The new anime and manga thread! [Use Spoiler Tags!]

[drahkon]

My mate recommended the Jujutsu Kaisen anime to me.

I read a few chapters quite some time ago but found the drawing style to be way too messy and confusing.
The anime is a lot better in that regard.

 

[Ike]

Suzume is available to stream on Crunchyroll: https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GP5HJ8425

[darksnowman]

4 hours ago, Ike said:

Suzume is available to stream on Crunchyroll: https://www.crunchyroll.com/series/GP5HJ8425

Remember seeing Suzume at the flicks. Thought it was pretty decent!

[Ike]

Dandadan anime officially announced!

The manga is really good, would recommend.

[bob]

I watched Pluto, having seen Julius give it a recommendation (he said it was superb, which i think counts)

 

It WAS good. Although the ending was a bit *hand-wavey* and silly. All the same, it was an engaging story with some interesting themes.

 

 

 

 

I didn't like how Pluto defeated Bora using some Deus Ex Machina 'peltier effect' rubbish. He somehow summoned his broken limbs back and rejoined them (using robot magic?) and then negated the anti-proton bomb and the heat of molten lava using the Peltier effect?! Made no sense and none of which had been alluded to previously.

 

 

 

 

 edit: something keeps deleted my spoiler tags

 

 

 

 

 

[bob]

It's time for my yearly rant at how terrible Crunchyroll is!

I decided enough time had passed for me to look into watching the final Attack on Titan episodes, as by now they will have surely dubbed them into English, and sure enough, the dubbed version of Season Four: Part 2: Part 1: Chapter 1 is listed on their website! Woohoo!
Now, I didn't particularly want to pay for a month of CrunchyRoll only to watch two episodes (even if they are over an hour long each), so I decided to sign up for a 14 day free trial, which was fine.
The issue arose when i tried to turn the subtitles on (i watch the show while i'm doing the washing up and sterilising bottles, so it gets quite loud and i like to be able to read what they're saying). Crunchyroll informs me that there are no subtitles available for these episodes...what? How can there not be any subtitles available - you have the option of watching the episode in Japanese - with subtitles. Why can't you just put those subtitles on the damn dubbed version?!

Anyway, I persevered with no subtitles, and discovered to my dismay that there is no dubbed version of Season Four: Part 2: Part 2: Chapters 3-5, because they haven't dubbed it yet. Fucks sake. I realise that's not Crunchyrolls fault, but how long does it take to read out a few lines of dialogue and line them roughly up to the video?

So i watched the second half in Japanese with subtitles, because i'm not doing all this again in January when they finally finish it.

[ spoiler="As for the ending itself" ]It was a bit crap, wasn't it?

I did enjoy the final battle, and having all the titans from history come back out of the bones of the founder was quite cool, i suppose, but the actual ending where the rumbling happened, and then they had a little chat with Eren after he'd died (because he'd erased their memory of them talking until after he died(?), where he basically said that he had to kill 80% of humanity because he'd seen the future and that's the way it had to happen....or something. Bit meh.
Mikasa carrying around his decapitated head was just weird.

Even after hundreds of episodes, I still found it confusing to tell some of the characters apart - not sure if I get some sort of temporary face blindness, or if I just hate the art style, but I maintain that all of the characters look too similar. At one point, Armin appeared in the Path world (or whatever it was called, and he was crouching over the body of a small blonde boy, who I swear was also Armin, telling him to wake up. Who was that? I have no idea.

And when Mikasa is imagining a future where she ran off to live in a cabin instead of staying and fighting, she was shacked up with some tall, dark-haired dude who I assumed was just some new character, but it turned out to be Eren?! Cut Eren's long, straggly hair short, and he could literally be anyone.

If I had to rate the series as a whole, it would probably be:

Animation - action scenes: 10/10
Animation - people and faces: 1/10
Concept: 10/10
Plot: 6/10
Music: 10/10

Overall: 7.5/10
[ /spoiler ]



I apologise if my spoiler tags don't work - Tapatalk doesn't seem to register them.

[FalcoLombardi]

Blue Eye Samurai (Netflix) was great in case anyone has interest.

[EEVILMURRAY]

On 12/12/2023 at 9:26 AM, bob said:

I watched Pluto, having seen Julius give it a recommendation (he said it was superb, which i think counts)

It WAS good. Although the ending was a bit *hand-wavey* and silly. All the same, it was an engaging story with some interesting themes.

 

  Hide contents

I didn't like how Pluto defeated Bora using some Deus Ex Machina 'peltier effect' rubbish. He somehow summoned his broken limbs back and rejoined them (using robot magic?) and then negated the anti-proton bomb and the heat of molten lava using the Peltier effect?! Made no sense and none of which had been alluded to previously.

 

I finally finished it yesterday, it certainly went up its own arse towards the end, complete with some inner-psychological-waffle that Evangelion made oh-so popular. It all started to get a bit muddled with who was/wasn't a robot and why, but from what I gathered after all the back and forth, was some foreign dude was mad about a war and decided to go on an assassination campaign before destroying the world with a foetus bomb.

