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What have you been watching / reading this week? (Anime/Manga)
What have you been watching and reading this week? 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!
I just finished watching the show Frieren at my friend's request. I think it started off really good. I loved the Mushishi vibes of "Powerful mage stumbles upon town with magical ailment, fixes the problem while learning about the town along the way". But my god, the second half of the show with the silly mage exam was just horrible. It turned into a 100% bog standard boring anime battle show. Which was a darn shame. I stopped watching anime years ago and get the occasional recommendation from him, and the first half of Frieren just nailed it.
I don't know whether I'm disappointed or relieved to have stumbled upon this. I've just started Frieren and was immediately impressed by the different feel it has. I'm probably just going to drop it now rather than let myself get more sucked in, just to have it change like that.
Oh, no no no no. @PepperJackson's criticism is valid to an extent, but I also think it's a bit overstated. There is a tournament arc, but I wouldn't say that the tournament arc turns the show into a "100% bog standard boring anime". The tournament arc is used to introduce and develop characters, just like the rest of the season -- it's just a little tropey by comparison. I would still watch Frieren even if were just the tournament arc; it's still incredibly well done. Hell, the final "exam" is the farthest thing from your cliche anime fight scene. If anything, the final exam probably ranks among the most memorable moment in the show to me.
I think your retort is enough to convince me to at least continue up to the arc in question and make up my own mind. Really appreciate it :)
I think think you should consider @psi perspective as well. I think I could have made it more clear that I essentially do not watch any anime anymore, and the second half of the show reminded me of why. The first half was excellent. I think if you are a steady anime enjoyer you will find that much of the second half to be enjoyable as well.
I would disagree with @psi on one point and that is that I would definitely have not watched the show if it was only the tournament. But that's the beauty of opinion, I think they are perfectly well justified in enjoying that part of the show. I would be lying if I said I didn't appreciate the craftsmanship in the tournament arc, but I certainly didn't care for the events on screen.
In matters of taste, there can be no disputes!
Like @psi said, it's not some typical tournament arc. You're not going to be drawing up some bracket, betting on who will win it all. Or watching the characters compete to be the best. Instead you really get to know some interesting characters, expand upon the magic system, and the world. It's really just a part of the overall journey. Not to mention the animation is still really good.
Also, it's not actually a tournament. I'm not going to spoil it anymore than that.
Summed up my thoughts exactly, I loved the world building and relaxing pace of the first part of the show. Felt like it told a lot of nice little stories about what it means to live. Then the mage exam hit and it just became typical a tournament arc anime with 20 new generic, tropey characters who I legitimately could not name if I had a gun to my head.
I've watched enough anime to know that generic is not a proper qualifier for the side characters. They're all developed beyond their trope.
I've finally lifted some of my self-imposed embargoes and started to watch some of the stuff this season.
Just yesterday I watched through the end of I Was Reincarnated as the 7th Prince so I Can Take My Time Perfecting My Magical Ability. Power fantasy anime are incredibly overdone at this point, but this one is kind of refreshing because the main character isn't really invested in becoming more powerful - they're practically already god at the beginning of the series. They just want to learn a bunch of novel magic. It takes a concept that could have been very, very dumb, but manages to handle it fairly cleverly. The animation is really well directed, though the animation itself is sometimes questionable (or extremely questionable, if you include the terrible extended CG scene towards the end). It's kind of all over the place in a number of ways, including the character designs (the main character's outfit towards the end is absolutely horrible, as is all of the chibified versions of the characters).
Tonari no Yokai-san is probably my favorite of this season of those I have seen. It's got a cat who cries tears when he finds out you're safe. That's enough for me. I really like the character designs. They all make me want to give them hugs. Jiro especially.
Astro Note actually pretty much ties with Yokai-san in regards to how much I am loving it. The art style and animation is soooo good, and I could rewatch the OP and ED over and over again. While all of the shows I've mentioned have been comedies, I like the humour of this show the best; it's got very vivacious and interesting characters who have personalities that clash in the best of ways, and a viewer-insert character who comes to the most insane conclusions about his love interest when confronted with hints about her cosmic background.
I've also finally got around to watching the back half of Dungeon Meshi. There has probably been volumes talking about it already, so I'll just leave it at that. It's definitely the thing to be watching right now. Senshi is my husbando. :P
I go through phases of watching no anime at all, and watching anime pretty intensely. I really struggle with watching ongoing series, because I hate waiting a week between episodes. Typically, I just let a series near the end of a season and binge it all over a weekend or two. But I found myself pulled toward Kaiju No 8 and I absolutely love it. It's far from my typical taste in anime, but something about it just captivates me.
