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

[Julius]

Makoto Shinkai's next film, Suzume no Tojimari, is scheduled to release 11th November 2022 in Japan (so probably early 2023 most other places? And probably a limited run in LA before the year is up to qualify for the Oscars next year), and has also had a new teaser trailer and teaser visual released: 

Quote

Suzume, a 17-year-old girl who lives in a quiet town in Kyushu, encounters a traveling young man who tells her "I'm looking for a door."

She follows after him and discovers a weathered door in the ruins in the mountains, as if it were the only thing left standing from a colapse. As if drawn by something, Suzume reaches for the door...

Before long, doors begin to open one after another in various parts of Japan. As disasters come from the far side of the doors, the open doors must be closed. The stars, the setting sun, and the morning sky-in that place she wandered into, there was a sky that seemingly blended all of time together. Guided by the mysterious doors, Suzume's "door-locking journey" begins.

Not too crazy a theory about how this could tie into Your Name, but I'll stick it in a spoiler tag just in case:

Spoiler

Am I the only who think Suzume straight up looks exactly how you'd expect Taki and Mitsuha's kid to look, if they had one? There's also the bracelet tied around her left wrist which looks very similar to how Taki tied Mitsuha's ribbon around his wrist in Your Name. 

Also of note is that, depending on where in the world you're situated, the date before this latest update, 8th April 2022, is the date that Taki and Mitsuha cross paths again in Tokyo - and for the first time physically - at the end of Your Name. 

This wait should be fun 

Edited April 20, 2022 by Julius

[drahkon]

Netflix says Your Name is a "swoonworthy, intimate, romantic anime". Aside from "anime" I don't really enjoy the other stuff in a movie  Would I like it then?

[Julius]

14 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Netflix says Your Name is a "swoonworthy, intimate, romantic anime". Aside from "anime" I don't really enjoy the other stuff in a movie  Would I like it then?

Like you I'm also not the type to go out seeking those things in films, but I think they're honestly laying it on a bit thick there: while romance is definitely a part of the film, it's handled differently than you'd expect based on those descriptors (it's no Notebook), and I think at its core it's more of a coming-of-age story. 

It's best to go in knowing as little as possible, and not overhyped on it, but I'd recommend checking it out - personally, I'm a big fan of it. Aside from it's story and characters, it's got what are probably some of the most gorgeous visuals I've seen in anime (alongside Violet Evergarden), and it has a stellar soundtrack, so I think it's worth checking out for those reasons alone - just look at it! 

[Sméagol]

Looking forward to it! In this case I'm sure a distributor over here will pick it up for a cinema release, that said, I don't know how quick they'll be (but I hope very quick). If I had the money I'd buy a ticket to Japan.

That said.. The dimensional door premise is doing my head in haha. I saw a anime shortfilm a long time ago, about a person who traveled to other places using a mysterious door. That's all I can remember, and I desperately want to find out what it was and see it again.. So this reminded me of it once again.

[Kav]

One Piece episode 1015 (Roof Piece)… tears in my eyes man, possibly the best episode of anything I’ve ever watched, it improved on the manga in absolutely every way!

Wow!

[Julius]

Huh, never gave my final thoughts on Attack on Titan: Final Season - Part 2, but in short: first half of the season up until the end of Episode 6 was monstrously good, as in, in a vacuum I think that might be one of the most concentrated and consistent stretches of amazingly high quality writing in an anime series that I've watched. It really was just banger of an episode after banger of an episode. Music, OPs and EDs were awesome once again, and Wit picked up where they left with Part 1 in terms of animation, even pretty noticeably improving the CG quality of its titans. 

Unfortunately, I really think the second half of the season waned in comparison, and they really did just spend the latter 6 episodes setting up the next part of the story...which we then found out we wouldn't be getting for another year with the announcement of Part 3. It felt like a double blow because of this, and while I'm excited for it, I'm not excited by the prospect of having to hide from manga spoilers for yet another year. I also think the second half of Part 2 has pacing which will make sense in terms of the three Parts of the Final Season overall, but again, in a vacuum of where we finished, I think it's a weaker place to leave us than even where Part 1 left us last year. 

