Anime and Manga Discussion Thread

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What are people's opinions on Tokyo Ghoul? I watched the first few episodes and it started well but I was starting to get concerned the more the world-building progressed that it was going to go off the rails.




thought the premise was cool, but the series never went anywhere
 
What are people's opinions on Tokyo Ghoul? I watched the first few episodes and it started well but I was starting to get concerned the more the world-building progressed that it was going to go off the rails.

It's good for about 9 episodes, when the focus is more intimate and low-key. It actually had a big influence on my most recent Vampire: The Masquerade campaigns.

After that it becomes a big messy ghoul vs ghoul vs human vs human war, the shonen arms-race cliches start to pile up, and the premise of these creatures hiding among humans shatters into absurdity as the apparent number of ghouls-per-square-mile increases.

Fortunately, that story arc in the first 9 episodes formed the basis for the pretty good live-action movie, and that's fairly self-contained if you want a one-and-done experience.

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So I tried watching the 4th episode of Ras Xephon, and I'm not really getting into it. I then went back to the 2006 Guyver, which I had watched the first 6 episodes of. Finished the 7th, and started the 8th (I'm watching the sub on Hulu). Will be going back to it once I'm done with my net stuff tonight. I've always liked Guyver, so this one I know I'll finish. As for Ras Xephon, I'll keep watching, but probably one at a time, as it's not grabbing me
 
One Punch Man season 2 finished up this week.

I could say the animation is a bit down from last season, while the writing is up, but honestly all I'm feeling is wanting more. This whole 12 episode season BS is for the birds.


Tried watching the new Netflix Evangelion dub.

It was like Baby Jesus repeatedly stabbing me in the back with a rusty spork. Fuck you Netflix.
 
I've been watching some Heisei era Godzilla lately. Last night I watched a Millennium series installment: Monsters All Out Attack. Godzilla would work so much better as an anime. You lose all the lovely suits and models and squibs, but, ironically, I think you'd also lose the Grade Z movie connotation.

It's a shame the actual Godzilla anime was so horrible. I think the creators got a bad case of "subverting expectations."

Anyway, still waiting for an announcement of the US release of Star Blazers/Space Battleship Yamato 2202 Part 2. I already have Part 1. I know I could watch it on streaming, but I want to have the discs before I watch any of it. Then when I do get it, I'll watch one episode each weekday after work.
 
One Punch Man season 2 finished up this week.

I could say the animation is a bit down from last season, while the writing is up, but honestly all I'm feeling is wanting more. This whole 12 episode season BS is for the birds.


Tried watching the new Netflix Evangelion dub.

It was like Baby Jesus repeatedly stabbing me in the back with a rusty spork. Fuck you Netflix.

To be fair, 12 Episode Animes can be done well, and contain a tighter and more structured story. When done well.
 
To be fair, 12 Episode Animes can be done well, and contain a tighter and more structured story. When done well.

The problem isn't that OPM (or Overlord for that matter) aren't done well, it's that I want MOAR! And not likely to get any for at least another 2 years +
 
I've been watching Heroic Age. I'm not sure what I think about it entirely yet. It's definitely not bad, and I want to see where its going. It has potential definitely but we'll see.
 
I could say the animation is a bit down from last season, while the writing is up, but honestly all I'm feeling is wanting more. This whole 12 episode season BS is for the birds.
The consensus is that the animation was way down. But to be fair, that's because OPM season one is in the upper echelons of quality sakuga. There's a fluidity to the animation mixed with gorgeous frame composition - it's beautiful in motion or in any given freeze frame. At least when they pull out the stops. There are definitely some lazy bits in the first season, but none of the action scenes skimped, whereas you feel like corners were definitely cut on some of the set pieces this season.

Compared to the manga, the first season was on par or even better, but this one was subpar. But again, that's a very high bar. The manga is extremely pretty, and the most recent issues have been really something.

As for the story, I think they did a decent job with it this season. The TV show has hewn pretty close to the manga (whereas the manga has freely embellished over the webcomic with One's blessing), so it's pretty much the same thing. I'd say part of the reason you're yearning for more is because this is an awkward place to put a break in the story. The Monster Association/Garou arc is very long and at this point things are just starting to heat up.

And even then, this season rushed a lot of it, and a few episodes did suffer for it. If you were really faithful to the manga, this could be three seasons, but they are clearly pacing it for two. The manga is just getting into the really intense portions of the arc, for instance. The webcomic finished it a while ago, but then it took a long hiatus, and just now it's yet to fully commit to another arc.

