Current watch list:
- Mashle: Muscles and Magic - Absolutely phenomenal. It’s hilarious from start to finish.
- Hell’s Paradise - Really good. Bit dark, but enjoyable.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury - “and then it got worse” the anime. Really good, but man does it start getting depressing after a while when the punches to the gut just will not stop coming, but this is a Gundam, so that should be expected.
- Dead Mount Death Play - The anime with the weird name that’s surprisingly good. Not what I was expecting at all, particularly given the description, but it’s been really good and every episode I’ve enjoyed more than the previous one.
- I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled in The Real World, Too - The anime with a name that’s way too long. Fun watch, basic power fantasy type thing. Not amazing, but just a solid enjoyable watch.
- The Aristocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure: Serving Gods Who Go Too Far - Yet another Isekai power fantasy thing. It’s fun but ultimately just fluff. Watch it, enjoy it, continue on with your day.
- Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear: Punch - Basically same as the last one, but this time seasoned with some moe and mild yuri themes (also this is season two, season one was the same name but without the Punch sub-title).
- Edens Zero - Have you seen Fairy Tail? Do you want to see it again? Because this is by the same guy and he even recycled most of the characters. Seriously this is just “Fairy Tale in SPAAAAAACE!”. If you liked Fairy Tale, you’ll probably like this, if not I’d steer clear.
- Summoned to Another World for a Second Time - And we’re back to fluff power fantasy isekai. It’s fun, but it’s like the junk food of the anime world.
- In Another World With My Smartphone - Just like the last one, but even more junk food-ish. Seriously, this is not very well written and if you’re looking for something intelligent best go look elsewhere.
There were a couple other series I started to watch, but I couldn’t bring myself to continue watching:
- KamiKatsu: Working for God in a Godless World - So much ecchi content, and one of the main characters is a loli that strips at the drop of a hat. Oh, and it’s an isekai of course.
- The Legendary Hero is Dead - Once again, this is just a vehicle for ecchi content. Making it even worse the MC is complete scum with absolutely no redeeming qualities, at least not in the first few episodes I actually managed to sit through.
Only watching a couple of things right now.
Demon Slayer Season 4 - I have enjoyed this tremendously. The battle with the Upper Rank #4 in particular has been incredible to me. I admit I’m not a fan of the every other episode is also a tragic backstory, but I understand it’s part of the genre.
Mashle - Watching this on the elliptical at the gym. Loving the taking the piss out of Harry Potter vibes. Once Punch Man meets Harry Potter and I love it. They are keeping it goofy enough to enjoy on a much lighter level than other things. cough cough tragic backstories
I didn’t even know Demon Slayer had started again. Thanx!
And only a few episodes left already! It’s been a great arc. But they should have called it Hashira Tragic Backstory Arc.
All caught up! The Hashiras are awesome! All of them have really interesting personalities/backstories/motivations. Never judge a book: I thought Sound Hashira was going to be lame based soley on his design but he’s actually amazing. I like how he was the only one able to “walk it off” after last season’s climactic battle.
And Mist Hashira soloing an Upper Rank? Goosebumps…
What the anime does well is how it makes you feel sympathy for (most of) the demons. They really are wretched creatures who were just unlucky in life.
The Muzan/Michael Jackson thing is hilarious too imho but it seems like they’re toning it down this season…
My Hero Academia. As a fan of DC Comics and Superhero stuff in general, I’ve been having a great time!
Watching Cyberpunk Edgerunners, which is much better than I was expecting and am enjoying a lot. Add that to Castlevania and Arcane in the list of “shockingly good Netflix video game adaptions”.
Also watching Lupin III part 4, which is a bit of a mixed bag in terms of writing, but I like the characters and its fun enough.
Really enjoyed Castlevania and Arcane. Haven’t finished Cyberpunk yet. I enjoy it but I think it was a bit overhyped. I think Trese is next up on our Netflix anime list.
Hell’s Paradise. I’m loving it.
Here’s my currently watching list. No spoilers.
- Dr. Stone: New World - third season of Dr. Stone. Still the same “nerdy shonen” vibe, only in a bigger scale, and still fun to watch even if you read the manga.
- Kimetsu no Yaiba: Katanakaji no Sato-hen - a bit disappointing if you’ve read the manga, specially in the audio, but still enjoyable.
- Edomae Elf - slice of life about an elf worshipped as a god in modern Japan, and her interactions with the miko… and barely anyone else because Elda the elf is a shy shut-in. Episodes are mostly self-contained, and often contain historical trivia about Japan in Edo times.
