The last post of this kind was two months ago, so it was time for a refresher of the de-facto recommendation thread of the weeb channel of Hexbear.
Personally, work has greatly diminished my free time and makes me tired all the time, but there’s still something to squeeze in.
For me:
Manga:
Oresama Teacher (2007-2020, 176 Chapters) - I have already praised this series last time around and am still reading it. Much like in Nozaki-Kun, where this manga really shines are the characters. Kurosaki Mafuyu might be one of my all-time favorite characters in manga. Someone who is an utter fool, but written in a realistic and endearing way, in spite of the ridiculous plot. A+
Anime:
Dragon Ball (1986-1989, 153 Episodes) - Dragon Ball is a show that rightfully deserves its reputation, as it is extremely solid once it figures itself out. Gone is the horniness of early episodes, the show reached a very high peak in the Piccolo Daimao arc and has kept it up ever since. I am like 10 episodes away from finishing it, but there is one worry. The power scaling, well… it’s not exactly balanced. It makes early arcs feel puny in comparison. Also give us Pilaf back smh. A
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Season 2 (2008, 13 Episodes) - This show continues with its ruthless social criticism (both good and fascinatingly bad) from Season 1, but it goes hard in an abstract direction that is masterfully adapted by Shaft’s arthouse-like style. It is also unfortunately pretty horny, like many other Shaft anime… and very entertaining. A+
Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (2017, 12 Episodes) - This show really is as good as the ratings suggest. It’s very un-anime in the sense that it is a serious drama with character-driven storytelling and almost 0 of the usual tropes of the medium. The characters are so good that you WILL get hooked if you watch enough. A+
Fullmetal Alchemist (2003, 51 Episodes) - Now solidly into anime original territory, I have to say this is a really good show, even though the main villains’ plans have to fully unravel yet. The atmosphere is on point, and the older early-digital color palette makes it look better than FMAB imo. I will have to check out the manga after finishing the show, since I am curious how the story is there - I dropped FMAB early on, since it didn’t hook me at first but '03 did the trick. A
Re:Creators (2017, 22 Episodes) - I started this today thanks to the Mother’s Basement video on his favorite Isekai, and I have to say that even if the story ends up really bland, the premise alone is enough to make this show interesting. I think it could have worked better with only one character, but oh well. Too early to tell, but B+
I need to get back to Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction (2024), since I watched a couple of episodes and was intrigued, but then didn’t find the time to watch more. …and get back to reading Capital, of course.
Manga:
- Gave Oresama Teacher a shot on someone’s rec (probably yours lol), didn’t love it though and dropped. The shoujo trope of school girls being attracted to teachers always ick me out.
- Elden Ring: Road to the Erdtree, the official Elden Ring manga which is… surprisingly good? And a comedy? Tsundere Ranni?
- All the official Arknights manga (that I know of). Some good, some bad, tone all over the place, it’s an ad for gambling. Records of Originium: Rhine Lab is probably the best (and one of the more depressing ones).
- Almost done Solo Levelling, it was always bad but jesus christ the ending is so goddam bad lmao.
Anime:
- Very slowly watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex. I don’t enjoy it. Almost done the first season and it’s kinda picking up now that there’s a continuous story but all the standalone episodes are bad (except for Tachikoma’s Day Out).
- Oshi No Ko S2 has started, and it is indeed a show about the entertainment industry. Still pretty good but nothing amazing thus far. Current arc seems to be about the mangaka being upset about other adaptations of his work lol.
- Patlabor The Movie. Not great tbh. A very boring mystery that’s solved halfway through the movie, and then a robot fight scene that feels out of place.
- Zom 100. Kinda watching it with a friend but he didn’t like it so I might have to keep watching it on my own. It’s okay but not great, for a show about a black company the politics are just not there.
- The Eminence in Shadow. Watching it with friends. A parody of horny isekai fantasy that is still nonetheless a horny isekai fantasy. When it works, it really works, but when it doesn’t work it REALLY doesn’t work. EXTREME warning for anime horniness.
Edit: Also the first episode of the deer meme anime wasn’t very good.
The shoujo trope of school girls being attracted to teachers always ick me out.
That particular aspect of the plot becomes mostly irrelevant fairly early on.
Zom 100. Kinda watching it with a friend but he didn’t like it so I might have to keep watching it on my own. It’s okay but not great, for a show about a black company the politics are just not there.
Zom 100 is good at the start, but it loses steam really quickly and becomes painfully mid in my opinion.
