Monte_Kristo's recent activity
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Monte_Kristo Link ParentI started reading Dai Nana Joshikai Houkou a while ago and stopped for some reason, should probably get back to it at some point. It's obviously much more sci-fi oriented, but I'd agree with the...I started reading Dai Nana Joshikai Houkou a while ago and stopped for some reason, should probably get back to it at some point. It's obviously much more sci-fi oriented, but I'd agree with the stylistic similarities between it and Soremachi, and I'd also recommend the parts that I did read.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Monte_Kristo LinkI read Masakazu Ishiguro's Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru/And Yet the Town Keeps Turning, which I've seen a few people shorten to Soremachi. It's a slice of life coming of age story about a girl...I read Masakazu Ishiguro's Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru/And Yet the Town Keeps Turning, which I've seen a few people shorten to Soremachi. It's a slice of life coming of age story about a girl named Hotori Arashiyama, who is a high school student who works at a small local restaurant, whose main hobby is reading detective mysteries. It is very cool, because it is told non linearly. Each chapter is a small slice of her high school career, but they are not in chronological order. The backgrounds are a littered with pieces of continuity, so you can actually place them in a timeline, but doing so isn't necessary to understand the story. The main theme is that her growth into an adult is built brick by brick. She becomes a new person through small incremental changes over a long period of time.
Hotori is a very compelling protagonist. She is an infectiously good person. She is a very kind and nurturing older sibling, a reliable friend, and an ardent supporter of her local community. But it's not like she's some perfect saint of a character. Her goodness is shown through small consistent acts of kindness in between her moments of failure.
Spoilers
I think she has a very strong arc of going from a foolish and naive child, to being a rational but still whimsical adult. This is most strongly shown through her relationship with detective novels. At the start of the series she literally wants to be a Sherlock Holmes style detective. Several chapters are dedicated to her trying to solve mysteries, some successfully and some not. Through those experiences, the series culminates into her becoming a writer, which allows her to experience the things she loves about mysteries in a more realistic and achievable way.
Overall it gets a big recommendation from me. Probably a top 3 SoL for me. I don't think anything will ever beat Kiyohiko Azuma's Yotsuba&! for me, but this puts up a good fight and depending on the day, it may beat out my other favorite series, Hitoshi Ashinano's Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou. I'd also heavily recommend Ishuro's currently ongoing series Tengoku Daimakyou. They are dramatically different series, with TD being a violent sci-fi action series, but they both use the non linear story telling formats, so if you enjoy that aspect in one of the series you'll probably enjoy it in the other.
Soremachi has an anime that I have not watched. It's animated by SHAFT, so I assume the visual quality is fairly high, but I don't know how good of an adaptation the story is.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Monte_Kristo Link ParentSpoilers Yeah, the Helck Vermilio friendship is great. I think it hits a rare combo, because not only does it not turn romantic, but it also feels like the "culture" agrees with that decision....Spoilers
Yeah, the Helck Vermilio friendship is great. I think it hits a rare combo, because not only does it not turn romantic, but it also feels like the "culture" agrees with that decision. There are a few series that end in with male female friendship, that the fans almost entirely ignore, I'm even guilty of it myself, but basically everyone seems to be on board with Helck and Vermilio just being friends. -
Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Monte_Kristo Link ParentI love Helck in a B movie sort of way. It's like a platonic ideal of a shonen series. It's nothing but tropes, but they are all used correctly. Just a nice simple 8/10.I love Helck in a B movie sort of way. It's like a platonic ideal of a shonen series. It's nothing but tropes, but they are all used correctly. Just a nice simple 8/10.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Monte_Kristo LinkI got caught up to date on Yasuyuki Kosaka's Houkago Teibou Nisshi/Diary of our Days at the Breakwater, and I completed Aki Irie's Ran and the Gray World Houkago Teibou Nisshi is a fairly standard...I got caught up to date on Yasuyuki Kosaka's Houkago Teibou Nisshi/Diary of our Days at the Breakwater, and I completed Aki Irie's Ran and the Gray World
Houkago Teibou Nisshi is a fairly standard contribution to the "cute girls do cute things" genre, it is about a group of high school girls who are a the members of a fishing club in a small town in Kyushu. It's one part slice of life comedy, and one part in depth exposition on the intricacies of angling. I've spent most of my life hating fishing, and I'm coming to the conclusion that a part of it was caused by being "taught" how to fish by people who don't know much about fishing. So this series going in depth on different types of knots, lures, rods, reels, line materials, and techniques was all informative and engaging for me. I'm also appreciative of the series being pretty on point about the environmental impact fishing has, and the responsibilities one has to uphold to ethically participate in the hobby. For example, pretty much every episode is at the beach, but the SoL token "beach episode" was about the cast cleaning up trash on the beach. All in all nothing crazy, but fun if you have any sort of passing interest in fishing.
