#i wanted them for okarun

[njori]

Went as Denji on Friday of Anime North!!

Power is @othermonsters and Makima is carrut.ink on instagram!

[glassbead-xx]

At its core, Dandadan is the story of two teenagers as they fall in love and expand their friend circle while aliens and yokai attack them mercilessly, and I think that’s beautiful

I’m halfway through, and I love it so much 💕💕

I need to read shoujo again

[farolitosp]

Infodumping about Momo and Fuuko (Dandadan / Undead Unluck). Best female shonen leads in the current SJ

As a battle shonen fan it was very frustrating seeing the female characters done dirty or not being the main lead of their stories (because who are we kidding, even FMA with their awesome female characters they're secondary ones). The last manga I read with it was The Promised Neverland, but that's not a typical "battle shonen" and has more fantasy elements. I mean battle, fighting with fists and power scales.

So I started two Shonen jump mangas that has all the things I were looking for!

But! The first chapters are as bad as they say. The girls get sexualized and harassed like every other manga out there.

My surprise was that this only last less than 10 chapters. After that, it's a different kind of story. It's like the first bait to make readers interested in the female cast with boobs and underwear (I know this might be not everyone, but how else it justifies having these sexual situations at the first episodes and then abandon the idea?)

These stories, overall all the things in the beginning, are not only fully respectful with the girls but also they make the best character out of them. I Have a theory that the authors put these sexual situations in the first chapters by orders and not because they want to, they really are committed to make them awesome.

And by that I mean:

- Fuuko and Momo act like real girls.

Momo is a normal teenager with a bad reputation and that makes her take her badass attitude towards anyone that wants to be her friend, but deep down she's a very kind and good person. If she were a stereotype she would be the "tomboy who doesn't know how to be femenine" and guess what? SHES VERY FEMENINE, she only isn't a submissive girl. She's brave and doesn't behave, but she's capable of love and making friends. Like the extrovert that likes to befriend the introverts. Momo doesn't need to separate her femenine side with her battle side, even Okarun has to do some exercise to reach her power level.

Momo also loooves to tease Okarun and she's the funniest character of the manga.

Fuuko, on the other hand, has very low self esteem because of her powers (that's why she acts like an stereotype of shy girl that gets harassed). She's shy, scared about everything and apparently hates physical contact. But that's the thing, before her Unluck powers she was a very touchy person, her love language is hugging and kissing her loved ones. She's traumatized after killing her parents with her Unluck. But after meeting someone who doesn't die with that she actually starts to touch EVERYONE she likes. She has the courage deep inside her, and only needed a small acclimation and knowing her abilities to start to flourish, making her the one that's in control of her body.

- "Girls vs girls? Not in my story"

These are fighting mangas. And with a lot of female characters I was afraid that they were the lady in distress or fighting other villain girls (like bnha, for example). My surprise is that they fight not only male villains, but some male villains are actually scared of them and respect them. It's so liberating when authors are not afraid of making the girls punching and receiving punches and bleed.

- They're the real main characters

It may seems, in shonen, once they start with two mc the "real" mc is the man, at the end of the story. In both cases of Dandadan and Undead Unluck it's quite the opposite. While Dandadan still maintains Okarun and Momo at the same level the story is present through Momo's life, we don't know almost anything about Okarun. And in Undead Unluck case Andy and Fuuko start as a couple, but when they get separated Fuuko shines by herself. She even has her own arc right now while Andy is missing, and oh boy she delivers excellent!

We can see both stories without the male mc, but not without their female leads

- They're not the only girls in the story

GIRLS HAVING GIRL FRIENDS IN SHONEN BATTLE MANGA, WHILE THOSE SECONDARY CHARACTERS ARE WELL WRITTEN AS WELL.

- The straight romance is kinda peak actually

Who wouldn't know that in order to make a m/f shonen ship is to making good female characters that actually enjoy being with the male character? And the romance it's not only something by the side, it's almost essential to the manga itself. They make you want to see more romance and interactions between the two.

- Respect and admiration

Both, Momo and Fuuko, receive respect of all the other characters. And mainly, they're admired by the male mc and love interest. Okarun and Andy don't joke about it, they genuinely adore them and wants to be like them.

Anyway if you're looking for some good female lead Shonen manga, while still being epic and entertaining, give both stories a chance!

[smillingcartoonist]

He is getting abducted by Spirits, She is getting possessed by Aliens (Dandadan)

Dandadan is a manga Written and draw by Tatsu Yukinobu, the story follows Momo Ayase and Takekura Ken, Nickname Okarun and called that the entire time (I honestly forget that is not is actual name) in their paranatural adventures, having more of an episodic arc structure, the main thread of plot is finding Okarun missing genitals !!!

In mine opinion, this one of the few recent mangas that are worthy of following, not that is a lot out there that is worthy the time any way, Dandadan is funny, action packed, gorgeously draw, it have a great characters, an interesting story, and it's a bit too tear jerky at times, honestly everything that you could ask in a comic, too bad it's first chapter fucking sucks !!!

I never seen this before, a comic with a really bad start and then the rest of it's pretty good actually, normally it's the inverse, it's start strong then it goes to shit, I found that MamaYuyu had this problem, it's first chapter being really promise then it quickly devolve into generic shounen stuff, maybe it was mistake to have such high hopes for it !!

But what' so bad about it ? well it's more the direction that it seem to go on after the chapter. The Story of Dandadan begins with a bad taste in my mouth at least, Momo and Okarun first meeting end on a dare to each, to each other prove that aliens and spritis are real, Okarun dares Momo to got to an Alien abduction hot spot, Momo dares Okarun to go to a spirit sighting hot spot, the both of them encounter said creatures, Okarun meet with the 100 km/h hag (Or Turbo Granny as it knows in the manga) that offers to suck his dick if he suck her tits, Momo meets the Serpo, odd looking aliens that abducted her and want to extract her genitals... so well, she gets nearly raped there, she is saved because her psychic powers awake there, and a possessed Okarun also appears through her cellphone, the spaceship that they are in crashes, Momo and Okarun escape, The turbo Granny that was possessing Okarun said that stole his genitals and dares Momo to get them back, giving the main thread of plot of the series.

After reading the first chapter I Thought "well that was crap, shame it's really well draw" I think i cut down a huge chunk of the stupid of it all in that resume, it's really bad, here it have another run of the mill shounen with more thoughtless ecchi elements to appeal to creeps, why would I lose my time on this ?? so I back out of it, well not really something compelled me to go back and read the rest, maybe it was the art !! well I do that. Second chapter follow the aftermath of happen, Okarun still possessed by the Turbo granny, Momo discovers that she can use her powers to contain the possession briefly, and it's kind of debt of help him out of the possession, returning to her home, both of them are attack by another alien that transport them to some pocket dimension, Okarun manages to control the powers of the turbo granny, even if briefly, so the both of them work together to defeat the alien. Well that was much better, and no ecchi shit !!! that's a big improvement !!

Fortunately the Manga continues this trough line, ending it's first arc with the defeat of the turbo granny, not really tho, she get stuck possessing a small cat doll for the rest of manga, and the return of Okarun genitals, not really tho, his mast is back back his balls still missing, as he puts it, and that continues the series as Okarun and Momo search for his balls, turned into golden magic balls, that contain the rest of the Turbo Granny powers. Other of the main Characters are introduce as well, such as Saeko, Momo Grandmother, Aira a smug and self important popular girl that quickly creates an aversion to Ayase and gets powers just like Okarun, Jiji (Enjoji actually, I forget that is his actual name) Momo childhood friend and the shrimp Mantis, an alien (That all you need to know)

But those the cringe elements from the first chapter get back, well yes, certainly there are some more cringy moments that come off more endearing then the first chapter, the third arc, has Momo Aira and Okarun fighting in a pocket dimension in their school while the place is slowly being submerge in water, Okarun end up naked for one reason and another and both of the girls are in underwear by the end of it, all that is not a sleaze as it sound, Tatsu manages to do all that without being all showy about it, or I'm to forgive because I like this comic at this point, no, it those all that and it's not an embarrassing ecchi cringe fest ! There is a running visual gag were Aira continue to block the view of her panties while she fights, that come off from Tatsu previous work, an oneshot where we have a giant girl fighting some kaiju while trying not to show her panties, is that joke stretch into 50 pages or something, he does a panties shot at some point In Dandadan and is rather hilarious.

