Anime/Manga - Discuss Japanese cartoons and comics here; NO CULTURE WAR DOOMPOSTING!

[HexFag]

Also, this might belong more in the unpopular opinions tab but I'll be honest, I just want to sperg about something for a second.
I know that even if I watched more episodes of Freiran or The Apothecary Diaries, they would not hold a candle to the amount of joy Zom100 gave me during it's run.
I forgot how entertaining and beautiful of an artform anime could actually be until watching Zom. It reminded me anime could still be fun and that weekly releases were something to actually look forward to instead of just slogging through.
Zom became one of my favorite anime of the last several years due to this one scene.

View attachment 5763982
I haven't had the type of catharsis from watching anything even remotely close to seeing a late bloomer japanese salaryman tell off his narcissistic boss with a smile on his face.
This show is a fucking godsend and was my personal anime of the year.

I had a friend put me on the show when it was initially airing and its a shame that all of the production issues fucked it over and caused the final episodes to be delayed by months.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I just don't understand the horseshoe of people on either side of political aisle giving a shit about little things people do as a sign of expressing themselves. We're talking about shirts here.
One of the biggest problems we have right now is have a generation of boring faggots who don't want to draw attention to themselves in any way. Every other generation was less afraid of being cringe than we are and managed to be less cringe as a result.
But by all means, yes. Wear Nikes and Hurleys and baige pants. Because being a walking ad is more important than expressing an interest in something you like and offending the fashion sense of a dudebro.
It's a fucking shirt.
I know this is the anime thread but I just really hate that mindset I see pop up on this site sometimes. Metal bands, anime, movie posters, who gives a shit. Just let people wear what they like instead of trying to micromanage people's self-expression like a soccer mom. That's why people hate woke shit to begin with.

Nah dude, if your shirt sucks then I have the right to criticise it and shirts with anime shirts universally look like shit. Especially as I need to suffer the sight of the shirt rather than the person wearing it.

 

[Oddjob OTP]

Undead is also probably one of Shonen Jump's biggest flops in awhile, people look at the KnY and JJK and expect that every WSJ anime to 10x their manga sale and be spammed on almost every internet board/form.
I'm trying to think what was the last Jump series that did this bad in terms of being talked about/boosting the manga, I think it was either Roboco or Ayakashi Triangle if you want to be technical though the former was a 3 min per episode anime that I don't think ever got translated and the latter got their broadcast delayed for 6 months because of the cough.
Aside from that you might have to go back 6-7 years to when jump still had haremshit (Yunna and Bokuben) or Hinomaru which (although I did like it) I remember people mocking it for being a yakuza sponsored front because of it's laughable performance.

Undead Unluck is way more on the "gag" end of shonen like OG Dragonball and anyone who expected it to do as well as edgelord battle shonen is brain dead. I like the manga well enough, it's a solid 7 or 8 but I'm not really surprised it's hard to translate to anime. I like the overall plot where Unluck survived Armageddon and got to go into the next time loop and is now trying to get all of the characters together to fight god all as one group after she future perfects their tragic backstories but I think it does a bad job of teasing that that's the plot early so it seems kind of asspull-y as you read through.

 

[The Token Ethnic]

what would you do if you saw someone wearing a t-shirt with an anime print

If someone is wearing an ahegao/coomer shirt, then I try and take a picture. If it's just a regular anime shirt, I don't care.

 

[WelperHelper99]

If someone is wearing an ahegao/coomer shirt, then I try and take a picture. If it's just a regular anime shirt, I don't care.

I just have a Goblin Slayer shirt. Most people think it's just a knight or something. I think it's cool.

 

[The Token Ethnic]

I just have a Goblin Slayer shirt. Most people think it's just a knight or something. I think it's cool.

I have some from volunteering at cons, so I wear the ones I haven't been able to sell as workout/jogging shirts. If someone asks me if I like anime, I just make up an excuse that I got it at a thrift store or that the shirt belongs to my girlfriend or son. Speaking of thrift stores, I found this bootleg of Cyberpunk Edgerunners. They really stepped up the quality of bootlegs you'd find in the 00s.

 

[WelperHelper99]

I have some from volunteering at cons, so I wear the ones I haven't been able to sell as workout/jogging shirts. If someone asks me if I like anime, I just make up an excuse that I got it at a thrift store or that the shirt belongs to my girlfriend or son. Speaking of thrift stores, I found this bootleg of Cyberpunk Edgerunners. They really stepped up the quality of bootlegs you'd find in the 00s.
View attachment 5764675

I'm in tears we'll probably never get a official bluray of edgerunners. Fuck you Netflix.

But as for the shirt, it's not graphic or anything, and the text is Japanese, so when people ask about the goblin Slayer shirt, I just say it's a knight. Those who know know.

