Recommended Anime/Manga?
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
I think I mentioned this years ago, but the first arc of Neverland was written over years. That's why it's full of foreseeable twists and turns, and characters behaving in-character. After that, the thing was in syndication and I'm pretty sure was a weekly, so the guy had 99.9% of his attention and effort going into pumping out pages of art and zero time to even fist himself, let alone write anything. Like New Punch Man, it seriously only gets worse with time. Much worse.
This is the poster child for why monthlies, pre-writing an entire series, or having someone else do the writing leads to a higher quality product. The whole webnovel -> light novel -> anime pipeline is in theory an ideal way to do the process.... except the things that tend to get picked up tend to be.... yeah... they've got a chasm of content to fill and not all of it can be high effort or sincere.
I still love To Be A Power In The Shadows, though. It's not about the MC stepping all over other people or collecting women, it's a wholesome story about a guy who is very very very chunni and loves dramatic stories. Just the name of the first chapter about his meat-headed obsession with training until maybe a miracle might happen and he could maybe develop superpowers radiates joy: "Remaining Within the Limits of Being Human Means You Would Be Evaporated By a Taepodong." Ah, I always love the moment when the evil merchant lady tries to form a business partnership with him, and he's not having any of it until she drops the idea that it'd be a secret underground company, and he just couldn't resist the idea of founding another secret society to compete against his already existing secret society and the beautiful clusterfuck that would drive the future plot into.
This is the poster child for why monthlies, pre-writing an entire series, or having someone else do the writing leads to a higher quality product. The whole webnovel -> light novel -> anime pipeline is in theory an ideal way to do the process.... except the things that tend to get picked up tend to be.... yeah... they've got a chasm of content to fill and not all of it can be high effort or sincere.
I still love To Be A Power In The Shadows, though. It's not about the MC stepping all over other people or collecting women, it's a wholesome story about a guy who is very very very chunni and loves dramatic stories. Just the name of the first chapter about his meat-headed obsession with training until maybe a miracle might happen and he could maybe develop superpowers radiates joy: "Remaining Within the Limits of Being Human Means You Would Be Evaporated By a Taepodong." Ah, I always love the moment when the evil merchant lady tries to form a business partnership with him, and he's not having any of it until she drops the idea that it'd be a secret underground company, and he just couldn't resist the idea of founding another secret society to compete against his already existing secret society and the beautiful clusterfuck that would drive the future plot into.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
It's actually just heinous how bad the drop off is. Depressing. The big churn is a bad thing, always has been for sure.BryanM wrote:I think I mentioned this years ago, but the first arc of Neverland was written over years. That's why it's full of foreseeable twists and turns, and characters behaving in-character. After that, the thing was in syndication and I'm pretty sure was a weekly, so the guy had 99.9% of his attention and effort going into pumping out pages of art and zero time to even fist himself, let alone write anything. Like New Punch Man, it seriously only gets worse with time. Much worse.
This is the poster child for why monthlies, pre-writing an entire series, or having someone else do the writing leads to a higher quality product. The whole webnovel -> light novel -> anime pipeline is in theory an ideal way to do the process.... except the things that tend to get picked up tend to be.... yeah... they've got a chasm of content to fill and not all of it can be high effort or sincere.
I still love To Be A Power In The Shadows, though. It's not about the MC stepping all over other people or collecting women, it's a wholesome story about a guy who is very very very chunni and loves dramatic stories. Just the name of the first chapter about his meat-headed obsession with training until maybe a miracle might happen and he could maybe develop superpowers radiates joy: "Remaining Within the Limits of Being Human Means You Would Be Evaporated By a Taepodong." Ah, I always love the moment when the evil merchant lady tries to form a business partnership with him, and he's not having any of it until she drops the idea that it'd be a secret underground company, and he just couldn't resist the idea of founding another secret society to compete against his already existing secret society and the beautiful clusterfuck that would drive the future plot into.
Some good isekai that I enjoyed
Mushoku Tensei: Jobless Reincarnation
Ascendance of a Bookworm
Some stuff on my radar to watch that I haven't yet... If anyone has thoughts on them.
Snow White with the Red Hair
Saints Magic Power Is Omnipotent
Record of Grancrest War (this seems kinda bad)
Tokyo Meiji Renka
Rising of a Shield Hero (I think this was the one where I heard the second season drops off?)
