I am unfortunately employed now, so my free time has been devoured by the job, commute and preparation. However, I have still managed to keep up with a few shows and manga - at a slow pace. So how about you?
For me:
Manga:
Oresama Teacher (2007-2020, 176 Chapters) - The only manga I’m reading at the moment is a work by Tsubaki Izumi of Gekkan-Shoujo Nozaki-kun. It is a story of a former delinquent Mafuyu Kurosaki becoming a transfer student and trying to turn her life around. Like a wild mixture of Angel Densetsu and Nozaki-kun, it is indeed a hilarious manga with surprisingly in-depth characters, but instead of the 4-koma format of the latter, it has shoujo manga length chapters. *(so far) A+
Anime:
Dragon Ball (1986-1989, 153 Episodes) - Dragon Ball is a VERY competent Shounen, and one that steadily gets better and drops the immaturity and much of the horniness of the early part of the show. However, around the 100th episode things start changing. The show becomes… interesting. Definitely recommend sticking around to see the show grow. A
Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei, Season 1 (2007, 12 Episodes) - This show apparently was a darling of weebs a decade ago, and it is not hard to see why. Edgyness, egregious fanservice, a cynical attitude towards society so typical of the 90s and apparently the 2000s too. The show provides critique that can sometimes hit at the core of the problem (including anticapitalist critique), and at the same time mock people who seek to do something about it. It’s hit and miss, but undeniably interesting. The unique artstyle, the music, the Maeda cameos are bonuses. A
Lupin III: Part II (1977-1981, 155 Episodes) - Hit and miss episode quality, but always entertaining. Sometimes really weird (but apparently 80s Lupin/Part III is most like that), but those tend to be the most fun episodes. Definitely a fantastic show to relax after a stressful day, and there’s a lot of episodes. A-
Lost Universe (1998, 26 Episodes) - Fun characters, but the sci-fi spin-off to Slayers is nowhere near as fun as that series. It’s decent though. B-
Konosuba Season 3 (Ongoing seasonal, 11 Episodes) - It’s more of Konosuba. Juvenile and horny humor, surprisingly decent character writing in spite of the weeb-brained overall writing and a better isekai than the much of the genre it satirises? Yeah, it’s all still here. And not much more, but if you like the rest… B
Too early to tell - Fullmetal Alchemist 2003 (Very good so far. I like the atmosphere more than FMAB’s and find myself enjoying it more than when I tried to watch that) - Shouwa Genroku Rakugo Shinjuu (very much anti-weeb brained + unique setting and premise = good, but can’t tell more until I’ve seen the rest)
Tired of libs? Want to debunk common arguments as early as in the first chapter? Read Das Kapital by Karl Marx. Not as hard as its reputation suggests.
Finally watched Space Dandy, which as it’s name implies, is about a Dandy in Space. Also boobs and butts.
Still enjoying Dungeon Meshi.
Recently rewatched the last two seasons of Haiyku! Because Netflix loaded them up and I’m a sucker for a fun sports anime.
Mangawise, still reading Hajime no Ippo, Chainsaw Man (poor denji), Frieren, My Hero Academia (out of habit), One Punch Man (✊), Oshi no Ko (kinda losing me), and maybe Boruto and Dragonball Super (is it still going without Toriyama?🤷♂️) but it’s been a while.
Recently rewatched the last two seasons of Haiyku! Because Netflix loaded them up and I’m a sucker for a fun sports anime.
There was a new movie trailer for it when I saw Spy X Family, so I assume that’s part of the reason.
Oh! And currently watching Ashita no Joe.
I’ve been meaning to watch that one - hope it’s great!
There was a new movie trailer for it when I saw Spy X Family, so I assume that’s part of the reason.
Oh! Looks like they’re doing a two movie thing instead of giving it a fifth season. Nifty.
I’ve been meaning to watch that one - hope it’s great!
I think I’m still on the fence. I can see how it inspired some of the characters to Hajime no Ippo, but the mc is kind of a dick and hasn’t grown into likable character, for me, yet. I think it’s about getting time for the turn though.
Sayonara Zetsubou-Sensei, Season 1 (2007, 12 Episodes) - This show apparently was a darling of weebs a decade ago, and it is not hard to see why. Edgyness, egregious fanservice, a cynical attitude towards society so typical of the 90s and apparently the 2000s too. The show provides critique that can sometimes hit at the core of the problem (including anticapitalist critique), and at the same time mock people who seek to do something about it. It’s hit and miss, but undeniably interesting. The unique artstyle, the music, the Maeda cameos are bonuses
Great write up. I was watching it when it came out in college (I am one of those weebs). I’m so glad it’s still holding up, and I want to just say it’s the masterpiece of SHAFT/Shinbo style. If you are a Madoka fan, this show is required viewing.
I’m mostly watching delicious in dungeon, which remains solid.
