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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!
Finished Delicious in Dungeon recently (watching the anime).
Really like it. Knows how to use its humor, keeps things moving, and since it's a finished story I don't have to worry about the massive character/plot bloat issues.
I tend to rate every show I watch very highly. I like English dubs and I usually overlook flaws that others see, so for a little while I was worried that I simply don't have taste.
I started Elfen Lied the other day, and I'm happy to say that I do have taste, and this tastes bad. I'm only a few episodes in, so I can't make any real judgements yet, but so far this show just feels gross to watch. This is the first time I've seriously considered breaking my streak and leaving a show unfinished
If the dog dies on-screen, this show gets a 3 at most
Edit: I don't want to just complain, so I'm going to talk about another show me and my friends have been watching: Castlevania. Some would say it isn't anime, and I would ignore them. The first season is the weakest, but it still does a good job setting up the characters and the stakes in a way that later seasons are able to build on perfectly. Everyone in the show has a distinct personality that makes their character growth (or lack thereof) believable and meaningful. As I write this, it occurs to me that the vampires don't really grow or change at all throughout the series, which I'm choosing to interpret as a deliberate commentary on their species—long-lived, but stagnant, unable to adapt to the ever-evolving human race.
You could write a whole essay about the differences between Hector and Isaac, how one betrays his principles and the other remains loyal, how the narrative punishes one and rewards the other, and how their experiences cause both of them to grow. I'm not an essayist, so the most I can do is gesture broadly at it and say "look at that! Isn't that neat?"
It's been many years since I watched it but I do recall the series having some excellent storytelling and thematic elements underneath all the graphic content. It is short enough too (12 eps?) so I would recommend sticking with it to the end if you're not off the fence yet. But, of course, that's just a reflection of my own tastes which are pretty seinen-oriented and I'm used to harsher stuff in general, so if it's not for you then no pressure at all.
My slow watch through of Taiyou no Kiba Dagram continues! I've watched through episode 41 so far. This was a slower flashback episode with not as much to write home about. Crinn reflects on his own thoughts and feelings of fighting compared to the Federation soldiers he battles. There's a brief cut to Daisy (female MC) who rejects the offer to to and visit Crinn at the Andi mine to continue following her own path and helping at the neutral war hosptial.
Thankfully these episodes are few and far between. Flashbacks as a whole aren't used excessively which is nice.
As always hope to watch more when I can. Nice seeing the number of remaining episodes tick down and I'm curious how the show wraps up.