Topic: Manga and Anime discussion

@RR529 haven't seen angel for years mate, haven't seen the others, do u own ninja scroll

@QualityGeezer, coincidentally I was looking that one up the other day.

The Blu-Ray remaster seems to be out of print so copies look to be going between $80-$130 depending on whether or not you buy used or not, so I decided to hold off on it for now.

@RR529 I've still got it on video tape it's my favourite manga! I do need to upgrade as well not at that price tho. The sequel is even rarer

Forgot to upload these last week.

InuYasha Set 4 - Finished this up over the weekend, and am over half way through the series now. Although it's one of my favorites from when I was younger, I will say it's starting to drag at this point (while most fans will say the series peaks during the Band of 7 arc, which started in this set, I think it peaks before that).

Urusei Yatsura: Only You - Took a bit of a gamble on this (the only other UY media I've ever seen was Beautiful Dreamer a few years ago on Prime), but I liked it well enough. I wasn't too familiar with the cast, but it was easy enough to get to grips with the core players. Will definitely check out other stuff in the franchise.

Got these in over the weekend.

Samurai Champloo - I haven't seen this since it last aired back on Adult Swim back in the day, and even then I don't think I ever finished it (or forgot how it ended). I had a similar experience with Code Geass which I ended up loving when I recently rewatched it on BD, so hopefully this plays out similarly for me.

Memories - I absolutely loved Robot Carnival when I watched it a few weeks ago, so when I heard the forces behind it did this later on I knew I had to get it. Can't wait to watch!

Small haul over the weekend.

InuYasha Set 5 - Started this up over the weekend, and am getting close to the end of the Bo7 arc.

Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer - Watched this a number of years ago on Prime and remembered liking it, so I decided to nab it (thinking about collecting the series in general too, as I grabbed the first film already a few weeks ago). Probably overpaid a bit for it, but it's okay to splurge every great once in awhile I guess.

I'm not sure why it took me so long but... I finally purchased my first anime series (Granted I haven't seen a whole lot either but I digress...).

(The alternate/reverse box art with just Maikse Kurisu)

I've watched it through twice before and seeing it for just shy over £20 for the blu-ray set I couldn't help myself.

I did watch the first episode yesterday both normally (English dub of course) and then with the commentary. Can't say I learnt much from it regarding the show (aside from how the recordings are done and that the Va for Okabe handled the english script too (Which I shamefully didn't notice before)) but Trina Nishimura (Makise' Eng Va) and Tyson Rinehart (Daru's Eng Va) were delightful to listen to regardless about their backgrounds and such.

I also somehow didn't know before that Ashly freakin' Burch was the english VA for Mayuri. Wow. Definitely a lot different of a role compared to Aloy or Tiny Tina from Borderlands or Millium in Trails Of Cold Steel!

Oh and to actually explain what the series is about relatively short and sweet? Time travel.

Main character Rintaro Okabe (Self proclaimed Mad Scientist) witnesses a murder and sends a text that thanks to "Future Gadget lab" invention number 8 the text somehow travels back in time a week and events get altered.

What starts off with a bit of a comedic tone to it quickly descends into more psychological thriller aspects as timelines keep changing and events get heavily altered by the use of Invention number 8 and "D-mail".

Can't recall which episode it is off the top of my head now but... There's a very hard hitting episode in particular (It might even be over two or three if I remember right) with Rintaro frantically trying to change the past over and over and over...

It's hard to describe it properly without going into detail but... It's considered one the best animes of the 2010's for a reason

Newest pickups.

Akira - Just watched it on Friday. All these years later & it still looks stunning (especially cleaned up in HD). The ending is still a bit confusing, but each time I watch it I think I understand it just a bit more... maybe.

Ninja Scroll - It's been years since I last watched this, but I remember it having copious amounts of gore & nudity, so it'll probably still be a good time, lol. Also, the slip cover has a cool shiny holographic effect on the sword which is cool.

Expelled From Paradise - Had to pay an arm & a leg to get this, but I had the means to go for it so I figured I'd jump while I had the chance. Watched it on Netflix years ago & remember really liking it.

To Love Ru complete series (To Love Ru, Motto TLR, and Darkness 1 & 2) - I used to read fan scantlations of the manga way back when, but dropped it after getting to Darkness (I think this is when it lost all inhibition when it came to the fan service & went wild with it) because I got caught up with it & never bothered checking to see if it ever finished (that, & I was a bit miffed that the decision to go bonkers with the nudity correlated with a shift away from Lala & the other older cast in favor of her younger sisters & newer cast members). Still overall liked the series though, so I figured it was time to nab the anime now that this all in one collection was released.