 

[Lone MacReady II]

I have some from volunteering at cons, so I wear the ones I haven't been able to sell as workout/jogging shirts. If someone asks me if I like anime, I just make up an excuse that I got it at a thrift store or that the shirt belongs to my girlfriend or son. Speaking of thrift stores, I found this bootleg of Cyberpunk Edgerunners. They really stepped up the quality of bootlegs you'd find in the 00s.
View attachment 5764675

You had better be bootlegging and not actually supporting Netfux there friendo.

 

[(((I am NOT a jew)))]

If someone is wearing an ahegao/coomer shirt, then I try and take a picture. If it's just a regular anime shirt, I don't care.

That's the true litmus test.
The ahegao jacket is essentially the difference between the "free spirit aunt" and that uncle you don't allow by the kids for the anime community.
I think the real biggest issue when it comes to fashion is when you're actively trying to offend people.

Some wiccan bitch with a pentagram on her shirt. Kind of chunibiyo/cringe but whatever.
Some landwhale with a "Jesus is a cunt" shirt or intentionally incendiary statement is just a troublemaker.

The dude with a decently designed band shirt is okay.
Wearing a DIY "My drink of choice is Greenday" is beyond the pale.


Again, I think there's just levels to it. I think custom anime shirts can be cool as a way of showing a love for a rare show you like or being able to start up a conversation with a random person who happens to know it.
At the end of the day, they're shirts. They might offend me for a second but at the end of the day, I mostly can choose who I'm around.

 

[HexFag]

I have some from volunteering at cons, so I wear the ones I haven't been able to sell as workout/jogging shirts. If someone asks me if I like anime, I just make up an excuse that I got it at a thrift store or that the shirt belongs to my girlfriend or son. Speaking of thrift stores, I found this bootleg of Cyberpunk Edgerunners. They really stepped up the quality of bootlegs you'd find in the 00s.
View attachment 5764675

Man fuck you I thought this was real at a glance

That's the true litmus test.
The ahegao jacket is essentially the difference between the "free spirit aunt" and that uncle you don't allow by the kids for the anime community.
I think the real biggest issue when it comes to fashion is when you're actively trying to offend people.

Some wiccan bitch with a pentagram on her shirt. Kind of chunibiyo/cringe but whatever.
Some landwhale with a "Jesus is a cunt" shirt or intentionally incendiary statement is just a troublemaker.

The dude with a decently designed band shirt is okay.
Wearing a DIY "My drink of choice is Greenday" is beyond the pale.


Again, I think there's just levels to it. I think custom anime shirts can be cool as a way of showing a love for a rare show you like or being able to start up a conversation with a random person who happens to know it.
At the end of the day, they're shirts. They might offend me for a second but at the end of the day, I mostly can choose who I'm around.

My opinion on the whole wearing anime merch thing is that anime isnt niche like it was 20 years ago and normalfags wear anime shirts now. Hell, even my fucking grandma was wearing a My Hero shirt. You aren't going to get stoned or hung for wearing a shirt with Sasuke on it anymore. The ahegao/ironic weeb stuff is pretty cringe but that stuff fell out of ironic fashion like 4 years ago.

That being said, I wish there was more clothes of anime that aren't like super popular but that will literally never happen. I just want a Patlabor shirt man.

 

[(((I am NOT a jew)))]

That being said, I wish there was more clothes of anime that aren't like super popular but that will literally never happen. I just want a Patlabor shirt man.

It's on the pricier side, but redbubble always has a good selection of custom stuff for whatever you want.
That's my main thing. I don't want to have an anime shirt if it has the same appeal/design of fucking Supremes.
Look I get the utilitarian angle. I'm sure people cringe at some of my stuff. But ultimately I wear it because it's always worth it to meet that one guy who knows about Gintama or rare band or film that I can have a conversation with during the day.
I used to own a Misaki shirt. Kind of cringe? Absolutely. But I just wanted to rep one of my favorite characters and shows at the same time.
I just think the idea of doing the 180% from finding an aheagao jacket or Motorhead shirt cringe to thinking we all should wear Salt Life shirts and Polos unnerves me more than most shit.

I think it's because I get flashbacks to the birth place of modern Clown World with ShirtGate. People ruined a dude's reputation because his shirt was "sexist" or problematic when in reality it was just kind of a cringe Hawaiian shirt.

I know I'm derailing a thread to talk about shirts but ultimately I just think it's what you want out of clothing.

 

[HexFag]

It's on the pricier side, but redbubble always has a good selection of custom stuff for whatever you want.
That's my main thing. I don't want to have an anime shirt if it has the same appeal/design of fucking Supremes.
Look I get the utilitarian angle. I'm sure people cringe at some of my stuff. But ultimately I wear it because it's always worth it to meet that one guy who knows about Gintama or rare band or film that I can have a conversation with during the day.
I used to own a Misaki shirt. Kind of cringe? Absolutely. But I just wanted to rep one of my favorite characters and shows at the same time.
I just think the idea of doing the 180% from finding an aheagao jacket or Motorhead shirt cringe to thinking we all should wear Salt Life shirts and Polos unnerves me more than most shit.