Manga, I’ve been keeping up with the Oshi no Ko manga, which remains interesting. Also Kill Six Billion Demons, which is about to go on hiatus.
I also recently powered through the finished Jitsu wa Watashi wa which, as far as high school romcoms go, is funny and cute. Pretty solid concept as well. The authors new manga (Kesa Mo Yuraretemasu) is good, has the potential to be really fun, but comes out at a snails pace.
Aside from that, I’ve been meaning to marathon Frierin, but I need to VPN, etc.
watched a bunch
- the first few episodes of gundam unicorn. not good, deeply naive liberal politics. the most blatant anything i’ve seen has done “the villains are right but go too far” because they forgot to make them go too far but everyone acts like they’re going to blow up planet earth. incredibly pretty mech fights though, so it’s impossible to say if it’s bad or not. 7/10
- momotaro: sacred sailors. bad, blatant fascist propaganda, deeply imperialist to its core. cute animals representing the indigenous population of colonized islands in the 1940s sing about how much they love acting as japan’s labor force. fascist propaganda/10
- voices of a sacred star: the only good thing makoto shinkai has ever made. who knew that if his stuff had charming animation and a relationship that works instead of being the most overproduced glossy shit ever made and having bad relationships i don’t care about i would actually like it. 8/10
- finished g gundam: would be a 9/10 if the fights were good. instead it’s a 6/10 that has the occasional good episode and ends way stronger than the rest of the show. maybe 7/10
- gundam seed freedom: dogshit movie. so many problems from the plot to the editing to the awful awful animation (they spent 18 years on this garbage! how!). there are massive pacing problems and the movie ranges from the least subtle thing ever to not explaining what happened to the plot of the movie and why everyone is doing something else now and the themes are incredibly reprehensible but had a good time heckling the movie for all the terrible terrible choices they made with it with some friends. 2/10
- gate thus the jsdf fought there: again, this is fascist propaganda but it’s worse than momotaro because this is doing isekai bullshit the whole time in addition to the fascist “we should get to invade china because they want to send HALF THEIR POPULATION HERE!” the author of gate believes china is attempting to flood japan (a country with a high population density at ~120 million) with SIX HUNDRED MILLION IMMIGRANTS. this is the kind of delusional right wing fantasy we’re dealing with here. the heroic jsdf are pure to the point of absurdity as they slaughter hundreds of thousands of medieval soldiers and suffer no casualties ever. maybe the worst thing i’ve ever seen. 17 episodes to go
- horus prince of the sun: the guy who made all those good ghibli movies (and also miyazaki is helping) does marxist propaganda by way of a fairy tale. 1968 was an interesting year. 9/10
- ghost in the shell stand alone complex: man what a great show. love the tachikoma and batou’s relationship with them, love the main character being a transgender bisexual poly queen, love the action and music and cool cyberpunk ideas, and all the stand alone episodes except maybe the wine one, and all the complex episodes (togusa’s such a loser i love him) 9/10 but maybe bumped up to a 10 if i keep thinking about it
- nausicaa: this is a fantastic movie to watch while stoned. what a cool world and movie, the best aesthetic miyazaki ever put out, i gotta read the manga. 9/10
also reading some manga. we are former girls hits hard, the main character’s transphobic mom is painful to read. really praying the manga doesn’t decide she just has rinko’s best interests at heart and she should be forgiven all her bullshit
G Gundam is mostly about the vibes. I love it, even if I feel the tournament part should not have resumed after the halfway point and instead just went all in on the second plot arc. I was lucky enough to catch an episode on TV when I was in Japan and having seen the episode already was able to tell what was going on 😌
Also it’s funny how Momotaro is literally propaganda made under a fascist government - GATE just has the same brainworms, just to sell the show as a commodity and profit off of the chuds and clueless libs.
GATE also popularized slavery in Isekai lol - if you check anilist for the tags Slavery and Isekai, you get like three isolated shows from the 90s and 2000s, then the floodgates opening after it.
g gundam mostly runs off vibes but i think the vibes aren’t actually very good
gate is worse because the jsdf was not demanding he make this. they were very happy he did, but he wasn’t under any actual pressure. takumi yanai deserves the death penalty
gate is worse because the jsdf was not demanding he make this
Yeah, exactly. It’s fash propaganda because he is a fash and wanted to make propaganda (and the Studio and its money people accepted.
gundam unicorn
Just wait until you see what’s in the box lmao
horus prince of the sun
Did you snag this one from Nyaa?
ghost in the shell stand alone complex
I feel like you’re going to be super disappointed by Second Gig. I feel like there’s still a handful of good episodes in it, but those blur together with S1 for me.
momotaro, gundam seed freedom, gate
And I thought I was watching a bunch of stuff I knew would be bad lol
Did you snag this one from Nyaa?
yep
I feel like you’re going to be super disappointed by Second Gig. I feel like there’s still a handful of good episodes in it, but those blur together with S1 for me.
i’m hoping to like 2nd gig, people seem mixed, i have a friend who says it’s better than season 1 and i mostly trust her judgement so i have hope.
