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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 watched Neon Genesis Evangelion, End of Evangelion, and the Rebuild of Evangelion films. Never seen any of it before.
I’m quiet conflicted on how I feel. On the one hand, I find the premise and characters fascinating. On the other I’ve found the endings and some plot points confusing. Done a lot of reading about it to help, but sometimes it feels like I watched something different than others did.
I recently watched the series and EoE and was actually pretty satisfied with the ending. I thought I was going to hate it given the memes I’ve seen but something just clicked for me and even though I didn’t completely understand, I was kind of blown away. Maybe for people who struggle with what the author struggled with, it makes sense on some primal level?
After the fact I got into a pretty deep rabbit hole on evangelion analysis, so that was a fun week too ;).
Are movies worth a watch? I watched the series same as you, long after original airing, and didn't really know what to expect going in. The series end is... inconsistent with rest of it, but alright I guess. But it left me in such confused state that I didn't really think going for anything more.
OG Anime > End of Evangelion > Rebuild films. That’s my most to least confusing ending scale.
I think the first two Rebuild movies are better than the show. 3rd one kinda sucks. 4th is divisive.
Once I understood the ending, I think the 4th is fantastic. While it made more sense than the show, I still didn’t connect all the dots. That partly could’ve been since I watched the dub. Apparently it’s not the best.
So to answer your question. I think the first two are a must watch. If you don’t want a potentially confusing ending again skip 3 and 4. Of note movies 1-3 have post credit scenes that are important.
Wow, I have a plan to watch Eva movies. I watched only Eva serial a long time ago.
I noticed in your previous post, you asked for more recommendations for Netflix-produced anime. I recently watched Castlevania, which I thought was phenomenal. I have an issue with a lot of anime where I find the first 1-2 episodes fairly boring/exposition heavy/predictable/etc, but I got hooked almost instantly on this one
Today I finished the 13th episode of Tonikaku Kawaii aka OVA which was not only wholesome but also truly hot. And it is a good feeling to hear the openning again.
Last aka 7th episode from Meikyuu Black Company has a new ending which is cute and where cute girls dance.
Just finished reading Haikyu. I liked it but thought it was much longer than it needed to be. The format of ~20 chapters for a each match of volleyball was just too much for me.
The themes were typical shonen themes: drive to improve, doing things for their own sake rather than the rewards, no regrets, rivalry, etc. I’m always a fan of those kinds of topics, so nothing to complain about.
Characterization was amazing - each individual feels real, especially when they were the focus of the chapter. The main character, Shoyo Hinata, was especially likable IMO. He is, again, a typical Shonen protagonist, but he’s funny and reminds me to be earnest.
It’s a fun read but 400 chapters is…a lot. I’d hesitate on recommending it.