Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

Going through the second season of the One Punch Man anime here. Having just watched episode eight, the season started a little slow. But now the Monster Association has made their move and the action is getting good. After this there's what...season four of My Hero Academia beginning in October?

Hey guys. I'm not an anime fan, but I found this anime show called Nichijou - My Ordinary Life. Anyone know why it's rated TV-14? Thanks!

And then there's me with my abridged series on Youtube

@Link-Hero Ah...should have known. Thanks!

@LetsGoSwitch Wait...are you talking about Nichijou?

That's a good question. I know they exist, but the idea of watching an Abridged Series of a pure comedy series has always seemed very odd to me. It'd like if you tried to parody a Weird Al song.

Man! This week's episode of Tate no Yushaa/Rise of the Shield Hero was so bloody good!

@Octoguy I really enjoyed it! I desperately hope it gets another season because it really seems like there is more to the story to tell. Apparently it will come back in 2020. The series caught my attention immediately after I watched the first episode for having one of the best opening themes I have seen in years. And despite the young cast it proved to have very dark themes and mature characters. There was, thankfully, very little time spent on whiny snot nosed children. I also loved that the lead character was a girl, and that she was very strong and took a leadership role. Something that is especially rare in anime unfortunately.

Finished up the Last Hope on Netflix this morning!

What is it: A mecha (though it quickly becomes Super Robot) series that sees what's left of humanity surviving inside fortified defense cities after an accident at a new type of energy reactor causes Earth's biome to rapidly evolve, and now giant robots are humanity's best hope against the highly adaptive biological/mechanized creatures that have evolved into existence.

Content guide:

Violence - Mild. Some people get pretty bloody after their mech is badly damaged, and there's some bloody imagery with one of the character's backstory, but it's not a particularly gory show.

Sex - Mild. One female character has an improbably large chest, and (particularly early on) the camera will focus on it when she comes on screen (sometimes with some jiggle physics) for a few seconds, but that's it (and she even dresses pretty modestly).

Language - Mild. Typical PG-13 type offenses.

How'd I like it: I wasn't completely sold on it at first (a lot of the monsters are ugly & overdesigned, but that may make some sense given the lore), and they quickly introduced some Asian mysticism into the mix which I wasn't on board for (for a show about giant robots), but I actually grew to like the characters so I stuck with it. Also glad that it actually had a satisfying ending, which is more than I can say about some other Netflix anime (even ones I generally liked more).

Speaking of which, does Netflix have any Anime originals that aren't mainly CGI besides Devilman Crybaby and The Seven Deadly Sins? I've been hold back on watching Devilman Crybaby just because I feel like I'd probably forget about the service after I'm done with it...

EDIT: I know they have some stuff they share with Hulu and Funimation, btw, but I don't actually need Netflix to watch them.

CanisWolfred, I know Dragon Pilot isn't, and although I haven't watched them, from what I can tell the Magi & Fate series, B the Beginning, and the Children who Ride Whales (I probably got the name of that wrong as I've only seen it in passing) aren't CG either. Even shows like KuroMakuro & the Last Hope only use CG for the robots/monsters themselves and not anything else.

I'm sure there's more though, as I'd taken like a 3 month break from Netflix before finishing that off.

@RR529 For some reason I thought B the Beginning totally was CGI? And I'm totally counting stuff like Kuromakuro, at least in the cases where the CGI stands out abruptly from the 2D, so it feels like I'm watching characters from two completely different universes somehow coexisting. Unless that's the point, I find it very distracting, and I've seen enough examples of CGI integrated well that I can no longer tolerate the ones that don't have that level of polish. Sometimes it just feels like I'm watching Zegapain over and over again, never escaping that waking nightmare of dated animation and horrendously overdesigned mecha.

I never did finish Children of the Whales, though...forgot all about that..

_{Also Magi and the Fate series are definitely not originals, I already watched both of them on Crunchyroll and Funimation}

@CanisWolfred, not sure about B as I haven't seen it, I just watched a trailer long ago and don't remember it being CG. Also could have sworn that I saw the Netflix mark on Fate & Magi. Guess take anything I say with a grain of salt, lol.

Oh, there's some gambling school one too. Kakekaguri I think? (Now I know I mispelled that one).

@RR529 Fair enough. And it appears I was mistaken about B: The Beginning, I guess I wasn't paying enough attention.

Watched Godzilla: Monster Planet tonight on Netflix. I'd watched it before back when it first released, but as that's been over a year ago I decided to rewatch it as a refresher before watching the other two parts, which I've yet to watch, but plan to soon.

