this post was submitted on 09 Mar 2026
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Anime & Donghua

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18
What have you been reading/watching recently? [Anime - March 2026] (hexbear.net)
submitted 3 weeks ago by Gosplan14_the_Third@hexbear.net to c/anime@hexbear.net
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Tired.

Manga

Same as usual, I have been very slowly continuing GTO, Inari Konkon, and keeping up with Shibuya Near Family. Something I like about GTO is how Vice Principal Uchiyamada is frequently the butt of the joke, the subject of Onizuka's accidental torment; and the mangaka goes out of the way to show that he is absolutely a terrible person with very few redeeming features.

Anime

I am almost done with The Twelve Kingdoms, and yet it feels nowhere near done. It's good.

Sailor Moon S is a step forward compared to the previous seasons, and that is largely because of the more eccentric villains. It's good.

Cardcaptor Sakura is a cozy, and so far low stakes show. It is something I did not know I wanted to watch. Very good.

Space Battleship Yamato holds up very well to this day, and the very 70s soundtrack makes it better. It was extremely ambitious back in 1974, and it is significantly grander in scape than like 95% of slop airing these days.

You're Under Arrest is episodic (copaganda) fun with an ensemble cast, and basically a very slightly worse Patlabor with no mecha. The show's biggest strength lie in the world created. The authors are good at not only creating memorable side characters, but also not forgetting about them.

I have started Overman King Gainer today. The OP is iconic from the moment you witness (or hear) it. The show has a good start, but I am waiting for Tomino to explain the setting more.

Live Action

I have started a project of a Martin Scorsese filmography dive. Who's That Knocking at My Door was mid. Boxcar Bertha wasn't that good of a movie, but the topic was unusual (it's an adaptation of a novel by an anarchist, and union struggles in 1930s America are the core of the story). Mean Streets was fun. Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore was a major surprise, and an excellent movie with a perhaps somewhat lacking ending. Taxi Driver deserves its reputation. It is a very interesting movie.

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[–] LaGG_3@hexbear.net 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Still in full manga mode.

Search and Destroy - Take what Pluto is to Astro Boy and make it for Dororo. It was a pretty snappy three volumes, but it was just fine. IMO I'd suggest the Dororo or Gunnm/Battle Angel Alita(still need to get around to those sequels), depending on what you want.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (through vol 11) - LOVE this one. Maybe I'm old af, but the whole revisiting places you've been, remembering the people you used to spend time with, and working with the next generation just hits well. The whole shounen battler magic stuff is perfectly fine in a comic for me - I can read those bits quick and soak in the nostalgic crap like an old fart.

Chainsaw Man (through vol 20) - Still trying to figure out if I want to wait for the tankōbon editions of the last volumes, or just read the rest David Lynch voice on a fucking telephone. I genuinely like how the second act has a new protagonist, and I'm looking forward to the controversial ending.

Goodnight Punpun (through vol 4) - I don't really enjoy this one, but I feel compelled to read through it. burgerpain

Spy X Family (vol 15) - It's fine? I kinda forgot about this one, but they had a copy at my library shrug-outta-hecks

Maison Ikkoku (through ch 16) - Never read Rumiko before, but I have a feel for her thing immediately. The dated sex comedy stuff can be grating, but I'm a little more generous since this was written by a woman in the 1980s.

I also bought vol 1 of Thunderbolt Gundam. I've seen the anime adaptation, but didn't realize the manga finally got an official release.

[–] AernaLingus@hexbear.net 6 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Anime

Seasonal

This has been a pretty quiet season for me—only watching three shows. I never actually bothered starting The Darwin Incident (Darwin no Jihen), and I dropped The Case Book of Arne (Arne no Jikenbo) after the first six episodes. The latter was fine, I guess, but I realized I was forcing myself to watch it instead of actually looking forward to it, and I've grown well past the "don't drop anything" mentality that I used to have which lead to me burning out of watching anime entirely for a few years. Anyway, here's what I've got left:

The Holy Grail of Eris (Eris no Seihai) — Decent little show with some mystery elements and politicking. It's no Apothecary Diaries, but it's got a fun twist that keeps it entertaining. Not a strong recommend from me, but you should know from the first couple of episodes whether it's your thing.

Champignon Witch (Champignon no Majo) — Cozy shōjo fantasy with an interesting world and a nice artstyle (albeit with fairly basic animation). Definitely worth checking out!

🌟Journal with Witch (Ikoku Nikki) — This is a must watch, IMO. Lovely josei character piece tackling grief with naturalistic acting, superb direction, a sensitively portrayed neurodivergent character...just, watch the first episode, at least.

Non-seasonal

Beck — Still slowly working my way through this one. I'm enjoying it, but it doesn't strongly pull me to watch it day after day. I'll finish it when I finish it.

Cardcaptor Sakura + Movie I & Movie II — Just finished watching this show for the second time with the Blorp gang and it 100% holds up...goddamn I love this show. I could easily start rewatching it again right now, and I never rewatch stuff so that's saying something! I actually hadn't seen the second movie, somehow, so it was fun to get a chance to watch it for the first time with everyone.

