Anime What are You Watching/Reading Now?

[Kiki]

*Looks at her Crunchyroll queue* 

 

MY love STORY!!

 

 

I felt a bit shallow when I first say the image of the buff guy; since I love sexy ink men. But gave it a go and truly enjoyed the sweetness and humor this anime has to offer. It is based of the manga of course, but I have not read it and prefer to keep it that way. When you read the manga first or whatever; you start to look for things and changes in the anime. The big guy is actually pretty funny and very strong minded in the sense of always being the hero. Plus the sense of obliviousness is strong with those two and it is funny.It is currently airing in Japan, so I am in the waiting until the nest episode of up type of situation. 

 

Galilei Donna

 

About the Show

 

Galilei Donna follows the three Ferrari sisters who are descendants of the astronomer, Galileo Galilei. The year is 2061 and the world is in the grips of another ice age. With a mysterious organization hunting them down and searching for the “Galilei Donna”, the three sisters must work together to fight against the organization and discover their true destinies.

 

I have only seen the first episode! But it does seem pretty interesting; which I am still trying to figure out what the whole adventure turns out to be and why.

 

 

Disclaimer: Found description via Crunchyroll.

Edited May 21, 2015 by Kiki

[James]

I haven't really watched anime in a long time, but recently I've been watching a couple of things:

• Akira: It's the classic that everyone knows. I only just recently got the Blu-ray special edition, which is pretty cool. The bonus features are pretty nice.
• Ghost in the Shell - Innocence: I have owned this for ages, but realised I'd never actually watched it (despite really enjoying the original). The sequel was...okay. Very visually flashy, but it re-treads a lot of ground and doesn't say much of value, other than a few choice tidbits.
• Attack on Titan: I started watching this recently because I saw the trailer for the live action film and it looks pretty good. So far I'm only a couple of episodes in, but I'm enjoying what I'm seeing.

[Japan]

I haven't really watched anime in a long time, but recently I've been watching a couple of things:

• Akira: It's the classic that everyone knows. I only just recently got the Blu-ray special edition, which is pretty cool. The bonus features are pretty nice.
• Ghost in the Shell - Innocence: I have owned this for ages, but realised I'd never actually watched it (despite really enjoying the original). The sequel was...okay. Very visually flashy, but it re-treads a lot of ground and doesn't say much of value, other than a few choice tidbits.
• Attack on Titan: I started watching this recently because I saw the trailer for the live action film and it looks pretty good. So far I'm only a couple of episodes in, but I'm enjoying what I'm seeing.

I LOVE Attack on Titan...though I am mostly obsessed with the soundtrack. Call Your Name and Reluctant Heroes despite the Engrish is suprisingly good. Let's not forget how awesome the two opening themes by Sound Horizon are too!

 

I've mostly been watching Kamen rider myself. I recently finished Kamen Rider Drive, and Kiva. I just started to watch Hibiki. (Though I think I might watch Monster again for the sole reason of it being October.

Edited October 16, 2015 by Japan

[Mirol]

I just finished watching all of Fullmetal Alchemist (I actually bought the entire series) and it was quite epic

[Charles]

I have just marathoned One Punch Man and Food Wars. I highly recommend both. OPM is essentially a parody of DBZ and the like, featuring an overpowered protagonist mixed with copious action and humor. Food Wars is about a talented kid from a diner whose father sends him to culinary school. Students "battle" one another in highly detailed and entertaining cook offs; there are also parodies of how sexuality is featured in anime. 

[Shy]

Right now I am reading CURVEBALL, a graphic novel by artist Jeremy Sorese (NoBrow Press). It's about a futuristic society in decline, where most of the machines are decaying and nobody knows what will become of humanity after the age of automation is no longer functional. In addition, it's about reawakening yourself after losing a great love. The whole thing has a sleepy, dreamlike quality to it but honestly I find it a bit overwritten and too wordy in parts. This all speaks to the author's sensibilities, I guess, but my style is generally "less is more," especially when the artist is so very capable.

One thing CURVEBALL is is LOOONG, and I've struggled a bit to get through it. I think the slog is a bit intentional though, and I suspect towards the end it might build towards... something? Like OB RPGs of yore, the emphasis might be a little too heavy on world-building and not enough on plotting. It's a perfect read for a long journey and self-reflection.

http://nobrow.net/shop/curveball/

[Allamorph]

Watch List:

• The X-Files — Old-school, baby.  I remember my parents watching this at night when I was younger, and it probably helped spur my interest in the fantastic and bizarre.  Never actually watched it straight through, so I'm going back now and picking up all the plot subtexts under each of the seasons.  For being an episodic series, the complexity of the long-term plot was very well-laid-out underneath everything else, and the writers do a great job of going back and hinting at it again just often enough to remind you that it's there but you can't see it.  Very patient pacing.  I especially enjoy how the writers deliberately approach the paranormal topics as though no one believes they exist and yet clearly writing them as real; and it's very interesting to see Dana Scully come slowly around to believing that there may be something to Mulder's claims after all.
• Jessica Jones — I'm currently of the opinion that Netflix can just sit in Hell's Kitchen and do whatever they want and I'll love it.  First they had Daredevil, which was extremely well-done but very dark, and now this series, which is just as gritty and brutal to its characters.  Also it's got Carrie Ann Moss (a high-profile corporate lawyer who's going through a rough divorce with her wife) and David Tennant (River Song says, "Spoilers! ;) "), if that strikes your fancy.
• Legends — aka Sean Bean Doesn't Die.  Story centers around FBI agent Martin Odum (Bean), who uses his Dissociative Personality Disorder to go deep-cover and infiltrate organisations or gain the confidence of targets as a vast array of different people he can "become": artificial personalities that the Bureau refers to as "Legends".  But when a stranger's dying words suggest that Martin Odum is himself a Legend, Odum's life begins to spiral as he tries to reaffirm his own identity—or discover who he truly is.

Read List

• Dune – Frank Herbert — Picked this one up when I saw it in the Barnes and Noble surge of reprinting old classics in hardback with gilt-edged pages.  Didn't touch it for almost two years, then started in on it over the holidays.  Interplanetary feudalistic politics, local mystic religious beliefs, and the Spice.  Good times.
• 1984 – George Orwell — Yet another classic I haven't finished.  Dystopian future where the population has been brainwashed by the continual rewriting of history and the fear of the Thought Police.  Good reading for duty days when I can't go home and have nothing to do but sit on Crew's Mess and be bored out of my mind.  Not that the book is boring, by any means.  Just that now I'm more qualified, I have less things to eat up my free time on duty.  After I finish Orwell, I plan on going back for To Kill A Mockingbird.

[Boo]

My sister had an extra slot in her Netflix account so I started watching more series again. Actually, I watch all the superhero shows, for some reason. They're not that amazing, really, but have a relatively high entertainment factor.

• Marvel's Jessica Jones & Daredevil - I like the concept. The continuity of "this plays after New York was bombed by superheroes and aliens", and people are actually upset as well about the city being destroyed for a big part. Somewhat. Mostly, they quickly refer to the incidents of the Avengers, but you don't really feel the impact. Both shows are entertaining, but somewhat mediocre. 
• DC's Arrow, The Flash & Gotham - I probably like these a bit more than the Marvel shows, but that's because I mostly like DC more than Marvel. Gotham has the most interesting concept, seeing Bruce Wayne as a kid, and having a police detective (James Gordon) as the main character instead of a superhero. 
• Californication - Watched the first season when it just came out, which was great. Then second season came out, and I couldn't watch past the first two episodes. I finally pulled myself through, this year, and binge watched the entire thing, including that shitty last season. 
• Ray Donovan - Kind of like the superhero series, really.
• The Americans - Cool concept. Also, pretty okay show.
• True Detective - Season 1 was ace. Season 2's first episode made me want to take a poo, which I did. Felt better afterwards.
• Fargo - Saved season 2 for when I have enough time. Season 1 was great.

Reading:

• Terry Pratchett's books revolving around Death have been released as a fancy looking series. Picked up one of those the other day.
• Just finished Ready Player One which was a pretty neat read, though the ending was mighty cliche.
• Finished The Circle this year, which lived up to the hype, although Eggers could've made it a bit longer and deeper. Would've liked more vision in it, and an ending that wasn't a direct Orwell reference.
• Picked up Little Book of Language again for a quick fix of pop linguistics. 
• I read The Rosie Project. Funny.
• Love Machines by Josh Trujilo. 
• I read comics on the WebToons app now as well. For example the Star Wars comic.
• Stuff on SEO, Online Marketing, and similar stuff. 

[Syk3]

In terms of anime I've been watching shows pretty slowly lately, namely One Piece and One Punch Man. One Piece has the amazing capacity to hit you right in the feels time after time, and One Punch Man is an unconventional show that can leave you on the floor laughing with a single well-aimed punch. :p

As for manga, I'm currently reading Bakuman and Rokudenashi ("Good-for-nothing") Blues. The former is a detailed manga about kids creating manga, which I brought back from Japan, and the latter was recommended by Tim Ferriss of 4-Hour fame.

Since returning from Japan I have been unable to watch anime or read manga that wasn't in straight Japanese, and lately I've been attempting to go completely legal in my consumption of Japanese entertainment. So it does well in limiting what I can watch and read. haha

[James]

At the moment I'm kind of re-discovering Louie - just finished watching the second season. What a great show!

Also, I've lately been reading Bram Stoker's Dracula, which has been fascinating. I'm about to order Uzumaki, as I only just heard about it recently, and it looks like it's right up my alley; surreal Japanese horror at its finest!

