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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!
Binged most of the seasonal shows on my list I hadn't started or caught up with yet:
Yani Neko was a pretty good time. The humor got progressively dirtier and more cringe-inducing later in the season, but consistently funny if you're into that. The production quality really was super high for this considering how niche this seems, and the voice actors totally nailed it. 7.5/10.
Hyakkano S3 was dumb, cute, and exceedingly unrealistic and unserious as it should be. I will watch the next season when it airs because I want to see how much sillier it can get. 7.5/10.
Sparks of Tomorrow was a bit of a challenge to finish all in one go but thankfully the writers remembered there's an actual plotline to this story in the last few episodes so things sort of come together. Not a fan of the visual style changes though, either when characters become cartoony during funny moments or the imagination sequences. It doesn't feel cohesive and kind of kills the vibe. 7/10 because I know some people won't mind the characters or dialogue or visual direction as much as I do and it's done well enough but it's not working for me.
Mushoku Tensei S3 was a solidly enjoyable albeit unsurprising watch for most of the season and I was originally going to give it a 7.5 or 8 until the latest 2 episodes. Hoo boy is that a lot to unpack in 2 episodes, in a very good way though, good enough to pull it up to an 8.5/10.
Also just rewatched Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence earlier today and Mamoru Oshii's adaptation is an even greater departure from the original work than I remember it being. Oshii really crammed this thing full of philosophical musing, what with half of the dialogue being quotes from philosophers or old texts. Saying you prefer that version because it's more mature and thought provoking is just some "I'm 14 and this is deep" shit though, the original work has much more believable dialogue and reactions vs the heavily cinematic/theatrical direction that Oshii went with. That kind of thing matters because it's a whole lot easier for characters to convey messages when they feel real and relatable, as opposed to folks quoting scripture in an effort to sound intelligent. Still love the movie though.
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Technically a donghua, but I've been rewatching this. Randomly found out the new season is airing. So I started from the beginning. I forgot how good this show is! The mystery and action is really good. They always have really good OPs too. I'm on the Bridon arc, so I'm close to the new season. I kinda remember this arc exploring the character's background a little more. I'm excited to continue this show!
I'm a big fan of the Kingdom manga, but reading it as it comes out can feel so slow. I got caught up when it had ~650 chapters published so my in initial read of it had me binging through it.
I tend to wait for it to build up a big chunk of chapters so I can read through them in one go. I waited almost a year so I'm finally reading the next big batch of chapters.
Haven't checked out any new manga last week yet, for I've been catching up on anime source materials,
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Witch hat atelier | Chapter 99
https://kmanga.kodansha.com/title/10065/episode/367892
https://weebcentral.com/chapters/01M21PSW752Z96CNXYED4JBJZ4
Here's a cozy story about witches
The magic system continue to be the highlight of this series, and the latest arc probably contained some of the most impressive feats yet. On the flip side, it's disheartening to see Coco becoming more world-weary by the day, struggling to hold on to the innocence she once had.
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Tenmaku no Jaadugar | Chapter 41
https://mangadex.org/chapter/3efc6e48-c108-4423-a598-4a7f5f4ef4bc
Now with less literal witches and more political scheming
We're delving a bit deeper into the relationship between Toregene and her son. Meanwhile, Fatima continues to be a menace to anyone around her, with signs of self-destructive tendency. Doesn't feel like there'd be a good ending waiting for her.
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Nippon Sangoku | Chapter 37
https://mangadex.org/chapter/9c112cc6-7ff9-4e90-83d8-cda1d8ee04b0/1
And now a story just about political scheming
The anime ended pretty abruptly with how Denki swiftly turned the table on everyone with barely an explanation of how he pulled that off. Well I'm happy to report that the manga continued to ignore that! The plot carries on, but there are signs that made me suspect perhaps the story would revisit that plot point in the future. A reckoning might be brewing.
~ Manga corner ~