And I thought I was watching a bunch of stuff I knew would be bad lol
i’m having such a bad time, anime was a mistake. sadly i have entered into a pact and have to watch at least the rest of gate season 1, and also probably season 2
sadly i have entered into a pact and have to watch at least the rest of gate season 1, and also probably season 2
Hopefully the pact at least gives you demonic powers or whatever those typically do lol
Oh! I also watched Inu-Oh and The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl. The Night Is Short, Walk on Girl was pretty good kinda stalkerish romance though. Inu-oh was pretty freaking wild.
So I recently-ish finished the Stardust Telepath anime (2023) — I liked it a lot but I feel like it had some missed opportunities and didn’t really stick the ending. Would’ve liked to see it get two cours so that the characters could be fleshed out more, but I guess insofar as it makes me curious about the manga, it works.
I saw the Oomuro-ke: Dear Sisters film (2024) with my mom — it was fun, Sakurako always has been among our favorite characters in the YuruYuriverse, we’ll definitely be tuning in for Oomuro-ke: Dear Friends releasing in about 42 days. 40 minutes of short and very slice-of-life vignettes, so it goes by quickly.
I saw one episode of the All-Purpose Cultural Catgirl Nuku Nuku OVA (1992-1994) by myself — I don’t remember much 'cause it was 4 AM, I’d just thrown up, and I was kind of out of it, but I liked the old OVA art style and thought it had potential.
I started watching Mitsuboshi Colors (2018) with my mom — it’s very cute and it feels unique as far as slice of life anime is concerned, how it shows these kids exploring a whole town and how they have all these nice experiences with grown-ups giving them puzzles and stuff. It’s a welcome break from more high/middle school shenanigans.
Otherwise I’m still watching Futari wa Pretty Cure (2004-2005) by myself — I’m liking it a lot more than I expected to. It’s expectedly formulaic and definitely not as good as Cardcaptor Sakura as far as magical girl goes, I’ve actually kinda been missing Cardcaptor lately; but Precure still has a charm to it. It’s a good anime to watch while eating to test one’s listening comprehension.
I’m still watching Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water (1990-1991) with my mom — it’s good stuff but we’re progressing slowly.
We’re nearly done with Asobi Asobase (2018) — definitely a lot of awkward/gross humor, but as a whole it is hilarious and we don’t regret giving it a shot.
We haven’t seen Library War (2008) in a while — we’ve enjoyed what we’ve seen, though, so we’d recommend it.
We might continue Samurai Champloo (2004-2005) after we finish the first season of The Boondocks (2005-2014) — my brother said he wasn’t really interested in Samurai Champloo after the first few episodes; I’ve seen it by myself already and I thought it was the best anime I saw in 2022. The Boondocks mom and I both find to be top-tier, although my brother strongly dislikes it. Mom says she wants to bake cookies for Huey and Riley. And yes I know that The Boondocks is only anime inspired but whatever I can include it in this comment if I want to thankyouverymuch.
With my brother we watch Lupin III Part II (1977-1980) off-and-till — I share OP’s thoughts pretty much exactly.
I’ve been reading more manga lately:
I blazed through the first volume of The World of Narue (1999-2012) — it had its fair share of moments and had some interesting ideas. It also had an excessive number of panty shots which I found a bit off-putting. I don’t think I’m gonna ask for another volume any time soon.
I also blazed through the first volume of Akane-banashi (2022-) — if I were to describe this manga in two words it would be “blue crystal”, because it was addictive as Hell. I’ve already seen two anime about rakugoka (Joshiraku and My Master Has No Tail) and I generally think that rakugo is one of the coolest and most interesting traditional art-forms of Japan, so I was very excited to get my hands on a manga about a rakugoka, and Akane-banashi did not disappoint me in the slightest. Great art, great storytelling, it always put a huge smile on my face, and I absolutely want more.
And now I’ve started reading the first volume of Aria (2002-2008) — I probably should’ve started with Aqua but eh I took what I could get. In any case, I’ve got Aria in both English and Japanese, so I’m planning on using it as studymat. The Japanese version has furigana on all the words, although at that small print size it can at times be a little hard to read the furigana, which I suppose is a good thing insofar as it pushes me to not rely on them.
I’ve already seen my fair share of the Aria anime, but I’m absolutely glad to be jumping back into the city of Neo-Venezia through paper and ink rather than pixels. The art style is very cute and the whole thing is basically peak iyashikei, I love it.
Still watching Delicious Dungeon but I just started watching Frieren and it’s pretty good. I kind of like having the fantasy settings without the crap that comes with Isekai most of the time.
