Media Anime and Manga Thread MK3 - Beware Spoilers

i ain't posted here in a long-ass time but this seems entertaining, i've also more or less stopped watching seasonals so this is a moment to reflect

same system as rodan's, stuff not bolded ranges from "was pretty good" to "had a few redeeming moments but was overall mediocre", stuff in red is anime i really liked and/or anime that left a lasting impact on me

other stuff from 2013 onward didn't make the list either because i didn't watch it live (jojos, fate, etc) or it was trash (aldnoah C:)

kill la kill
log horizon
attack on titan
gekkan shoujo nozaki-kun
shirobako

no game no life
tokyo ghoul
amagi brilliant park
i can't understand what my husband is saying
parasyte
zankyou no terror
kekkai sensen (both seasons)
one punch man

shokugeki no souma (all three seasons)
death parade
hibike! euphonium (both seasons, s1 was better)
prison school
ore monogatari
gakkou gurashi
monmusu
saekano (both seasons, i'm trash)
erased
konosuba (both seasons)
mob psycho 100 (both seasons)
tanaka-kun wa itsumo kedaruge
3-gatsu no lion (both seasons)
heroaca (all three seasons)

flip flappers
keijo!!!!!!!!
kiznaiver
re:zero
gabriel dropout
kuzu no honkai
tsurezure children

youjo senki
violet evergarden
devilman crybaby
hataraku saibou
kaguya-sama
 
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I guess this is the closest anyone cares is gonna get to an update on my journey completing the MAL 100. I think all I've done recently is finish Monster, which was okay but had some real stupid plot holes early in the show. I couldn't really justify using just the 3 ratings because I didn't want to give the false impression that the quality of shows like Monster or Rakugo are anywhere near dumpster fires like Gintama or Your Lie in April, so I added the strike-through. I guess mostly I just posted to see how long a chain of red texts we can get for 3-gatsu, which is the best tv show.

3-gatsu no Lion
Blood-C
Clannad

Devilman Crybaby
Fate/Apocrypha
Fate/Kaleid Liner
Flip Flappers
Gintama

Haikyuu

Hajime no Ippo: New Challengers
Humanity Has Declined
Hunter x Hunter

JoJo: Diamond Is Unbreakable
Legend of the Galactic Heroes

Made in Abyss
Mo Dao Zu Shi
Monogatari series

Monster
Mushishi
My Hero Academia

Natsume
Rakugo Show
REC
Revolutionary Girl Utena

Rurouni Kenshin
Saiki-K
School Days

Serial Experiments Lain
Wascally Wabbit
Welcome to the NHK

Your Lie in April

And movies


5 Centimers Per Second
Blood: The Last Vampire
Blood-C: The Last Dark
The Boy and the Beast
Children Who Chase Lost Voices
The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya
From Up on Poppy Hill
Gauche the Cellist
Genius Party
The Gintama Movie
Heaven's Feel II
Horus: Prince of the Sun
Liz and the Blue Bird
Lu Over the Wall

Maquia

Millennium Actress
Mind Game
Mirai of the Future

Night Is Short, Walk on Girl
One Piece: Film Gold (not gonna list all One Piece movies)
One Piece: Film Z
Paprika
Perfect Blue
The Place Promised in Our Early Days
A Silent Voice
Strong World

Tales from Earthsea
Tokyo Godfathers
When Marnie Was There
Wolf Children
 
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3-gatsu no lion - 9/10
little witch academia - 5/10
zero kara hajimeru mahou no sho - 1/10
busou shoujo machiavellianism - 5/10
sukasuka - 5/10
ballroom e youkoso - 1/10
aho girl - 6/10
kakegurui - 3/10
made in abyss - 4/10
konohana kitan - 6/10
dies irae - 1/10
kujira no kora wa sajou ni utau - 1/10
my girlfriend is a faithful virgin bitch - 1/10
ousama game - 1/10
shoujo shuumatsu ryokou - 9/10
houseki no kuni - 8/10
inuyashiki - 2/10
steins;gate 0 - 2/10
boku no hero s3 - 6/10
shoujo kageki revue starlight - 8/10
harukana receive - 6/10
chio-chan no tsuugakuro - 6/10
tenrou sirius the jaeger - 1/10
banana fish - 4/10
hataraku saibou - 4/10
isekai maou - 4/10
anima yell - 6/10
goblin slayer - 1/10

i stopped watching seasonals bc the average score of that list is like a 3.96/10
 
Watching Shield Hero and Kenja no Mago (Wise man's grandchild)
The latter is more light hearted and funny.
 