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom
Horimiya
86
Those Snow White Notes
Engage Kiss (yeah this is complete trash made only made to try and drain bank accounts by funneling you to a game but I'm still interested lol)
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
I liked Akagami no Shirayukihime, Grancrest Senki and Horimiya. Can't say anything about the other ones.
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
Thermae Romae is probably the most realistic isekai I've seen yet. Westerner gets isekai'd into Japan, doesn't understand a single word, and is flabbergasted how two sticks are supposed to be used for eating.
No matter how good a game is, somebody will always hate it. No matter how bad a game is, somebody will always love it.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
That was a good one. I haven't watched the anime version yet.
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
Shield Hero and its companion series, Re-do Of The Spear Hero, are both solid competent video game stories in the early going. The slideoff is from two factors imo: an over commitment to the tiresome main plot when you'd rather see them continue on with random DnD style quests, solving Town X's problems of the week. And that the characters just aren't fun to be around. Personally I think the first serious error was aging up the first companion so quickly just because they felt they needed a "sexy" lady character early on or everyone would lose interest. (I loathe this trope, it's a rugpull for the reader. There's this one series where there's this greedy shark runt-girl covered in bandages. We loved her instantly so much: shark girl was a hustler, wasn't another fucking cat or dog or fox, wasn't trying to make anybody horny, just a wonderful change of pace from what we usually get. Then through extremely contrived events, she gets turned into a generic booby catslut. With no soul. Even says "nyan." Godamnit.)Steamflogger Boss wrote:Rising of a Shield Hero (I think this was the one where I heard the second season drops off?)
There were so many potential scenes of the MC continuing to be a half-assed dad that were severed by that decision. Haaaaah...
If you're good at cutting your losses and stopping when reading/watching the things stop being rewarding, they can help you kill a few afternoons. Always remember my life's motto: "Never fail to bail."
There are so many things in this subgenre that I thought you were talking about The Genius Prince's Guide to Raising a Nation Out of Debt at first, here. A lot of them are really, really bad. Some of them are really good at the savior complex thing that's core to so many things, or at least provide lewd material for those looking for it. And a rare few are just ok. And I unfortunately can't tell you which kind Realist Hero 87.5 Variation C is. (Edit: after pumping my databanks for memories, my neurons went "isn't that the one with the big booby queen?" And I investigated and yeah. That's almost literally everything I remember about it, I dropped it quickly and never moved beyond the light probe phase on it, so um...)How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom
(... argh, he gets engaged to the princess in the first chapter? Happens just 'cause, no logical real reason for it? The king just gives her to this random space hobo he pulled out of a kidnapping circle two seconds ago? Argh. Arrrrrrgh. Just arrrrghhhhhblarg.
This is all too raw and real for me. Due to the forgetting. Or in retrospect, mental suppression.)
I read a manga in the kingdom rebuilding genre a few months ago that I liked more than not: Teihen Ryoushu No Kanchigai Eiyuutan. It's dumb, lighthearted, and the MC's healing magic is a little too potent. And correctly so: OP characters are always way more interesting when it's a support ability of some sort that they have; if it's direct damage it doesn't really matter if it's fireballs or a sword or whatever, the core of what they're doing is exactly the same: murderin' things.
That's one of the annoying things about Shield Bro, the writer did many things that are conceptually correct. Such a dropped ball on character.
Characters are everything. Just think of the Konosuba cast. Does it even matter what the hell they're doing? A generic jrpg quest. Working at Burger King on earth. In a soul-crushing Office Space hell working the salaryman life. Being homeless and sleeping in a park. Sitting in a doctor's office and being told they have cancer. Whether they have powers or don't doesn't even matter. Do they entertain, that's all that matters.
There's these times I've been introduced to a character in a novel and instantly went: "I've known this character for fifteen seconds, and I love them to death." Like Martial Elder Kal in Speedrunning the Multiverse. That's how you keep readers invested.
.... does the live action Devil Summoner show count as an anime?
