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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!
Caught up with The Ghost in the Shell (2026) and these latest episodes also cover the chapters that were adapted by the Mamoru Oshii movies. It's neat to see which parts of the original work that Oshii chose to keep while adding quite a bit of his own touch to give it a much darker, grittier tone. I wouldn't say that one is better than the other, but the differences that are there are so massive that it's hard to even call it an adaptation, more like an alternate timeline take. Still thoroughly enjoyed it, but I was a bit sad that I didn't get to see Batou go on a rampage through the gynoid factory in this art style.
~ Manga Corner ~
It occured to me that you can search your own comments, so posting links here could be a pretty convenient way to keep track of which series I'm following for later, without having to dredge through all those single-page "chapters" on r/manga. As long as I remember to do it that is. Anyway,
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Enigmatica | Chapter 23
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1030019
Looks like beginning of a new arc, following a new main character? Pretty intense right off the bat. This manga is always mesmerizing to look at, the plot follows a decypherer during the Inter-war period, and both the art and story are like cyphers themselves. The last chapter was pretty satisfying in terms of character revelation, like a solution to a puzzle. Hope this is not the last time we see the previous MC.
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Haunted Peak | Chapter 17
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1030132
The other day someone mentioned Shounen no Abyss, this one is by the same author. Story is a bit less intense and some characters actually seem like decent people this time around, but still full of dread by the end of every chapter.
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New series!
Monkey Hunting | Chapter 1
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1030264
Pretty strong start. Feels like something's wrong the whole time despite nothing happening, and then the end comes and it hits.
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Finding the Invisible Star | Chapter 1
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1030259
A romance story between working adults? Yes please
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Edit: more addition
World Wide Web MIKO! | Chapter 10
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1029788
Imagine if the Internet was not powered by electricity but by the spiritual power of miko! The concept is hilarious, the author often sprinkles these "fun facts" that are completely made up and I like how the military intelligentsia that controls this technology are just a ragtag group of dorks.
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Favela no Mangaka
https://ichicomi.com/episode/12207421983965916552 (official, chapter 20, sadly no English)
https://mangadex.org/chapter/543b2de1-c910-4051-914c-5033a3a0f265 (chapter 16)
A failed mangaka helps a poor kid from a crime-ridden area of Brazil in his dream to become a mangaka. The slum setting is quite believable and the gang warfare actually feel dangerous, which contrasts with the MC being a defenseless foreigner from a 1st world country.
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Edit: even more addition
War of the Adults | Chapter 60
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1030161
Japan implemented social credit system and now society is run like a social media platform, with karma whores, powermods and everything.
The humor in this reminds me a bit of The Way of the Househusband, with how over the top is the contrast between these adult characters handling normal activities like job interviewing or going to the bar using online logic. That said, the overarching plot is surprisingly quite believable, you could see how if such a system was implemented, the kinds of abuse shown could actually happen.
Also the art is sleek.
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Hey! Devil Girl! | Chapter 9
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1029873
Homegirl dressed up in a crazy outfit and performed silly stunts on the street in an effort to convince her crush that their hometown is not boring so he wouldn't leave. It's the kind of wacky hijink that only a 10yo could come up with.
There's a standout moment when our MC found a willing accomplice in a recent chapter, the author included a little narration about how this was the start of their life-long friendship, even though they didn't know it yet. That blurb turned this series into more than just a gag manga for me but a kind of reminiscence of childhood memories, it's endearing.
But what's this? There's another person pretending to be devil girl now? Sometimes an idea can take on a life of their own
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The Bugle Call: Song of War | Chapter 45
https://mangadex.org/chapter/3ad36ec2-ad1c-47d4-8f97-092465b3eb4f
Medieval warfare with superpowers, neat.
Another week, another batch of manga, mostly read the same as last week, except,
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Dandadan | Chapter 243
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1029688
Fight scenes still as entertaining as ever.
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Quit laughing, Shijima | One-shot
https://mangaplus.shueisha.co.jp/viewer/1030322
Guy could see things and have a crush on girl with mysterious circumstance. Nice blend of action and spooky elements.
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Are social outcast even allowed to start over? | Chapter 70
https://mangadex.org/chapter/4b1c2808-fbad-41ed-960f-97dd1e3e5487
This series is like a mirror version of WataMote where the MC is pure wholesome sauce and always know the right thing to say to diffuse difficult social circumstances.
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That's it for now, let me know what you guys are reading too
~ Manga corner ~
Picked up S2 of Nige Jouzu no Wakagimi. Very upbeat for a show about a boy lord whose entire family is slaughtered by a usurper's uprising.
Lovely animation from Cloverworks. No gradations or post processing in sight. It often feels like watching impossibly clean cel animation.
been watching the new ghost in the shell anime and decided to start reading the ghost in the shell manga!
Jaadugar has been a delight. Stylized animation about history told from the perspective of a Muslim slave girl captured by the Mongols in the 11th century? Sign me up!
Islam is rarely, if ever, covered in anime and this show does it respectfully and beautifully. You can tell care was put into the depiction of Persia through the careful henna colouring of the mistress's hands, the pursuit of knowledge as a virtue, the architecture being Persian without going full Aladdin.
Even while being respectful it doesn't thread into historical white washing. Slaves are common in households in this time period, the selling of daughters in marriage, and more historically bad traits people exuded for centuries.
From here the show pivots quickly, the city is sacked by the Mongols, people get murdered or taken as slaves in droves.. including our protagonist.
I won't spoil the plot, insofar history can be spoiled, but the latest episode had a beautifully animated spirit walk done by a "kam" (a steppe tribe spiritual leader), and set the stage for political intrigue by showing a touching background story of a historically significant Mongol woman. This episode was a "10/10 no notes" kind of episode.
The show is put together with care, has immaculate attention to detail, uses a distinct but very expressive art style, and tells a historical story from a perspective we rarely see.
I can only recommend this.
Sidenote: features no fan service whatsoever.