Recommended Anime/Manga?

[BIL]

Oh yeah, I read that one years ago. Good stuff. The anime is on my watch list. lol

I suspect if a full adaptation of SUPER MUNEN BROS 1664 could ever exist, it'd be my Favourite Thing Ever, just for the *krkkkkk* sound effect of homie cranking he buns to cinderblock-shattering pressure, right before he backhands a muhfucka's jawbone CLEAN AWFF

>MUH BEAUTIFUL FACE IS RUINED

^^^ Buddy's (◎w◎;) face as he processes his sword hand is now DAWG SHIT, and he FACE is next Legit MESMERISIN BGM too! It's a hell of a thing, getting PWNED by those beneath your station (;｀w´;)

The anime's climactic duel is legitimately one of the heaviest fuckin things I've ever seen on film. IMMENSE PRESSURE (｀w´メ) the next two major clashes down the line would be even moreso, with their hellraising turnabouts and near-misses!

Mostly I wonder, would they use the "buns of steel" SFX for the tribunal scene where Rival Master, sat behind Fujiki, goes "HAW! M'lords, these Tiger Bros clearly ain't shit nowadays. PLS, award the training contract to my -" only for a sitting Fujiki to superhumanly handspring into an upside-down iaido swipe before returning to a perfect kneel, lobotomising the offending fuckface at seven feet without so much as leaving his seat and causing the magistrates to say "AWW SHEEEEIT, WE FIND THE DEFENDANT EXTREMELY COOL, ALL CHARGES DROPPED"

"Fufufu" at this you smug cunt (｀w´メ)

Spoiler

Typing this, it hits me how engrossing yet utterly mirthless a work this is. By its face-obliteratingly hardcore nature, its battles and prowess can't help but blooden - you would need to be one cold floppy wiener not to go at some of the slayings these steel-bunned men unleash on chumps. But there are no comic relief characters, or bouts of superdeformed mugging, the stuff even ostensibly XTREEM Berserk used (and used well, imo). What it does have are vanishingly rare but profound instances of human warmth, inevitably compromised by an exceptionally cruel world. There's an increasing sense towards the end, long past the point of no return, of how farcically unnecessary all of this was; my favourite being

Spoiler

Irako's disarmingly frank "Wait - what?" at hearing Fujiki's brutal backstory, realising he'd arrogantly made a mortal enemy of a fellow gutter survivor, one who'd accepted his station not out of greed or spinelessness, but simple gratitude to an adoptive father; Fujiki's own epiphany of his rival being even more cruelly obscured, coming only as the black curtain finally descends on his obliterated world.

This is why it's important to talk, even - actually, ESPECIALLY if you are a Hardcore Killer (;｀w´;)

Spoiler

Similarly, there's no God Hand at work in all this strife; only mortal avarice and myopic wrath in the shadow of a nightmarish but by no means fanciful social order. Stripped of the superhuman combat prowess and cascading phantasmagorias, you'd have a bracingly stiff hip flask of historical tragedy to slug back. I enjoy the embellishment, ultimately, a rare balance of indulgent style and flat strife.

[evil_ash_xero]

I'll check that Shigurui out too. It seems in the vein of BotI.

I had read Uzumaki a bit ago. That was a some weird shit. It's like goofy and freaky at the same time. I was reading it, and thinking "I'm not really into this", and then I ended up getting into
it. Such an odd book.

I saw the live action, years ago, and thought it was ridiculous. I don't think what's going on in the book really translates to live action. Take the "hair battle", for instance.
The chapter "Mosquitoes" was pretty disturbing.

[kitten]

i bought an uzumaki coloring book from a wal-mart for a 9 year old, recently. he's a big fan of uzumaki. i thought, as i did it, about the absurdity of culture

[dojo_b]

I read Shigurui recently on the recommendation of BIL's earlier posts. Yeah, it's awesome Just two notable aspects I want to underline. First, the innovative (AFAIK) and thoroughgoing use of patented Artist's X-ray Specs to peer through modest robes and reveal bodies in states of strenuous exertion, injury, exhilaration, and (obv) arousal. Once you accept the ridiculousness and sign on to the creator's go-for-broke attitude, it really is an effective propellant to the action. Oh, and the X-ray effect need not be depth-limited---whole nervous systems and viscera can light up for dramatic effect! Also convenient if you're not willing to simply wait for the next disembowelment.