I stumbled onto Wise Man's Grandchild the other day, and ended up binge-watching it through to the current episode (Episode 8). I kind of figured a magical story that starts with being trained by a guy named Merlin would have a certain direction, but I wasn't wrong. Shin is your basic OP / hyper trained protag, but he isn't pretentious and they didn't turn it into a harem story either - he has the one girl he likes who likes him back. It shouldn't be as endearing as it is. One thing that did get my hopes up was in episode 3 where they show a pretty brutal onscreen death, so at least I know the series isn't going to chicken out on stakes/ brutality. Kind of thought there would be more personal fallout from the murder for the common sense- deficient protag but that wasn't the direction they went with it.
I actually read the translated parts of the novel this is based on and while I thought it had promise, it got kinda silly. Like, apparently the people in this world (aside from his grandparents) don't have any form of independent thought or something? That's the only way I can explain the shit levels of intellectual growth in that world.
 
Anyone who likes Kenja no Mago should keep their eye out for Shikkaku Mon no Saikyou Kenja (pretty sure it's this one), a series that's like 90% the same. Side note, if you're wondering if a series is isekai or not, here's an easy, 99% reliable test regardless of character designs
183024
 
Isekai is shit, and yet I somehow have a love-hate relationship with reading that shit.
 
watched a bit of aku no hana and thats some visionary shit. talk about a massive glo up from the manga, stylistically in terms of visuals, sound, cinematography, pacing--everything has leveled up so hard... cant wait to get through more of it

also watched a bit of carole and tuesday. shits kind of boring lol. dope ost tho. ultimately, i dropped it. lmk if it hypes up later guys

manga ive read

-bonnouji: extremely tame, relatively feel good read. IF you have absolutley nothing to do this will probably leave u with a nice pleasant feeling, but otherwise not very memorable. - Rom / com

-omoide emanon: extremely tame despite its intellectual posturing. Kind of in the same boat as bonnouji but a bit more pretentious, and extremely short of course. Still decent, but I doubt I'll remember this one in a couple months (ironically)- rom

-wotakoi: how do ppl understand whats happening in this. maybe im not enough of a gamer or the scanlation i read was garbo but...dropped pretty fast - romcom

-solanin: awesome. wholesome yet not clean. Perhaps still a bit too clean in the latter half, but ultimately a very solid read and definitely better than Punpun in my eyes. Drama / rom

-chichi no gorilla (whatever the full title is): REALLY good. 4-koma, wholesome yet deep, and remarkably consistent in its humor. SoL

-high rise invasion - not sure wtf i just read. kind of a rushed ending, REALLY annoying fanservice fucking everywhere, but ultimately an enjoyable thriller. action / horror / mindfuck

-gunnm: not sure how i feel about this one. the art is god levels though, and doesnt feel contrived or unecessarily realistic--it all lennds itself to the action packed octane world alita fights in. definitely worth picking up for that alone - action / scifi.

-shokugeki no soma: its kind of shit lol. wtf is that ending

-dororo manga: its kind of shit lol. wtf is that ending

ongoing manga im reading:

-spy x family. its really good super cute. basically mr and mrs smith but good.

-kaguya. kind of melodramatic rn, but. im invested.

-one piece. finally heatin up. still not reachin the highs of pre timeskip.

-dr stone: pretty cool! definitely hit its peak a while ago but still very consistently good. the art is great and boichis art isnt as obnoxious as it was in sunk ne rock due to the cartooniness of it all.

-twin star exorcists. lol idk why im reading this. pure shlock but its fun

-boku no hero academia. surprisingly, this is starting to climb its way up in my eyes. its still below average...but. definitely not the trash fire it was for the last few arcs.

-one punch man: wow this is actually boring now. MURATA GO MAKE SOMETHING ORIGINAL AND COOL PLEASE, you are better than this. i can tell ur enjoying this tho so ill keep reading. basically murata and ONE both have much better things to be doing right now than this bloated parody

-chainsawman: damn, it gets better and better. i hope this one doesnt derail a la fire punch

-tpn: strange to think about how much this series has shifted since its beginning. still pretty good though!
 
I agree with the above regarding Spy X Family. It gives me Sheriff Evan's Lies vibes in terms of the comedy but at the same time being visually appealing like Violence Action.

Also I cannot stop recommending Violence Action. It's just sooooo good. It's like Kill Bill but with a cute anime girl.
 
