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

[Laserman]

D.Gray-Man Volume 6: I don't remember Suman hurting Allen's hand that badly. Apparently the manga lists the author's gender wrong for a while. The volume ends with Allen's Innocence destroyed and being left for dead. That's a pretty scary way to end it.

The author also left a message:

The story of the Fallen One turned out to be very tragic. Drawing it took a heavy toll on me emotionally. However, this isn't the story of a traitor, but of a man who loved his family more than anything, a man who was forced to make terrible choices. Don't hate Suman, pity him.

I never knew they said that before, it makes me wonder about other writers and manga creators. If what they make does the same thing to them sometimes.

As it turned out, after his team got wiped by Tykki, he begged him to spare his life in exchange for information on the location of the other Exorcists and Finders in the field. A lot of them were immediately attack after. All the man wanted to do was see his daughter and wife who he left to become an Exorcist to pay for his daughter's medical care. But since he betrayed the Order, and also the Innocence, despite being an Accommodator, he turned into a Fallen One. The first I hear of Suman Dark in years and I find out that happens to him, it was a shame.

[Laserman]

D.Gray-Man Volume 7: Learning that Allen's Innocence has been destroyed, the rest of the Cross group set sail to Edo with Miranda using her Innocence, Time Record, to put a field around the ship reversing the damage done to the ship and any injuries they get, but as soon as she deactivates her Innocence, the damage will return. Fortunately, she can stay awake for like 10 days, so she should be able to keep her Innocence activated for the entire trip as long as there aren't any setbacks.

It's amazing what a new hairstyle can do for a person., she actually looks like her age now.

This volume introduces the first Level 3 Akuma, Eshi. It has a habit of titling things since the soul he's based on was a Japanese artist.
The thing was able to take Lavu's direct Fire Stamp and then knock edback his Hammer without trying. And then got completely covered by Bookman's Heaven Compass needles and shrugged that off. Lenalee is the only who can match the Akuma's speed and fight it in the air. The problem is it's just too strong, I don't think it would matter even if Lavi and Bookman could help her fight it. It also means that she'll be outside the influence of Miranda's Time Record. Eshi didn't come alone either, and Akuma are attacking the ship above the clouds. People have already been hit by them multiple times, so when the journey ends they'll...


The new uniforms came with Miranda too. I like the old ones, but I like these ones too. I like the one they wear after this the least though.

While that's happening, Allen learns that his Innocence hasn't been completely destroyed and is now trying to turn it back into a weapon.

There's a difference between activating Parasite-Type and Equipment-Type Innocence. With a Parasite-Type, the Innocence takes over part of the body and transforms into a weapon. But with an Equipment-Type, there's no direct contact between the Accommodator and the Innocence. That makes Equipment-Type weapons harder to control, and that's why they make them into weapons. The power of the Innocence is contained and the Accommodator has less trouble synchronizing with the Innocence. Parasite-Type Innocence has to be controlled by the body itself though, becoming the weapon itself. Chief Bak of the Asia Branch suspects that Allen can't activate his Innocence again because he doesn't really know that much about it compared to an Equipment-Type that's been studied heavily to determine the proper form and weapon for it. He can form it, but the thing turns into dust again in seconds.

One of my favorite fights in Season 3 is Lenalee vs Eshi, so I'm excited to see how it goes in the manga.

D.Gray-Man Volume 8: It took Lenalee using the maximum power of her Innocence to free herself from the Dark Matter of the Akuma to cause whatever it hits to get heavy and then get above the thing and lower her power so she could use the fact she was weighed down to destroy it. Amazingly, her Innocence formed a crystal around her, saving her life. But not her hair...
It was a scary fight, maybe more than in the anime.


Chomesuke, a modified Akuma from General Cross appears to send a message to the Cross Group. He's alive on his way to Edo to destroy the Akuma factory called the Ark, but they should turn back. Japan has been taken over by the Earl, mostly all of the people there are dead and there's more Level 3 Akuma there. Considering the fact they had such a hard time with one, going there would be suicide. But they've come too far to stop now.

