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

[bassgs435]

Finished Tekkaman Blade. 10/10, even if it has animation issues. The important episodes manage to look great, the characters are all amazing and the plot and all it's tragedy and drama is excellently done. Fuck, this ended so well that I kinda don't like the idea of II existing. Will still watch II, though. Maybe I can enjoy it

[bassgs435]

Watched the Revue Starlight movie after watching the recap movie (To refresh my memory and for the new scenes setting up this new movie), it was spectacular and very well done. Not sure I grasp everything yet, but that's why I'm planning a rewatch of the whole show and both movies. Very interesting and fascinating movie. Goddamn. I'm impressed

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Forgot to say this, but I started Komi Can't Communicate! last week, and all I can say is that it is such a CUTE anime! I just love the interactions between Komi-san, Tadano, and the rest of that cast of characters, and I just want to hug Komi-san so tight and never let go, she's just that precious! Also, I semi-relate to her struggle with social anxiety, and the times where she goes in and out of restaurants struggling to order feel way too true to my own lived experience. Still, fun show, and I'm going to start reading the manga real soon. It just makes me feel good things watching Komi-san get more friends and potentially end up with Tadano.

[Ideofago]

>potentially end up with tadano

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Hey, I'm avoiding spoilers, or at least mentioning them. I may have spoiled myself a little, but it hasn't diminished my enjoyment in the slightest.

[Ideofago]

Spoiler:

It's a strange dilemma, to spoil or to watch someone get their hopes up.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Spoiler:

It's a strange dilemma, to spoil or to watch someone get their hopes up.

I already spoiled myself on that one specifically.

[Mattias]

Watched the Revue Starlight movie after watching the recap movie (To refresh my memory and for the new scenes setting up this new movie), it was spectacular and very well done. Not sure I grasp everything yet, but that's why I'm planning a rewatch of the whole show and both movies. Very interesting and fascinating movie. Goddamn. I'm impressed

THe Movie is new content? I thought it was just all recap movies so I skipped them.

[bassgs435]

The first movie is the recap (With a few extra Nana scenes that lead into setting up the second) and the second one that just came out in BD is completely new content

[Laserman]

I finished D.Gray-Man volume 4. I like how having his eye injured let Allen experience what it's like being Exorcist normally. You don't know who your enemy because they disguised as human beings. Because of that, they have to suspect anyone of being an Akuma. The coats they wear make them easily identifiable, challenging the Akuma to come at them. Allen just felt so afraid being in those because he didn't know if the people around him were human. If it wasn't for Lavi, he'd would have been shot by first Akuma that attacked them.

Apparently "the secret history of the world" and the Bookmen themselves are going to be a big part of the story. There's also a reason why Lavi wears a eyepatch over his eye that will be revealed eventually. Though Katsura Hoshino had a little doubt if the story was going to last that long, hah.

Komui wanted to talk to Bookman about the Noah, which only the Bookmen would have information on.

After that the search for the Generals begins.

Here's what gets me though, General Yeeger was killed by Tykki. He's supposed to the most experienced General with an Innocence synchronization rate of over 100%. So how did he lose when General Cross made fighting him look so easy?

Krory also debuted in this volume too, and he's one of my favorite characters in D.Gray-Man.

[bassgs435]

Tekkaman Blade II over. As I feared, this is a sequel that didn't need to exist. It's not BAD, but Blade ends so strong this feels very unnecessary. It doesn't help we time skip way too much and lots of things like D-boy being recovered or what happend to Noal or other members of Blade's cast isn't answered., or that it's left open for the conflict to continue, in contrast with the perfect conclusion to Blade.
That said, it looks really pretty since it's 6 OVAs instead of 49 TV episodes. It's the best anything Tekkaman Blade related looks outside of the very short Blade specials (Twin Blood and Burning Clock). It's a shame about the timeskip because there's a 5 minute trailer for a project that'd connect Blade to Blade II, named Missing Link. But the trailer is all there is, sadly. As the project had to be cancelled for some reason or other and never materialized. Now I wish I knew japanese to know how SRW W handles having both Blade and Blade II.

[bassgs435]

Prism Ark over. Another show I watched because Obari. Apparently an adaptation for an untranslated eroge. The anime didn't get to the end and I wonder if I'd be interested in the game without the visuals Obari and his team bring here. I liked how the show was done, even if it needed another season. Fun cast, interesting reveals at the end, even if it's also "go read the VN" ending and a good job on direction and animation from Obari and his team. Pretty fun watch

[Kamera]

Just finished reading Shut Hell. It's not for the faint heart, but it's understandable given that one of the major character is freaking Genghis Khan. Overall a pretty awesome historical manga.

[Laserman]

D.Gray-Man Volume 5:

Spoiler:

So the egos that the Akuma gain from evolving to Level 2 aren't the same as the soul that powers them. This just confirms that.

I find it funny that Krory had to walk with a flattened arm until he finds another Akuma. The way he blows up his mansion when decides to join the Black Order is so cool. He's also based on a actor/singer whose name is Yusuke Santamaria.

Allen's eye can now detect Akuma 300 yards away, he can control it, and now when his eye detects an Akuma, he can make it's soul visible to anyone else. Lavi said he used to think that he'd like having an eye like Allen's, but after having seen an Akuma's soul for the first time, he's not so sure anymore. He lost his appetite because of it and said that the world Allen's eye sees is hell on Earth.


Another thing I figured out was that Tykki's Portugeuse of all things. I would never have guessed that at all.


I love the detail of Eeze trying to give Allen the medal Tykki gave him, because he saw Allen with one just like it. And how it showed General Yeeger's name on it at the end, that just made it so much worse.

