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What have you been watching / reading this month? (Anime/Manga)
What have you been watching and reading this month? You don't need to give us a whole essay if you don't want to, but please write something! Feel free to talk about something you saw that was cool, something that was bad, ask for recommendations, or anything else you can think of.
If you want to, feel free to find the thing you're talking about and link to its pages on Anilist, MAL, or any other database you use!
Zom 100. It has some of the prettiest art I've seen in a long time and it's just a fun show.
I've also been rewatching Parasyte for the millionth time.
I just started Berserk (the anime from 1997 not the manga), I’m only at the first episode and for now I really like it !
Berserk (1997) is an all-timer for sure - you're in for one hell of a ride!
I'd just like to tack on a quick PSA for anyone else who is thinking of watching the series: episode 1 is set a significant amount of time after the events of the rest of the series and so I would strongly recommend starting instead with episode 2 and experiencing the story chronologically to avoid spoiling things. Enjoy!
For context -
The manga starts off the middle, and a couple volumes in it goes back to the start.
The 1997 Mini Series anime tries to emulate this, and I liked it. Berserk's overall framing is pretty consistent with the initial framing.
If anything, I think it would be interesting reading the non-canon one-shot before starting Berserk proper. I know Miura kind of reverted his artstyle over the years, and I think at 22 I would have definitely tried to be more grimdark than myself today if I had something to prove.
The plot is reused a volume or two into the manga, so it will be a spoiler of an arc, but I know I liked the one-shot's depiction a bit more.
In summary, while I hesitate to. I would recommend doing the exact same thing to the manga itself, META.
Recently I started reading Muv Luv, and it's interesting enough but I am having a hard time staying interested. There's enough comedy and random shit like Takahashi Ryouske showing up to keep me reading, but everything is a little too over the top and none of the characters seems super interesting yet.
But I'm sure it'll pick up, I'm not too far in and FSN started out much more uninteresting than this did, and I absolutely love that.
Also considering watching that My Happy Marriage anime, I'll probably be giving platelets this weekend and that's always a good time to catch up on recent shows.
I’ve actually made it through the first 2 parts of the trilogy and both are fairly mid. I have stopped and started part 3 more times that I can count at this point.
I hear it’s mind blowing though.
Edit: I'll try to talk about everything I've watched this month instead of just FMA
Started the month with Bocchi The Rock. Bocchi is me irl, but like literally, I've never felt more represented by an anime character. 10/10
Followed that up with House of Five Leaves. I like the concept of a show being about a ronin who's just above average. Unfortunately that's also how I rate the show. I liked it more than most shows that I've tried, and I'm super into the slow pace, but there were a couple things that knocked points off. The end of the show was a bit unsatisfying to me, and the credits music really took away from the serious tone that many episodes ended on. 7/10, watch Mushishi and ACCA instead
Up next was Your Name. I can't really write much about it; I only watched it because I needed a movie to watch that night and it's the highest rated movie on my list. I liked the concept, I liked the visuals, I liked the twist, it was super fun to watch. 9/10
Then Weathering With You, because it's another Makoto Shinkai joint. Same review as above but 8/10 because I liked Your Name more
Now I'm watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. It's great, but I gotta say, I prefer the 2003 show. I'm only 25 episodes in, so maybe the latter half of the show will blow me away, but so far I don't think I'm watching the best anime of all time. 8/10 so far, hope it gets better
This is a pretty common opinion. Brotherhood really rushed through the first half of the story just to catch new viewers up on the plot. The original has the better first half, but Brotherhood has the better second half by far. Both are good shows and worth watching though imo.
I generally agree with this, but feel the original anime was bolder in its story choices than Brotherhood. Some of them didn't work, but the ones that did hit hard. The theming of brotherhood in the original series was also stronger, ironically. I view them as two completely separate stories that share the same starting point. Then again, I may be just nostalgic. The original FMA left a greater impact on me than Brotherhood, but maybe it was because it came first.
Just caught up to present on Shangri-La Frontier, and I love it because by god, this is a gamer manga that's actually written by someone who knows degenerate gamers like my friends.
I liken it to a version of SAO with no stakes, and instead of following Kirito, they instead decided to focus on a college student that wakes up and thinks 'I'm going to start a run of Bloodborne on NG++++++ barehanded with the weirdest build possible because I CRAVE CHALLENGE'.
The characters feel like people, the story is slow but I'm invested, and I find it rare that series are honest on their stakes, which this series does well. These are my deranged friends that have a 12 page spreadsheet on optimal grinding strategies for one of their mobile games, or have honed their fighting game senses to the point that they have a party trick of 'You can play me one handed, blindfolded, or as anyone but my main as a handicap.' and still be damn good.