For those of you out of the loop, Kyoto Animation's "studio no. 1" (in other words their main production studio) has fallen victim to a deadly arson attack killing 20 staff members and injuring close to 40, not to mention destroying much of their production materials for upcoming projects. I'm going to be linking some English coverage on the incident, please read up on it if you have the time.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/n...ttack-at-kyoto-animation-anime-studio-1225232
 
From a Japanese-fluent friend I've heard the man was splashing the gasoline onto people as well, which is just incredibly fucked up--never been one to offer thoughts and prayers but goddamn if it isn't one of the more humane anime studios (in terms of crunch, etc) that gets torched...what a world man
 
alright someone please help me understand tsuki ga kirei

watched it over the last 3 days after putting it off for 2 years. generally I liked it - the directing is top-notch, the music is spectacular, and something about Akane's VA really tickles me. episode 5 had me grinning during the entire second half, and generally I enjoyed the realism that the show is so often praised for. I really wanted to love it, though, and the ending is currently putting a damper on that

my biggest gripe is with Azumi's behavior in the latter half of the season, specifically during episodes 10 and 12. the plot in 10 is straightforward: Hira confesses to Akane, Azumi notices them talking, and ends up treating Akane poorly due to a combination of jealousy and stress that she's moving away. this is "resolved" after Akane learns that Azumi has been studying to get into the same high school as her, so she takes the initiative and talks to him. they both apologize, even though Azumi was significantly more of an ass in this case, and left this episode feeling annoyed rather than satisfied

at this point I did some reading/rewatching, and came up with a few defenses:
- these are middle schoolers, and we've seen in previous episodes that these two don't really know what they're doing, so there's not going to be some big movie apology from Azumi - instead they're going to talk, organically, and move on stronger because of it
- Azumi was justified in being angry at Akane because he had previously seen her alone with Hira at the amusement park and stepped in with the "I'm her boyfriend" just a few episodes prior - maybe Akane wasn't equally at fault here, but she shouldn't have been alone with Hira to begin with
- again, these are middle schoolers, and it's only natural that they make mistakes like ^those - part of the appeal of the show is watching them learn and grow

I didn't necessarily buy into these explanations 100% but it was enough to quell me until the finale, where pretty much the exact same thing happens when Azumi, in a 5 minute timespan: neglects to tell his girlfriend that Chinatsu confessed to him, makes no effort to understand why Akane is deeply insecure about him putting in all of the effort into maining an LDR, doesn't talk to her at all between that night and the day she leaves home, and then doesn't show up when she does leave. this frustrated me - it felt like the conflict from episode 10 rehashed but the characters (read: Azumi) had learned nothing, and in particular I found it inexcusable that Azumi wouldn't know better at this point given how he should understand better than anyone that Chinatsu's confession would make Akane deeply uncomfortable

the conflict in the finale is again "resolved" by Akane finding out that Azumi has been writing stories about them online, and reads that his feelings for her will never change, he loves her, etc, then cut to a very wholesome ending. it's identical to episode 10, where Akane notices some grand unspoken gesture from Azumi that proves he really loves her, right? and despite how shitty he behaves during moments where it actually matters, you can always make up for it by doing something sneaky and romantic and hoping the other one will find out, right?

the kicker is that the thing that makes Azumi realize he has his head stuck up his ass isn't even brought on by himself - he has no desire to actually deal with the problem at hand, it's Akane once again who has to initiate the conversation. the outro monologue has Akane say "he had the courage to tell me he loves me", but can you call any of what he does in the finale "courageous"? if Tsuki is praised for its realism, and these middle schoolers aren't confronting these issues head-on because that's probably how it'd go down in real life, are we expected to suspend that realism to buy into Azumi saving their relationship by publishing a blog post and yelling at a train?

I guess the general issue I had was that I felt Azumi was too stagnant throughout the series. Tsuki had been great at having our main couple get better at dating episode by episode, and after feeling confused by episode 10's ending, I was optimistic that it was another piece of progress for the two of them. this made the finale that much more frustrating for me. if Akane hadn't stumbled on Azumi's story, or if she simply hadn't said anything, would he have been content to let their relationship die right there? in a show that is 100% carried by the dynamic between its two main characters (who, I'm gonna be honest, didn't even have much chemistry until the amusement park episode), having Azumi's character arc be unsatisfying as it was for me left a sour taste in my mouth during the end credits

I've rambled a lot, but I want to say that this isn't a hate post or anything - I liked this show, and I really want to love it, and I'm hoping that maybe I missed the point entirely, or I misinterpreted a scene or character. as it stands, the above leaves a knot in my stomach that shows like this normally clear up for me. I have nothing but praise for many of the high points of the show: the confession in episode 3 and the ending of episode 5 really stand out in this regard. overall I honestly don't have that much criticism for the show, despite this wall of text, but my issues with Azumi ended up spoiling what should have been two hugely cathartic moments toward the end of the series, which makes me disappointed more with myself than with the show. I feel like I misunderstood things, or I watched it wrong lmao

oh, other things I saw were koe no katachi and jojo part 5, which were both good. next on the PTW is probably made in abyss
 
The anime preview for the wano arc randomly dropped on my newsfeed and the sudden upgrade in animation caught me off-guard. Is this a one-off or does One Piece not look like B-tier garbage anymore? I might actually go back to watching weekly for the first time in over a decade if that's the case.