Bonus: Ninja Scroll & Expelled From Paradise outside of the slip cases.

I bought the entire series of Chainsaw Man whilst I was in Japan a few weeks ago. It’s all in Japanese, obviously, so if makes for some good reading practise. I’ll post pictures of them at some point, if I remember. 😅

Inject all that Power content into my veins.

@Pizzamorg She's hilarious!

I've never been a fan of anime, which is a bit weird considering my love for games like Persona, Trails of Cold Steel and Danganronpa, which are pretty much anime games. But for some reason, I was in a mood to watch some anime a couple of weeks ago and I decided to pick one on Netflix where the setting is similar to the aforementioned games, i.e. high school. So I went with a show called Toradora. Today I finished watching it and it was everything I expected it to be. It was basically like experiencing Persona 4 Golden all over again. It's such a chill and wholesome show as well as very fitting for the summer. I really liked all the characters and the story was nice, even though it focused a bit too much on romance for my taste. There were so many love triangles in this show lol.

Anyway, I feel like Toradora was a great introduction to the world of anime for me and I'm looking forward to starting up a new show soon. There's so much for me to watch, like Cowboy Bebop, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Demon Slayer etc. Not to mention Netflix's own shows like Castlevania, Cyberpunk and Arcane. Lots to look forward to!

I really need to catch up on Demon Slayer. I watched a few episodes last night but still have about half of the third season to go.

My most recent collection additions.

Gunbuster - Really excited to get to this. I've only ever watched the abridged movie version a few years ago on HiDive. Thought about buying that version physically but held off in the hopes that the entire thing would get a remastered release some day, and luckily my patience paid off.

InuYasha Set 6 - Last set of the original series. Just getting ready to start the last disc. Been pretty nice rewatching one of the favorite anime of my teens, though I will say it starts to lose steam after the first couple seasons.

Urusei Yatsura: Remember my Love - Just watched it over the weekend. Not as good as Beautiful Dreamer, but still a good time.

I know Mario isn't anime, but I plan on posting the pic in some other spaces (non-anime exclusive) as well, so figured I'd throw it in.

Think I forgot to post these here.

Project A-Ko 4: Final - Watched it a couple weekends ago. A decent watch if you liked the earlier ones, though I don't think it's as strong as the first two.

Cyber City Oedo 808 - This was pretty dope. I just love the sci-fi anime of the 80's & 90's, and don't think I'll ever tire of it no matter how much of it I watch. The style is just so cool, and I enjoyed the over the top edgy English dub.

Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid - Now, I like the occasional Ecchi anime as a guilty pleasure from time to time, but this was just a bit too much for me. It seems like something happened in the past decade that has caused these things to become a lot more risque than they used to be in the 90's, 00's, & early 10's (a transformation that you can see play out across the 4 seasons of To-Love-Ru, though I think this pushes even harder than that show's latter seasons).

Venus Wars - Haven't watched this yet, but am excited to get to it. It's another 80's sci-fi anime film, so I'll probably love it.

Forgot to upload these here.

InuYasha: the Final Act - Definitely feels rushed (especially the first 6 or so episodes), but it's probably the best animated bit of the series & it always feels good to see the long running narrative threads get tied up (certain parts make me tear up no matter how many times I watch it).

Urusei Yatsura: Lum the Forever - Maybe I just need to give it a rewatch, but this has been the most confusing of these movies yet. Feels like they were trying really hard to emulate Beautiful Dreamer but it just doesn't work as well on any level.

Alternate box arts (under the slip covers):

Been rewatching Jujutsu Kaisen in prep for season 2, forgot how much I enjoyed just a pure, no nonsense, shounen. It is probably one of the more nonsensical shounen out there, like someone try and explain to me how any of the actual powers and systems work (even the manga included math like diagrams to try and explain things), but it’s oftentimes gorgeous animation and healthy pacing just make it such an enjoyable popcorn watch.

@Pizzamorg The first season is really good. Not sure if you've seen it but check the movie out as well. It's bloody brilliant!

Loved that movie! Shounen at it’s purest joy form.

@Pizzamorg It really is a proper good movie. I might have to give it another watch tonight. 😅