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
Well, the protagonist is Lucius, a thermal engineer from Imperial Rome (Emperor Hadrianus is his most powerful sponsor), who indeed has all kinds of culture shocks when transported into modern Japan (and back). The author (Yamazaki Mari) studied arts, design and history in Florence married an Italian engineer and has lived around the world (a bit more about her work can be found here. Her latest work is a manga on Plinius the Elder (some info is here), which is a painstakingly accurate historical Manga. I understand that she has cured more than one historical exposition on Republican and Imperial Rome in Japan, so her knowledge of the subject matter should be pretty impressive.Ghegs wrote:Thermae Romae is probably the most realistic isekai I've seen yet. Westerner gets isekai'd into Japan, doesn't understand a single word, and is flabbergasted how two sticks are supposed to be used for eating.
I am too lazy too look the name up now, but a very similar manga/anime from the same author involves a pottery artist from the classic Hellenistic period time-travelling back and forth Tokyo in 1964, the year of the Olympics. The anime features stop-motion clay characters and Spartans speaking with Osaka accents (well, Sparta was in the South of Greece).
I would say that ancient Romans might count as "Westerners" of sorts, though experts in the field might have all kinds of nuanced opinions on the matter
Chomsky, Buckminster Fuller, Yunus and Glass would have played Battle Garegga, for sure.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
@Bryan I'm definitely not opposed to dropping things. It's just in the case of if the rest isn't worthwhile I'd probably just the same rather not even watch the first season. I don't have super high standards, I love DanMachi even though it's trash. It's my kind of trash.
I'm with you on the characters thing. Part of what makes the Yamato remake better to me is they added characters beyond having a skeleton crew. This is also why I love slice of life and character dramas when done well. Things that are focused on the characters. They live and die with the characters, so the bad ones are unwatchable.
My worry with Those Snow White Notes is it wouldn't surprise me at all if it just doesn't see a bluray release here. It looks like something I would really love but who is going to pick up what will likely be a low seller? So that leaves me to pirate, which I will do if I have to but holy shit I'm lazy now, I'd rather just throw money at someone to pop a disc in. You guys remember the guy that died and they didn't find him for days because he was buried under manga? That'll probably be me with DVD/BDs.
Appreciate all the input from everyone. Grancrest seems like it has real issues but I was already in for the Tenchi OVA set from Rarewaves (the US blu set is out of print and heinously priced) so I picked up the region b release. I'll have to just rip these to watch them. I'm not importing a bluray player or messing with region switching/free crap.
I'm with you on the characters thing. Part of what makes the Yamato remake better to me is they added characters beyond having a skeleton crew. This is also why I love slice of life and character dramas when done well. Things that are focused on the characters. They live and die with the characters, so the bad ones are unwatchable.
My worry with Those Snow White Notes is it wouldn't surprise me at all if it just doesn't see a bluray release here. It looks like something I would really love but who is going to pick up what will likely be a low seller? So that leaves me to pirate, which I will do if I have to but holy shit I'm lazy now, I'd rather just throw money at someone to pop a disc in. You guys remember the guy that died and they didn't find him for days because he was buried under manga? That'll probably be me with DVD/BDs.
Appreciate all the input from everyone. Grancrest seems like it has real issues but I was already in for the Tenchi OVA set from Rarewaves (the US blu set is out of print and heinously priced) so I picked up the region b release. I'll have to just rip these to watch them. I'm not importing a bluray player or messing with region switching/free crap.
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
Ahh, the Burinju manga co-starring his big buff older gentleman BFF aka ME >¦3Steamflogger Boss wrote:Snow White with the Red Hair
Fukk. I read that as "Satan's Magic Power Is Omnipotent," fuckin killer titleSaints Magic Power Is Omnipotent
光あふれる 未来もとめて, whoa~oh ♫
[THE MIRAGE OF MIND] Metal Black ST [THE JUSTICE MASSACRE] Gun.Smoke ST [STAB & STOMP]
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
That's kind of a double edged sword. Imagine being a Haruhi anime fan. Imagine knowing there's all kinds of cool new characters and spooky supernatural stuff that's right around the corner, but will never come. Imagine knowing you'll never ever be able to bully Mikuru in real life.Steamflogger Boss wrote:@Bryan I'm definitely not opposed to dropping things. It's just in the case of if the rest isn't worthwhile I'd probably just the same rather not even watch the first season.
Why, that must be absolute hell.
So it's freeing to think of most things as double-long movies imo. (Quadruple-long movies are a killer, though. I don't know when I'll ever finish Planetes...)