Pokémon: Indigo League (i.e. Season 1) — been watching this in Japanese with Japanese subtitles to take a trip down memory lane while working in some Japanese immersion. Overall the quality of voice acting is leagues better, although I do miss Maddie Blaustein's Meowth, which is both funnier and a lot less grating than Nyarth. Kids these days with all the whiz-bang Pokémon sakuga have no idea what kinda bottom-of-the-barrel animation we had to put up with back in the day! But I didn't notice back then, and nostalgia is enough to paper over it for me now.
It's wild how memorable and iconic episodes there are in just the 20 that I've watched—I'd say it's most of them. So far I haven't hit any episodes that I don't remember from my childhood (not counting Beauty and the Beach), but I'm curious to see if there are any I missed later in the season or if that won't happen until Orange Islands/Johto. I don't remember watching Ash challenge the Elite Four or anything like that, so I suspect a lot of the material at the end of the season will be new to me.

New Game!! (i.e. New Game! S2) — Finally got back to watching this with @Erika3sis@hexbear.net! Not much to say about it, but it's Doga Koba doing CGDCT, so if that's your thing you'll probably enjoy this show. The creator used to work in the video game industry, so while there are obviously idealized aspects of the work environment there are also a lot of details that make it feel more authentic.

Manga

I've really been slacking on the manga front, sadly. Read a couple of chapters here and there but nothing consistent. I'd really like to sink my teeth into a manga in Japanese for immersion but I have to find something that'll hook me enough to push through the difficulty. The Ikoku Nikki manga is one candidate, especially since I hear that the anime does cut out a lot since it's 11 volumes and only 13 episodes, although I don't know if the anime is actually covering the full series or not.

Western Animation

The Owl House — Incredibly charming show that was sadly canceled by Di$ney because we can't have nice things. But damn, I am absolutely loving every minute of it. Almost certainly going to go down as one of my all-time favorite animated shows. Also, thankfully creator Dana Terrace's new show Knights of Guinevere is being produced under the auspices of indie animation studio Glitch Productions, best known for The Amazing Digital Circus. It's much darker than Owl House, but I enjoyed the pilot and I'm looking forward to the next episode.

Various pre-G4 My Little Pony bits and bobs — The production values in these can be quite rough, but it's been fun to see what came before the Friendship is Magic juggernaut. G1 in particular had some pretty catchy tunes, I have to say.

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Champignon Witch (Champignon no Majo) — Cozy shōjo fantasy with an interesting world and a nice artstyle (albeit with fairly basic animation). Definitely worth checking out!

I swore I'd already put this one in the bottomless pit of PTW but apparently not. Time to rectify that!

🌟Journal with Witch (Ikoku Nikki) — This is a must watch, IMO.

I take it that's why you put the star there.

It's wild how memorable and iconic episodes there are in just the 20 that I've watched—I'd say it's most of them.

This activated a neuron of me as a brand-new weeb watching my "first anime" (Little Witch Academia) and just looking at the episode list when I was halfway through it just to see how many of the episodes I could remember.

I'd really like to sink my teeth into a manga in Japanese for immersion but I have to find something that'll hook me enough to push through the difficulty.

The obvious cliché answer is just "read Yotsuba&!" but I can do you one better: My Journey to Her (Boku ga Watashi ni Naru Tame ni, abbrev. BokuWata). Single volume with eight chapters. Most terms have no furigana, but I didn't let that stop me. It's an autobiography of a Japanese trans woman going to Thailand for SRS.

Aside from Yotsuba&! and BokuWata I have also read ARIA in Japanese and really enjoyed it. I also have the first volume of Doraemon in Japanese but I've hardly touched it, alas.

[–] AernaLingus@hexbear.net 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

This activated a neuron of me as a brand-new weeb watching my "first anime" (Little Witch Academia) and just looking at the episode list when I was halfway through it just to see how many of the episodes I could remember.

Cute!

My Journey to Her (Boku ga Watashi ni Naru Tame ni, abbrev. BokuWata)

Great recommendation! But perhaps too good of a recommendation, since I've already read it bleh I guess I could re-read it in Japanese, but I read it relatively recently so I don't think I'd have that same pull. Incidentally, that's the second manga in the "autobiography of a Japanese trans woman going to Thailand for SRS" I've read, the first being Umareru Seibetsu wo Machigaeta (I Was Born the Wrong Sex) which I think I've read in both English and Japanese.

As a dutiful Japanese learner, I do have Yotsuba&!, and I've read a few chapters, but the kind of thing that really gets me hooked is well-developed characters and emotional turmoil (hence Ikoku Nikki). I think when I get to the point where I can easily read in Japanese at about the same pace I can in English, I could read something more lighthearted, but in the meantime I need something properly dramatic to keep me plowing ahead.

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The bleh is on me, hahah. I'll add Umareru Seibetsu wo Machigaeta to mia planlisto. And it's interesting that you have that attitude towards Yotsuba&!. I guess for me Yotsuba&! is good because one doesn't need to understand much of it to follow along on the plot, but one gets more out of it by understanding more of the text, so it's basically easily read as long as I accept that I won't understand everything. But I can also see your perspective.

[–] AernaLingus@hexbear.net 3 points 2 weeks ago

I guess for me Yotsuba&! is good because one doesn't need to understand much of it to follow along on the plot

This is also a case of having different needs from an immersion text: I've now gotten to a point where I actually want something on around a high school reading level without furigana (or without copious furigana, at the very least) so I can really test and reinforce my kanji and vocabulary knowledge. But early on, I was much happier to read something along the lines of Yotsuba&! which I could get through without giving up in disgust. It's all about finding that right balance of challenge and enjoyment.

