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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'm working my way through the Berserk deluxe edition. Just started the Conviction Arc. This is my first Manga in about 20 years. I think I read a chapter way back in early 2000's but was a bit too young for it. I was prompted to buy up the collection and read through after reading how many of my favorite creatives were inspired by it.
It's an incredible story. But my god is it dark, disturbing, and I'm kind of conflicted. I'd have a hard time recommending it to someone without very explicit trigger warnings. I had to take a break after getting through the Eclipse. But I'm really vibing with Guts's character and the themes of predestination, fate, friendship, and determination.
I hope you enjoy the read through as it is my favorite manga of all time. I read it a bit too young but I can relate very much to Guts and his struggle to move forward has resonated with me throughout the years. It's the manga I've reread the most (5/6 times now).
I will say, once you finish everything that is out (it sounds like you're reading print only) you should read the new chapters released after the mangaka passed away and also double back and read Chapter 83. It was not reprinted as Miura felt it gave too much plot away too early. I do agree with him in retrospect, but now that he won't be finishing the manga it's a cool chapter to reread and imagine how things would have turned out.
I convinced my mom to watch Monster with me! She doesn't usually watch animated stuff, but I knew this would be right up her alley. We're five episodes in and she's hooked, we binged the first four episodes in one sitting. The whole time I was just grinning like a loon because it just feels awesome to share one of my favorite series with someone.
Side-note with a minor spoiler: Seeing Nina's adopted parents show her photos they claimed were of her as a child just... Feels wrong, now. Especially since they later said they'd agreed to tell her she was adopted on her twentieth birthday. Showing her the photos was really unnecessary at that point.
Amazing feeling, sharing a favorite series with someone. : )
Have you watched the Pluto Netflix adaptation? I have yet to see / read Monster myself, but I've been told that I'd greatly enjoy it since I love Pluto (both manga and anime). Here's hoping that's a two-way recommendation, haha!
I have! Mostly, anyway. Need to watch the last 20 minutes of the final episode of Pluto. I had to pause for some reason I can't remember, though I'd also already read the manga so I do know how it ends.
Honestly, I'm just a big fan of Naoki Urasawa in general. I have yet to find a work of his I don't like, he's one of my big inspirations as a writer. His storytelling is just impeccable, able to pull together so many different threads for major reveals and epic climaxes. Monster is more grounded in reality than Pluto since it doesn't have robots, but it has a similar tension and thrill to it. They both start out small, and gradually ramp up in stakes and intensity.
I'd argue the suspense is even higher than Pluto since there's no solidly defined targets this time. We just finished episode 9, and the death count for named characters is already pretty high. It's almost the inverse of Pluto in a way, where instead of knowing who the targets are, we know the two who aren't in the antagonist's crosshairs. Everyone else around them is free game.
Wow, that does sound extremely compelling! Completely agreed that Naoki Urasawa is such an amazing author! I will definitely have to check out Monster. Thank you!
This week I finished reading Ikigami, which is drama series about people living under a government regime that injects it's citizens with nano capsules that have a 1/1000 chance of killing them between the ages of 18 and 25. The main character is a government worker who hand delivers letters from the government notifying the victims that they have 24 hours left to live.
I didn't really love the initial premise, but the execution of the concept was actually really well done. There is both good moments of people trying their best to find happiness and fulfillment with their time left, as well as people taking their revenge against the system and society. It's a pretty short read, so overall I'd recommend it.
Oh, that's been on my list for a while! I originally read a few volumes online years ago (I think before it got officially licensed), and later bought two volumes. I still haven't read one of those volumes, I'll have to search for it.
It's a really thought-provoking series. Seeing the various reactions to being told they'll die in 24 hours and the decisions they make can be pretty fascinating. Obviously most of the arcs are tragic and overall sad but there's some surprising ones, like the boy who originally reacted with joy because he considered getting an ikigami as an honor since it was in service to the country.