But in terms of spending money specifically for Shield Bro discs, ah that changes the equation substantially. I think it's worth trying out for isekai fans, but it's not disc-worthy. It's not something you could watch every day of your life, definitely not.
As a trash digger and maker, I have the utmost respect for trash!I don't have super high standards, I love DanMachi even though it's trash.
It's not like Aliens or Terminator 2 or Macbeth teach you a life skill or anything. It's all subjective pornography to kill time in the end, and the stuff that kills time the fastest is objectively higher quality~
"If DanMachi is trash, what does that make the Silent Night Deadly Night series? A turd?" (Yes)
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
Now that would be a badass show.BIL wrote:
Fukk. I read that as "Satan's Magic Power Is Omnipotent," fuckin killer title
Endless Eight wasn't that bad copium.BryanM wrote:That's kind of a double edged sword. Imagine being a Haruhi anime fan. Imagine knowing there's all kinds of cool new characters and spooky supernatural stuff that's right around the corner, but will never come. Imagine knowing you'll never ever be able to bully Mikuru in real life.Steamflogger Boss wrote:@Bryan I'm definitely not opposed to dropping things. It's just in the case of if the rest isn't worthwhile I'd probably just the same rather not even watch the first season.
Why, that must be absolute hell.
So it's freeing to think of most things as double-long movies imo. (Quadruple-long movies are a killer, though. I don't know when I'll ever finish Planetes...)
But in terms of spending money specifically for Shield Bro discs, ah that changes the equation substantially. I think it's worth trying out for isekai fans, but it's not disc-worthy. It's not something you could watch every day of your life, definitely not.
As a trash digger and maker, I have the utmost respect for trash!I don't have super high standards, I love DanMachi even though it's trash.
It's not like Aliens or Terminator 2 or Macbeth teach you a life skill or anything. It's all subjective pornography to kill time in the end, and the stuff that kills time the fastest is objectively higher quality~
"If DanMachi is trash, what does that make the Silent Night Deadly Night series? A turd?" (Yes)
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
I've never watched DanMachi, but wasn't this supposed to be some sort of comedy/parody anime? https://www.livechart.me/anime/11536
What the hell happened? Does this look like something titled "Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon"? lol.
I guess this is what happens when these shows go on for too long. They get too serious for their own good.
What the hell happened? Does this look like something titled "Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon"? lol.
I guess this is what happens when these shows go on for too long. They get too serious for their own good.
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Steamflogger Boss
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
No. There are some jokes here and there like you would expect with most anime but it's not in the vein of something like Konosuba, Goodluck Girl, Lucky Star, Baka & Test etcUdderdude wrote:I've never watched DanMachi, but wasn't this supposed to be some sort of comedy/parody anime? https://www.livechart.me/anime/11536
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
Baka to Test is what got me to do that experiment year of watching so many things. Saw the vibrant primary colors on Netflix, said what the hell, gave it a shot and got sold around the time they watched Apocalypse Now Redux, twice in a row.
As an edgy teen I wouldn't have liked it, and that I did made me step back and reevaluate things. In retrospect it was mostly a fluke, but it's something I recommend to people who are tired of videogames or whatever: maybe give a different genre a try. Maybe you're a different person, or didn't give it a real chance.
The title is the average thing you see in web novels: these things are not capitalist monopoly hellholes where Stephen King, JK Rawrling, that one potato salad guy that's everywhere you know who I'm talking about, are entitled to an audience. The titles sit in a sea of other titles, and they have to describe the story somewhat while being entertaining on their own, or no one will ever click on them. (The computer game ZZT was in a similar environment, and chose a name to appear at the end of all game lists.)
It really does sound like a porno, but they don't make 56 episode long animes about that. Saint's Dungeon Business it ain't.
Edit: I can't end this post without grumbling about that mayonnaise-blob racist swordgirl character. There's a million heroines out there, and this is the worst one out of them all.
As an edgy teen I wouldn't have liked it, and that I did made me step back and reevaluate things. In retrospect it was mostly a fluke, but it's something I recommend to people who are tired of videogames or whatever: maybe give a different genre a try. Maybe you're a different person, or didn't give it a real chance.
