Official Anime/Manga Thread

[Tori Himemiya]

http://youtu.be/V5-dUrGdCbw

Well I'm hyped. SO FUKING HYPED!

[Gabz Girl]

Where I was last year when Attack on Titan first aired seriously omfg this is so amazing~

I heard it gets weaker near the second arc but I don't care Imma gonna keep watching. SO much better than the manga too!

[Yoko/葉子]

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2014-02-07/anime-dub-director-kevin-seymour-passes-away

 

Kinda new news, he directed the LA dub of Akira (which I never saw), I remember Michelle Ruff and Julie Ann Taylor talking about this on their Facebooks. :'(

[Sean]

I checked out Koe no Katachi and it has already cemented itself as one of the best manga I have ever read.

 

The plot starts off as such: a hearing-impaired girl by the name of Shouko Nishimiya shares a classroom with Shouya Ishida, who along with his group of friends bullies her relentlessly. Not a single day passes during which they fail to treat her like fucking garbage, and their hatred for her intensifies as they begin to view her less as a person and more as a burden on the rest of the class. They shove her into water, steal her hearing aids, and tear up her notebook, her only form of communication with the other students. This proves to be too much for Nishimiya and her family to handle, despite her attempts to maintain peaceful relations with her classmates. However, Ishida is singled out by the entire school as her sole tormentor, despite being one of many others who constantly have made Nishimiya's life a living hell, and he loses the support of his teacher who never did shit to help the girl and everyone who he previously considered to be his friend. He reaches a breaking point and proceeds to beat the crap out of Nishimiya out of frustration, who doesn't take it lying down and hits back. Nishimiya soon transfers to another school, and that was the last Ishida ever sees of her for the remainder of his childhood.

 

Does that sound depressing to you? It gets better. Five years later, seventeen-year-old Ishida is a changed man isolated from all those around him and he deeply regrets his treatment toward Nishimiya. His self-loathing, coupled with his inability to locate her and apologize, gets to be overbearing and he contemplates suicide. However, as fate would have it, he and Nishimiya cross paths on the street one day. Using his recently acquired knowledge of sign language, he is able to communicate with her and hopefully begin a long, arduous process of making up for what he had destroyed of her childhood years.

 

This is not your typical romance plot; like Molester Man, it prioritizes character development above all else, and what sets this story apart is its realistic portrayal of childhood bullying. Ishida and his friends' actions as children are not softened or romanticized; their actions are uncomfortably detailed and you come to despise them very quickly. This is what makes the modern storyline, five years later, extremely interesting to read. Ishida has some legitimate, relatable reasons for hating himself, and you can tell the kid really wants to make up for what he did while still having a shitload of issues to work out. Other characters are not happy with the idea of him befriending Nishimiya, and Ishida feels he deserves their ire. Nishimiya herself hides feelings that she is unable or unwilling to express, and you start to learn more about her through the eyes of other characters as the story goes on. And yet, you can buy into the idea that the older Ishida and Nishimiya can be friends. There are just as many heartwarming moments in this manga as there are tearjerking ones, and a lot of what these characters go through feels incredibly real. They feel like they could actually exist, and honestly I truly believe that that is the highest honor that can be said of anime and manga, an industry that regurgitates the same shit just to sell itself to the otaku crowd. This is not one of those manga, this is how you fucking write real characters.

 

If you're a fan of romance manga then you would be a fool to not read this. It's one of those few works in the genre grounded in reality and excels beyond what most authors could hope to convey.

[Soniman]

I actually just stated reading it after it crossed my dash on tumblr and got into it out of interest, hope to amazed like Jojo and Molester Man has done for me so far.

[Gabz Girl]

Ohhh, I'll have to check that out! I love romance manga/anime and I like how Koe no Katachi focuses on two things that most manga tend to ignore; bullying, and a deaf character.

[Solkia]

If you want testimonial to how great and immersive Koe no Katachi is, I sacrificed sleep and watch my blood pressure go to shit as a result because I could not stop reading. I never do this.

 

And I actually kind of internally cried when I got caught up because I have no idea when the next chapter is.

 

This isn't you typical boy meets girl horseshit like 90% of stories ever, this is about the most down-to-earth story I've ever read.

[Soniman]

Well fuck, I didn't know it was unfinished. At least with Molester Man I had the luxury of reading it all in one go, but now I have to wait chapter by chapter for this. D:

[Gabz Girl]

I'm halfway through it already. It's a shame this manga is unfinished because I'm enjoying it immensely! It's so sweet and yet so sad too. Shouko is such a cutie!

If they ever adapt this into an anime I'd love to watch it, but I imagine it's going to be a challenge trying to do the scenes where Shouya and Shouko speak in sign language.