Also, I have to say, having your main character not be able to do anything for several volumes is a brave move.

[ResidentSeagull]

I usually avoid isekai, but I finally said 'fuck it' and decided to watch Overlord. I couldn't stop myself from binging all three seasons in one go.

I have not watched a show that I enjoyed this much in a while. It's just so much fucking fun. It is difficult for a show to have both irredeemable pieces of shit that are a joy to watch every time they interact with each other on one side, and side characters that you know will bite the dust eventually but still give a shit about on the other, with Ainz in the middle. OPs are all great, although I think I like Voracity the best. Of course, the writing isn't always perfect, and they do rely a bit too much on CGI, particularly in the third season.

Nevertheless, finding out that a fourth season and a movie are in the works makes me very excited. Onwards to more one-sided curb-stomping, I guess.

[Laserman]

D.Gray-Man Volume 9:
Chomesuke decides to bring the surviving crew members and the Exorcists as close as the Izu Peninsula. Looking at a map, that is pretty close to Tokyo which would be Edo back then. After seeing her fellow modified Akuma get eaten by Level 3's, Chomesuke explains that Akuma do that because they're not that many human beings in Japan. 90% of the "population" are Akuma. Japan doesn't have open trade with other countries so it was easy for the Earl to take over. Or maybe he put them in place, either way, Japan is the Millennium Earl's.

Volume 9 also debuts Jasdero and Devit, the twin idiots of the Noah Clan. They're supposed to go after General Cross, who's now in Japan. Tykki shows up along with Skinn who's chasing Tiedoll and now knowing that Allen is still alive, Tykki sends a Level 3 after him using the Ark.

And with them preparing to load the data to the new Ark, the Cross Group decide to attack them, even if they're outnumbered. I like that they did that. They could have kept hiding but they decided to launch an attack on them instead.
Allen's right hand which has his Innocence is for the Akuma, and his left hand is for humanity. Allen realizing he wants to save both of them again, manages to reform his Innocence into a new form, the Crown Clown, making one of the best moments in D.Gray-Man.

Allen getting his Innocence back and killing the Level 3 sent to get him so easily was so cool.
Now with his Innocence back and better than ever, he's taking the Ark to Edo, and with the Tiedoll group arriving there too, my favorite part of D.Gray-Man really begins.

[Asagami]

Finished Mushoku tensei's part 2 , I might check the light novels in the near future.

Currently reading Solo Leveling

[Laserman]

D.Gray-Man Volume 10: So I got confirmation on how many Exorcists are left. With the six initial dead and Suman, there's only 12 left. That 19 number that Komui gave was the total number. They have over 40 pieces, but they can't find anyone who can use them? That explains the experiment with the Fallen One and what happened to Kanda, they're really that desperate.

The Millennium Earl really is powerful, being able to destroy Edo like that.

This volume has the best fight in season 3 in my opinion, Kanda vs Skinn. It's just as amazing in the manga as the anime, that last final slash that kills Skinn was so good. As far as I know, Kanda is still the only one who's not only beaten, but killed a member of the Noah Clan so far.

Katsura Hoshino went to see the recording of Episode 2 of the anime before and met Kaoru Wada who did the music for it along with some of the cast while nervous the entire time.

They said that the intensity was amazing. The room was filled with actors able to breathe life into anime characters. It was clear why these people were among the chosen few who can make a living with their acting skills. They were all amazing to her and when they played D.Gray-Man unfinished opening for her, she cried while the staff laughed. She was excited to work again after, but her editor suggested that they take a photo with the voice actors as a keepsake. The editor thought she and the assistant that went with them looked terrible in it, lol.

[Laserman]

D.Gray-Man Volume 11:
On the first page of this Volume, the author talks about Allen's hair spiking up like a Super Saiyan's when he uses Crown Clown, calling it a mystery. I don't know if that's a joke or not.

Tykki is the Noah of Pleasure, Road is the Noah of Dreams, Skinn was the Noah of Wrath, and Jasdevi is the Noah of Bonds.

