Topic: Manga and Anime discussion

Currently reading Berserk: Deluxe Edition - Volume 5. In the midst of the notorious Lost Children arc, "elves" behaving badly and whatnot. It's interesting but so far I don't see why it was a controversial part of the overall story, maybe something awful happens later that I haven't got to yet.

Today I finished watching the Yahari Ore no Seishun Love season 2 but I can't understand why a lot of anime fans love this series. I endured watching the whole series patiently waiting for the 'best' part. But there's none. one of the genres is a comedy but I couldn't find any funny scene, it seems everybody has different tastes.

@aradii Aww, I love Oregairu, really excited for the 3rd season coming. I’ve seen loads and loads of romcom anime so I wouldn’t say that it didn’t have any comedy, it’s more that its main plot is slightly more mature than the average.

I'm looking forward to the 3rd season too, I hope the romance part getting better!

@aradii Ok, apparently the third season has already started which I had no clue about. Guess I’ll be watching that weekly then!

InuYasha: the Final Act - The second anime in the franchise that picks up where the original left off. Designed to wrap things up, it adapts the last 200 chapters of the manga into a mere 26 episodes (for contrast, the original series covered the first 360 chapters over 167 episodes, about 30-40 of which were filler). Since I've covered the main beats of the series with my manga writeup, I'm mainly going to cover how the anime changed things up.

"Moryarmaru Arc" - The first anime ended just as this arc had begun, so most of this 100 chapter arc is adapted into the first 6 episodes of TFA, and as you can imagine it causes this section of the show to feel more like a live summary (with many cuts & reworks) than anything else, as 4-6 story threads are going along during any given episode. Granted, this arc was by far the most drawn out and boring part of the manga IMO, so some trimming isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it feels like they trimmed a bit too much.

"Resolutions Arc" - the last 20 episodes cover the last 100 chapters, and things flow much better as a result. You can feel things are a bit rushed in places, but most episodes have a singular story thread (with the climax spread out over the last 6-7 episodes, matching the pace of the manga pretty well). Also, there's some slight (but important) changes/additions to the ending that make me prefer it to the manga version (which I covered in my writeup of the manga).

Otherwise it was nice to see the series transitioned to HD (releasing in 2009/10, I wasn't yet sure how many anime had made the jump at that point), and it's interesting that as a whole (including the original series) it started out with traditional cell animation, transitioned to digital animation during the early 00's, and made the jump to HD with TFA, resulting in 3 distinct vibes (I liked the traditional animation of the early series best, as I think the grittier look gelled well with the edge the early series had that was toned down as it went on, but TFA is certainly lovely looking, especially it's 1st & 3rd ending animations which are gorgeous, and it still looks pretty modern).

Content Guide

Nudity/Sex (Mild) - The only moment of note that I can think of is when a pervy/drunk old man archetype briefly flits up the front of Kagome's skirt as a distraction (the camera is behind her, so you see nothing). Miroku (the group's pervy member) is on remarkably good behavior during TFA (probably due to him being more committed to Sango because late series, and the fact that the writers probably had to cut out a good deal of unimportant fluff such as his pervy gags due to the series' short length), with his only infraction being when he briefly flirts with some hostesses at an inn (which doesn't feature anything suggestive as far as I remember).

Blood/Gore (Medium) - It's not a particularly gory series, but it does feature it's share of the stuff, such as a brief spurt or a clothes stain whenever someone is cut. The instances that stick out the most to me is a scene where Miroku coughs up blood (and has some spill from his eyes) when poisoned, an episode where the villain makes his victim cry blood, and an episode where a villain makes a magic circle using Kagome's blood after slashing her arms.

Language (Mild) - Just typical PG-13 stuff as usual.

I'd like to thank anyone who actually spent their time actually reading all these overly long posts of mine about this 20 year old franchise I probably care way too much about, lol.

First Yashahime trailer dropped today!

Looks like they're going to animate the manga's special epilogue chapter (it's where all the footage of the old characters is from), and retool it to be the background for the sequel's narrative.