I have no idea why they decided to swap out Gesicht for Atom as our hero of the hour. He was just annoying throughout whereas Gesicht was interesting and the investigation angle was compelling.

 

And what was the bear?!

[Julius]

50 minutes ago, EEVILMURRAY said:

And what was the bear?!

Spoiler

The bear was the supercomputer AI "Teddy" Roosevelt, basically responsible for the United States (of Thracia) going to war with Persia, as the AI seized the opportunity and preyed on the president's anxieties while using him as a spearhead. 

Gesicht. 

Spoiler

Worth remembering that this is essentially an adaptation/retelling of an Astro Boy arc.

While I certainly found much more enjoyment spending time with Gesicht through the course of the show, in terms of story, it makes complete sense that he, as a detective, has fulfilled his role in the story once he has figured out the plot – Atom took over at the end for when things got more nonsensical, action-heavy, and more like a show for kids (because, well, Astro Boy). 

Curious if you've watched Monster? I really enjoyed the anime adaptation of Pluto, but I really feel like Monster is where Urasawa's character writing and story planning gets to be shown off best, without the constraints of paying respect and homage to another great's work and with a comparatively much longer time to spend with it's characters. It's a very slow burn, mind you! 

[EEVILMURRAY]

1 hour ago, Julius said:

  Goldilocks (Reveal hidden contents)

The bear was the supercomputer AI "Teddy" Roosevelt, basically responsible for the United States (of Thracia) going to war with Persia, as the AI seized the opportunity and preyed on the president's anxieties while using him as a spearhead. 

Gesicht. 

  Dun dun dunnnnnnn (Hide contents)

Worth remembering that this is essentially an adaptation/retelling of an Astro Boy arc.

While I certainly found much more enjoyment spending time with Gesicht through the course of the show, in terms of story, it makes complete sense that he, as a detective, has fulfilled his role in the story once he has figured out the plot – Atom took over at the end for when things got more nonsensical, action-heavy, and more like a show for kids (because, well, Astro Boy). 

Curious if you've watched Monster? I really enjoyed the anime adaptation of Pluto, but I really feel like Monster is where Urasawa's character writing and story planning gets to be shown off best, without the constraints of paying respect and homage to another great's work and with a comparatively much longer time to spend with it's characters. It's a very slow burn, mind you! 

Your bear thing in spoiler tag didn't seem to translate into the quote above... this system is most temperamental... but was any of that ever explained/hinted? I only recall constant mention of the survey team, which seemed to do anything but.

I've never watched Astro Boy, but the resemblance was not lost on me, however I didn't think it was related.

Spoiler

I would initially disagree that because the case had been revealed, Gesicht was surplus to the plot. Especially since he's been shown to kick ass and has a nice gun arm, it would've been nice to see him slap on some cuffs and bake 'em away toys... Whereas Atom just chatted whimsical bollocks (until he got a personality makeover and became Cell Saga SSJ2 Gohan).

Even pacifist Epsilon had more action going for him, but they made him pussy out at the last minute. 

 

But with your Astro Boy thing, it makes more sense they'd get everyone else out of the way so their poster boy can take credit.

I haven't watched Monster, looking at the Wikipedia it says it's 72 episodes, so probably never will

I've been slipping with the anime, I finally finished second season of Goblin Slayer, slowly working through latest Dr Stone. I did start My Daemon, but CGI anime always seems to stutter, which I find jarring and really confusing how this happens, I would expect it to be really smooth.

[Ike]

Some classic DragonBall action. Actually looking forward to this.

[Ike]

Crunchyroll finally making Dragon Ball, Z, GT & Kai available to stream in the UK soon.

Quote

The Dragon Ball catalog on Crunchyroll is expanding! Crunchyroll has announced that over 800 episodes of Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball GT and more will soon stream on the service in the United Kingdom and France—kicking off with the original Dragon Ball series in English sub, English dub, French sub and French dub on February 9.

 

https://www.crunchyroll.com/news/announcements/2024/2/5/crunchyroll-dragon-ball-series-streaming-united-kingdom

[Julius]

7 minutes ago, Ike said:

Crunchyroll finally making Dragon Ball, Z, GT & Kai available to stream in the UK soon.

FINALLY!!! I've been on the fence about starting Dragon Ball for ages, and I'd honestly given up hope of it coming over here, and yet here we are  tying into the Year of the Dragon is a sublime piece of marketing, too. 

I'll start with Dragon Ball, but what's the general vibe on watching Z vs watching Kai? I see a lot of discussion about it, so curious if anyone here has a strong preference they'd like to push  wondering if I'd be missing out on much by cutting out the filler and going with Kai?

[Jonnas]

38 minutes ago, Julius said:

I'll start with Dragon Ball, but what's the general vibe on watching Z vs watching Kai? I see a lot of discussion about it, so curious if anyone here has a strong preference they'd like to push  wondering if I'd be missing out on much by cutting out the filler and going with Kai?

Excellent choice! OG Dragon Ball is so fun to watch.

