The Anime/Manga Topic

[Dragon D. Luffy]

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

[Dragon D. Luffy]

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:

[Dragon D. Luffy]

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

[speedchuck]

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.

linki: That'd be cool.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

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.

[speedchuck]

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

It should.

I'm reading the books right now. They fit most of the key scenes in there, word for word. But they don't have enough time for the characters to mull over anything.

So in season two, you see what happens, and it's like "Why is Mikado suddenly going completely insane?"

[Dragon D. Luffy]

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.

[G-Man]

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.

[speedchuck]

[mention]Dragon D. Luffy[/mention] 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.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

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.

[speedchuck]

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.

Given that anime is just Japanese animation, it depends on what part of the genre you want to visit. If you're like me, it's helpful to have a friend who watches tons of anime as a filter. Lots of anime is pretty standard, tropey, cringey, fetishy, or boring. So even once you get into anime, it might be nice to have recommendations.

Best place to start, for someone who likes Disney (GO SEE COCO IT'S GREAT), would probably be the Studio Ghibli films. They're a little bit artsy for my tastes at times, but even I consider them masterpieces. Disney actually dubbed most if not all of them. Top among my recommendations there would be Spirited Away and Howl's Moving Castle. These capture the imagination and weirdness of Japanese animation, and the high-quality English versions might help ease the transition.

Your Name is also a beautifully animated film that came out last year. From what I've seen, some of the dialogue really only works in the original language with good subtitles, but the english-dubbed version miiiight be good? Anyway, despite a couple of minor plot issues, this is one of my favorite animated movies.

Most of the anime I've seen come in serial format, so if you were asking for recommendations there I would find it a lot easier.


linki: I completely agree with DDL. Death Note and Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood are my go-to starter anime series. Death Note is 37 episodes, each 23 minutes long. FMA:B is 64 episodes long, 23 minutes each. Both are great in English.

Death Note is a story about an absurdly intelligent high-schooler who receives a notebook that lets him kill people. He then decides to purge the world of evil, while trying to avoid being caught by the world's greatest detectives (Batman not included.) The show is written very intelligently, though the second season (last 12 episodes) were a little bit rushed.

FullMetal Alchemist is a fantasy story in a world where everyone can use Alchemy like magic. I will spoil nothing. I consider this to be the most well-rounded epic story I've ever experienced, and it is in total about the length of 8 movies. I have seen it 5 or 6 times, and I am totally ready to watch it again.

If you want to see a really short anime that is good in English (and don't mind a ton of violence), try Bacanno! It's (from what I've heard, given my limited experience) basically animated Tarantino with the anime humor flair. It's pretty, it's fun, it jumps around in time like crazy, and it's set in Prohibition-Era America. 13 episodes long, 23 minutes each. (There are an extra 3 episodes that basically provide a small sequel-ish story to wrap up some characters that needed resolution, so 16 episodes total.) This is not very Disney-ish, though haha.

Hope this helps. I have other recommendations.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

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.

[speedchuck]

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.

One Piece is too long.

I might read Hero Academia... after season 3. I'm currently caught up on the anime. I need more.
Hunter x Hunter I've seen up to the end of the Election Arc.

Are there any... finished manga you'd recommend? Maybe where the anime turned out not so great?
(I don't like spoiling anime that I'm going to watch. Maybe that's why I don't read manga much. )

[Dragon D. Luffy]

- 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]

Thanks. I'll look into those.

[Quin]

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.

[Quin]

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.

Anything from Studio Ghibli for films. Spirited Away is a personal favourite. My Neighbour Totoro is another good one, especially with kids.

Death Note or Full Metal Alchemist are good series to watch, but for the latter you want FMA Brotherhood.

[Quin]

I just posted an updated Top 10 and now I'm remembering all these other shows that were incredible and I'm ashamed I forgot about them.

My Hero Academia
Gintama
Konosuba
The Monogatari series

[Epignosis]

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.

Death Note dude.

[nutella]

Yeah G definitely watch the Ghibli/Miyazaki movies!! Spirited Away and Princess Mononoke are top tier, also Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (older one but amazing). And yeah Totoro is great with kids.

I've watched quite a lot of anime myself, of lots of different genres. Some of my favorites:
- Seirei no Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit
- Steins;Gate
- Nichijou
- FMA Brotherhood
- Durarara
- March Comes In Like A Lion
- Boku no Hero Academia
- One Punch Man

among some others I'm probably forgetting

[Quin]

I'm watching March comes in Like a Lion right now. I can already tell it's gonna be a ride.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

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.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

[mention]Avito[/mention]

[Avito]

Oh the best anime for me would be FMAB
Its got everything

[speedchuck]

I just posted an updated Top 10 and now I'm remembering all these other shows that were incredible and I'm ashamed I forgot about them.

My Hero Academia
Gintama
Konosuba
The Monogatari series

I see you are a man of culture as well.