- Kaminaki Sekai no Kamisama Katsudou - the protagonist is the son of a cultist who hates his dad’s cult. He dies and gets reincarnated into another world that has no gods, and… if I say more I’m going to spoil it, so TL;DR: watch it if you’re in a really weird vibe.
No one has mentioned DR stone yet, I’m keeping up with season 3. I’ve read the whole manga and can say with some certainty that its going to be a real gem if they can keep the production quality up all the way to the end.
/raises hand I did!
The pacing in the manga is sometimes too fast, but I’ve noticed that they’re slowing it down a tiny bit in the anime. And the series is overall exciting, it has all the good points of shonen and isekai without the common cons (as “MY POWER LEVEL IS 10¹⁹ NOW, YOU 10¹⁸ SCRUB!” or “MY GUILD RANK IS SSSSSS DIAMOND ORICHALCUM UNOBTANIUM!”). Although I’m a bit biased to speak about Dr. Stone, as the underlying science is more than enough to make it fun for me.
Fully agree on production quality - if they keep it the anime will become a classic.
Vinland Saga quickly rose to my top 5. Season 2 is so damn good
That’s in my “plan to watch” list. Is the first season good too?
Without spoiling anything, the first season is super good and has a lot of great action. But season 1 is more like the “prologue” and action dies down in season 2, as it’s more of a slow build. Season one got me interested, season 2 got me hooked.
Edit: to clarify, the show isn’t really about battles/action, but it is very much included. If thats what you’re looking for, season 2 might disappoint you
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I just finished Space Pirate Captain Harlock, and I thought it was a fun watch! I liked the art and direction a lot, and I felt the animation still had quite strong moments despite the show’s age. Unfortunately, the sound quality was not great. I read somewhere that this is a common problem with Toei Animation’s older VHS releases. Thankfully, I didn’t find it too distracting. There were a lot of flashing lights as well, which I could have done without.
About the plot (tried to avoid spoilers but, y'know, proceed at your own risk)
The show itself, to me, mostly seems to be about masculinity and what it means to be a man. This is most clearly reflected in Harlock’s relationship with Daiba. Daiba, being a young man who has been deeply hurt and had his famiy taken from him, yearns for revenge, and often acts rashly because of it. Harlock takes on a role model position for him, steering him in the right direction and being a hand on his shoulder, teaching him how best to act in certain situations. Harlock refines Daiba’s fighting spirit, provides him with someone to look to for example, all while allowing him the freedom to make mistakes and choose his own path.
Speaking of freedom, this is another central theme of Space Pirate Captain Harlock. The Arcadia and it’s crew takes on an anarchistic nature, each person living for their own ideals, yet working together to achieve and maintain this small society they share. There’s very little hierarchy aboard the Arcadia: the crew serves under Harlock, but all of them by choice. He’s only a leader in the sense that he’s deeply respected by his crewmates. They stand directly at odds with the Earth government and it’s people, who have exported all of their labor and sit comfortably upon a planet they’ve destroyed. The Jolly Roger flown above the ship is frequently described as the flag of freedom, and that shared belief in freedom is what ties them all together.
Personally, I thought it was great. I loved the dynamics between the various characters, and I thought the drama around the state of the Earth was really interesting. Even aside from the more meaty drama, I had fun just taking in the less deep moments. Harlock is just such a classic anime cool guy, I always thought it was a good time seeing some perilous situation and then Harlock does a Cool Thing and the day is saved.
Other than that, I had been watching Gintama’, but it’s been on pause for a while. I have really mixed feelings about Gintama, when it’s funny it’s really funny, but when it’s not it’s… well, it’s really not. I can enjoy immature humor sometimes, but there’s a limit to that, and Gintama goes waaay over that limit. Combine that with the show being downright offensive at times, and it just made it difficult to watch. I made it through the first part by just watching a few episodes and then taking breaks to avoid getting burnt out, but even then, I’m like 210 episodes in and still not even halfway done, so I’m kinda losing motivation to even watch for the parts I like.
Next up to watch is either Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory or Revolutionary Girl Utena, depending on whether or not my wife would like to watch with me.
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Just finished the Blue Exorcist series on Netflix. It was fun but I feel like I’m missing a prior movie or season or something. Would definitely watch more content from this series.
The Saga of Tanya the Evil - rewatching again, loved the series and the story.
Raeliana. I’ve read the manhwa and I love the couple. It’s refreshingly different from most of the romance mold.
I’ve been watching Vinland Saga and I love it