A practically flawless and almost peerless first half of the season simply let down by the pacing half of the second season and the fact we have to wait another year means this is a 9/10 for me. 

In the week before Part 2 finished, I went back and watched the second season of Kaguya-sama: Love is War after loving the first. It's genuinely one of the funniest anime I've watched that doesn't feel like it's trying too hard to be funny, the cast of characters are all completely relatable and loveable, and man, there are just a few too many times where I got thinking back to my high school experience and was facepalming realising how many times these sorts of things happened to me and my friends. 

Excellent and pretty short, can't recommend it enough, and it's nothing if not consistent in quality from start to finish. Yeah, another 9/10. 

As part of my Ghibli rewatch of all the films that I'm doing this year to get to some of the ones I haven't, I watched Grave of the Fireflies for only the second time; my first time was with my family, and this time I watched it alone.

This film makes your soul bleed, and as an older brother...hoo boy. I used to never cry or get remotely emotional watching movies, but as I've got older and branched out, I've found myself finding more and more films which cut the onions for me, so to speak. Knowing that this is based on a book, and what's more an entire book which is a positive spin on the actual events, just really hurts. 

While the film does a great job of depicting the tragedy of war, more than I could the first time (again, watching it alone this time), I really picked up on how this is less a story about war, and more about Seita, the older brother and the one responsible for Setsuko, choosing pride over logic, and making poor decision after poor decision for the time he was in. Sure, some people around him were asshats, but a bunch of the kind people were screaming at him to let go of his pride and do the dutiful thing. As someone watching this for the first time on the other side of their teenage years, I think this film untangled a whole lot of pain for me when I reflect on those simpler but also really complicated times. 

Had this film down as an 8/10 before, but now it's a 9/10 for me, and some of Ghibli's more serious watches I feel need that second and maybe even third viewing to understand the film and what it's trying to say a bit better; I had a similar experience with The Wind Rises. 

I won't be watching this film again for a long while. 

Anyways, back to loving Wit. I watched Ranking of Kings in a couple of days after waiting what felt like a seriously long time from it's announcement to its final episode being aired, and I absolutely adored it. Some will say it's very Ghibli-esque, and while I don't disagree, I think the strength of this show in its simplicity: it feels like you're watching the stories your parents read to you as a kid. This is compounded by its exceptionally beautiful art style, Wit absolutely killed it with the animation (let's pretend to be shocked about this), the soundtrack is heartfelt with two amazing OPs (the first one captures the tone of the show perfectly, while the second is more a , and the story, while at times feeling like it's trying to overcomplicate things (and there are so many fakeout deaths it's kind of funny), is just pure joy from start to finish. 

Prince Bojji is looked down upon by his people, as a mute and powerless child, first son to the strongest king in the Ranking of Kings. While not physically strong, though, he is strong of heart and will, and once he finds someone who believes in him, past traumas and future hopes and dreams are brought to life as a sinister presence emerges from the shadows. 

This show is about bonds: it's about the people we love, the people we should hate, and the power of forgiveness and moving on. If you want to feel like a kid once again, I will scream from the rooftops for you to watch this show. Bojji is one of my favourite protagonists in recent times. 

9/10 

Finally, I'm watching Spy x Family. It's only three episodes deep so far but it's awesome, combining Wit's and Cloverworks' astounding animation work depicting a spy forming a family to complete a mission, with the hilariousness of something like Love is War, and this is down to having one of the cutest - and definitely most expressive - kids in an anime I've ever seen: Anya. I mean, what would you expect to happen when a spy meets a telepath who loves a show about spies and adorably manipulates situations with every chance she gets? 