[Ricochet]

Version 2.0 of a post I started writing two hours ago, then lost, because it took me too long and I was logged off. -___-

I grew up with some anime, that ran on a German channel called RTL2 - Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, One Piece. All memorable to me either out of nostalgia or due to having been a kid.

I then mostly grew out of anime, except for stumbling during late evenings on Animax across a few episodes of Inuyasha, Yu Yu Hakusho, Blue Gender or the 25th episode from Death Note. Yes, that one.

My admiration for anime films, such as Akira, Ghost in the Shell, Perfect Blue, the Miyazakis, is more reserved than the general fanbase, although I'm slowly recovering in how to critically regard them.

Transitioned to manga - sometimes out of quality issues, such as One Piece having gone to total shit - during the time of the Big Three, out of which I liked Naruto the least, I found Bleach most exciting at least until its hollowness (no pun intended) and half-assery became indefensible, and One Piece for me is pretty much like Radiohead - I can't find much demonstrably wrong with it.

Current / ongoing mangas I regularly read:
Tokyo Ghoul (ugh)
One Punch Man (fiddling with the tropes and subverting them so well, while being a thoroughly entertaining series)
Shingeki no Kyojin (though it dropped off my radar plenty times)
Robot x Laserbeam (beats me why lol).
=== HxH and Berserk can hardly be called regular, given their intermittencies, plus never even went back to re-read them in full. ===
=== Also open new chapters of Jagaan, despite it being pretty trashy and graphic... though that may well be why. ===
=== Also open new chapters of A Trail of Blood, despite done in a style I wouldn't even say I liked, but it's one quick clickread once or twice a month, so whatevs. ===
=== DDL suggested I pick Boku no Hero to fill in the gap left by Naruto and Bleach, but it didn't stick with me. ===
=== Clicked on some Gintama around its Utsuro arc, but no way in bloody hell am I rewinding 500 other chapters that seem to be far less about anything just as serious in tone and direction. ===

Concluded series:
/ picked Toriko from its 100-something chapter onwards - felt like a Dragonball ripoff at first, after which it got pretty good, after which apparently it was attempted to rival the Big Three, failed, and was trashcanned by Shonen in worst fashion that the treatment Bleach got - seemed set for a post-timeskip, mega-saga long adventure, and then it was over 100 chapters later, with a finale twist about as low bar as how the last Twilight movie ended.
/ indulged in Fairy Tail, despite its total lack of style and measure
/ some Junji Ito
/ speedread Battle Royale, after which I picked some other battleroyale-ish series as well, like Btooom!, without going anywhere far or deep with any of them
/ DDL mentioned Soul Eater and I read that; probably liked it more than him, though it really didn't deliver with its finale
/ Deadman Wonderland.
/ I also remember having read Claymore. That was... pretty dire.
/ I seem to have picked a fair share of teen martial arts comics, in which every character is crazy OP, the protagonist usually inherits a previous craziest-of-OPs character's power or legacy, the fights are long, plenty and often inconclusive and the rest of the story revolves around forgettable subjects. Stuff like The Breaker / The Breaker: New Waves, of which I couldn't make a lick of sense, or the short-lived, never-to-be-sequeled-apparently Veritas, which was more enjoyable, because boobs and crazy fights and boobs.
/ I find Dr. Stone interesting, because I recognized its author's style from another manga called Sun Ken Rock, a sort of yakuza-ish? in which every male character was also pretty much a michelangelic sculpture of muscles and power and every female character was ecchi drool, plus also having ridiculous martial fights cut from the same cloth as The Raid movies. The author also likes to mix serious tone with countless face faults. As for Dr. Stone, I find it pretty dumb, while also trying too much to squeeze its SCIENCE topic on a chapter-by-chapter basis.

I'd also add that, if I just so happen to come upon a chapter from a series that has a darker moment or peak in its story, a shocking twist / death, it has a better chance of drawing me in. Edgy / gory / graphic deaths can also help. It happened with Akame ga Kiru during its, uhm, "head-on-a-spike" moment, though afterwards I didn't enjoy much of it at all and it had the least relatable protagonists ever. I'd also nominate Wolf Guy Ookami no Monshou in its entirety, which arrived at a perfect time in my life for a total, purely cathartic and meaningless brainfuck.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

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.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

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

[Dragon D. Luffy]

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.

[Dragon D. Luffy]

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.

[Ricochet]

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.

Yeah f*** that.

Funnily enough, I did read the last part of Hitman Reborn. I forgot, appropriately enough.

[speedchuck]

Mob Psycho 100, the only Manga I've read to fruition, is getting further adapted and it is glorious. I love every minute of it.

[speedchuck]

The Promised Neverland is amazing. No spoilers. Watch it.

[novaselinenever]

I read its manga

Are you up to date?

[speedchuck]

I read its manga

Are you up to date?

No.

Not on the anime or the manga. I only binged 6 episodes on Saturday. Planning on watching the rest this weekend.