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 5 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Alright sooooooo……… I started writing a comment, only for it to hit the fucking max comment length and the UI literally wouldn't let me type any more. That was a bit embarrassing. I try to provide some commentary about whatever I'm watching or reading, but if I hit the max comment length it's maybe a sign that I need to stop yapping so much. So I guess I'll try to make an ultra-abridged comment this time and can share commentary if other people are interested in it rather than upfront.

Reading

  • Finished vol 1 of Kemono Friends à la Carte and vol 1 of Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle
  • Read individual chapters from vol 1 of The Daily Lives of High School Boys and vol 1 of Neon Genesis Evangelion
  • Read individual chapters from vol 6 of The Demon Girl Next Door (skipped vols 1~5; reading with mom)

But lately I've been more interested in reading "proper" books, namely J.D. Salinger's The Catcher In The Rye and Fyodor Dostoevsky's Crime & Punishment. I've read the first three chapters of the latter and read the first eight chapters of the former. I'd previously listened to those eight chapters of TCITR in audiobook form, but that audiobook was removed from YouTube, and after a while I decided I should just read TCITR with my own two eyes from the beginning. And so I've done that. It's a very good book, I recommend it.

Watching alone

  • Started Angelic Layer back up and finished it.
  • Continuing Tokyo Mew Mew and Avatar: The Last Airbender
  • No progress on Maison Ikkoku
  • Started Tesagure! Bukatsumono back up after mom confirmed she didn't want to watch it with me

And I saw episode 15 of Pokémon dubbed in Norwegian; I have seen very little of the Pokémon anime before this point, but figured it was good to acquaint myself more with something that's nostalgic for many people.

Watching with me mum

  • Continuing Ojamajo Doremi, Serial Experiments Lain, Sailor Moon R, and Steins;Gate
  • Saw an episode of Lupin III Part 2
  • Finished season 2 of the Ranma ½ reboot
  • Started the three-episode Squid Girl OVA and the English dub of Kodocha (which I already saw two episodes of years ago, but I don't mind rewatching them)

The live action show Furuhata Ninzaburô is copaganda but it fucks, I almost want to call it better than Columbo. I've been watching Furuhata with my mom for a good while (and on Blorp before that) but apparently I've never mentioned it here in these threads before, just because it isn't animated.

Own Blorps

  • The Owl House (up to S1E17)
  • My Little Pony: Pony Life (just the first three episodes)
  • My Little Pony Tales (just the first three episodes)
  • My Little Pony: The Movie (1986)
  • Equestria Girls: Better Together (finished except for the choose your own ending shorts, which I decided to skip)
  • My Little Pony: A Very Minty Christmas
  • Trigger Happy Horses (YouTube animator Viva Reverie's pony OCs in a Danganronpa parody over who killed Santa Claus)
  • Fireman Sam (up to S4E3; dead air material)
  • SHINE and Magic Heart and the Magical Warriors (fanime; I'll be continuing the latter this Wednesday)

And I saw a few more episodes of NEW GAME!! season 2 as a one-on-one watch party with @AernaLingus@hexbear.net the other day, for the first time since January.

This coming Saturday I'll be showing My Little Pony: A New Generation, which will be interesting to revisit.

Others' Blorps

  • Garg finished showing Cardcaptor Sakura and its movies, and has skipped the three Cardcaptor omakés to show Magic Knight Rayearth instead
  • Stalin finished showing Gurren Lagann and its movies; I loved the show's finale and tuned in for the first movie, but it was disappointingly basically just a clip show so I didn't tune in for the second movie
  • Stalin has started showing Berserk, which I tuned in for the first episode of but decided wasn't something I wanted to stay up for
  • Garg has been showing Courage the Cowardly Dog and Archer, but I wasn't too impressed with either of them
  • Garg has also been showing Simpsons shorts and Batman: The Animated Series, which I've caught in bits and pieces but don't necessarily stay up for.
  • Redcuban1959 has subtitled some Cuban sci-fi animated short films called Yeyin, which were nice to see
  • Carcharodonna has been showing Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt and it's way better than I thought it was when I first tried it many years ago
[–] AernaLingus@hexbear.net 5 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

So I guess I'll try to make an ultra-abridged comment this time and can share commentary if other people are interested in it rather than upfront.

It's me, I'm people sicko-power

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 4 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

comment 2 of 2The Owl House fucks so hard for real. I've been saying this ever since I started showing it, but if you haven't seen The Owl House…… I mean, it's your choice what you spend your time on, but it is REALLY good. And it also got REALLY gay in the last batch of episodes I watched — the episode with Grom I mean. Incidentally, grom is Russian for "thunder, roar" — I wonder if that factored into that creature's name, or if the writers were just like "we need a name for a monster that's one letter off from prom, and sound symbolism says that 'grom' works best"?

Alas, because we're in the part of the year where Turtle Island has switched to DST and Europe is still on standard time, I've had to put The Owl House on hold for a bit. Or I guess "had to" and had to, since I could just start my shows at 10 PM my time, but I do prefer to start at 11 PM when I can.

People said they liked Trigger Happy Horses, but the chat was pretty dead for most of the movie.

Regarding My Little Pony: A New Generation, come Saturday I'll probably agree with my past self and say that it's a serviceable — if not outright Fun — movie, but still far below MLP G4.

Fireman Sam continues to be a very cute little stop motion slice of life. Once I finish showing series 5 I guess I'll move on to Joshua Jones. But imagine if something like Cardcaptor Sakura were in the Sam-Jones stop motion style, that would rock, right?

SHINE was very technically competent and I think the use of narration was a good choice for the limits of the medium, but unfortunately it never got a second episode.

