Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

@Yousef- As a quick question, which part is the best one? Sorry if I am asking some stupid questions again haha. I’ve heard a lot of people talking about their favorite parts. A lot of people say that the 7th part is the one with the best writing out of all the parts, but they still haven’t given it an anime, and I think it doesn’t have an official English localization.

I did look at a few animes on Xbox and I saw that the episodes are individual purchases, I’m sure that buying entire episodes are expensive. I’ll have to check listings for JoJo, if the prices are bad, I’ll probably have to stick to Crunchyroll sadly…I probably could just buy the fifth season IF the Microsoft Store doesn’t overprice it.

@Pastellioli I think it’s a bit silly for there to be a “best part”, they’re all one package that build on another and aren’t entirely isolated. It’s a little too early to be asking that, a bit biting off more than you can chew atm when you haven’t gotten your feet off the ground yet. I do have a favorite part, but that’s not a relevant information right now when you just started. Not a good idea to set that kind of expectation so early into your watchthrough. Enjoy the ride while you can!

I’m not sure what you mean. Xbox never lets you buy specific episodes, only full seasons. At least I never found the option in all my purchases. I’ll have to go check again just in case though.

What catches your eye about the fifth season, is it not on crunchyroll? I haven’t used crunchyroll in years, so I wouldn’t know. Their ads got pretty bad after 2013 which was the last year I used the platform in any serious capacity.

@Yousef- Sorry for asking, I just get super curious about people’s opinions on media I watch and consume lol. I really like to hear opinions on a lot of stuff from people, even when I’m new to it. Before I actually watched the anime, I was super into JoJo despite not being a fan, sort of something that interested me, and I heard a lot of opinions people shared on it.

I also don’t know what I’m talking about either. I think when I looked at a listing for another anime and saw the episodes, it looked like the episodes were individual purchases? It’s been weeks since I last checked, so I need to look back at it again.

Yeah, Crunchyroll has almost all the seasons except the fifth one. Netflix got streaming rights to it and it cannot be watched anywhere else, unless of course you have the discs with the anime or if I bought the Microsoft Store listing. So if you wanted to watch the whole series, you’d have to get a Netflix sub for it. Hulu also has the show last time I checked, but only the first three seasons.

The thing is, I don’t really want to get another streaming service for one thing only and cancelling it when I’m done, you know, spending a lot of money for subscription services that you’ll use only once and then never again and forget that you had it. We used to have Netflix, but not anymore because their content has gotten less interesting and the new tiers sound bad. I think they eradicated their cheapest tier without ads, which isn’t shocking at all given their tiers sound awful. Netflix would probably be the cheapest way to watch it since you said Microsoft overprices anime sometimes, but I think it’d be better to own it. One day probably.

Free Crunchyroll is bad. I mean, it has a nice selection of animes but they only have some of the more iconic and well known animes and niche animes available, with later seasons locked behind a subscription, and newer animes also are locked. I find the ads super unbearable. I think I spent more time on the ads than JoJo because some of the ads just didn’t want to load. It’s about 5 to 6 ADS almost each time there is a commercial break. One or two don’t load, then will play a few minutes later, and then stop loading again and then I have to wait an unspecified amount of time for it. The ads are scattered in there about 4 times (the start of an episode, after the opening intro, midway through, and at the end of the episode) and it’s annoying. I’ll probably only sub to the higher tier when I finish the first season. Luckily the tiers remove ads and aren’t really bad with pricing.

@Pastellioli oh no no need to apologize, it’s fun and chill! I word myself a bit strongly, but it’s not intended to come off too strong, it’s all good!
My favorite jojo parts 1-4 and 8-9, if I had to pick.

Initially I was really confused why you said “fifth”, but then I realized that’s probably how part 6 is listed. Stone Ocean is exclusive to Netflix yeah. But I dunno if it’s on Xbox’s store. I’ve never checked on jojos there because I already seen and read all of it years ago.