I love series like this that focus on individual people in unusual situations. Seeing the wide range of reactions feels like a neat little peek at the human psyche.
The wife and I have been churning through a batch of shows lately
The Royal Tutor was a surprisingly balanced and good story for what it was. The premise is: A king of a vaguely prussian territory is worried that if something happens to his eldest son, the none of the 4 younger boys would be suitable for the throne. They've all been very antagonistic to any tutors that come along, until the story's tutor arrives and begins the process of shaping them from spoiled, self-centered children to young men who are worthy of the throne. It's a sweet and charming show of helping people become better people with character growth as it's centerpiece. I would give this one a 7.5/10. A relatively low budget show, but incredibly well executed.
Brave Bang Bravern is... a show. Really good, but requires a really REALLY specific mood or acceptance criteria. This show is a mecha anime about earth being invaded by aliens, and their only hope for survival is the mysterious mecha Bravern showing up to save the day. If I were to describe this show without revealing too much: It's a B-tier Gurren Lagaan. It takes itself seriously and plays silly at the same time. It's the most absurd anime I've watched since Golden Kamuy (which is a 10/10 recommend from me, btw). This show is a 7/10 in my book. Another B tier show that over performs it's budget. It's not winning any awards, but I think it's well worth the watch.
Tower of God is starting it's second season right now, but before my wife and I jump into it, we're going to rewatch the first. We spent some time last night going through the first three episodes and are reminded just how good and interesting this show is. The premise is: There exists a tower for which anyone who can reach the top will be able to fulfill their wishes, essentially becoming god (hence the name). Enter our protangist, a young boy named Bam who wishes to climb the tower just so he could see his friend, Rachel, again. Rachel left to climb the tower and Bam (Bless his pure and innocent soul) wants to climb it to follow in her footsteps. Along the way there are many perilous trials that have each candidate risking life and limb to progress to the next floor. With an incredibly diverse cast of characters and a slew of interesting plot twists, this show delivers well on an engaging story. I would give this one a 9/10, highly recommend if you haven't seen it.
I was reading Tower of God and fell off it after having other stuff come up. You (and my friend who loves the series) make me want to pick it back up because I remember it being fantastic.
Thanks for the reviews on Bang Bang Bravern and Tower of God! Bravern was on my to-watch-list, so I'm glad it sounds like a fun romp. The stuff I've seen from it looked charming and funny.
Tower of God is something I'd heard about here and there, but hadn't ever checked out in much detail. Sounds compelling! Will have to add that to the list as well, perhaps after the second season completely airs. My wife is very into Demon Slayer, so after we catch up on that, maybe it'll tide her over as she waits for more. : ) Thanks for the rec!
Raildex rewatch update
Whining about Index some more
I'm finally done with Index's Daihasei Festival arc. Easily my least favorite string of episodes out of every anime I've watched yet. If you're planning on watching Index, let me save you some time by summarizing these six episodes:
Literally nothing that any character does matters, because the big bad is thwarted by scheduled fireworks in the end. That's it. Six episodes of Touma and the boys chasing after a walking pair of breasts, ends with them losing a fight against her and her spell not working anyway. Everyone could have stayed home.
I'm happy to be done with this arc, because even though I don't love the rest of the show, at least literally anything happens. 32 more episodes and a movie, and then I never have to put up with it again.
While I'm whining about Index, can I talk about how much cooler esper powers are than spellcasting? It's not exactly a hard magic system, but it's a lot harder than anything you see in Index. Espers can do exactly what their powers allow, but magicians can just pull whatever spell the plot needs out of their ass.
My favorite example of an esper power being cool is Misaka using her well established electric superpowers to manually shock her muscles into moving after being temporarily paralyzed. We've spent a season and half watching her use electromastery, so while this is a novel and creative use of the power, it's well founded and easily understood.
