Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

I'm 3 episodes in and Lycoris Recoil has been lovely. Not sure its gonna turn out to be anything I'm gonna think about after its done, but its at least very enjoyable and entertaining in every way it tries to be. And considering the other new anime I'm watching right now is the new season of Made in Abyss, I appreciate something that's just fun and likable, end of statement.

Yeah this is a bit of a whatever season for me, too. I watching Fuuto PI, the anime sequel to Kamen Rider W. It has started strong, but there aren't nearly enough episodes yet to make a judgment call on how it will all play out over the season.

I was watching the Biscuit Hammer adaptation, but it is so insultingly terrible I just dropped it and starting rereading the manga instead.

I am also watching Shine On! which is like the most mid anime I have ever seen. Like it has stylish visuals, and in some places nice animation, but so far it has just been a complete nothing of a show. I dunno why I even watch it, to be honest. Like the moment it is over I just forget everything that happened and I couldn't ever really describe to you what the show is about.

I was thinking of giving the 2020 reboot of Digimon Adventure a shot, but all I see on its MyAnimeList front page are bad reviews with the "Not Recommended" label. lol Shame, but hardly surprising. It's hard to match the heart and soul of the '90s version with its character development and amazing soundtrack.

The latest season of Digimon (Digimon: Ghost Game) also didn't receive that many good reviews, but again, hardly surprising. The Digimon anime has been on a dwindling path in terms of quality ever since Digimon Savers (season 5). Now they're practically children's cartoon with the expected level of intelligence in its writing.

It's a shame, but I guess it's not that big of a loss, since I haven't bothered watching any Digimon anime for many years now. There are lots of other anime out there that could occupy my time.

Wow, a surprisingly sombre and sad episode of Lycoris Recoil this week. I kinda expected the moe to take over and it all be fine by the end of the episode, but things still remain in the balance.

Also, I am currently four episodes into Engage Kiss and assuming it doesn't fall off a cliff in the next couple of episodes, this might be another favourite of mine this season. The third episode drops a twist of surprising maturity, it doesn't turn everything on it's head or subvert what you know exactly, but adds more emotional weight and general character complexity than you'd probably expect out what seems otherwise like a light, fanservicey show, with one of the blandest looking MCs they could have come up with.

I really like how they coast on serviceable animation for most of the episodes, and then absolutely kick it into overdrive for the set pieces that usually bookend episodes. It shows real smart use of budget and hope they sustain this throughout.

The comedy is actually genuinely hilarious in places too, and mostly well balanced with the darker stuff, even if the darker stuff is all fairly cliche so far. I dunno, the bar is so low for me on these kinds of shows, when I watch one that tries to challenge me, or offer actual interesting ideas or some kind of emotional weight, I just can't help but be impressed.

@Anti-Matter Dude I adore that show.

I also totally forgot to say I finished my reread of Lucifer and The Biscuit Hammer and man... that manga holds up. Gorgeous art, excellent pacing, very clear action scenes, bundles of heart, oodles of imagination and it goes for exactly as long as it needs to.

I dunno whether I am angry, sad or some combination of the both that the anime adaptation is just plain awful. We all waited all these years and we get One Punchman season 2 level of garbage.

Please give the manga a chance, if all you've seen is the awful anime.

Recently finished up the Skypiea arc in One Piece (as well as the little followup Navarone filler arc). Pretty exciting arc all things considered (I really liked that free for all fight between Zoro, Wyper, the priest guy with the dog, and the Giant Snake).

I'm now caught up to where I started the series on Toonami years ago (they started their run with the Davy Back arc & ran through Thriller Bark), so skipping those arcs I am now excited to explore content that'll feel truly new to me.

They're a little late in getting here, but here are my latest additions (still working through City Hunter 2 from the last set, so no new series, just a couple movies/OVAs).

Ghost in the Shell ARISE parts 3 & 4 - the last two OVAs in the ARISE line. Already watched them last night & they're narratively pretty dense IMO, but worth a look if you liked the first two.

Lupin the 3rd: Goemon's Bloodspray - Followup to Jigen's Gravestone. Watched it last night & it was insanely fun. Very bloody, action packed, modern take on a samurai film focusing on Goemon being pushed to the limit when he finds himself up against a nearly indestructible American assassin named Hawk who has killer axe skills.

Bonus: Alternate box art outside of the slip covers.

Watched Made in Abyss with my brother. I'm absolutely speechless. Words can not describe how good it is. Also finished Konosuba. It's decent I guess. And I started the Grisaia series. I love it, though the fanservice makes me really uncomfortable, especially considering this show is aimed at people way older than me. I also hear that the Lucky Star manga will be off hiatus. Man, they took my reason to not read it. I watched Spy x Family too (Alone, since my brother doesn't give a care about Spy x Family yet) Started 7th grade today. It's better than 6th grade, at least.

New pickups arrived today.

Lupin the 3rd: Fujiko's Lie - Last entry in the "Koike" trilogy. Really liked the first two, so I'm eager to watch this (though the weakest aspect thus far was Fujiko's plotline in Jigen's Gravestone, so maybe I should keep my expectations in check).

Triage X - I've watched this a couple times before (via streaming), so I'll know I'll enjoy it (it unfortunately doesn't cover the entire manga, but I follow that too).