If it’s any consolation, I think you’re absolutely on the right path when it comes to not getting too many subscriptions. I definitely encourage that particular route.

Fortunately you won’t always have to worry about Microsoft overpricing anime, due how ridiculously frequent the sales are. I’m 120% confident they go on sale every 2-3 weeks, so it’s good to frequently check the store.

Free crunchyroll was once ok. In 2013, it had a pretty bad selection in kuwait. As it didn’t have bleach or one piece, but it had gintama and naruto and those were more than good for me to binge and watch repeatedly. Sadly, I can’t actually remember how ads worked back then as it’s been more than 11 years, but I’m sure they were tolerable enough for me. At least before 2015 when they became truly atrocious. What a nosedive.

Hmm, as a fan of vampire themed entertainment this pleases me.

It's wild to think how the Twilight movies were over a decade ago.

@Yousef- Yes, the first two parts were adapted into one season, so the show has five seasons instead.

It sounds like a mess to have a lot of subscription services for a lot of anime, shows and movies that aren’t available on one single service. You just go around watching stuff on 5 different services that you subbed to, when I think it’s best to only have one or two, and maybe buying some stuff so you can own it yourself. I do wish I did have Netflix, but I’m content with just using Crunchyroll for anime right now.

In America, modern Crunchyroll I’d say has a good selection, a lot of the animes you said weren’t in Kuwait are on there. I wonder if those animes were on there before, but I wouldn’t know since I started to use Crunchyroll only in January. They have One Piece now and it has ALL of its episodes. I think the first anime I watched on there was Jujutsu Kaisen. I had fun binge watching that one. But, it sucks that the rest of that and several other animes are locked behind subs. The ads weren’t bad if I recall when I watched JJK and several other anime earlier in the year, but the time I decide to come back to it to watch an anime I’ve been interested in for years is the time ads start to waste so much of my time and become unbearable. I also saw that the review section and comment sections they have for episodes were removed, apparently because people were review bombing two new animes and leaving unhelpful reviews for them, and the reason people gave for why they did that really was nonsensical. I did like reading comments on anime I watched, plus a few were pretty funny and I had fun reading people’s thoughts on the anime, plus the timestamps were helpful (at least in one instance for me). But, it’s sad that people used the reviews and comments incorrectly to voice harmful views, and if I’m being honest I never felt anything when the comments were removed.

It is a bit sad that Crunchyroll is getting bad, because from what it sounds like you have been saying, Crunchyroll appeared to be a super amazing anime site back then, and it has a great anime selection. It’s probably the ads, the poor handling, the fact that they purchased Funimation and then shut them and their service down that has made people dislike them. I don’t know if their subscription service existed before though.

The eliminating the ad-based part of Crunchyroll is why I didn't use it anymore, but their horrible reasoning for re-casting in the dub season 3 of Mob Psycho and buying out of Rightstuf to eliminate competition for the already niche market of online anime stores made me disinterested in ever wanting to give them my money. A real perfect mix of morally wrong decisions designed to anger me specifically.

@kkslider5552000 Rightstuf was great for manga. Really hated seeing it go away.

They also removed comment sections from their videos. Half the fun of watching stuff on CR was seeing how people reacted to it. Apparently they did it after people called them out for machine translating the subs for Noko-tan (which explains why the subs made no sense, lol).

From what I've heard (and saw examples of right before they closed them) this was their very flawed way to deal with a surge of homophobia for current seasonal gay anime.

@kkslider5552000 Yeah, I saw screenshots of those unhelpful reviews on a subreddit someone provided and they were bad. The reviews didn’t provide any real feelings or opinions on the shows, and the reviews were so annoying both because they didn’t respect others and them not providing real pros and cons judging the actual quality of the anime.

