Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

Toonami Saturday night.

Attack on Titan - Missed it.

Bleach - Caught the tail end of it. Looks like this final arc is going to climax soon.

Space Dandy - Oh man, what a great episode. I just can't believe how random it was when Dandy was chased down the ski slope by a giant Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, and that creature from Japanese new year's mythology, lol (I know what it is, I just can't remember the name). Also, there at the end it had me at the edge of my seat (surprisingly touching for this show). Also, apparently Chuck Norris exists in this universe, lol.

Naruto Shippuden - The new team is acquainted with each other now, and as hinted at, looks like Sai has a mysterious mission...

One Piece - Another action packed episode tonight, but it looks like next week when the real stuff begins. Man, is that main villain despicable though (can't wait until his cowardly butt gets kicked).

Gurren Lagann - Another adrenaline fuelled half hour of epic awesomeness. Does anything else really need to be said?

Beware the Batman - Didn't watch.

Black Lagoon - Was this really it!? I mean yeah, what a way to end the arc (and the show overall has been quite the wild ride), but this was not conclusive at all (when it comes to the main cast), which is kind of a disappointment. Good show though (does the manga continue on?)

Also, they had promos for Hellsing Ultimate tonight.

So is Hellsing Ultimate worth watching/worth watching without the context of anything else from the series?

Yes, since IIRC, it's a remake? I never saw the original and still enjoyed Ultimate at least.

Since I got my new tablet, I'm finally able to start catching up on Bleach (manga)!

I must say, Renji's new (or rather, true) Bankai looks a lot better than his old one, and Rukia's new abilities are pretty cool (even if I didn't fully grasp the explanation of how they work).

Level 5 should make a Slice of life serie with Layton

Oh man, the 24th episode of Mahouka Koukou No Rettousei was amazing. I was much more impressed by it than today's Aldnoah.Zero and Sword Art Online II combined. Although, I would say that last week's episode of Aldnoah.Zero was almost as good. I'm so glad I didn't drop this series on the first episode.

...is Kill la Kill even real? Like, is it even a real show? I'm on episode 17, yet I feel like I either entered someone's dreams, or I just watched the equivalent of 5 seasons and two movies...

too be honest I was slightly disappointed with Kill la KIll. It started at over-the-top but I thought it was gonna go beyond ludicrous levels but never really did? In terms of the battles anyway...

@kkslider5552000 I don't think anything beats Gurren in that department.

Toonami Saturday night!

Attack on Titan - Missed it.

Bleach - and the final battle begins. It's only a matter of time now.

Space Dandy - This was an interesting episode. When I first saw the 2D dimension scrolling over, I thought it was the map to the original Zelda, lol.

Naruto Shippuden - More of the new team getting used to each other (well, trying at least).

One Piece - Aw yeah! Luffy has begun to fight Blueno, and he's actually hurting him! Next week is gonna be good. (oh yeah, and that poor yellow whatever it was, getting a canonball to it's chest...)

Gurren Lagann - Just another dose of unadulterated adrenaline, and it was as fun as always. (also, is it just me, or did the art style seem a bit different?)

Beware the Batman - Didn't watch.

Hellsing Ultimate - This was... the most unintentionally hilarious thing I've ever seen. My goodness, does the creator have some sort glasses obsession (like 3/4ths of the characters have them, and they glow, like all the time, lol). Oh, and Alucard and the priest (especially the priest) looked like they were all hopped up on crack (especially with his completely random exclamations of "Amen" after every hit). Other than some of that unintentional hilariousness though, it seems like it's going to be a good show.

They also reviewed Valiant Hearts: the Great War - 8/10.

@RR529 If you liked Hellsing Ultimate, you should watch Hellsing Ultimate Abridged. It's not only super-hilarious, but it actually follows the shows plot.

Well, I'm once again all caught up with Bleach (manga)!

^So what you're saying is...Bleach is suddenly becoming an apt metaphor for itself? How is that even possible??? O_O

@kkslider5552000 About Hellsing Ultimate, I also recommend Hellsing Ultimate Abridged, since it's not only hilarious, but it actually follows the anime's original story.

hahahaha no

Hey everyone, how are ya'll doing?

@RR529
I seem to recall that you are/were a big fan of Kenichi? Are you aware that the latest chapter is to be the final one? (It was just released I believe)

Yeah, I'm seriously surprised I haven't seen him post anything about that ending yet. Somebody else had to spoil it for me. I didn't even know anyone else read that manga...well, except for all those Pixiv artists...actually, do they even read manga, or do they just look at the covers and start making fanart based on them?

It's kind of saddening, even though we don't know the explicit cause I'd say it seems obvious that it was cancelled. Come to think of it, lately a lot of big series are ending/getting cancelled. Kuroko's Basketball just ended, Claymore is about to publish its last chapter, Kenichi just wrapped up, it seems as if Naruto could close before the year is out...these are some truly massive titles all coming down around the same time, this is sure to leave an impact.

Yep, just finished it a few minutes ago (In fact, that's why I came here, lol)

As for my final thoughts on the series, I thought it was a pretty good time.

The entire series (which is 583 chapters) is spent battling against the same entity, so that means that it can drag at times, but that also means you didn't get any out of touch arcs that seem thrown in just to stretch it out (like the Buu & Fullbring arcs in Dragon Ball & Bleach, respectively).

The biggest strength of the series was it's painstaking attention to detail when it came to the martial arts/battles (though not quite at the level of Rurouni Kenshin). Other than that, it's pretty standard Shonen stuff. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but it doesn't mess anything up. The biggest bar to entry is easily the fanservice, which the author is really big on. I wouldn't say it hinders the series in any way (the series doesn't rely on it, there just happens to be a lot of it), but if you don't like it, unfortunately you'd probably be better off avoiding the series. (I personally think it's prevalence is the biggest contributing factor as to why the series doesn't have a similar kind of following to other long running Shonen of the type)

As for the ending itself, I quite liked it. I can't say that there were any big surprises, but it was nice, and everything worked out for the characters in a way I was hoping for.

@RR529 - If you need any recommendations on other martial arts manga, I hear Holyland and Karate Shoukoushi Kohinata Minoru are both worth checking out.