High School of the Dead (Hulu) - a series with tons of over the top action & fanservice that follows a small group of high schoolers (and the school nurse) as they struggle to survive a zombie apocalypse.

The Good

• It's not going to win any awards, but I was impressed with how seriously it took it's core narrative (most other harem/ecchi series rarely even have one). Sure, there was the occasional "down time" episode where the gang got to rest and indulge in extra nonsensical fanservice silliness (and it can get gratuitous even during the action sequences), but for the vast majority of the time they find themselves in tight spots, fighting to survive. I also really like that it took the time to showcase how authorities at various levels (whether it be the police on the ground, up to even the US military/president) were collapsing while trying to keep things under control (it's a level of world building I absolutely wasn't expecting from this). I do wish they had set up some more time to elaborate on the history of the relationship between the MC & Rei before things went to pot though (they clearly have a strained past, but they barely set it up before all heck breaks loose). Other than that there are a couple moments that are just there for shock value which can be uncomfortable, but for the most part I was impressed in the story aspect. Also, I was glad to see that there's another male character (and honestly one I liked more than the MC) who seemed to be winning over one of the girls.
• The animation quality too is really good for the genre (and I'd say it's good looking in general). They really pull out all the stops for the action sequences which are often kinetic & visceral, and they pay equal attention to the quality of the fanservice moments (the two even often intertwine, such as a scene where the MC shoots a rifle & in slow-mo Matrix fashion the bullet passes inbetween Saeko's cleavage on it's way to it's target).

The Neutral

• The fanservice itself. While I certainly have no issue with it on principle (otherwise I wouldn't have even watched this), I understand it's a divisive issue. It's very over the top, and while most of it is in silly good fun, there is the occasional shock value moment (as I mentioned before), such as an instance where a hoodlum violently gropes Rei's chest (he's clearly an @**hole from the moment he's on screen & is dealt with promptly, and while making you uncomfortable is clearly the point, I can understand why'd you may want to shy away).

The Bad

• It's one of those 12 episode series that ends just as it feels like it's getting started. It clearly doesn't have a resolution and at nearly 10 years old it's probably not getting a conclusion at this point.
• I watched the dub, where there's quite a few Americanisms I'm sure probably weren't there in the Japanese original. Things like name drops of Walmart, PetSmart, the NRA, & Sarah Palin are more obvious, but there's probably a few more subtle ones as well, and it's just a pet peeve of mine when it comes to series' clearly set in Japan that localizers don't go overboard with that kind of thing.

Overall

• While I'm disappointed that it'll likely be forever unresolved, I enjoyed my time with this one despite some minor complaints.

Content Guide:

Sex/Nudity (Heavy) - Should go without saying, but all the female characters have improbably large chests that have minds of their own, plus plenty of panty shots galore. There's surprisingly not much actual nudity though, with only a couple shots of a single character's bare breasts during a bath scene about halfway through (otherwise any nudity is obscured by something in the environment).

Blood/Gore (Heavy) - Again, this should be no surprise. Gratuitous blood spray & splatter is the order of the day. Not one for the faint of heart.

Language (Heavy) - F-Bombs galore, on top of the PG-13 level fare you usually get in anime.

Blue Submarine No. 6 (Amazon Prime Video) - Anime miniseries set in a sort of apocalyptic waterworld where jaded seaman for hire Hayami is recruited by international military organization "Blue Fleet", with which he has history, in order to help them put down a band of aquatic mutants and the mad scientist responsible for their creation (as well as the world's flooding).

The Good:

• The animation is quite good, given that it's an OVA. There is a lot of CGI war machinery that looks like something out of a PS2 cutscene (it came out in the late 90's), but call me crazy but I thought that gave it a kind of certain charm, lol.

The Neutral:

• It has an interesting world setting & I've liked other series that focus on a crew of a ship to various degrees (such as Cowboy Bebop, Eureka 7, & Macross), however due to it's blazingly fast runtime you don't actually get a good feel for all of this (they particularly spend a disappointingly small time with the crew of "Blue 6", even if it's present in all episodes).

