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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!
Orb: On the Movements of the Earth - I've only seen 8 episodes so far but I am hooked. It's about the beginning of the discovery of heliocentrism and how it clashed with the beliefs of the church. It's scientific, suspenseful, gritty, and unique. In the midst of endless Isekai and other "potato chip" shows that I end up forgetting as soon as I finish them - I know this one I will remember for a long time.
Read the manga for this when it originally made waves a couple of years ago. Loved the choice of theme and the humanness of the story. One thing that really struck me throughout the story was how driven all of the characters are by their ideologies and beliefs. Basically everyone is a maniac of some kind willing to go to extraordinary lengths for their worldview.
so bit of an off-topic question, but how do you hear about manga like this? r/manga is just way too much noise. I love tildes of course, but I'm just curious if you know of another place. sifting through manga sites isn't helpful either as there's a lot
Unfortunately, I haven't found any silver bullet either. For me, it's a combination of the following:
In the same vein as movies, novels, etc., the amount of content available makes it difficult to have a single solution for finding manga you're interested in. At the end of the day, unless you have a friend with very similar interests who is much more invested than you, you will end up trawling through some mediocrity in search of the special series you truly enjoy. Well_known_bear's comment covers a lot of great suggestions.
I heavily relied on recommendations to begin with, branching out from some of my favorite series to similar ones or the author/artist's other works. This added bit of direction is what made database sites like MyAnimeList, AniList, and MangaUpdates significantly more helpful, with the prior two having user voted "similar" series, and the latter having extremely nuanced tagging.
As for English translated manga, you could also browse some of the English publishers' releases. Being officially licensed isn't necessarily a mark of series quality, but many really great manga get an official English release (e.g. Orb itself) and the translation and image quality will generally be high. Here are links to some of the large English publisher websites:
Kodansha | Seven Seas | VIZ | Yen Press
If you're somewhat new to the scene and/or lacking in sources of recommendations you trust, there's nothing wrong with sorting one of the database sites by rating and sifting through for some series with art/tags/synopses that interest you to get started.
Orb is my favorite anime in the last 15 years. It's so good. It's hard to write about without spoilers, but on top of being about 15th century polish astronomers, it's also about the contributions to history made by now-anonymous people from days long-since passed, and about having faith in an uncertain future. I want so badly to write more but I can't without spoiling anything so I'm gonna link to some thoughts I wrote down back in March for you to either read when you've finished the show, or forget about and never see. Either way is fine
I finished the manga Houseki no Kuni/Land of the Lustrous yesterday.
Man. So many thoughts. The story is well made, and the developments are insane. Personally I think the ending is very beautiful. I assume that many dislike it, but I really appreciate the uniqueness of it all.
I don't want to provide any major spoilers even in text boxs, though in the entire series there's one thing I just can't get over.
Minor spoilerish
I can't believe a head transplant can be kawaii. That's a new one.Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
I remember hearing a fair few people compare this series to Steven Universe when the anime first aired, but they really could not be more different apart from the whole anthropomorphic gemstones thing. I don't think I've seen any other series that manages to strike quite the same tone (and the track record for serialising weird stuff like this is why I love Afternoon so much).
I finally watched Summer Time Rendering and tbh, it was one of the, if not the one, best anime I watched in a decade. I was missing higurashi-y anime. I kept avoiding it because Disney+'s description sounded like a fucking summertime slice of life anime about grieving in a friend group.
The whole theme of the anime kept me at it. A lot happened in a single episode, but to a very satisfying level - and there are 25 of them.
At one point, I was so excited about the anime that I thought "I hope they don't fumble it in the finale then." They did not. At all. It was a very satisfying watch with multiple plottwists per episode and a nicely written ending.
I watched Netflix's KPop Demon Hunters this morning. It was pretty good! I'm not a huge KPop fan, I don't listen to a lot of it, but when I saw something about it -- I think here on on ~movies -- I got interested. It was a strange combo IMO, but an intriguing one. The animation was decent, the music was really catchy and good, and the story was fun. I definitely liked the peek into Korean mythology.
I recently rewatched Fog Hill of Five Elements[MyAnimeList, AniList]. It's nothing groundbreaking when it comes to writing, but it's a real visual treat. I'm looking forward to the 3rd and supposedly final installment, however many more years it takes to release.
I've also been on a bit of a harem light novel kick lately for whatever reason. Caught up on Reborn as a Space Mercenary: I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship!, Too Many Losing Heroines!, and I'm working through High School DxD now.
Reborn as a Space Mercenary is overall very mediocre, but refreshing in that it's a rare true harem series with a MC who isn't completely oblivious for the sake of comedy. If you like space battles, cheesy wish fulfillment isekai, and harems, it's some junk food for you.
Too Many Losing Heroines is a fantastic and self-aware work. I think both the light novel and anime[MyAnimeList, AniList] are well executed and a lot of fun. Some of the humor probably lands better if you're already experienced with other shonen romance series, but I doubt it's a requirement to enjoy.
High School DxD is, well, High School DxD. Doubt it needs an introduction to most people with any interest in harem anime/manga/novels.