The second aspect (connected to the first, and to BIL's comments) is that despite the over-the-top violence and quasi-mystical levels of technique and training, the story is actually grounded in strong character study, a study that is carefully balanced across four central characters (incl. two women, taken seriously) and two supporting roles. Yamaguchi carefully and patiently draws out these characters' backstories and development at well-chosen points in a long arc. He understands the connection between their inner passion/intensity and their fiercely guarded exteriors (in a milieu where self-expression is not just foolish, but the ultimate mistake). He gets that these are pre-modern subjects facing a feudal Absolute with bitter awe, and that there is something not just laconic about them, but essentially obscure, even undecidable to themselves. How they feel about themselves, each other, their goals and prospects --- these questions are drawn out artfully and resolved partially, with subtlety. The heightened attention to bodies is both a counterweight to their few words, and an illustration of how they think in and through their physical actions, whether searching for clarity and equipoise or violent release. (This is not to deny or demean the artist's simultaneous pursuit of titillation + ultraviolence for its own sake!)

I also need to read the (relatively short) source material from Norio Nanjō's novel. I understand he doesn't shy from exploring violence in lurid detail either. I suspect that Yamaguchi's adaptation not only benefited from the novelist's research and invention, but also a much older writer's sensitivity to period character, especially to unspoken love and long silence in the face of overwhelming adversity and cruelty.

If anyone wants a short read in a similar vein, yet without the warrior-class focus, I strongly recommend 'Hell Screen' (Akutagawa, 1918) adapted from a much older work. I found this one in the Vandermeers' anthology The Weird, which is excellent. Or for another manga that benefits as an adaptation of an older artist, Junji Ito's No Longer Human, adapting Osamu Dazai's self-portrait as a doomed, decadent figure, is probably my favorite of his work for the delicately tragic personal depth it brings.

[BIL]

Yamaguchi carefully and patiently draws out these characters' backstories and development at well-chosen points in a long arc. He understands the connection between their inner passion/intensity and their fiercely guarded exteriors (in a milieu where self-expression is not just foolish, but the ultimate mistake). He gets that these are pre-modern subjects facing a feudal Absolute with bitter awe, and that there is something not just laconic about them, but essentially obscure, even undecidable to themselves. How they feel about themselves, each other, their goals and prospects --- these questions are drawn out artfully and resolved partially, with subtlety.

This really is the heart of the work, what makes it polemic as much as tragedy; it's no mistake that the final, most horrible blow comes not out of the incinerating fury that drives most of the tale, having reached a state of burnout almost innocent by comparison - but from the comfortably detached and absolute authority of the elite; those who obliviously gawked at Seigen and Gennosuke as not the premiere duellists of their time, but sideshow freaks unworthy of the royal stage.

At its roots, a tale of nascent rebellion and awakening denied, no less incendiary for it; the full expression of those things necessarily taking place on civilizational and epochal scales far beyond the scope of this manga's intimate tragedy. In this regard, I do enjoy the framing device of doomed Tadanaga; a nod towards even a social order as terrible as this one having some permeability to the human souls it keeps in check.

If anyone wants a short read in a similar vein, yet without the warrior-class focus, I strongly recommend 'Hell Screen' (Akutagawa, 1918) adapted from a much older work. I found this one in the Vandermeers' anthology The Weird, which is excellent. Or for another manga that benefits as an adaptation of an older artist, Junji Ito's No Longer Human, adapting Osamu Dazai's self-portrait as a doomed, decadent figure, is probably my favorite of his work for the delicately tragic personal depth it brings.

Cheers, much appreciated! This is exactly what I was wondering about, by dramas in this closely-studied mode minus the (thoroughly entertaining, but inevitably transformative) element of superhuman martial prowess.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Your Lie In April

MY. HEART. IT. HURTS.