Ran and the Gray World is a fantasy coming of age story about a young girl named Ran living in a family of sorcerers. Her parents are loving, but burdened with responsibility (they guard a gate that entombs a swarm of demon bugs), and her older brother is caring, but suppresses his magical ability and actively prevents Ran from using her's. Ran is a little spoiled, and because of her ignorance about the world she acts up. She has a pair of shoes that she casts a spell on to transform her into an adult when she wears them, and she sneaks out of the house to get into misadventures.
Ran has a larger overarching arc about learning responsibility, but both her and her brother Jin have arcs exploring the "gravity" of sexuality. Jin is essentially a werewolf and Irie uses it as a metaphor for male puberty, and how it is not a thing that can be suppressed but can be controlled. For Ran, the message is clearly about how girls get acknowledge for their bodies far faster than they should. I think the most contentious plot point of the series is that she essentially start dating an adult man (in her mind she's just hanging out with a friend), and the guy isn't really reprimanded by the cast for this after he finds out she is a child with magical powers and decides that it is not a deal breaker for him...
I think it is a thing that I'm fine with given the full context of the story, but it's something that starts off weird and may stop someone from reading the whole thing. Which would be a shame to me, because overall I think the story is quite good. Also the art is fantastic. I can't perfectly describe it, but it uses a lot of long thin lines that makes everything wavy and gestural. It's cool looking.Spoilers
He gets killed by demon bees in a tragic way after learning how to be a better person and Ran starts dating a boy here age at the end of the series, so the narrative side steps that issue.
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Comment on Is there still an arcade gaming scene? in ~games
Monte_Kristo LinkThey still exist but they have been consistently dying. It is more accurate to say they are kept afloat by a dwindling enthusiast base, than it is to say that they are alive. The current corner...They still exist but they have been consistently dying. It is more accurate to say they are kept afloat by a dwindling enthusiast base, than it is to say that they are alive. The current corner stones of the industry are rhythm games, fighting games, shoot em ups, and pinball games. Of these, I'd only say that rhythm and pinball are truly still in the arcades. Most fighting games are built for the console/home PC market. If they have an arcade version, it releases after console launch, which is an inverse of how it was 15 or so years ago. Fighting games themselves are probably the biggest they've been since the 90's, they are just played at home now, or if they are played in person the tournament standard is on consoles.
As others have stated, a lot of them are barcades now, and it is really because the arcade business model can't survive in the modern market. To have an arcade, one must construct a business other people would want to attend, and then put the arcade machines into that business as a sort of side thing to do. I don't want to be too harsh on them, as they are almost always owned and operated by people who loved the traditional arcades, but imo "true" arcade culture is dead and everything left is circling the drain.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Monte_Kristo (edited )LinkIn response to the announcement of the anime, I went and got caught up with Hiromu Arakawa's Yomi no Tsugai, or what will probably become the more popular name Daemon's of the Shadow Realm. It is...In response to the announcement of the anime, I went and got caught up with Hiromu Arakawa's Yomi no Tsugai, or what will probably become the more popular name Daemon's of the Shadow Realm.
