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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!
I started watching Vinland Saga. A friend described it as Game of Thrones meets Vikings meets anime. Description doesn't fit perfectly but the show is surprisingly good. Characters have great depth, cinematography is well done and background score is fantastic. I'm about halfway through, but will definitely recommend. It is available on Amazon prime in my country, so should be checked if anyone is curious.
I started watching Katsugeki TOUKEN RANBU. Historical fiction. I'm liking it so far. A couple things struck me right off the bat. One: some of the artwork in this is just really, really good. I mean, not the character drawing (though that is up to snuff, nothing to complain about there), but the landscapes and scenes. Sometimes I just had to pause the video to admire the artwork for a few more seconds before continuing. Two: The blending of CG with hand-drawn stuff is just really well done. Almost totally seamless. Because some stuff is 3D CG, you get a heightened sense of excitement from the action scenes where it's employed, where you wouldn't have that same impact from a fully hand-drawn anime, because the production team just wouldn't bother trying to draw that many frames with the viewpoint moving through 3D space. Too little ROI on the drawing effort.
I just started watching Katsugeki on your recommendation. Good stuff so far. Thanks for making me aware of it!
I'm a pretty big fan of isekai, so I've been watching Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear and By The Grace of the Gods on Hulu. They're both ridiculously cute and wholesome, which is a nice change from the perpetual dumpster fire that is 2020.
Let me hijack this to ask for a recommendation: what is a fun lighthearted manga that I can read effortlessly and just feel good? I used to love the original DragonBall (when Goku was a child), but I want something new.
I'm a fan of the Pokémon Adventures manga. It follows the general plot of the main-series Pokémon games, but is a little darker and more interesting, with extra attention given overall to the world of Pokémon and its characters.
I’m afraid I’m a bit tired of the Pokemon franchise, but I’ll look into it. Thanks!
It's very different from the anime, if that's what you're worried about.
I loved Pokemon as a kid and teenager and played it a bunch on Game Boy emulators. I think the whole premise of kids traveling the world looking to imprison creatures lost the appeal for me. I suppose that’s at the core of all Pokémon media, right?
I wouldn't say so. The world of Adventures revolves around people's relationships with Pokémon, and individual characters' friendships, comradery, or exploitation of Pokémon is central to just about every major plot line in the series.
That’s great, than!
Dungeon Meshi is one of my favorites.
Awesome, thanks!
After hearing it referenced enough, I decided "why not" and went ahead and watched Neon Genesis Evangelion, along with the End of Evangelion movie. It was definitely an experience, especially after episode 16 or so. I'll not attempt any kind of reading or analysis, but I kind of preferred the original ending to EoE. EoE was definitely still interesting to watch though, and I have had Komm Susser Tod stuck in my head for a couple days. As I was busy not being alive when Evangelion was first airing, I'm sure some period-specific stuff is lost on me, but I can definitely see why its still referenced to this day.