Contrast that with everything we see in the Index Daihasei Festival. Stiyl Magnus, a guy whose whole thing is fire, is able to cast a spell to pinpoint the antagonist's location. She does... something, and suddenly Magnus starts hurting a bunch. We have no basis for any of this happening, we just have to accept it and move on. They eventually find out that the spell the antagonist wants to cast is limited to specifically Rome, specifically on June 29th, but... somehow, they're able to cast the spell anyway, here in Tokyo on September 20th. We don't get to find out how, or why the author even included that date/location limitation anyway.
Happy to be back to Railgun for now. Railgun's Daihasei Festival arc is second only to its Sisters arc. I guess the majority of why I like Railgun so much is mainly how good it is in contrast to Index. Can't wait to rewatch just Railgun next year, and see what I have to say about it on its own.
The first ending theme for Railgun T is so much better than it needs to be. Kishida Kyoudan and the Akeboshi Rockets never miss
Gosh, I remember trying Index eons ago, and enjoying it a LOT then, but I cannot remember enough to have any idea what I'd think of it now. Would you recommend watching the two alongside each other for a first-timer, or can you watch just Railgun and not miss any essential context? I do remember enjoying its worldbuilding, so it's probably worth a watch sometime.
You can just watch Railgun, and aside from why a certain character is in the hospital in the third season, nothing essential is missing. That being said, as much as I presently hate Index, it wasn't so bad on my first watch. The ceaseless fanservice was annoying, but being interested in how the story was developing made it a lot easier to tune out. If that doesn't bug you too much, I'd recommend the whole franchise on a first watch, because some stuff is more fully explained (like what happened to Tree Diagram, or why ______ is in the hospital, or why ______ stopped hanging out with Saten). Also, Accelerator deserves more development than he gets in Railgun.
A Certain Scientific Watch Order
A Certain Scientific Railgun*
A Certain Scientific Railgun S
A Certain Magical Index
A Certain Scientific Accelerator
A Certain Magical Index 2, episodes 1-13
A Certain Scientific Railgun T
A Certain Magical Index 2, episodes 14-24
A Certain Magical Index 3
*The 13th episode is totally skippable, all that happens is Kongou is friends with the main crew now
If you want to go more in-depth with chronological order, the wiki has a story arc by story arc timeline. The only story arc that both series actually share is the Sisters arc, and I highly recommend watching Railgun's version first
ETA: The first few episodes of Railgun suffer from many of the same flaws as Index, re: fanservice and sexualization of minors. Unlike Index, it doesn't take a lot of time away from the actual story, and it largely stops after the 13th episode. There are still unnecessary shots here and there, but it's way more bearable
I started reading - and caught up on - both Dandadan and Dinosaur Sanctuary!
I'll start with Dinosaur Sanctuary, since it's the one I really want to recommend to folks! It's a delightful slice-of-life story about an alternate timeline where an enclave of surviving dinosaurs was discovered in 1946. In this timeline, conservation and genetics research were prioritized far more highly, so people were able to genetically-engineer more living dinosaurs. Now, in the modern day, there are 'dinosaur zoos' all around the world. However, after a tragedy some time prior to the start of the story, 'dinosaur zoos' are considered by many as a passing trend, and at worst as a foolhardy and dangerous endeavor. Our main character is Suma Suzume, a passionate young woman who joins the staff of the struggling 'Enoshima Dinoland' dinosaur zoo, and dedicates herself to trying to restore its status and help it survive!
There's a lot to love about Dinosaur Sanctuary, but I think all of its quality shares a singular source: passion. The author clearly loves dinosaurs, loves the story they are writing, loves the characters, loves biology and paleontology, and loves that they have an audience to share in these loves with them. Alongside the author Itaru Kinoshita, the manga also has a research consultant on staff, Shinichi Fujiwara, who not only assists in trying to render the dinosaurs and storylines as realistically as possible given paleontological research, but also provides their own commentary and writing at the end of each chapter. These are a great read! They range from lending additional insight into the ideas behind the chapter, discussing the dinosaurs featured in that arc, sharing cool facts about paleontological research and reconstruction sciences, and so on. Their passion for scientific outreach, and their own work, is also poured into every word they write, and is reflected in the stunning quality and realism of the manga.
