Anime/Manga - Discuss Japanese cartoons and comics here; NO CULTURE WAR DOOMPOSTING!

[Stanley Ipkiss]

I've started reading Slam Dunk. I'm currently at vol 7 (of the most recent edition) and after almost 2000 pages of story I still don't know if Hanamichi has a family. Does he have parents, siblings, or he's an orphan? Does he even have a house? Or he just lives on campus, is he a creature that can only manifest itself inside an educational institution? A mystery that has still to be solved...

Edit: typos

Spoiler

IIRC that never gets answered but I'd be surprised if you still cared by the middle of the story

That being said read it to the end. It's fucking amazing.

So I happened to be watching a video on Japanese cyberpunk, and it mentioned an anime called Kaiji - which Squid Game was based off of.

This was news to me, so I'm going to check it out. Is this another case of Korea ripping off Japan because they can't create anything original on their own?

He also took inspiration from the manga Liar Game. Pretty good read. You can see the inspiration for the MC there.


If you're really into that genre of story I'd also recommend "Life is Money". It's heavy as fuck though and goes way beyond "rich people use poor's as entertainment". Actually uses it as a backdrop for some deeper ideas.

 

[Argrabius]

Someone is trying to get me to watch kings game, is it any good.

Also just saw a few episodes of the handyman isekai, very wholesome, good format (1-4 minute non chronological snips of either the main cast or a side character) and I like the character gimmicks (the idea of a senile wizard who needs to be reminded how to cast his spells is very fun)

 

[Commander X]

stupid autistic asa

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

View attachment 4649179

 Chainsaw Man femcel and Bocchi posting makes me hopeful for anime memes again.

 

[Tism the Return II]

So I happened to be watching a video on Japanese cyberpunk, and it mentioned an anime called Kaiji - which Squid Game was based off of.

This was news to me, so I'm going to check it out. Is this another case of Korea ripping off Japan because they can't create anything original on their own?

Squid Game desperately wishes it was half as kino as Kaiji.

 

[Jonah Hill poster]

New Nagatoro just dropped:



Unlike the last chapter which was slightly raunchy, this one had the slightest unexpected twist. Now, Naoto is laying the ground rules.

This reminds me of the last chapter of Kanojo mo Kanojo:



As far as unexpected twists go, it seems as if my favorite romance mangas are getting into dramatic moments in the smart way possible. I see that Nanashi and Hiroyuki are not trying to let the cat out of the bag really quickly, but I really want to see what happens next for these two.

 

[The Fair Lady]

Felt like rereading the Trigun manga and wow there were so many things I forgot, including the tranny villain.

 

[XYZpdq Jr.]

Found this fun looking photo on 4chan’s /a/ board after news came out that Leiji Matsumoto passed away:

View attachment 4590501

It’s an actual old photo that probably dates back to the 80’s (or early 90’s) where these group of individuals cosplayed as the crew of the fictional members for Captain Harlock and the Galaxy Express 999

Someone then compared it to the animated original:

View attachment 4590526

Granted it is with a few members, but this is the one thing that I miss about seeing anime fans back in the 80’s and 90’s — they actually look like they care for the source material and are looking like they really have fun hanging out with friends and the like with like minded interests, while not being based on gimmicks or trends that will be long forgotten by the end of the week, or if lucky, the end of the month.

You don’t really see that now these days with current day anime fans, and it says a lot about how much has changed in almost 30-40+ years.

ZEEK PRIDE WORLDWIDE

Finally got around to finishing Ideon and Be Invoked and I can safely say that it is both my favorite thing and my least favorite Tomino thing that I've saw so far (haven't got around to Zeta I wanted to watch this first). The TV show could really have been like 24 episodes instead of 39 and that's stretching it. There's a lot of parts that are just kind of meh and the plot doesn't pick up until like 70% through the TV series. Be Invoked makes all of the tedious and boring episodes way fucking worth it. The OST (which is made by the dude who does all the Dragon Quest music) is phenomenal and easily the best part of the TV series minus the last 30% of it. Cosmos ni Kimi to is and will be stuck in my head for a very long time.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=mRsNrGqPl2g

I recall marathoning Ideon while starting on FF11, Cosmos ni Kimi is very "hoist your beer" song for me
Ideon TV is a bit too long, but it still works out in the end.

Been watching Lain, has been fucking with my mind but I love it so far

the fun part is when you find out how much of Lain is sorta real

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_of_the_Lambda_Calculus

 

[HexFag]

Watching the new Urusei Yatsura is depressing because while it isnt awful, there are just too many little things that this version doesn't have that the original DOES have that make it hard to recommend it over the old one. The new episode (drunk Lum as of this post)'s equivalent in the original had an insert song called Margarita and it was probably one of my favorite songs off of the extensive OST that the series has. I just wish the new adaptation would go out of their way to do cool things like this once and a while. It would make it stand out a whole lot more. I also wish the remake had more than 5 songs in the OST. I know the original sometimes reused songs as well, but there were some real gems that were used once and a while that made the original that much more special. It might not be fair to compare a 19 episode show to a 200+ episode anime with 6 movies but fuck it.

