Finished my reread of kaguya-sama. Need more darnit.
It's legit impressive that aka is able to flesh out the side cast so well, especially folks who just start off as simple gag characters like Ishigami or Iino. Most manga would just keep them limited to their simple personality quirks, but he seeds character hints of character complexity for practically everybody, without really making it obvious he's doing it. Then when they get a leading role in a chapter it's always interesting, which sure isn't something I could say about the cast of many other romantic comedies. So many little character details get hinted at waaay before they're finally explored.
I'm curious if he's ever going to commit to giving Fujiwara more depth, or if the constant hints that he's gonna do so are just itself an ongoing gag. At this point I pretty much just trust him to write the story wherever he wants it to go.
Though speaking of seeding character stuff, I had forgotten that
The only guy Fujiwara ever crushes on was Kaguya's "male butler" Haysaka-san.
Honestly I'm not sure about the latest arcs.
Like Kaguya relapsing, okay, that can happen, but the whole thing felt like alien-town in how it was framed.
And this last arc with Ishigami is weirdly... aiming at pain, for this manga? Like up to here most of the suffering in this manga had been largely grand and self-inflicted. Kaguya and Shirogane could, at any point, stop chasing the roadrunner, and so when they kept messing up, it was sad but amusing. All the real stuff before was about dealing with trauma, like Shirogane's need to be the best and Kaguya's inability to relate to people from being in a horrible household, and trying to move past it.
But the entire thing with Tsubame is just extremely mundane but real "ain't it a kick in the dick when things are terrible and nobody's actually at fault, it just shakes out that way because sometimes life sucks and everyone involved is suffering? It sure is! Now here's Ishigami trying to commit suicide!".
Overall, I'm a bit ambivalent right now. We'll see how it goes. If all that comes out of this whole thing is "we needed to remove Tsubame from the running somehow so Ishigami and Iino get together" I will be disappointed.
We've definitely reached the point where the show is definitely trying to speed to the end, things feel a bit... abridged, I guess?
The enhanced luck thing came and went SUPER quick. Like oh they're super lucky [next episode] woops it doesn't work anymore!
Watching it last night I amused myself by imagining Allen introducing himself to Hitomi every time for some reason, like he thinks she doesn't know him.
0
Options
ThegreatcowLord of All BaconsWashington State - It's Wet up here innit? Registered Userregular
Finished my reread of kaguya-sama. Need more darnit.
It's legit impressive that aka is able to flesh out the side cast so well, especially folks who just start off as simple gag characters like Ishigami or Iino. Most manga would just keep them limited to their simple personality quirks, but he seeds character hints of character complexity for practically everybody, without really making it obvious he's doing it. Then when they get a leading role in a chapter it's always interesting, which sure isn't something I could say about the cast of many other romantic comedies. So many little character details get hinted at waaay before they're finally explored.
I'm curious if he's ever going to commit to giving Fujiwara more depth, or if the constant hints that he's gonna do so are just itself an ongoing gag. At this point I pretty much just trust him to write the story wherever he wants it to go.
Though speaking of seeding character stuff, I had forgotten that
The only guy Fujiwara ever crushes on was Kaguya's "male butler" Haysaka-san.
Honestly I'm not sure about the latest arcs.
Like Kaguya relapsing, okay, that can happen, but the whole thing felt like alien-town in how it was framed.
And this last arc with Ishigami is weirdly... aiming at pain, for this manga? Like up to here most of the suffering in this manga had been largely grand and self-inflicted. Kaguya and Shirogane could, at any point, stop chasing the roadrunner, and so when they kept messing up, it was sad but amusing. All the real stuff before was about dealing with trauma, like Shirogane's need to be the best and Kaguya's inability to relate to people from being in a horrible household, and trying to move past it.
But the entire thing with Tsubame is just extremely mundane but real "ain't it a kick in the dick when things are terrible and nobody's actually at fault, it just shakes out that way because sometimes life sucks and everyone involved is suffering? It sure is! Now here's Ishigami trying to commit suicide!".
