Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

It's about an Orchestra with some super Natural elements (the conducter can see hearts, while one of the bandmates can change people hearts by playing music). Oddly enough the music is expressed through visual experiences. I like to think of it as Fantasia if Fantasia was a Manga.

I joined my uni's anime club! Mostly because they recently got a discount card to one of my favourite bookstores and the membership will pay for itself in a month. Strike this one as a step towards diversifying my tastes! (Yes, I'm pretty much going to age backwards!)

Meanwhile, I finished Non Non Biyori last night. The final episode was kinda eh but the rest of the series was good. From here I might go to Silver Spoon season 2, or Kyoukai no Kanata. I hear Nagi No Asukara is great but the club is screening it, so maybe I'll wait until then.

Also, I'm super excited for the new Narita (Baccano, Durarara) work! They tend to get exponentially awesome as they become longer though, so I might not jump in just yet.

@Retro_on_theGo Obata is drawing a new manga its called "All you need is Kill" started a few weeks ago (based on a novel)

@Rocko52 I read it. it was ok. I can't really judge if a manga is any good till 5 or 6 chapters in.

On the authors note about stealth symphony, they mention the mask guy is the main character hmm i thought it was the kid hmmm maybe something was lost in translation...

Speaking of Trunks, on a whim I decided to start to read Dragon Ball online a few days ago, and so far I've just finished the first saga. The manga's pretty fast paced, (unlike what I've heard of the anime) and I actually like it so far, which I didn't expect. I finished the first saga a few moments ago.

I think you'll enjoy Dragon Ball a lot, @Rocko52 ! I remember staying up to watch it back when I was a kid. It's a lot sillier and more fun than DBZ in my opinion.

Just keep in mind that the manga is all Dragonball (the manga isn't split into two series, like the anime is).

Oh I'm well aware the whole Z thing was just a Viz Marketing decision, I know it's all Dragon Ball. I'm uncertain if I'll keep going once it reaches the second timeskip where Z kicks in. I really enjoy the adventure part (not nearly as much as my fave anime though) but I'm not sure if I'll keep going once it descends into fight after fight after hour long fight.

I might consider watching the Dragon Ball anime, and if I like the Z portion, Kai. Still, it seems like there's soooo much filler in the first Dragon Ball, I might just stick to reading it. And if I don't watch the first part, there will certainly be no point in watching Kai. Still, despite a bunch of flaws, it is a rather silly/goofy adventure. I'm curious to see how it will turn from this into Z...seems like such a radical difference.

Indeed. DBZ has that cheezy charm to it, but Dragon Ball just felt so fresh and fun. It's weird, but I always find that shounen series are better when the plots aren't about the fate all mankind being endangered. When they can make a big thing out of something smaller and maybe more personal, that's when it manages to grab my attention more. One Piece and Hunter X Hunter do that for the most part, and those are two of my favorite shows.

One Piece works because the crew have a personal reason and just end up helping civilizations practically by accident.

To be fair though, I've read a shocking lack of shonen action series where the world was in any immediate danger. Maybe a large country but Earth? Eh...I think Earth was close to getting invaded by impossibly strong demons in Yu Yu Hakusho once...

I should also mention that Naruto is so good at that that it already tricked my memory into forgetting that most of the bad guys just want to destroy one or more of the Ninja Villages, instead of the entire world. They just always seem to build it up like, say DBZ or Bleach would build up one of its world-endangered arcs. Though that may be because the show rarely seems to show the rest of the world...

Also, have they ever shown the lightning Ninjas in Naruto? I never got far, but I don't remember ever hearing any more about them. I always thought there were just 4 Major Villages...

I don't think I'll ever try Naruto, heard to many bad things about it at this point. With Bleach, as most of you know, I watched that, and quite liked it....for a while. It's sad that those two shounen so powerfully overshadow One Piece over here in America, when OP trumps them in every way in large amounts. Honestly, they really aren't even worth comparing.

