6 votes

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!

4 comments

  1. zoroa
    (edited )
    Link
    I'm primarily a manga reader, but once or twice a year I get the urge to binge some anime. A couple weekends ago was that time for me: Overlord I watched through all 4 seasons off a vague memory...

    I'm primarily a manga reader, but once or twice a year I get the urge to binge some anime.

    A couple weekends ago was that time for me:

    Overlord

    I watched through all 4 seasons off a vague memory of someone saying Overlord was good. I don't know that I agree...

    The main character spends most of a series feeling more like a plot device than a character. He has no room for character growth. He's absurdly powerful, and so much of the show's comedy is rooted in everyone thinking he's a genius leader when he isn't. Despite his power, he never makes any meaning progress in four seasons towards his main goal: figure out if he was the only person transported from earth to the new world. He's reduced to a plot device that moves the story between the subplots of the side characters we meet throughout the world. Those subplots were by far the most enjoyable part of the show for me, since the main character's role as their near-omnipotent antagonist pushes side characters to have meaningful character arcs.

    The series is pretty funny. I regularly laughed at the recurring gag where the main character has to coyly get his subordinates to explain their new plans they form after they grossly misunderstand him. But the comedy also was an acute reminder of how tired I am of harems in anime, and so much of the humor in this show is based on this.

    Overlord had me completely checked out in season 4. Until then, the main character acted as an anti-hero, who performed acts of great kindness in contrast to some "restrained" acts of evil. That dichotomy added some depth to how the main character approached different situations in the plot. In Season 4 this devolves into the main character repeatedly committing evil on a scale we'd never seen before for basically no narrative payoff.

    World Trigger

    I watched through all 3 seasons of World Trigger and enjoyed it. It's a very standard shounen, but the plot, world building, and action were still fun.

    I really enjoyed watching the main character grow across the seasons.
    He's very weak and not particularly smart, so he has figure out how to overcome his lack of talent to still be a productive member of his team. His weaknesses are constantly under a spotlight, since both of his best friends are among the strongest characters in the show. This makes the payoff of watching him succeed really satisfying.

    That said, watching the first season was rough. Each episode felt like they were trying to stretch as little content as possible to fill the 23 minute runtime. Thankfully, there's a very noticeable quality jump in the series starting in season 2 when they move to 13-episode seasons.

    Yu Yu Hakusho

    I watched through the first 2 seasons. Yu Yu Hakusho was completely new to me, but the experience washed me with nostalgia towards anime as a medium.

    I didn't realize how much I missed about the presentation of old anime: the square aspect ratio, low resolution, cel animation, and even the very specific shade of blue it felt like every anime used to use for sunny skies.

    The plot itself was fine. I was confused at the start since I'd thought Yu Yu Hakusho was a battle anime, but show starts more like an action-y sitcom. It ends up becoming a very standard battle anime complete with a training arc and a 40 episode tournament arc.

    Spoiler for a theme tackled in season 2

    I was surprised at the surprisingly mature way the show approached the main character's grief at losing someone close to him.

    Major spoiler for end of season 2 It's a shame that the show almost immediately undoes this by resurrecting the dead character.

    Pluto

    Wow.

    This show is a masterpiece.

    Lately, watching anime has been my "second monitor" activity. I watched the first episode of Pluto, and decided that I needed to carve out time to give it my full attention.

    My reward was an anime that fires on all cylinders. The plot, world, characters, and themes all feed on each other to grow into a whole more coherent and well executed than most of its peers.

    The series poses the thematic question "What does it mean to be human?" in the first episode and uses that question as a springboard to explore other ideas like the impacts of war, the Self, solipsism (or empiricism? I'm pulling on high school philosophy knowledge), etc... These themes add layers to every scene which reward you for digging further into the plot's murder mystery that's plenty interesting on its own.

    The series managed to make me care about a decently large cast of characters.

    The animation and cinematography are superb. I loved how the format, 8 1-hour long episodes, gave the show runners space to pace out episodes in a ways you typically can't in your typical 24 minutes.

    A measure I use to gauge the "quality" of an anime is how easy it is to recommend. With most series, I end up with pretty specific audience qualifiers: "If you like slice-of-life romance anime, you'll like <anime name>". Pluto is an easy recommend to anyone who just likes good media.


    edit: plat -> plot

    4 votes
  2. Monte_Kristo
    (edited )
    Link
    I read a romcom series called Shiroyama and Mita-san, where a couple of eccentric and weird high schooler students build up to moving to Tokyo from their small town in the boonies. It's an odd...

    I read a romcom series called Shiroyama and Mita-san, where a couple of eccentric and weird high schooler students build up to moving to Tokyo from their small town in the boonies. It's an odd series. I finished it with a generally positive opinion of it, but I think that it is a romcom that is not traditionally romantic, or even that funny. The titular couple have a weird relationship, in that they become a joined-at-the
    -hip unit willing to essentially elope with each other within the the first 20 chapters, but the only public display of affection they have with each other is to sensually hold hands in the final chapter of the series.

    I think the one thing that holds the series together is that the characters have some very solid coming of age moments. They have very real and relatable struggles centered around finding your place in the world, and while the couple are never physically intimate, they are emotionally supportive of each other in genuine heartwarming ways.

    3 votes
  3. Starman2112
    Link
    Finished Revolutionary Girl Utena this week. It's the kind of show that I would have to rewatch a few times to really understand. There's the obvious deconstruction of gender roles, the themes of...

    Finished Revolutionary Girl Utena this week. It's the kind of show that I would have to rewatch a few times to really understand. There's the obvious deconstruction of gender roles, the themes of coming of age and overcoming trauma, the childish desire to grow up, but I'm hardly capable of any deeper interpretation. I look forward to seeing a great many video essays and reviews, because there's a lot to chew on in this show.

    I really like the architecture in this series, especially in the movie. Buildings are surreal, too big for what they house, with bizarre (if not impossible) geometry. This person wrote an essay about the architecture in the movie fifteen years ago, using fancy words like Constructivism and Deconstructivism.

    Before hearing anyone else's interpretations, I'm giving it a 7/10. It's a bit more abstract than I'm comfortable with, it took a while for me to actually get invested in the show, but I can recognize a good story when I see one (even if I'm not fully equipped to understand it).

    3 votes
  4. dotdev
    Link
    After binging through all of Tokyo Ghoul and the sequel manga :re I was pretty emotionally exhausted. It was really enjoyable and I do plan on reading the author's next manga Choujin X but I felt...

    After binging through all of Tokyo Ghoul and the sequel manga :re I was pretty emotionally exhausted. It was really enjoyable and I do plan on reading the author's next manga Choujin X but I felt like I needed something a bit more positive to bounce back from that last ride.

    I decided upon picking up the original Dragon Ball since I had only ever read the sequels. I knew most of the story but going from the beginning was a blast. I just wrapped it up and I am probably going to continue through all of Z.

    I have some other nice active ones I am churning through as they come out with the highlights being Kagurabachi and Ichi the Witch.

    2 votes