The Bad:

• As has been touched on before, the quick runtime, as it only has 4 episodes (granted, the last one is almost double length, but still)! Despite some touching moments & heavy theming I never got to the point where I actually cared for any of the characters. Also, a lot of the sciency technobabble explained in the last episode never really stuck with me (I'm still not sure how exactly the mutants came to be, or if their creation was intended or not).

Overall:

• I thought it was okay. I liked the world, some of the tech, and thought it had potential, but it just didn't have the time necessary to really expand on any of it.

Content Guide:

• Sex/Nudity (High) - There are lots of "mermaids" present that almost always have their breasts exposed (granted, they're not really presented in a sexual way, it's just how they are). The most (really only) sexually graphic moment occurs when one of the mutant leaders is heavily implied to have assaulted one of the mermaids (he's jealous that she has the scent of a human male on her, as she was saved by Hayami earlier), and he gets grabby, licking & nibbling on her ears before the scene cuts away.
• Blood/Gore (Medium) - It's mostly not that bloody of a series, and although there is some in earlier episodes, the most notable is a moment in the final episode where Hayami gets his face busted up really badly, which is quite graphic.
• Language (Mild) - Typical PG-13 stuff, as far as I recall.

RIP Kissanime and Kissmanga. They might have been ad-filled and unreliable by the end but that’s how I watched a lot of great series back when I was a broke 12 year old.

RIP KissAnime
Long live Anime Twist

@nessisonett @TheFrenchiestFry If it's something one can't access legally (or just don't want to pay for), I can't imagine why people wouldn't use a VPN and torrent the shows they're interested in.

@Ralizah I only used it when I was younger and had an iPod Touch, not even an iPhone at the time. Binged Kuroko no Basuke and watched like 5 episodes of Attack on Titan before deciding it was terrible and not bothering with the rest.

Has anyone else heard about The Witcher anime movie adaptation? Looks good, right?

Since it was free with my Prime subscription I read the first volume of Fairy Tail.

While it's large enough that I've heard of it before, this was my first experience with the franchise. While the theme is different, in terms of style & humor it reminded me a lot of One Piece (which is another series I'm not super into, but am more familiar with). It a fun enough read, and the first 20 volumes are available for free if you have a Kindle Unlimited subscription, so if I ever shell out for that I'll probably check it out further.

I can't believe YashaHime premiers this weekend! I've never made it a point to simulcast any anime ever before, but there's a first time for everything (luckily it's going to be on Hulu too, so I won't have to get any new subscriptions).

I find t funny that in Australia the first season of my hero academia is rated ma-15 then every other season is ether rated m or pg just thought it was interesting

The first proper YashaHime episode is out today (it started last week, but it was largely just an adaptation of the InuYasha manga special epilogue chapter, giving the original cast one last hurrah before moving on to the new era).

It was a bit strange, as a group of delinquents & hoodlums held the Higurashi family hostage, which was a stark contrast to how unassuming & safe the modern era was represented in the original series.

It hasn't been confirmed yet, but it's looking like InuYasha's English voice cast won't be returning for YashaHime, which is a big shame.

The voice actors for Moroha, Setsuna, & Towa (the new protags) have been revealed, and they're all Los Angeles based (people are speculating that Bang Zoom is going to be the VO studio based on who has been chosen), while the original series (and voice actors) was recorded in Vancouver, at Ocean (which hasn't done much/any anime work in the past decade as North American distributors have pulled most anime VO work out of Canada for whatever reason). While this doesn't completely rule out the chance that they may find a way for a couple of the most prominent voice actors to return (let's say, InuYasha, Kagome, & Sesshomaru's VAs), apparently Bang Zoom has the worst track record for retaining old VA's for series they acquire VO work for.

It's been 10 years since the last series so some recasting was going to be inevitable, but after nearly 200 episodes & 4 movies it's going to be hard getting used to a new cast.

Watched the first three episodes of Ore Monogatari (translated as "My Love Story" for some reason) today. It was a great time. I've been so bogged down in hateful, angry feelings related to this pandemic, political corruption, etc. that I feel like I'm losing myself sometimes, so it's refreshing to watch a show about good things happening to good people. Also love shows with great male friendships, and Takeo and Suna are certainly up there so far.