[BIL]

there's no communication with the divine through sheer, freakish dedication to the craft like you'll get in blame!, berserk, and akira, though.

Late, but I forgot to tell you, that Akira commentary - https://twitter.com/garflyf/status/1084965991551971328 - was fuckin intense And inspiring. God damn, talk about giving it everything you've got. Superb.

Oh wow, Berserk is continuing? Wondered for a sec if I'd just missed a bunch of old eps. I'm happy to see, tbh. Like many, I've not been entirely on board (oh god) with the shoneny direction of the last, uh, fifteen years, but by that same token, I don't see the harm in it. World is a bit shit atm, could use the escapism.



Condolences to the TRVE + HONEST diehardz over at skullknight, this'll be a blasphemy echoing in eternity for them 3; I like to lurk sk.net, diehard fandoms are an interesting quantity in themselves imo

I gotta revise my opinion on animated Gantz slightly. While I'd still recommend not bothering with either the live-action movies (which kind of write their own, shorter story), or the anime (a well-made blueballer), the CGI movie Gantz: O is good fun. It animates a particularly juicy mid-series arc, with some wild enemy and weapon designs, and some decent little character arcs. Being a "killing gameshow" series, it's kinda refreshing skipping the necessarily tentative, confused earlier chapters, where the characters are still finding their feet, and jumping straight into 1CC candidate territory.



As mentioned it's decidedly silly, not comparable to contemplative work like Blame! or Shigurui, but for pure videogamey fun I recommend it. If you dig O's heartful ultraviolence, the rest of the manga's a safe bet.

[BryanM]

Eh, the friend collector arcs aren't... well, they could have been done better in any way. Scooby doo ghost pirates weren't really the worst part of it. It was that they ran out of ideas and kept doing the same exact scenes over and over again. "Uh oh, Gutsman has to put on the Berserk armor again! Will this be the time he loses it and murders his friends? (No.)." "Aw shit, they're getting swarmed again! Will everyone get eaten raped and killed, in that order?! (Nope, wizard girl is going to cast the Flame Wheel spell again. They'll be fine.)

It's like an episode of the power rangers or pokemon or teletubbies: the same 20 minutes on a loop, made for babies, forever.

I've been doing some manga sifting this year (monthlies are the f'n worst. Wait thirty days for five minutes of content? That's not worth my attention. I'll take five year breaks in between, thanks). On the topic of sentai, Reject Ranger is a new thing that I don't like a ton, but don't hate either. It has some ideas at least. There are highs there to be found. There are panels I'd like to cut out and paste and say "isn't this cool and edgy?"

...

Argh... I always cringe and rant when I think of the witch girl in Berserk. In these dark fantasy worlds, the heroes absolutely should never be able to have something that violates the laws of physics to an unnatural degree that renders other combatants superfluous and incompetent; that's something only the monsters should be able to do. Carry around a huge monster bladder that spits out a torrent of flame that kills dozens of trash mobs? Sure. But it can't wipe out hundreds of trash mobs, it only gets one shot, and takes weeks to reload. You don't just mumble a few sentences to yourself, snap your fingers, and all your problems are solved.

The guy who made Kingdom Death: Monster (a boardgame in a similar dark fantasy sex-torture world to Berserk) has stated he has no intention to ever create an expansion where The Scribe is an enemy, because he never wants the player characters to get that strong. The Scribe is a godlike being that can create life by writing some words into a book; the very first thing your guys do in the game is wipe off the ink from your eyes after waking up. The second thing they do is punch the balls off a ten foot tall lion with their bare hands.

...

Oh, and on creator existence failure. One of the monthlies I have on the burner... only had like four new issues after I left it to cook for years. I was baffled. It's a hot property: successful webnovel, up to its seventh light novel, got it's manga serialization, will eventually get an anime port, a breakfast cereal, and perverted figurines... five chapters over three years. The equivalent of 1.25 months of a weekly.