Damn, fog hill is such a throwback, that first fight scene was peak, and I even remember the dude that made combat gods got in some sort of trouble or something for basing his vid too heavily off the fight.
Also, iirc, the (sole?) animator also sang the op, which is really impressive.
I caught up on the One Piece manga after taking a break since May to let it build up for a bit.
Cool seeing a sort of montage flashback arc and all these key characters being involved. I'm not sure if I'll keep reading as it publishes or wait for awhile before catching up again. I've always found One Piece to be most enjoyable when I can read a big chunk of chapters in a run. When I reread the series after taking a break for several years I had a ton of fun and really enjoyed it.
I have a feeling when One Piece does finally finish I'll do a complete reread.
I do hope when the main series finishes that Oda explores some side stories in the setting. I believe he's mentioned wanting to do that and I think it'd be cool seeing other islands/pirate crews/marines and what have you where he isn't needing to tie it all back to the main story directly.
I'm sure that as a One Piece reader, you've prolly heard this a million times, but do you think it's worth getting into the manga atp or will it just be too taxing to get through?
Also, do you think there's a certain point after which I'll definitely know whether it's "for" me or not? Because I know that manga sometimes need some time to really build that momentum, and some other manga have drastic changes in tone and whatnot.
I think it's worth getting into if you're okay with waiting awhile to see the ending. I started reading One Piece ~15 years ago and I'm guessing there's at least another 10-15 more before it ends. It is also great being able to read straight through the arcs as the main story arcs can take years to publish and in some of them you'll have a number of plotlines weaving in and out.
In my opinion the first main story arc makes a good impression and by the end of it you get a good feel of the story. The East Blue arc is the first 100 chapters of the manga.
Another good point where it really should have clicked in would be the end of the second major story arc which is another ~100+ chapters. This second arc features an eventual main antagonist and introduces a lot of story elements that carry in the series. If it hasn't clicked for you by now I don't think you'd enjoy the rest of the series.
I think the story tone remains pretty consistent after the second arc and while the stakes may get higher it's still the same type of story.
I hope that answers your question. If you do try it and want someone to chat about it with I'd be down. I just recently reread the series so it's still fresh in my mind.
Piggybacking off this for anyone who may be interested in starting the anime:
The same still generally holds true, but the animation modernizes significantly in the Wano arc which starts around episode 900. I'm sure the change would impact a lot of people's feelings on the show. I would also heavily recommend watching the One Pace edit where available to keep pacing more in line with the manga. A few of their older releases have significant issues and poor video quality, but are (imo) still preferable to the unedited arcs due to the immense amount of time-wasting filler. This spreadsheet details how much content One Pace removes per arc.
Wait, this is a fantastic rec - I've heard from a lot of people that the filler gets kind of sluggish at some points, thanks for the info, I'll prolly end up using it for the anime
Let me back that up and say it should be the only way one watches One Piece.
One Pace improves the pace significantly. The original is such a slog it made me quit the show for at least a year. Three times.
I'm not sure if this was around when I started in on One Piece, but the amount of episodes out and the amount of filler I had heard was in there pushed me to reading the manga over watching the anime.
I'm not sure I'll ever watch the anime with how long it is even with the filler removed but I've had this bookmarked for years just in case
If you've read the manga, I don't think there is much to be gained watching the anime pre-Wano unless you're just a superfan. Most fights in Wano and Egghead are extremely well animated and stylish, so you may still find them fun to watch.
Oh, 100 chapters isn't too much of a time investment at all! Yeah, for sure, I'll try it out and lyk how it goes
Watched Tokyo Revengers for the first time. I liked it, but was thrown off by the whole rights situation. Where the first season is on CR, but after that it's on Hulu/Disney. Anyways I enjoyed the ride. The OP is kind of infuriating. Mostly because he's designed to be an idiot, so they have an easy way to explain things to the audience. I liked unraveling the problems of the future. For some unreason I assumed the show was finished. So I was disappointed when I got through it all. I'm looking forward to next season.
Just binged Steins;Gate. I was not too impressed with the first half, but the second half really got me. The OP is quirky and I wasn't a huge fan of that. Not that I dislike him, but I didn't like it too much either. I did really like that underneath it, he is a good guy. Which justifies the people that connect with him in the show. The time travel aspect was interesting, but I wasn't too sold. Then the turning point happens and that's when it clicked. I really enjoyed the ending. I'm gonna watch the OVA specials and start the next series. Heard the movie is non-canon, so I may save that for last.
Gotta mention Dr Stone. Last night's episode was crazy!!!
4x20 spoilers
I can not accept that Kohaku and Tsukasa are going to die. Of course I knew that them getting shot is a possibility, but it's still shocking. Obviously they stretch reality, so it's possible for them to survive. But it doesn't look good since Senku doesn't seem to have any Medusa's ready. Kohaku and crew are bleeding out fast. That's assuming the bullets went straight through.
It seems this arc will wrap up in 4 episodes. So we'll see what happens. It would be incredibly sad, but powerful if the story let's them die.
Ruri no Houseki
I just hope shools will one day be more like that.