General Tiedoll upon learning Daiya's death drew a quick sketch of his hometown and burned it, sending up to him in heaven... His Anti-Akuma Weapon was so cool too. It was a bell that he kicked like a ball and when it went into an Akuma, the ringing from the bell came out of the first Akuma and destroyed any surrounding ones along with the first.


The big question I had at the beginning of this was answered too. 6 Exorcists were killed by having their organs removed, but with no external injuries... 148 Finders were killed, that's where all the graves came from.


After counting that amount and thanking them for their service, one of the Finder asked Komui if they could send their friend that was like a father to them remain's back to his family.

Komui then quickly told him that his body and all of the bodies were to be cremated and not to tell any of the families what happened to them because there's no way to guarantee they won't become Akuma. If their families learn of their deaths, wouldn't they want to bring them back? For the sake of the world, they have to disappear. Komui might be the funny haha man most of the time, but he's still the Chief in charge. He has to enforce rules like that, and that can't be easy.


Suman becoming a Fallen One is shown in this volume too. He was a pretty cool guy in the anime, but he didn't get any time to shine in the manga though... His Innocence was a Parasite-Type like Allen's that shot out concentrated air blasts from his arm.

The structure of the Black Order is interesting too. At the top, you have the Grand Generals who are above the Generals and the Generals who normally would have Exorcists under them often go out on solo missions so the Exorcists day-to-day orders mostly come from Komui. There's a part that says that there might be covert group in the Active Services section along with the Exorcists...

Then you have the Chief who is the brains of the Order and several Branch Chiefs who head several branches of the the Black Order around the world in Asia, the Middle East, North America, South America, Africa, and Oceania. And then there's the different departments of the Order that are each led by a Section Chief including the Science, Logistics, Security, Diplomacy, Medical, Signal, Intelligence departments.


This is also the point the anime stopped at for me for a long time, several years. Them setting sail for Edo, which was renamed into Tokyo later, that's something else new I learned. The only thing I did was watch the third opening for the next season and wonder how all those things happened until the other seasons were released. Ask anyone around back then and they'll tell you I was very happy about the other seasons coming out. This is also as much as I read before, so I'm excited for the next volumes.

[RoydGolden]

Been rewatching the Babylonia anime with my dad. Just realized how odd the "waving a white flag in surrender" moment in ep 3 was. Like, Ishtar says the line, that's fine, it's presumably not a Mesopotamian saying but no one would expect that level of period-accurate dialogue anyways. But then Siduri clearly doesn't get it, which muddles the whole thing. Like, is Ishtar legit using a phrase from the future for some reason and if so does that imply the rest of the dialogue is meant to be period-accurate? Normally time-travel in the distant past stories tend to either assume a universal translator or that the dialogue isn't actually what the characters would be saying diegetically, but this makes things weirdly ambiguous. A really minor nitpick I'm aware but it's just something that occurred to me when considering that line.

[Comun]

Read the first chapter of Sakuratetsu Taiwahen and immediately understood why Jump was so quick to axe it.

[SirGauoftheSquareTable]

Been rewatching the Babylonia anime with my dad. Just realized how odd the "waving a white flag in surrender" moment in ep 3 was. Like, Ishtar says the line, that's fine, it's presumably not a Mesopotamian saying but no one would expect that level of period-accurate dialogue anyways. But then Siduri clearly doesn't get it, which muddles the whole thing. Like, is Ishtar legit using a phrase from the future for some reason and if so does that imply the rest of the dialogue is meant to be period-accurate? Normally time-travel in the distant past stories tend to either assume a universal translator or that the dialogue isn't actually what the characters would be saying diegetically, but this makes things weirdly ambiguous. A really minor nitpick I'm aware but it's just something that occurred to me when considering that line.

You must have a cool dad to watch anime with, my dude. Pretty lucky.

[RoydGolden]

You must have a cool dad to watch anime with, my dude. Pretty lucky.

Ha, appreciate it man. I think Magi on Netflix was the first anime we watched together and we've both been into it ever since. I definitely am aware to "curate" what shows and episodes we watch together to keep away from overly fanservicey/niche stuff (I think the belly-dancing festival ep in Suisei No Gargantia was probably the most fanservicey thing we both watched, which was a little awkward) but overall it's been pretty good to be able to share interests with a family member since I'm otherwise fairly private about the things I like.

[bassgs435]

Been rewatching the Babylonia anime with my dad. Just realized how odd the "waving a white flag in surrender" moment in ep 3 was. Like, Ishtar says the line, that's fine, it's presumably not a Mesopotamian saying but no one would expect that level of period-accurate dialogue anyways. But then Siduri clearly doesn't get it, which muddles the whole thing. Like, is Ishtar legit using a phrase from the future for some reason and if so does that imply the rest of the dialogue is meant to be period-accurate? Normally time-travel in the distant past stories tend to either assume a universal translator or that the dialogue isn't actually what the characters would be saying diegetically, but this makes things weirdly ambiguous. A really minor nitpick I'm aware but it's just something that occurred to me when considering that line.

Pseudoservant personalities are a mix of the actual servant and their vessel (In this case, Rin Tohsaka), so it's possible Ishtar saying a sentence she shouldn't know what it means is because of influence from Rin.

[RoydGolden]

Pseudoservant personalities are a mix of the actual servant and their vessel (In this case, Rin Tohsaka), so it's possible Ishtar saying a sentence she shouldn't know what it means is because of influence from Rin.

I figured it might've been as such but it still kind of does muddle the assumption that characters in the past can all mutually understand each other, since I doubt that was the only period-inappropriate saying that gets used in the show.