I think it's because I get flashbacks to the birth place of modern Clown World with ShirtGate. People ruined a dude's reputation because his shirt was "sexist" or problematic when in reality it was just kind of a cringe Hawaiian shirt.

I know I'm derailing a thread to talk about shirts but ultimately I just think it's what you want out of clothing.

I was mainly referring to official merch sales but I guess for more "niche" (is not liking one of maybe 5 anime considered niche?) Redbubble would probably be the best way to go.
On the point of being cringe in public, nobody really gives a fuck what shirt you wear as long as it isnt a shirt saying "IM A PEDOPHILE WHO LIKES HUMPING CHILDREN" or something along the lines of that.

Also an Elizabeth hoodie would be the single best piece of Gintama merch ever.

 

[(((I am NOT a jew)))]

On the point of being cringe in public, nobody really gives a fuck what shirt you wear as long as it isnt a shirt saying "IM A PEDOPHILE WHO LIKES HUMPING CHILDREN" or something along the lines of that.

Also an Elizabeth hoodie would be the single best piece of Gintama merch ever.

Yes it would. Never been the biggest fan of Elizabeth though. Much preferred here when she was literally just a stand in for Sorachi then when she had about three official backstories.
Although this is one of my favorite shirts.

Kind of cringe, but has enough "meme appeal" that it works.

I think the thing is that yes, sometimes people DO care if you're wearing something other than Adidas. But fuck them.
I would much rather any day hang out with the worst offending neonglow tiedye MTV looking Gen-Xer than than the average "dripped" zoomer.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Undead Unluck is way more on the "gag" end of shonen like OG Dragonball and anyone who expected it to do as well as edgelord battle shonen is brain dead. I like the manga well enough, it's a solid 7 or 8 but I'm not really surprised it's hard to translate to anime. I like the overall plot where Unluck survived Armageddon and got to go into the next time loop and is now trying to get all of the characters together to fight god all as one group after she future perfects their tragic backstories but I think it does a bad job of teasing that that's the plot early so it seems kind of asspull-y as you read through.

It's not that I expected it to be serious, but it just jumps around too much to have anything memorable about it. Like you have the whole negator shtick, Lobotomy Corporation shtick, evil negators shtick, countdown to god shtick and time loop shtick. Trying to think of something similar, Golden Kamuy had a ton of things but it was smart enough to have the plot be straightforward and spend a lot of time building the characters.

 

[HodgePodgeRogerDodger]

It's not that I expected it to be serious, but it just jumps around too much to have anything memorable about it. Like you have the whole negator shtick, Lobotomy Corporation shtick, evil negators shtick, countdown to god shtick and time loop shtick. Trying to think of something similar, Golden Kamuy had a ton of things but it was smart enough to have the plot be straightforward and spend a lot of time building the characters.

It more expands side characters during different convict hunts. When Tanigaki gets with Inkarmat it feels natural as you know his character and Inkarmat goes from a seductress archetype to a well rounded character (her keeping the knife in is a very good moment).

Undead Unluck isn’t bad, but it’s not as thought out. It’s good in what it is, but Golden Kamuy is a better manga by leaps and bounds.

 

[Ensok]

For those who watch it, can someone explain the appeal of "Black Clover" and why it is so popular?

View attachment 5760211

I legit started watching it, first few episodes I'm running on an "Oh, so this guy has no powers and will just have to out might everyone with pure training and dedication to get to the top" high, but then the nigga gets the "Ultra rare never before seen 6 clover (Please don't steal my OC)" book, that allows him to summon some faggy sword that is more akin to a toy hammer than anything worthwhile to fight with, shit could've at least drawn blood but whatever I suppose.

All the interest in seeing him succeed is gone now that he has a rare nullifying item because It'll most likely be revealed that he is special - this shit is like Naruto all over again - but I digress.

Am I just not seeing something in it or is it legit just normie pre-teen power fantasy bait?

I read the manga for about 100ish chapters before sort of naturally losing interest and stopping there.

