Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

@Maxz Oh, for Prince of Tennis? I mean they both share similar problems:

The main character is overpowered while coming off like a jerk (Though, moreso for PoT, Ichigo in Bleach is just "rough 'n' tumble", while Ryoma is an egotist who is frequently reinforced by his successes); the power level (yes, PoT has power-levels! They even go Super Saiyan!) escalates way too fast, yet everyone seems to be there simply to exemplify just how amazing the main dude is, not to mention there are too many characters in general (at least the whole rivals-turned-friends works in a sports context, but since it's also tennis, they never really stop being rivals); The story gets rediculous, yet also gets stretched to hell; and I personally feel that both of them have gotten more attention than they deserve (until Crunchyroll came around, Prince of Tennis was the only genuine sports anime to get a decent amount of popularity in the US, and even aired on TV via programs like Toonami).

I've got to the end of the first major story arc in Death Note. It was very enjoyable, but I felt it got a bit too depressing at times. I'll give the remaining episodes a try, but I've heard that the rest of the story is meant to drag on and not be so good, so I might skip some episodes if I get bored of it.

@Tsurii Ok, thanks for the advice. I'll bear that in mind.

Watched Paprika last night. That was awe-inspiring, albeit pretty trippy and the ending makes no sense. I also still don't get what Paprika is supposed to be?

The "Making of" special feature was also pretty interesting. I'm really gonna miss Satoshi Kon, he really seemed like an imaginitive and dedicated person. You can totally see why he died though - dude chainsmoked like a chimney the intire interview. There wasn't a single bit of footage where he didn't have a lit cigarette. He obviously had been doing it since he was young, too, judging from his teeth (which he instinctively tried to hide from the camera every time he laughed). It's kind of tragic, really.

I've been reading Freezing, Food Wars and Übel Blatt and I'm now caught up to the latest volume of each. I ordered all 31 volumes of Slam Dunk which I'm looking forward to arriving in the next day or two.... can't wait to start on another long series.

...wait, as in, you ordered them all at once?!

Yeah. I've read some bits of it before which I enjoyed and it's a very highly regarded series overall.

I prefer to buy box sets when it comes to completed series, but otherwise I'll just buy all the single volumes in one go.

I love the Pokemon Adventures manga. For all those who complain about Pokemon's story or just want a (relatively) light manga to read, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Finished up the last of my summer shows tonight. I mentioned season 2 of Rinne before, but I also watched 91 Days, which I'm glad I tried (I don't think it's something I'll be itching to watch again soon, but it had a couple of genuine twists, and a setting that's pretty unique to anime), as well as Nejimaki Serei Senki: Alderamin in the Sky (set in a fantasy world about as advanced as the late 1800's, it followed the exploits of a group of young officers on the battlefield, and it was a nice watch. The main character actually despised military culture, but came out as an ingenious commander because he fought with intelligence rather than spirit, which resulted in some nice technical battles).

In terms of Fall shows, so far I've only checked out two. Time Bokan 24 (definitely a kid's show, but I'll admit I found it slightly amusing & guess it'll pair decently with Dragon Ball Super). the Last Witch Izetta (I really liked this one. Yeah, it's set in one of those odd realities where it's WWII, but all the main countries have different names, but are still named similarly enough that it's still obvious who is who, so what's the point. However, the animation is all really nice, and I really loved how fluid & exciting the animation was in the action/war scenes, and all the military equipment looks excellent. The story looks like it's going to follow the exploits of a princess of a small country who wants to protect it from a "Germanian" invasion, and gets that help from a supernatural friend).

Over the past two days I checked out a few more fall shows.

Nazotokine - Already decided to drop it. One of those sub-10 minute shows. A secretary gets sucked into some alternate dimension guided by a rabbit in a hat, and must solve riddles to escape. Overall it looked low quality, and I wouldn't be surprised to see it being connected to a moble game or something.

Flip Flappers - This looked good in the trailer, and the first episode sure has me interested. It has a nice looking art direction with some vivid use of color & fluent animation. It follows a student named Cocomi (who doesn't look too thrilled about planning her future) who gets dragged into an alternate dimension by a happy go lucky girl with a flying surfboard named Papika. After some antics the two become friends, and when Papika gets in a tight spot, Cocomi gets her out of it by... going Super Sayain!? (sans hair color change).

Matoi the Sacred Slayer - My first shot at a "magical girl" series, and I'm glad to report it wasn't nearly as insufferably cutesy as I'd feared. The character design is a bit more jaggy than I'd like (and I'm not a big fan of the monster design so far either), but other than those small nitpicks (and, well, a suprisingly placed off color gag near the end), I actually found it pretty enjoyable (it also gets points for using traditional Japanese culture as it's basis).

Ping Pong Girls - This one is a bit heavy on the cutesy stuff, but I've never watched a sports anime before, and they actually put a lot of effort into the matches, making them really tense & enjoyable (I don't even think I've ever seen any characters in a battle series sweat so much, lol).

So, I started watching My Hero Academia and I am enjoying it, but it feels very similar to Gurren Lagann, which I also enjoyed

.............................................................................................Screw it, I'm asking....what's Strawberry Marshmallow like? Amazon keeps suggesting it to me ever since I got Azumanga, lol.

...That and one of the characters reminds me of Ursula Hartmann. xD
Anyways sites say it's comedy, so....>.>

@Joeynator3000 Slice of life moe show. It's decent if you like that kind of thing, but it has none of Azumanga's fantastic surrealism or great comedic pacing. Also, too much creepy fanservice, considering the girls all look very, very young.

.....You're talking to a guy who likes Strike Witches, one of the witches being 12. xD

@Joeynator3000 I forget how old they are, but they look like small children. But, you know, YMMV. At least people in this show generally wear pants.

If you don't mind sexual jokes about young characters and like SoL moe stuff, it's probably a fun show.

I'm fine with it, Strike Witches has quite a few adult/sexual humor in it. (like that one episode of the panty-invading alien beetle, lol)

I don't mind sexual humor and/or fanservice if it's clever and well-done. I absolutely adore stuff like Re: Cutie Honey and Kill la Kill, for example. Too many fanservice anime seem lazy and pandering, though, so it's really just about the execution for me.

I can't watch stuff like Strike Witches or Highschool DxD, though.

I also can't stand normal moe stuff. It's why I've almost religiously avoided watching K-On thus far.

Ah well...-w-
Hopefully a few others know about the anime if they got any other stuff to say about it. o.o

@Joeynator3000 https://myanimelist.net/anime/488/Ichigo_Mashimaro

This site is a good resource for investigating new anime.

Meh, I rather hear it from people like you. xp
I think that site just summarizes it and stuff...