Been watching through Fuuto PI. Haven't watched W in maybe a decade? But thankfully, I am not too lost. I generally watch Toku as I love the craftsmanship of the special effects, something that is obviously lost in translation to animation. But animation also frees them to do action kinda unlike what they could achieve in the show. Not that any action scene yet couldn't have been done in live action, it just would have probably required a lot of that ropey toku CG. The show is also generally a bit more violent and bloody than the live action counterpart.
I gotta be honest, I kinda forgot this came out, watched the first couple of episodes and then just got distracted by other shows, but since I am up to date with Witch from Mercury, MHA, Chainsaw Man and Bleach, I have a lot more time for other shows.
MHA continues to be my anime of the season. While it is mostly just a traditional shounen battle anime, the quality of the animation and general tone of the story really set it apart for me.
I know it sounds so edgy, but it isn't really intended, but it is just so nice to watch a shounen battle anime with consequence. Where heroes can lose, heroes can die, events have permanent repercussions that shape stories that come after it.
I think for both Japanese and American superhero stories, we have kinda become conditioned that nothing is permanent, that there is always a way out if the writer decides they need it. That no matter how much damage the hero takes, they will still win in the end and be fine ready for the next arc to come. So, for MHA to stick to their guns - or at least like they have so far - I am just always left in awe of its set pieces, its battles and the places the narrative goes.
On the flip, the other shows I am watching have all slowed down quite a bit, while that remains all gas. For Bleach, I dunno whether they have expanded the source, or it is just the merit of the way anime is paced versus you burning through chapters of manga at a time, but the story feels more fleshed out and coherent than I remember, so I am not really minding as it slows down.
Chainsaw Man though, I am having a harder time with. I have read the manga, so I know what is coming, so I just enjoy watching the anime to see moments brought to life in really high-quality production, but I got a lot of friends to watch the show based on my recommendation and because of me talking for years about how nuts the story was and the anime kind of isn't that. Like again, I dunno how much is deliberate change or just because of the change of medium, but the anime just feels like it is going at an absolute snail's pace and individual episodes sorta don't stand on their own at all, they just feel like one piece of something bigger. There isn't anything inherently wrong with that, but a lot of my friends who don't know what the bigger picture is watch these episodes and their main takeaway is general boredom.
My Neighbor Totoro - It's probably the most famous anime film I've never seen before. I'm sure it'll be worth the purchase due to it's pedigree.
Fatal Fury: the Motion Picture - The steel book edition. Watched it last week. Don't think it was quite as good as the two preceding OVAs, but still a decent enough time (and it gets points for going all out on the Mai fan service, lol).
Code Geass - I haven't watched this since it last aired on Adult Swim back in the day (& I don't remember that much of it, especially the later parts, since me & buddy would spend all weekend playing video games back when it aired). This has both series, & I've just started on the second this weekend. It's really good stuff, even if I don't think I like it quite as much as my absolute favorite childhood/teenhood anime.
Bonus: Fatal Fury steel book outside the slip case, front & back (it's a largely clear case, so the only major difference is the removal of the BD & NEO GEO logos, as well as the "100 Minutes" graphic).
Art under the Totoro slip case is exactly the same, so I didn't include it.
@WanderingBullet, looks like I chose the right time to get into City Hunter, lol.
I think Discotek is releasing all the old TV specials/movies in a Blu-Ray collection in January, so I'll have that to look forward too as well since I haven't seen them yet.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
@WanderingBullet, yeah, I heard about it some time ago though I didn't know it was so close.
Too bad it's licensed by Amazon though. From what I understand they (& Netflix) are the worst when it comes to physical releases of their anime (as in, they often don't release one).
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
@KidBoruto I don't think there are many episodes of Spy x Family left (I think 3?), though I'm not sure if the dub if a few episodes behind so it may be a bit of a longer wait for them to release.
Thankfully only a 2 episode delay for the dub. I'm sure Part 2 is worth the wait .
Would be nice if Netflix also streams some of City Hunter's anime in 2024 as well. Just like they streamed Cowboy Bebop's anime weeks before the live action series was released.
A bit off-topic but, with all the isekai anime and manga about kingdom/base building (think for example, Overlord, and the dime in a thousand budget copies), Have any of you feel the need to play a base-building game "just in case"?
If I get isekai'ed now I would be screwed, not owning anything, not even built a single wall in Fallout 4.
@WanderingBullet, not sure which country you're in, but in the US all the City Hunter anime (including most/all of the specials/movies) are legally available to stream on Retro Crush, Pluto TV, & Tubi. They are ad supported services though.
Currently Playing:
Switch - Blade Strangers
PS4 - Kingdom Hearts III, Tetris Effect (VR)
Retro Crush pretty much specializes in retro anime (though I think they've started carrying some things in a similar interest zone, like the 90's Sonic & Street Fighter cartoons as well as some Tokusatsu stuff). Most stuff is free with no strings attached (though you may need to make a free account to watch certain things), though last I used it they were starting to make a few things premium only (like maybe a dozen titles, don't know if it's gotten worse).
Pluto TV is a bit more general interest, and is like free "internet cable" in that on it's face it presents as linear tv (different channels to surf with a pre-set lineup), even if a lot of it is just one show (ex. they have a Happy Days channel that only shows Happy Days & it's various spin-offs like Mork & Mindy). For this topic in particular you'd probably be most interested in Anime All Day, which is what it says on the tin (they also have dedicated Naruto, One Piece, & Lupin III channels that just loop large parts of the series). More importantly though they do have an On-Demand section where you can browse their entire catalog and watch what you want just like any other streaming service. Oh, not anime related but it's owned by Paramount so one of the channels is "Paramount+ Picks" and sometimes it'll marathon P+ exclusive shows, usually before a new season starts on the more premier streaming service (I've caught some Star Trek Picard this way).
Tubi is Pluto TV's biggest competitor and seems to have even more stuff, especially in the anime department. I actually tend to use this one a bit more lately, and I think in terms of marketshare it's actually the largest.
Just for completionists sake there's also FreeVee, which is Amazon's foray into the free TV marketplace. Never really looked into how much (if any) anime it has, but I figured I'd mention it just to be safe. Oh, and it sometimes carries some Prime exclusives like how Pluto gets Paramount+ exclusives occasionally. I think some of the older Prime stuff might be on there permanently.
Also, some of the stuff that Retro Crush has locked behind it's paywall can be watched free on Pluto or Tubi. I think Retro Crush exclusively carries HD remasters of some ancient OVAs like Angel Cop (which is one of the paywalled titles), while the other mentioned services only have the SD original, which is probably why that's the case.
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