Most of the comic centers around the dorky romance between Okarun and Momo, developing from silly encounter to silly encounter to Jealously of each other for literally anything, to genuine caring for each other, Okarun would jump in front of a bullet for Ayase as just she would for him, it is something that made scream "just kiss already" multiple times while reading this.

Of course I should point out Tatsu Yukinobu talent here, he is indeed an amazing artist clearly one the most visually interesting out there, not only does he have this clean art style, but he does manage to create incredible actions sequences, something that not a lot of mangakas out there can do it. And not to mention the certain bizarre horror imagery that he can create, most of it steam from references from pop culture with a Junji Ito flait to it, I mean if you gonna do horror then why not just use the most recognizable guy in business, and Tatsu does really emulate him well, creating the same uncanny imagery that Ito does.

I would say that one of it's major weakness is a lack of general direction to where the story is going, at the point that its is now we have that, but most of this comic is going from one situation to another without any major build up to anything, there is one at some point but barely comes ever again and I do wonder if Tatsu even remembers about it !!

There is an anime adaptation coming this October, I'm sure it be the same success that Dungeon Meshi was this year, I mean have you seen the type of stuff that is put out these days, it's a endless stream of boring isekai and pathetic harem anime target to incels, so it's no wonder when stuff like Chainsaw Man and Dungeon Meshi surge, it makes a bunch of success !! Dandadan I'm sure will be the same, I do wonder what the reaction of the first episode is gonna be like.

[heirophantomthief-sk8-eternity]

they just like us fr

my partner and i have cosplayed as okarun and ayase (because we looks just like them) and also she gives little punches when she wants attention

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (03/09/23)

there's a jump serialization round coming up soonish with 3 new series so there's gonna be a few ending in the next couple weeks, starting today with fabricant, and then tenmaku and do retry in back to back weeks. wish it was ichinose instead of tenmaku but oh well

blue - finale/completed

Anime

Pokemon Horizons Ep20

didn't like this episode at all. I was excited for horizons since ash FINALLY got retired and we were getting a female protagonist. when I saw roy I was worried riko would start getting pushed to the sidelines in favour of him, since he's just ash 2, and this episode was a lot of that. they had a contest between riko and roy and riko was winning easily, until plot armor had to come in and hand roy the victory, she could've won but hesitated seeing roy being so into it. and then they battle kabu and a gym trainer, only for riko to throw the match she coulda easily won, against the trainer since she needed to win it. and then we had all these lines from kabu telling her "hey maybe you could do something else you don't need to do battles just cause you're a trainer" it's just like I said months ago. it's just extremely lame and cowardly but I guess I expected too much from the pokemon anime

Atelier Ryza Ep10

last week I said they may have been deviating from the game but they're back on track in this one. tho the game still didn't have lila and empel going into the woods, unless I completely missed that when I was looking at the playthrough last week. anyway, lots of cute ryza faces in this ep so that was good. considering where we are, and where the anime is gonna end, I wouldn't be too surprised if they announced another season for like summer or fall next year, to cover the rest of the game, but we'll see

Zom 100 Ep6

nice ep, idk if it'll happen but I hope akira kills the boss guy next episode would be a nice point to stop before the recap on the following week

Manga

Fabricant 100 Ch36 (Finale)

it's finally over. tbh I kinda forgot it was gonna end this week but it did. honestly shoulda given it a 4 like alien's area but it got to run a bit longer and approach the topics it wanted to cover more so I gave it a lil bump. just like the score says it was just alright. it clumsily tried to ask the question of "what is an ideal human" or "what is it to be a human" in general and came to it's own answer

the art wasn't bad but also nothing to write home about, the characters weren't that likeable or interesting for the most part and when the threat of cancellation started looming the story felt very rushed, not like it was much better before that when it was just "monster of the week". anyway it wasn't bad overall, unlike ichinose I didn't mind reading this every week and wouldn't mind seeing the author come back again in the future

Blooming Love Ch12

cute chap, it's funny seeing the mcs' friends conspiring together to look out for them and ending up going on the same date as them (even if they haven't realized it yet), expecting them to become a slow burn b romance plot but also wouldn't be that surprised if they just stayed as comedic relief like this til the end

Dandadan Ch119

the big battle is finally over so we get the good ol big feast celebration to break up the tension. it was also cute seeing the romantic tension between okarun and momo from that note she left him back in the training arc. also my guess is that the cliffhanger is just gonna be to wrap up the storyline for that youkai and she's gonna leave momo alone so we can continue the story without any loose threads

Tenmaku Cinema Ch20

as expected, the movie's good but it has a lot of issues since it's an amateur production, but it's still nice to see hajime's (and the author's) love of movies recognized. it's a shame that it didn't last longer on the jump battlefield but oh well. looking forward to the finale next week

Akane-banashi Ch76

good chap, highlighting how much akane's grown over the series and her peer's opinions of her, it sucks for my man here to come to this realization but it had been a long time coming

[starlight-time-machine]

Week in Review

12/10/2023 – 12/16/2023

Sunday

My idiot brain really thought that the Undead Unluck crew going to the frickin’ sun would last a whole arc, but logically of course it was just a single chapter. But what a chapter it was… Another full circle moment with the anime, with Fuuko shooting Andy and shoving her finger into his head again (aka another thing I wouldn’t have clocked as a callback if I hadn’t seen it happen in the anime a week ago). Change’s design is super fun, and it’s beautiful to see her DNA hair in motion. I never would’ve guessed that she was Change from design alone, but it does make sense with her motif and how genetics and evolution is ever changing. Very cool! And it looks like now we’re heading out to assemble the kiddy brigade and I really can’t wait to see everyone…AND WOW THAT’S JUIZ? I wouldn’t’ve known if the comments hadn’t told me…she looks so cute and young and full of life… I miss her ikemen swag but it does feel heartening to see her so happy.

Another really interesting chapter of Oshi no Ko. The lines between the movie and the past and the present are all blurring, with the actors filling out their roles more realistically but at the cost of their actual realities being affected. But Ruby being able to better reach Ai because of this pain is what really gets to me…

Dandadan 131: Serpo’s deadpan humor is really entertaining, and it’s a good fit for the similarly deadpan policeman. But before that, THE OKARUN/MOMO FALL AHHHHHHH so cute… Ah, another student character is about to be added to the roster, huh? And it looks like he’ll be the delinquent type… I feel like the cast is getting ever so slightly bloated, but it does feel almost like Undead Unluck with how all the boys and girls are getting paired up (Okarun/Momo, Kinta/Vamola ((they haven’t really pushed Jiji/Aira much at all, but I would like to see it…two people getting together after being spurred by their initial romantic interests is a trope I enjoy…))) and now maybe Rin/this delinquent guy? Oh I see, honor student/delinquent, yeah I can get behind that. Beyond that, though, I really want to see some actual romantic developments instead of just being embarrassed around each other and then getting thrown into battles and then waffling around some more.

Magilumiere 94: WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ONNNNNNNN I feel like I’ve been reading this manga for like months and it’s all been pretty straightforward, just girls doing their best in their careers and not any romance to be seen, and suddenly I’m positively Blasted with BL energy and it’s driving me insane?? First off, HOST MIDORIKAWA…no wonder he’s such a people person, and also a little nebulous with his morals and identity… I went back to check but GOD if only we could see the old piercing holes in his ears, that’d be so… Okay and then SHIGEMOTO SHOWING UP TO A MALE HOST CLUB AND ASKING FOR MIDORIKAWA SPECIFICALLY?????? SOPPING WET AND NEWLY UNEMPLOYED AND DEPRESSED AND LOOKING FOR COMPANY???????? WHAT IN THE BL PLOTLINE… SHIGEMOTO CRYING???? OH MY GODDDDDDDDDD AND THAT’S WHY SHIGEMOTO WEARS DRESSES????????? THIS SHIP GOES DEEPER THAN I COULD’VE EVER IMAGINED MY MIND IS EXPLODING I don’t know why I never considered them a ship before Midorikawa’s betrayal… I guess they just never had any meaningful scenes together or chemistry but this is all hitting me like a truck on the freeway jesus CHRIST.