Regarding Kai, the filler doesn't just extend to episodes or mini-arcs, there are full minutes of silence, flashbacks, or even imagine spots, in the original Z that just... fill episodes with nothing. Sure, sometimes there's proper tension, but the pace is far slower than what anybody remembers. On the flip-side, the mini-arcs and episodes of filler that DO exist in the original are actually very entertaining.

That said, the original Z does have the original score, as well as uncensored violence. Those are pretty important, too. Finally, I don't think the entire Buu arc was ever adapted to Kai, so there's that (and to be fair, the Buu arc is far better about those Z issues I mentioned. It's a much brisker pace, that arc)

[Ike]

23 hours ago, Julius said:

but what's the general vibe on watching Z vs watching Kai?

I'd say just go for whether you want to experience the full thing or save some time. Kai has a better dub if you prefer dub, although I'd recommend watching the sub. Kai cut the driving lesson filler episode which is required viewing so you need to go watch that separate.

22 hours ago, Jonnas said:

I don't think the entire Buu arc was ever adapted to Kai

They did (eventually), I don't think they cut that much, if anything at all, except the Japanese release which had fewer episodes.

[Hero-of-Time]

4 minutes ago, Ike said:

I'd say just go for whether you want to experience the full thing or save some time. Kai has a better dub if you prefer dub, although I'd recommend watching the sub. Kai cut the driving lesson filler episode which is required viewing so you need to go watch that separate.

They did (eventually), I don't think they cut that much, if anything at all, except the Japanese release which had fewer episodes.

Very true. It's criminal it was cut. It's one of funniest episodes of Z. Although I did find the baseball episode of Super funnier. 

Amazing. 

[Julius]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts @Jonnas and @Ike, think you've convinced me that watching Z is probably the best way to go about it for me  got to imagine if I ever rewatch it that going from Z to the shorter Kai would help too.

Let's be honest though, this was the real turning point:

4 hours ago, Ike said:

I'd say just go for whether you want to experience the full thing or save some time. Kai has a better dub if you prefer dub, although I'd recommend watching the sub. Kai cut the driving lesson filler episode which is required viewing so you need to go watch that separate.

So, I hate that I already knew about the driving lesson episode, and I hate even more that it sounds EXACTLY like it's up my alley. It being exclusive to Z seals the deal I think 

[EEVILMURRAY]

The only thing I would ever say about DBZ filler which would never be needed is the Garlic Jnr Saga. The rest is all essential viewing. 

[EEVILMURRAY]

We all knew it was coming, but I've just got an email from Funimation that they're closing their service on 2nd April and going fully over to Crunchyroll. I currently pay for the no-ads subscription, but if that price goes up I shall cancel and endure advertisements. 

[bob]

We all knew it was coming, but I've just got an email from Funimation that they're closing their service on 2nd April and going fully over to Crunchyroll. I currently pay for the no-ads subscription, but if that price goes up I shall cancel and endure advertisements. 

Are you sure? Crunchyroll make it their mission to have the worst ads of all time.

After watching the same advert four times in a row, I'm ready to give up and pay anything to make it stop.

[EEVILMURRAY]

8 hours ago, bob said:

Are you sure? Crunchyroll make it their mission to have the worst ads of all time.

After watching the same advert four times in a row, I'm ready to give up and pay anything to make it stop.

Lemme know how much you have to pay, currently it's just a fiver

[Ike]

8 hours ago, bob said:

Are you sure? Crunchyroll make it their mission to have the worst ads of all time.

After watching the same advert four times in a row, I'm ready to give up and pay anything to make it stop.

To be fair, the FUNImation site did that too. That's if it decided it wanted to load the ads and not get stuck loading.

[Happenstance]

Thinking about picking up the Vinland Saga manga now that the deluxe editions are starting to come out. Anyone read it?

[Julius]

16 minutes ago, Happenstance said:

Thinking about picking up the Vinland Saga manga now that the deluxe editions are starting to come out. Anyone read it?

I haven't read the manga but I have watched the two seasons of the show released so far, and it's been superb.

It's one of those lovely cases where everything I've heard about the manga compared to the anime suggests that any differences are miniscule, and so it really is just a preference for how you'd like to approach experiencing such an awesome story! 

[Julius]

While I'll get to DB and DBZ at some point, I did have a shortlist of shows I wanted to watch this year, and even if I had known that DB and DBZ were coming to Crunchyroll over here (finally), the show I started yesterday probably still would've taken precedence. 

And that show is YuYu Hakusho. 

(Smile Bomb is an S-tier anime opening song, fight me)

I'm only six episodes in, so there's a very, very long way to go, but I already love it. The power system is starting to get introduced (Yusuke just got access to the Spirit Gun) and definitely sounds on the surface like a prototype for Nen from HxH, which makes perfect sense considering this was also created by Togashi. 

Favourite characters so far are probably Botan and, well, Kuwabara. He's given me major Goro from Shenmue vibes, and every time he walks on screen I can't help but hear the Yokosuka Blues in the back of my head 

Can't wait to see where this goes, and very excited to get to the Dark Tournament arc – similar to hearing about the Chimera Ant arc ahead of watching HxH, I know nothing about it besides it's name and that it's widely considered one of the best tournament arcs in anime.

And I do love me a good tournament arc