By contrast, Magic Heart and the Magical Warriors is probably the longest fanime of all time; I'll be showing episode 2 this Wednesday alongside some Soviet movies. What's notable about Magic Heart aside from its length, age (starting in 2007), and weird-ass geometric art style, is the voice acting — it's all Microsoft Sam! The characters have literal ROFLcopter Bonzi Buddy ass voices, presumably because the creator didn't speak English as a first language and didn't have access to any other voice actors (or maybe just didn't want to deal with doing voice direction over the Internet).

My own fanime I'm slowly but surely working on, Blazoner Narazen, also uses machine-synthesized voices — albeit using Retrieval-based Voice Conversion rather than text-to-speech, to give me full control over the intonation and meter of the acting. But ultimately I have to acknowledge that Magic Heart's use of Microsoft Sam is for similar reasons as BlaNara's use of RVC: the only meaningful difference is 20 years of technological advancement.

Camden once said something like, "In the future people will use GenAI to make fanime and it will be indistinguishable from the original thing" — which I thought was honestly pretty disrespectful to the medium. Fanime is to me something defined by its "spirit" first and foremost: the spirit of making things for the sake of making things, even if the end result is poorly drawn, poorly acted, and poorly written, or otherwise "cringeworthy". Offloading that to generative AI just defeats the purpose! The point is not that fanime is an anime-inspired animation created (or in the case of GenAI "created") by an anime fan: the point of fanime is in the creative process, in the drawings that through their flaws show how they were made, you know? So the uses of machine learning technologies that are acceptable in fanime in my view are those that adhere to this Fanime Spirit™.

But that's enough of that tangent.

It was good to return NEW GAME!!. We'll presumably finish it on Sunday, after which we'll have to choose something else to watch together. It was also fun to show ol' Aeroo Chitanda various songs I liked, and she also showed me a song she liked in turn, Bao The Whale's "Final Bow", a Vtuber song that vaguely reminded me of Eir Aoi's "Sirius" from Kill la Kill. I think she might've also shown me another song in the intermissions but I didn't make note of it, alas.

Cardcaptor Sakura remains a favorite of mine, but Garg's wapas were my first time seeing the movies. A good time was had by all.

Magic Knight Rayearth is another CLAMP anime. I've tuned in for the first eight episodes but frankly they haven't impressed me nearly as much as Cardcaptor. Part of that is probably just because it's hard for me to follow along on the chat and the subtitles at the same time, especially when I'm tired and distracted by [gestures broadly at the absolute state of things]. Following along on the subtitles is a much smaller issue when the thing being shown is an anime I've already seen before.

Apropos anime I've already seen before, Gurren Lagann: It fucked way harder than when I watched it for the first time yeeeaaars ago, but the movie was disappointing.

Courage the Cowardly Dog is another old cartoon I'd wanted to get a taste of just to familiarize myself with others' nostalgia. I was surprised that the dog talked, I kinda thought the dog only whimpered. Frankly, I think it would've been better if the dog only whimpered.

Archer and Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt are interesting because they're both kinda gross and vulgar for the sake of it, but I didn't care for the former but look forward to the latter every week. I first tried Panty & Stocking yeeeaaars ago and basically rejected it because of the grossness and vulgarity, but this time around I've responded to it much better. Is the social aspect part of my enjoyment? Probably, but that raises the question of why I didn't care for Archer.

[–] AernaLingus@hexbear.net 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Incidentally, grom is Russian for "thunder, roar"

TIL!

the voice acting — it's all Microsoft Sam

Me trying to find Japanese videos about speedrunning to practice listening to native Japanese speakers but every time I click on one it's just those got-dang 2hu TTS thingamabobs kiryu-slam (but as you say, I'd totally be the one using the TTS if I were a Japanese person making videos about vidya on NND 15 years ago, so I can't be that mad)

Fanime is to me something defined by its "spirit" first and foremost: the spirit of making things for the sake of making things, even if the end result is poorly drawn, poorly acted, and poorly written, or otherwise "cringeworthy".

Hear, hear! Even though I'm not a fanime enthusiast in particular, this is absolutely how I feel about art more broadly. I want to see the actual human who made it in the end result!

Adam Neely did a great video on AI generated music recently, and one of the interesting things he teased out is that people who use AI to "compose" don't cite any influences—AI or otherwise. Personally, one of the most gratifying things about music is understanding it on a deeper level—both from analyzing the notes/techniques/textures themselves purely in the context of the song, but also tracing the lineage of musical ideas: "Oh, that kind of chord voicing comes from X composer" or "That lick is definitely a reference to Y's solo" or "That production technique was made popular by Z". This gives the listener an idea of the unique blend of music that shaped the composer's style, and can point to more things to listen to in order to broaden their musical palate and historical perspective.

I think she might've also shown me another song in the intermissions but I didn't make note of it, alas.

I'm fairly certain it was just the one song, but if there was another, it can't have been very good if neither of us remember it doggirl-grin

Apropos anime I've already seen before, Gurren Lagann: It fucked way harder than when I watched it for the first time yeeeaaars ago, but the movie was disappointing.

Never saw the movie—from what I've heard, it's a recap with a bit of new animation, no?

Courage the Cowardly Dog is another old cartoon I'd wanted to get a taste of just to familiarize myself with others' nostalgia. I was surprised that the dog talked, I kinda thought the dog only whimpered. Frankly, I think it would've been better if the dog only whimpered.