Adorable 

And thus ends the post where I give everything a 9/10! 

Edited April 26, 2022 by Julius

[Glen-i]

No, I haven't accidentally clicked this thread, snapped to the comment box, and typed all this without realising where I am. I am here to actually talk about an anime I watched.
You'd think with all the JRPG's I snarf down, I'd be more keen on it, but nah. Not my thing 99% of the time. I think I've been here once before, but that was to talk about an anime with a hilarious English dub that doesn't stick to the source material one bit. The name of that escapes me. Coincidentally, the only Dragon Ball I enjoy is the abridged series by Team Four Star. So you can be certain of just how far my anime-critiquing credentials go.

But this time, the N-Europe equivalent of a Triple Rainbow is here to talk about a more serious anime. I'm sure some of you have already talked about this, but this thread is 93 pages long!

Yeah, I can't be bothered...

My cousin, @Ugh first aid, loves anime, but she knows me well enough to not recommend me everything she likes. So when she suggested that I should give Beastars a shot, I kinda had to. It must be at least entertaining enough for her to recommend it to me. And what 90's kid doesn't dig some anthopormorphic animal stuff? Should be a fun time.

OK, maybe don't show it to the 90's version of me then? Still, violence is cool and all, I can deal with...

Quote

Includes sexual scenes

Ah... OK... I'd post the "This better not awaken something in me" GIF, but I've already used three pictures. Now, I'm no prude, but there's a certain, let's go with "audience", that immediately jumped to my mind when that content warning came up. And shut up! I'm not the only one. Don't even try to deny it! Kink shaming is not cool and all, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit to giving my cousin a glance that could only be described as "You sure about this?".

I don't know why I'm even bothering with a synopsis when the chances are, that most of you are aware of it, but here goes.
This show mostly focuses on Legosi, a teenage wolf going through high school. He has atrocious posture, and zero social skills. Kinda like me, now that I think about it. Oh, and the series opens up with him almost eating a fellow student, so maybe not like me, after all.

You see, Beastars isn't quite the kind of funny animal show where animals act like humans that you'd see all the time in kids programming, there's an underlying hint of feralness to everyone here. Simply put, carnivores like Legosi have a built-in, inherent urge to eat herbivores. That's illegal, you see, so carnivores have to spend their life suppressing that basic instinct. I mentioned a fellow student a little while ago. She's a rabbit called Haru, and Legosi starts to develop a crush on her, which is the only reason he doesn't follow through on his instincts and kill her at the start. So Legosi has to deal with the conflicting feelings of love for Haru, and his feral wolf heritage screaming "Rabbits are nummy!" at him.

Meanwhile, a different student is not so lucky, because he's killed and eaten by a carnivore, leading to a murder investigation taking place in the school and driving an obvious wedge between the carnivore and herbivore students. And as the series progresses, it becomes more and more apparent that, while the outside world would prefer everyone to get along, it is really not that simple. Quite frankly, for the first time ever, if I was offered a way to go to a world full of cool, anthropormorphic animals like the program I just watched, I'd give it a hard pass. That universe blows, it'd be awful to live there.

And yet, for that very reason, I pretty rapidly became compelled in the series, especially when more and more evidence of this world's problems emerged (The black market comes to mind). There's a constant uneasiness to everything, because you quickly realise that at any moment, one of those funny looking animals could just snap and go feral. When that does happen, which it will, the show does a good job of really expressing that. Speaking of that, I have to praise the animation on show. I don't have much of a barometer for animation quality in anime, so I'm not sure what the standard is these days, but everything looks like it has a real weight to it, especially in fight scenes. There's some really weird and experimental framing going on as well. I dig it. Top notch!

I've watched both seasons now, and I preferred the second one. The focus on what happened to that murdered student was more interesting then the first season's focus on Legosi and Haru's relationship. Not to say I didn't enjoy the first season, they're both good. Oh, and Legosi is an entertaining protagonist. You do feel for the poor guy, even when you're laughing at his sheer, unbridled, awkwardness when interacting with others.