The new One Piece chapter was fun. Seeing young Luffy is cute, and I’m glad Bonney has finally been set free to make her mark on the world. I’m really hoping that she and Kuma can be truly reunited…

Wowwww okay this was a really good SpyFam chapter. First, we get a genuine conversation about empathy and how everyone’s needs differ for valid reasons. I like that this was also a conduit for some insight into Millie, which was unexpected. Yor’s co-workers may have been generic mean girls at first, but it’s nice to see them slowly coming around to Yor and becoming her actual friends. And then this confrontation between Melinda and Millie is also incredibly compelling… I was half-expecting a reveal at the end about how Melinda actually feels about her husband’s involvement in the war, but it seems that, for now, her only secret is her ambiguous feelings towards Damien. It’s great to see her again, though, and right now she’s the character I want to learn about the most.

Cipher Academy is good…today was a great feast for the Yosaimura girlies and the Yosaimura/Anonymous girlies, of which I’m both (slightly). The morg lore was interesting, and the way Yosaimura won the game was fun. I like that the ‘black’ sides of the coins were just marked with ink/blood.

Monday

I managed to read the latest chapter of Sleeping Dead before passing out – I’ve been enjoying this manga, but it hasn’t really grabbed me like some of Asada’s other work. I just don’t see the chemistry between the two leads, I suppose, but this chapter did do a good job in trying to rectify that. And by that I mean the sex scene was really good. I loved the realistic awkwardness and fumbling and Mamiya’s hang-ups getting in the way, but then Sada pulling him in closer… I’m starting to see the vision.

Tuesday

Finally got around to watching the new Make Some Noise episode. It was cute, but none of the songs really stood out to me like the first Karaoke Night episode did. I’d say the highlights were Zach’s Horsegirl song (the lyricism was crazy) and the birthday minigame – it really showed how these people have great improv chops even when they don’t have to sing.

I followed that up with the new Dirty Laundry episode, and I think this one is my favourite of the season. Every story felt like a wild ride, we got like three plot twists, and the energy with the cast was fun but not overwhelming. (Shoutout to Desmond, who’s definitely MVP of the episode for me).

Wednesday

Ah

Thursday

I read the latest chapters of Akuheki, and it’s getting really good… The timeskip was a bit jarring, but I can see what they were trying to go for – I wish I could’ve seen more of Daimon’s angst after Kojima left him, but I get that they wanted to establish the Daimon and Sudou relationship quickly to get to the reveal. And oh boy, the reveal. The revelation scene was just pitch perfect, I love the visual metaphors they used (all the green lights signalling the path that’s been laid out for Daimon), the reveal that every little thing was part of this grand plan… I like Sudou’s writing, too. She has dimension and understandable motivations – oftentimes you see the “female potential homewrecker” only focus on the man she wants to ensnare, but with Sudou, we’ve seen her interacting with both Daimon and Kojima, and the two different dynamics have been compelling and revealing… She feels like her own person trying to navigate this messy relationship to her own benefit, rather than just a narrative tool to introduce conflict to the main couple’s romance. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this series ends.

Friday

Hung out with my friend and watched an episode of House today. It was wholly unremarkable except for the insane twist at the end that the patient was a cannibal serial killer, so at least we got a laugh out of that.

Saturday

I had a dream about Succession the other day, so I decided to rewatch season 4 episode 8 just to feel something. I love this episode because I think it has a healthy dose of what Succession does best, which is utter chaos. I love watching the ever shifting power dynamics, where one conversation can upend a situation entirely. Here we have Roman unashamedly revelling in his growing power on the right, Shiv desperately trying to make her own moves under her brothers’ noses and using righteousness and morality as a cover on the left, and Kendall caught in the middle as he struggles to commit to a side because either way, he’s going to lose something (his company or his family/conscience). And if that wasn’t already enough, then there’s Tom trying to keep the whole of America together by a thread and having his assistant snort cocaine off his hand (I’ll never get over this), Connor reconciling with his failing presidential campaign, and Greg running around trying to keep Tom happy (heh).

There were so many amazing scenes in this episode… As mentioned earlier, the TomGreg cocaine thing made me scream out loud when I first watched it – their closeness throughout this episode was just so cute, especially when Greg was all gun-ho about burning Shiv. But I love how that whispered conversation set the stage for the gut-wrenching turn later on… Kendall insisting to Rava and Sophie that he does the things he does for his family’s sake was chillingly reminiscent of Logan… And then the scene where Shiv tells Tom that she’s pregnant makes me want to die…tfw playing power and mind games with every relationship in your life ruins any chance you have at ever honestly communicating or emotionally connecting with anyone ever again!! Because they’ll always suspect that it’s some sort of manipulative play!! And it doesn’t help that 99.9% of the time, it is! What a lovely family. Sarah Snook’s acting in this scene is just divine. The incident with the burnt ballots was such a good illustration of how poisoned our news channels have become – in this age where information is king, any story can be spun to fit someone’s agenda, and actual truths are less important than belief in a convincing enough lie. Every day, it feels like things are just getting more dire…but I digress.

I find Shiv’s conversation with Greg to be particularly fascinating and hilarious – it’s the first time we’ve seen them talk one on one since like season 1, and you can really tell Shiv barely even considers Greg human with how little she pays attention to him (otherwise she would’ve clocked the TomGreg homoeroticism by now). She pulls out these cringe worthy exaggerated threats on him, still believing Greg to be the same scared fish out of water that he was at the beginning of the show, but Greg has probably grown the most out of anyone in this cast, and schoolyard level threats don’t scare him anymore. He offers her a chance to even out the deal – what can she give him in return? But of course, Shiv dismisses this outright and thinks she can intimidate him into compliance. It’s so funny watching Greg’s facials expressions in this scene, because he’s quite obviously not that scared, and perhaps even a little amused or annoyed by Shiv still treating him like someone who’s not worth negotiating with. And the way this scene continues to set up the climactic scene later is so delicious…

And then the conversation between Kendall and Shiv is just so heartbreaking… Kendall’s being genuinely vulnerable about his fears and seems to be on the verge of grasping the gravity of their generational trauma, but Shiv’s ambitions get in the way of any meaningful connection… Realizing that she was faking the phone call to Nate when I first watched the episode made me absolutely sick to my stomach, and it’s no different on repeat viewings.

The thing about Shiv is that she has this chip on her shoulder about being better than all the men around her, (with the implication being that the only reason she hasn’t succeeded is because of sexism) but she really doesn’t have any people skills at all… Logan, Roman, and even awkward bumbling Kendall have some semblance of charisma that allows them to leverage friendships to their advantage, but the one time we see Shiv try to convince her friend (Lisa Arthur) to do a favour for her, she gets shut down right away. Perhaps due to her upbringing and her position in a male-dominated environment, Shiv never drops her guard for fear of seeming weak, but this also means that she can’t form strong emotional connections with anyone. Much like her namesake, Shiv has been sharpened by the ruthless world she lives in, and in turn her cutthroat nature has forced her to be completely alone…

The scene where Shiv’s deception gets found out is gut-wrenching, but also gratifying as we watch Greg finally get his revenge (with a devious smirk through the glass as he walks away). And honestly, I don’t know why Shiv ever thought this would work, but I suppose it was a last-ditch effort…but with how it was so easily dispelled, and how it led to the rest of Shiv’s secrets being brought out into the open, it really was the worst move she could’ve made. And then, as Jeremy Strong put it in an interview, the toxicity of the family seeps into the groundwater from which we all drink and a sister lying to a brother leads to a fascist being elected to office… But being able to watch the chain reaction is what makes Succession so compelling, and it’s why it’s my favourite TV show of all time.