Oh, and I can’t believe I forgot to say it, but I absolutely LOVE the color palettes JoJo uses during fight scenes, especially being someone who loves drawing and color. The color choices the anime uses are bright, funky and showy, and so pleasing to look at, and it’s just so cool. I heard that JoJo is very well known for its use of color, since the original creator often makes artworks of his characters with bright and funky color palettes and combinations that change in every artwork for aesthetic reasons, plus I also heard the seen that the color schemes for the characters tend to change several times depending on the piece of JoJo media. His artworks are so cool, and he is so skilled at using colors in his art.

One piece did eventually get added here but by the time that happened, I have already lost interest in the anime and winded up picking up the manga instead.

Also based on your description and other people’s comments after yours, crunchy crunch looks like it’s becoming borderline unusable.

@Pastellioli it’s awesome you’re enjoying that. Also my above comment was directed at you but I didn’t ping you because…. I just woke up, my brain is 5% functional right now.

@Yousef- it’s fine! I could tell.

I should have also brought up the opening intros in JoJo. They are so well animated and use CGI fantastically. Usually, I hear a lot of people say anime uses CGI poorly and it looks super cheap and unprofessional (with a few exceptions, like Studio Orange) but it’s done so well in JoJo’s opening animations. I think it’s the fact that the CGI animation and models are stylized instead of being plain CGI, and how the art style used there is supposed to resemble Araki’s art style used in the manga and to make it look drawn.

Way before I actually watched the anime, I had actually had watched a 1993 OVA adapting Stardust Crusaders, just for fun when I was in my JoJo obsession phase years ago, but fans say that it skipped over the first half and only did the second half, and it cut out several fights and characters, so I had no knowledge of what was going on, and I didn’t feel connected to the characters because of the fact it completely skipped over the first parts and didn’t tell the viewers anything about the characters and their motivations. The OVA did release more episodes adapting the first half, but I haven’t seen it. But, the anime luckily avoids doing that and actually goes in correct order, so I can’t wait to see the second season. I heard the OVA is super unfaithful to the source material. I also read that the same studio that did the Stardust Crusaders OVA did a Phantom Blood film too, but a fun fact about that is that film is actually lost media! Also heard it was inaccurate to the source material too though.

Crunchyroll is okay, but I think some of the issues, like the awful ads scattered throughout episodes, them buying competition just to close them, and the whole thing that happened with My Deer Friend Nokotan’s English subs being a mess (which I did read an article on) and the two anime’s getting review bombed so much by users, the service isn’t amazing at all. The one good thing is that it can be used for free, but they lock animes behind subscriptions.

@Pastellioli CGI in an anime is a surprisingly more sophisticated and much more nuanced issue than just “it looks bad lol” especially when we have great CGI animation like HnK and JOJO as you mentioned, it’s kinda due to the misuse of it. Having a CGI sequence to connect two 2D shots is a fine idea in theory, but a low quality model can create a jarring stylistic clash.

The phantom blood movie is lost media. Don’t get your hopes up.

You’ve been misinformed. The OVA was not intended as a simple adaptation, but something for hardcore fans only. It wasn’t meant as a newcomer’s experience, hence why it was, Y’know, an OVA. Something you buy, basically merch. And not something that airs on tv to lure in new people. OVAs as a whole are a misunderstood medium with people falsely lumping them with tv-aired anime. OVAs do air on tv sometimes, but that is an exception and not the standard. Same goes for ONAs.

You didn’t feel connected because it wasn’t meant for newcomers. I hope so called “fans” will stop unfairly bashing it. It’s a fantastic piece of animation, and one of the greatest jojo medias out there and deserves high degrees of respect from true fans.
It didn’t tell you a lot because you’re supposed to know that from the manga. It’s a supplementary medium, unlike the anime which can stand on its own. (Pun intended).
The OVA doesn’t go in “incorrect order” as you word it, you’re misinformed. “Incorrect” implies an honest mistake or naïveté, but they were intentionally adapting the most popular arc in the most popular part to give fans a special treat. But later on decided to complete the experience because the first half is still great.