It's a dungeon crawler RPG with the shonen friend collector thing attached to it. I have particularly long essays and rants about it, from the absolutely stupid waifu choice of the protagonist to pointing out the lazy animators who didn't want to draw an ass-ton of dead monster bodies. tldr: It does the MC woman-savior thing ok sometimes, and offers only a little else. The cover is a textbook DanMachi macro: Hurt girl is hurting, MC help hurt girl, crappy action sequences no one is invested in, not enough Hestia scenes, the end.Udderdude wrote:I've never watched DanMachi, but wasn't this supposed to be some sort of comedy/parody anime? https://www.livechart.me/anime/11536
What the hell happened? Does this look like something titled "Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon"? lol.
The title is the average thing you see in web novels: these things are not capitalist monopoly hellholes where Stephen King, JK Rawrling, that one potato salad guy that's everywhere you know who I'm talking about, are entitled to an audience. The titles sit in a sea of other titles, and they have to describe the story somewhat while being entertaining on their own, or no one will ever click on them. (The computer game ZZT was in a similar environment, and chose a name to appear at the end of all game lists.)
It really does sound like a porno, but they don't make 56 episode long animes about that. Saint's Dungeon Business it ain't.
Edit: I can't end this post without grumbling about that mayonnaise-blob racist swordgirl character. There's a million heroines out there, and this is the worst one out of them all.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
B&T is just "fun" more or less. Changing genres I find is key. I didn't even go from season 1 of DanMachi to the alternate view season of it (which is much better than it largely gets credit for imo). I watched some other stuff in between. I imagine it would be a lot easier to burn out on specific tropes if I tried to, say, watch all of DanMachi then all of SAO consecutively or some shit like that. I could probably do that for any genre too. Except drama shojo and most anime centered around music, that shit FUCKIN SLAPS.BryanM wrote:Baka to Test is what got me to do that experiment year of watching so many things. Saw the vibrant primary colors on Netflix, said what the hell, gave it a shot and got sold around the time they watched Apocalypse Now Redux, twice in a row.
As an edgy teen I wouldn't have liked it, and that I did made me step back and reevaluate things. In retrospect it was mostly a fluke, but it's something I recommend to people who are tired of videogames or whatever: maybe give a different genre a try. Maybe you're a different person, or didn't give it a real chance.
Brutal but I can't argue with not enough Hestia scenes. Like I hinted at earlier I wouldn't really try to defend it. Validating my media choices is something I've largely tried to get away from in general because it just doesn't matter.BryanM wrote:It's a dungeon crawler RPG with the shonen friend collector thing attached to it. I have particularly long essays and rants about it, from the absolutely stupid waifu choice of the protagonist to pointing out the lazy animators who didn't want to draw an ass-ton of dead monster bodies. tldr: It does the MC woman-savior thing ok sometimes, and offers only a little else. The cover is a textbook DanMachi macro: Hurt girl is hurting, MC help hurt girl, crappy action sequences no one is invested in, not enough Hestia scenes, the end.
The title is the average thing you see in web novels: these things are not capitalist monopoly hellholes where Stephen King, JK Rawrling, that one potato salad guy that's everywhere you know who I'm talking about, are entitled to an audience. The titles sit in a sea of other titles, and they have to describe the story somewhat while being entertaining on their own, or no one will ever click on them. (The computer game ZZT was in a similar environment, and chose a name to appear at the end of all game lists.)
It really does sound like a porno, but they don't make 56 episode long animes about that. Saint's Dungeon Business it ain't.
Edit: I can't end this post without grumbling about that mayonnaise-blob racist swordgirl character. There's a million heroines out there, and this is the worst one out of them all.
While we are here though, I am genuinely shocked that Monogatari became as popular as it did. It's super based but the kind of thing an author writes cathartically and just doesn't publish lol. It's one I've been nibbling at and I'm almost done with "second season".
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
Danmachi has its highs, sometimes. ~90% of its work is being done by character art. It's kind of incredible to think like at least 30% of its viewers are there because of a string that entered viral memespace at hyperspeed.
By some coincidence, To Be A Power In The Shadows's anime premiere is a day away. I kinda... thought it had already aired.
Shit... it looks like it's more faithful than the manga adoption from these previews. Automatic recommend for those inclined to Danmachi/KonoSuba/Chuuni kind of stuff.
By some coincidence, To Be A Power In The Shadows's anime premiere is a day away. I kinda... thought it had already aired.