Undead Unluck is so good… The trailer for the second half of the cour dropped and why did I tear up while watching it… The upcoming opening and ending songs both sound like bangers… Even though this was a set-up heavy episode, the inventive directing and compositions kept things interesting. Tatianna is soooooo cute her seiyuu is soooo cute and her getting giggly about Fuuko and Andy’s romance is sooooooo cute. Fuuko and Andy look amazing in formal wear, of course, and the vibes of the dimly lit room they were chilling in were so cool… (Once again, don’t expect much intelligent commentary from me because when this show is good, it’s so good that I forget how to say words) It’s great seeing Fuuko and Andy have a few genuine heart to heart moments too…their slowly progressing romance is really believable and satisfying. And then??? Surprise Rip and Feng Chinese moments????? I completely forgot about this LOL but yeah I loved seeing all the Chinese in the manga, and it’s fun seeing it in the anime too. Rip’s Chinese was meh, but Feng’s was surprisingly on point… I had to Google around about his seiyuu to see if he actually knew Chinese, but it doesn’t seem like it. I’ll have to hear more from him. ALSO SHEN THROWING A TANTRUM ABOUT WANTING TO GO ON THE MISSION WAS SOOOOOOOOOO CUTE MWAH

SpyFam was alright…pretty weird, but alright… At least I could tell they had fun animating Becky and her fanciful movements, even if the story is kind of stupid. The sequence of Yor rushing Becky to the hospital was pretty funny, though. And then this being paired with Fiona’s story was…certainly a choice. I get tht they were going for the thematic similarities but to me, all it did was highlight how Endo heavily relies on this basic kind of “woman/girl likes Loid and he’s oblivious to it for various reasons” trope for comedy writing. Oh well, at least they got to reuse a lot of footage and still panning shots for Fiona’s little montage.

[glassbead-xx]

Undead Unluck random thoughts

Because I need to put them somewhere and see if I’m the only unhinged one

I’m up to date with the manga so spoilers for everything!!

‼️‼️‼️‼️

I just love it so much

Fuuko is, along with Osamu from World Trigger, my favorite manga protagonist ever

But I’ve been thinking and I’m kind of unhinged

Like I love how the fandom collectively makes cute things for all the ships, but they immediately go horny with Fuuko and Andy

Like if they lose their abilities and are able to touch they will never take their hands off each other ever again

Also I eventually start associating my fictional pairings with Taylor Swift songs, in Fuuko and Andy’s case it’s Daylight

I’ve been sleeping so long…. But now I see daylight

As long as Fuuko and Andy are around (as well as Momo and Okarun from Dandadan) I’ll have faith in shonen love stories

Not just Fuuko and Andy, there’s also Ichico and Nico, Shen and Mui, there’s so much to choose from

Also, I ship Sean and Gina too

I love them so much

And I don’t know if it’s because I’ve read too many fanfics, but I think soul mates are a thing in this world

Like the concept of the soul has been explored, especially recently with the battle with Beast

And like Ichico and Nico fell in love in the previous loop and in this one too, same with Shen and Mui, same with Rip and Latla (and Leila lol)

Am I going somewhere with this or am I reaching I don’t know

But if it turns out to be true then I have another Taylor Swift song: invisible string

Also I saw on Twitter the drawing Tozuka made for One Piece’s 25th anniversary for the first time in years

Andy was definitely inspired by Smoker, now I can’t unsee it (no pun intended)

Like they both have white hair, neither looks their real age, they both are a package deal with a cute badass (Fuuko and Tashigi) and both have been missing from their series for years

Smoker is grumpier, and Andy is way more unhinged, and the women I ship them with are miles apart in personality

The fandom has been growing but Undead Unluck could’ve been way more popular

I’ve never been more pissed at Disney for trying to break into the anime market than now, first UU and now Loser Ranger

What’s worse is that I don’t have Hulu in my country, the service that replaces it will fuse with Disney+ in June, hopefully I’ll be able to see the anime before the announcement in August (but if they don’t I’m going to punch someone)

Anyway, all I want is Fuuko’s beanie and I’ll be happy 💙🩷

I might do more unhinged lists, I need to scream to the void about Sakamoto Days so we’ll see 🙃

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (04/06/23)

starting from today, for stuff that I don't have anything to say about I'll simply have it on the list here with a * but not in the body of the post itself, in today's case that applies to jiangshi X

Anime

Megumin Ep9

I know I said on like ep 5 or 6 that that coulda been the finale but this one felt even more like one since they actually arrived to axel. but no there's still 3 more. the ep wasn't bad tho, actually had some decent animation when arnes was making that death ball, big sad she died tho she was a baddie

Imas CG: U149 Ep8

very good ep, like usual, elevated even more cause it had so much kiryuu too tho I talked about that in another post. not much else to say, tho I want to give a shoutout to that one scene of character acting with just chie's hands around 12:30 (it's the 3rd one in this tweet, rest of the thread is good too tho)

Mashle Ep8

I forgot they mentioned I0 this early in the story (big final boss) but anyway. the 1v1s have finally started, up until now the animation has been serviceable but nothing to write home about. the fight with dot in this episode was not any different, perhaps slightly better than average, but now that the 1v1s are starting I'm hoping for at least a crumb of sakuga. from the next ep title it sounds like next episode it's gonna be mash vs razor which is the one fight out of these 3 I want to look good the most. I guess they're doing this fight first cause it'll end with mash fighting the puppet guy for the finale and they wouldn't want to have 2 mash fights back to back

Pokemon Horizons Ep9

good ep, we're finally in paldea and riko realized that despite this being their goal for a while it would've meant the end of her adventures with the crew. ofc that would never happen since she's the mc of the show, but it was nice seeing her come to terms with her desires and expressing herself to her dad and stuff. but forget all that cause next week is NEMONA DAY BABY LET'S GO

Jigokuraku Ep9

good ep, I already knew it had some sakuga but it was still nice to see, I was hoping the whole fight overall looked a bit better but the big that DID look good (I posted a clip of it) sated me enough. I liked the chanting they had for the prayer forest but I wish they kept it going in the background whenever someone was there and not only when gabimaru got there, felt like a waste when they could've had that extra flavour I think. next episode we're gonna start getting our first glimpses into tao tho iirc it won't get thouroughly explained until basically the end when the group is all together

Manga

Dandadan Ch108

very cool chap, considering the last one I thought it was just gonna be momo showing off but it was actually jiji and aira. it was cool seeing them apply the spiral stuff that okarun learned about but it's also exciting to know okarun is almost there. tho at this point I'm expecting that he won't even be able to show his power up since the baddies will be all beaten by then

Kindergarten WARS Ch10 - 12

certainly didn't expect this to have a love triangle well, love conga line more like but still

Show-ha Shoten! Ch19

good chap, I was curious to see what advice the guy was gonna give azemichi but it wasn't anything out of left field and was pretty sensible. I also really liked the analogy he used for how he makes jokes. anyway my buddy mega thinks it's gonna end after the competition coming next, since obata usually does short series, but we'll see. I wouldn't be surprised tho, it'd be a nice stopping point

Pension Life Vampire Ch8

I shoulda known that they weren't actually gonna kill anyone, series is too goofy for that. nue is cute tho, can't see it all there but she got a good design

Choujin X Ch37

I like ishida's work, I do, but it's hard to keep up when we've only been getting 1 chap like every 2 months. the chapter itself was nice, some cool action and seems like next we'll get the backstory for that noh guy. but again like I said, having such a long gap between chapters isn't good, ishida stories can already be hard to keep up with normally but this just makes it harder

Tokyo Underworld Ch42

damn mega said this was a very eventful chapter and he wasn't kidding. I didn't expect that twist at the end but I'm sure it's gonna be a fake out, there's no way they'd her off screen like this she's too important

The Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins Ch27

hey I'll give them credit, this chapter wasn't totally terrible, actually moving the plot forward even if it's just a tiny amount

Fabricant 100 Ch24

?????????? I thought there had been some bad chaps but this one took the cake, like what? I guess it's so it can continue until the next serialization round, same as ichinose but that doesn't make it any less bad

Nue's Exorcist Ch4

ok chapter, the girl's exorcist outfit has a cool design and the action wasn't too bad, I was hoping there wasn't gonna be more fanservice in this chap but I shoulda known better, that's not gonna save your series kawae you gotta try something else

Kill Blue Ch7

ah yes the classic "elite students that the mc has to defeat in order to achieve is goal", it's a fine trope tho. having these powerful guys coming after noren should shake things up and create the opportunity for some cool action scenes. curious to see how fujimaki handles this