They give a hell of a lot of respect over there, derailing a bit of a franchise for one artist getting sick.

the anime (a well-made blueballer)

I've only seen it through Gantz Abridged and honestly it ended at the perfect time. Ended before things got silly in the middle, and bad at the end. Right at the climax and the highest point of the series.

The Gantz conflict model has been quite the boon to action stories all over, though. Terror Infinity, Monster Hunter, various litrpg's... It's just a pure distilled game loop. Go into a level, do the quest, get EXP, get upgrades so the next fight isn't the same exact thing you just saw, repeat. Perfect barebones wrestling structure.

[BIL]

It's just a pure distilled game loop.

Yep. And that is why I never bothered with further That Time I Became A Marios. Bit close to home.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Almost done with Nisekoi. Very stylish, fairly entertaining. Typical slow romcom pace but comes with the territory. They can't all be Kaguya-sama (incredibly based and I highly recommend it).

Planning to go through Monogatari in full after that. It's been so long since I watched the first couple series that those will probably be fresh again.

[copy-paster]

Almost done with Nisekoi. Very stylish, fairly entertaining. Typical slow romcom pace but comes with the territory. They can't all be Kaguya-sama (incredibly based and I highly recommend it).

I recall seeing this anime got posted everywhere in early 2010s, wasn't much fan of romcom at the time.

Lately I've been rarely watch anime, someone tempt me to rewatch Made in Abyss because season 2 just airing this season I could give these a watch again after done with shmup/jarpigs homework.

[Ghegs]

I watched through Gate a little while ago, which can be summed up as "Stargate but for weebs and it's also a recruitment tool for JSDF". It was entertaining, though.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Almost done with Nisekoi. Very stylish, fairly entertaining. Typical slow romcom pace but comes with the territory. They can't all be Kaguya-sama (incredibly based and I highly recommend it).

I recall seeing this anime got posted everywhere in early 2010s, wasn't much fan of romcom at the time.

Lately I've been rarely watch anime, someone tempt me to rewatch Made in Abyss because season 2 just airing this season I could give these a watch again after done with shmup/jarpigs homework.

Yeah my interests wax and wane. Definitely on an anime kick right now myself, barely gaming at all but I know at some point a game will grab me again.

I watched through Gate a little while ago, which can be summed up as "Stargate but for weebs and it's also a recruitment tool for JSDF". It was entertaining, though.

I started this one awhile back but never finished. Seemed okay enough but wasn't digging the animation.

[Ghegs]

Can also recommend the anime adaptation of 86. A story about technological singularity, child soldiers, and the systematic effort to control, marginalize, and eventually completely wipe out a group of people based on their color, perpetuated by those considering themselves the master race.

Y'know, fun, heartwarming stuff. Also mechs.

[BryanM]

The Garou fight from the One Punch Man Remake finally happened, so I checked in to see how much they fucked it up. They exceeded my expectations! This is at least on par with the calvary battle in Prison School. And they're gonna make a third season of this? Such a waste.

They just pile more and more distracting and meaningless shit to pad out pages, while removing important stuff. The whole exchange after Garou gives up, gone-zo.

Garou: "... so what should I do now?"

Saitama: "First of all, you should go pay that bill. Besides that, I don't care."

Garou: "..That's it?? Some hero you are."

Saitama: "Hey, don't go blaming this on me. It's not my place to tell you how to live your life."

^ This poignant little moment was sacrificed for a cosmic space battle where Saitama destroys Jupiter with a sneeze and travels back in time. Yeah.

And so too was the scene of Bang half-heartedly beating him up as punishment, but the old man not having the heart to hit him for real.

Aaaand the "What does being a hero mean to you?" -> ".... it's a hobby." bombshell being removed. Is this even the same story without it?

The part I hate the most is that Blast shows up. You know, the #1 guy with over a decade of hype behind him? The man, the myth, the legend? Unseen for decades, rumored to be fake or dead? Tatsumaki's inspiration for becoming a hero? He just pops in randomly for a couple pages to contain collateral damage in someone else's cosmic space fight. What a great introduction. Yeah.