Overall, I'm a bit ambivalent right now. We'll see how it goes. If all that comes out of this whole thing is "we needed to remove Tsubame from the running somehow so Ishigami and Iino get together" I will be disappointed.
Honestly if that's the endgame
I get the feeling that's wayyyyy off in the future. Aside from that one stinger page about Iino looking lovingly at the heart pendant, she's still as cold and spiteful to Ishigami as ever, though with a slightly softened edge.
As for Ishigami, it definitely was a depressing arc, but I suppose it did offer the benefit of fleshing out his character a bit more and made us empathize with him to an even greater degree. His character has been slowly improving and evolving (joining the cheer club, helping with christmas shopping for Kaguya, asking Tsubame out (in a convuluted roundabout sort of way) etc. I guess this was the other shoe dropping where his character had to run into some conflict and resolve the outstanding question about Tsubame.
So I actually started reading Solo Leveling simply due to the number of comments threads on the chapters garnered. It paid off in spades, so I decided to try again with a VASTLY different genre, and I've read through Quintessential Quintuplets. A harem/romance (and yes, I do view those as two different genres and this manages to walk the tightrope surprisingly well) where the 5 females are all identical quintuplets with different personalities, who also moonlight by pretending to be one another, which opens some fucking doors.
It's utter trash. But it's very well made trash. Surprisingly little cheesecake, honestly - there's a couple bits early on, and then it mostly avoids it from what I can recall. Plot is pretty rote: girls are all bad in school, guy is hired to tutor them because he's top student, shenanigans. It has fun with future-vision where the series actually starts at the wedding but ~you don't know who~ because they're identical, which allows for them to drop various hints throughout the entire series in a way that is quite well done. There's some generic crap, particularly (very minor plot spoilers)
Turns out that he met one of them in the past, and the chance encounter is part of why he's as good a student as he is a bla bla bla
but what's been particularly refreshing is the instances where the story goes "fuck tropes."
Anyway, it's entertaining and worth a look for anyone who holds any interest in those genres. It's garbage the way harems tend to be, but it's surprisingly well made garbage.
Symphogear’s first season is super endearing, its rough in spots but it’s clear a lot of passion went in to getting it out to the world.
Symphogear G is much tighter overall and has a really compelling central conflict
In Symphogear GX Hibiki suplexes a space shuttle into a mountain.
I've been rereading Virgins' Empire, which is quite a lot nsfw and probably shouldn't be read by anyone
But that being said, Honoko is like the realest emo teenager ever, and her nonstop battle against being enthusiastic about anything gives me joy
A trap is for fish: when you've got the fish, you can forget the trap. A snare is for rabbits: when you've got the rabbit, you can forget the snare. Words are for meaning: when you've got the meaning, you can forget the words.
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
Finished my reread of kaguya-sama. Need more darnit.
It's legit impressive that aka is able to flesh out the side cast so well, especially folks who just start off as simple gag characters like Ishigami or Iino. Most manga would just keep them limited to their simple personality quirks, but he seeds character hints of character complexity for practically everybody, without really making it obvious he's doing it. Then when they get a leading role in a chapter it's always interesting, which sure isn't something I could say about the cast of many other romantic comedies. So many little character details get hinted at waaay before they're finally explored.
I'm curious if he's ever going to commit to giving Fujiwara more depth, or if the constant hints that he's gonna do so are just itself an ongoing gag. At this point I pretty much just trust him to write the story wherever he wants it to go.
Though speaking of seeding character stuff, I had forgotten that
The only guy Fujiwara ever crushes on was Kaguya's "male butler" Haysaka-san.
Honestly I'm not sure about the latest arcs.
Like Kaguya relapsing, okay, that can happen, but the whole thing felt like alien-town in how it was framed.
And this last arc with Ishigami is weirdly... aiming at pain, for this manga? Like up to here most of the suffering in this manga had been largely grand and self-inflicted. Kaguya and Shirogane could, at any point, stop chasing the roadrunner, and so when they kept messing up, it was sad but amusing. All the real stuff before was about dealing with trauma, like Shirogane's need to be the best and Kaguya's inability to relate to people from being in a horrible household, and trying to move past it.