I can't recommend the manga enough. It's done a great job expanding upon the webcomic material, which is actually pretty awesome on its own despite One's highly amateurish drawings. I can understand someone not wanting to be spoiled by the reading the webcomic, but I think the manga is currently the best incarnation of One-Punch Man.

I'm currently between anime series after a bit of a binge. I was following Jojo's Bizarre Adventure for a while, but this arc seems so halfhearted. The animation has never been very consistent for this iteration of Jojo's (the 90's OVA was probably the high water mark), but the story itself of this particular arc is just so phoned-in. Someone told me either here or on another forum that the manga was pretty crappy during this portion (Golden Wind), so I may just sit things out on Jojo's for a while.
 
What do you folks think of Attack on Titan? I love it and it's one of the few series that when my son cries "Daddy! Let's watch Attack on Titan!" makes me jump like a child to his side at the couch. Haha

I admit it's pace is weird though. Sometimes it drags a bit, other times it rushes forward uncontrollably.

What are people's opinions on Tokyo Ghoul? I watched the first few episodes and it started well but I was starting to get concerned the more the world-building progressed that it was going to go off the rails.
Found it overrated. The first season is considered the best but even this is weak sauce. It goes nice until midway but drops into absurd territory really fast. The consensus is that the manga is excellent but the anime had to compress it so much that the causality of events was lost in the way.

It has one of the greatest intro songs I've heard though, I give you that.
 
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I liked Attack on Titan even though it is full of absurd melodramatic yelling and a typically annoying anime protagonist.

At first as it knocked off characters it felt a bit shocking but it got to the point where it was killing off characters so quickly we had no reason to even care or remember who they are.

And after an intriguing set-up I started to get a strong feeling that the future reveals were going to be stupid and anti-climatic.

So I enjoyed the first season but don’t feel the need to watch it any further.
 
What do you folks think of Attack on Titan? I love it and it's one of the few series that when my son cries "Daddy! Let's watch Attack on Titan!" makes me jump like a child to his side at the couch. Haha

I admit it's pace is weird though. Sometimes it drags a bit, other times it rushes forward uncontrollably.


Found it overrated. The first season is considered the best but even this is weak sauce. It goes nice until midway but drops into absurd territory really fast. The consensus is that the manga is excellent but the anime had to compress it so much that the causality of events was lost in the way.

It has one of the greatest intro songs I've heard though, I give you that.

I despise:

Eldia and Marley.

I liked Attack on Titan even though it is full of absurd melodramatic yelling and a typically annoying anime protagonist.

At first as it knocked off characters it felt a bit shocking but it got to the point where it was killing off characters so quickly we had no reason to even care or remember who they are.

And after an intriguing set-up I started to get a strong feeling that the future reveals were going to be stupid and anti-climatic.

So I enjoyed the first season but don’t feel the need to watch it any further.

The future reveals certainly are to me.
 
What do you folks think of Attack on Titan?

Insultingly slow pace. I liked the premise and the first episodes, I thought it dragged way too much midseason, kept watching until the end of the first season and even forced myself to watch the whole second season; then I said "sod it".

Also, killing characters gets old after the first few dozen deaths.
 
We enjoyed the first season of Attack on Titan. Haven't watched more of it yet.
 
What do you folks think of Attack on Titan?
Good first season, then the plot gets convoluted and it loses its way. They seem to decide that it's no longer a show about terrifying mindless giants blissfully eating screaming humans and now it's really about politics in a world where giants are doing something bad somewhere else.
 
Good first season, then the plot gets convoluted and it loses its way. They seem to decide that it's no longer a show about terrifying mindless giants blissfully eating screaming humans and now it's really about politics in a world where giants are doing something bad somewhere else.

Before, or after AoT is revealed to not be a post-apocalypse after all and instead just another nation vs nation story?
 
I watched the first season of Attack on Titan back when it was on Netflix years ago.

I didn't like any of the characters. I found the pacing absolutely geologic. I definitely did not like the series gimmick (later adopted by other shows) of basing the whole thing around "secrets" doled out on a schedule with nothing happening in between.

Having cut my teeth on anime during the Gore Era of the late 80s and early 90s, I liked the return it represented toward anime with ultraviolence. I do kind of miss that shock value of older anime when the decapitations and amputations took place accompanied by tons of animated guts and fountains of blood. I do think the ultraviolence in Attack on Titan was used well. However, I think it had much more impact on the current generation of anime fans who haven't seen much of that.