It's also antithetical to what little we know about Blast: the organization sees calling him in as a last resort, as the collateral damage he would cause would be too great. To the point that losing an entire city is maybe preferable to calling the guy in. The impression we have is he's kind of a jerk, maybe. Or at least his power set is hard to control and very destructive. His name is Blast, not Magic Dimensional Barrier Guy.

Saitama getting a "power up" boost midfight is also completely antithetical to OPM in its entirety.... sigh. He doesn't want to get stronger, he doesn't need it, he's already the strongest, he hates it, and that's the entire initial premise of the series. He was the anti "smug try-hard shonen battle protagonist". Was.

It's such a shame; I really liked some of the extra side stories in the early days. It felt like the webcomic, but with a little bit extra. These days there's more pages in the Murata remake, but it feels like so much less.

_____

Argh, I could write a book on how great the introductions in Real One Punch Man are. They're quick and snappy, and always serve to display some of the character's personality and their motivations in life. They usually lead to something, which means they mean something.

King is grim and serious when we first see him, that subverts the joke character he actually is.

Super Alloy Darkshine tries to tone down the conflict between the heroes, which gets across that he's a caring guy, but also a bit soft. Which means it makes perfect sense he retires later on when he tastes failure and fear for the first time.

Set up -> Pay off. You know, writing. Not just random shit happening that doesn't matter.

_____

And when they shoehorn in old iconic scenes that no longer make any sense in the new context they're in! How the hell is the table flip supposed to matter in a cosmic space battle? How is it an "epic" moment when twelve even more "epic" things have happened? Garou literally caused multiple nuclear explosions with his punches before this! He fired a gamma ray burst! How was this a threat to him? How does a cosmic spaceman get up and down confused, etc etc etc? Argh, I have complaints.

Why couldn't they have just done a hiatus. Let the man do his webcomic hobby on his own time, build up a backlog. Profit seeking has ruined this thing.

Argh, and I forgot about the redraws. The redraws! One week, a character is a heartless mass murderer. Next week, get the same chapter except he isn't. It's such a mess, this isn't professional, they need so much more time to develop this. And I assume it's all to keep Murata paid and on the job...

Numbers go up filler, smh. Modern Dragonball is better than modern OPM, there is no god.

(And padding things out with filler fights with increasingly large centipedes still annoys me! Come on! The webcomic mocks the hell out of that shit; one little bit is about an organization trying to prevent an ancient evil from being set free, while an evil cult fights to break its seal. After being told it's much too dangerous to fight and keeping it sealed is the only way to keep the world safe... Saitama teams up with one of the cultists, sets the demon dragon free, and one-punches it. Takes like three pages, it's just another Tuesday for all of us.)

Spoiler

[Steamflogger Boss]

You okay Bryan?

I've read enough about the One Punch Man anime adaptation to never bother with it.

[BryanM]

The more I read stuff by other people who've read more of this arc than I have, the angrier I get. They removed practically everything, my rigger friend. And with every major thing I hear they've taken out, I yell "HOW DOES THE STORY EVEN WORK WITHOUT THAT" at my screen oldman style.

The first season of the anime was back when the manga was 103% faithful to the source material. It's great.

The second season is a filler tournament arc, along with the start of the massively bloated and molested monster association arc. It's not good. But it isn't smearing poop on the mona lisa, either. It has its moments? Not the 2 hours dedicated to the expanded jobber fights. Those are terrible. But the canon stuff at the start when it was still OPM. Human moments that aren't about punching a guy really hard.

The original webcomic is still great, even if it never gets updated because all of ONE's energy is... directed at this frankenstein committee-monster thing. The first anime season is fine as a stand alone, most series run out of ideas in 12 episodes anyway (I've read hundreds of webnovels, trust me the four hour longevity curse is real), it was amazing the webcomic invested and built up its characters enough to continue being interesting beyond that.

Argh. You know how the best escapist fiction creates worlds people would like to live in or visit? The OPM universe is kind of my own Harry Potter/Twilight.