It's still hilarious that Jasdero and Devitt got saddled with a debt of $200,000 from General Cross while searching for him. And then Allen's response when he learns of that is to say, "That's it?".

I don't even want to know how much debt he's got because of his teacher.

There was a comment that Jasdero made about Lavi being a Bookman when he was searching for the real key to the room that either didn't make it into the anime or I forgot about.

"They're working for your side now, eh?".

That implies that the Bookmen were working with the Noah Clan which is crazy, so that can't be it.

Krory's fight against Jasdevi is probably the most brutal one so far. Not only is Jasdevi strong, instead of having both the twins having to imagine something to create it, they're now one being.

And for this volume to end with Krory's hand limping outside the spiked coffin, blood dripping from it was some cliffhanger.

Funnily enough, Allen's voice actor and the Earl's voice actor sat next to each other while recording lines.

And then's there's the Kato incident, a true story from Sound Director Toru Nakano and Sanae Kobayashi.

Since the recording sessions for the D.Gray-Man anime happened in the afternoon, the cast members and staff often go out to dinner. The group this time consisted of Kobayashi, Ito, Shimizu, Okiayu, Toyoguchi, Nakano and Mixer T, the in charge of the recording equipment. After drinking a little. Mixer T goes and says, you know, Kato
hasn't been in a episode for while, and the rest of the group was just confused.

"When will he show up again, eh?", and hiccups.

He then continued to talk about a mystery person named Kato, saying, "You know, Kato! Why are you all being like this?! You know the character Sakurai voices Kato! That's when they realized what's happening.

They then yelled at him mixing up Kanda for Kato. For some reason in his brain that happened. They thought he was stating to lose his mind from overwork and gave him grief for it.

"All you got right was the "Ka" part!!!

"No, the number of characters is right too."

"Have you even read the manga?!"

"That's an insult to Sakurai and Hoshino!"

Mixer T looked miserable.

When Katsura Hoshino found they laughed and said, "All you got right was the "Ka" part!!".

Several days later, Sakurai, who does the voice for Kanda was in a recording session.

Then Mixer T comes in Sakurai is like, "It's me, Kato."

Soon the entire crew heard about the Kato/Kanda incident and now everyone in the studio refers to Kanda as Kato, hah.

D.Gray-Man Volume 12:
One incredible fight after the other in this one. Krory's Innocence taking his blood out of his body to fight Jasdevi was a real shock in the anime, and it's something here too. It was truly unique and I wish he killed them in that fight.

They're still freaking alive somehow despite being in the Ark with the deletion happening.

The fight between Tykki and Allen might be my favorite in D.Gray-Man. They both pull out all the stops, but when Tykki corners Allen, Allen wills his Innocence to synchronize with him at an over 100% rate, transforming it into the Sword of Exorcism, a blade that only cuts and destroys evil itself, sparring the victim, a reflection of Allen's heart. A ridiculous clown, kind and well-meaning even in battle.

That scene before he thrusts it into Tykki with him standing, that's my favorite moment. He's come so far and now he not only has the power to become a General, becoming an Transcendent One, but a weapon that's truly fitting for him. I suppose all of this would make it my favorite volume too.

[Laserman]

D.Gray-Man Volume 13: Road can be sooooooo annoying.

It's a mystery to me how Tyki's Inner Noah wasn't destroyed, but that transformation and the fight that happened might actually be scarier in the manga than in the anime. The way the tentacles look like they were drawn a brush compared to everything else is just makes it so scary.

And that speed and power, he might just be outright more power than the Skinn and Jasdevi.

But then General Cross shows up and the volume ends with him beginning to shoot at Tykki.

They use the word sorcery like twice in this volume, I don't know why when it didn't come up in the anime. It must be a different translation.

[ItsaRandomUsername]

I've loved Eureka Seven for years, although the last time I watched the series proper was when I was in high-school, so it's been over a decade since then, and approaching a decade since I saw AO (story for another time?) as it aired.