But the entire thing with Tsubame is just extremely mundane but real "ain't it a kick in the dick when things are terrible and nobody's actually at fault, it just shakes out that way because sometimes life sucks and everyone involved is suffering? It sure is! Now here's Ishigami trying to commit suicide!".
Overall, I'm a bit ambivalent right now. We'll see how it goes. If all that comes out of this whole thing is "we needed to remove Tsubame from the running somehow so Ishigami and Iino get together" I will be disappointed.
Honestly if that's the endgame
I get the feeling that's wayyyyy off in the future. Aside from that one stinger page about Iino looking lovingly at the heart pendant, she's still as cold and spiteful to Ishigami as ever, though with a slightly softened edge.
As for Ishigami, it definitely was a depressing arc, but I suppose it did offer the benefit of fleshing out his character a bit more and made us empathize with him to an even greater degree. His character has been slowly improving and evolving (joining the cheer club, helping with christmas shopping for Kaguya, asking Tsubame out (in a convuluted roundabout sort of way) etc. I guess this was the other shoe dropping where his character had to run into some conflict and resolve the outstanding question about Tsubame.
I mean, that endgame was Iino and Ishigami has been blindingly obvious since, like, half the manga ago, give or take. It's why I was actually kind of pleasantly surprised by the Tsubame thing, it seemed there was a possibility the manga might ignore or recontextualize all the previous foreshadowing and pivot away from the usual "whichever girl complains the most about the dude is the one that ends with him", which honestly has always kind of annoyed me on a general level anyway.
I kind of want a resurgence of 'student councils that do nothing'-shows. It's probably my favourite SoL genre. And by that I mean that Setokai Yakuindomo is a very lovable trash-fire, and they should make more like it.
+1
Options
Casually HardcoreOnce an Asshole. Trying to be better.Registered Userregular
MP:100 is a show where I sit my friends down to watch the first 5 episode and then leave. I usually get a text the next morning saying that it’s the best show they’ve seen in awhile.
Finished my reread of kaguya-sama. Need more darnit.
It's legit impressive that aka is able to flesh out the side cast so well, especially folks who just start off as simple gag characters like Ishigami or Iino. Most manga would just keep them limited to their simple personality quirks, but he seeds character hints of character complexity for practically everybody, without really making it obvious he's doing it. Then when they get a leading role in a chapter it's always interesting, which sure isn't something I could say about the cast of many other romantic comedies. So many little character details get hinted at waaay before they're finally explored.
I'm curious if he's ever going to commit to giving Fujiwara more depth, or if the constant hints that he's gonna do so are just itself an ongoing gag. At this point I pretty much just trust him to write the story wherever he wants it to go.
Though speaking of seeding character stuff, I had forgotten that
The only guy Fujiwara ever crushes on was Kaguya's "male butler" Haysaka-san.
Honestly I'm not sure about the latest arcs.
Like Kaguya relapsing, okay, that can happen, but the whole thing felt like alien-town in how it was framed.
And this last arc with Ishigami is weirdly... aiming at pain, for this manga? Like up to here most of the suffering in this manga had been largely grand and self-inflicted. Kaguya and Shirogane could, at any point, stop chasing the roadrunner, and so when they kept messing up, it was sad but amusing. All the real stuff before was about dealing with trauma, like Shirogane's need to be the best and Kaguya's inability to relate to people from being in a horrible household, and trying to move past it.
But the entire thing with Tsubame is just extremely mundane but real "ain't it a kick in the dick when things are terrible and nobody's actually at fault, it just shakes out that way because sometimes life sucks and everyone involved is suffering? It sure is! Now here's Ishigami trying to commit suicide!".
Overall, I'm a bit ambivalent right now. We'll see how it goes. If all that comes out of this whole thing is "we needed to remove Tsubame from the running somehow so Ishigami and Iino get together" I will be disappointed.