Do Retry Ch5

very good chap, it's crazy to see the difference in quality between this and nue when they debuted back to back. you can really tell kirarazaka learned a lot from his time under matsui, you can really tell in the art ofc like I mentioned before but also in the paneling. it's funny cause this is the series from this batch I had the lowest expectations for but it surprassed them a lot while nue is the complete opposite

Witch Watch Ch111

don't have anything to say about the chap itself but did wanna mention how fucked up the results for the pop poll were, like kengo and kan in 1st and 2nd? what in the world

Blue Box Ch103

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAA IT ACTUALLY HAPPENED LET'S GO miura you madwoman you actually did it god that was good, these last few chaps building up the tension for this and now this release were just so good. the confession being 3 spreads at the end was extremely good too, really giving you time to soak it in, also not as impressive but that page with the 4 panels of taiki and natsu running and it being like the continuation of each other looked really good too

Cipher Academy Ch26

very good chap, the return of the broken glass imagery from her battle with iroha was especially very cool I was hoping something like this would happen when tayu offered to fight instead but I didn't expect it to be over so soon

Tenmaku Cinema Ch8

good chap keeping the quality consistent, I guess that's the power of a veteran duo and as usual the information about filming terms and stuff is really neat to see I've said before but I don't think this series is gonna be long, which is a good thing mind you, tho I got no idea how long it could be, mayhaps a handful of vols? or just a bit more

Mashle Ch158

good chap, the good ol "power of friendship" saves the day not like that's a bad thing this IS jump after all. the action was good and that panel with mash smiling was really good too. I'm hoping for a bit more out of this fight but it prob won't be happening at this point also if me and mega's prediction of the manga ending only when the anime does it'd line up perfectly since there's 5 more chaps left to fill a vol and there's 4 more eps of the anime left.

Undead Unluck Ch161

oh hell fucking yeah I didn't expect a martial arts tournament I'm pogged the hell up, gonna be good to have some hype after how mellow the phil retrieval arc was

Sakamoto Days Ch121

what the hell!! all this time in the flashback sequence only to find out that maybe rion wasn't dead all along? interesting twist to say the least. also I'll be completely honest, it's been so long since I started reading that I forgot the whole series started off because of people coming after sakamoto cause of the bounty lmao

The Elusive Samurai Ch112

very weird not having our mcs for so long. should be like 1-3 more chaps of this intermission I guess, it's gonna be a shame seeing kusunoki die he was neat

Akane-banashi Ch64

really good chap, as expected it was the backstory of the salesman but it was fast and straight to the point, well executed like always. I also really liked that the chapter started and ended with the exact same line ("This is so stupid.") but just in different contexts, it's neat

Ayakashi Triangle Ch132

sorry suzu but that's against your nature. you just can't fight it. nice chap anyway, really showcasing suzu's shamelessness, tho I'm more hype to see matsuri fighting along mei and kanade next chap

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (09/04/23)

big thing this time is going through all of jigokuraku and lemme tell you it's GOOD, also the new manga from the shokugeki duo also starting next week gonna try to include at least 1 screenshot/panel from each thing to make it a bit more visually pleasing, so extra spoiler warning I guess, tho I'll try not to make it too spoilery lol

Anime

Mashle Ep1

not really much to say to be honest, it was a serviceable episode, I like the colours and the name cards they introduced, but other than that it didn't really do anything with chap 1. tho mashle gets way better later when it becomes a battle manga with a bit of deadpan comedy on the side, instead of just a paradoy of the magic school trope so we'll see how it goes then

Jigokuraku Ep2

good ep, only adapted chap2 and I was expecting 2 and 3 but oh well, at least they did justice to the gabimaru beach scene

Manga

Jigokuraku Ch12 - 128

man where do I even start, my "real" rating for it is 8 but this is what I actually gave it cause I had a blast reading it

it's everything I want from a battle series like this: - a colourful cast of characters that make you want to root for them - a concrete power system that is easy to understand but flexible enough to where it doesn't hinder the action - good art and easy to follow action scenes the story's important too but I ain't reading battle manga for that, tho even then the story wasn't bad, it was like a 7 but everything else elevates it which is where the 8 I said comes from, however I rate things for my own enjoyment and I loved it was actually debating between 9 or 10 but I liked the ending so yeah shame ayashimon didn't survive (tho from the start it wasn't as good as jigokuraku) but looking forward to Kaku's next work

Tenmaku Cinema Ch1

the new series from the shokugeki duo is here! and the ghost is a...guy?? what the hell. I guess it's my fault for making assumptions from that one tiny pic we had of it but still anyway, it was actually pretty good, I don't feel it was as impactful as shokugeki's debut, but it was pretty good, the art is better than ever since saeki has had years to refine it and the story is seems interesting enough, here's hoping it does well in ratings and doesn't get axed too soon, jp readers got some questionable taste

Dandadan Ch100

well...okarun didn't show but something equally big happened monka

Show-ha Shoten! Ch17

good chad, been a long time coming but our mcs finally lost, tho it served as a good wake up call and they got some nice advice from it too

Saihate Quartet Ch8

Twink Spotted

Pension Life Vampire Ch2

cute chap, the ending was very good

Choujin X Ch36

damn it's been like what? 2 months since the last chap? god damn had been wondering what the hell ishida was cooking but it was a good chap actually, 60 pages but it didn't feel that long, cool to see how much stronger azuma and ely are, tho more curious about tokio but he only showed up at the cliffhanger

Tokyo Underworld Ch36

well they took care of that faster than expected, tho rip to that guy probably

Ichigoki's Under Control!! Ch18

bad chap, with ginka ending this week, this should end the next one..

Ginka & Gluna Ch29 (Finale)

well it's over. ending was p weak, the series' strong suit was always the art, especially the big landscape shots it liked to do but everything else was p weak, the concept of giving up memories to increase your power was very cool, and would've been better if the series was able to have gone on for longer, but even doing that the villain wasn't defeated? and just sorta ran away? and was never brought up again which is extremely lame. anyway for the author's first serialization it wasn't bad, but has a lot of room for improvement in the future, like better story structure and characters

The Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins Ch20

feels like a repeat of some few chaps ago which is lame, should only have a couple more chaps left tho

Fabricant 100 Ch17

it actually had a p cool spread today, and the introduction of powers with concrete rules is good, tho I still say it's too late and I didn't say last week but introducing 2 new female characters (seen below) isn't gonna help with ratings either

Witch Watch Ch104

nice little chap, the new girl was cute

Cipher Academy Ch19

good chap again, and it placed better in rankings too, maybe we'll have another miraculous medaka recovery for nisio yet

Blue Box Ch96

a xmas chap when it's 29ºC out is p funny but anyway great chap especially the ending oh my gooooooooood

Mashle Ch151

very cool chap with the secondary protags getting to shine for once, mashle should be back next chap so we getting closer and closer to the end now

Sakamoto Days Ch114

another nice chap, and moving the plot along too, tho I loved this one bit which had nothing to do with that

Undead Unluck Ch154

good chap as usual, not much else to say

The Elusive Samurai Ch105

it was nice seeing the fruit of our protags' upgrades but takauji is more terrifying than ever

Akane-banashi Ch57

very good chap as usual, it was cool to see the growth of the seyiuu girl, idr if I said it last week here but I don't think akane is gonna win this and get a spot in the 4 people show, it's been a while since she's suffered a big loss but we will see

Ayakashi Triangle Ch126

nice chap, looks like I was right about the reason why the baddies did what they did to matsuri, now let's see if mei does the right thing

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (16/07/23)

wow actually on time for once impressive myself, a p chill week, tho I wanna catch up to something again soon, only got a couple more series to do before I fulfill my goal of being caught with everything on jump and then I can start branching out to other stuff I've had an eye on for a while but anyway

blue - finale/completed

Anime

Pokemon Horizons Ep13

after 2 weeks of absence the pokemon anime is finally back, tho this one was kinda like a recap episode for half of it while the cast had a picnic. they teased the possibility of roy catching a new mon next ep but we'll see how that goes since riko isn't getting one too for the new few episodes (based on the revealed titles)

