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Gainax just has this style man, I thought this was directed 1:1 like NGE before the credits reveal, and it makes so much sense.
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Makes me think of Mahoromatic too.
 
That is why I didn't read it either. I think a work should either stand on its own or not at all.
I agree. I did read it and, while I didn't think it was bad at all, it should have been integrated into the manga. It could still be done, most people who read it will do so after they finish the manga anyway.

I get the distinct feeling that Kana going to the directors house was so that they could take a moment to have a plot point about how sleazy some directors are and how unfair paparazzi can be. On the other hand they needed to show Kana in danger so we could understand Aqua's priorities better, which kind of harkens back to what we were talking about earlier with Aqua's obvious affection towards Kana and his unwillingness to be as awful as he knows he needs to be.
I understand that, and it does move the plot forward, I just didn't like how it came to be handled in the end. Kana should have left the instant the director made his intentions clear, the paparazzo would have still taken her picture and written his article. And she shouldn't have agreed to star in his film later, that especially I don't understand. She got a role in Aqua's film, so it can't be chalked up to her desperately wanting a role, any role. We could say she's just young and naive but meeting the paparazzo had already made her realise her mistake.

Otherwise I agree, the incident is good both for Kana to realise where her priorities lie and for Aqua to show how much he truly cares about Kana. But I think it would have still worked if it was cut short, because like this the manga is saying (not on purpose I assume) that the sleazy guy who wanted to take advantage of a desperate girl wasn't bad at all and there is nothing wrong with working with such people in the future.

Despite all I've said I still like the manga, the characters and the stuff about the entertainment industry especially. It's just that when you like something you can't help but also feel frustrated with it at times.
 
It's just that when you like something you can't help but also feel frustrated with it at times.
I think this really sums up my feelings on the matter. With Oshi No Ko I feel like for every two things I like, there's something I dislike or think doesn't make sense.

I like Aqua's constant critique from Crow Girl being that he doesn't have the will to kill his dad.

I like the small details that Aqua is still studying for a life after a revenge plot indicating that he doesn't expect to be dead or in jail.

I like that the revenge plot was just to force Hikaru to know that he played a hand in destroying the one person he ever cared about, and if he hadn't done that, she had extended him an olive branch that might have given him the life and love he'd been cheated on, and that, that ultimately breaks him.

Unfortunately:
I really dislike that despite all the good elements leading into Aqua's revenge, it still feels rushed and cheap somehow.

I don't like that Hikaru's character is as sympathetic or evil and the story needs him to be at any given time. Sometimes he's a serial killer. Sometimes he's a victim of molestation who's just been damaged. Sometimes he wants to kill his kids. Sometimes he seems like he really likes them.

Nino exists and is apparently super relevant to everything despite not really being mentioned until the last arc.
 
Nameless goons are also portrayed there as semi-competent at the very least and not utterly powereless/braindead, which is a rather rare thing in fictional media dealing with the supernatural. Manga has some cool-looking scenes too:

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For all the things I liked about the series the anti-Ajin had to be the coolest. Spec ops troops who go up against a seemingly unstoppable supernatural threat and live to tell the tale. The manga sells it well enough that it doesn't even feel like plot armor.
 
I like the small details that Aqua is still studying for a life after a revenge plot indicating that he doesn't expect to be dead or in jail.
This one I like very much too.

Nino exists and is apparently super relevant to everything despite not really being mentioned until the last arc.
I trust you have read the latest chapter. Now it turns out she was also Ryosuke's girlfriend. The same guy who killed Ai for being unfaithful to her fans was unfaithful to his girlfriend. I suppose such hypocrites do exist in real life, but when it comes to minor characters it seems that the less you know about them the more effective they are. And it looks like the twist of the twist is that Hikaru really was a deranged serial killer. But that one doesn't upset me, he is a gifted actor so it makes sense that he managed to fool Aqua into letting him go and his previous actions don't feel that inconsistent anymore.
 
I trust you have read the latest chapter.
Unfortunately.
The same guy who killed Ai for being unfaithful to her fans was unfaithful to his girlfriend. I suppose such hypocrites do exist in real life, but when it comes to minor characters it seems that the less you know about them the more effective they are.
Part of what makes this dumb is now we have to add caveats to things. Ryosuke who was dating Nino, for some reason took it super personally that Ai got pregnant, and then at Nino's urging murdered her over it? Which causes some problems. Clearly Ryosuke knows that Idols have secret relationships because he's fucking in one with one.

It also cheapens Ai's death as an effect. The big spoiler for Ryosuke that caused him to commit suicide was that Ai remembered who he was even as a nameless faceless fan and it made him feel guilty. Well that doesn't make any fucking sense anymore because he wasn't some rando stalker. He was her friend's boyfriend. The two knew each other.
Hikaru really was a deranged serial killer. But that one doesn't upset me, he is a gifted actor so it makes sense that he managed to fool Aqua into letting him go and his previous actions don't feel that inconsistent anymore.
My only problem with this is the idea that Aqua of all people can't see through it. Hikaru being the secret realist master mind of all time is fine until you realize to get to the Aqua/Hikaru meeting, Aqua, Ruby, Ichigo, Akane, and Miyako all had to just not call the police on Hikaru at any given point or take any precautions.

It literally requires every single character, who have ranged between moderately to highly intelligent to just not do anything logical so that Hikaru can get away and then Aqua who clearly got notified of Hikaru's being where he is, decided to come alone to deal with him.
 
I wish Adult Swim would have done more with The Big O iirc they had greenlight for 2 more seasons. Instead they shit on every anime and put tim and eric on. Its all so tiresome.

Has anyone else checked out the new Dark Souls manga? I read the first chapter and skimmed the rest of the volume at the bookstore. I don't know how to feel about it yet, but I do like all the 3 volumes of elden ring already released in the west.
 
Gainax just has this style man, I thought this was directed 1:1 like NGE before the credits reveal, and it makes so much sense.
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Makes me think of Mahoromatic too.
His and Her Circumstances is really entertaining for like, 80% of the run. Then it kinda falls apart after the mangaka and Anno got into a fight over the tone of the adaptation (Anno focused on the humor while the author wanted them to stick to relationship drama), they resort to traditional Gainax cost-saving measures like clip shows and slideshow animation while they try to sort it out, and then it just ends when they can't. I enjoyed it throughout, and it doesn't end badly, but you can tell the exact moment when troubles began.

It's like Mahoromatic in that way; it's pretty good for most of the series, if a little gear-spinning at times, up until the Gainax ending. The downgrade from cel animation in the first season to digital in the second also hurts it.
 
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