As I'm putting myself through the loathful process of waiting a week between episodes, I'm also watching Monster for the first time. It's something I've put off for years, because every time I've tried , the pace has just bored me to the point of tapping out an episode or two in. This time I've made it 10 episodes in and I'm hooked. It's a very non-anime, anime. It could have been a live action series and work just as well. But the story is gripping. But the pace is still a little too slow if I'm completely honest.
Monster is a slow-burn series for sure but it has some mighty payoff. I didn't mind the pacing personally, I think it's a story that benefits from a bit of narrative breathing space where you can turn the mystery over in your head and it kinda enhances the creepy atmosphere that's built up. Urasawa is a master of this more thoughtful pacing, and, after watching Netflix' Pluto adaptation, the original manga of Monster and 20th Century Boys have shot high up on my priority list.
I watched Monster around 9 years ago in a semi-binge, watching a handful of episodes whenever time became available. The atmosphere is amazing, and I would strongly recommend not skipping the opening or ending to further enhance that (especially ED 1, that song combined with the creepy picture book art is something else).
I think I've mentioned here how I binged through Attack on Titan at like 1.5 speed. Whenever I watch anime these days, it's rare I'll have it less than 1.25 speed... After getting used to it, most shows feel wrong at normal speed, and that applies to anime and live action shows alike, to some degree. It must be partly padding the airtime, and partly for accessibility, but a lot of dialogue sounds unnaturally slow at normal speed
So that is how I consume almost all videos on YouTube, but I've always avoided doing so with TV shows and movies. Mostly because I fear that I'm fueling my already concerningly short attention span...
I just finished the entire third season of Dr. Stone (subtitled: New World). It's fantastic and truly makes the slower episodes at the beginning of the season worth it. The characters all came together with their unique skills and fought the Big Bad of the arc. It was intense, fun, and just interesting to watch. I loved the final battle. That said, the last episode of the season was dull and slow. It's the epilogue and sets the story up for the fourth (and final) season. I've generally loved watching this show and I might just read the manga to see how it all ends.
My slow watch through of Taiyou no Kiba Dagram continues! I've watched through episode 25 over the last couple of weeks. Hitting the 1/3 mark feels nice, it's only taken 4 months to get here. I hope to finish it by the end of the year, but we'll see how that pans out. I didn't get a "day to myself" but I did get to sit on my couch for an hour uninterrupted with a beer and watch this on Father's Day!
The plot feels like it's steadily progressing, I know I mentioned previously that I feel like the characters aren't necessarily growing but I've also realized that's not the main focus. There will be character growth slowly but the show is more focused on this conflict as a whole.
There was a great episode showing how hard it is to really bring people together in a decentralized anti government guerrilla force. With them constantly arguing about different groups and their view points while also highlighting the need for a strong figure to provide a unifying presence or vision for a movement.
They also had a small prison break arc which was well done. The entire thing could easily have gone up in smoke for the heroes. It wasn't a comically incompetent villain who let them succeed but the warden of the prison who I was able to emphasize with their motives and see why they would make those choices that led to the heroes being successful.
It's dated sure, but I find it holds up well. This is good TV and there is something so oldly nostalgic about seeing people with giant robots using corded telephones and smoking cigarettes/cigars during their meetings.
Still watching Hunter X Hunter. I'm in the Chimera Ant Arc and holy crap! This arc is dark! I mean people have died and been killed before, but this is different. There was a part of me that was hoping they would just drop a nuke lol. Really enjoying it though.
I was heavily disappointed by that arc. I generally compared it to being slowly aroused by your partner and then right when it's supposed to get good, they leave the room and you're left thinking, "What the fuck?" This arc gets your hopes up for something exciting and then nothing happens. I truly hate this arc. Apparently, it has mixed reactions amongst anime fans. My one friend loves this arc.
I'm someone who loves this arc. I can admit that it's far from perfect... there are definitely pacing issues to say the least, and with so many side characters and split focus the story often feels scattered. However, it also tackles some interesting concepts in the resolution of this arc and with the character development for both the protag and antagonists). It's sort of rare for shounen anime to jump off the train tracks that have been laid by so many in the genre before it, and another reason I appreciate it a lot. I could gush about it for hours but I don't want to go into details and potentially spoil anything for TheRTV.
All of my issues with the arc are towards the end. Like what if Goku became a Super Saiyan and Freeza decided to give up right there so there was no climactic finish? That’s how I feel about this arc. It builds up to something huge and then nothing happens.
(No, the big bad doesn’t give up after any character does anything remotely like turning SSJ. It’s an example only).
I’ve not been watching much anime lately but I intend on rewatching Kill La Kill here soon, saw it last year and it might be one of my favorites.