Spoiler: some examples of the OG OST just being better

New Nagatoro just dropped:

View attachment 4651246View attachment 4651249

Unlike the last chapter which was slightly raunchy, this one had the slightest unexpected twist. Now, Naoto is laying the ground rules.

This reminds me of the last chapter of Kanojo mo Kanojo:

View attachment 4651270View attachment 4651273

As far as unexpected twists go, it seems as if my favorite romance mangas are getting into dramatic moments in the smart way possible. I see that Nanashi and Hiroyuki are not trying to let the cat out of the bag really quickly, but I really want to see what happens next for these two.

God all I can think about is the seethe coming from /a/ when this chapter was being dropped. Nanashi is going to have to sleep with one eye open.

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

Watching the new Urusei Yatsura is depressing because while it isnt awful, there are just too many little things that this version doesn't have that the original DOES have that make it hard to recommend it over the old one. The new episode (drunk Lum as of this post)'s equivalent in the original had an insert song called Margarita and it was probably one of my favorite songs off of the extensive OST that the series has. I just wish the new adaptation would go out of their way to do cool things like this once and a while. It would make it stand out a whole lot more. I also wish the remake had more than 5 songs in the OST. I know the original sometimes reused songs as well, but there were some real gems that were used once and a while that made the original that much more special. It might not be fair to compare a 19 episode show to a 200+ episode anime with 6 movies but fuck it.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=CXMcLOWqT0Q

Spoiler: some examples of the OG OST just being better

https://youtube.com/watch?v=8ymxFFu4_Fwhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=X8pNzCFvLishttps://youtube.com/watch?v=HKqY2-a-b_shttps://youtube.com/watch?v=4BIzfqHjH14https://youtube.com/watch?v=cIfOzLRhzOwhttps://youtube.com/watch?v=imUpBW3JVMghttps://youtube.com/watch?v=NNWSO7H1ZiA

God all I can think about is the seethe coming from /a/ when this chapter was being dropped. Nanashi is going to have to sleep with one eye open.

Yeah the OG Urusei Yatsura had a great soundtrack. Ranma would have their own albums a decade later.

 

[ZMOT]

The reason is the pedo panic in the USA in the 80's that pretty much made it a taboo for men to say they like cute things that aren't animals.

Only for it to later be updated with "it's okay when fags and whores do it", despite them being massively more of a threat to kids well being.

does it really go that far back? to me it feels that's some shit that come up the last 10 years like a lot of other retardation. "oh, you think that's cute or adorable? WELL THAT MEANS YOU WANT TO FUCK YOU IT YOU PEDO". that's some hardcore deflection/projection which makes me more suspicious of whoever replies with a cope like that.

and that's before going into how retarded mixing reality with fiction is. kids are fucking boring, if not outright annoying. guess what they aren't in moeshit?

Anyways MiA is great despite the probable insertion of the author's fetishes.

tbh I didn't even get pedo vibes from it (only watched S1 and never read the manga, but I know it goes into more detail), MiA is such a bundle of joy it simply disappears next to all the other fucked up shit that happens in it. dunno what people expect when tuskushi especially chose borderline chibi-characters to juxtapose the traumbait.

The difference IMO seems more normal somewhat adjusted weebs are able to explain why they like a moe/whatever show because of the show itself, borderline schizos like digi are only able explain why its "good" because of its genre.

cause it's fun and makes you laugh (same for shonen or anything else), that's why it's called entertainment. doesn't take anymore than that, and anyone who says so is a tryhard who needs to touch some grass.

 

[TheOtherSideofMakeBelieve]

tbh I didn't even get pedo vibes from it (only watched S1 and never read the manga, but I know it goes into more detail), MiA is such a bundle of joy it simply disappears next to all the other fucked up shit that happens in it. dunno what people expect when tuskushi especially chose borderline chibi-characters to juxtapose the traumbait.

Two of the more common fetishes amongst pedophiles are pee and poo because abused children tend to start messing themselves as a defense mechanism (and later in life they tend to be overweight, just anything to make themselves less attractive). Riko pisses herself twice in S1 and she ends up with diarrhea at some point too. It's not exactly subtle, but it's restrained enough in S1 that I was able to overlook it as maybe not being a fetish. What was harder to overlook was Reg getting an erection while petting/sniffing Nanachi, but maybe it was just a raunchy joke

The movie just kinda gives up on plausible deniability though. To start with, Bondrewd's facility is basically a pedophile power fantasy and most blatantly there's a scene where Reg is captured and being examined/experimented on. During the process he's stripped and strapped to a chair. They cut him and he starts screaming and pisses himself, at which point the five guys working on him get extremely excited and all move in to stare at his dick. That was the point where I just had to say "Man, this series is great but I wish the author wasn't blatantly a pedophile." The manga being worse in these regards just makes it, well, worse

Pretty much the only excuse I could accept for this stuff would be along the lines of "I was abused as a kid and having these kids end up in similar situations, fight their way through it, and come out stronger on the other side is my coping mechanism." Anything else, even "I just thought it was funny," is completely unacceptable for me

 

[vern]

cause it's fun and makes you laugh (same for shonen or anything else), that's why it's called entertainment. doesn't take anymore than that, and anyone who says so is a tryhard who needs to touch some grass.