As someone who more or less enjoyed it up to that point I think the appeal of Black Clover was a few things:

1. Yuno isn't a douche. After years of Vegeta, Sasuke, and more recently Bakugo, it was actually cool to have a rival character who is nice and has a good relationship with our hero. The two of them get along, are great friends, and respect each other. This is really refreshing for this type of series.
2. Asta legitimately works harder than anybody, yeah he has a unique power but that's pretty par for the course anyways. He still pushes his body hard and it feels earned that he's strong in the series. And half of the rest of the cast have unique or crazy powers too like Yuno's fairy, Yami's dark magic, time magic, etc.
3. It's fast. For better and for worse there is absolutely no settling down in the manga, it rushes along at a breakneck pace. Often something will happen that seems like a minor arc or occurrence before it blossoms into a major event and everything sort of bleeds together. This can be both good and bad but it makes it paced differently than things like One Piece and Naruto.
4. The power system allows for all kinds of unique abilities and its got pretty entertaining fights and art overall.
5. The sidecast is pretty good, I don't think there are many truly amazing characters, Zora is probably the most interesting, and most are just archetypes but it helps that there isn't a super obnoxious or divisive character (ie. Sasuke) in it either.
6. It's not trying to be anything more than it is.

I've heard the anime is worse because of the screaming and I don't know how well animated it is either because I didn't watch it, but those are my thoughts on the manga.

 

[Oddjob OTP]

It's not that I expected it to be serious, but it just jumps around too much to have anything memorable about it. Like you have the whole negator shtick, Lobotomy Corporation shtick, evil negators shtick, countdown to god shtick and time loop shtick. Trying to think of something similar, Golden Kamuy had a ton of things but it was smart enough to have the plot be straightforward and spend a lot of time building the characters.

I'd say it eventually settles down and becomes pretty solid. It definitely feels like the manga artist got his manga in Jump and then suddenly realized he had to have a plot for it. Which is a very, very common disease among Jump manga but until you actually get to the time loop it's pretty much constantly shifting gears and adding plot devices suddenly. Anime didn't really do any reworking the plot to address that problem either.

I've heard the anime is worse because of the screaming and I don't know how well animated it is either because I didn't watch it, but those are my thoughts on the manga.

Black Clover was legitimately the worst first 3 episode introduction of any anime I've ever seen. The first episode was whatever, seemed like Naruto we have at home with Wizards instead of Ninja. Second episode was legitimately like 18 minutes of recap of the first episode. Third episode was 15 minutes of recap also of the first episode. Fuck everyone involved with that shit, my friend claims the anime eventually stopped shitting itself but I don't have enough fucks in me to go and find out.

 

[God of Nothing]

Black Clover was legitimately the worst first 3 episode introduction of any anime I've ever seen. The first episode was whatever, seemed like Naruto we have at home with Wizards instead of Ninja. Second episode was legitimately like 18 minutes of recap of the first episode. Third episode was 15 minutes of recap also of the first episode. Fuck everyone involved with that shit, my friend claims the anime eventually stopped shitting itself but I don't have enough fucks in me to go and find out.

that really does sound horrible

 

[Trollblade69]

1. Yuno isn't a douche. After years of Vegeta, Sasuke, and more recently Bakugo, it was actually cool to have a rival character who is nice and has a good relationship with our hero. The two of them get along, are great friends, and respect each other. This is really refreshing for this type of series.

Yuno's still an insociable plank of wood, though, and all the relationships he's got are people either crushing on him or despising his lowborn upbringing. Plus we don't really get enough of him to really feel like there's a friendship with Asta on the same tier Asta's got with half the Black Bulls. And then the Spade Kingdom arc happens and he loses his "came from nowhere" deal that let him stand out from Sasuke's "reincarnation of the Sage of Six Paths's son and/or brother" bullshit so Yuno can be the rightful prince of a kingdom and get the power to throw starlight at people.

4. The power system allows for all kinds of unique abilities and its got pretty entertaining fights and art overall.

All we ever end up getting is beam struggles and stupid shit like "I made a tank out of metal and glass". It's a joke compared with stuff like One Piece, Naruto and Soul Eater.

and most are just archetypes but it helps that there isn't a super obnoxious or divisive character (ie. Sasuke) in it either.

Gauche is pretty obnoxious and disproportionately popular for that obnoxiousness. He's like if someone thought Sanji was at his best during the Fishman Island arc, where all he did was get nosebleeds and yell at people.

6. It's not trying to be anything more than it is.

A bunch of my favorite parts in manga/anime like One Piece and the like come from when they try to do more than be DBZ with a different coat of paint.

 

[Space Police]

I watched the Rayearth OVA, and what a disappointment. It's basically Iczer-1 with Rayearth references, but without all the good stuff from Iczer like the mythology, weird designs, and gorgeous animation. It's just as bad as Iczer with regards to nudity -- the only positive is that the Rayearth OVA has less gore, but the gore scenes in Iczer are easily skippable. Speaking of Iczer, there's another series called Strange Steel Fairy Rouran which looks pretty interesting -- each episode is 10 minutes each, its designs are VERY similar to Iczer, and it was directed by Hirano. Apparently it's quite convoluted, so it should be fun to watch (hopefully it's not just disjointed and infuriatingly illogical like G Dangaioh).