The Syndicate

Dr. Stone shouldn't be good but it's so fun to read for some reason.

This week's chapter was amazing... and it was about cotton candy.

Another manga worth mentioning is Katekyo Hitman Reborn... as long as you drop it at the end of the Varia arc (chapter 135 according to research). It wraps up the story in a nice pink bow and it is pretty solid up to that point.

The rest should be treated like season 2 onwards of Heroes. They don't exist. If you read them, get ready for the worst ending Ive ever seen in a manga.

I like to believe I dropped Fairy Tail and Toriko at the right points.

Quin wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 10:38 pm

Dragon D. Luffy wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:13 pm There is another light novel I read currently, it's called Grimgar. This one is about an RPG game (apparently most Japanese LNs are about that theme). It has an anime that covers the first 2 books, and then it has another 9 books.

It's different from most fantasy stories because it's realistic as fuck, for all it is. It's about teenagers who have no training or skills being made to fight monsters, and the realistic results from that (read: death, poverty and drama).

The anime is great, the LN is a little inferior. Like dialogue is pretty bad, but the way battles are described is even better than seeing it animated, and the main plot is still good. You have a party of weak adventurers who have to use strategy to survive in a videogame setting and the story describes their effort with a lot of detail.

I wasn't too big on Grimgar, though I don't read manga/LN's so maybe it's more in depth. The art was great but I just had so many unanswered questions or things that left me wanting. Maybe a second season would be good in that respect.

Well it is incomplete because it's not over. But the books do a better job at hinting that there is an major plot going on, with some scenes at the start and end of each book. While the anime skipped those scenes because they tried to tell a more complete story, I think.

[mention]Avito[/mention]

Steins Gate is beautiful.

First 5 episodes or so are a drag, then it becomes great, then around ep. 12 it becomes amazing and it's a roler coaster of epicness and drama until the end. Best time travel story I know.

- 20th Century Boys: Conspiracy story with tons of characters and a long plot that spans half a century. Has 200-300 chapters.
- Monster: From the same creator of 20CB (Naoki Urasawa). Another conspiracy story. I didn't finish it, but everyone loves so maybe give it a try. Has about 150 chapters I think. Actually anything from this author is solid.
- Shaman King: shounen manga, but plays some tropes in unexpected ways. Anime had a truncated ending, manga is better. Has about 300 chapters.
- Black Cat: good fighting manga about former hitmen from a world dominating organization who turned into bounty hunters. Has a lot less fighting and more character development than I expected. Has about 200 chapters.
- History's Strongest DIsciple Kenichi: best fighting manga I know. It's solid all the way through except the final arc which is rushed. Has almost 600 chapters tho.
- Assassination Classroom: you heard of this one already lol. Has like... 180 chapters? Pretty great school story with a fantastical element and a big cast that is surprisingly well developed. Similar to Hero Academia in some ways.
- Soul Eater: fighting manga with some weird gothic elements and character design, not very intelligent but very fun and different enough. Has about 120 chapters.

Soul Eater's anime had a truncated ending too. 20CB doesn't have an anime afaik, but Monster does. Kenichi had an anime but I'm not sure how far it goes. Assassination has an anime, not sure if it's good. Black Cat probably doesn't have one, it's not really well known but it's one of my favorites.

speedchuck wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:28 pm Dragon D. Luffy I'll have to try that out.

Sooooo

I've seen like 30+ animes. But I've never read a single volume of manga, just light novels (Haruhi and Baccano and DRRR). Assuming that I want to try a good manga, what would be a good starter? Keep in mind that I don't want to spend literally all of the moneys on it either.

linki: I'll get to that in a second.

Eh it's hard to say, I usually treat manga and anime as the same thing. I'll often read manga whose anime adaptions turned bad or were bad to begin with. Though nowadays I've been skipping anime altogether and going straight to manga since its easier to read it weekly.

Also I read most of it online (read: pirated) since there isn't really easy access to the latest chapters where I live. The only ones I buy are One Piece, and that LN I mentioned above.

Right now I'm reading 7 manga: One Piece, Hero Academia, Hunter x Hunter, Dr. Stone, Shingeki no Kyojin, Tokyo Ghoul and Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai. Some of them have animes (I absolutely recommend the anime for Hero Academia), but some animes are bad or in hiatus or non-existant.