What is it: An anime film that centers on the efforts of humanity to try & reclaim Earth from Godzilla after they gave in to his aggressions years ago and fled into space. It's the first part in a three film trilogy.

Content guide:

Violence - Mild. The most shocking moment comes in an early part where you see blood spray on a wall after an unnamed character commits suicide, but that's far and away more extreme than anything else in the film. It's mostly just war machinery being destroyed otherwise, where you don't see the people inside.

Sex - None.

Language - Mild. Typical PG-13 type stuff.

How'd I like it: I remember not being too hot on it the last time I watched it, but for whatever reason it clicked with me more this go around, so I'm pretty excited for the other parts now.

Space Battleship Yamato 2202 - Up to episode 5 now, and this has honestly been excellent so far, with back-to-back surprises. I was afraid they were just doing a sequel for the sake of it, but so far it definitely feels like a natural continuation of 2199. I'm looking forward to watching more...I got distracted by all the E3 buzz, and forgot all about it for about a month now. Oops.

Gundam Build Fighters - I wasn't gonna watch this. It looked like Yu-Gi-Oh with Gundam in it, a naked advertisement for Gunpla with no substance. But damnit, once I saw some of the battle animations and enjoyed the honestly excellent Battle Prologue ONA, I finally gave in and watched some to try and get my Gundam fix.

I can't watch this. I hate the writing, the characters, the braindead plot, the annoying dialogues, how they bent over backwards to make everything be about plastic models being animated by some fictional particle when scanning the models and making virtual models based on them would've been a more sensible option. Eventually I started skipping to the battle sequences, and even with all the pretty animation, Gundam battles just aren't very exciting if I don't know or care about the context as to why they're fighting. I had seen some scenes on Youtube that cut all the character portions out, and I think it's telling when seeing those scenes as they were intended had far less impact. "Nothing" was literally better than what they wrote to justify these battles. Such a waste.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin - Advent of the Red Comet - Sometimes, life is all about perspective. I hated the movie version of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin when I saw them a year or two ago, feeling like they were too childish, rushed, and out of touch with the franchise it's trying desperately to emulate. And I still hold to that to a degree, some of the scenes are down right cringeworthy, or at least head-scratching. It's also far longer than it needs to be, with some scenes feeling unnecessarily drawn out, or are arguably even exist as pure filler.

But boy, is it better than Build Fighters! Like a camel to an oasis, I needed this - political intrigue, interesting characters with goals and interwoven backstories, tragedy and triumph! Sure, it has cool battles, but here they actually mean something. I know the stakes, I have someone to root for, every movement counts, every minute I'm on the edge of my seat, and afterwards, there are consequences and things to ruminate on. A good story only enhances the action. I'm only 7 episodes in so far, but I've been enjoying every minute of it, warts & all!

Currently watching Initial D: Fifth Stage. All I was expecting was hot-blooded drifting and racing action, but there's been some pleasantly surprising emotional moments mixed in. I'm still enjoying the series, but ever since Project D happened/Fourth Stage, it just hasn't had that umph that the first three stages (2 seasons and one movie) had. Sure, the races have been awesome, and that's what the series is about, but I guess I miss the dynamics Takumi had with his friends. Iketani is probably one of my favorite characters, even though he is so dorky but I love it.

Has anyone gotten into Black Clover? I've only watched a few episodes but couldn't get into it. Is there a certain amount of episodes I should watch until I drop it?

@PK_Willow I've heard it gets better futher in, but I dropped it pretty early. It just didn't have much of a hook, and I already have One Piece, Fairy Tail, and Dragon Ball Super to get caught up on, while throwing in shorter series in between to avoid burnout. It's going to take a lot to convince me to add a 4th to my list.

Speaking of which, I'm currently...I think about halfway through the Whole Cake Island arc of One Piece, and I've gotta say: the pacing of individual episodes here have been far better than the previous two arcs, and arguably every arc since the Straw Hats entered the New World portion of the Grand Line. It's so much easier to stay invested instead of feeling like I have truck through at top speed just to get a satisfying story. Things are amping up where I left off, and I'm excited to see where it's going to go!

I borrowed the Legendary Edition of the Legend of Zelda manga's. They are pretty good. On Ocarina of Time right now

Hey I am interested in Neon Genesis Evangilion but know nothing on what it's about, where to watch it or if the manga is better than the anime. Has anyone both seen the anime and read the manga and is willing to help me out. Thankyou!