Genuinely never seen any of this show (see above: no cable)—only know what it looks like from still frames—so I'm curious to know what you mean but I think I prefer to keep it a mystery (at least in terms of direct experience).

Archer

I remember enjoying it well enough, but that was a long time ago and I doubt I'd enjoy it as much now, as much as I like H. Jon Benjamin. I watched it with a friend, so like you said, that may have contributed a lot to the enjoyment.

Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt

I think I've only seen the transformation sequences and maybe some random scenes which I've forgotten. Doesn't seem like my kind of show, but I've heard that the music (courtesy of prominent Japanese composer/producer TeddyLoid) is pretty great.

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Adam Neely did a great video on AI generated music recently, and one of the interesting things he teased out is that people who use AI to "compose" don't cite any influences—AI or otherwise. Personally, one of the most gratifying things about music is understanding it on a deeper level—both from analyzing the notes/techniques/textures themselves purely in the context of the song, but also tracing the lineage of musical ideas: "Oh, that kind of chord voicing comes from X composer" or "That lick is definitely a reference to Y's solo" or "That production technique was made popular by Z". This gives the listener an idea of the unique blend of music that shaped the composer's style, and can point to more things to listen to in order to broaden their musical palate and historical perspective.

Well said. I hadn't thought of it that way before.

from what I've heard, it's a recap with a bit of new animation, no?

Basically. The new animation is pretty much just at the very beginning and end, though, as I understand it, and the ending diverges a bit from the original series.

so I'm curious to know what you mean but I think I prefer to keep it a mystery

I guess it's difficult to put it into words, but I want to say that it felt "lazy" to have the dog talk. Which I guess makes sense when they're making an episodic TV cartoon, but like…… if Courage could only communicate through regular dog noises, the way the writing would have to compensate in order to convey Courage's thoughts, feelings, motivations and overall character, that would've been interesting. It would've been like the Tom & Jerry of horror, right? That's something I'd like to see.

but I've heard that the music (courtesy of prominent Japanese composer/producer TeddyLoid) is pretty great.

♫ Heaven, please sing for me a song of liiiife ♫ has been going through my head regularly since Clara started showing PASWG. It's yet another song in the growing pile I'd like to write new lyrics for and karaoke. PASWG is also often said to be better dubbed than subbed. My first time watching it was basically just me trying to get into something a classmate of mine liked, but it didn't work out.

Another thing that stood out to me about PASWG is how much of Kill La Kill's "DNA" clearly comes from it. I vaguely feel like I've also heard something about how Cutie Honey from the '70s is sort of the progenitor of "magical girls but with sex and/or nudity", but I don't know much of anything about that, so it would be interesting to see if I could recognize some of PASWG's DNA there.

[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 2 weeks ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[–] HexReplyBot@hexbear.net 1 points 2 weeks ago

I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Comment 1 of 2There was a panel in Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle that made me say "goddammit" because it really looked like the Twin Towers, but you already knew that.

I know many people don't like The Catcher In The Rye because the protagonist is a bit of a dick, but I've really been enjoying it, and I'm glad to be reading it with my own two eyes.

All in all Angelic Layer was pretty eh, not to say that I regret watching it to the end, and maybe I'll find more appreciation for it later on — it was just kinda unsatisfying. But at least the main character is cute.

My mom didn't want to watch Tesagure! Bukatsumono entirely because the fansubs (the only subs) are too hard to follow. It's a pretty mid series overall, but I still appreciate it for what it is and represents: it's a very ad libbed series using cheap 3D (MikuMikuDance) animation, being Yaoyorozu's main thing before Kemono Friends. Another good thing about Tesabu is that the episodes are only 11 minutes long, which happens to be around the amount of time I take to eat a meal.

There was a really fun one-off ojou character in one of the Tokyo Mew Mew episodes I watched recently, Saionji Kanna in episode 32. Shame that she is only a one-time character.

Episode 15 of Pokémon is "Battle Aboard The St. Anne", which was the first English-dubbed episode of Pokémon to broadcast on Turtle Island, before the rest of the series was broadcast in order. I always like to watch anime in Norwegian when I can, so it was very good to find out that so much of the Norwegian dub of Pokémon is available for free on YouTube on Pokémon's official channel. Some more of the Norwegian dub is on the Internet Archive, too.

My own relationship to Pokémon is this: I played the original Game Boy games (Red & Blue) through online emulators without save features as a kid. This meant that I had to start at the very beginning every time I played, and accordingly I never finished either game, because how the heck's a kid supposed to beat Pokémon Red in a single sitting, right? I also had a Pokédex on my 3DS, and I had a few toys and maybe even trading cards to boot, but I didn't really watch the cartoons nor know much about the lore. I think I caught part of one of the movies at a classmate's birthday party and that's basically it, and even that is a very hazy memory. I also remember I did a pen and paper trace of Ash Ketchum once, apparently because I'd just turned his age and was thinking "I'm a big kid now! Big enough to go out on adventures, if Ash is any indication!"

But anyways, yeah. Far from being in the Great Red Spot of the Pokémon craze, I was more orbiting around it at a Europa distance, to put it that way. So when I saw you were watching Pokémon for nostalgia and immersion that it was as good a time as any to expose myself to something popular that I sort of missed out on as a kid. The quality of the Norwegian dub is naturally questionable, but I of course respect the work that was put into it nonetheless; I already shared the details with you privately at the time.