Agree but I swear fags like digi get to the point where they don't actually like the shows they talk about but just like it because its made by x studio are in y genre and therefore good. Moviebob's another good example of this, I swear he'll claim anything under the marvel/Disney banner is the next best film of the year.

 

[Gravityqueen4life]

anyone read a manga called "i want to punch a girl"? seems to be about some guy who ends up punching a girl at the end of the chapter, everytime she rejects him or makes fun of him. seems like something Eliot Rodgers would enjoy unironically.

 

[PS1gamenwatch]

I checked out this one shot from late 2000s called Otome no Sainou how it starts




How would today's "audience" and activists take this today?

 

[ZMOT]

Pretty much the only excuse I could accept for this stuff would be along the lines of "I was abused as a kid and having these kids end up in similar situations, fight their way through it, and come out stronger on the other side is my coping mechanism." Anything else, even "I just thought it was funny," is completely unacceptable for me

like I said only seen S1, and the only pissing I remember there is when riko's poisoned - where they try to amputate her hand by breaking it off. I don't think most people associate peeing herself in that moment with something else (if they even know how it correlates), nor find it fun (I hope).
it felt more like some weird ryona fetish than anything else tbh...

 

[melty]

Against my better judgement, I've been watching Trigun Stampede. I'm a huge nostalgiafag for the old anime, though I only ever read 1-2 volume of the manga.

Spoiler: Trigun sperging

So far I've had mostly mixed feelings about it - some things are done well, there are some nice character moments, and the animation is growing on me.
But after episode 5 I'm leaning toward a negative opinion. It feels like they are just changing things to be edgy and they don't really make sense. I don't see the point of the kid's story other than to make Vash look bad, and to have a big reveal with emotional impact, which feels unearned. The original story with Monev was fine, and it seems like they're just trying to make it edgier and more shocking.

Vash comes across as way more incompetent in this version, which deprives him of a lot of his nuance as a character. Vash's appeal is that he looks and acts like a dork, he's a ridiculous pacifist, he's been in love with a dead woman for over 100 years, but he can back up his wacky behavior and philosophy because he's just that freaking good. In this one, he's an idealistic dork that can't back it up; Vash loses a lot of his charm when he just takes L after L, doing nothing useful and being vaguely sad all the time. The character of Vash is one of the strongest and most unique aspects of the original Trigun, and so far, it's been diluted in this adaptation. It's like his entire frame as a character has been shifted and I'm not confident that there's a good reason for this.

A lot of stuff is really hamfisted too, like the opening with Roberto explaining to Meryl what a Plant is? Why wouldn't she know that? That's like explaining what computers are to an adult.

Overall my impression is leaning toward this is just another gritty reboot trying to milk nostsalgia for the original series, without the stuff people really liked.

Another thing is that it feels like more a mish-mash of other franchises rolled into one, instead of its own thing. This could be because "wild west, but in space" is played out, but I recognize heavy elements taken from Dune, Star Wars, Firefly, and a few other shows.

After all that, I still don't hate it and I'm trying to give it a chance because some stuff is done really well and it gives me hope. I fear that this is going to be another Star Trek: Picard though, where they shit all over an established franchise with a grimdark reboot that slanders as many beloved characters as possible.

 

[Xenomorphs Are Cute]

Speaking of Trigun Stampede, I just found out some days ago that Nu-Meryl's VA Sakura Ando, actually did almost nude scenes in a film called Shoplifters.

 

[God of Nothing]

Speaking of Trigun Stampede, I just found out some days ago that Nu-Meryl's VA Sakura Ando, actually did almost nude scenes in a film called Shoplifters.

bare ass, boobs but no nips
7/10

 

[The Fair Lady]

I'm also watching Stampede despite my initial negative impression and don't actually hate it. It seems to have a very mixed reception in general.

Spoiler

Having just reread the manga, it's evident that they're trying to borrow some of its darker elements and push them even further for max angst appeal. Vash is definitely more incompetent and I guess that could be intentional if they're trying to sell him as pitifully as possible in this adaptation. Monev being the kid was a bizarre choice and the way Wolfwood killed him was basically a lazy rehash of Zazie's death in the OG anime. If they include the whole hair darkening thing from Maximum, then the series is only going to get even more grimdark and I'm not sure how I feel about that. As I addressed before, I don't hate Stampede and am trying to respect that it's just a different adaptation, but it really does look like it's going down the darker and edgier route.