all the time lol), but i think the helicopter scene manages to look pretty solid, even today. obviously crude and representational, but it's shot well.

i think i've caught some gifs from that yt video on berserk (which brings up the modern cg jojo openings, which are a really good example of the better stuff), and it is indeed incredibly embarrassing. the bits of baki that shift into cg are pretty jarring to me, too - i really feel like it was an awkward supplementation for when they didn't want to animate something.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by BIL »

Oh yeah, now that I think back, it was just the intro I saw of Beastars. Good to know it's all out, will get s1 watched this weekend!

Image

Fuckin' rad indeed. Image 1980s Yankee b-action via manga/animu is the blood of my soul.

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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by null1024 »

Beastars has a lot to like. The best bits in terms of writing quality are all before Legosi meets the lion mafia, but it's still wildly entertaining for a while after that and it has some pretty interesting social commentary.
That being said, I dropped the manga for now. I'm tempted to give the anime adaptation a peek.
Following it week to week was actually just pissing me off.

I might blitz through and catch up after a few weeks, but being on Paru's Wild Ride isn't fun anymore. I'm genuinely curious if there's some kind of thing the editors are pushing on her or what, I don't like how the plot is flowing at all now. Sometimes that's just an issue that stems from being drip-fed a work and it's actually just fine... and then sometimes it's an actual problem with the material.
but seriously, every two or three chapters is some kind of ridiculous "yo what the HELL" moment and they've been seeming kinda stupid lately
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by BIL »

Kengan Ashura fin.

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Pitch-perfect competitive fighting shonen. It's a kinder work than the opening chapters suggest, to its benefit - its tone and magical realism are much nearer Ippo (optimistic, athletic) than Baki (bestial, preposterous). Carnage is gradually delegated to the B-story, allowing the competition a hard-earned camaraderie and crushing intensity. Final eight was rivetingly fought.

Onto its sequel Kengan Omega, I guess. I'm a bit loath to, with Ashura being such a concise trip, but we'll see.

At least I can call it "Kenny Omega."

Spoiler
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by bottino »

Disappointed with Jojo Part 5: Golden Wind. The animation was sharp, and the series had some good moments here and there (with Bucciarati being the highlight as far as the characters are concerned), but without most of the qualities that made previous parts so much fun to watch. The main villain and the storyline that revolves around him were especially bad.

Araki tried to do something different, but he clearly doesn't have - or at least didn't back then - the writing skills to pull it off, so in the end it felt like part 3, but worse in pretty much every regard.

I think that it's more sober mafia setting could've worked a whole lot better without Giorno and his all mighty powers (or without Stands at all), with the story focusing only on Bucciarati and his gang as they climb the mafia ranks and try to take down its boss.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by null1024 »

I like a lot of things about Part 5, but it's probably the weakest other than Part 1. Not too terrible, not too amazing.
Giorno is a plot device instead of a character.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by BIL »

I've always been a bit ambivalent about Part 5 myself - has its likable qualities for sure (Bucci is an all-series highlight) but it does feel like Araki was scrambling back to Part 3 seek/destroy after Part 4's detour.

The Passione Torture Dance ("Mfff! MFFFFFF!" *beat drops* :lol:) came out spectacularly, so on balance I'm cool. :cool:

I'm looking forward to seeing Part 6 animated, if only for how nuts yet decidedly downbeat it gets. It'd be an odd place to leave the series, especially for newer fans who got into it via the anime, so perhaps there'll be a Steel Ball Run and JoJolion too.

I was pleasantly surprised that JoJo got a proper anime treatment at all back when Parts 1-3 came out, and a popularly acclaimed one at that, so just for completism it'd be rad to see the whole series covered (a potential Part 9 notwithstanding).
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?

Post by Steamflogger Boss »

Been delving into the Leiji-verse a bit more. Next week will be Yamato week, assuming my mail from Japan isn't interrupted by COVID19 madness.
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