High School of the Dead - Again, have watched it before via streaming, so know I'll like it (& have already started it). Likewise it doesn't cover the entire manga, but I plan to get to that eventually.

High School of the Dead: Drifters of the Dead - The OVA episode of the series. Usually these are included in the base physical release, so it was surprising that it was a separate release.

Bonus: Alternate Fujiko's Lie art under the slip case.

I’m currently watching season 2 of Yuru Camp (Laid Back Camp). You have to be in the mood for it as a cute girls do cute things show. For the first series I enjoyed the Japanese scenery. But with this one I’ve got a bit tired of it feeling like an advert for various camping equipment.
But it’s good for soothing the dread of returning to work after a few weeks holiday in the morning at least.

Lycoris Recoil finished this weekend. At least the first season, I have to assume another is coming. The show was alright. I thought it started really strong, but I dunno, they hit like a gear early on and just sorta stayed in that the whole time. I guess compared to some shows which dip up and down having consistency is a strong thing, but I kept waiting for the show to really blow up, but what you get in those opening couple of episodes is all you are getting basically, even as the stakes grow larger.

I also decided to drop Bakumatsu Bad Boys, I had fallen behind by a few episodes, the show was so utterly tedious I had no motivation to catch back up. I only watched it as long as I did because I was up to date with it and like whatever, 20 minutes in my week fine, but anything more than that? Nah thanks.

A couple of classics for my latest additions.

Lupin the 3rd: the Castle of Cagliostro - I've always heard about how this is often considered one of the best pieces of Lupin media, and after watching it yesterday I can see why. Absolutely gorgeous feel good film.

Neon Genesis Evangelion - Hopefully this shouldn't need any introduction. Yes, it's apparently the "Netflix" dub (they say "Nerv" funny & cheaped out & didn't license "Fly me to the moon" for the ending), but it has such a complicated history of releases that I figured I should grab it while I had the chance. Neither issue is honestly that big a deal to me anyways. On the plus side, it also includes both of the 90's movies, Death (Truth)² (which I've never even heard of), & End of Evangelion (which I've only ever seen via a sketchy pirate site years ago), which I wasn't expecting.

I started rewatching Bofuri recently. I forgot how much better it is than SAO. I had to draw something with a popular art style for 7th grade art class yesterday, so I decided to draw Shamiko from Machikado Mazoku. It's not the best, but it's ok I suppose. I can't show ya'll as I have no idea how to upload images. Made in Abyss season 2 keeps getting better and better. Plus, Konosuba gets a season 3 AND a Megumin spin off. I've loved Megumin since the beggining of time, even before I watched Konosuba. So I'm excited dfor the spin off more than I am for season 3. I still need to finish a lot of anime first though. Me and my brother started Kill La Kill, Grisaia, Nekopara, and a few other things that I have yet to finish.

Well, after over a year of reading, I've finally finished up all 500+ chapters of InuYasha. It was my first time reading it in an official capacity, and as the anime was my life in middle/high school I'm glad I did.

I think it does loose a little something in terms of charm after awhile, and for awhile it's clearly stalling for time, but I think it comes together well enough by the end with a pretty satisfying ending. Been at it since 2020, so I'm gonna be at a bit of a loss now that I'm done.

I also followed up by reading the first volume of YashaHime (which is the only one currently available). I wasn't a fan of it's anime counterpart, but the manga is off to a MUCH better start (I don't want to get into the myriad of reasons why the anime sucked, but the mangaka seems to be deliberately acknowledging most of it's issues), which is making me excited for this followup all over again. Too bad the next volume doesn't drop until December.

@RR529 Years reading that many chapters is too short. There's a manga I wanna read called "Hayate the Combat Butler" but it's 502 chapters if I remember right and at least 52 volumes. I'm still only on chapter 5. I'll be old enough to drive by the time I finish it! Also, recently saw the last episode of Made in Abyss. I was actually crying. Started Sailor Moon and BNA. Sailor Moon is good, and BNA is better. Also, I finished reading Arisa, and I ask one question. Why aren't half these characters in jail at the end????? But at least Arisa and Tsubasa are friendly with eachother again.

Man, of all the dubs where Crunchyroll could've decided to **** over the guy voicing the main character, it had to be my favorite dub in recent years in Mob Psycho. So now I either wait and hope the bring him back, or try to deal with the replaced voices in the dub or try to get into the series subbed. Haaaaaate.

Only good thing is that I already had plenty to watch this season without Mob, so I'm willing to wait.

New arrivals.

Lupin III: Mystery of Mamo - The very first Lupin film. I've heard it's a mixture of the more slapstick nature of Part 2 (which it was produced alongside) & the more graphic nature of the original manga, so I'm interested in seeing how it turns out.

City Hunter 2 set 2 - The second set of episodes in the series. This has become a bit of a comfort food series for me.

Bonus: Alternate art for City Hunter 2 set 2 under the slip case (Lupin's art is the same under the case).

Why is Crunchyroll making everything premium??? Now I can't watch Kemono Friends, Gabriel Dropout, Non Non Biyori, Sweetness and Lightning, or New Game! I'm 12, so I can't exactly get a job to buy premium, so thanks Crunchyroll, thanks for encouraging to pirate even more.