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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!
Fureru
Fourth work from the team that did Ano Hana, although it's not clear if this one is set in the same universe like the others.
Say what you want about Okada Mari's writing - she's definitely been responsible for a fair few train wrecks alongside the home runs - but she's in her element here for the first two acts of the film which deliver strongly on the awkward relationships and love triangles that she built her name on. There's a strong and consistent thematic focus on the patricular challenges of relationships and communication between men, which is an interesting and under-explored avenue to go down.
The third act is where it kind of fell apart for me, though. The tone of the film takes a sharp left turn and all of the tangled threads built up to that point are just quickly and conveniently resolved. I feel like it would have been a much stronger resolution had the characters had their same emotional development but then actually used it to sort out their problems via communication in the real world.
Oh, I didn't know that itʼs somehow related to Ano Hana. Itʼs interesting.
And, yeah, I totally agree with you about the third act.
This week bring to me only one ongoing, but the franchise isnʼt new, but I — and I guess, not only — waited a long time: Sousou no Frieren. Just for reminding, this season has only ten episodes. I really recommend to check the ending — itʼs good, and made by colour pencils (Iʼm not mistaken).
And Netflix realesed Prism Rondo with twenty episodes at once. But in reality it would be around twenty two by time spending, because two episodes [around sixth, and the last] are longer in two time. Sometimes I like the such way of realeased, but usually I donʼt. I wish I dropped it earlier, because it very clichéd, and not well delivered. It's fine made, but storytelling is very weak. But maybe itʼs just me: Iʼm not this kind auditory for this show.
For compare, I also watched Kobayashi-san Chi no Maidragon: Samishigariya no Ryuu which also not provide nothing new or special in storytelling meaning, but it was delivered very well. But for this you should watch previous serials in this franchises. In short, itʼs about Kanna.
And another movie Fureru. Itʼs about communication, friends with some supernatural thing. Again, nothing new, even a classic trick as «girls destroyed boys frienship» was used, but itʼs just a fine middle-tier movie which I liked too. Just in case, at the first minutes you may think that itʼs BL, heh. But it isnʼt.
Aw, I didn’t know Frieren would only have ten episodes. I wonder why.
I dunno, and I didnʼt read the source: a manga. Itʼs just a rumour, but I heard that the next arc could be converted into movie.