An increase from Dungeon Meshi. Izu is here, things will only go up from now on.

The next three episodes are gonna be nearly ALL killer, no filler. It’s time to get back to the meat of the plot (though the dungeon meshi plot veggies are very good and important, too).

This was maybe the best joke once the series got started.

The manga shifts to a much more serious and emotional tone with the occasional gag once Helck and “Anne” get portaled off the mainland.

The anime didn’t quite pull off the execution of that I think.

I love the self-improvement club bros. They are such bros.

My local library does carry a shit-ton of series, but the real kicker is you can electronically order books for pickup from the entire capital city region of libraries, even if all copies are lent out you can get in line right from the website.

Basically, if something exists as a physical book, you can arrange for yourself to read it. You can even use the library website to track down what books and how many copies are in what libraries and on what shelf, and then go get them yourself same day. Same library card works in the whole capital city region and you don’t need to return books to the same library.

Back during my conscription the garrison library stocked several dozen series too, that I devoured in the boredom of hurrying up and waiting. Funny how a library specifically meant to cater to 18-year-old men had plenty of girly romance manga…

You can get digital releases, too, I’ve read a lot of manga on an e-reader. First on a Kobo, now on a Android based Likebook device which I can use any app on for accessing manga that I like.

Kindle has tons, and for series that only exist in English thanks to fan translations, reading from mangadex using tachiyomi/mihon is fantastic.

Due to all that, the books and manga volumes I own are mostly gifts from others and some money spent on series I especially like, and want to be able to just take off the shelf and read.

I enjoyed the first season, but I quickly dropped the second in favor of reading the manga. The art is better, and the trudging pace of the story in the anime is much faster.

[email protected]

Another fantastic fantasy being produced right now is Dungeon Meshi aka Delicious in Dungeon.

15 episode are out on Netflix.

It’s a bit more on the comedic side than Frieren, but also keeps the weirdness typical in a lot of anime to a minimum. It also comes with fantastic characters and gorgeous animation.

People who like Frieren are likely to enjoy Dungeons Meshi and vice versa. I certainly do.

And also [email protected]

I love absurd anime like Saiki K.

Other masterpieces are Nichijou, Hinamatsuri and Asobi Asobase.

However, nothing has really topped the utter chaos of Sabagebu for me.

What… What is this?

It’s a word.

I find it’s a pretty healthy development in what is basically a branch of the idol industry.

It has enabled indies, and the people doing it have a way better chance at maintaining a healthy work/life balance than idols of old. They can literally “unplug” and live a personal life that they can make as separate or involved as they like.

There’s no bullshit about physical appearances like fashion, weight watching, age…

And it’s been a delight to see the biggest player, hololive, actually allowing talent to take care of themselves when push come to shove, rather than going through humans like they’re some kind of consumable.

But this, taking an IP with established fictional characters, and having them become vtubers? This feels weird.

I’m not sure what it adds? People stick with vtubers because as “unreal” as they are, we genuinely like the people behind the avatars.

Yes, it’s acting and performing, but also not. I’m not sure how “hello I’m a character from that franchise you like” would work.

As a big fan of Holo, I’m kinda worried, and annoyed that they’d risk it, that this will affect the character. I don’t want to see a fantasy goddess try and fit into the real world, and I’m a little scared of what the real world might turn her into.

Well that’s new.

The show also has a way of using the miracle of culture and science to prove there is hope for humanity. I think that stuff can land for anyone, giving the show emotional “fuck yeah” moments that nearly brought me to tears at times.

Dr. Stone is based as hell, it’s only scientific to approve of the show.

I’ve definitely seen it picking up steam with youtubers beginning to make videos about how great it is. I think the fact that it’s going to continue airing for another 12 episodes will help keep that word-of-mouth momentum building.

On Netflix, and thereby fighting an uphill battle for watchers, I suspect.

Also obligatory mention of [email protected] for anyone who hasn’t found it yet.

Dungeon Meshi is out of the top 10 again.

Everyone who has seen it gushes about it, but I fear some people haven’t given it a shot, not seeing past a funny premise, or the first few episodes.

I predict that as the second cour gets going, and with another fan favourite character joining the main cast, we will see the people who are watching it redouble their efforts to spread the gospel.

I kinda dropped the show, but yeah, go enjoy the manga, it’s legitimately only uphill from here.

Narratively, and probably artistically, as well. The anime had its moments and I might finish off the last few episodes to see if there were some more, but generally the art and animation in the adaptation, though not bad, didn’t impress half as much as the panels of the manga do. It’s worth a read just to see Tenka start referring to Aoba as sister-in-law.

If we do get a second season, I really really want it to be with a larger budget, enabling production to aim for greater quality and more closely matching the detail level and lineart of the manga.

I really enjoyed the manga, and the anime is apparently entirely 3D CGI.

Did it turn out any good?

Oh darn. Konosuba is a must watch.

I will of course continue running [email protected] for the second cour of the anime.

I’ve not even looked at what is airing next season, as I don’t tend to watch in a weekly manner, but rather several episodes at a time with large gaps in time in-between. So discussion threads are hard to contribute to :/

But Dungeon Meshi is different for me.

We’ll be getting the last episode of the first cour this week, and boy. Trigger has lined it up with something big. Now is a great time to jump in and marathon the first 11/12 episodes if anyone who is interested didn’t get on the train at the first station.

Ok this sounds like fun. I feel like the receptionist lady NPC is in every series, making her the lead should be interesting.