[Udderdude]

We need OPM Kai.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Yeah I get that they can never leave cash cows alone but there are several things that would have been completely fine to just leave as one season. I recently (yesterday even) finished Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions season one and feel like it's going to fall into this camp. The season one ending was perfect. I wrote some more thoughts about this on bluray dot com as the anime forum section gets a lot more than this thread unsurprisingly. Currently watching anime much more over playing games so I feel compelled to post about it lolol.

I can always appreciate something that tells a concise story. Chaika is something else I watched recently and I wouldn't call it groundbreaking but it actually ends and the second season busses it. So much so that I imagine they were told "this is it, make sure you end it".

[Udderdude]

Isekai Ojisan is what would happen if BIL got isekai'd.

[BIL]

It's true I too have no phone

[BryanM]

Trapped In Another World Without A Smartphone

/dies three seconds in to the first monster horde

The Weakest Contestant of All Space and Time is one of those things that managed to sell me on reading the blasted thing in three pages by cleverly pandering to my shmupness.

Spoiler

It unfortunately turns into a chase story, which I hate, but it still has some moments.

Also Imgur now lets you use the old, actually functional design? "Upload image -> get on with your life." Amazing times we live in now.

I recently (yesterday even) finished Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions season one and feel like it's going to fall into this camp.

It does stretch things a little thin toward the end of season 2, which is probably why they retired the franchise after the movie, but they get a lot of mileage out of the new character. It's definitely not season 2 of K-On, or even the later seasons of Bamboo Blade. If you liked season 1, you'll like 2 more than you think you will.

... huh, the movie came out four years after the last season, and we're four years past the movie. Maybe the franchise isn't finished forever...

We need OPM Kai.

Aw, I thought this would be possible early on when I thought they were just adding stuff. This shit they've done to... everything, it can't be fixed. Character moments flushed down the toilet in favor of random key-jangling spectacle. Character moments reduced to ham-fisted dialogue instead of showing them.

This all started as just a web comic a guy drew for fun. I'll never forgive the suits on the committee, never.

[BIL]

Oh wow buddy got his shit ruined Rule #1 never underestimate a zako

[Steamflogger Boss]

It does stretch things a little thin toward the end of season 2, which is probably why they retired the franchise after the movie, but they get a lot of mileage out of the new character. It's definitely not season 2 of K-On, or even the later seasons of Bamboo Blade. If you liked season 1, you'll like 2 more than you think you will.

... huh, the movie came out four years after the last season, and we're four years past the movie. Maybe the franchise isn't finished forever...

Yeah I loved season one of Chuni. Especially the back half of it. I think it's done though. By all accounts the movie ends it and there was only 4 LN worth of content to work with in the first place. I guess I don't really know if any of the stuff made goes beyond the LN content and is original anime stuff. I haven't read the LN of these.

We have had some huge gaps with things recently though. Log Horizon, My Teen Romantic Comedy, Irregular at Magic High school etc...

K-on is honestly just more of the same. Aside from S1 having the best op/ed by miles, I don't distinguish much. I could probably watch 100 episodes of that shit when it's what I'm in the mood for.

I watched Kizumonogatari over the weekend. Man does Shaft love putting in problematic scenes that aren't exactly there in the LN.

I also started watching Twelve Kingdoms. It's pretty promising.

[BIL]

Christ, Nu-Berserk is sheeiiite m8 Wouldn't give it to a fuckin dog! My dog would piss all over it and walk off, I'll tell you that much.

I'm checkin outta this shitshow, and going back to BAKI ANIME which is currently on the ASS RAPE PRISON U.S.A. arc! It's pretty good tbh. Not as ludicrously entertaining as the MOST DANGEROUS DEATH ROW CONVICTS arc, where battle can erupt at any moment - "EVEN WHILE HAVING SEX" - but also much lighter on the overwrought puppy-love shite, now that BAKI got his dick wet, MUHAMMAD ALI JR was soundly knocked the fuck out (I'm making it sound like Baki bummed JR into a coma ), and his dumb if fortuitiously dick-wetting bird is back in Nipsville!