I think I was especially fond of the antics of Jessie and James — which figures, they're the adult characters. Overall, though, Pokémon is probably best as a nostalgia watch rather than a first-time watch when you're a grown adult.

Avatar: The Last Airbender is another thing that was popular when I was a kid that I missed out on, and, although certainly flawed, it is genuinely a very good cartoon.

My mom and I are getting very close to the end of Steins;Gate. We're also seven episodes from the end of the first season of Ojamajo Doremi and five from the end of Serial Experiments Lain. Whether we'll continue the extremely long Ojamajo after finishing the 51-episode first season remains to be seen.

Lupin III Part 2 is always a good time. The episode we watched this month was "The Island of Dr. Derange", in which Lupin, Fujiko and Jigen are put on auction, and are bought by Dr. Derange and put on a desert island with killer cyborgs.

Ranma ½ (reboot) is a a very cute show with a very good dub. I like how Ranma and Akane's relationship is developing. There will probably be a season 3, and I look forward to it when it comes out. I already mentioned in a previous thread that SungWon Cho plays Mousse in the dub. Shampoo's voice also stands out to me because of the Chinese accent: I couldn't confirm it but I'd certainly suspect that Grace Lu probably grew up speaking Chinese, because the /ɻ~ʐ/ in how Shampoo says "Ranma" is very distinctive. Shampoo in the English dub of '80s Ranma was voiced by Cathy Weseluck, apparently.

The Squid Girl OVA has been as fun as the main series de geso. It's only three episodes, though, and we've already seen the first two de geso! Ah, cruel fate, that we have almost run out of Squid Girl animated content de geso…

We started Kodocha basically just to have two English dubs in rotation. We've only seen the first episode so far, but it looks very promising, we burst out laughing at several points. I've already seen the first two episodes of Kodocha by myself, but that was years ago, so I don't mind rewatching it. Kodocha is really a bit of a legend among shôjo anime, and many anime fans my age grew up with it, so I look forward to continuing it. Funny Moments™ clip compilations make it seem like a very good time, too.

[–] AernaLingus@hexbear.net 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Episode 15 of Pokémon is "Battle Aboard The St. Anne", which was the first English-dubbed episode of Pokémon to broadcast on Turtle Island, before the rest of the series was broadcast in order.

Honestly didn't realize this until you pointed it out!

it was very good to find out that so much of the Norwegian dub of Pokémon is available for free on YouTube on Pokémon's official channel

extremely rare The Pokémon Company W

I played the original Game Boy games (Red & Blue) through online emulators without save features as a kid. This meant that I had to start at the very beginning every time I played, and accordingly I never finished either game, because how the heck's a kid supposed to beat Pokémon Red in a single sitting, right?

My first experience was on the Game Boy, but my second experience was also on a janky emulator where I lost my save a few times and thus never completed the Gen II games. It's amazing what you'll put up with as a little kid! But it's also interesting to learn that playing on online emulators was a thing even that far back. My only interaction with them has been via the Internet Archive, which uses them for old PC platforms like the Apple II, but given the light system requirements of a Game Boy emulator it makes sense that someone would set up a website with one and slap some ads on it. From the earliest days I've always preferred downloading over streaming so that's a whole subculture I'm not familiar with (e.g. I know that KissAnime existed but I never actually went on there).

I think I was especially fond of the antics of Jessie and James — which figures, they're the adult characters.

Yeah—I have no idea how the series develops, since there's over a thousand episodes, but the Team Rocket trio is by far the highlight of the show for me (and also the highlight of the English dub, if you ask me).

Avatar: The Last Airbender is another thing that was popular when I was a kid that I missed out on, and, although certainly flawed, it is genuinely a very good cartoon.

I also missed out on it (no cable + too old + L + ratio), but I watched it as an adult and enjoyed quite a bit! It's no Owl House, but it's a good un. Unfortunately, I cannot recommend Korra due to the horrifically lib politics, which I'm sure you've heard about...I think I tapped out by Season 3).

My mom and I are getting very close to the end of Steins;Gate.

Looks like I'm gonna have to admit defeat on this one.

Ranma ½ (reboot) is a a very cute show with a very good dub

I really ought to get around to watching the original Ranma ½ at some point.

I already mentioned in a previous thread that SungWon Cho plays Mousse in the dub.

pog-dolphin

I couldn't confirm it but I'd certainly suspect that Grace Lu probably grew up speaking Chinese, because the /ɻ~ʐ/ in how Shampoo says "Ranma" is very distinctive.

Sasuga Erika! It's always fun catching little things like that.

We started Kodocha basically just to have two English dubs in rotation. We've only seen the first episode so far, but it looks very promising, we burst out laughing at several points.

Ooh, I'm not familiar with this one (I'm sure I've seen a few random clips/images, since the MC seems familiar), but you've piqued my interest! I want to watch/read more shōjosei, so this'll go close to the top of my PTW.

[–] Erika3sis@hexbear.net 3 points 2 weeks ago

extremely rare The Pokémon Company W

Yeah, but when the whole show's just a toy commercial it makes sense that they'd make (a significant part of it) freely available. More or less all of MLP:FiM is also available in numerous dubs on YouTube for the same reason. This is why I emphasize that piracy still contributes to the value of an "intellectual property".

But it's also interesting to learn that playing on online emulators was a thing even that far back.

It's fun that I get to tell you about it, then. It wasn't just Game Boy, but also GBA, NES, and SNES on those emulator sites with ads, I remember.

Looks like I'm gonna have to admit defeat on this one.