The 'It's high-stakes because the only stakes are my OWN MENTAL CONSTRUCT!' is honestly more investing for me because a lot of authorial artificial plot point constructs are less intrusive when the characters actions actually match what's at stake. When nothing is at stake, there's no issues with fun chaotic characters being chaotic.
Gundam Build Fighters came to mind - both are very low stakes, and when asked 'Why are you so serious, this supposed to be fun!', the series responds 'We're having fun being serious!'. I found Build Fighters so amazing because everyone was serious in their ridiculousness in a no-stakes story that made everything somehow feel high-stakes.
And I get that same feeling from Shangri-la Frontier. Hopefully the anime in October is good!
I've been reading Sensitive Boy as it's been coming out. I feel like this may be one of the best depictions of male victim sexual abuse I've seen. I don't know how it will continue, but I hope the author continues handling things tactfully
Anime
Zom 100: as @econinja said, it's pretty and a fun show
Undead Murder Farce: Only watched the first episode so far but it has my attention, a guy that fights demons and is part demon is commissioned to solve the (attempted?) murder of a woman. What's left of her is her head in a bird cage. An what's an anime her bodily fluids being able to keep the demon side of the man at bay.
Reborn a Vending Machine, Now I Wander The Dungeon: My trash anime of the season, not nearly as trashy as I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in the Real World Too so far it's just a silly premise and I feel is a huge indicator that the Isekai genre has run its course.
Dr. Stone: New World: Finally catching up on this anime. It's been a lot of fun. I like that everything so far is solved with "science" and not violence.
Manga
Chainsaw man: So far the 4 Horsemen arc has felt really meandering but the latest chapter is starting to feel like are return to form. It's titled ChuChu Lovely MuniMuni MuraMura PrinPrin Boron Nururu ReroRero a song by Maximum The Hormone, and there is a fight scene set to that song that I absolutely wish they'd animate.
Komi Can't Communicate: still just working through this, I got the first 18 volumes so far and on the 7th. Enjoying it as much as I enjoyed the anime
Mieruko-chan: Very slow release cycle on this series about a girl that can see ghosts other can't and tries her best to pretend they don't exist
Dandadan: A comedy about a girl that things ghost are real and a boy that thinks aliens are real, they don't think the other is right, turns out they both are and the boy loses his penis to a ghost grannie and gets super powers from the misadventure, girl has innate supernatural powers and they fight ghosts and aliens together.
I recently started vending machine, very funny anime. Solid A tier.
I recently binged the Genius Prince's Guide to Raising His Nation Out of Debt anime. It was really interesting! It has a fantasy setting, but it's not an Isekai and there isn't magic to speak of. Just a lot of political maneuvering and occasional fighting. The characters are not unambiguously good and react to events as harsh realities. The protagonist is flawed but principled. There are a lot of strong women and although they have the required skimpy outfits, in most other ways, they are the equal to the men. I really enjoyed this one and felt it was different from many of the fantasy set anime I've watched in the past. I hope it gets a second season!
I just binged a few this month.
Steins;Gate: I really loved this one. I know its towards the top of many lists, and I do think it deserves to be there. It really pulled me in, the characters were great, and I would recommend to anyone who hasn’t watched it already, if you like sci-fi/time travel stories of course.
Steins;Gate 0: This was also very good, not as good as the previous season, but was much more slice-of-life for a good chunk. Still, i enjoyed how it went into more details about the crews friendships, and how much Okabe changed due to a major event in the first season. Would recommend.
Heavenly Delusion: This one was something else. It reminded me a lot of Chainsaw Man, but the dynamic between the characters was different. It has two stories being told at the same time, so it jumps back and forth a lot, which at times was annoying. At the end of the first season, it kind of opens things up and prepares you for more, so I will either be waiting for season 2, or will become inpatient and pick up the manga! It covers some dark topics, and a few scenes (especially one specific scene in the last few episodes) can be tough to get through, but overall im excited to see where this one goes!
I've been reading Saint Oniisan. It's quite amusing, showing Jesus and the Buddha living a normal life in Japan.
Been watching some Patlabor. It's aged surprisingly well and it's actually quite relatable in a lot of ways.
(Never watched it before. I subscribed to Hidive for Oshi no Ko, and stayed subscribed because it has a smattering of older, well known series that I never watched for whatever reason.)
Patlabor is a lot more down-to-earth compared to other mecha shows like Gundam. Partly because they're literally on earth instead of in space. I wouldn't have appreciated the show as a kid, but now I can appreciate the newbie-vs-veteran attitude differences, jadedness at bureaucracy, employees lazing around and filling their downtime at work.