If you check any manga from that Top 10 I posted in the other thread there are great stuff.

G-Man wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:26 pm Is there any way to ease into the world of anime? For instance, what are some quality feature-length anime films I can test the waters with? My wife and I have watched every Disney animated film made except for Coco and Cars 3, so that more or less informs our understanding/biases of the animation genre.

I'm not into films tbh. Though stuff from Hayao Miyazaki is the most popular. I've only watched one film from him, though (Spirited Away).

Though if you don't mind serial stuff, there are some anime that are pretty fun, not TOO long and have stories that don't insult your intelligence. Death Note is usually recommended for anime starters for that reason, or Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood.

There is another light novel I read currently, it's called Grimgar. This one is about an RPG game (apparently most Japanese LNs are about that theme). It has an anime that covers the first 2 books, and then it has another 9 books.

It's different from most fantasy stories because it's realistic as fuck, for all it is. It's about teenagers who have no training or skills being made to fight monsters, and the realistic results from that (read: death, poverty and drama).

The anime is great, the LN is a little inferior. Like dialogue is pretty bad, but the way battles are described is even better than seeing it animated, and the main plot is still good. You have a party of weak adventurers who have to use strategy to survive in a videogame setting and the story describes their effort with a lot of detail.

speedchuck wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 12:02 pm

Dragon D. Luffy wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 11:54 am other plots that were building up went nowhere and the ending was not satisfying.

The other plot of Izaya's, about 'starting a war in Ikebukuro', continues to be a thing later on. But the problem is, there are two kinds of climaxes. Durarara has character climaxes, especially near the end of the second season. Things come to a head, and all of the main (and even side) characters have their arcs culminate in something that MEANS something to them. For one person, it might be holding back a driving hatred that they've never been able to control. For another, it might be breaking free of an escalating desire to experience danger. For another, it might be saving life for the first time instead of destroying it, or being faced with a choice that they've been putting off. (I'm being super vague, these things are more dramatic than they sound.)

But as far as the epic 'war' and 'battle' and 'death' climaxes, Durarara just doesn't do that. Life goes on. Very few people over the course of the series die, and those that die generally don't have names. Many of the climaxes result in de-escalation, which can feel like a cop-out. Those that were trying for war and conflict fail, and peace ends up undercutting the conflict before it resolves in full-on violence.

So it's not for everyone. It's not for people that seek plot.

I get it, but that's the thing, it's the bad adaptation. We have like 10 episodes of Izaya giggling in his office about what he is going to do and in the end nothing happens. If instead something character-related happened like you describe it would be fine, but it doesn't even do that. Some of the cast gets the character arcs, some don't, and the season feels incomplete. And it took like 5 years for them to make another season so that's the lasting impression it gave me.

Season 2 might fix it, though the way you describe it covering 10 books in 12 episodes scares me for different reasons.

Tomorrow is Shonen Jump day and I'm reading 4 mangas from it I might start reviewing the chapters here.

speedchuck wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 11:36 am

Dragon D. Luffy wrote: ↑Thu Mar 29, 2018 9:14 am Of those I only watched Durarara. Didn't like it that much (the plot kind of drags in the second half of season 1). Haven't watched the new season though.

On the one hand, Season 1 adapts 3 books, with loads of filler thrown in. Season 2 is only 12 episodes longer, and it adapts 10 books. So pacing changes quite a lot.

On the other hand, Durarara!! is really, at heart, a slice of life type anime (With Dullahan's, cursed swords, mafia, and other weirdos). I love it to pieces because of the characters, their development, and the moments that happen along the way. But I can see how people wouldn't like it, due to the lack of concentrated plot.

I'm currently reading book 9 of 13, and have been reading them as they were translated. The translation is just okay, with mediocre prose, but I like seeing the character moments that got skipped in the second season's fast pace.

I think it wasn't as much pacing, but the fact the story's structure was kind of messy. It spend the season half building up to something big, involving Izaya and that scientist girl whose name I forgot, and in the end the only thing it solved was the war between the three factions. That plot itself was well done, but other plots that were building up went nowhere and the ending was not satisfying.

I think this is more of a problem with adaption quality than the original story itself.

I might read the novel, maybe.

That said, I love the opening song:

This is a topic for discussing the genre of Eastern animation, comics and books that is usually labeled as "Anime and Manga".