Also, the only long running Shounen I've seen at this point are One Piece (which I love and I'm well into it) Hunter X Hunter (which I like a lot but am not far at all in) and now Dragon Ball which I'm reading and like it pretty well. The world isn't terribly well defined nor are the characters anything too deep, but I still enjoy it quite a bit. Just because I don't find the characters all that deep, it doesn't mean I don't like them. Far from it. Goku is very likable and even a bit cute in my opinion, it's easy to see where the archetype for future Jump Heroes came from. While I do like his obvious successor, Luffy, quite a bit better, Goku hasn't really had time to grow on me or develop so perhaps that will change in time. Bulma (or Buruma as the subs I read say) is funny at times, but I don't like her too much though. I can also see Nami being based on this archetype, although I find Nami a much better character as she has more redeeming qualities that co-exist with her greed, not to mention her development is better. Sorry to make comparisons to OP, but it's hard not to when One Piece, as all shonens are, is so clearly inspired by this.

The other characters, Oolong, Roshi, Yamacha, and Puerh are all pretty good as well. But is it just me, or is every other character in this manga a huge pervert? XD

Anyways, I'm liking the journey so far, it's funny and has light action with fun characters. That said, it definitely doesn't rank among my favorites yet, but hey, I've only read the first 23 chapters. Where I left off, Goku is off to train with Roshi.

The only other long shounen I'd like to try are Toriko, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Rurouni Kenshin.

Then there's the hunderds (seriously hundreds, check my MAL list) of shows I still need to see....Sigh I just have no time..

I've been reading Goodnight Punpun lately. I guess it's sort of a slice of life manga with some drama in it. It's really good so far, and I like how they show Punpun's emotions. Definitely recommend it to SoL fans.

From what I've read about DBZ, I think it sound pretty odd and random that DB becomes a "dark" (lol it's not dark at all) punch-fest with saving the world and character deaths and cheap resurrections...from where I stand now I don't see why Toriyama decided to go down that road. Seems fine as it is being light-hearted and cute.

I think in Dragon Ball the filler is more forgivable since it's more in key with the tone of the show and the overarching plot wasn't that important anyway. In DBZ meanwhile it's jarring to be subjected to Garlic Jr. or that high school thing in between the more serious stuff. Also, I guess Dragon Ball's fights are all the right length - DBZ's fights are way way too long

Also, you owe yourself to try Naruto for at least a little while. Most of the badmouthing is due to people seeing it's popular and ragging on it for that. (I feel like I've said this so many times on this thread): The first arc is really great, the second is decent and then it gets bogged down into some mediocre stuff for a while. I hear it picks up again in Shippuden, but don't take my word for it.

@CanisWolfred Maybe in random battles here and there but as far as i know they never had like a lighting kage or something. I think once the land of "clouds" was made kishimoto totally forgot about the lightning XD.

Oh Dragon Ball, i was introduced to Dragon Ball first (before the Z). The last arc before Goku "grew up" was kinda serious. So even if the whole time-skip didnt happen i think the tone of the story wouldn't have changed much.

@JollyKarp

Last night you were talking about how much you didn't care about shounen and now here you are recommending shounen after shounen. XD Kidding

But any ways, to be serious, I don't think I could handle Naruto because I really don't wanna be bogged down with another long anime/manga. I have indeed heard good, even great things about Naruto's beginning, but it sound like everything goes really down hill, and becomes far worse in Shippuden. I just don't want to invest in that when I've got One Piece which has been around longer than Naruto and Bleach, but is consistantly very good, in fact it always seems to be getting better. I've also got Yu Yu to watch later (when/if I can) which is supposed to be an almost perfect execution of the standard shounen formula, and then there's HxH and Toriko which both supposedly rival One Piece in terms of world building, character development, and plot depth. If there's any long running shounen series I'll want to book with, it'll be these ones, not Bleach or Naruto.

Okay, so now Goodnight Punpun is amazing and everyone should read it. It's seriously just amazing how well the story is executed. And the art style definitely adds to it. Seriously, go read it.

Here's a description for it from MAL: http://myanimelist.net/manga/4632/Oyasumi_Punpun

Read the synopsis for Goodnight Punpun, I MUST READ IT NOW. It sounds like something I would enjoy so much! Thanks for the recommendation

I started the second season of Silver Spoon last night and it's still got its strength. I think the drama's probably going to come out in this season since the first was so very vague regarding Hachiken and Aki's backstories.

I give up, there's no way to understand Samurai Flamenco I won't try making any sense out of it ever again, it's far more enjoyable this way.
but the latest episode was pretty good(I learned there's a town in Australia called Eromanga!!! )

Just be warned that it can get kind of dark with some the scenes. Hope you enjoy it! I know I am!