Atelier Ryza Ep3

a cute episode overall, centered around ryza using her alchemy to help people around the island now. also greatly enjoy all the ryza x klaudia food, just for me 🙏 also, when they had that magical girl transformation esque scene for when she crafted last ep I was like "that looked way too good for them to not reuse it" and they did, just significantly shortened so lol

Zom 100 Ep2

good ep, I was worried abou them being able to keep up the quality from ep 1 but even if we didn't get any fancy sakuga this time the quality was still good. the new girl is cute and kusunoki tomori did a good job as her. next ep is the mc's friend which I assume is the blonde guy from the op/ed (and that I think was cameo'd on a photo near the start of the ep), and the next ep will be the samurai girl? haven't read the manga so completely blind

Manga

Saihate Quartet Ch18 (Finale)

honestly only started reading this cause I wanted to post the tokusatsu reference panels and I'd feel bad doing it without actually reading it, and also cause it landed on a not very busy day. it was alright tho, it's a comedy so it's very "you either like it or don't", the concept is p fun but shallow, more suited for something like a oneshot I think, I don't regret reading it tho, it had it's moments

Dandadan Ch113

the climactic finale to the big alien invasion team battle, maybe anyway good chap, that flashback page with the cute okarun momo moments was good and it also had 2 of yukinobu's signature "how can this series be weekly" spreads

The Ichinose Family's Deadly Sins Ch33

they spent all this time skirting around the older brother's story, taking many detours along the way for other stuff. this chap they finally revealed the final piece, he was the one that saved them from dying in that one car crash that put tsubasa in a coma, dying in the process himself.. only for it to be revealed a couple pages later that he's still alive??? I really don't understand what the hell ichinose is doing, really is a sad state of affairs when this can go into the 30s when better stuff gets axed way earlier

Blue Box Ch109

lots of cute chinatsu faces in this chap and finally saw hina again after what feels like a billion years. hype for the next chap tho should be getting some very cute scenes 👀

Cipher Academy Ch32

the final match of this tournament arc is finally here and it's.. a game of that of all things? I was wondering how the hell they were gonna incorporate codes into that but they did it in a way that makes sense looking forward to how this goes

Martial Master Asumi Ch5

very cool chap, letting nito show off how strong he can really be when he's not holding back for some reason tho he's totally gonna get clapped next chap

Sakamoto Days Ch127

the first of the slur fights is over and it was really good. good guys ended up losing as I expected but at least they managed to really fuck up the girl which should make things easier in the future, tho I'm hoping heisuke is the one to take her down as payback for this fight

Undead Unluck Ch167

woulda liked to see more from this fight but it was good anyway, even got feng's backstory and the reveal that he's a negator too tho I figured that'd have to be the case. curious to see who the next member is gonna be since we're still missing quite a few

My Hero Academia Ch394

the longest fight in the whole manga is finally over sheeesh not in terms of raw chapters amount but when it started vs when it ended cause it had a ton of stuff in between, it was good tho. not much more left now, I think just all might and AFO and the deku fights are left? getting closer and closer to the end OH today was also the 9th anniversary celebration colour page, I wouldn't be surprised if they had horikoshi keep this going til the 10th anni just so they can do special merch for tha occasion but we'll see

Akane-banashi Ch70

incredibly good chap, don't really got much more I could say than that, just wow, god akane is sooooooo good. anyway now that akane's performance is done I'm p sure my previous prediction about the placements is gonna be true but ofc I still want her to win instead

[silvertsundere]

Silver Talks AniManga (11/06/23)

as usual the * means I don't talk about it under the cut EDIT: ST☆R was late, but to not have to reedit this pic just pretend it has a * too

Anime

Megumin Ep10

we're getting closer and closer now to when megumin joins the party in konosuba, there was a scene in the last episode that coincided with the start of the show and there were a buncha cameos from kazuma, aqua and even darkness in this one. but anyway, the closer it gets the less I care about this show since it's stopping to be a spin off, like I said before it coulda've ended on like ep 5 or 6 and it would've been better than with all these additional eps after that but I'll save most of my bitching for the final ep. only 2 more so not dropping it now obviously

Imas CG: U149 Ep9

another great ep as usual, from the meeting with producer at the start of the ep I figured that they would get a live or something, and that was confirmed, in the form of an original song, at the end. considering we have 3 episodes left but the only girl without and episode is arisu my prediction is that next episode is gonna start with producer telling them about the song, and center on the process of making it and stuff, at the end of the ep they'll learn they'll finally get to do a live concert like they've been wanting too and arisu is gonna get another bout of self doubt. then on episode 11 it'll be her episode and she'll overcome it, for ep12 to be the big finale with the concert

Mashle Ep9

a nice episode, I said next week I had some hope for sakuga in the mash vs razor fight but guess I expected too much.. same old bare minimum animation sadly. was discussing with mega what the next eps are gonna cover and what'd be a good stopping point and things aren't lining up as expected to reach a good stopping point. prob gonna be a split cour announced at the end but we'll see

Pokemon Horizons Ep10

IT'S THE NEMONA EP BABY LET'S GOOOOO good ep anyway, but nemona made it all the better, kitamura eri did a really good job, tho let's not discount nakai kazuya's (zoro) performance tho, he was really good. anyway, this episode felt the most like the old anime, the cast got to a new town, found the gym leader, resolved whatever problem was stopping them from fighting them and fought them. not a bad thing necessarily but I just hope it doesn't become the norm with roy being ash 2

Jigokuraku Ep10

just like I said last week this episode was where they explain tao, not fully yet (with the elements and all that), that'll prob come on the last episode. good ep even if it was mostly exposition I already knew, I was really settling into it when the cliffhanger hit so I guess that means it was very well paced. the way they changed the perspective to between the various groups while they were all explaining the same thing but in different ways was good and helped make the exposition feel more fluid and less like a lecture would feel, ofc it was like that in the manga too but still

Manga

Blooming Love Ch6

cute chap, I figured she'd get to the date in time with grandpa taking over the work but it also went worse than I thought, well "worse" I just expected it to be more on the cute side than comedic. anyway now that we've had the week break I can say that I'm not sure about this series being published every other week. while it's certainly moving at light speed compared to the average romance I'm not sure if the pacing is gonna work with this schedule but we'll see

Dandadan Ch109

well I certainly didn't expect mr shrimp to get a chapter just for himself but it wasn't bad. I know it's basically just buying time to make okarun show up but it did it a lot better than mashle since shrimp has been here since the start of the fight and actively participating in it

Kaiju 8 Ch87

very cool chap, I was hoping to see narumi fight a bit more but it was still good, the final page and the big panel with #1 looked really good and I was surprised by the colour page outta nowhere at the start. I'm assuming the next fight is gonna be hoshina, it's the one that makes the most sense to me but I also just wanna see him fight again

Tokyo Underworld Ch43

??? what? they literally showed the doctor being the impostor before so them trying to make it seem like he isn't now is very weird. I guess they could be like "oh the real impostor is an executioner that can take the appearance of others and they took the dr's" and that's what they're fighting in the basement but...would be still be very weird since there was no hint whatsoever that that could a possibility

Fabricant 100 Ch25

I'm sorry to tell you brother but you ain't got time for that you're gonna get axed. also I was under the impression #100 had left with #1 at the end of the next chap but she was still here in this one, went to check and sure enough she didn't leave in the last chap either, guess it's just bad paneling since it gave both me and mega that impression. but anyway, what's the point of her betraying the good guys by leatting #1 leave when she's gonna stay and fight him again in the future anyway??? very bad writing

Nue's Exorcist Ch5

terrible chap, I don't get what the author is trying to do honestly. it felt really random and disjointed, they just aren't cut out for a weekly serialization at the moment I'm afraid

Kill Blue Ch8

not a bad chap, fujimaki coming up with a way to mix action with the fake dating plot by making it so people will be challenging ogami for duels to try to "win" noren. I thought them showing the pen so much at the start had to have some relevancy later but it happened right away on this chap. anyway, even if it's a bit weird I do like this development, maybe becoming a bit more actiony will help the series