Shit... it looks like it's more faithful than the manga adoption from these previews. Automatic recommend for those inclined to Danmachi/KonoSuba/Chuuni kind of stuff.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
Should I be happy that I have no idea what you are talking about here?BryanM wrote:Danmachi has its highs, sometimes. ~90% of its work is being done by character art. It's kind of incredible to think like at least 30% of its viewers are there because of a string that entered viral memespace at hyperspeed.
Oh nice this looks fun.BryanM wrote:By some coincidence, To Be A Power In The Shadows's anime premiere is a day away. I kinda... thought it had already aired.
Shit... it looks like it's more faithful than the manga adoption from these previews. Automatic recommend for those inclined to Danmachi/KonoSuba/Chuuni kind of stuff.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
Done with new season of Made in Abyss. Possibly the most fucked up arc yet, but I like the movie more action-wise it felt like a whole last boss fight in an anime form. This season gave us different perspective of the abyss and the variety of creatures are really nice, sad that we're going to wait like 5-10 years for another season because the manga pace is really slow.
And this October we get so many bangers airing these days.
And this October we get so many bangers airing these days.
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
No, you should be sad! There were long theoretical dissertations, engineering schematics, and guys dressing up in her outfit all trying to figure out how the hell Hestia's string works. It was a wonderfully stupid little trend for a while back then.Steamflogger Boss wrote:Should I be happy that I have no idea what you are talking about here?
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
I'm a few years behind, I think, but I finished reading the Hi Score Girl manga. I haven't seen the anime yet (no Netflix sub at the moment). I'm not huge into fighting games, and the early-chapter artwork is downright hideous, but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did. The art improved over the series, and the 90's JP FGC angle was really just a vehicle to showcase an incredibly charming relationship. It referenced other games too, including console stuff (<3 the PC-Engine shoutouts) nearly all of which I recognized. TLDR: great piece of work for anyone that likes retro games (and romance stories).
Also, I finished watching Kimi no Todoke last night. I've had ad-free Hulu for quite a while now and they have a surprising amount of anime on there. Disclosure: I don't have a long history of consuming otaku media. I've discovered that my tastes tend to lean towards shojo/romance stuff, and there's been a number of shows that scratch that itch. I'll rank what I've seen so far, with a few comments:
1 My Love Story!! (Ore Monogatari) - Romance with an unlikely couple - a massive teenage boy built like a pro wrestler, and a tiny squeaky-voiced girl. Both of them have hearts of gold. I'm amazed something like this exists. It's one of the most wholesome works of media I've ever seen. Right up there with Catana Comics. There was almost zero drama in it, aside from a little bit at the very end. Just pure joy about being in a relationship, and lots of funny stuff too (like when the protag removes his shirt at the beach and everyone present loses their goddamn minds, lol). I noticed many times while watching it that I was sporting a ridiculous grin, if that says anything.
2 Haganai - Shonen/harem stuff, but the premise was super relatable (bunch of social misfits make their own club and become friends) and the art style was incredible. I'd say the best-looking out of all these series. There's some pretty pervy stuff in it, though. That wasn't a dealbreaker for me, but I would probably be uncomfortable watching it with other people. Unfortunately, the series seems kinda unfinished? It ended with a number of loose threads still dangling. Apparently that was the case for the manga as well.
3 We Never Learn ~ Bokuben - another harem, this one smaller. And it's about tutoring/studying, a strange topic IMO. Above-average student tutors girls who are geniuses in one subject but fail others. All the girls were really charming, especially the one with orange hair/glasses. I think she might be on the Autism spectrum, dunno if that was an intention of the creator or not. I liked all of their little V-shaped smiles.
4 Kimi ni Todoke - turbo-shojo school life. Shy girl scares everyone because she kinda looks like a character from a popular horror film, but in reality she's incredibly sweet. She ends up making some really close friends (they are also really likable) and tries her damnedest to pursue the boy she likes, who happens to be quite popular. I'm not a huge fan of the art style but the chibi/comedy faces are excellent! So round, they are! Lots of crying in this one. Also, I wish it was an episode or 2 longer, to give a peek at her life after the climax. I hear there's a live-action series coming next year, I'd be interested to see that (and the live-action film).
