The Anime/Manga/Related Merchandise Thread

Drunkalilly wrote:

My current thinking is to stick to mangas and movies for as long as I can, just because after whizzing through 30 volumes at breakneck speed, the glacial anime is absolutely killer for me. I'll probably watch big fights on youtube where I feel the need, but I can do without waiting for people to read out the dialogue at 1/10th the speed I can read it, then standing around making noises like they need a shit for five minutes to convey what the manga gets across in a panel

I suppose the relative scarcity of the manga back in the day and the fact it was aired on Toonami regularly is why I'm a sucker for anime. Super is a lot better, as is Kai in cutting the chaff.

Drunkalilly wrote:

I've also hovered my finger over downloading Xenoverse 2 on my Switch a few times now . . .

masofdas wrote:

Anything on Crunchyroll, I should check out a part from Persona 5? I really should actually watch all the anime I can on Netflix first though as there is tonnes like One Punch Man which seems like the sort of Anime Athrun was talking about after the gateway stuff like Cowboy Bebop to watch.

Oh, loads:

Stuff I've Watched and Liked: Attack on Titan, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Ace Attorney, Dragon Ball Super.

Stuff I've Heard is Good: My Hero Academia, Hunter x Hunter, Psycho Pass, Hajime no Ippo, Junji Ito Collection, Berserk.

I'm definitely meaning to read Berserk at some point.

It's a huge inspiration for Dark Souls - it's why you see nine million characters named Guts wandering about Lordran.

You see them in Monster Hunter as well, all great sword mains too.

I can vouch for Psycho Pass. It's a good show that deals with some interesting themes, even though I imagine most people who watch it will just compare it to Minority Report. Kogami, the show's lead enforcer, is a real Mary Sue though.

JayMoyles wrote:

It's a huge inspiration for Dark Souls - it's why you see nine million characters named Guts wandering about Lordran.

That is not encouraging me to play Dark Souls.

I wouldn't call Kogami one myself, typically to be a Gary Stu one has to be a perfect little self-insert of a snowflake and skilled well beyond what they have any rights to be, none of which applies to Kogami. If anything Akane would fall closer to the trope, but even then with how society works in Psycho-Pass it's perfectly believable she'd end up where she ended up and have the talents she has.

Now if you said he was boring at times I'd totally agree with you. I do like where his character arc went in the final seven or so episodes however.

I really need to rewatch season 1 and check out the movie while I still have access to the blurays from a friend. Haven't watched an anime in a while, maybe I'll change that with Psycho-Pass.

I suppose it's been a long time since I binged the show so labeling him boring might well be more accurate, a cursory google reveals I've forgotton most of his backstory. My main memories of him revolve around him being the best athlete, fighter, and a sniffer dog with unbelievable skills of intuition. I get that the set up of Psycho Pass is about Enforcers with uncanny intuition, and that there is a plot explanation for all of this, but for whatever reason I'm much cooler on Kogami's skill over a character like L of Death Note.

Balladeer wrote:

JayMoyles wrote:

It's a huge inspiration for Dark Souls - it's why you see nine million characters named Guts wandering about Lordran.

That is not encouraging me to play Dark Souls.

Dark Souls takes inspiration in terms of cool demon designs, big swords, and dealing with the societal implications and diseases allegories of an undead curse. It does NOT take inspiration from Beserk's awful gender politics and overuse of violence against women and rape as a cheap narrative device.

Glad to hear it. I didn't recall any DS mentions of sexual violence, but like everybody who hasn't read Berserk the bit I'm most familiar with is that bit.

Going back to the Dragon Ball stuff, I died and went to heaven yesterday.  I will always and forever love the dub's Perfect Cell theme.  And just dub Cell in general, Dameon Clarke's performance was so good.  

Spoilered in case Drunka hasn't seen what Cell looks like.  Probably best to avoid the tag until the end of the arc.:

Crumpy Andy wrote:

There's only one Anime you should be watching and that is Neo Yokio on Netflix.

I finished watching One Punch Man and it's damn good that like I said I would move on to Neo Yokio like Andy said, well I watched episode 1 last night and I'm not convinced but it's only 6 episodes so I will watch it all.

Did also watch Pom Poko yesterday which was very Studio Ghibli.