Neither the SC OVA nor the phantom blood movie are “unfaithful” as you put it. Don’t be misinformed by people who aren’t willing to give those a chance. I gave a chance because I’m a true fan, and I see their beauty for what they are. Love letters to the mangas they adapt, with beautiful colors and incredibly detailed animation. People have a one-track mind about faithfulness and what they consider good always relies on really shallow standards that ignore nuance and creator intents, never letting creators express their own unique artistic expressions is a crime imo, and people should not be encouraged to discourage artists from doing their own thing if they have faith in their vision. That’s not how art works.

Moving on the Stardust Crusaders, it’s a cool piece. I’ve watched it a lot back when there was no jojo anime. The final fight is done better in the OVA, with some really phenomenal voice acting.

@Yousef- Oh, misinformation, sorry, I fell for it again…I feel terrible now.

I think another anime I watched, Chainsaw Man, did use CGI for the character models during parts of the fight scenes. Didn’t look bad, I thought it blended in well, but I recall a lot of people complaining about it when the CGI is very minor and wasn’t even used a ton in the show. I think there were maybe two instances of them using it and that was it. I think there was an ending animation for the show that had the characters animated in CGI and I really liked the look, plus the song playing was a banger too! The CGI I have come across in a few of the animes hasn’t been bad, it’s well done and not excessively used. Some animes, usually comedies, have bad CGI intentionally, I came across a clip for an anime that intentionally used CGI poorly for comedic effect. Can’t remember what the name of the show was. Though there was a show called Ex-Arm that was done fully in CGI and if you see the trailer and clips for it, you could tell it was misused…it’s shows like that that sort of give CGI a bad name in anime and why a lot of people just resort to bashing it and calling it cheap whenever no 2D animation is on screen and is in CGI for a few seconds, when there are several anime out there that do CGI very well.

Oh, I know it’s lost media. I just wanted to mention it since we are discussing JoJo. I did see a restored pilot animation trailer for it today and the animation was beautiful. Too bad that no one will be able to watch it though. All that hard work the studio put into the film and just having it vanish is disappointing. Apparently Shueisha (the company that owns publishing rights to JoJo) is keeping assets and material related to the movie but no one knows the reason why it’s lost media or why it never was released onto home video. It’s interesting, cuz people are trying to still find the movie in full but haven’t found it. There were reports that it was apparently airing in airlines a few years ago, but no media or photos came out of it, so it was pretty much fake.

I didn’t actually hate the OVA, but I do get it. I also did like the animation and the 80s-90s look the characters had. I think the art styles of the OVA and that lost film, as well as the modern anime adaptation are both amazing. Dio was also intimidating there as well! I don’t actually hate any art styles at all, I love them all! A lot of people also critique the OVA for not looking “JoJo-esque” with its art style and stuff, but I don’t get those criticisms at all, I really loved the way it looked. I know that the way I felt toward it wasn’t because of bad writing, but probably because I didn’t even know before that they had adapted the first part too, gosh I feel stupid. It was only after I watched the first part of the OVA that I learned that they did adapt the full story, so I didn’t get any of it. It’s insane I didn’t even know any of that because I extensively read info about JoJo on a giant wiki and learned about its animated media before watching it. Other people also didn’t say that you should only watch it if you are a “hardcore” fan. Guess that’s me again stupidly following what fans say and not forming my own opinions. I’m such a hypocrite.

Sorry if what I said may have upset you or annoyed you significantly. I am very new to it and it shows…I feel very dumb right now, and I feel terrible when I spread misinformation.

@Pastellioli no need to feel bad about it at all! It’s an honest common error that comes primarily from a common misunderstanding people have of OVAs, which are meant to be purchased as physical videos rather than being seen online without context. Since the latter is much easier these days, it’s not impossible to think they’re just straightforward adaptations when the only exceptions to this are Golden Boy and HxH Greed Arc, the latter of which was adapted to continue the 1999 HxH anime.

