What are you watching/reading 2023?

[Yl33 D4 N00b]

Did not realize The Faraway Paladin had an anime made until I read the synopsis on MAL. Anime seems forgetful, isekai/fantasy isn't usually(there are exceptions) my jam, so probably not a must read for me.

Love So Life is closer to something I'd read, I'll try to find it online. Thanks! Have you read the sequel(Life So Happy) yet?

[S1arburst]

I think I get you, I've been trying 2 or 3 other isekai lately, and the other ones seem kinda dumb with over-the-top humor and 2-dimensional characters. Don't know if that's true for the majority of the genre yet though, will have to check out a few more.

I did read Life So Happy. I didn't enjoy it as much as the original. It's primarily just because a few things at the very end of the original bugged me, and to be reminded of them made my heart ache.

SpoilerShow

One of the main things is the ML is 10 years older than the FL, so in Love So Life he decides that it would be proper to wait 10 years before marrying her. In Life So Happy, they do wait almost that long. It just seems dumb to me to wait that long to get married if you love each other.

[S1arburst]

Read some reddit discussions of Saihate no Paladin, you're right, the anime seems meh. It takes them to episode 4 to get to the first really interesting chapter of the manga, which seems way too slow. Also, the general agreement was that even that episode was too weakly executed and lacked impact.

[Yl33 D4 N00b]

Love So Right is starting off good, I think it's going to be a keeper. Thanks, S1arburst! Those chapters are long! If every chapter's this long, this is going to take awhile. Just a solid feel good SOL.

[Yl33 D4 N00b]

Time to cut out some crap; Kingdoms of Ruin managed to portray every character(except one) as a one dimensional POS with no redeeming qualities. The writing is crap, the animation is crap, you get the idea. Started out interesting, became an edgefest, then it fell off a cliff.

Yuzuki Family's Four Sons was one I wanted to root for, but that third son is the most annoyingly loud character since Asta. Doesn't help the other brothers are boring.

[Yl33 D4 N00b]

On the other hand, Pluto has the potential to be a masterpiece. It looks amazing, and has strong characters and writing so far.

Apothecary Diaries is great, too. A great looking, faithful adaptation.

[Yl33 D4 N00b]

Did finish Pluto; I thought it could've been done a little quicker, but it was still very good.

[Yl33 D4 N00b]

Marathoned and finished Love so Life. It was nice. So was Life So Happy, though it wasn't long enough to develop properly, IMO.

[S1arburst]

Marathoned and finished Love so Life. It was nice. So was Life So Happy, though it wasn't long enough to develop properly, IMO.

Wow, I'm glad you liked it! I was thinking it'd take you months when I saw your post about the long chapters. I'm a fast reader, so I'm more likely to be jarred by short chapters. For instance, Blue Box is pretty good, but I legit took less than 5 minutes to read through one chapter. Do you ever read Shoujo? For me there's not any difference I can't get over between shojo/romcom/shounen, depending on the story.

[S1arburst]

Yl33 D4 N00b, I'm wondering if Gunka No Baltzar would be something you would like, given that you're into Vinland Saga I tried Vinland Saga but had to bail due mostly to the heavy dose of bloody death. Gunka No Baltzar has gore and battles too, but is somehow more lighthearted. The setting for Gunka No Baltzar is not strictly historical, but is closely modeled on the time of the unification of Prussia in Europe. The author obviously does his research. It's right when the Industrial Revolution is starting to make itself felt in war, with long range accurate rifles, railroads, bicycles, and hot air balloons, and Baltzar has a leaping grasp of how to modify tactics and strategy to use these new tools. He's a young military officer assigned to a backwater allied country's military academy as an instructor, but he doesn't stay in the background of international events long, and he begins to develop an attachment to his students and their behind-the-times country. No current romantic involvements, although I feel there's a possible.

I'm reading Mobuko no Koi It's sweet. I usually like characters that smile more, but it's somehow obvious when Mobuko is happy anyway, so I don't mind. Hooked on it.

I read World Trigger Normally watching a bunch of fake/ranking battles wouldn't be my thing, but I enjoy the mechanic going on with the main character where his abilities are underpowered, but he uses his brain to coordinate his team and come up with imaginative tactics. I like that. This is one manga where I feel the chapters are long though! There's usually enough going on in one chapter that I feel a bit fatigued by the end.

