Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

^ Kenshin is amazing! Hope you enjoy.

The third season isn't that good, since it deviates from the manga, but the first two are great.

Penguindrum is so very, very good. It's so very, very weird. I love how many tones it juggles an episode, and even more how it manages to actually effectively use them all.

Dub is awful, though. Watch in Japanese for this one. ADR work was awful, and the guy who does Kanba is pretty awful.

Saw episode 3 of Broken Blade. Halfway through, and so far I apparently can't gush enough about this show. It's not perfect - Rygart's character is a bit conflicting, especially in the case of him not wanting to kill despite being a trained soldier. It's become a very tired trope by now, and while I think they haddle it a bit better than most, it still feels like a forced plotpoint. I mean, it's not enough that he doesn't want to kill his best friend? He has to try to save everybody, including the ones mercilessly slaughtering his own people, including his own comrades in arms? What's his motivation there? I don't recall it ever being made clear.

But that aside, it's been incredible. The animation's gorgeous, the fights are complex and detailed, there's lots of attention to detail, the music is amazing. The story, world and political strife are becoming incredibly complex, and there's a lot of hinting at even bigger things to come, though this adaption might not even get to fully cover them all (the manga is on-going). The characters are all interesting in their own right, though admittedly the characters aren't a huge focus - the cast is large, but we don't get to learn about a lot of them. However, considering the episodes are technically full movies, and there's only so much you can do to develop characters in movies, I think they've done enough to make most of the characters stand out.

I can hardly wait to continue this!

Just wait till you get to season 2!

the hour and a half between Attack on Titan and One Piece is not ideal

Toonami Saturday night!

Attack on Titan - Missed it.

Bleach - Missed it.

Space Dandy - Missed it.

Naruto Shippuden - Exploding frog spiders!? Anyhow, looks like the fight with Sasori is starting it's last stage.

One Piece - I'm not sure whether that "Ramen Kempo" guy was hilarious... or gross. The fight between Franky & Nero is shaping up to be good, though.

Blue Exorcist - This was a pretty good episode overall. Par for the course, I suppose.

Black Lagoon - Man, this show just keeps on getting darker & darker...

Also, they had a new show montage thingy tonight.

I think Black Lagoon exists to make you ignore any problems you have with Blue Exorcist

Well, I do like Black Lagoon, I'm just surprised at how they somehow manage to top themselves (in terms of darkness) almost every week, lol. I do like the show's sense of over the top action (like tonight's scene with that poor black car).

That said, I do like Blue Exorcist as well (maybe even a little more), it's just a tad akward when they get really deep into the son of the devil talk. Other than that, I like everything else about the show.

Is Koi Kaze good? I might wanna give it a go

So after a year, again, I'm finally going to finish The Devil is a Part-timer. I'm on episode 3 right now and man is it such a good show. The comedy is top notch and it seems story isn't going to be entirely pushed to the side for the sake of humor. The art is beautiful too. Why the heck didn't I finish this last year?

LAYZNER IS NOW FULLY SUBBED!!!

This is the happiest day of my whole life!

Seriously, I had been following their progress (or lack there of) for 5 years. I remember watching the first 8 episodes, only to find that there were no new episodes. I then looked around and found /m/Subs was working on it and had 8 new episodes, and assumed they'd be done in only a few months, and put off a bunch of shows for Layzner. Every time I wanted a mecha series, Layzner always sprung immediately to my mind. And now I can finally watch it in full, all 38 episodes and the true end OVA. Lets see if I can get this, Knights of Sidonia, Broken Blade, and Gundam UC over with before August.

The Devil is a Part-timer was pretty good. The mix between the humor and action worked really well in making light of the seriousness of their situations. Well, it was mostly awkward humor, but it was still good. Then again, the idea of a dark overlord working at a fast food restaurant like a model citizen is already plenty to laugh about.

I think my favorite anime of the season would have to be Love Live! S2. I never expected an idol based anime would make me laugh or cry as much as it did. Aside from the obvious CG dances, everything else was more or less perfect. The characters were enjoyable and their personalities and relationships were fully developed; the music was great as was the animation. There's still one more episode but I don't think that'll change my opinion much.

I'm convinced The Devil is a Part Timer is actually a drama and was never meant to be funny. Expecting humor out of it was the most frustrating experience I've ever had, but the story, characters, and drama were actually really well done.

I'm watching it right too!!!!!!! Its bloody brilliant, love every moment of it I'm on episode 9 right now and I can't wait to see how the dub is. I'm also watching Kamisama Kiss, which is also brilliant in its own special way. On episode 7 I think...English dub on this is fantastic only really hate J. Michael Tatum voicing Tomoe, it just doesn't sound right!!!!!!! Now I need to find something to watch after these two...

Where can I finf the second dvd of Koi Kaze for under 33$? I founf vol. 1 and 3 but not number 2

The Heroes
Fight Against Destiny
Sinfonia of the Battlefield

Just felt like sharing some Broken Blade OST tracks.

Just finished Deadman Wonderland (manga), and man was it good.

Granted, it's a very dark tale (involving people manipulating their blood as a weapon, some sick minded individuals, and the sad tale of the "Wretched Egg"), but it's a very good read. The story revolves around Ganta Igarashi, a normal teenage boy who is thrown into prison after being framed for the mass murder of his class, and soon not only discovers he has the ability to weaponize his blood, but is also forced to fight in an underground tournament with other prisoners with the same ability. Why do they have this power? Why are such individuals being gathered in this prison (to the point of being framed to get them there)? Most importantly, who is the mysterious "Red Man" (the one who really killed Ganta's class), and why did it spare Ganta alone?

Definitely worth a read, if you're up for it.

Let's rank you're top 5 manga.
For me:
1. Oyasumi Punpun
2. 20th Century Boys
3. Berserk
4. Slam Dunk
5. Rurouni Kenshin

@TheKingOfTown, as for my top 5 manga:

5. Change 123
4. History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi
3. Deadman Wonderland
2. Rurouni Kenshin
1. InuYasha

DW might be a bit high though, as I just finished it up. We'll see how it places once I really have time to reflect on it.

1. Detective Conan*
2. School Rumble
3. One Piece*
4. Hayate the Combat Butler
5. Bakuman

*This is mostly because its mostly the same as the anime and I haven't read the later stuff, even including stuff I've seen in the anime