Despite BONES having some weird peculiarities towards this franchise, such as making it into a franchise in the first place???, I'm still attached to it, am drawn to the title's iconography and themes still. So, despite - and because of, I'll be real - hearing that the Hi-Evolution Trilogy went off-the-rails, and possibly for the worst, I was nonetheless excited to sit down with it in preparation for the final movie's physical release.

Hi-Evo, as of 1, hasn't gone too zany yet. It's essentially just another compilation anime movie, with some new scenes and changed up details, but those changes do a lot of heavy lifting both in the fore and background. Also, it's primarily focused on being a re-adaptation of the Ray and Charles Beams arc, and since that arc was my favorite of the original Eureka Seven, yay me. One of these changes is that, due to events that take place near the start of the movie (and an extensive and spectacular sequence of brand new content) Renton is their adoptive son in this continuity, so that both recontextualizes and increases the emotional resonance/gut punch of the Renton/Beams scenes and also hits my own emotions somewhere close to home.

This is an emotionally-oriented movie. It's certainly not intended to be one's introductory foray into Eureka Seven, as it completely disregards any events prior to the film's intended focus. Sure, it's quite clearly meant to be a part of this new series that Hi-Evolution is, clearly meant to promote and lead into the other two films, but

but it's a movie that I liked because it just so happened to click with my specific likes and takeways re; this particular bit in Eureka Seven's story, so it's good movie for me.

I look forward to seeing how batshit insane 2 and 3 get.

Hey, it got me this hilarious/edgy screencap of Eureka, so I think I'm mentally on-board for whatever fuckery is to be afoot.

[Deathhappens]

I've loved Eureka Seven for years, although the last time I watched the series proper was when I was in high-school, so it's been over a decade since then, and approaching a decade since I saw AO (story for another time?) as it aired.

Despite BONES having some weird peculiarities towards this franchise, such as making it into a franchise in the first place???, I'm still attached to it, am drawn to the title's iconography and themes still. So, despite - and because of, I'll be real - hearing that the Hi-Evolution Trilogy went off-the-rails, and possibly for the worst, I was nonetheless excited to sit down with it in preparation for the final movie's physical release.

Hi-Evo, as of 1, hasn't gone too zany yet. It's essentially just another compilation anime movie, with some new scenes and changed up details, but those changes do a lot of heavy lifting both in the fore and background. Also, it's primarily focused on being a re-adaptation of the Ray and Charles Beams arc, and since that arc was my favorite of the original Eureka Seven, yay me. One of these changes is that, due to events that take place near the start of the movie (and an extensive and spectacular sequence of brand new content) Renton is their adoptive son in this continuity, so that both recontextualizes and increases the emotional resonance/gut punch of the Renton/Beams scenes and also hits my own emotions somewhere close to home.

This is an emotionally-oriented movie. It's certainly not intended to be one's introductory foray into Eureka Seven, as it completely disregards any events prior to the film's intended focus. Sure, it's quite clearly meant to be a part of this new series that Hi-Evolution is, clearly meant to promote and lead into the other two films, but

but it's a movie that I liked because it just so happened to click with my specific likes and takeways re; this particular bit in Eureka Seven's story, so it's good movie for me.

I look forward to seeing how batshit insane 2 and 3 get.

Hey, it got me this hilarious/edgy screencap of Eureka, so I think I'm mentally on-board for whatever fuckery is to be afoot.

I'm not an expert or anything but I don't think that gun works.

[ItsaRandomUsername]

Wh-What on Earth (pun intended) do you assume happens to a gun if you were to fire it in zero-g?

[Strange_One]

Actually looked into this a bit in the past for reasons. A good old straight blowback submachine gun should work fine. First problem that would become an issue would be the shell casings flinging out the side and bouncing off anything in the way.

[Mattias]

Internet went down because of snow so I was stuck with things I had hard copies of. Wave Listen to Me was such a good show. Every VA in that show kills it.