Speaking of which, I'm impressed by how quickly Shouya learned sign language! I wish I had as much determination to study it too, but I don't know many deaf people to try it out on.

[Danj86]

 

snip

 

D-Do you write reviews? I'm seriously considering giving it a read. But...

 

Well, this is just me personally...even though I do enjoy slice of life and romance manga, all works of fiction I seek have the sole primary role of being a form of escapism. If things get too real, I'm genuinely not sure if my fragile emotional state can handle it. But it's true, I'm unaware of anything else that has portrayed bullying or disabilities. I've been bullied through all my school years, I hate being reminded of it. I'm also not used to having my fiction deliberately trying to piss me off.

 

Having said that, the writer in me would also prefer to add a sense of realism in my stories, even the ones that have major fantasy elements. In terms of telling a story of real relatable characters, sometimes you have to cross unpleasant territory. 

 

I don't know why I'm saying all this. I most definitely will be giving it a read eventually. I'm just thinking out loud I guess...in text form...over the internet...at a massive forum...

[Kuzu]

Damn you Sean and your good taste in manga, this shit is addicting...and I spent most of last night reading it.

[Danj86]

Oh...erm...I still haven't finished reading Fruits Basket, but I recall they also cover some dark subjects regarding the characters. (With a fantasy element.)

[VO.SUPER]

Did anyone ever know that Harmony Gold, while attempting the Dragon Ball dub, attempted to do Dr. Slump too?

 

 

They got away with more than I expected, but censored more than I expected. 

[Sean]

Damn you Sean and your good taste in manga, this shit is addicting...and I spent most of last night reading it.

 

Well I wouldn't be able to find more than half the shit I like if it weren't for my friends liking them first. Solkia's posts on his tumblr were what got me interested in checking it out.

[VO.SUPER]

I have a lot of trouble finding good horror manga sometimes. But this was a good find. (And really fucked up.) 

 

It's called Highschool mermaid, and it's a story about two girls who go to their school at night to eat some mermaids so that they can get the boyfriend of their dreams... and it gets more fucked up from there ladies and gentlemen. 

 

http://www.citymanga.com/school_mermaid/chapter-1/02/

[Soniman]

Damn you Sean and your good taste in manga, this shit is addicting...and I spent most of last night reading it.

This was basically me

 

I also I really appreciate that the main character's best friend is Steven Universe.

 

 

 

And now I can't unsee it

[Gabz Girl]

Ok so I just finished reading Koe no Katachi and I REALLY want to read more now! This is seriously a good manga. Apparently the mangaka is going to do three more volumes and then it's done. It's a shame, but I think these sort of manga shouldn't be dragged out for too long.

Seeing how popular Koe no Katachi is it could easily be made into an anime (I would definitely watch it!). But like I said before, it's going to be interesting to see how they handle the scenes with only sign language. I think the only other anime I know of that had a deaf character in it was Grrl Power.

[Solkia]

Heads up: the next Koe no Katchi volume comes out tomorrow.

 

Scanlations will probably be a while. I have it so the site I read it on sends notifications to my email, I'll let you guys know.

[-Ace-]

Here's a new trailer for the Fairy Tail anime after it's year long hiatus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0kC4slLyrI

Really can't wait for April 5th 

[Kuzu]

Damn this manga...can't...stop....reading.

[Mauro Fonseca]

Yoshiyuki Tomino returns to the Gundam franchise 15 years after his last Gundam show to celebrate the franchise's 35th.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX_kQZLb64E

 

Gundam: Reconguista in G

 

The series takes place in the timeline after Universal Century, called Reguild Century, and follows the story of a young pilot cadet and member of the space elevator protecting organization "Capital Guard" named Beruri Zenamu (ベルリ・ゼナム)

 

So this is either in the future of Turn A, retconning Reguild Century as happening right before Correct Century, or the timelines simply don't make sense which sounds the most correct choice here

 

Also, teaser out for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzMo9sV_T-c&list=UUigpFPCYQimRW1hSvcfhStw

 

It was announced it will be a 4-Epsiode OVA series, in celebration of the 35th anniversary of Gundam. The first episode will be released in theaters in Spring 2015

 

Anime adaptation of the more "realistic" manga remake of the first ever Gundam show, except focusing only on Char Aznable's life.

[Solkia]

KnK 30 is out

 

http://www.mangareader.net/koe-no-katachi/30

[Solkia]

Wow, this topic was buried.

 

I watched the Star Force anime. Good to know it got cancelled before anything meaningful happened.

 

It's not very good. Geo is a completely different character from the game's incarnation, and Sonia is just... what.

 

Although it did give me some laughs, one of which is on my About Me.

[Solkia]

Koe no Katchi 31 is out

[Phos]

So what's this Soul Eater about? Oh this is where Death the Kid comes from? No thank you sir.