It is a fantasy action series about a separated pair of twins both blessed and cursed with magical powers. They lived in a secluded village that was blocked from the world by a magical barrier, so while they have to navigate a conspiracy to control them and their powers, they also have to navigate being thrust into a world with modern technology. It's a pretty good series, that unfortunately has to fight with the fact that it is made by the person who made Full Metal Alchemist. To put is bluntly, I think it has a less interesting setting and starts off slower than FMA. I do not think that is an actual knock on its quality, and is more of a reflection on the fact that FMA is both really good and something I have an extreme amount of nostalgia for. Arakawa's other work Silver Spoon completely dodged these comparisons from me because it was a different genre, and I was able to enjoy it for what it was. I imagine much of Daemon's run will be filled with discourse and comparison.
I have no clue how long it will actually run, but Deamon's feels like it is maybe a third of the way through it's story. Enough of the overarching plot has been fleshed out for the story to have come into its own, even if it felt slower than I would have liked. I think Arakawa's humor remains on point too. This may be exacerbated by my recent reading of Hunter X Hunter, but I was really struck by the simplicity of Arakawa's work. She is a master of of K.I.S.S. (Keep it simple stupid). She draws dynamic action scenes whilst using the least panels possible. It makes for very easy reading, and I think it is a really underrated skill for an artist to have. I'm very interested in seeing how the rest of the story unfolds.
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Comment on Superman (2025) - Discussion thread in ~movies
Monte_Kristo LinkI really enjoyed it. I think a lot of people wanted a hopeful Superman movie, and I think this movie delivered on it. I think there is a lot of ink spilled on the topic of superhero movies. On...I really enjoyed it. I think a lot of people wanted a hopeful Superman movie, and I think this movie delivered on it.
I think there is a lot of ink spilled on the topic of superhero movies. On their dominance in the mainstream, and the relationship that mainstream success has on what type of movies get made by the movie industry. I don't think this movie will really change any of those trends, but I do think that this movie is a good movie for the culture. For the people who want to see a superhero movie, this movie encompasses the positive ideals that I think make superhero movies enjoyable.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Monte_Kristo Link ParentI haven't read either of them, and really have no opinion on Soft Metal Vampire, but Eden has a few fight scenes that display a pretty intimate understanding of martial arts. So All-Rounder Meguru...I haven't read either of them, and really have no opinion on Soft Metal Vampire, but Eden has a few fight scenes that display a pretty intimate understanding of martial arts. So All-Rounder Meguru absolutely feels like a passion project to me. Again, I haven't read it, so it may be bland or significantly less interesting/novel of a story, but up front it really doesn't feel like selling out to me.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Monte_Kristo LinkThis week I finished reading Hiroki Endou's Eden: It's an Endless World and Kozue Amano's Aria. Eden: It's an Endless World is an ultra gritty cyberpunk action series that takes place in the...This week I finished reading Hiroki Endou's Eden: It's an Endless World and Kozue Amano's Aria.
Eden: It's an Endless World is an ultra gritty cyberpunk action series that takes place in the backdrop of a literal biblical apocalypses. It is essentially a modern telling of Gnostic scripture. A browsing of the Wikipedia article on Gnosticism did not properly prepare me to do an in-depth literary analysis of the work. So from my own uneducated jackass point of view, it is a story that focuses on the idea on what is required of a human being in order to live in a world filled with sin. Endou delivers a no bullshit take on the crimes perpetuated by modern society. He critiques the existence of poverty, bigotry towards people of different race, gender, sexuality, or religion, and even specific actions like China's mistreatment of the Uyghur people, the conflict between India and Pakistan, and the colonial destruction of Amerindian culture. In short, he paints the modern world as a truly evil place.
The "antagonist" of the story is the Colloid, which is a growing crystalline structure that is being controlled by an AI of unknown origin. The Colloid's goal is to assimilate as much data as possible, but it is (mostly) benevolent. It does not actively attack humanity, but instead beckons the downtrodden and hopeless to join the computer hivemind. Its answer to dealing with a sinful world is to leave the world. The answer that Endou gives to the people who reject the colloid, is that though humans are inherently flawed, they can still struggle and fight to make the world a better place for others. I don't really think Endou takes a particular stance on which side of the conflict is correct. The story is both incredibly bleak, and has powerful moments of hope.