5 Ouran High School Host Club - girl cross-dresses as a boy to join a boy's-only school club? This was the first one I watched, so it's been a while and I'm fuzzy on the details. I remember it being really funny, though. Including a great scene of self-parody. And I think it's pretty popular because I've seen it mentioned before in various internet circles.
6 ItaKiss (Itazura na Kiss) - Regardless of ranking, I've enjoyed all of these series I've seen so far to some degree... except this one. Something about it just didn't sit right with me. Ditsy under-achiever girl has a crush on the snobby valedictorian and their lives become intertwined due to coincidence. The way the main characters entered their relationship, and how he treats her, it just bothered me. I found myself wishing it would hurry up and be over. One thing I found interesting is that it spans a really long time-frame: many years, both school-age and after.
These are all subtitled, btw. I've never liked dubbed anime. Sometimes Hulu has both available.
Also, I finished watching Kimi no Todoke last night. I've had ad-free Hulu for quite a while now and they have a surprising amount of anime on there. Disclosure: I don't have a long history of consuming otaku media. I've discovered that my tastes tend to lean towards shojo/romance stuff, and there's been a number of shows that scratch that itch. I'll rank what I've seen so far, with a few comments:
1 My Love Story!! (Ore Monogatari) - Romance with an unlikely couple - a massive teenage boy built like a pro wrestler, and a tiny squeaky-voiced girl. Both of them have hearts of gold. I'm amazed something like this exists. It's one of the most wholesome works of media I've ever seen. Right up there with Catana Comics. There was almost zero drama in it, aside from a little bit at the very end. Just pure joy about being in a relationship, and lots of funny stuff too (like when the protag removes his shirt at the beach and everyone present loses their goddamn minds, lol). I noticed many times while watching it that I was sporting a ridiculous grin, if that says anything.
2 Haganai - Shonen/harem stuff, but the premise was super relatable (bunch of social misfits make their own club and become friends) and the art style was incredible. I'd say the best-looking out of all these series. There's some pretty pervy stuff in it, though. That wasn't a dealbreaker for me, but I would probably be uncomfortable watching it with other people. Unfortunately, the series seems kinda unfinished? It ended with a number of loose threads still dangling. Apparently that was the case for the manga as well.
3 We Never Learn ~ Bokuben - another harem, this one smaller. And it's about tutoring/studying, a strange topic IMO. Above-average student tutors girls who are geniuses in one subject but fail others. All the girls were really charming, especially the one with orange hair/glasses. I think she might be on the Autism spectrum, dunno if that was an intention of the creator or not. I liked all of their little V-shaped smiles.
4 Kimi ni Todoke - turbo-shojo school life. Shy girl scares everyone because she kinda looks like a character from a popular horror film, but in reality she's incredibly sweet. She ends up making some really close friends (they are also really likable) and tries her damnedest to pursue the boy she likes, who happens to be quite popular. I'm not a huge fan of the art style but the chibi/comedy faces are excellent! So round, they are! Lots of crying in this one. Also, I wish it was an episode or 2 longer, to give a peek at her life after the climax. I hear there's a live-action series coming next year, I'd be interested to see that (and the live-action film).
5 Ouran High School Host Club - girl cross-dresses as a boy to join a boy's-only school club? This was the first one I watched, so it's been a while and I'm fuzzy on the details. I remember it being really funny, though. Including a great scene of self-parody. And I think it's pretty popular because I've seen it mentioned before in various internet circles.
6 ItaKiss (Itazura na Kiss) - Regardless of ranking, I've enjoyed all of these series I've seen so far to some degree... except this one. Something about it just didn't sit right with me. Ditsy under-achiever girl has a crush on the snobby valedictorian and their lives become intertwined due to coincidence. The way the main characters entered their relationship, and how he treats her, it just bothered me. I found myself wishing it would hurry up and be over. One thing I found interesting is that it spans a really long time-frame: many years, both school-age and after.
These are all subtitled, btw. I've never liked dubbed anime. Sometimes Hulu has both available.
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
Saw that Amazon.co.jp finally has the 4K uhd version of Evangelion: 3.0 + 1.11 Thrice Upon A Time for a mere 10,780 yen (or $74.282267 US Dollars) up for pre-order to be released on March 8th, 2023 for the Japanese video market: https://www.amazon.co.jp/%E9%B6%B4%E5%B ... amp&sr=1-3
In addition to the film, the disc also includes a newly-produced bonus footage "EVANGELION:3.0 (46h)." So in all, it's a first press limited edition three disc set affair indeed. Should be worth the wait to finally see it in glorious 4K format.