I watched Aggretsuko last night, it's really good and basically it's Hello Kitty x Baby Metal x Night in the Woods that it's getting a recommendation from me.

I also watched that somewhat recently. It was alright, the short episodes definitely helped it as I felt like it became a bit of a one-trick pony after a while. Most of the episodes made me and my girlfriend laugh though. Sincerely believe the season finale was in the wrong place and should have been swapped with:

Spoilerisor:

Crumpy Andy wrote:

There's only one Anime you should be watching and that is Neo Yokio on Netflix.

Hahaha, you've got to be kidding! I mean, I watched all of that quite a while ago but it was more a 'can't stop watching because I can't quite put my finger on just why it's all so, so... [Muss.exe has hit a critical error]

But that feeling of not quite being able to understand how it exists makes it the best thing of all time.

I watched the rest of Neo Yokio last night and I think Muss is right on the money about it.

Not sure what I'm going to watch next though

Y'know in hindsight Dragon Ball GT wasn't as awful as people like to act.  Been flipping through some of the fights on YT and to be absolutely honest a good deal of them completely smoke Super's fights in general (with some exceptions of course).  And Super Saiyan 4 will always be the single best form of Super Saiyan besides the original, the combination of the monkey motif works perfectly and it harmonises both the Great Ape and the super saiyan traits into one badass form.  Far better than simply shading the normal Super Saiyan hair blue and calling it a day.  

I liked the design of Super Saiyan 4 over the God forms, but I'm a big fan of Ultra Instinct. I'd rate everything after the Golden Frieza arc as being some cracking Dragon Ball action with the Goku Black arc and the Tournament of Power arc being standouts.

The only issue I have with Super's Tournament of Power arc is that, from what I've heard (haven't sat down to watch the full thing yet) they aren't allowed ki flight yet some of the action sequences I've seen only make sense if they're actually levitating via Ki.  One second it seems like they're pausing in midair before changing momentum the next they're having Goku bust out an awesome Kamehameha that he's slamming down on a lethal energy blast because he's stuck in the air and can't move out of the way.  That and when they were lazy in the choreography they were really lazy, not that the original shows didn't love their cycling footage of blows being traded, but when you've got over thirty seconds of two characters doing very basic punches like they've forgotten how to kick you've got a problem.  

The black arc was good though.  Between the menacing voice acting and the directors finally learning how to fit music to scenes Black had almost as much presence as Frieza did in the old days.  The ending was a nice change of pace from the norm too.
Plus Black's theme music is ridiculously good.  Villains are always better when they have amazing themes.

I got sent a 30 Day free premium access to Crunchyroll and wondering what I should watch in that time and I may even keep the sub going as I have started watching much more anime and for £5 it might worth it that a longer show could be in question.

This is what I've got in my Queue and just want some thoughts as you guys know what I like & don't and know more about anime than me as I'm just that guy who's seen Cowboy Bebop & Attack on Titan.

Know of:
Berserk
Black Butler
Blue Exorcist
Fate/Stay, Zero, Grand Order, kaleid liner PRISMA ILLYA, Which Fate thing is first?
Granblue Fantasy
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
Izetta: The Last Witch
Super Sonico
Taboo Tattoo
Yuri!!! on ICE
Overlord
How Not to Summon a Demon Lord, Just started I think as only 2 episodes up
Attack on Titan: Junior High
Baldr Force EXE
Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card, I liked what I saw of the OG
Citrus
Claymore
Death March to the Parallel World Rhapsody
DENKI-GAI
Durarara
Full Metal Panic! This seems to have 4 different shows
MEGALOBOX, I think this is new as well.
March comes in like a lion
Mob Psycho 100
Re:ZERO, two shows of this
Record of Grancrest War
Record of Lodoss War
Recovery of an MMO Junkie
The Ancient Magus' Bride
The Asterisk War
Tokyo Ghoul: re
Your lie in April
Myself; Yourself
Gunslinger Girl

Video Game related:
Akiba's Trip
Chaos;Child, Chaos;HEAd, guessing these are related
Devil Survivor
God Eater
Phantasy Star Online 2
Utawarerumono
Ace Attorney
BlazBlue: Alter Memory
Caligula
Code: Realize
Danganronpa, Danganronpa 3
Devil May Cry
Monster Hunter Stories
Persona 5
PSYCHO-PASS
PUNCH LINE
Puzzle & Dragons X
Senran Kagura
Steins;Gate 0
GIRLS und PANZER
Hyperdimension Neptunia