All said, I didn't like the show at all. None of the characters were interesting to me. I felt the whole first season could have easily been covered in a 3 to 6 episode OAV, and the length of the show as presented was wasting my time. Since the first season didn't resolve or address ANYTHING the series began with, I found it completely unsatisfying.

Some months after I finished watching the first season, I learned the manga existed and was far ahead of the show. I decided to look up and "spoil" what was going to happen next. Nothing I read made me change my mind about the story. I definitely won't be watching any more of the show.
 
I've been watching Dororo and while I miss the more distinctive drawing style of Tezuka it is quite faithful so far to the manga although since the manga was left unfinished I assume it may resolve differently.

 
So Dark Horse is finally doing an official English release of the Elfen Lied manga, in the form of 4 omnibus editions collecting all 13 volumes. Picked up the first one this week.
 
My wife is collecting the Berserker Deluxe bundles. She also owns most translated Junji Ito releases and recently picked up the Claymore Complete Box Set.



So far I've only read the Junji Ito books, which are great.
 
Yeah, I've been getting the Berserker Deluxe volumes. Would love to start a Junji Ito collection, but only so much I can buy at a time
 
One anime I really enjoyed was the quirky The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya. We watched the episodes in what's supposed to be chronological order.

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Anyone here familiar with any of the spin-offs? How many are there? What are they about? Are they any good? What about the manga and film?

Best girl: Yuki Nagato :thumbsup:
(I love how she had to endure being stuck in a time loop fully aware, without any of the other characters realizing.)

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I've not watched anything recently, but I'm actually interested in a series that is currently playing which I haven't been for a while. It's called Astra Lost in Space. It's basically Lost in Space with teenage students.

Haven't seen a non-mecha space anime even get made recently. I hate simulcasts and waiting on episodes though, so plan to watch it after the first season is finished.
 
Ya'll need to put on some Ping Pong Club. Now THAT's a show that makes even the most cringey Anime fans do a double take.

For those yet unfamiliar, check out the intro in all it's absurd glory:

 
So, has anyone seen the Code Geass Movie, the Re:ssurection one? If so, is it any good?
 
Adult Swim is released a 4-part mini-series of Ito’s Uzamaki, with music by Canuck Colin Stetson. Hell yeah.
Reminds me of a project I'm looking forward to: this Netflix anime collaboration with country musician Sturgill Simpson.




I mean the collaboration between anime and musician; they are obviously very different projects.
 
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lol, damn posted that in the wrong thread, lol. Oh, well...it's animation related, I suppose
 
Fantagraphics is releasing the classic mangas of Moto Hagio. Including the vampire saga The Poe Clan, the sf epic Otherworld Barbara and the seminal shonen-ai The Heart of Thomas. I find her artwork and paneling stunning. I've got The Poe Clan vol. 1 on order and hope to read the rest.

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Watched Blame! On Netflix and it was okay but the Nihei manga sounds more interesting at least for the artwork if not the story. Anyone read the manga and want to comment?

 
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I mentioned this in the what are you watching thread, but I'll repost it here. I checked out the Netflix Ultraman anime. The main character gets a bit whiny after taking on the mantle of Ultraman, but towards the end of the season, he accepts his destiny. I'm hoping Season 2 will be better, but it wasn't horrible. I'm not 2 episodes into Gundam Unicorn. This one is way more preachy and annoying. I get that more dilemmas are part and parcel of many anime, but this one seems to overdo it. I'll be taking my time with this one as I can only handle that a little at a time
 
Never watched or read Black Butler, the setup sounds interesting but I suspect the rest of the series would very much not be my jam.

But this recent review of the manga on Polygon sums up my problem with so much anime and manga ‘reviews’ in North America: this desperate, convoluted ‘twist’ is a beyond stupid melodramatic cliche that would prompt laughter and mockery in most quarters but the reviewer blithely praises it.

Most of these reviewers cultural knowledge and horizons seem strictly limited to anime itself (they even seem surprisingly ignorant of Japanese literature and film too) and so are largely uncritical.
 
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Never watched or read Black Butler, the setup sounds interesting but I suspect the rest of the series would very much not be my jam.

But this recent review of the manga on Polygon sums up my problem with so much anime and manga ‘reviews’ in North America: this desperate, convoluted ‘twist’ is a beyond stupid melodramatic cliche that would prompt laughter and mockery in most quarters but the reviewer blithely praises it.

Most of these reviewers cultural knowledge and horizons seem strictly limited to anime itself (they even seem surprisingly ignorant of Japanese literature and film too) and so are largely uncritical.

I never truly liked Black Butler.
 
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