Anime/Manga Thread

Yeah, I'm not offering any debate in that area. I meant that I personally do not see a point from a creative standpoint.

 

Mhm, we're clearly on the same page then.

 

Saw Maquia earlier this week in theaters.

Was written and directed by Mari Okada who wrote for a ton of TV shows in the past. Was nice and touching at times but at the same vein being a 2 hour movie, felt like there were a few unexplained and plot holes. Me and my friends kind of agreed it would of been more fleshed out as a TV show but probably have less impact.

Movie vs TV, tough to make anime for both.

 

True that, but I'll give a try to anything out there anyway.

 

Just learned Attack on Titan season 3 started a few weeks back. They changed the animation style a bit, looks really sharp now with lots of detail. Some of the characters look a little odd but we'll get used to it.

 

Resumed the series. After the last recent episode I started reading the manga.

The manga is good.

 

Just watched the Berserk Golden Age film adaptation. Actually pretty good. Some details are skipped but the plot stays cohesive and the actions still have their reasons.

Berserk deserves more. It is not about historical accuracy, epic bad asses and fight scenes. It is about two friends who find each other at opposing ends at the cost of many lives. This film gets part of it right (the manga is better) but to properly tell this story you need to go the lengths of "Lord Of The Rings" with at least 3 parts.

Enjoyable watch.

P.S. If someone is going to give this the anime reboot/remaster a go, well Berserk needs the "Ghost In The Shell" treatment. Once done right this can be legendary.

 

General warning to people who have been using Kissanime to watch anime.

For those not up to speed on recent events, the site now bans you for 24 hours if you are using an adblocker (and this can occasionally be caused by Chrome/Mozilla's build in ad-blockers blocking content from known malicious domains).

The website generally shows... less than safe for work sidebar advertisements, as well as having repeat issues with malicious advertisements that can install adware or pop-up your browser into oblivion, so generally having an adblocker is a really good idea to have for this site.

There are ways of getting around their adblock detection, but I find it too annoying to participate in the ever escalating "Ad block blocker block blocker" war and just went to a different website entirely.

Kissanime site now (allegedly) includes native mining, which uses your computer's CPU resources to mine cryptocurrencies. I'm not technically inclined enough to figure it out myself, but it seems legit that the website is in fact doing it, it is NOT from advertisements, and is programmed directly into the website.
https://www.reddit.com/r/KissAnime/comments/96mypr/kissanime_mines_cryptocurrency_on_your_machine/

So heads up, and I highly advise finding another website to view anime on.

 

While waiting for other anime updates I have been watching Yu Yu Hakusho again.

The more I pay attention to the details of the story the more I appreciate it. Every shonen series after it borrowed so much from Yu Yu Hakusho it is embarrassing. The best part of Yu Yu Hakusho is for me one important aspect: the conclusion to the plot arcs.

When the arcs ended and the actual series ended, well I felt satisfied. About 120 episodes and the creators did not milk it to exhaustion.

Kill La Kill, Cowboy Bebop, the Gundam Series, Ghost In The Shell and even Agame Ga Kill got this right. Too many anime series drag on for too long without satisfying conclusions. (Bleach is terrible in that regard followed by DB Z/Super/etc. and Naruto)

The power of a good story lies in its ending. If the ending does not conclude in a satisfying way tying up the loose ends you cannot put it to rest and move on. That unease is one of the worst sins in literature and other forms of story-telling.

Mini-rant over. My brains started working again...

P.S. I love a good story, so I am not too picky. I even dare to compare good comics with novels so come at me.

 

Was awesome. At the time when I watched CB, I also saw Iria and Arjuna and both were great IMO.

 

It's really only the shonen series that drag on forever like American sitcoms...

 

@ultrabike the Naruto anime overstays its welcome a bit, but the show is pretty good as a whole.

I do agree that lots of shonen tend to borrow from YYH, and rightfully so because it pioneered a lot of awesome tropes and had great stories. The animation's actually aged fairly well considering how old it is, and I'll never not sing along to Hohoemi no Bakudan.

BokuAca is a refinement of the shonen genre, built upon the many great series (and the overall mediocre ones like Katekyo Hitman Reborn) that precede it. I can see why @Cellist88 loves it (hell, I do too!), though I hope it ends more of a Jitsu wa Watashi wa (which is one of my all-time favourite comedy manga EVER, and I've read a shit ton), running its course in good time and coming to a close when ready, much better than a Naruto or Bleach.

At the end of the day though, f**k Kubo Tite. Bleach's ending was a trashfire and I will keep saying that until I die.

 

It's also the same with toyko ghoul...etc. one piece is getting super stale. it all happens because of the power escalation model where as the series goes on your character has to develop, get some new powers but the opponents also get tougher and tougher. At some point the power spikes are just too ridiculous. Bleach was probably only good until the first arc with the introduction of bankai. After that it was a drivel.

I liked Jo Jo's bizarre adventures though. Its just over the top but somehow meshes together well. Every opponent is different, not necessarily stronger so every encounter is interesting.

Anyhow I think Boku no hero is brilliant because the characters are actually more multidimensional and feel more or less relatable in their motivations. Almost all other mangas like bleach, naruto, one piece have one note characters. Hell I can't name a marvel or dc hero as well. Beneath the comedy layer, it's actually quite serious and got some feels. One of my fav animes ever...after having seen most.

Go beyond! Plus Ultra!

 

Agreed. The end of the Quincy wars arc was too disappointing. He can draw and create artwork, that is nice.

Thing is he expanded the universe of his story at the cost of the development of the characters and kept milking the plot. The last part of the manga even hinted at a sequel with Ichigo's son. Guess what? The little guy already had a sword and special powers because pre-built-in plot armour.

I am going to quote Gin Tama here with his weekly "Shonen Jump": 'I also want a bankai.' When even Gin Tama calls out your deus-ex-machina plot armour like that, nope you went too far.

 

@Cellist88 Right! It's the fun action-y bits that pull you in to watch BokuAca, but you stay once you realise how carefully nuanced the characters are (relative to most shonen anime) and how many scenes evoke genuine emotion. I wish I was exaggerating when I said I've cried multiple times reading/watching it, but them's the breaks, haha.

I'll be completely candid. Bleach was pretty bad in later chapters, but it was still something of a guilty pleasure. The main reason I'm still livid is

Spoiler

I've been a stalwart IchiRuki shipper since the very first arc and the ending killed that. Yes it's an asinine reason, I don't pretend to be mature, but the romance in latter parts just seems so shoehorned, and being something of a hopeless romantic I follow romantic subplots with attention.

@Deep Funk I... should really get around to checking Gintama out. I've caught episodes on and off on TV, but I've not actually sat down and followed it, haha. I tend to get intimidated with longer running series, which is why I gave up on One Piece and Detective Conan fairly quickly (and Fairy Tail too, come to think of it), though thanks to my friends constantly talking about it I've more or less kept up to date with them, haha.

 

All I really want from anime is the unfinished Satoshi Kon film to be completed, but it seems very unlikely at this point. Millennium Actress is one of my all time favorite movies. Not just anime movies. Live action included.

Love Susumu Hirasawa's music too. Haven't heard anything else that's quite like him.

 

Kubo Tite went George Lucas on his own creation. When that happens you ask for it.

He wanted too much from a simple story. There are only so many derivatives of "Journey To The West" you can make. Make it too complicated and you fail. A good simple story will always work. He wasted his potential.

 

As far as anime fillers go, it's got some good stuff. One of the best parts of the series are the OP and ED songs— I hardly ever skip them, and I usually just fast forward right through them when I'm watching anything, haha!