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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!
1. JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Golden Wind
I'm finally up-to-date with the series, and I can safely say that it's mediocre at best. The only reason I kept watching it is because the Jojo typical craziness always makes me curious about what's coming next, in the hopes that the show would eventually catch on.
In terms of villain, characters, plot, epicness and overall creativity, Diamond Is Unbreakable was much better.
2. Dr. Stone
Great shounen with a great theme: science. And an awesome main character. I'm having loads of fun.
3. Mob Pycho 100
I'm on episode 8 I think, and that is a great anime. I like how personal everything is right from the start. You really care about those characters, and their relationship. It's sweet in a weird way, just like the character of Mob.
Mob is great, season 2 could make a decent case for being my best show of the year.
Phew, I thought you were saying JoJo's as a whole was mediocre. :p (Joking aside, I wouldn't criticize anyone just for having a different taste, but it would surprise me with the adoration the series has from most.)
I still liked it, but it was the first time I felt that a part didn't quite kick it up a notch from the ones that came before. As much as I enjoyed all the parts that came before for different reasons, each part felt like Araki was only getting better as a creator. I still liked Golden Wind, probably more than you did, but it felt much more like a lateral move.
Jojo is usually remarkable. Golden Wind was, as I said, mediocre. A mafia story that just felt like Jojo in Italy. A bunch of flashbacks and retrospective episodes. A bland, blaisé protagonist. A healer so strong that made damage meaningless. I could go on and on. The best thing in Golden Wind was seeing bullets eating salami.
Oh, and to top it all, a silly, impossible goal: transforming the mafia into something good and getting Naples rid of drugs. Just ask Vito Corleone how that works out... hahaha
I recently found out about Space Brothers, spent a week trying to catch up to the latest manga chapter.
I personally love it. It has a simple, yet inspiring story. It reminds me a lot of my childhood interest. I really like reading about astronomy when I was a kid, and as an adult I love science fiction movies like interstellar, ad Astra, gravity.
I just finished That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime! ...or Tensura, because that title is a mouthful. :p
Overall, I really liked it. Lots of fun, very positive, and it has a lot of heart. Most of the time it's fairly silly, but there were some really touching... moment. Okay, mostly just the one, but it still really got to me. :p I guess it has kind of a "healing" vibe? For a softy like me, who got really invested in, say, HxH as a tragedy because my heart would be screaming "WHY CAN'T YOU TALK IT OUT AND JUST BE FRIENDS," it was really satisfying. :)
Only really drawbacks from me were a bit of fanservice (which always makes me cringe), and it has some of the isekai problem where the set-up in the "real" world is mostly pointless, making at least a good chunk of the first episode mostly pointless. Though, I will say that the fact that it's an isekai is actually somewhat important, which I give it a bunch of credit for. Shows like Shield Hero almost immediately just turn into mostly a fantasy show with some video gamey elements for some reason. Tensura actually has some relevant worldbuilding... albeit in a mostly generic fantasy land. :p
I really enjoyed watching that show as it came out. I hope it eventually gets renewed, but I'm afraid that if it does the pacing will slow to an even slower crawl. There are a lot of tiny nitpick problems, but as a whole it's very wholesome because even though the main character has godlike strength, he's good natured and generally wants to improve the lives around everyone he comes across.
Honestly, what I would really like to see more than anything is a side series focusing on how the main character's actions affect politics. I want him to make a politically difficult decision and watch an opposition party form up to overthrow him! I know it's the complete opposite of how the show runs, but it just seems like such an interesting opportunity.
I didn't mind the pace, actually. Then again, what I liked about the show was the sheer pleasantness, so if you want some drama and tension, I can see how that would have the opposite effect!
And it does kind of fall into the Superman problem where the main character is so powerful that, unless you challenge them in other ways where strength and resilience don't help, it can be a bit boring. I mean, for an example (kept vague to avoid spoiling others!) with another character, they literally have someone stand on the side so they can try to defeat a giant monster themselves, despite the fact that that one person could do it single-handedly. I still have no idea why.
But yeah, I can imagine some scenarios where being powerful and benevolent wouldn't help. Maybe some would be too heavy for the tone of the show, but it could be finessed to create some tension before some breakthrough solution or something.
Dropping Animal Road and Cautious Hero, probably dropping Outburst and Average, keeping Bookworm, Stars Align, and Hero Aca. Those shows aren't doing it for me, Bookworm picked up, season rolls on.
How could you keep up with so much anime anyway? It would hard for me to get really engaged with so much anime at the same time. Maybe that was the problem?
I'm watching 11 airing anime and 2 TV shows weekly on top of full season releases and occasional movies this season. And I'm looking at another TV show I might be picking up "Treadstone". Almost none of it gets lost on me except if I try to put something on right before I am going to pass out at the end of the night, generally because I start closing my eyes and stop paying attention.
I will say based off of several people I've met and worked with, that some people just aren't capable of paying attention and retaining the memory of more than 2 shows at a time so I would say it's all up to the individual's short-term memory abilities. Heck, I can remember full shows in surprising details from a few years ago so if a new season comes out I won't have to rewatch the last season to remember where I'm at in the story.
I try a bunch of episodes, I drop a bunch of shows, and there all similar enough that the ones that are just okay, you know where it's going to let go without friction.
Finally caught up with latest City Hunter chapter.....or should I say the one that was scanlated recently. It is funny that a series that spawned 4 seasons and several OVAs and is mega popular in France never got complete English manga adaptation.
I also started with Double Taisei recently and liking it so far. It has its own issue with pacing. The first five chapters felt really fast and could have slowed down in my opinion. Unfortunately there has been a rumour floating around that it will be axed soon so there is that.
I've caught up with Ms. Kobayashi's Dragon Maid. Honestly, I don't know why I didn't follow it when it was coming out, since I know I watched at least the first episode when it was simulcast. I asked my boyfriend and he said it was because it was subtitled (Yeah, he's one of those guys).
I wholeheartedly recommend it. It's got a great sense of humor with the absolute best comedic timing I've ever seen, and it's full of adorableness and moe.