Too bad, so sad! [silly victory dance]

I really ought to get around to watching the original Ranma ½ at some point.

Original? Have you seen the reboot?

(I'm sure I've seen a few random clips/images, since the MC seems familiar)

I've probably shown the main character's "Things You Can't Fix" song as an intermission once or a few times, that song was how I first heard about Kodocha. Kodocha was mentioned in Mimiyori's recent video about anime from her childhood, too.

[–] Ath3ro@hexbear.net 4 points 3 weeks ago

Im about to finish out (get caught up? don’t know if its still going) and i’ve been liking it a lot, the fashion in it is amazing and the writing is pretty good although lately the pacing has been kind of meh but still entertaining.

I’m about a quarter of the way through one piece and it’s been fun but it’s not my favorite manga, i definitely see some of the pro revolutionary elements but sometimes it can be pretty lib but overall a fun read

[–] Arahnya@hexbear.net 4 points 2 weeks ago

Finally finished Chihayafuru anime and was waiting to do so before doing a small writeup. I would give the anime 8/10; satisfsctory story and realistic buildup in regards to how wins are not structured like a shounen where they are guaranteed or easily guessed. The characters lose and fail and struggle. They rely on each other. At the end (of the anime), people's romantic feelings get in the way of their game playing.

minus two points for : The misogyny in this show is meant to be a critique i'm pretty sure, but it feels kinda out of place when it happens.

The ending is a cliffhanger, and the story in the anime is unconcluded.

Now I get to pick up the manga! 🎶

I watched all of Godzilla : Single Point it gets a 7/10. It's a pretty good anime, interesting plot. Non-romantic, focusing mainly on overcoming the overwhelming obstacles.

Minus three points for : Basically how much I like it. It was cool but it didnt really make me excited / on the edge of my seat or anything. Also the prevelence of AI now being the insert character for robot things is a development in anime I am not liking.

I am behind on my weekly anime watching. I'm still watching : Journal With Witch, Death Games, Holy Grail Of Eris, and Roll Over and Die. And now also Gundam Wing.

[–] machinya@hexbear.net 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

this is a bad season because there are many shows i want to watch but not enough time and still many leftovers from past seasons. i will probably drop some of the list but i have to start them first

Hana-kimi (2026): i have read the manga many times so i would not miss this adaptation for any reason. i am not enjoying it that much tho. pacing is a mess ad i think the anime highlights the problems that are already in the manga instead of fixing them. will watch it to the end anyway

Watashi wo tabetai, hitodenashi (2026): another one which I already read. surprisingly, i'm enjoying it lots. it is very well done and it feels way better than a regular the-manga-panels-with-slight-animation type of anime that most non-stellar productions have nowadays. it is a slow burn one so watching it slowly makes sense

droped a few already, so just commenting on the ones that left an opinion

[someone] wants to be a kamen rider: humor doesn't hit at all. it feels rancid and bad. it reminds me of the parts i didn't like about gto for some reason. as a rider fan, i really wanted to like it but it was a pain to even pay attention to it

Towa no yugure: the post apocalyptic world was very interesting but getting reminded every so often that incest is the core part of the relations there was the breaker

[–] notthebees@reddthat.com 4 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Manga

Nothing

Anime

Nothing

Response to OP I also loved Space Battleship Yamato. Also I feel like you'd love the Macross series.

Live action

Supernatural, a show that I'm actually enjoying. I've heard it gets weird halfway through but I'm only halfway through s1.

[–] Gosplan14_the_Third@hexbear.net 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I watched the Macross movie version and I kinda disliked it actually

[–] notthebees@reddthat.com 3 points 3 weeks ago

I've never liked the movies but fair.

[–] 9to5@hexbear.net 4 points 3 weeks ago

Ive only read some Western comic books pretty dark stuff overall. Both series were quite gory and depressing, so just a heads-up if youre thinking of looking them up and arent in the mood for VERY dark and disturbing stories.

Beneath the Trees Where Nobody Sees

I read all of it. It’s set in a world with anthropomorphic animals, but otherwise its like our world. The setting is the 1980s in a small city in the USA. Our main character is a serial killer, and this is her story. Its dark and bleak, which I dont mind, but I didnt find the main character very interesting. I kept going until I finished out of morbid curiosity. You might think its fun or cute because of the animal characters, but no its played completely serious and isnt funny at all.

Beautiful Darkness

I liked this one. Its very grim as well, but I actually enjoyed it. It’s like a fairytale, but played straight so actually fucking horrifying. Theres also a small narrative metaplot that can be interpreted in different ways.

[–] CriticalOtaku@hexbear.net 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Started collecting and reading what're the Viz translations of Steel Ball Run bcos the anime is coming

It's peak

[–] marxisthayaca@hexbear.net 3 points 3 weeks ago

Kagurabachi, Ichi the Witch, Gachiakuta, Chainsawman, JJK Modulo, and Dan Da Dan.

[–] LadyCajAsca@hexbear.net 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I'm going to update this whenever I get to it but..

Tokyo Ghoul Spoilers, First Season!Tokyo Ghoul Episode 1 to 3 First Season First Impressions:

Good! It's what I'd expect would happen and I even had a fun time experiencing the story. I know there's sole controversy coming once Season 1 is done, but I hope I'm not disappointed, 'cause I know exactly what I feel when I feel that I've been let down or confused by a specific story choice (looking at you Chainsaw Man Part 2 Chapter 231!!).