An example storyline is episode 7 (minor spoilers ahead) where the police department gets a trial shipment of a new model Labor (their name for mecha). But the team starts to get suspicious about why their small department is getting this expensive military grade equipment, apparently for free.
Turns out the manufacturer had made some backroom deals involving gathering live training data from the police department to monetize. When the department figures out what was going on, they push back on their superiors, some risking their jobs, and eventually get the deal overturned.
I was floored at the timeliness of that 33-year-old plotline. Just the past few days IRL there's been controversy about Zoom's ambiguous ToS stating they could possibly use user data to train AI models, and a backlash causing them to update the wording, clarifying that they won't.
Glad I picked this one up.
The first two Patlabor movies are masterpieces. They are largely standalone from each other and the show, and have a much more serious tone. But they feel very modern, especially Patlabor 2.
That sounds great, will look for the Patlabor movies. Too bad no streaming version available, will have to look for a DVD or Blu-Ray. Thanks for the rec.
Recently I started restaurant to another world, solid laid back anime very fun to watch. Also got into demon slayer love the animation for the fight scenes in that one. Also been watching a few of the new ones coming out like sweet reincarnation and reborn as a evening machine. My favorite hands down is that time I got reincarnated as a slime, cant recommend that one enough love everything about it.
Been catching up on Dr. Stone and it's been pretty enjoyable. It's about a catastrophic event that petrifies all human life on earth for a couple thousand years. Once nature has retaken the world, a genius high schooler (because of course it has to be a high schooler lol) is revived and begins recreating technology using nothing but his knowledge and raw materials. Hand tools, combustion, smeltery, engines, electricity. He goes through every stage of human technological advancement with the goal of unpetrifying every human on the planet
It can be a little goofy and childish at times, but I think the progression of stone to software age is really interesting to see in this format. The artstyle is pretty clean with bold lines and colors that make things really pop. It's a very vibrant anime. The music is nothing special but the sound design is very satisfying. I almost wonder if some of the same people that worked on JoJo worked on this because it has a lot of that same crunchy, punchy, aggressive sounding audio design.
Overall I'd recommend it.
Okay, look, I'm a casual and I'm well aware.
I introduced my wife to anime via Cowboy Bebop, then Outlaw Star, then Trigun (old version). CB is generally considered top-tier, with OS and Trigun just being personal loves of mine from that era. Out of the three, Outlaw Star is actually my favorite, while I love Trigun it's mostly from Vash being my favorite main character (someone I really respected and took philosophical cues from in my own life), and Cowboy Bebop just being the most universally enjoyable to all groups with a great aesthetic.
For the last year or so we've been making our way through Dragon Ball Z. It has been a very enjoyable experience to revisit the story for me, and for her to get some context on the things I enjoyed growing up.
We're almost done with the Majin Buu saga and I'm curious what people think about Super/GT.
We want to do both eventually, and I know Super is a Canon continuation while GT has pretty mixed reviews. Chronologically, GT came out first and I had always wanted to watch it when I was younger, but never had the access/opportunity. A few people have recommended just going straight to Super and basically leaving GT as a side-universe for later. Does anyone have a strong opinion one way or another?
I’ve been keeping up with the JJK manga and the new anime season that came out.
For purely manga I’ve been reading My Love Story with Yamada-kun lv999.
Really enjoying the anime My Happy Marriage! I look forward to it every week. I wish it would come out faster tbh.
I'm watching Link Click season 2, really liking it so far
I watched From Me To You (Kimi ni Todoke). Very good. The wholesome mutually supportive atmosphere was standing out to me.
I rewatched Handyman Saitou (Benriya Saitou-san, Isekai ni Iku). A very good anime and comedy. Starts and ends in a scene-comedy but has a long continuous story art within.
I started reading Iruma-kun out of curiosity recently and ended up finishing it in a week or so. I expected a generic SoL but surprisingly got something not unlike a battle shonen, and really enjoyed it.
I like that Iruma is a proper character as opposed to the self-insert MCs in similar manga, with growth, ambitions, his own traits. I also like that, when it comes to humour, he's not always made to be the straight man. I also found the attention given to most characters to be very enjoyable and find myself very attached to every misfit now (except Camui, I hope he dies). I like that they all get to have cool moments without reservation, without breaking character.
The way the worldbuilding is done is also interesting ; specifically, I think this setting is at its best when the difference in philosophy between Iruma and demons is the focus.
There are some flaws ; I do think it's a bit creepily horny at times and you can tell that some story beats were drafted as afterthoughts (Purson arc ; though the existence of it is very funny and it's great overall). But I would recommend it.