I now have a full time job plus a long commute, which means... more time for reading manga while half-asleep? Huh?
Anyway the last thread of this kind was in July, and since then an anime season has finished, so might as well do it again.
For me:
Manga:
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (2005): Parallel to watching the excellent adaptation, I have picked up the manga and, much like Kaiji, finished it in a concerningly short time. Koji Kumeta has a bone to pick with the world... with everything in the world. What arises is a very entertaining ruthless critique. I'm fairly sure he's either still a leftist, or used to be one and got disappointed. However, he is also nationalistic. A political mess, mostly agreeable, sometimes dropping horrible takes - but a fantastic manga which never loses its bite no matter how many chapters you are into it. It's also less horny than the Shaft adaptation. A+
√Paradise (1991): Being curious about Kumeta's early work, I read this short manga of his, which is basically the Yakuza games' cabaret club side-plot in manga form. Not too interesting, but a decent enough read. B-
Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san (2017): Nagatoro is a decent romance manga with a pretty bad beginning. It ended a few months ago, but I have caught up only recently. Not much else to say, really. B
Shiroyama to Mita-san (2021): Nice comedic romance/slice of life manga about two (mostly) uncool people. Fun, but have not finished it yet. B+
Anime:
Aa-Megami Sama (2005): I had read a large chunk of the manga before, and it's just as fun as I remembered it being. The romance stuff isn't too strong, but the hijinks are fun. The source material being from the 80s means that many of the usual tropes didn't exist yet... or were being invented. A-
Fullmetal Alchemist (2003): Almost done with this show, it's been really good overall. Strong characters and storytelling, and the anime original plot... I can clearly see why it's controversial, but I like it. Good show. A
Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! (2024): The only seasonal I didn't drop. Story-wise very conventional, but the character writing was good. Anna Yanami in particular, being one of the strongest female leads in recent anime history. It had a few tone-unfitting scenes that felt tacked on for the horny audience, but overall decent show. B
Western Animation
The Owl House (2020): Very fun show, with some blatant inspiration from many recognizable source materials, western and Japanese. King is a king. A
I had to stop reading manga because my tablet died so I have been unable to continue most of my reads. I have been trying chinese mangha (is the name correct?) and I have been enjoying it more since I'm kind of tired of manga tropes. Regarding anime, with the end of the season and the start of the new one, there is not much to talk about yet. I also got a bit burned out from anime in general so I have not watched as much as I usually do. Some highlights from the old season are:
Dead Demons Dededede Destruction - Amazing show. Engaging in every moment from the beginning to almost the end. Great characters and subtle societal comentary about migration and liberalism. Didn't really like the ending tho. I understand why it went that way but it felt more like a cop out than a proper resolution. I haven't read the manga yet so it might be a presentation problem (why does ep 0 even exist???).
Oshi no Ko 2 - Adaptation of my least liked (debatible) arc from the manga and I enjoyed even then. The anime art decisions were really good and make it more engaging than I can remember feeling when reading the manga. Story is still a mess and I can complain about it a lot but at least it was fun. Also, I was getting very tired of this last manga arc so I'm not really missing it but I have heard good opinions of the last episodes so I might try to start reading again soon
Senpai wa Otokonoko - I really liked the start but I slowly started disliking most things about it. I am aware that expecting good queer representation in anime is hard but even then I got disapointed. Worst part is that I read the manga a couple of years ago and was disapointed even then. I really need to start handling my expectations better.
Old anime I'm watching:
Rockman.EXE - It's a kids anime but it has something that is hard to replicate. The vision of the internet in that era was really fun and interesting. It reminds me a lot about Digimon. I'm enjoying this alot but thinking that it has 5 seasons of ~50 episodes is making me wonder where am I going to stop.
ODDTAXI - Rewatched it recently to watch the live action spinnoff and it's amazing how good it is. Characters are great and their whole interaction is wacky and weird but very enjoyable. Spinoff is simply bad so no comments.
Movies:
Blue Giant - Simple story but amazing concert animations and incredible music. It was probably one of the best animated experiences I have ever had and I loved every single second of it. For whoever enjoys jazz, this is something I would completely recommend
Ughhhhh, I need to get around to this and Kids on the Slope