I like Kaneki as a character and appreciate his ever growing dynamic, and even though I have a bad feeling it'll not be all happy, I do want happy moments mixed with the utterly depressing ones, as it what drew me to Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man. Maybe I'll be proven wrong or right on my assessment, maybe I'll even read the manga! But yeah, I'm going to hold my watch there until I'm done with exams.

I like the Rize inside Kaneki dynamic as well, the ghoul vs. human part is going to be interesting to be dealing with and since I know Kaneki is going to have both the lowest of lows, and aura farm of the most high, I'm sticking with my boy even though he's going through so much, and even killing a lot of people. I don't know the purple haired girl that well, but she seems to be set up as long life partner, even if not romantic (but it's probably going to happen..?) as well as Hide (the almost blonde guy). I like him, I hope we see more of him in the chill moments.

The whole thing about Ghoul Sanctuary is going to be interesting, the old guys are probably going to die though. Both the creepy doctor guy and the manager. At least the creepy doctor guy should. The CCG, Rize's reputation, et cetera. I can't wait, but I don't have time right now, so I'll sit with these thoughts until I watch some time after I'm done with my busywork..

That's my thoughts and I'll probably add stuff after I continue after I have some free time on my hands. I know that Tokyo Ghoul is an old anime, and not even the anime is good because of (I've heard) problems that can have an effect on story, but I am a girl that needs to watch the anime first before I read the manga. I did it with One Punch Man for example, I'll watch all of it, even the bad Season 3 (on the 🏴‍☠️ of course) because it's more interesting to me as a first-time viewer than a manga, even though I'm open to viewing the manga as well, it's just I need a taste of it animated.

I need to continue my Jujutsu Kaisen Season 2 Speed-Watch as well, as Season 3 Culling Game Part 1 looks to be almost finished, but it's just I've been listening to Tokyo Ghoul Openings recently and it just put me in that mood, and I don't want to overplay my JJK songs so that I start hating them so yeah, that's about it~!

[–] SmithrunHills@hexbear.net 2 points 1 week ago

I haven't watched another anime since that Power Ranger Isekai one(The Red Ranger Becomes an Adventurer in Another World). I've caught up to the latest chapters of the manga and it's entertaining enough, but nothing amazing. Might be a bit too horny for some, and I think the love interest is like 16 while the MC is 19? Which is just peppino-why

The Ostrich Beastman's Wild and Unrivaled Rampage: I Became the Leader of the Stupidly Cute Strongest Race is, if you look past the title, really charming and silly. It's an isekai where a guy reincarnates as an ostrich beastkin and also underwent a gender reassignment after being isekai'd(though this doesn't seem to be all that important or play into anything currently). It seriously surprised me with how much I enjoyed it from chapter 1, just so many cute moments with enough intrigue to keep me hooked

I'm trying to muster the energy to catch up on Bocchi, Frieren, and Apothecary Diaries, but I keep procrastinating doggirl-gloom

[–] barrbaric@hexbear.net 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (2 children)

Manga

Still reading my usual pack of ongoing manga, though some are on hiatus (RIP in peace Bocchi). Chainsaw Man is great chapter after chapter. Bocchi the Rock: Kikuri's Drinking Diary got picked up by fan translators again so there are a few more chapters, woo. One-Punch Man sure is setting up another arc. Kagurabachi sure did just finish up its introduction arc, which had some pretty cool fights. Nothing much has happened in Rooster Fighter. One Piece continues to be fine in the elbaph arc. **Kingdom is MUCH less enjoyable to read when you're waiting for the releases instead of binging, with the current archer duel going on for waaaaaaaaay too long to be interesting.

Started The Greatest Estate Developer and it sure is an isekai, but this time it's about how great traditional Korean technology is! It's alright, clearly doesn't take itself seriously which is probably for the best.

Anime

Golden Kamuy's final season has been fantastic so far, and really feels like it's approaching the inevitable final conclusion. The movie that makes up the first bit of the season was probably a banger in theaters.

Oshi no Ko's third season has been okay, but a part of the plot is an adult that reincarnated and is now a teenager for the second time being forced to pick which teenager he'd rather date, which is thoroughly gross. Also some weird stuff about how cancel culture is bad. More importantly we gotta throw the papparazzi into the oubliette.

Frieren's second season has been a letdown, with more focus on frankly boring episodic adventures. I'm basically just continuing to watch it in the hopes it somehow returns to the tone of the first three episodes again (it won't).

Onto season two of Kaiji, and the games they're gambling on are just getting silly now. Let's have a 10-episode arc about a dice-rolling game, where surprise surprise the guy who always wins is cheating. Currently they're going up against a rigged paremovedo machine, which presumably they'll counter-rig somehow. The pacing is horrendous but at 1.5x speed it's a lot better

E: lol the slur filter got me, I'm leaving it.

[–] LaGG_3@hexbear.net 2 points 1 day ago

E: lol the slur filter got me, I'm leaving it.

パレモべド

I usually write patinko since the hepburn style romanization gets the slur filter lol.

[–] notthebees@reddthat.com 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Oshi No Ko is wack I'll be honest. I say this as someone who likes Kaguya Sama: Love is War. I've only read the manga up to when

Tap for spoilerRuby finds the doctor's body.

[–] barrbaric@hexbear.net 2 points 2 weeks ago

Yeah that's basically the end of S2 of the anime. Seems like it's mostly about the mangaka airing his grievances with the entertainment industry (which, fair enough, I suppose).