Season 1 has by far the better intro sequence, though. That song is a proper bop!

Smashing stop-motion animation there, Gromit! I didn't skip that once! The second intro ditches that for more standard anime fare, and while fine, I didn't bother watching it every time.

So yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say. I hope a Season 3 happens, but with Netflix cancelling all sorts of shows left, right, and centre recently, who can say?

Edited April 30, 2022 by Glen-i

[Jonnas]

On 30/04/2022 at 1:49 PM, Glen-i said:

I hope a Season 3 happens, but with Netflix cancelling all sorts of shows left, right, and centre recently, who can say?

I don't think Beastars is made by Netflix, only distributed by them. So I doubt they have a say on the series' future either way.

[Julius]

Yeah Beastars is great @Glen-i, glad to hear you liked it! Personally I preferred the first season to the second season, as I think it handled it's mystery a bit better, but I still enjoyed it. And yeah, the S1 OP is an awesome piece of art unto itself, shame they didn't stick with that style for S2's! 

On 30/04/2022 at 1:49 PM, Glen-i said:

So yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say. I hope a Season 3 happens, but with Netflix cancelling all sorts of shows left, right, and centre recently, who can say?

You're in luck, as it was announced back in July of last year:

 

And then they said it was the final season...

 

...which seems to have caused some concern for manga readers, as apparently what's left in the manga after S2 is basically half of the story - could be a longer season or potentially a Part 1 and Part 2 scenario? Who knows  

This Twitter thread from Paru Itagaki (the creator of Beastars) adds a bit to the confusion too:

I haven't following Netflix's show cancellations too closely, but I don't recall seeing any anime shows they're licensing being on the chopping block (which makes sense, the entire industry has been growing almost exponentially the last few years), not to mention that Netflix need to hold onto what little they have in the industry since Sony purchasing Crunchyroll has basically killed competition in the western market. 

But yeah, @Jonnas is right in saying that Netflix only license the show, as it's made by Studio Orange. While the anime industry has been booming, it's still extremely archaic in structure (as we'd all probably expect after seeing how Nintendo handle themselves, Japan just does things...differently): while Studio Orange create the show, they have no true ownership of it, as Netflix license the show from the production company who commissioned it, which in the case of Beastars is a pretty long list of what almost reads like a committee, and which includes Bandai and Toho. 

Edited May 1, 2022 by Julius

[Glen-i]

Well, that's reassuring then. Even if the unlikely event that Netflix doesn't license that third season were to occur, Crunchyroll would likely snap it up, and I'd get to watch it.

Edited May 2, 2022 by Glen-i

[martinist]

So I dropped a little over £100 on 8 omnibus volumes of Shaman King. Was meaning to buy this series when it was releasing but I was reading other stuff at the time.

[drahkon]

On 4/20/2022 at 10:15 AM, Julius said:

It's best to go in knowing as little as possible, and not overhyped on it, but I'd recommend checking it out

I just watched Your Name.

My goodness...what a wonderful movie  

Spoiler

I usually don't like happy endings, especially when they are as improbable as in this movie...

But the last few minutes...when Taki and Mitsuha are so close to each other...I was rooting for them to find each other and THANK THE ALMIGHTY COMET, they did  

Easily one of the best movies I've ever seen. 

Edit: Oh and:

Spoiler

The "I love you" writing...I may have shed a tear while smiling  

 

Edited May 11, 2022 by drahkon

[Julius]

On 11/05/2022 at 10:45 PM, drahkon said:

I just watched Your Name.

My goodness...what a wonderful movie  

  Your Name ending spoilers (Reveal hidden contents)

I usually don't like happy endings, especially when they are as improbable as in this movie...

But the last few minutes...when Taki and Mitsuha are so close to each other...I was rooting for them to find each other and THANK THE ALMIGHTY COMET, they did  

Easily one of the best movies I've ever seen. 