Honestly if that's the endgame
I get the feeling that's wayyyyy off in the future. Aside from that one stinger page about Iino looking lovingly at the heart pendant, she's still as cold and spiteful to Ishigami as ever, though with a slightly softened edge.
As for Ishigami, it definitely was a depressing arc, but I suppose it did offer the benefit of fleshing out his character a bit more and made us empathize with him to an even greater degree. His character has been slowly improving and evolving (joining the cheer club, helping with christmas shopping for Kaguya, asking Tsubame out (in a convuluted roundabout sort of way) etc. I guess this was the other shoe dropping where his character had to run into some conflict and resolve the outstanding question about Tsubame.
I mean, that endgame was Iino and Ishigami has been blindingly obvious since, like, half the manga ago, give or take. It's why I was actually kind of pleasantly surprised by the Tsubame thing, it seemed there was a possibility the manga might ignore or recontextualize all the previous foreshadowing and pivot away from the usual "whichever girl complains the most about the dude is the one that ends with him", which honestly has always kind of annoyed me on a general level anyway.
I guess that's what threw me off about the telegraphing about Iino and Ishigami.
The author has been so adept at throwing out curveballs and doing the exact opposite of whatever romcom trope we're expecting that, I fully expect/expected? Ishigami to end up either single, somehow dating Fujiwara just out of the blue as a story arc, or with someone completely different. I mean yeah this latest chapter for sure is telegraphing the Iino bit fairly hard in a "oh she's playing the part of the prickly porcupine" kind of way, but I guess I've become so expectant of the author pulling the rug out from under me, I'm constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Trailer for ID:INVADED. New original anime by director Ei Aoki who has directed Re:Creators, Aldnoah.Zero and Fate/Zero in the past. (I guess he has a thing for weird punctuation in titles)
Airing sometime in 2020. Looks trippy.
WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
Apropos of nothing, out of the blue I remembered Yuuko from Nichijou and her disastrous attempt to buy coffee at a cafe, and her reaction when her espresso arrives, and I ended up cackling out loud. Nichijou sure is the gift that keeps on giving.
Lord_AsmodeusgoeticSobriquet:Here is your magical cryptic riddle-tumour: I AM A TIME MACHINERegistered Userregular
I'm curious actually, are there any anime that Japanese fans prefer the English Dub of over the original?
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
I doubt they’d even have access to or the desire to watch English dubs.
Alt answer king of the hill as we’ve already discussed
I mean, they have the internet. And admittedly it'd be a niche interest, but I imagine most people in America don't have a huge desire to watch Turkish Star Wars, but some people do (and yes I know it's not exactly the same thing)
Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if Labor had not first existed. Labor is superior to capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. - Lincoln
0
Options
Munkus BeaverYou don't have to attend every argument you are invited to.Philosophy: Stoicism. Politics: Democratic SocialistRegistered User, ClubPAregular
The Bebop dub gives spike a much different personality than the sub, apparently.
Humor can be dissected as a frog can, but dies in the process.
I don't think they really deviate all that much between english spike and japanese spike, like his lines in the sub are pretty close to his english voice lines, and I don't remember much in the delivery that was dramatically different
i guess the sub lines could be missing some nuance from the spoken japanese though
Posts
They are speeding through the part of the manga I dropped it the first time in, so I appreciate that.
Hopefully they don't just release the 1.30minute TV version like they did with the first ending.
Steam / Origin & Wii U: Heatwave111 / FC: 4227-1965-3206 / Battle.net: Heatwave#11356
Zombieland Saga
Which is also an idol show, although much less stealth
Honestly I'm not sure about the latest arcs.
And this last arc with Ishigami is weirdly... aiming at pain, for this manga? Like up to here most of the suffering in this manga had been largely grand and self-inflicted. Kaguya and Shirogane could, at any point, stop chasing the roadrunner, and so when they kept messing up, it was sad but amusing. All the real stuff before was about dealing with trauma, like Shirogane's need to be the best and Kaguya's inability to relate to people from being in a horrible household, and trying to move past it.
