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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!
Took me a long time but I finally finished reading all of One Piece. The story is great but I'm in a vacuum now because I am unsure what to read next. Got a backlog of stuff but that was something just always waiting so it is different.
Because of their surprise recent crossover, I went and reread all of Azumanga Daioh and Yotsuba&!. They are both really wonderful series.
Azumanga is a bit more absurd or zany. Yotsuba is whimsical for sure, but strives for realism at all times, while Azumanga is just slightly off the ground most of the time. I think a good strength they have in common is a sense for the passage of time. The plot feels like it could go on forever, but there are soft deadlines in the background that show that they can't. They both really capture the essence of youth in that regard.
I think Yotsuba may just be the best written child character ever. Both in the sense that the story is good, but also that there is insane accuracy for child mannerisms. Being athletic but also clumsy, being selfish but kind and well meaning, and having insane mental conversations that none of the adults understand but play along with just all feel so real. I don't have kids, but I have a niece who is now just a little bit older than Yotsuba, and each family outing really just matches the vibe that the manga captures. It's been very fun experiencing it all again.