Manga:
As usual, GTO and Inari Konkon. I have reached another Tomoko arc in GTO, which were always the worst in the anime, because of how mean spirited, and outright ableist it was to her. On the other hand, I am starting to approach the stuff that the Anime didn't include.
Also my God is it terrible to look for interesting manga. r/manga is a place that vastly prefers horny generic slop to actually good writing, and the lack of alternative spaces for nerds baffles me.
Anime:
I have finished The Twelve Kingdoms. It was good. Space Battleship Yamato is a show I have already seen the remake of, and is good in its original version too.
Sailor Moon S is very gay. I knew it had a bit of a reputation, but it's more than I expected. Slightly less gay is Cardcaptor Sakura, another very good magical girl show.
I am almost done with Season 1 of You're Under Arrest!. The most recent arc was a romance one between one of the main cast characters and a newcomer written basically only for the role of being appealing to that one character. Disappointing, but maybe it'll improve now. I'm looking forward to see what the later seasons will bring. I expect the 2001 season to be decent too, at least.
Monogatari: The more Koyomi Araragi is on screen, the worse it gets. Otherwise, it's good or even very good lol
Upcoming Anime
Surprisingly, it looks promising. Witch Hat Atelier has a really highly regarded manga, from what I know. Yomi no Tsugai is by the FMA author, and the manga was okay when I kept up with it. Kinda slow paced. Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun has a new season. That manga was fun, even though I fell behind like 70 chapters. Liar Game is a mid 2000s gambling manga, and is said to be good. I need my Kaiji fix. Akane Banashi is gonna be good. Mao isn't about the Chinese revolution, but is a Rumiko Takahashi manga adaptation. It's probably gonna be decent at least. There's a Fist of the North Star remake. Maybe I'll finally check it out... and eventually go watch the original. Nippon Sangoku has the potential to be toxic slop a la GATE.
and there's bound to be at least one good show I didn't pay attention to, or something promising that bombs hard.
Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table wrapped up! 8/10 for me personally. They used the nighthawk as a story element, which led me to learning about that poem. And how that poem is also in chainsaw man.
death games spoilers
So the light novelist wrote this story about his own depression and the roles in our lives under capitalism (not specifically under capitalism, but that's my reading) and basically the character finds a sense of freedom by choosing the way that she would die by choosing to risk her life in the games.
The show is very dreamlike and metaphorical, in the sense that, for one -- the timeline is disjointed. And also that there are open ended plot lines that don't seem to be resolved, such as her talking to someone who wants to end the games and taking a pill in order to go along with that. This could be something I'm not fully understanding though.
I really like the etherealness, the silence, the zooming out and showing less detailed moments. The symbolism of the fluff. The subtle (and unsubtle) lesbian undertones.
I didn't realize what the poem of the nighthawk was, or that it was famous or had ties to Buddhism. Basically, a side character's arc revolves around this poem, who dies within the game. The main character seems to reflect a part of the poem as well, and in my opinion, ties back to the writers' expression of depression
Chainsaw Man
OK, I said I liked the ending. Now that time has passed, I like it even more. 9/10 (honestly a 10/10 in my heart, but minus onepoint for some critisisms)
chainsaw man, spirted away, and revolutionary girl utena spoilers
I am a big fan of open and dream-like stories that have ties to Buddhism or other similar philosophies. I like cycles, I like rebirth, I like the dream of the butterfly, and the way spirited away ends with its "this happened but now everything is reset." You will remember what you have forgotten.
I didn't realize that Fujimoto had already said that he thought the nighthawk poem was very sad. I haven't really seen anyone talk about the nighthawk in regards to Asa's story, but it seems to make more sense to me as I reread the beginning part.
The story also reminds me of the Revolutionary Girl Utena ending. The way that Akio is still there, and it's Anthy who chooses to free herself. The way that Utana has to realize that "Princehood" is a trap, and is not far behind in freeing herself as well.
I had actually written a theory about chainsaw man during the period in which the house burns down. I deleted it unfortunately, but basically I had written that : I think chainsaw man is about achieving your own personal dreams, and what that is like in a sense of navigating capitalism and the expectation to want more and more. You could be making the most money you've ever made in your life and you could be miserable because your job is literally destroying you.
rereading the story, there's so much in here to reflect on and gain catharsis from.
In terms of healing and moving on from your trauma, it reads to me like... sometimes you have to leave your past behind (like fully just pretending it doesnt exist- it may as well not have happened, even though it still did) in order to fully move on. Something I have had to do since the house burning down in the story incident.
im currently watching Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic because I heard that the way it handles the politics of borders (as in the borders of nations) is very good. I am about five episodes in, and so far I do find the way it handles topics related to those to be intriguing. It does have some highly questionable caricatures and fan services. This seems to be the consensus on the series, is that it is good but not without deserved criticism.