What are you reading/watching? AKA Anime/Manga General

[Laserman]

Bleach Episode 362:
Ichigo really has gotten stronger.

There are two reasons why the Head Captain agreed to restore Ichigo's power and had the other Captains and their Lieutenants put their Spirit Energy into the special sword alongside the others. The first reason is, is that they owe for the stopping Aizen, so they have to repay that debt. The second is because Ginjo, who was the first Substitute Soul Reaper, is involved in this after disappearing for a time and Ichigo needs his powers back to stop him.


Kenpachi really cut Giriko in half mid sentence, haha.

[Rafflesiac]

>tfw ratcheting OnK's score down another point after it jumps the shark

[Five_X]

OnK is a rollercoaster, there are no sharks to jump - just endless loops and twirls.

[BnEl15]

OnK spoilers

What are y'all talking about? Aqua gaslighting a god to play in his movie is infinitely better than the pseudo-incest teases that the fans keep getting obsessed over in the past few chapters. Admittedly it's kinda stupid and came out of the left field, but I'll take any development over AquRuby stuff at this point.

[Rafflesiac]

I'm not gonna lie I preferred Crow Girl as a semi-spooky plot device to a defanged dank meme.

- - - Updated - - -

I'm double not gonna lie and say that

Spoiler:

[the incest at least made me laugh.]

[bassgs435]

Incest is peak fiction. Twincest is ultra peak fiction. If it happens, I’d pick the manga and catch up like I did with Prisma when Miyuverse Shirou first started fighting

[Deathhappens]

Stumbled upon Martial Master Asumi today and gotta say, despite the weirdly overachieving title it's a pretty nice, grounded title about MMA, a rarity these days that where Kengan Ashura and Baki are somehow gaining in popularity. Considering the author's previous work on Hinomaru Zumo I'm pretty optimistic about how it might go (only up to 13 chapters currently).
Assuming it doesn't get the axe, of course...

[bassgs435]

Somehow. Is it strange people like ultraviolent stuff even if exaggerated and unrealistic?. It’s not like popular shows tend to be realistic

[Deathhappens]

They're not martial arts manga, they're not even battle manga, from what I've seen they're mainly just soft gore manga.

Which, I mean, you see wackjob "fans" not satisfied unless there's a literal corpse in the cage all the time in MMA too, but it's definitely not something healthy.

[RoydGolden]

They're not martial arts manga, they're not even battle manga, from what I've seen they're mainly just soft gore manga.

Which, I mean, you see wackjob "fans" not satisfied unless there's a literal corpse in the cage all the time in MMA too, but it's definitely not something healthy.

Not as familiar with KA, but I'm pretty sure the gore is only part of why people like Baki. The rest because it's a ludicrously over-the-top to the point of self-parodic yet strangely sincere and passionate take on the Shonen fight manga genre, with special attention to the philosophies of combat and what drives people to pursue life-or-death battles. Only in Baki could you get things like the hero giving a death-glare to a serial-killer in the middle of making out with his girlfriend, training by shadowboxing a giant praying mantis, or America's strongest man dueling a Che Guevara expy in supermax prison.

[Rafflesiac]

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[Cypher Attic]

I've been working my way through Studio Trigger's catalogue, picking shows at random. I was ​watching Little Witch Academia, but I got sidetracked rewatching Kill la Kill for a second time. The TV show isn't as fun to watch as the short films, it seems.

[Mattias]

They do lose something in the transition, and I have no idea what it is. Everything just seems a tad muted compared to the OVAs.

[[TRG]Vash]

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Yes yes, the usual Baki reaction. Always a sight to see.

[bassgs435]

Cutie Honey 1973
Despite the obvious cancellation, this is pretty good. Honey and the Hayamis are great leads, visuals are great, and Panther Claw are great MOTW villains. Some tragic moments too. This is a classic for a reason

[bassgs435]

Shin Cutie Honey
Too bad this is also cut short. That said, it's still pretty good and fun. Mazin-cyborg Danbei is a crazy fun idea and the artstyle and animation are great. Being OVA also means lots of good fanservice without worrying about censorship.

[TomPen94]

Watched One Piece Live Action

I dunno how to feel about this show. I rly didn't wanna watch it, and I was planning on skipping it, but I got around to it and ended up watching with some friends.

In terms of things that are undeniably positive, it is obvious the people who worked on this rly did care and did what they could to make this a thing in live action.
The extra tidbits of references riddled throughout the show now that we have 20 years of hindsight to pull from for this early material were cool, like hearing Binks no Sake in Luffy's flashback.
I have no issues with the casting, the actors all worked well and I think the Straw Hats have a lot of chemistry with each other.
Gotta say I also enjoyed the way they made Zoro fire zingers with every single one of his lines.
But there were some decisions here that I rly couldn't bring myself to like, or simply accept, and most of them are down to the restructuring of story beats they did in each story arc.

Genuinely I think this peaked with the first episode, where I felt most of the restructuring of story beats was actually for the better.
But everywhere else I think the story being told suffers greatly for it. The biggest one is, of course, the complete removal of Don Krieg in the Baratie arc. That one change had a knock-on effect that affected everything moving forward, including the Arlong Park arc. And emotionally I think changing the Kokoyashi citizens knowing about Nami's endeavor to buy the village back kinda oneshots that arc, with the only saving grace being Emily Rudd's performance in the scene where Nami asks Luffy for help.

I think the claims that "the anime curse is lifted" are very much unfounded. Yes, this is the best anime-to-live-action transition we've seen, but no it doesn't rly break any curse. The reason that curse doesn't happen with Comic Book adaptations anymore is because filmmakers figured out how to use the absolute mayhem of comic book continuity to only pick and choose specific parts of specific stories to just make the movies and tv shows their own thing. But manga doesn't work like that, continuity in manga is a lot tighter, with each story arc building on the last. Even the most make-it-up-as-it-goes-along stories still retain a much tighter sense of continuity even if nothing but powerlevels carry over from one arc to the next. Until some genius some day figures out how to make a movie or series based on an anime become its own thing, this is gonna keep being the biggest hurdle.

Additionally, and this was the biggest reason I didn't want to watch it to begin with, this show is destined for cancellation. We'll see if season 2 is successful, but I doubt the hype will keep being as strong as it needs to be for as long as it needs to be for this show to even have a chance at finishing. And even if it does, Iñaki Godoy will be fukkin 40 by the time his Luffy gets to find the One Piece lol. Emily Rudd will be 50. An that's a shame, cuz you can tell these actors love being able to play these characters.

[GDB]

Yes, this is the best anime-to-live-action transition we've seen

Doesn't that apply to Rurouni Kenshin? Or is this statement specifically about "Live Action TV" and movies don't apply?

[TomPen94]

Doesn't that apply to Rurouni Kenshin? Or is this statement specifically about "Live Action TV" and movies don't apply?

Nah I literally just forgot.

[Deathhappens]

The Ruroken movies were eh aight but nothing amazing, and the main reason they worked was that Ruroken's material was something already extensively covered in film long before. The only thing the movies needed to adapt was some of the more idiosyncratic manga quirks like Kaoru's gag abuse, Kenshin's random oro?'s, Sanosuke's anime-ass zanbatou and the like, in which they had mixed results, imo. So while I haven't watched it and never intend to, a One Piece adaptation that is even halfway watchable definitely did a lot more to earn that title than Ruroken did.