Overall I'd say Eden would get a big recommendation from me. My one warning would be that there is some extreme violence perpetuated against women and children in the story. It has a hopeful ending, but you can argue that there are zero happy endings. Any named character who actually survives the story, instead of becoming a mangled corpse, has to truly suffer to get there.
Aria is pretty much as diametrically opposed to Eden as possible. It is also a hard sci-fi setting that explores finding peace with one's existence, but it does so through a lens that the world is inherently a good place and that one should try to find joy through small everyday pleasures. Aria is about a young woman named Akari who lives on terraformed Mars, in a city called Neo-Venezia, which is a recreation of the city of Venice, where she works as an apprentice gondolier. Each chapter is a letter about recent events that Akari writes in correspondence with a pen pal on Earth. It is a story mostly about appreciating nature and good times spent with friends. If it had a flaw, I'd argue that it is a smidge too toothless and saccharine. I think that flaw is more felt earlier on in the story. The back half of the series lightly touches on the passage of time and the impermanence of all things, which I think turns the sickly sweet into a more bittersweet that ties the work together. I read multiple series at a time. Usually I'll have one that I binge read, which is what I did with Eden, and then I have a few others that I only read one chapter a day. I think Aria really benefitted the one a day format.
I also need to emphasize that Aria is absolutely gorgeous. There is pretty much a double page money shot per chapter. Not only is Amano's compositional prowess above standard for the industry, but sci-fi Venice itself is such a vibe. It's such a treat to look at.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Monte_Kristo (edited )LinkI've had a lot of free time at work recently, so I've been reading quite a lot. I completed Tsutomu Nihei's BioMega and read all of the current chapters of Yoshihiro Togashi's Hunter X Hunter....I've had a lot of free time at work recently, so I've been reading quite a lot. I completed Tsutomu Nihei's BioMega and read all of the current chapters of Yoshihiro Togashi's Hunter X Hunter.
BioMega is a sci-fi action series with a plot that I did not fully comprehend on my first (and currently only) reading. It's broken up into two parts. The first part follows a small cast of characters as they deal with an outbreak of plague/disease caused by humanity discovering life on Mars. It's sorta like a zombie virus, but it's more like people are mutating into weird cyborg things. The second half of the story happens because of a mutation event caused by a transhumanist faction that forces the virus to assimilate with Earth, which gets transformed into this multi lightyear long line in space (I think this happens because the remains of humanity were taking shelter at the end of a space elevator). The transformation event caused a wormhole(?) and so the cast of characters end up scattered across the mega structure. The protagonist Zouichi ends up at one end of the structure several thousand years after its creation, and his goal for the rest of the series is to get to the other end. Zouichi is essentially the same character as Killy from Nihei's more popular series BLAME!, he's a genetically modified super soldier with a laser gun that is absurdly strong for its size. He's slightly more emotive than Killy, but the main difference is that he has a kickass sci-fi motorcycle.
BLAME! can also be accused of this, but BioMega is really just a vehicle for Nihei to create images that make dudes say, "Hell yeah!" Most of the appeal is visual spectacle. I wouldn't recommend it over BLAME! or Knights of Sidonia, but I would heavily recommend it to people who loved BLAME!.
HUNTER X HUNTER is an experience for sure. I think I spent equal parts loving it and hating it. Frequently its strengths are also its weaknesses. It is an action fantasy series that is (loosely) about a boy named Gon who sets out to find his absentee father who is a high ranking member of the Hunters Association, which is a hard to describe private military association/illuminati type group whose requirements for membership are essentially just extreme martial prowess and obsession with the peak of human ability. It is labeled as a shounen series, but it is pretty gritty.