I honestly don’t remember what I was gonna write after this, my battery died this morning And lost a lot of my thoughts so you’re gonna see a somewhat different version of what I was gonna write. This was supposed to be sent 30 minutes after you typed your message, now I’m late by several hours.

I’m actually not looking forward to the CSM anime due to how short it is, I might read it instead. But I still plan to get into it and JJK whenever the chance arises.

I also wanted to get into a similar manga called Undead + Unluck, the intention was to get into it before the anime came out… I was too late. But I’ll probably still read it anyways.

@Yousef- Oh, I see. Sorry, I just reacted badly. I feel very bad when I accidentally spread misinformation. Makes me feel like I’m spreading a lie since that’s what misinformation basically is. Aaaand I just woke up and realized I fell asleep with my phone on and it’s nearly dead.

Yeah, I think for Chainsaw Man you should read it instead of waiting years for them to adapt later parts of the story. They are making an anime film for it, but it’s adapting an early part of the story. A lot of people say that the later parts of it are the best, but the anime has not gotten to adapting those yet, and I think it’s going to take a while, given that it’s been nearly two years since the anime released. I liked the Chainsaw Man anime, but I don’t think I’ll read it. I’m sort of fine just watching one season and that’s it.

With Jujutsu Kaisen, do you plan to just read the manga or watch the anime? I hear the manga is actually set to end next month, and the anime I hear is only midway through adapting the story. I watched it, but only the first season. There’s a second season and movie that I have not watched because Crunchyroll locks them behind a subscription.

I have heard of Undead Unluck before, but I don’t exactly know what happens in it besides the premise. I wonder if a lot of people like it. Probably! I have heard of a few other anime and manga recently but I haven’t read any info on it.

@Pastellioli yeah, it’s hard to keep up with JUMP’s output. U+U looks interesting, but it’s not turning any heads right now. I’ll still read it since I have a weak spot for muscle-y men. Always had.
There’s another 2020s JUMP manga about a Harry Potter ish bowlcut dude, I know nothing about it so someone else will have to fill me in.

I apologize for being unclear, I was trying to say that I’m interested in watching JJK given its higher episode count, however if I felt like reading it would be better for me, I’ll just do that instead.

CSM being a two parter is interesting. Because the second protagonist is apparently female, and that’s a bit rare in JUMP’s lineup of battle shonen where it’s a bit more male dominated, that I personally mind but some change in pace can quite healthy.

I’ll reply to your chit-chat comment when I find the time. I’ve just woken up myself.

@Yousef- I don’t keep up with JUMP’s output, plus they have a lot of magazines and I don’t read any of their manga series or magazines, but I sometimes read a Wikipedia article that lists all of the manga series run in Weekly Shōnen Jump over the years and Shōnen Jump+. I think the only animes I have watched that have been based on mangas ran in JUMP is JoJo and Spy x Family. I was watching the latter with my cousin and siblings, but we never finished the rest of season 1 and never got onto the second season, so it’s been a year or two since I last seen it.

I think the manga you are talking about is called Mashle: Magic and Muscles. I saw the main character everywhere online for a while cuz the opening song went viral online. I also don’t know anything about it either.

For Jujutsu Kaisen, there’s about 47 episodes, 24 in season 1 and 23 in season 2. Alongside that there is an anime film adapting its prequel manga Jujutsu Kaisen 0, but I’m not a manga reader so I don’t know how far the anime is in adapting the story.

The Chainsaw Man anime is pretty short, they only did 12 episodes and it’s unclear when they are going to release more episodes for it and the anime movie doesn’t have a release date yet. I heard that both are super early into adapting the story. I think what people expected was them to have 24 episodes and splitting the releases into cours, which is common for a lot of anime, but they didn’t go that route. I did also hear the second part having a female protagonist as well. That’s cool, and I also don’t see a lot of shōnen manga’s having female protagonists or having two protagonists. I heard for JoJo, they had a female protagonist once.