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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 am hyped for the last episode of Vivy.
I've got to say that so far I have loved that this story involves time travel but is not about time travel. Having the main character as an AI worked really well for the kind of story that it's been telling so far because it gives us an excuse to understand her thoughts and motivations. And while the contents of this final episode have been well telegraphed, I still can't wait to see what Vivy thinks and what the ultimate conclusion to her inner conflict will be.
I've also been watching Oddtaxi. I think I've talked about it here before, but the writing is really incredible. I love how the narrative weaves through these characters and their perspectives, and I'm impressed at how little details that seem like they're just there to add more details to a character will pop up as a plot point later on. There's such a wide cast and the show is surprisingly sympathetic to all of it's characters, even if they're the bad guys or otherwise "pathetic". The closer we get to the show's ending the clearer it is that we're dealing with something like an unreliable narrator; there are still many unanswered questions about the main character.
It's almost strange that I'm recommending Oddtaxi to anyone. If I read a plot synopsis, I would have passed over it entirely. And to be frank, the fact that the characters are depicted as animals is probably the only reason why I gave it a chance in the beginning. But there is so much more to this production that makes it worthwhile. It's got a comedic style that is so dramatically underplayed that you'll end up missing a lot of jokes, and it's also full of completely relatable drama. It's got a style that's completely unique and consistently surprising; halfway through the series you meet a character who talks entirely in rap. This anime season has a lot of flashier, better animated, and more dramatic shows, but Oddtaxi is a show that certainly deserves your time.
My psych teacher recommended Odd Taxi to me a few weeks back. He called it a "perfect representation of the postmodern condition."
in fact he would say this literally any time the show was mentionedIt's a wonderful show, and the minute I get more than 30 minutes to myself, I'm going to binge the episodes I need to catch up on.
I got around to watching Megalo Box season one. Sports aren't really my thing, but I liked Rocky, and I'm a sucker for that throwback style of anime.
I really liked it! The characters are memorable and well-rounded. The animation is rock-solid, and the art style reminded me visually of shows like Trigun and Cowboy Bebop, which is always a plus. The story itself is pretty good. I'm sure if you follow sports fiction, you're probably three steps ahead of the plot, but I'm not heavily versed in the genre, so I found it plenty entertaining.
All around, a lovely little show!
Additionally, I finally started One-Punch Man season 2 - currently, I'm three episodes in. I've been avoiding it because I'd heard about the animation studio change from Madhouse to JC Staff - turns out the issue was really the director and specific freelance animators that worked on season one did not return - and I am disappointed that the predictions were accurate.
The animation is severely downgraded from season one. Static shots instead of the gorgeous fluid animation. Sure, it's crisp, I guess, but the pace and editing are so different from season one it's distracting. Anything metallic (like, y'know, Geno's) has this really weird almost-too-shiny texture, and it takes some getting used to. Everything looks kind of generic.
For me, the story is taking itself way too seriously. Season one stood out due to the simple deconstruction that Saitama embodies - he has no more challenges to overcome, and the show got its comedy from that absurdity. I've gotten rather burnt out on the traditional "hero trains -> defeats big bad -> repeat" shonen format, and I loved that season one turned the formula on its head.
Season two seems to have forgotten the show's sense of humor - there's nothing like the mosquito running gag backdropped against the Mosquito Girl fight, or the sheer despair of missing out on coupon day. I think the shift in animation style hurts this further.
Also, the focus seems to have shifted away from Saitama to focus more on worldbuilding. Normally I'd approve of this, but in my opinion, comedies trade funny for detail.
Aside from that, it's... fine, I guess. The music is still great, but the new theme song can't replace season one's OP. That said, still love me some JAM Project anytime.
OPM season one broke a really long anime hiatus for me, so it's always going to have a special place in my nerd heart. By extension, I'm really disappointed in season two.