I think the main adjective to describe HXH is that it is incredibly dense. There is a magic system that is meticulously thought out. It could very easily be turned into it's own rpg system. It's also a story that is filled with competency porn. Random unimportant goons are frequently portrayed as smart logical adults. I find the combination of smart characters with complicated powers both very compelling and super obnoxious. There is tons exposition. Pages and pages of people explaining their powers and people reacting to those explanations and trying to draw conclusions from the information they have been told. It is a very hot and cold thing for me. Sometimes it is cool, and sometimes it feels like Togashi is just wasting time on shit that really does not matter. Some things get explained in incredible detail that for sure will never be important ever again (I'm talking about Greed Island). If you told me this was your favorite series because it was really complicated, I would get it. If you told me you hated it, I would also understand.
There are two other quirks of the series that I think are of note. The first I've already hinted at, it's that the series has a weird stance on morality. It is a plot relevant point that the Hunters Association doesn't really care about the moral integrity of it's members. This is how you end up with a character who is a pedophile clown serial killer as the character with the third most screen time. I wouldn't say Togashi condones the character's actions, but it is just an observation that a lot of the cast can just be described as evil. I don't know if I would even call Gon a good person, so I think it could be a major turn off to some readers that the protagonists are kinda shitty people.
The second quirk is something that I would assume is just a reader's only experience. The art fluctuates a lot over the course of the series. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it is shitty. Togashi has a phase early on in the series where the art becomes a little more abstract, and there are parts later on that are mixed media with drawings over real photographs. I'm not super versed on it, but I'm aware that the series has experienced a large number of hiatuses over the course of its almost 30 years of publication. I'm not going to complain if the quality changes because of health problems, but it simply is just something that a reader would experience compared to someone who watched the anime (I have no clue how far into the series the anime covers.)
With both the hiatuses and the general weirdness of the story, I'm not sure HXH is a series I would recommend for someone to read. I still think the good parts are good, it is just that the series has multiple asterisks next to it when I call it good. One has to be okay with multiple caveats before I would tell someone to read it. It puts me in a silly location because I think my favorite arc is the current one. I'm at a real threat of never seeing the end of it, and I have to say that this weird series hits it's stride 300 chapters in.
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Comment on How do you celebrate your birthday? in ~talk
Monte_Kristo LinkI normally don't beyond maybe getting a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. A couple of friends and I gift each other games on steam for our birthdays, but it is normally very casual and not more than...I normally don't beyond maybe getting a tub of Ben & Jerry's ice cream. A couple of friends and I gift each other games on steam for our birthdays, but it is normally very casual and not more than $30.
This past year was the first time I really tried to celebrate, because it was my 30th. I traveled internationally for the first time in my life and had an 11 day trip in Japan. It was one of the coolest things I've ever done, so I'm considering making travel a yearly tradition. Only thing that sucks is that my birthday is in the winter, so a lot of places have terrible weather. My Japan trip wasn't actually on my birthday because of this.
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Comment on Can AI-generated photos be art? in ~arts
Monte_Kristo (edited )Link ParentYeah it's not really an argument worth having. Mutilating corpses probably counts as art too, but that's not going to be the discussion being had if you start doing it. People find fault with the...Yeah it's not really an argument worth having. Mutilating corpses probably counts as art too, but that's not going to be the discussion being had if you start doing it.
People find fault with the actions taken to generate the images. Most other merits (or lack thereof), come second to that argument.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Monte_Kristo LinkI just caught up to date with the series Mieruko-chan which is a horror comedy series that started as a twitter web comic that is about a girl who starts seeing ghosts one day and decides that her...I just caught up to date with the series Mieruko-chan which is a horror comedy series that started as a twitter web comic that is about a girl who starts seeing ghosts one day and decides that her best way of surviving the ghost encounters is to act like she can't see them. It is a really fun mash up, as the author draws some genuinely creepy and messed up shit, so the horror still feels very real even when it is played for laughs. As the scope of the story expanded, it took on some more serious tones without really losing the initial charm. I think the author has a real understanding of horror movies, as the "camera work" of his panels is very good at setting suspense.
