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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've given in and started reading Jojo's Bizarre Adventure starting from part 1, Phantom Blood and enjoyed it enough. Then read and finished part 2, Battle Tendency. Now I understand. Can't wait to begin part 3.
All of the Macross series that Harmony Gold has for decades been keeping away from American audiences.
I actually pirated Macross Frontier ages ago because I was so pissed off at not being able to watch it. I skipped Delta because I was kind of turned off from the “just add more idols” approach it looked like they were doing (and let’s be real, Satelight’s productions tend to be pretty hit or miss. I mean really, Evangelion MOE? Though I’m still reserving a conclusion on that one.) But Delta has been keeping me surprisingly engaged even with the annoying “we just aren’t going to explain any of why this stuff is happening” storytelling approach.
I’ve also been watching Macross 7. I tried to watch it a decade or so ago but it’s weirdly culturally alienating in spite of being so familiar to the stuff I loved as a kid. The music is really what does it to me, especially because whenever Basara starts singing outside of the context of a concert - which is constantly - he still has an insane amount of reverb, presumably because they recorded the vocals somewhere with natural reverb. But he’s making these sounds at the same time as people right next to him don’t have that same effect. I assume this is because of the limitations of music production at the time because the song Mylene sings doesn’t have that problem - though in the actual song, the reverb is absolutely dreadful. Did tape delays really sound that bad?
In any case, hearing the same song 10 times over makes you realize they’re actually quite good. Unironically even.
Macross 7 really liked to use a few songs a lot but I agree that they're a jam. I don't think the reverb was ever an issue for me, but I'm not surprised as I tend to miss a lot of things about sound production.
I think Delta's the worst in the franchise with not explaining things for no other reason than it's building on everything that came before it without being a direct sequel so it transforms earlier elements just to be different, maybe?
I'm fine with it building on the franchise, but I really don't remember a planet Windemere or a race with "runes" that reflect their feelings. But in any case the last episode I watched had Heinz dragged up a mountain by his brother and shown a big black void and saying "this is what they did to us!" with absolutely no explaination as to what it even was. They are in the middle of a war for which all we know is that the Windemerians feel they have been slighted, but they don't bother to explain why they felt that way and for all intents and purposes it might be that they're just evil for no good reason.
I'm perfectly willing to give it the benefit of the doubt that it's something that's in one of the holes of my memories (I've never watched the other parts of Robotech, so I missed out on Southern Cross and Mospeada), but it really sounds like they are just leaving out plot for the sole reason of making it more dramatic. I seem to remember they did that in Frontier as well, so I'm not really too upset about it.
Oh right, I forgot that everything about Windermere was just dropped in without much explanation at the start of Delta. From what I remember that's eventually covered but it certainly took its time and left viewers wondering for a while; whether or not the mystery was intentional I can't recall.
I'm technically watching more than this comment covers, but most of them aren't very notable. Even so you may notice a theme in the ones I do mention.
Solo Leveling. Still enjoying this a lot. My wife and I watched the most recent episode twice already because we both are suckers for anime fight scenes. There's also a bunch of plot pieces the author has set in motion at this point in the story so I just don't know what's coming next.
Shangri-La Frontier. This is getting it's groove back in my opinion. There's a bit much going on at once, which did slow the story down quite a bit unfortunately. It also had what felt like a filler episode a few weeks back, but I do get it. I think they needed the budget elsewhere because that episode was right between 2 action heavy arcs. I also kind of love the character interactions in it. Specifically how the main character's clan all are publicly exploiting each other with lines with the tone of, "if I ask them for help they're never going to let me live it down."
Arifureta. The part it's at is dragging a bit. The last 4-5 episodes combined probably span a time period of under an hour. And unfortunately the cause of that is lots of simultaneous fight scenes, but in a show that doesn't really have the budget to do so many straight episodes of quality fights.
I'm about to finish reading Tsutomu Nihei's Blame! series. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did going in and it'd gotten more ... convoluted and weird and fucked up in a good(?) way as the reader journeys through different strata.
Feels a bit like what would happen if Junji Ito and Kentao Miura had gotten together to do a silent protagonist cyberpunk story, with an emphasis on impaling things. Everyone gets impaled. New character introduced? Impaled. Sidekick returns? Impaled again for sure. It's just a matter of time and even time gets fucking impaled. Crazy. Yet much less fucked up than Blade of the Immortal.
Anyway, looking forward to the final Blame! volume when it arrives in the mail. I might try out Tsutomu Nihei's Knights of Sidonia, too.
I read Gyaru to Kyouryuu which known as Gal and Dino in English. It's a slice of life comedy series about a gyaru waking up to find a non distinct cartoon dinosaur watching TV in her apartment. He's a chill dude, so she let's him stay and they become roommates. It's a series where nothing happens but the vibes are solid. Just a bunch of low stakes every day events happening to unusual individuals who are endearingly affable.
There is both an anime and a live action series where the dino is a person in a big puppet costume like Big Bird. Haven't watched either, so I can't comment on the quality.
Just finished The Dangers in My Heart S2, and absolutely loved the romance show. It felt like a well rounded show to me with a satisfying closure, although I might get on the manga when I get time. Truly a must watch for me, thanks to Gigguk's recommendation.
Still continuing with Orb (1 ep behind so I can binge) and the reveal is getting exciting, can't wait to get to the end. It's also gotten me looking at the night sky more often and really appreciate it, although I'm probably mistaking satellites for stars.
Shangri-la Frontier S2 is a bit of a mix for me, I'm invested in the story but it's moving a little slow to keep me engaged.
There are still other shows that I have on hold from the previous season that I'll binge when it's fully released like Arifureta/Danmachi/ReZero, and will probably pick up Apothecary Diaries S2 soon!
Picked up Choujin X finally. Fantastic read so far, I really like how it doesn't shy away from calling out the protagonists obsession with his friend as unhealthy. The characters are interesting and have actual flaws, there is this sense of dread looming in the background, as if everything will come crashing down at any moment.
While I am pretty sure I know which direction the story is heading, I am still unsure of who is right between the 2 sides, which creates this unease.
I've given in and started reading Jojo's Bizarre Adventure starting from part 1, Phantom Blood and enjoyed it enough. Then read and finished part 2, Battle Tendency. Now I understand. Can't wait to begin part
While waiting for my library hold on Witch Hat Atelier volume 4 (available in 3 weeks; volume 5 in 9 🥲), I looked for manga with a similar feel - beautiful art, fantasy, mystery, good storytelling.
I landed on A Kingdom of Quartz. It's set in a society of angels. I thought it was pretty good, but it's also an ongoing series. So now I have even more to wait for. 😆