Topic: Manga and Anime discussion

@Ryall @FullbringIchigo Will start with Season 1 then if I do watch it. Thanks, guys.

@WanderingBullet they also did 4 movies so you should watch them if they are on there too, just make sure you have seen at lest up to the Lost Agent Arc first as they will contain spoilers otherwise

@FullbringIchigo Will check but I recalled only seeing 8 seasons in the Netflix library. Don't think they have any Bleach anime movies except for the live-action one which I've already watched.

I'm a fan of Naoki Urasawa's works. Read 20the Century Boys and it had me interested until the very end, there were no chapters where my interest would decrease really. I started reading Monster and the tension and atmosphere had me in, but since I had to have a long break, i'll have to reread it again - it's superb. Anyone here read other works of his or like his mangas in general?

Any other Berserk fans on here? I've just read the first two volumes of the Deluxe series.

My copy of The Tatami Galaxy on Blu Ray arrived today and it’s definitely a looker.

After digging around their catalog, I decided to start a 30 day free trial of Amazon Prime Video, to check out the anime films & cheesy 80's B-Movie fantasy & horror films they have (mostly stuff I wouldn't have bought anyways, in fact some of it isn't even available in HD, but who knows, maybe I'll uncover some gems). Naturally, I've already made use of it this morning.

Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer (Amazon Prime Video) - Mid 80's anime film based on the slapstick shonen comedy manga, Urusei Yatsura, which was mangaka Rumiko Takahashi's breakout hit (she'd later go on to produce other popular series such as Ranma 1/2 & InuYasha).

I was quite impressed by the film. While it expectedly had it's fair share of comedy, it was surprisingly deep too. While getting ready for a school festival, some members of the cast come to the realization that they're living the same day over and over again, and the further they get to the truth, the more people vanish (to the point it's just the core cast left) & the more dilapidated their town becomes. The effect of the mystery is heightened by the seriousness they handle it with, and the fact that the film has absolutely stunning animation & detail, resulting in some impressive imagery, particularly the almost haunting lighting effects during nighttime scenes (it's in HD too, which is a plus). The biggest barrier to entry would probably be the fact that you'd need some pre-existing knowledge of the series to fully appreciate it (luckily, being a big fan of Ms. Takahashi's later works, I had read some of a fan translation of the manga a number of years ago, so I was already somewhat acquainted with the core players), but overall it was a pleasant surprise.

I recently got in an Amazon Fire HD 10 tablet, mainly to use as a streaming device when I don't have the TV, so I should start being able to watch more anime again.

Most of the stuff Amazon has is older (like 80's through the mid 00's) and mostly not as prominent, but most other anime streaming services are available too (Crunchyroll, Funimation Now, HiDive, Netflix, & Toku), so I can try some of them down the line once I want to move on from Amazon's catalog.

Currently watching Super Dimension Flying Fortress Macross (which, after getting used to the dated presentation, has become really gripping), and UFO Ultramaiden Valkyrie (by the numbers early-mid 00's harem). Will post full thoughts whenever I get around to finishing something.

I finished off Bakuman’s third season tonight and it was really quite emotional. Despite only being 75 episodes, the characters were seriously endearing over the 10 years the anime portrays. It’s great to see every character get their own ending and overall it has to be one of the best anime I’ve ever seen, it really provided an insight into how challenging it is being a mangaka. I honestly didn’t think I’d be that invested in the characters but it wrapped up so nicely and now I’ll need to find something else to fill that void!

Completed Lupin the 3rd Part 1 a few days ago (put my thoughts in the TV show thread).

Also, in anticipation of YashaHime I've decided to go through InuYasha again (both anime & manga, it'll be fun seeing the differences between them relatively close together).

