11
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!
For anime, my wife and I recently finished Gundam GQuuuuuuX which was tons of fun. At this point, Char is the true protagonist of the UC timeline. He's just that engaging to watch. It was also refreshing because we had watched Zeta a while back and, despite loving 0079 and Char's prequel anime, Zeta just felt like a confusing mess of plots that didn't really go anywhere. I'm not sure why people like it so much, it commits so many storytelling sins as well as being incredibly awful to all of its characters the entire time.
...sorry, got off on a rant there. Zeta bad, GQuuux good. But GQuuuuux requires 0079 for knowledge because it deviates from episode 1 on a fun question: What of Char said "Fuck it" and just ran up and stole the gundam instead of trying to destroy it?
It was fun to see various cameos of characters from 0079 as well as Challia Bull getting the true character development he deserved (instead of dying immediately). There was some Zeta callbacks as well, which kinda made it marginally less painful to have watched Zeta, but not really. (It was cool to see a Psycho Gundam go full Evangelion on someone) Also, they reanimated some 0079 scenes with modern styling, which was super awesome. I'd love to see more stuff like that.
I know I rambled a bit on this one. It mostly comes from me never truly writing my rant on Zeta and why I hated what it did. If people care maybe I could be motivated to finish it. Anyways! At the end of the day, I recommend GQuuuuX to any fan of the UC timeline, but it would be super confusing to anyone who isn't familiar with it. Too many callbacks and references that exist as a wink and a nod for fans of the series that go over the head of the viewer without that knowledge.
I feel like Gundam is like the Discworld books.
You can watch/read them in any order, but to really enjoy it you'd need to get a visual guide what relates to where and what's the best order :D
Big UC Gundam fan here. Overall, I agree with your takes on Zeta. I feel like it's important with the cheekier ZZ in establishing the political landscape and climactic anticipation for Char's Counterattack, but otherwise, they can be quite a slog. Zeta especially goes hand-in-hand with Tomino's more grim works like Space Runaway Ideon (the eschatological inspiration for Evangelion). Tomino battled depression for some time before hitting his low point in the early '90s, during Victory Gundam. After finishing Turn A and coming out of his depression, Tomino said that even he didn't like Zeta very much, lol!
But Char is such a fun character! The Origin OVA was great -- like if Star Trek did a mini-series about Khan during the Gene Wars. I still need to sit down and watch GQuuuuuuX, but its definitely moving up my list!
Started watching "Reborn as a Vending Machine, I Now Wander the Dungeon" on a whim.
And this is wonderfully low-stakes cutesy slice of life stuff ... about a dude obsessed with vending machines turning into one and getting Isekai'd into a fantasy world.
In my opinion one of the strengths of manga and anime as a medium is its willingness to earnestly embrace a silly fun premise like this. It doesn’t always work but when it does it’s good.
In the west you see some of that in indie small creator stuff, but since 2005 or so most commercial productions have tended towards being “serious” and “realistic” or outright comedy/parody with little in between. The movies and shows from the 80s and 90s that were silly or campy yet played seriously just kinda dried up.
The best and most heartfelt Anime I've seen have had the stupidest premises on the surface.
Like a kid learning to play Go or wanting to make the best bread in the world =)
Phantom Quest Corp.
Today I joined a clandestine anime watchalong on Twitch, and they watched the first of 4 episodes of Yuugen Kaisha. We open to our protagonist naked in bed, mostly covered by her sheets, and after a brusque move, we go back a second and hunt that one glorious nip shot that lasts ONE FRAME. The man controlling the video was gay, it was all for science.
This thing is animated really well. 1994, cel animation, cars drawn by hand even in movement. You had to be there. The main character was played by Matsumoto Rika, famous voice actress for the original Pokémon anime's protagonist. She does a woman's voice here. It's wrong!
This is a horror comedy with good action scenes. The Phantom Quest Corp. investigates supernatural mysteries as a business. For anyone interested in watching, know this mini series has one of the most realistic endings ever in an anime.
Otaku no Video
I also partially rewatched this today. It's kind of funny. Being made by anime otaku, you'd think this would be mostly about anime otaku, but it isn't. It's interesting that this 1991 OVA is quickly in the wake of the Otaku Murderer cases in Japan, and released in the year prior to the famous Japanese market bubble burst. Otaku were seen in a more negative light than ever, and many of their favourite industries were about to take a dive.
This combines a mockumentary about otaku [of many kinds: guns, model kits, etc] with an animated story about some otaku rising to prominence in the hobby industry. The interviews are just Gainax dudes playing a part. I missed the Hideaki Anno interview. (▀̿Ĺ̯▀̿ ̿) Also the ending is kind of weird. I think they didn't know how to finish.
I've been watching City: The Animation. So far there's only 3 episodes but I absolutely love it. The entire anime really just feels like they colored in the manga and set it in motion. While I was skeptical of the casting of voice actors based on the trailers, they are definitely perfect for all the characters that have shown up so far. Definitely recommend watching it!