[John]

The new season of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is really surprising me with the consistency of its quality. The show has stumbled at a few points as it ages, and I was expecting that to get worse and worse, as most shows do when their tenure gets into double digit seasons. But damned if the writers don't keep finding fresh story and character angles (even if they do lean a little too heavily on successful running jokes from earlier seasons).

And I'll tell ya what's not surprising, and that's the quality of this season of Better Call Saul. The only thing that nagged me about the first season was my unfair but inescapable comparison of this show's relatively low stakes to Breaking Bad's nerve-shredding high stakes. Not the show's fault, it's a great story well told, and in season 2 I've finally had enough time for that juxtaposition to fade out of my mind. Now all that matters is watching Bob Odenkirk absolutely destroy in every scene.

One show that really threw my expectations was Master of None. I'm not usually a big Aziz Ansari fan, but I was nevertheless going into this show expecting greatness on account of the hype it's received. So I was surprised when the handful of episodes I watched left me cold. It was like the writers either watched too many or too few episodes of Louie, and tried too hard to hit that same thoughtful, joke-free comedy tone. I think it's mostly because the performances are so unnatural and the topics explored are so forced and hamfisted that there's no room for any ambiguity or nuance. Reading a plot summary of an episode would be about as edifying and entertaining as watching the episode itself.

And you know what? Let's give a disappointment shout-out to Love, too. Another show I had high expectations for. I won't spoil anything, but I'll just say that it started out really promising and ended up with me really losing any emotional investment as either of the main characters became harder and harder to relate to (in Gus' case) or root for (in either case). I get that it's supposed to be that way because that's how real life is, but it just felt like the show didn't end up with a strong angle or a point to make beyond "Love! ****'s complicated, yo!"

At the moment I'm kind of re-discovering Louie - just finished watching the second season. What a great show!

Also, I've lately been reading Bram Stoker's Dracula, which has been fascinating. I'm about to order Uzumaki, as I only just heard about it recently, and it looks like it's right up my alley; surreal Japanese horror at its finest!

Great taste! Louie is such a great show, and it just gets better season after season. Uzumaki is also ridiculously good. Junji Ito really takes that one spiral concept and thoroughly mines its potential. Super inventive. You should read some of his other stuff too. I don't ever really read manga, but I'm always up for some Ito.

Edited March 4, 2016 by John

[SaiyanPrincessX]

My husband has been watching Jessica Jones and Daredevil. I can't stand either one, lol.

I'm still slowing watching Naruto Shippuden, although it's been ages since I've watched an episode. I started watching Dragonball Super, I'm around episode 40. I only watch episodes while I'm on the treadmill, and only when I'm walking at the highest incline for an hour, way too hard while running, therefore I don't get much 'show time'.

Dragonball Super isn't bad...but I don't think I'm far enough in. I dislike some of the changes in some of the character's personalities, Vegeta doesn't have that bad ass feel as much as he did in the original series. Gohan is still a pussy...which I do hope they change, lol! He was my favorite character during the cell games, then it was all down hill after that.  I do like that GT was totally disregarded.

[John]

My husband has been watching Jessica Jones and Daredevil. I can't stand either one, lol.

THANK YOU.

[Allamorph]

THANK YOU.

For what?  For sharing your opinion?  Was your opinion not a valid opinion before she echoed it?  I fail to understand the jubilation.

[John]

For what?  For sharing your opinion?  Was your opinion not a valid opinion before she echoed it?  I fail to understand the jubilation.

NO THANK YOU.

[Allamorph]

NO THANK YOU.

All right, Beedle.  Very well.

Edited October 26, 2016 by Allamorph

[Kazuwa Nomura]

 

Dragonball Super isn't bad...but I don't think I'm far enough in. I dislike some of the changes in some of the character's personalities, Vegeta doesn't have that bad ass feel as much as he did in the original series. Gohan is still a pussy...which I do hope they change, lol! He was my favorite character during the cell games, then it was all down hill after that.  I do like that GT was totally disregarded.

I wasn't aware that there was such a thing as Dragonball Super... *cough* perhaps it is time for this DBZ fan to dust off his shoulders, and get back in to the game, rediscover what I love about the Dragonball series. 

 

currently I'm rewatching Welcome to the NHK. The first time I saw it, I was in highschool, and while I loved it... I didn't relate with it so easily. This time around, I find myself also being a 22 year old male that's afraid to leave the house, frequently being consumed by the ol' paranoia. As such, the show frequently makes me cry now. I enjoy when an anime can make me cry. I'm glad I decided to watch it again, now of all times. 

 

Tonight, I have Rurouni Kenshin (vol. 7, i believe) in the DVD player, ready to watch for whenever I get into bed. 

 

other than that, I've been rewatching Lost. I'm also really into The Sopranos right now (I began watching on a whim, and boy oh boy was I in for a wild ride) 

 

Oh, and right now I'm reading Billy Bat by Naoki Urasawa. Anyone that's into mystery manga, paranoid fiction, etc etc, should really give Billy Bat a shot. 

Edited November 10, 2016 by Kazuwa Nomura