The passion that the team has for the manga is wonderful, and it makes everything come alive. The dinosaurs really feel like they've been drawn from life, and the characters feel rich, fleshed-out, with incredible emotive illustration and sharp writing. It's a world I greatly enjoyed sinking into, look eagerly forward to getting more of, and cannot recommend enough to others for a good read! Whether you're a dinosaur nut, or just someone interested in a cozy and cute slice-of-life story with some juicy drama and down for some fun edutainment, I believe it's a great under-the-radar read!
On the other hand, Dandadan is a sensation, so I probably don't need to go into too much detail on that one... but it's a delightful genre mish-mash. For a brief summary: a teenage boy and girl are thrown into the world of crazy conspiracy-theory supernatural stuff, aliens, cryptids, yokai, etc. It's an action-comedy-romance-horror, with exceptional writing, AMAZING artwork (especially for a WEEKLY manga!) and it's just a whole lotta fun, but without being mindless.
I was talking with a friend recently about how much she loved Everything Everywhere All At Once, and I realized that a common thread between many of my favorite things - such as these, as well as Chainsaw Man, Undead Unluck, and so on - is not just the continually-surprising yet well-balanced genre blending, but also the same being true for the gravitas of scenes as well. For example, the commonality struck me when my friend mentioned how much she was moved by the 'rock scene' in EEAAO. The scene is incredible because, out of context, is hilarious, but in-context, it is the most moving and poignant scene of the film. For a second, you forget how silly what you're looking at is - but then you realize, and now you're laughing and crying all at once. The same is true for characters; ones you dismissed as comic relief or insignificant are given depth and pathos and even may be 'promoted' in status, which is always a delight. And even when individual scenes aren't blending things like that, the ease with which these stories move between making you laugh, to choking up with emotion, to screaming with hype, still stirs the heart in the same exhilarating way, as your heart-strings, tugged this way and that, harmonize melodiously. Dandadan excels in this regard!
I also want to specifically highlight how much I've enjoyed the romance of Dandadan. While I do wish the story would move past the "will they confess to each other" drama more quickly, I've probably just become spoiled from the amazingly-affirming romance in Undead Unluck at this point, haha! Even with that weakness, at this point the author has earned my trust, and I'm eager to see where the romance goes. It's clear that the series, at the very least, seems to be avoiding the trite drama of
light spoilers for Dandadan romance stuff
'love triangles' and other potential love interests being given serious consideration by either of the main characters. Its romantic drama is far more realistic: a boy who cannot help but acknowledge that other girls are cute, but also knows he doesn't love them in the same way... and both of them worrying about the options that their crush has, and whether they'd really be chosen over any of them.Neither a manga nor an anime, but Hideyuki Kikuchi's 30th volume of the Vampire Hunter D novels just dropped a couple days ago in North America. I'm going to be reading that soonish. There are a couple of pictures (by Yoshitaka Amano), but it's not a light novel or anything.
If anyone is interested in them, I recommend picking up this novel while it's still available. They sell through their print run pretty quickly and I don't know how many reprints actually happen. You'd think Dark Horse would be able to help push sales, but the resale market on these books is absolutely insane. It's very challenging to buy earlier volumes in physical form, though they're all available through Kindle.
My slow watch through of Taiyou no Kiba Dagram continues! I've watched through episode 26 and taken a bit of a break from watching. I'm enjoying the show immensely and look forward to watching some more in the next week or two. I told my friend it's kind of funny that of our friend group I'm the one with the least free time but also the one wanting to watch the longest series.
I've been reading a few chapter of different manga here and there. I only keep up with a few manga at this point and have some nostalgia of having ~20+ chapters a week I'd read then discuss with my friends about.