Here are all the various Evangelion; 3.0 + 1.11 variants up for pre-order: https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=3.0%2B1.11 ... nb_sb_noss
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
In addition to the film, the disc also includes a newly-produced bonus footage "EVANGELION:3.0 (46h)." So in all, it's a first press limited edition three disc set affair indeed. Should be worth the wait to finally see it in glorious 4K format.
Here are all the various Evangelion; 3.0 + 1.11 variants up for pre-order: https://www.amazon.co.jp/s?k=3.0%2B1.11 ... nb_sb_noss
PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
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Steamflogger Boss
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
Haganai was good for sure.
I started my Haruhi rewatch and yes this includes endless eight. Got the Japanese bluray and just watching in that episode order.
I started my Haruhi rewatch and yes this includes endless eight. Got the Japanese bluray and just watching in that episode order.
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
It still makes me laugh that they decided to make the entirety of season 2 into a movie and had nuthin' to fill in the gaping hole with. Way to plan to plan!
Longest animated movie ever made, good grief indeed.
The tonal clash of light reality elements with the idealized fantasy escapism world it clearly is, always made this one an odd duck. With these kind of endings, I always associate the metaphorical destruction of these worlds as a kind of mini-apocalypse. A candle burned through all its fuel. A cold death, where the myriad of all future possibilities collapse into a stagnant unchanging singularity.
Many stories tend to terminate that way, like a broken down circus after they're done putting on a show. The example I always like to give is re-visiting that haunted castle after its arc is done in the game Mother 3, monument to all used up jRPG towns everywhere.
Longest animated movie ever made, good grief indeed.
It's finished in the original light novel or alternate reality visual novels.Unfortunately, the series seems kinda unfinished?
The tonal clash of light reality elements with the idealized fantasy escapism world it clearly is, always made this one an odd duck. With these kind of endings, I always associate the metaphorical destruction of these worlds as a kind of mini-apocalypse. A candle burned through all its fuel. A cold death, where the myriad of all future possibilities collapse into a stagnant unchanging singularity.
Many stories tend to terminate that way, like a broken down circus after they're done putting on a show. The example I always like to give is re-visiting that haunted castle after its arc is done in the game Mother 3, monument to all used up jRPG towns everywhere.
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Steamflogger Boss
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
What is this in reference to?BryanM wrote:It still makes me laugh that they decided to make the entirety of season 2 into a movie and had nuthin' to fill in the gaping hole with. Way to plan to plan!
Longest animated movie ever made, good grief indeed.
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
That's Haruhi. The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya arc was going to be in Season 2. The bulk of it obviously, considering how big and important it is. But in pre-production they got notice the movie project was a go-ahead and well. That's why Endless Eight is so endless, instead of the single episode it was supposed to be.
They didn't write any fan fiction filler and didn't whack the author like a pinata to get more slice of life scenes out of'em. Not even another Someday in the Rain.
God bless that man for finally pumping out a new book in 2020; what a bizarre year that was.
They didn't write any fan fiction filler and didn't whack the author like a pinata to get more slice of life scenes out of'em. Not even another Someday in the Rain.
God bless that man for finally pumping out a new book in 2020; what a bizarre year that was.
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Steamflogger Boss
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
Thought so lol. I still never have watched the movie. But I bought it and intend to after I'm done with the series. I know they were going to make more Haruhi too, but it was a covid casualty.
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Steamflogger Boss
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Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
For enjoyers of the Jesus-kun genre, Rascal is getting more adapted. Should be the rest of it.
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
I watched Cyberpunk - Edgerunners. Studio Trigger doing Studio Trigger things at it's best. As soon as I heard they were in charge of it, I knew I wouldn't be disappointed. It's fucking bananas.
Re: Recommended Anime/Manga?
lol, animemaru.Steamflogger Boss wrote:I know they were going to make more Haruhi too, but it was a covid casualty.
I'm more amused by how it manages to gunk up Google's AI, than the content of their articles.
KyotoAni just flat out doesn't license other people's IP anymore. (Dunno what's up with Sound Euphonium, tho..)