Do Retry Ch6

another good chap, this panel under here was especially impressive, it'd look even better in the magazine because of where the spine division would be, making the effect of the arm suddenly popping out like that even better. the series is doing alright in ratings too (middle of the pack) so prob safe to assume it's gonna escape the U19 club

Witch Watch Ch112

after what happened with them kinda failing to make moi act on his feeling I thought we wouldn't be getting something like this soon but I guess I was wrong. next chap (or most likely the one after) we should be getting nico ACTUALLY confessing to moi. tho considering how recent the moi stuff was there's no way something isn't gonna make it go wrong

Blue Box Ch104

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA IT WAS EVEN BETTER THAN I EXPECTED LET'S GOOOOOOO god what an incredibly good chapter, makes one worried it might end soon since IT has finally happen but I really hope not, there's a lot more things on the magazine that could and should end before bb

Spy x Family Ch82

good chap, for once things aren't going swimmingly for twilight. I also really like the final panel since it works either for the yor panel that preceded it or the gunshot in the page before that. I'm gonna assume that yuri did manage to land the shot but he's gonna escape but be wounded, leading yuri to have even more suspicions about him

Cipher Academy Ch27

another good chap as usual, really liked all the jojo references too. also that one page with the girl talking with her text flipped vertically was VERY nisio, reminiscent of the maniwa speaking backwards in katanagatari

Tenmaku Cinema Ch9

you know I actually never expected himeki to take hajime to one of her shoots but it makes total sense, it's kinda like a training arc. another good chap with a p good cliffhanger

Undead Unluck Ch162

when everyone jumped in to fight shen I was worried we were gonna skip the whole tournament and just have the final fight now but seems that's not the case. very good cause I'm a whore for good tournaments so I'm p pogged up for this

Mashle Ch159

good chap, poor I0 is suffering the same fate as diavolo but self inflicted instead. mash interrupting his tragic backstory was very funny too. supposedly next chap is gonna have a colour page for the end of the final fight, leaving a couple more chaps til the finale as predicted.

Sakamoto Days Ch122

p chill chap just setting up the next arc, teasing the future baddies and having the crew travel, a necessary type of chap sometimes. the scene at the end was funny tho

The Elusive Samurai Ch113

what the hell I expected this chap to be kusunoki getting crushed quickly but it was really cool, really showing off just how powerful he actually was before he gets killed off. very good chap

Akane-banashi Ch65

very good chap, considering kaichi got a 91 score I'm expecting hikaru to get like around a 96. like I said before I don't think akane is gonna win this competition so she's either gonna get a 93 just so she can beat kaichi too or around like 87 and have her lose to kaichi too. we'll see tho, I'd love to see her win obviously, especially since she's doing her dad's story of all things but my gut is just telling me that isn't gonna happen

[starlight-time-machine]

Week in Review

10/08/2023 – 10/14/2023

Sunday

I have a tradition on Sundays I like to call, unimaginatively, Manga Sundays, where I catch up on all the manga I follow on the Manga Plus app.

MamaYuyu has unique and interesting panelling as always, but I’m not sure if the story can stand on its own.

Handsome Must Die is just stupid fun and I’m glad that the nice looking kid flipped the bird and that the evil kid is getting his proper redemption arc.

Undead Unluck is fantastic, and I love that Latla and Rip share the leg weapon now – this feels like one of the first big shifts in a character setting we’ve seen this loop, other than everyone avoiding/circumventing their tragedies, which are a given.

The Ichinose Family has completely lost me, but at least the emotional moments still come through clearly – Taizan 5 definitely has a flair for melodrama (this isn’t a dig).

The power stats in the Oshi no Ko are fun, and the last page was definitely impactful.

Dandadan is as chaotic as usual, and I can’t wait to see what supernatural or sci-fi or who even knows at this point power up the Class Rep gets from being caught up in this friend group. I loved her vampire fantasies, they felt very true to what a teenage girl would write self-insert fanfics about. I do wish Momo and Okarun would get together already, but that’ll probably have to wait until after this new ghost themed arc.

Marriagetoxin is alright, I’m glad to have a romance themed chapter again after all those action chapters I skimmed through. Erina is a cute little boss.

Magilumiere’s new shady private investor character is fine, I like his design but I don’t really care about his investing strategy when I already know him joining the team is a foregone conclusion.

Akane-banashi is a series I keep up with purely because it’s about rakugo (and I like Karashi), but it’s never really grabbed me despite being about a topic I enjoy. I don’t know, most of the art is pretty whatever to me, and its attempts to make rakugo seem interesting don’t interest me, even though I already like rakugo. I have no idea how it has captured the attention of the typical Shounen Jump crowd, but I suppose I’ll be grateful for it since I’m invested in the wellbeing of rakugo as an art form.

One Piece…I’ll admit that I don’t really know what’s going on in One Piece anymore, since I can’t keep track of all the characters and politics and powers straight in my head and I tend to just skim chapters until something cool happens. The old man spider looks cool, though I have no earthly idea why he’s so revered and feared. Eventually I’ll pick up the anime again – I’ll probably retain things better when I watch them as whole arcs at a time. (I also want to rewatch Water 7/Enies Lobby…)

And finally, I always leave Cipher Academy for last on Manga Sundays, because I love Cipher Academy soooooo much. I love all the characters, all the character designs, the puzzles, the art, the Nisioisin-isms, the list goes on. The first Tayutan vs Iroha Code Battle absolutely blew my mind and I felt a renewed love for the comics medium, so I’ve been hooked ever since. This chapter was really fun: I feel a little proud of myself for seeing through the ‘trick’ this time, even though it was pretty blatantly telegraphed with the close up on the arrow. Nohime is also looking gorgeous as usual, and I’m happy to get some lore about her. And of course Byu is checking out the tables for hiding spots. I wonder if Iroha and/or Shitsuke let the bomb explode to open a hole down into the lower floors? Feels very Stardew Valley Skull Cavern to me.

My friend and I have been watching House M. D. together over Discord – she’s watching for the first time while I’m rewatching. Today we finished off S3, and none of the episodes left a particularly deep impression on me. I’m going to miss the Chase Foreman Cameron team though.

Monday

The new Make Some Noise episode is okay, I’m not really vibing with the prompts…but I always enjoy seeing Jacob Wysocki, he’s one of my favourite Dropout cast members.

More House M.D. – the competition style arc at the start of S4 is pretty fun, but the medical mysteries are not interesting me in the slightest. The House/Wilson moments are great though.

I tried watching the first episode of Ascendance of a Bookworm, and it’s cute enough, but the low production quality is a pretty big turn off…I think I’m just going to read the manga. But this means that Fall 2019 gets a whopping 0 shows in my Anime by Season statistics, which is a far cry from the 14 shows of Spring 2016 (then again, I was in high school at the time, which meant that I had more free time and lower standards). Also yes…I’m so far behind on anime that I’m still working through 2019 shows…

Tuesday

Started the day off with the latest Chainsaw Man chapter, since I’ll get spoilers on Twitter if I left it until Manga Sunday. I would love to be a Devil Name Consultant.

Read through the first part of the Ascendance of a Bookworm manga. I like how tiny and cute Myne is, and these types of isekai stories where the protagonist uses their knowledge of modern technology to advance in society are just about the only kind of isekai I can tolerate. It’s a bit silly that she just happens to know all these handicrafts from doing things with her mom though. I think they could’ve just explained it with her already established book obsession. It’s interesting that she revealed her true self to Lutz so early – I haven’t read a lot of isekai but it doesn’t seem like this is a common trope. Usually it seems like the protagonist assimilates easily into their new world and has fun adventures, but this is an interesting development to their relationship. I also love the business wheeling and dealing, and it’s always fun when it’s a little kid doing it. Some of the plot progressions felt a bit weirdly paced to me, and the manga’s structure isn’t anything too inspired, but the story is interesting enough to keep me reading.

Skimmed through the latest chapter of Gakuen Babysitters. I basically only read it to get a dose of cuteness, but I still hang on for the Ryuuichi and Hayato interactions, which are few and far between these days.

Also read the latest chapter of Scary Campus College University. I’m not really digging this Cultural Festival arc because I don’t really care about the backstory stuff, but Fujimiya’s turn has been fun to see, and I’m looking forward to seeing the confrontation between him and Mahina.