But the entire thing with Tsubame is just extremely mundane but real "ain't it a kick in the dick when things are terrible and nobody's actually at fault, it just shakes out that way because sometimes life sucks and everyone involved is suffering? It sure is! Now here's Ishigami trying to commit suicide!".
Overall, I'm a bit ambivalent right now. We'll see how it goes. If all that comes out of this whole thing is "we needed to remove Tsubame from the running somehow so Ishigami and Iino get together" I will be disappointed.
I will pick up this show the moment it becomes available on a streaming service accessible in my country.
The enhanced luck thing came and went SUPER quick. Like oh they're super lucky [next episode] woops it doesn't work anymore!
Watching it last night I amused myself by imagining Allen introducing himself to Hitomi every time for some reason, like he thinks she doesn't know him.
Honestly if that's the endgame
As for Ishigami, it definitely was a depressing arc, but I suppose it did offer the benefit of fleshing out his character a bit more and made us empathize with him to an even greater degree. His character has been slowly improving and evolving (joining the cheer club, helping with christmas shopping for Kaguya, asking Tsubame out (in a convuluted roundabout sort of way) etc. I guess this was the other shoe dropping where his character had to run into some conflict and resolve the outstanding question about Tsubame.
Wud yoo laek to lern aboot meatz? Look here!
and i said to myself i hope there’s gonna be a second season soon!
and then i saw it came out in 2013, so there goes that
anyway there’s my anime update
It's utter trash. But it's very well made trash. Surprisingly little cheesecake, honestly - there's a couple bits early on, and then it mostly avoids it from what I can recall. Plot is pretty rote: girls are all bad in school, guy is hired to tutor them because he's top student, shenanigans. It has fun with future-vision where the series actually starts at the wedding but ~you don't know who~ because they're identical, which allows for them to drop various hints throughout the entire series in a way that is quite well done. There's some generic crap, particularly (very minor plot spoilers)
but what's been particularly refreshing is the instances where the story goes "fuck tropes."
Anyway, it's entertaining and worth a look for anyone who holds any interest in those genres. It's garbage the way harems tend to be, but it's surprisingly well made garbage.
Good ol' Love Lab, the 2013 winner of the "I Can't Believe This Show Didn't Suck" award.
Great animation too, one of the few shows to make me literally laugh out loud with its sight gags.
Symphogear G is much tighter overall and has a really compelling central conflict
In Symphogear GX Hibiki suplexes a space shuttle into a mountain.
Doga Kobo shows are always well animated. And not nearly enough of them get second seasons.
Nozaki-kun, Gabriel DropOut etc.
AniList
But that being said, Honoko is like the realest emo teenager ever, and her nonstop battle against being enthusiastic about anything gives me joy
That's just the first two episodes though.
Oh those aren't even the 'good' episodes.
You're in for a treat/
Steam
I wish it was the sub, the dub is fine but not great
For years, until I think Funimation got it taken down.
The announcers and JP I remember being great, I can't remember much of the rest of the cast.
The best description I've heard of that series is "Nanoha, Wild Arms, and Idolmaster thrown into a blender with hotblooded anime tropes"
I guess that's what threw me off about the telegraphing about Iino and Ishigami.
Wud yoo laek to lern aboot meatz? Look here!
Trailer for ID:INVADED. New original anime by director Ei Aoki who has directed Re:Creators, Aldnoah.Zero and Fate/Zero in the past. (I guess he has a thing for weird punctuation in titles)
Airing sometime in 2020. Looks trippy.
AniList
Alt answer king of the hill as we’ve already discussed
I want to say I read somewhere that the English dub of Black Lagoon was pretty well received, but I'm struggling to remember where I heard that from.
Wud yoo laek to lern aboot meatz? Look here!
I mean, they have the internet. And admittedly it'd be a niche interest, but I imagine most people in America don't have a huge desire to watch Turkish Star Wars, but some people do (and yes I know it's not exactly the same thing)
I don't think they really deviate all that much between english spike and japanese spike, like his lines in the sub are pretty close to his english voice lines, and I don't remember much in the delivery that was dramatically different
i guess the sub lines could be missing some nuance from the spoken japanese though