Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

Forgot to upload these last week.

InuYasha Set 4 - Finished this up over the weekend, and am over half way through the series now. Although it's one of my favorites from when I was younger, I will say it's starting to drag at this point (while most fans will say the series peaks during the Band of 7 arc, which started in this set, I think it peaks before that).

Urusei Yatsura: Only You - Took a bit of a gamble on this (the only other UY media I've ever seen was Beautiful Dreamer a few years ago on Prime), but I liked it well enough. I wasn't too familiar with the cast, but it was easy enough to get to grips with the core players. Will definitely check out other stuff in the franchise.

I watched Oshi no Ko's first episode out of curiosity of the hype behind it.

First of all, I did not expect to have watched an hour and 20 minute long anime episode to start a series. But beyond that, so glad they did that. This was such an incredible experience. I can't even remember the last time I had such a strong overall reaction to an anime episode. Like I had to keep pausing the episode to ask my screen "Where are we going?!" I never act like this, this was a brilliant bit of semi-unpredictable fiction. Despite how odd it is, I'd recommend at least this one episode to everyone.

Got these in over the weekend.

Samurai Champloo - I haven't seen this since it last aired back on Adult Swim back in the day, and even then I don't think I ever finished it (or forgot how it ended). I had a similar experience with Code Geass which I ended up loving when I recently rewatched it on BD, so hopefully this plays out similarly for me.

Memories - I absolutely loved Robot Carnival when I watched it a few weeks ago, so when I heard the forces behind it did this later on I knew I had to get it. Can't wait to watch!

Small haul over the weekend.

InuYasha Set 5 - Started this up over the weekend, and am getting close to the end of the Bo7 arc.

Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer - Watched this a number of years ago on Prime and remembered liking it, so I decided to nab it (thinking about collecting the series in general too, as I grabbed the first film already a few weeks ago). Probably overpaid a bit for it, but it's okay to splurge every great once in awhile I guess.

@RR529 You certainly like Inuyasha, huh?

@EllaTheKawaiiNeko, yeah, along with DBZ, InuYasha was one of my favorites back in middle/high school, so it's kinda like my comfort food anime these days.

Already recently rewatched it back in 2020 as well (on Hulu), so once I'm done with the BD's I'll probably try giving it a longer break before watching it again though.

@RR529 I still am in middle school, and my comfort anime are slice of lifes and romcoms. Though, I love a little dark anime, like Steins;Gate or Made in Abyss. I've also been bingeing No Game No Life with my brother the past two days.

Newest pickups.

Akira - Just watched it on Friday. All these years later & it still looks stunning (especially cleaned up in HD). The ending is still a bit confusing, but each time I watch it I think I understand it just a bit more... maybe.

Ninja Scroll - It's been years since I last watched this, but I remember it having copious amounts of gore & nudity, so it'll probably still be a good time, lol. Also, the slip cover has a cool shiny holographic effect on the sword which is cool.

Expelled From Paradise - Had to pay an arm & a leg to get this, but I had the means to go for it so I figured I'd jump while I had the chance. Watched it on Netflix years ago & remember really liking it.

To Love Ru complete series (To Love Ru, Motto TLR, and Darkness 1 & 2) - I used to read fan scantlations of the manga way back when, but dropped it after getting to Darkness (I think this is when it lost all inhibition when it came to the fan service & went wild with it) because I got caught up with it & never bothered checking to see if it ever finished (that, & I was a bit miffed that the decision to go bonkers with the nudity correlated with a shift away from Lala & the other older cast in favor of her younger sisters & newer cast members). Still overall liked the series though, so I figured it was time to nab the anime now that this all in one collection was released.

Bonus: Ninja Scroll & Expelled From Paradise outside of the slip cases.

I have to admit, I'm fascinated that that one girl's outfit makes her boobs look like onigiri.

It has to be intentional, I'm convinced.

My most recent collection additions.

Gunbuster - Really excited to get to this. I've only ever watched the abridged movie version a few years ago on HiDive. Thought about buying that version physically but held off in the hopes that the entire thing would get a remastered release some day, and luckily my patience paid off.

InuYasha Set 6 - Last set of the original series. Just getting ready to start the last disc. Been pretty nice rewatching one of the favorite anime of my teens, though I will say it starts to lose steam after the first couple seasons.

Urusei Yatsura: Remember my Love - Just watched it over the weekend. Not as good as Beautiful Dreamer, but still a good time.

I know Mario isn't anime, but I plan on posting the pic in some other spaces (non-anime exclusive) as well, so figured I'd throw it in.

In my continued quest to try out anime for essentially the first time (my only exposure in the past has basically been Pokemon and YuGiOh), I watched the entirety of BNA: Brand New Animal at a hotel over the weekend!