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Comment on MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls | Announce trailer in ~games
Monte_Kristo Link ParentShuma is kinda in a weird spot rights wise, which is why the Shuma in the Doctor Stange movie was called Gargantos. He's also literally in the background of the only stage in we've seen so far, so...Shuma is kinda in a weird spot rights wise, which is why the Shuma in the Doctor Stange movie was called Gargantos. He's also literally in the background of the only stage in we've seen so far, so it isn't looking great for him.
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Comment on MARVEL Tōkon: Fighting Souls | Announce trailer in ~games
Monte_Kristo LinkThis is incredibly hype. Love that Arcsystemworks got this chance, as they continue to make the most gorgeous looking videogames ever. 4v4 has me nervous that this will be a visual mess when all...This is incredibly hype. Love that Arcsystemworks got this chance, as they continue to make the most gorgeous looking videogames ever. 4v4 has me nervous that this will be a visual mess when all of the assists are on screen, but I'll try to avoid being pessimistic. Love that they went with Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider because it gives them opportunities to channel as much Tradd Moore art as possible. Make Devil Dinosaur playable.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Monte_Kristo LinkSo I read a small series called Sanjin Sadou, which is the first series from the author Satoshi Mizukami. It's a brisk 21 chapters long, and follows an diminished exorcist named Fubuki, whose...So I read a small series called Sanjin Sadou, which is the first series from the author Satoshi Mizukami. It's a brisk 21 chapters long, and follows an diminished exorcist named Fubuki, whose ambitions as a youth led him to messing with powers beyond his abilities to control. He was a powerful blood thirsty warrior as a teenager, and he is now a weak and washed up late 20 something. His cast off spiritual powers manifest themselves as a spirit that has possessed and kidnapped a high school girl and he goes off to get her back.
It's a fun, if amateurish, little series. It would not be the series I would use to introduce Mizukami to people, but I would recommend it to people who have read or watched his series Sengoku Youko. They take place in the same universe, with Sanjin Sadou taking place in the present day, and Sengoku Youko (unsurprisingly) taking place during the Sengoku period of Japan. Sanjin Sadou is this neat little microcosm of ideas that get more fleshed out in Sengoku Youko. Both series tackle ideas regarding the concept of "strength", and what it means to both have and not have it. What it means for how one regards the self and how society will view you for having it or not having it. I would absolutely regard Sengoku Youko as the superior work, but Sanjin Sadou is sort of a fun way of seeing the blue print to what Mizukami would eventually make with his career. It's sorta like seeing the concept artwork for a game or a movie you enjoyed. Though I do think it is funny that Mizukami's art looks the same now compared to back then. Like I think his art is generally more detailed in the background and in action scenes, but the way he draws characters is almost exactly the same.
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Comment on What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga) in ~anime
Monte_Kristo Link ParentYeah, both Knights of Sidonia and Tower Dungeon feel like they got made because Nihei's editor pleaded with him to make something mainstream. It just works out because his own personal interests...Yeah, both Knights of Sidonia and Tower Dungeon feel like they got made because Nihei's editor pleaded with him to make something mainstream. It just works out because his own personal interests bring an extreme X factor into the equation that really spices up simple premises.
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Comment on Former US President Joe Biden diagnosed with prostate cancer, his office says in ~society
Monte_Kristo Link ParentI'm gonna go out and say that your odd coincidence is simply a coincidence. We have zero reason to doubt that he has known about his cancer longer than his diagnosis Friday. Given that it looks...I'm gonna go out and say that your odd coincidence is simply a coincidence. We have zero reason to doubt that he has known about his cancer longer than his diagnosis Friday. Given that it looks pretty rough, their timeline of which it is helpful information to keep hidden seems pretty much non existent. I think we know about it now simply because he knows about it now.
I feel that if you don't like it by Drum Island, I don't think anything is gonna turn the needle for you. It's common consensus that stuff that's 200 or 300 chapters in is better than the stuff in the beginning, but the opinion is that it gets better as it goes along, not that it starts off bad and makes some sort of miraculous change up.