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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!
Starting Lone Wolf and Cub manga, got the full series off humble bundle. Nearly done with Vol 1, so far it's just been "Look at all the clever ways MC does his thing", but I assume a narrative will develop over time, and already there's been some cool story drips.
The series is way more sexual and has way more gratuitous nudity than I was expecting, not an issue but just was surprising (and makes it slightly awkward to read on planes sometimes). One of the issue covers in the first volume straight up has full dick and balls of the 3 year old Cub (he's peeing a la those Calvin bumper stickers), the 70s really were a different time I suppose. Neat to be reading a much older manga though, since all my experience so far is newer stuff.
(Minor note, but this version by Dark Horse reads left-to-right, which was confusing for the first few pages until I figured it out. Unsure why they decided to westernize it like that but idk. Unless old manga was like that and the right-to-left is a newer development? I'm not up on my manga history)
BLAME! (the E is silent)
I bounced off this manga many years ago but decided to give it another shot as we come up on its 30th anniversary next year.
The first volume is definitely the hardest to get through. Not only is the art dirty as hell (even compared to other dirty 90s cyberpunk like Ghost in the Shell or Gunnm) to the point where it's difficult to follow what's happening in each panel, but there's basically zero exposition as to who any of the characters are or what they're trying to achieve.
Once you get to volumes 2-3, though, it becomes a fair bit more readable. The quality of the art picks up with improved parseability and panel flow, and the protagonist also receives a companion who provides much needed exposition and characterisation. There are proper story arcs and established motivations and stakes. Like the cover proclaims ('Adventure-seeker Killy in the Cyber Dungeon quest!'), there starts to be a cool sense of adventuring through a vast and dangerous labyrinth with new discoveries to be made at every layer...
...but then you get to the final volumes, and again it drops anything like a conventional narrative, with many chapters again just featuring characters wandering through scenery and fighting with little to no dialogue at all.
It's definitely an odd one, even by Afternoon standards.
Brigadoon: Marin to Melan
2000 vintage Sunrise adventure anime about a kid, her alien buddy and the mysterious Brigadoon which appears in the sky and dispatches other aliens to kill her. I remember seeing the first episode of this when it aired and being quite impressed, but then mostly forgot about it for 25 years.
Visually, it still looks great, with simple but clean character designs, big bold white highlights and the slightly washed out colour palette of cel animation. CG is used very sparingly and pretty much all of the effects are done by hand.
Storywise, it's pretty straightforward and nothing to write home about so far (although I do like the silly running gag where the story will often just suddenly shoot off on a crazy tangent, only to turn out to be the protagonist daydreaming), but this makes it perfect for just casually watching a couple of episodes before bedtime.
I've been reading Tower of God webtoon. Man this story is addicting. I read it before bed, but ending up staying up too late 😅. Obviously I'm really into this story. I'm past where the anime left off. Once I got past the anime content I was familiar with, I got really invested.
Overall I like the improvement in the art. The new characters are done well enough. Gets me invested in them and they matter to the current arc. There's so much lore and world building yet to be explained, so that keeps me guessing. The plot is action packed usually, so it's fun to read. The relationship between the OG crew is wholesome as well. Safe to say they got me for the full ride of this story. I read somewhere that it's only ~60% complete, so there's more to look forward too
Current Arc - Season 2 of the webtoon.
Right now I'm The Dallar Game in the Hell Train Arc. Bam's progress is crazy. He just did first stage of training with the "God" on the train. He had to leave to do the next stage's game. I'm curious if he's stronger from that training or maybe more secure in wielding the Thorn. I REALLY want him to go back to that training after the tournament.
Yuri Jahad just found Bam and found out he's a FUG slayer candidate. I wonder how she'll react and if she will find out the full truth behind Bam's reasons.
Saw the Cosmic Princess Kaguya movie and I'm not a big Vocaloid fan but it was a pretty good time. Great animation, simple story, fun characters, and modern covers of a bunch of fan-favorite songs as well as some solid originals. If you're into Vocaloid then it's a must-watch just for Saori Hayami's cover of World is Mine alone, if you're not then it's just a fun movie.