[ResidentSeagull]

So I finally watched Ghost in the Shell.
I get this a lot with older 'masterpiece' media, but I did get the feeling that the time this came out very much influenced its reception. Of course, it doesn't mean it isn't really good. I liked it quite a bit.
What surprised me is how minimalist it all was. While it does have quite a bit to say, a lot of the movie is just shots of the environment in between the dialogue and action. You can really tell that they took a few chapters of the manga and went ham.
Looks amazing, but I unintentionally watched so many clips of it over the years so I already knew that.
Don't really know what more to say. I think the politics of it all are well explained. A lot of shows struggle with making that part clear and interesting, but from what I can see this franchise is actually good at it (which I can also say for SAC which I am currently watching).
Anyway, I'm hooked, so I'll get back to you when I watch the rest of SAC.

[Ideofago]

The only criticism I had for it was that the main arc didn't ferl like much of an arc. As in, I didn't understand the main character's struggles all too well. Hot off of the allegory fest that is Blade Runner though, I might give it a rewatch and polish my allegory lenses a bit, maybe they weren't shapr enough the first time.

[Mattias]

Of the movie or the series? If Series, season 1 or 2?

[Ideofago]

Ghost in the Shell, the movie. There's a series?

[Mattias]

The Stand Alone Complex. 2 24 episode seasons, made in 2002. Good balance of one off scifi concept episodes and underlying story narrative ones. Some oof CGI in the first OP though. I think it's all on youtube? Or at least it was when I went for a rewatch a few years back.

[ResidentSeagull]

The only criticism I had for it was that the main arc didn't ferl like much of an arc. As in, I didn't understand the main character's struggles all too well. Hot off of the allegory fest that is Blade Runner though, I might give it a rewatch and polish my allegory lenses a bit, maybe they weren't shapr enough the first time.

Yeah the Major (and the other characters for that matter) aren't really explored in depth. You get bits and pieces of their pasts here and there (mostly for characters like Batou), but some of them literally do not get anything. It's more like every case is a vignette of their current day to day lives, with the cases overshadowing their actual characters a lot of the time.
As for the movie, I do think I kinda understood what its particular message was, but with artsy stuff like that you always have room for your own interpretation. I do agree that the Major can come off as a bit of a nothing character, but what I learned is that every incarnation of GITS is tonally different, with the manga being relatively lighthearted, and the movie being pretty serious and surreal. The Major reflects this.

[Ideofago]

I guess I should have also explained- I understand what it tells you, but it feels too blunt in that it just flat out says it instead of using the story process of thesis, antithesis and synthesis.

Take for example, Roy in Blade Runner. Now, he's an allegory for man, and is there to discuss the theme of man's mortality. We start off with him being chained by fate to die. Enraged, misunderstanding his restraints, he lashes out of the path life has given him, that of a slave, much similar to the how indoctrinated he is to the end of his own pife.

His first attempt at freeing himself from these restraints shows him finding God. "If I have these chains, then it must be my maker that placed them." He then pursues God, andnfinds him. Once face to face, he asks "Why have you forsaken me with these binds?". God replies, "It is not by my hand you are chained." Fearful of the implications, he fights back against his destiny further, killing his own maker.

Unwilling to accept the truth he can already feel, he comes back to Pris, and there he is faced with his binds again, but now in the form of her death. It is there that he asks the second question, the antithesis, "If it is not by the hands of my maker that I lay in chains, then it is by the will of my destroyer that I am bound". He then confronts Deckard, his devil, the only one good enough to kill him.

In the following battle, however, he overpowers his destroyer. He even submits him to the same livelihood, "How does it feel to live in fear?". Realising the implications yet again, he now lashes out against his fate for the last time. He spares Deckard.

And thus, in this final struggle, synthesis is reached.
It is not his maker that chains him, it is not his destroyer that binds him. He manufactures his nature.

Man is the genesis of his own mortality.

Embracing this,

Man dies.


Watching Ghost in the Shell, I didn't notice something to this level of elegance. And I don't even care about the relative lack of characterization of the Major, because Deckard, whilst having more, wasn't the main draw of it for me. It's that everything Ghost in the Shell says, it just says it, instead of using the elements of a narrative to further it. And I'm not against it, it can especially be useful to contrast with the artsier messages. But to me, Ghost does nothing beside it. However, I was also not looking for it. Which is why I might watch it again.