Well now you've seen it, I don't need to hold back: totally agree, glad you loved it! 

Spoiler

Yeah, it's just so different a happy ending for me, in that it feels earned? You have to go through a whole lot to get to that final scene! 

I think what I like most about this film is while it's very much a film about the relationship between Mitsuha and Taki - a romance - you are first introduced to them as coming-of-age characters in their own circles, dealing with normal teenage stuff (even when body swapping, they still act as you would expect). You get to know them, their routine, their town/city, and so you quickly find that you have this deep-rooted affection for the characters and the people in their lives. 

And then things get turned upside down completely. The genre of the film...swaps. It's not slice-of-life/body swap/comedy/coming-of-age, it's now do-or-die/teen romance/spiritual sci-fi. It's awesome, I love how it's handled. 

It sets up one of my favourite finales in film, and especially in animation. The first time I watched Your Name, I was on the edge of my seat, yelling at my TV to just let these two characters be together, which simply doesn't happen enough - so many times you watch a romantic film and you're kind of forced to watch it through, and personally, I oftentimes find at least one scene to be kind of painful to watch in that I can't help but feel it's a bit forced and cringe a little; here, these characters have earned your affection and trust, and so here you are just rooting for their love. 

It's absolutely brilliant. 

Soundtrack is also just banger after banger, RADWIMPS rule  gah I guess I'm watching Your Name again sometime soon now 

Edited May 12, 2022 by Julius

[Julius]

Season 3 of Mob Psycho lands this October 

 

[bob]

Ooooh, that reminds me, I still have season 2 to watch.

[drahkon]

Hey @Julius

You've watched the Attack on Titan anime, haven't you?
Is it completed?
Is it good?
TELL ME!

Thanks, bye.

[Julius]

17 minutes ago, drahkon said:

Hey @Julius

You've watched the Attack on Titan anime, haven't you?
Is it completed?
Is it good?
TELL ME!

Thanks, bye.

Haha hey @drahkon

It's unfortunately not complete yet, we're waiting on a third part for Season 4 which is scheduled for early next year 

It's fantastic. Like a lot of shows as long as AoT is (nearly 90 episodes now), it definitely has some dips at times, but overall I think it's great: awesome music, some really smart writing that I love that we've got much more of in Season 4, best in class animation (for a long time, in terms of action in anime, it was probably top dog), etc. 

YOU HAVE BEEN TOLD!

Kind regards and au revoir 

[Julius]

New Chainsaw Man trailer (still scheduled for later this year):

 

[drahkon]

2 hours ago, Julius said:

It's fantastic.

Ok. I trust you on this one, given that you recommended Your Name and that was brilliant

Just watched the first episode. Some stuff from the manga has come back to me. I've read quite a lot. I think I've stopped right after...

Spoiler

...the timeskip.

I remember some of the twists and turns but I'll be happy to revisit them with the anime.

[bob]

So i finished watching Attack on Titan yesterday.

Spoiler

What kind of shitty season naming is that? You literally call your season THE FINAL SEASON, and then it just fucking isn't? 

So I watched Part 1 last year sometime, but was waiting to watch Part 2 until they released a dub, because I can't be arsed to trying to read subtitles while cooking dinner and watching this at the same time. It was a nightmare trying to track down a way to watch the dubbed versions. I tried both Funimation and Crunchyroll, but neither seemed to offer the dubbed version as part of the free sign-up. So i eventually paid for a month of Crunchyroll, and even then, I couldn't select the dub version from within the app. I could only seem to find it by literally googling "AoT dubbed Crunchyroll" and clicking through via that link each time, and watching it in my browser. If they want people to pay £6 a month, they should at least make it easier to watch stuff.