ALONE IN THE PRISON, having survived the CHINAMEN's JIGOKU no H.I.V. last season, our lad might be said to have hopped out of the ol' frying pan, straight into the fiery depths of MAN-ON-MAN CENTRAL Early points for a hilarious good-natured kidnapping of George W. Bush - shame he wasn't subsequently executed in hideous yet agonisingly systematic fashion, but the world is unkind, and Baki tends to respect IRL CANON ;3 An interesting change of venue - I suppose they knew a Japanese prison, with the nation's menfolk having such LAUGHABLY SMOL PENORS just couldn't bring the requisite yardage for SCARY BULLQUEER TENSION! And I agree!

Oh Baki. You're soon to learn, son - when you're pushed far enough, DEMOLISHING ANOTHER MAN'S CHEEKS is as easy as breathin'.

Fuck me that Berserk chapter was awful though, I wanted to put one square through the roof of me mouf m8! *BOOF* pain end - in theory! RIP MIURA, SORRY THEY'RE BUMMING YOUR CORPSE

[Udderdude]

Miura's with his AIDORUS in heaven.

I'm finally getting around to watching Mob Psycho 100, since season 3 is airing soon. It's good. Very entertaining. You should watch it.

[BIL]

Miura's with his AIDORUS in heaven.

True - Godspeed and Good Polygonal Pussy to you MIURA-DONO ;__;7

[BryanM]

I'd rather they just let it go and give the space to something new, but I understand there's still somehow people invested who want some kind of closure. The little blurb by the editorial department literally asking for feedback and including their mailing address... well, that was amazing. First time I've ever seen anything like that.

I honestly enjoy the meta stuff more than these comics. Like that story of the Gal Cleaning guy having an emotional outburst and putting his heroine through gropey sex stuff or something (I'm not sure, heard this all second hand) to "punish" his readers. Or Cheat Slayer getting cancelled after one issue for copying everyone's elses MC's and pissing off everyone in general. (I read Cheat Slayer, and it's kind of amazing how objectively bad the writing is for a professional publication. It's like a kid's first few attempts at writing: a focus on stuff that happens, a ridiculous creepy grandma savior archetype that saves/gives the MC stuff to do invalidating his agency, and rushing through everything way too fast instead of giving characters and events time to simmer and form an impression with the reader.)

Whether these diversions click with someone or not, that's all subjective. But who can forget the legendary troll of Endless Eight?

[BIL]

The little blurb by the editorial department literally asking for feedback and including their mailing address... well, that was amazing. First time I've ever seen anything like that.

Haaa, I know. That was where I finally said "Yup, checkin' out." Rest in peace sir.

A happier thought, randomly rewatched Knockin' On Heaven's Door, the Cowboy Bebop movie. What a delight. Having gone on a short Buster Keaton trip in the intervening years, I couldn't stop thinking of his proto-parkour aesthetic during scenes like the spirited chase following this customarily flawless scrap. Of course, if Buster fucked up a building-to-building leap, he was getting his fuckin nutsack busted open - IRL! But it's the spirit that counts, I'm sure the great man would agree.



Ah man. Innocent hijinks in the melancholy forestall of inescapable blood-soaked fate. But now I'm back in Butt Rape Prison USA with my boy Baki!



Not literally - that would be terrifying! I'm enjoying his bloodcurdling exploits from my comfy chair! People call Baki a shonen. THEY LYIN. This is ero-bodyhorror. Martial arts is simply a venue par excellence for distillation of masculinity's raison d'etre: to dominate utterly. Even if you don't buttfuck 'em - so unbecoming of a gentleman - they know YOU COULD.

BITE THE PILLOW SON, I'M GOIN IN DRY (｀w´メ)

Well. Harumph. Admittedly. There is some vestige of the ol' friend collect 'em up. Heartwarming bromance is never far away, even in this place that blurs (or perhaps RETRACTS ) the line between man and bestial rutting beast!

I honestly enjoy the meta stuff more than these comics.

TBH nowadays my favourite shonen anime is Ethan Ralph aka GuntMan.

[Steamflogger Boss]

The Promised Neverland might have the most insane drop off in quality that I've ever seen between seasons. Not in terms of av but in terms of content. Woof.