The long shows:
Black Clover
Bleach
BORUTO, Could I just jump to this?
Dragon Ball Super, Am I right thinking this takes place after DB but before DBZ?
Fairy Tail
Food Wars!
Gintama
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
My Hero Academia
Naruto, sort of seen the first 135 episodes that I could just jump to 136
Naruto Shippuden
NARUTO Spin-Off: Rock Lee & His Ninja Pals
Saint Seiya, seems to be a few shows
Sword Art Online, also the Battle Royale spin-off
Hunter x Hunter

Lots of shows as you can and some seem new and some seem to be simulcast such as My Hero Academia even with 50+ episodes, that I really don't know where to start that maybe you could give me a Top 10 or something each out of these to watch.

masofdas wrote:

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?

Almost certainly.

A more targeted question, following on from the above: which out of those would you recommend that have low romantic or sexual content? The Lady has expressed interest in watching more animes (she luuuuuurves Black Butler incidentally), but isn't a big fan of overly squishy content. So, recommendations please...?

I'll give you an idea of both what I've seen and what I've heard about being good.

masofdas wrote:

Know of:
Berserk - Meant to be decent, although I've only heard really good things about the manga.

Attack on Titan: Junior High - It's a comedy show based on AoT. You might like it depending on how much you're into AoT.

The Ancient Magus' Bride - Heard decent things.

Your lie in April - This is meant to be good, but it'll be different to your usual watches.


Video Game related:

Ace Attorney - I'd honestly recommend playing the games first as the characters are named differently in Japanese. Worth a watch, though.

Danganronpa, Danganronpa 3 - I really liked Danganronpa 3! Is the Despair arc and the future arc on there? I'd recommend playing - or watching - the first two games before watching it as it's a follow up to those games, after all.

Monster Hunter Stories - Lighthearted, but decent enough.

Persona 5 - Need to get back to this, recommended.

PSYCHO-PASS - Heard good things.

Steins;Gate 0 - This is a prequel. The original Steins;Gate is on Netflix, FYI.

The long shows:

Black Clover - Not heard great things about this.

Bleach - This is usually the least recommended out of your big long shonen anime.

BORUTO - You could jump to this, but it's a sequel series set after Naruto and Natuo Shippuden, so you'll be missing a lot of references I'd imagine.

Dragon Ball Super, Am I right thinking this takes place after DB but before DBZ? - Incorrect. It's after DBZ. It's more important to have seen DBZ than the original DB if you want to watch this, but you could easily jump on from the beginning and not miss out on too much.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure - Get it watched. I've only seen the first two parts but I need to get into Part Three and beyond now that Part Five has been announced for this year.

My Hero Academia - This is the current hotness from what I've heard, so it's next on my list.

Naruto, sort of seen the first 135 episodes that I could just jump to 136 - Go for it. Naruto is pretty good.

Naruto Shippuden - This is the sequel to Naruto - the DBZ to DB, if you will.

Sword Art Online, also the Battle Royale spin-off - Some folks seem to like it.

Hunter x Hunter - Heard REALLY good things about this one.

Lots of shows as you can and some seem new and some seem to be simulcast such as My Hero Academia even with 50+ episodes, that I really don't know where to start that maybe you could give me a Top 10 or something each out of these to watch.

I'd say go for MHA first considering that's still running and once you've caught up, it might be an incentive to keep the subscription along with catching up on other things. Give JoJo's a try at least through Part 2 - that's only about 20 episodes or so. Part One is a bit stiff at points but it's got one of the best anime villains to prop it up.

Balla: I've heard Hellsing Ultimate thrown about when people have mentioned Black Butler, so that could be a shout.

Ah!  I watched the original Hellsing anime, and felt it copped out a bit at the end: Incognito was a bobbins villain.  This, though?  This I might be able to work with. Cheers boss!

Also I remember that The Lady hasn't seen FMA, so I might try that.

Failing that, just watch all 500+ episodes of Dragon Ball up through DBS, that'll do the job.