The last post of this kind was two months ago, so it was time for a refresher of the de-facto recommendation thread of the weeb channel of Hexbear.
Personally, work has greatly diminished my free time and makes me tired all the time, but there’s still something to squeeze in.
For me:
Manga:
Oresama Teacher (2007-2020, 176 Chapters) - I have already praised this series last time around and am still reading it. Much like in Nozaki-Kun, where this manga really shines are the characters. Kurosaki Mafuyu might be one of my all-time favorite characters in manga. Someone who is an utter fool, but written in a realistic and endearing way, in spite of the ridiculous plot. A+
Anime:
Dragon Ball (1986-1989, 153 Episodes) - Dragon Ball is a show that rightfully deserves its reputation, as it is extremely solid once it figures itself out. Gone is the horniness of early episodes, the show reached a very high peak in the Piccolo Daimao arc and has kept it up ever since. I am like 10 episodes away from finishing it, but there is one worry. The power scaling, well… it’s not exactly balanced. It makes early arcs feel puny in comparison. Also give us Pilaf back smh. A
Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Season 2 (2008, 13 Episodes) - This show continues with its ruthless social criticism (both good and fascinatingly bad) from Season 1, but it goes hard in an abstract direction that is masterfully adapted by Shaft’s arthouse-like style. It is also unfortunately pretty horny, like many other Shaft anime… and very entertaining. A+
Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (2017, 12 Episodes) - This show really is as good as the ratings suggest. It’s very un-anime in the sense that it is a serious drama with character-driven storytelling and almost 0 of the usual tropes of the medium. The characters are so good that you WILL get hooked if you watch enough. A+
Fullmetal Alchemist (2003, 51 Episodes) - Now solidly into anime original territory, I have to say this is a really good show, even though the main villains’ plans have to fully unravel yet. The atmosphere is on point, and the older early-digital color palette makes it look better than FMAB imo. I will have to check out the manga after finishing the show, since I am curious how the story is there - I dropped FMAB early on, since it didn’t hook me at first but '03 did the trick. A
Re:Creators (2017, 22 Episodes) - I started this today thanks to the Mother’s Basement video on his favorite Isekai, and I have to say that even if the story ends up really bland, the premise alone is enough to make this show interesting. I think it could have worked better with only one character, but oh well. Too early to tell, but B+
I need to get back to Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction (2024), since I watched a couple of episodes and was intrigued, but then didn’t find the time to watch more. …and get back to reading Capital, of course.
I am not watching too many anime this season, since there were barely any interesting new shows for me so now that I have some free time I might try starting something older soon
Anime
Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction(2024) - The premise looks interesting and I’m enjoying the character interactions a lot so I have big expectations, but after 6 eps, I am still very confused about the end goal of the story. It looks like something big is cooking behind scenes but it is still not visible. I have enjoyed other works by the author so I expect this one to be good.
Senpai wa Otokonoko(2024) - is this good trans representation or transmisoginy? cannot say yet. The main character acts a lot like a person with gender disphoria and the show depicts well a lot of common trans experiences like experimenting gender and euphoria. it appears to be going in a possitive direction. but at the same time, it has some… questionable scenes and the show empatizing that “he is a boy” in both the english subtitle and in some scenes so it give weird negative vibes. I remember having a bunch of problems with the manga back in the day, but I cannot remember almost anything of it.
Tasogare Outfocus(2024) - it feels a lot like old school yaoi, with a bunch of questionable tropes and a very simple and predictable romance progress. Characters are okay and not anoying and there are not many queer anime recently so it’s tolerable. hoping it improves soon or I might drop this one
Serial Experiments Lain(1998) - started it a couple of months ago but it’s not really hooking me in. idea is interesting and we really like the weird world that it depicts, but somehow i have a hard time continuing it often. I’m halfway and it looks like the story is finally connecting so this might change soon.
It’s kind of a slow burn, so this sounds pretty normal to me. Fortunately, it’s a short show - take your time if you want to! Think about “what the fuck is going on in this weird ass show” during the time between episodes