Watched some more House with my friend. I’m not enjoying the gimmicky patients like the girl who could see ghosts or the guy who can magically read your insecurities and mirror them back at you. The CIA episode was pretty fun though.

I tried watching Catch Me If You Can, but I wasn’t really feeling it and stopped. This means I can finally continue my daily Movie Roulette though, so that should be fun for tomorrow.

Wednesday

The new Dirty Laundry episode was decently fun, it’s interesting to see guests who I’m actually pretty familiar with for once. The stories weren’t particularly exciting though.

Read the new Asper Kanojo chapter. Anyway,

Read the first few chapters of Shiroyama to Mito-san. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this oddball romance progresses.

Today’s Movie Roulette choice was Fantastic Mr. Fox, which my friend has been wanting me to watch for ages so we watched it together on Discord. It was pretty fun, though the stop motion animation and stares into the camera wigged me out a bit. I’m still not sure how I feel about Wes Anderson’s Wes Andersonisms, but the new Henry Sugar movie is on my list and I actually do love that book so we’ll see…

Thursday

I finally finished reading Sammy Keyes and the Curse of Moustache Mary, which I started weeks ago and haven’t had time to return to until now. Sammy Keyes is one of my favourite childhood book series – I love Sammy’s boldness and resourcefulness, I like that the books are written like kid-friendly noir mysteries, and I like the characters and all their developing dynamics. This instalment was a pretty fun romp, and I was surprised to see a kid’s book talk about meth? As a kid I only remembered the pig (I don’t think I got that far into this one, or reread it a whole bunch). I really didn’t appreciate the slurs though, intentional or otherwise.

I’ve had an on and off headache for like three days now, and I wanted something soothing to watch while I ate dinner so I put on Heya Camp, which was about 30 minutes total for 12 episodes. It was perfectly fine and cute, not much else to say about it. I’m looking forward to getting back into Yuru Camp proper though.

Today’s Movie Roulette choice is In & Of Itself, which I had put on my list because I heard that it was life changing. It didn’t really do that for me, but it was fine. I enjoyed the magic tricks. I think if I were one of those people in the physical audience who he would look in the eye and identify, it’d be emotionally moving, but other than that the platitudes of perspective and identity weren’t all that mind blowing to me. But with this, I’m officially down to 100 movies left on my to watch list!

And then, because I couldn’t help myself, I started the next Sammy Keyes book, which is the Hollywood Mummy. It’s the first Sammy and Lana centric story in the series and I remember nothing about it, so I’m pretty excited.

Friday

I watched some more House with my friend. This crop of episodes was pretty good, with the Christmas one being a highlight. I’m definitely enjoying the more lighthearted silly sideplots than the ones about House brooding about his pain or addiction.

Managed to read the latest chapter of Akuheki before passing out from sleepiness. Today was a very toxic yaoi kind of day, huh? I always enjoy the complexity of the main couple’s relationship in this BL, which is pretty rare to find. And oh my godddddd when Daimon was presented on stage as an object…this is the good stuff.

Saturday

And now to catch up on the BL series I’m following (which I was going to do on Friday night, but oh well). First up is A Second Goodbye to You, which I feel like only barely counts as a BL at this stage? But I’m enjoying the intrigue and the thriller aspects of the story, even if it feels a little like they’re just systematically placing the suspicion onto each person involved in turn. And after the third “Everything’s going to be okay! Oh no someone died!” twist it gets a little tiring. The reporter is an interesting new addition – I really hope he can just help Harusawa out because he’s definitely in over his head.

Next is the latest chapter of Memeshii Aku to Azatoi Suh, which I find to be generally pretty silly and I’ve only gotten this far because I enjoyed the original manga that this is a spin-off of. This chapter was like a lecture on slut-shaming and consensual sex lol. But good for them, now they can get together without reservations.

I watched the first episode of Spy x Family season 2 over dinner, and it was fun! Just more of the same, which is a good thing when the quality’s already pretty high. I enjoyed the experimental animation in the opening and ending, and I’m always down for a Loid/Yor shippy episode.

We’re nearing the end of House season 4 now with a solid batch of episodes. I realize now that I actually like this new team more than the original team – Thirteen is cool, Taub is cunty (this is a compliment) and Kutner is just chilling. Plus Foreman is still there, and he’s my favourite from the original trio. The episode where House diagnoses someone by watching a soap opera is a fun setup, though the ending felt pretty rushed and anticlimactic. My friend and I don’t like the Wilson/Amber pairing, but we do love that it brings out House’s jealousy and plenty of Hilson moments. We’ve left the two part season finale for tomorrow, which should be fun.

Went back and watched the second episode of SpyFam since it was available. And man they really tried their best to fill out the Bond centric segment huh…and it’s like, I like Bond as an addition to the family, but it’s hard for him to carry a storyline by himself. The Damian segment was a lot more fun – I like that shot of Damian with his little cape looking up at the sky. And I like that his friends are a little more fleshed out and that they’re his actual friends, not just henchmen. Pretty cute episode, if a bit slow.

Okay wow I’m only halfway through Undead Unluck episode 2 but I needed to write down my thoughts in case I forget anything. I love the stylistic choices and directing style here, it feels like they’re really taking advantage of the medium to elevate the story and the atmosphere rather than just adapting the manga panel for panel (cough SpyFam is sometimes a little guilty of this when it’s not doing big action set pieces cough). But the big blue sky framing and the stylistic cut into the title card and the UNAVOIDABLE cut was pretty perfect, and captured the impactful energy of the manga’s style. Hanae Natsuki as Shen is also sooooooo good, and I’ve always loved how interesting the Union felt like as villains – knowing what I know now, everything makes sense, but when I first read the manga it was really refreshing to have an antagonistic force that could be negotiated with and seemed to have its own altruistic goals, and also crazy to see people actually die and for those deaths to have consequences on the story…a shocking concept, in shounen battle manga. I really love Undead Unluck’s commitment to its own setting and exploring all its possibilities (well maybe not in the romance department. Which, while refreshing, is very straight lmao).

Also they haven’t announced who voices Mui yet, but I have my fingers crossed really really really really really hard that it’s someone who can speak Chinese…I get why Shen didn’t get that (I don’t even know of a male seiyuu who speaks Chinese) but I have two female Chinese seiyuu in mind who’d be great for Mui…Homoto Akina perhaps…and totally not just because I love her Love Live character…but pleaseeeee I’d love to hear some real Chinese in the anime. The opening was fun and stylish, but I have to admit I was a little disappointed by Queen Bee’s song for it. It was just more lowkey than I would’ve expected…it’s heartening to see so many characters show up in the opening, though. It seems like they’re in it for the long haul and I really do hope we get to see the entire manga adapted. The directing in this episode feels like they’re setting up how this will be a grand adventure, and I can’t wait to watch it play out. I just feel reassured that the people working on this anime really understand what makes Undead Unluck so magical, and their love can be felt through the work.

Wow I’ve never noticed that little opening on Shen’s waist…hip window… Also man I appreciate them animating Andy’s dick censor, it’s pretty funny how it flops around.

LMAOOOOOOOOOOO OKAY JUST GOT TO WHERE HANAE NATSUKI TRIES HIS BEST TO SPEAK CHINESE…I’M ROOTING FOR  YOU MAN…

I completely forgot how Shen just sells out a member of the Union for seemingly his own amusement. It definitely sowed the seed for how interesting of a character he is…and why he’s my favourite heh. And wow that ending was beautiful…

I’ve written so much about Undead Unluck that it’s a little embarrassing ha, but I love this story so much and it’s amazing to see such a great adaptation of it. I love feeling like I’m about to set out on an amazing world-spanning journey…it almost feels like when I watched One Piece for the first time as a ten year old. I’ll definitely be tuning in every week.

And that’s it for my first Week in Review! (I’m forcibly ending it here so that I go to bed and not watch any more shows or read a book.) As you can see, I can talk a lot about things that don’t matter to anyone but myself because I think I’m soooo interesting (this is only half sarcastic). If anyone ever even sees this, I’ll be amazed. But until then, I’ll just be here talking to myself.