Anyway, i start watching THE FINAL SEASON, and it's pretty good. I think the anime suffers from the same issues it's always had, namely that all the characters look the same with slightly different haircuts, so i keep getting confused between who is who. Also, while the animation during the fight scenes are great, they clearly save money during the other scenes by drawing the bare minimum. Look at this scene where a beloved character has just died (spoiler alert), and blonde, bowl-cut, guy is just sort of humping the air with the same two frames? A fitting send-off for poor brunette, shoulder-length girl.

The storyline though is great. My wife looks forward to me updating her on what's happened in each episode (that's what i tell myself), as it gets progressively more ridiculous. "Brown hair, green eyes is a Titan!", "Blonde girl is the female Titan!", "The Titan's become Titan's by eating other Titans!", "The wall are Titans!"

Anyway, i'm happily enjoying THE FINAL SEASON, and settling down to watch THE FINAL EPISODE of THE FINAL SEASON, while thinking they have an awful lot to get through in this short 20 minute episode....and then it just ends?! And there's another part?! And we have to wait until NEXT YEAR?!?!?

 

EDIT: Oh, shout out to this absolute banger of a song:

Such a fitting song to have as the opener to the final season of a show...

 

Edited May 17, 2022 by bob

[drahkon]

On 5/16/2022 at 7:56 PM, Julius said:

It's fantastic. Like a lot of shows as long as AoT is (nearly 90 episodes now), it definitely has some dips at times, but overall I think it's great: awesome music, some really smart writing that I love that we've got much more of in Season 4, best in class animation (for a long time, in terms of action in anime, it was probably top dog), etc. 

After the first 25 episodes I can say:
Yeah...mostly on point.

Pacing was horrible sometimes, but that has been the case in the manga, too  
Animation was awesome. The fights were a sight to behold.

Now I'll be getting to the point where I kinda just glanced over the chapters in the manga as for me it's gotten way too confusing to follow given how it was drawn. I'm having the same problem with Jujutsu Kaisen.
Here's hoping the anime will fix that problem for me  

Edit:
Oh, and we all know this is one of the best opening songs in history:

 

Edited May 18, 2022 by drahkon

[drahkon]

Attack on Titan Season 2's animation was a little lackluster. And the plot was quite boring. More fighting than big reveals. Same as in the manga  

Now I've watched the first episode of Season 3 and it looks like the intrigue, cat-and-mouse game and more reveals are being set-up. I remember a few things from the manga, but not exactly how everybody reaches these points.
And apparently I completely forgot about...

Spoiler

...Jack Kenny the Ripper.

Anyways, I assume that Season 3 will deal with...

Spoiler

...Eren learning the harden ability (hehehehe ), retaking the wall, more reveals about the royal family, reaching the basement and revealing the huge twists that there's more beyond the sea.

This is basically my knowledge from the manga so I'll probably learn something new and once Season 4 starts I'll be in uncharted territory.

Edited May 21, 2022 by drahkon

[Jonnas]

On 21/05/2022 at 11:27 AM, drahkon said:

I remember a few things from the manga, but not exactly how everybody reaches these points.

How apropos: for Season 3 Part 1, the anime kept most of the things that happened in the manga, but changed how everybody reached those points.

Edited May 22, 2022 by Jonnas

[drahkon]

I've now watched Attack on Titan's Season 3.

Pretty great, but just like the manga is has some serious pacing issues. Still, the story is awesome and now I'm in completely uncharted territory.

My one and only prediction:

Spoiler

Eren will turn into a mass murderer and is hell-bent on killing his enemies. Ethnic cleansing will commence.

 

[Julius]

HUNTER X HUNTER IS COMING BACK (for 4 new chapters) BABY! HIATUS X HIATUS NEARS ITS END! 

Confirmed by Yusuke Murata and plenty of others:

 

EDIT:

Further clarification -- likely completing a volume (note: ~10 chapters mentioned, but worth noting that it could potentially be less based on the fact that not every chapter to date is included in a volume yet). 

 

Edited May 24, 2022 by Julius