I've just downloaded Ghost in the shell and Akira via Amazon Prime on my phone. The original version, luckily. I still have both in VHS and they obviously don't work anymore, but I just can't consider those piece of plastic as junk... 😭

@andreoni79 Ooh, both proper classics and I actually didn’t realise they were on Prime! It’s hard to find original versions, that’s my major gripe with Evangelion on Netflix since they’ve retranslated it and erased all the gay stuff. It’s pretty terrible.

@nessisonett I lost my subbed VHS tapes of Eva ages ago (used to buy one for $30 a pop when I got some money as a kid, and because each one only contained two episodes, it took me a long time to collect the whole show, lol), but I still have the original DVD boxset, and the gorgeous Paul Champagne metal box to store them in that cost me way too much money...

...and rips of the Japanese bluray release with the ADV/Manga Ent. translations hard-coded in for the series/movies, so I'm good.

I've thought about selling my copy of The End of Evangelion, given how much money people ask for it online, but it'd be rather like selling my childhood for a shiny dime. I love that movie. I watched an untranslated screener of it via KaZaA years and years before it was ever picked up for official distribution, and it was so amazing and terrifying to experience in that form.

Makes me sad to think people being introduced to it on Netflix will never know the joy of immediately transitioning from existential dread and horror at the end of an episode to various Japanese women crooning an old Frank Sinatra song. It was always rather like being dunked in cold water after being trapped in a sauna.

@Ralizah My friend found End of Eva in CEX for £20 which is like finding a gold nugget in a cowpat hahaha. That’s a seriously nice box though, I’d love to own that at some point. Netflix’s library isn’t bad by any stretch but Crunchyroll’s exclusivity for most of the big hitters does hurt it.

@nessisonett Oh wow, nice!

Putting aside the fact that Netflix's tendency to pop up a video preview every time you so much as look at a different part of the screen sends my blood pressure through the roof, I've found they mix up weird animesque stuff, TOTAL trash (Back Street Girls is possibly the worst show I've ever seen, for example), and mediocre "Netflix original" content with the few shows I do want to see, making it my least favorite of the streaming services for anime. Hulu has a way better curated selection of older anime, IMO. And, weirdly enough, HIDIVE has a really interesting library (only became aware of them when they snatched up Cutie Honey Universe).

In general, I find the localization lottery with various streaming services to be awful. Although it's still far preferable to how overpriced the hobby used to be.

@Ralizah, Yeah, I just subbed to Hulu to rewatch InuYasha in anticipation of the sequel coming out, and was totally floored by the selection.

From Dragon Ball, Rurouni Kenshin, Yu Yu Hakusho, Lupin the 3rd Part 2, Gundam Wing, Trigun, Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, and of course InuYasha & everything inbetween, it seems like they have everything I grew up watching on Toonami & Adult Swim, with few exceptions (such as Evangelion).

@Ralizah @RR529 It’s a shame we don’t get Hulu over in the UK, Netflix and Amazon are totally lacking compared to that selection. I get loads free on Crunchyroll with ads though like GTO and Jojo. If Jojo had more than just the first two seasons on Netflix though, I’d use that. It’s really annoying that Funimation got exclusivity for season 2 of Kaguya-sama, I loved the first season.

God, I'm on pins and needles waiting for that Adult Swim Uzumaki adaptation.

@nessisonett Just sub for a month, watch it, then unsubscribe? It's what I do when I want to watch one thing on a streaming service.

@RR529 Not to mention all of Sailor Moon. Both the original series and Crystal. With the original Japanese audio track and new English dub to boot.

@Ralizah Ok, I had no idea Adult Swim we’re adapting Ito’s works! This is gonna be great, with World of Horror coming to PS4 at some point and a global pandemic, 2020 really is the year of Junji Ito.

@nessisonett lmao

It really is a horror novel out there right now. Although, with Trump in office, it feels a lot more like Stephen King's The Dead Zone than Junji Ito.

I assume you've seen the trailer by this point?

Can't believe they got Colin Stetson on board. too.

And yeah, World of Horror looks awesome. I'm even more excited after seeing your enthusiasm for it.