This one's been on my potential watchlist for the longest time now as the premise of a human transforming into a half-human/animal hybrid always fascinated me (probably unsurprising given my adoration for Splatoon XD) and I was finally able to check it out thanks to the entire series being on Netflix here in Ireland and I gotta say: I really enjoyed it! I thought the characters were very likeable (Michiru and Shirou's dynamic especially was delightful to watch), the music was absolutely BANGING throughout (shoutout to the opening 'Ready To' especially, that song's been stuck in my head for hours XD), the animation, while unfortunately kind of stiff at points, absolutely rocked when it did, in typical Studio Trigger fashin, decide to go absolutely B O N K E R S (people who've seen the show know exactly what I'm talking about) and, what is easily my favourite aspect of the entire show, the worldbuilding/setting they created was absolutely enrapturing: from witnessing all the little facets of beastmen culture that had developed over the years to seeing these wildly different characters and imagining what animal they could possibly look like/be and vice versa, I was constantly engaged and enthralled by what was happening (especially with a particular scene in Episode 8 which....well, if you know you know).

For as much as I've gushed about what I enjoyed here though, I don't think it's a perfect show; there's a lot (and I mean a LOT) of unexplained stuff that happens throughout (delving into spoilers for a sec) such as how Michiru and Nazuna gain abilities that are almost never brought up again and how the deaths of the 1000 other wolves gave Shirou/Alan their immortality, there's the expected filler plots that feel a bit more pronounced given BNA's shorter than average length (why does anime have such an obsession with baseball) and it does feel like the show wraps up a bit too quickly near the end without much room to breathe and let things sink in.

Overall though, for as much as these gripes put a bit of dampener on things, it's more than balanced out by what BNA does so so SO damn well and I'm excited to give more series' a shot in the future thanks to it. Hopefully it manages to get a Season 2 at some point because I'd love to dive back into the wonderfully unique world of Anima-City! 🦝 🐺

@Fizza Ohhh, I love BNA.

Honestly, I thought BNA was pretty underwhelming until the 2nd half. Like very little about it stuck with me in any way until it focused on a plot of some sort. Which is hilarious because Little Witch Academia was the exact opposite by being far better in its first half without worrying so much on any long term story.

It also bugged me that they kept also using the ED as the only song that apparently exists in-universe, so multiple times it played more than once per episode.

Anyway I watched ZOM 100. The first episode is amazing, but I feel like I watched all I need to. I'm sure what happens next will be amazing but I'd be perfectly satisfied if I watched no other episode, I feel like the entire point of the series has already happened. But for that one episode, absolutely brilliant satire.

I just got back from "Castle in the Sky" as part of Ghibli Fest 2023.

Although the whole time I was watching the movie, my brain was split: half was paying attention to the story, the other half was looking at character faces and trying to figure out how to draw heads to be bean-shaped instead of egg-shaped.

@HenryKibble Nice. Ghibli Fest is also happening in the state of Michigan, but I don't feel like going

Think I forgot to post these here.

Project A-Ko 4: Final - Watched it a couple weekends ago. A decent watch if you liked the earlier ones, though I don't think it's as strong as the first two.

Cyber City Oedo 808 - This was pretty dope. I just love the sci-fi anime of the 80's & 90's, and don't think I'll ever tire of it no matter how much of it I watch. The style is just so cool, and I enjoyed the over the top edgy English dub.

Valkyrie Drive: Mermaid - Now, I like the occasional Ecchi anime as a guilty pleasure from time to time, but this was just a bit too much for me. It seems like something happened in the past decade that has caused these things to become a lot more risque than they used to be in the 90's, 00's, & early 10's (a transformation that you can see play out across the 4 seasons of To-Love-Ru, though I think this pushes even harder than that show's latter seasons).

Venus Wars - Haven't watched this yet, but am excited to get to it. It's another 80's sci-fi anime film, so I'll probably love it.

@EllaTheKawaiiNeko It has been a few (or a bit more maybe, haha) years since I left Middle-School (or whatever that is here in the Netherlands) and I don't know if you've seen these already, but a part of me is really nostalgic and melancholic to that period so I still like watching anime like: Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso (Your Lie in April), Hachimitsu to Clover (Honey and Clover), Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day, Clannad, ToraDora! and Sangatsu no Lion (March comes in like a Lion) from time to time. Not sure, but maybe you will like these too?

@Definitely-Not-Leon I've heard of Toradora and Your Lie in April and both are on my watchlist, but I'll definitely check out the others too! Thanks!

I can confirm Toradora is very good. Or at least the main characters are so good that anything I was meh about in the series doesn't matter by comparison.

So recently I found out that there are two different upcoming anime based off of different Tamiki Wakaki manga. He created The World God Only Knows, which is one of the best manga/anime series I've ever seen, so if these are even close to as good, I'm excited.

Forgot to upload these here.

InuYasha: the Final Act - Definitely feels rushed (especially the first 6 or so episodes), but it's probably the best animated bit of the series & it always feels good to see the long running narrative threads get tied up (certain parts make me tear up no matter how many times I watch it).

Urusei Yatsura: Lum the Forever - Maybe I just need to give it a rewatch, but this has been the most confusing of these movies yet. Feels like they were trying really hard to emulate Beautiful Dreamer but it just doesn't work as well on any level.

Alternate box arts (under the slip covers):