 
Kimetsu no Yaiba has been kind of a middling series outside of the good animation but damn if the latest episode wasn't great

The anime preview for the wano arc randomly dropped on my newsfeed and the sudden upgrade in animation caught me off-guard. Is this a one-off or does One Piece not look like B-tier garbage anymore? I might actually go back to watching weekly for the first time in over a decade if that's the case.

The pacing bothered me more than the animation honestly. Wouldn't put any bets on it getting better long-term though, I know some other long-runners like Naruto have put in a lot of work when it comes to a couple specific moments.
 
Kimetsu no Yaiba has been kind of a middling series outside of the good animation but damn if the latest episode wasn't great
Yoshiaki Kawajiri (Ninja Scroll, Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust) storyboarded the last episode and the climax was animated by Nozomu Abe (Madoka Magica, various ufotable Fate series) if that explains anything. I haven't been watching the series personally but almost everyone in my twitter circle is (or their friends are) so I pick up bits and pieces. I'm personally really impressed by the show's use of 3D backgrounds to accomplish technical feats that wouldn't otherwise be possible on a TV schedule (like the box room) and the effects animation looks pretty decent too, I guess. Just really glad to see ufotable finally putting their guys to work on something not type-moon related for a change.
 
The pacing bothered me more than the animation honestly. Wouldn't put any bets on it getting better long-term though, I know some other long-runners like Naruto have put in a lot of work when it comes to a couple specific moments.
Yeah but even one piece's "big moments" have been quite underwhelming ever since... Punk Hazard? idk, point is it's been a while. I marathoned the Dressrosa arc last year and the animation was downright atrocious, and even the Doflamingo fight was middling at best. Even the hype reveal of the awakening mechanic (which was a big deal in the manga) felt meh. This looks like a proper overhaul. I agree with what you said about pacing but honestly it's synonymous with the show at this point. Even then I might tune in for the big fights or the third act of the arc. Wano has some good shit going that would look stellar with inspired animation.

e: I mean look at this. Some filler shit with fodder bad guys, but I haven't found anything that looks half as good since Marineford.
 
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Tried watching Mind Game and bailed about halfway in. The presentation and style is PHENOMENAL but god the content is so repulsive with no hints of self awareness or progression halfway thru (and if there is later on in the movie my point is I didn't find it worth waiting to find out). Hard no from me folks. But i wish there were cooler movies in this style with the face switching, it looks seriously nutty
 
Main character is self absorbed incel personality really messed up rape scene, only character progression to that point being framed in terms of beta male to alpha male status, etc. It fits withg the youthful, wacky nonsense of the visuals but its also pretty upsetting. I get(hope?) that the intent was we would be laughing at him throughout for his idiocy but the film never seemed to lean on that angle very hard for me. Tldr mc i found pretty pathetic and despicable woth basically 0 sympathetic qualities, and watching him cavort onscreen was exhausting


E: like. His power fantasy is to basically kidnap both sisters not to save them but bc he wants to have both of them in some kind of pseudo harem? How fucking disgusting is that. The whole movie seems to be informed by this kind of youthful delusion and with no hints of irony forthcoming within the first half I quickly noped out.
 
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Dropping a hard recommendation for Vinland Saga. The show isn’t getting much traction (maybe because it’s only available on Amazon) but phenomenal storytelling, vibrant colour palette and Attack in Titan level fight animation for the bigger battle set pieces. Also there’s this character called Ashkeladd who’s easily one of the best antagonists I’ve seen in recent anime. It’s been a while since a production ticked so many boxes for me.
 
Dropping a hard recommendation for Vinland Saga. The show isn’t getting much traction (maybe because it’s only available on Amazon) but phenomenal storytelling, vibrant colour palette and Attack in Titan level fight animation for the bigger battle set pieces. Also there’s this character called Ashkeladd who’s easily one of the best antagonists I’ve seen in recent anime. It’s been a while since a production ticked so many boxes for me.
I didnt rly like the show but as a huge fan of the manga also getting behind askeladd as one of the best manga antagonists i have seen in a long time
 
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