I read Spy x Family It's super whacky! Almost to the point where I can't get involved, but it looks like the spy and assassin might actually start caring for each other for real, and that's enough to get me engaged. Will they ever find out the truth about each other's work? About their adopted daughter? About the dog? Stay tuned! Super whacky.

[S1arburst]

I’ve also been sampling Isekai. Not recommending anyone read these who isn’t a fan of the genre, but I thought a few of them were interesting.

Farming Life In Another World, Hero of God Eye (Shingan no Yuusha), and It Seems the Strongest Job is Not Hero nor Sage, but Inspector (Provisional) Instead? Are all obviously based on RPG video/computer games, with game mechanics, feats, character classes, etc. all thrown in. Plus in all these stories the main characters are basically in cheat mode, way overpowered. I prefer stories that try to spin a believable world.

The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic is kind of cheesy but not cringe for me. The most annoying part is the harem mechanic that’s developing, but I think I’ll check back from time to time. It has some of the game-style tendencies as the previous stories, but not as nearly as bad. 6/10

Strange and Beautiful started kind of interesting, but the story is a downer and most the characters are disappointing. Current characters tangled in a web of intrigue and hatred inherited from their parents, and the guy who looked like he would be the obvious love interest of the FL is turning out to be a controlling liar. I still like the FL, but she deserves a better story. 4/10

Sengoku Komachi Kurou Tan! Is interesting. Time travel story, changing history with farming, fairly believable. I can’t get immersed in it but I come back for the history. 7/10

Kochou no Yumeji (Butterfly Dream) is about youkai. It had kind of a dreamy atmosphere, appropriately enough given its name. It’s not the type of thing I’d want to read regularly, but I’d rate it 7/10. It’s got pros and cons for me. Pros: (1) The art is quite pretty full color and kind of unusual. Reminds me of impressionist paintings. (2) There was a lot of character growth demonstrated not only by the main characters, but the supporting and side characters as well. (3) The worldbuilding was good. While everything started as a mystery, there are reasons and mechanics, and eventually everything does become clear. Cons: (1) The pacing for the first half or so was too slow for me, like 4 chapters to cover the backstory of a side character. (2) The story develops into a tragedy, which isn’t my favorite kind of tale. (3) The ML throws his weight around a bit too much. For instance, he has way more magical power than the FL, so he needs to respect her and not force her into stuff with his spells if he cares about her as a person.

[Yl33 D4 N00b]

I've never heard of Gunka no Baltzar. The premise sounds interesting, but I'm not going to try and read it yet.

As for Mobuko no Koi, well, let's just say I identify with the MCs a lot. And I'm rooting hard for both of them, lol! Of course, I would have to get caught up with the translated part up to a sticky bit in the story.

I picked up World Trigger after the first season of the anime completed. I do like the worldbuilding and the stategic parts. I just wish Ashihara would get permanently healthy.

If I do have a complaint with Spy x Family, it's that the mangaka's trying to do three or four separate stories at once, and then once he leaves one aspect, he abandons it entirely for a while, instead of blending it in with the other plot elements. And a little Anya goes a loooong way for me.

Blue Box is a quick read, but I like that it's a lot more grounded than most romance stories. They did just announce the anime for it, so that's cool.

With Love So Life, the chapters were longer than the usual manga's, but once I got past say, 30 chapters, I got into the rhythm and style of the mangaka, and could go through them a lot faster.

I do watch an occasional Isekai anime, but I don't read Isekai manga. With Isekai anime, I can turn my brain off and be entertained more. With manga in general, I try to invest my brain in reading it somewhat, and I haven't tried to look for Isekai manga that fit the bill.

I guess if there was a genre that I like the most, it's seinen. I do read the occasional shoujo manga(Honey Lemon Soda comes to mind), and I also like josei(though My Broken Mariko is my only MAL entry).

[Yl33 D4 N00b]

Cane across a very obscure 1994 movie called Raiyantsuuri no Uta. The story is simple, the pacing is laid back, the animation is fine for the era. However, the subject matter and theme is what's most interesting, as it depicted Japanese atrocities during WW2, and the Japanese indifference to those atrocities in the years afterward.

The movie is an adaptation of the real life story of Lianren Liu.

[Yl33 D4 N00b]

Dandadan is getting an anime, done by Science Saru! A lot of people online are hesitant about this, but I think the manga and the studio have a good synergy.