GSM’s Anime/Manga Thread

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Couldn’t find my old Berserk thread, and since I watch/read so very few animanga I decided to make a thread to talk about everything.

Currently got up to finishing the Golden Age Saga in Berserk. Some peak tier shit. Star Wars Prequels level. Took a mini break after because I can’t binge stories though. It makes me sick of them.

I started watching Jujutsu Kaisen a while ago. It’s cool and I don’t plant on abandoning it, but I’m watching it very slowly.

Is HxH any good? Friends have recommended me, but it doesn’t seem very interesting. Plus I have other priorities.

 

[SSJ2]

Did you ever read all of Berserk? The Conviction arc is pretty solid as well, though a step down from GA imo.

HxH is extremely mid. It has several decent arcs but a lot of arcs feel like filler, and the more recent work is literal walls of text on every page. Had to stop reading that shit.

 

[Warmmedown]

HxH 2011 anime is great. I like it more when re-watching part of it than when I first watched it. At first I just thought it was pretty bland and "average" (the real average shows are probably ones I've never heard of).

The combat system is the most interesting and thought-out in anime, probably.

The main characters are quite weak in the HxH universe and actually encounter stronger people, rather than them just being far away somewhere. Compare that to DB/Z where Goku rarely meets anyone much stronger than him, unless he's about to beat them after training. Or Luffy in OP who meets insurmountably stronger people a few times, but only for the purpose of building hype or for a major plot twist and Luffy's always the strongest in his group of allies by the end of the arc (except during marineford). In HxH they're sometimes around people who could alt+f4 them instantly and other times they're just around people who are slightly stronger than them (it's like if Piccolo was the main character). The main guys don't fight all the main villains. The way they meet people is much less linear, compared to series where they continuously meet stronger people.

I thought the art style looked soft and generic (for that era), but it eventually makes the switch to being darker when it needs to and the contrast makes it more impactful than if it was always dark (the HxH 1999 version was always dark).

There's no clear aim to the whole series. Eg One Piece: pirate king, Naruto: hokage/save sasuke, Berserk: griffith/save casca, bleach: learn spanish. In HxH it seems like it's to meet Gon's father, but it's not. Even some of the arcs I don't remember having any big aim, but I'm not sure.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Did you ever read all of Berserk? The Conviction arc is pretty solid as well, though a step down from GA imo.

HxH is extremely mid. It has several decent arcs but a lot of arcs feel like filler, and the more recent work is literal walls of text on every page. Had to stop reading that shit.

Nope. Whenever I read it I always stopped at different points of the GA. And isn’t the series still going?

Is it me or did Guts became a little bit nicer between the BS arc and Conviction? Really didn’t expect him to care about saving little girls like Jill.

Talking about Jill, I like her. Hope she stays around, though I don’t see how she could hold her own.

I’ve read a lot of 60s Marvel Comics, so wall of text aren’t a big deal for me.

HxH 2011 anime is great. I like it more when re-watching part of it than when I first watched it. At first I just thought it was pretty bland and "average" (the real average shows are probably ones I've never heard of).

The combat system is the most interesting and thought-out in anime, probably.

The main characters are quite weak in the HxH universe and actually encounter stronger people, rather than them just being far away somewhere. Compare that to DB/Z where Goku rarely meets anyone much stronger than him, unless he's about to beat them after training. Or Luffy in OP who meets insurmountably stronger people a few times, but only for the purpose of building hype or for a major plot twist and Luffy's always the strongest in his group of allies by the end of the arc (except during marineford). In HxH they're sometimes around people who could alt+f4 them instantly and other times they're just around people who are slightly stronger than them (it's like if Piccolo was the main character). The main guys don't fight all the main villains. The way they meet people is much less linear, compared to series where they continuously meet stronger people.

I thought the art style looked soft and generic (for that era), but it eventually makes the switch to being darker when it needs to and the contrast makes it more impactful than if it was always dark (the HxH 1999 version was always dark).

There's no clear aim to the whole series. Eg One Piece: pirate king, Naruto: hokage/save sasuke, Berserk: griffith/save casca, bleach: learn spanish. In HxH it seems like it's to meet Gon's father, but it's not. Even some of the arcs I don't remember having any big aim, but I'm not sure.

Yeah I heard the bit about the combat system before. Sounds interesting. In the last paragraph you made it sound like the series is aimless though. I remember the synopsis only says something like “It’s a world where people get licenses to hunt” or something.

 

[Warmmedown]

The aim is to explore the world as hunters and Gon does have the aim of meeting his father, but the series carries on past that (kinda goes back to it not being linear in terms of power progression - it's not linear in terms of how they meet people either or how they travel, since they can go back somewhere or meet someone, part ways because they have different things they want to pursue and meet again). A lot of it is about the friendship between Gon and Killua, being hunters together. Each arc does have aims, but it's not as predictable as "we need to beat this final villain who we've known about for a while" and probably more like "we came to find X item but now we're doing a bunch of other stuff instead and fight someone" or "we're gonna learn how to get better powers". Which is how I imagine travelling the world would really be. Unpredictable.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Man I love Puck. Without him this manga would be an edgelord fest. Miura drawing him in the most simplistic ways possible is hilarious.

Seems like Jill is gone, but I don't mind. She fulfilled her role, and it seems like horse girl (That's her right?) and her templar knights will change the status quo anyway.

kinda goes back to it not being linear in terms of power progression

Now that's something I really like. It means the story will be character driven instead of plot driven. Might give it a try when I get bored of Berserk.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Yup that's horse girl. And I bet it was 's ghost doing that.

 

[Super Kaioken Fan]

Yup that's horse girl. And I bet it was 's ghost doing that.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Chapter 159 right now. I have no idea what's going on anymore tbh. This is some EoE level mindfuck.

 

[Kyo]

>Star Wars Prequels level

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

>Star Wars Prequels level

CC has undeniably proved that the Star Wars Prequels are the pinnacle of storytelling in his final days. Did you miss the memo?

 

[Kyo]

I have a vague recollection now that you mention it. He didn't convince me, but that's neither here nor there.

On the note of CC and things he vouched for, you could give Legend of the Galactic Heroes a try. I can vouch for that one.

 

[ahill1]

Yeah you can safely give HxH a try. I've reread all of the manga recently since my brother was also reading it (he had only watched the 2011 anime) and we discussed it later... It's just a very good story. Even arcs that in my recollection used to be meh like greed island ended being way better than I remembered to had a first impression of. It's just very well written, thought out, both strategically and with provocative thoughts about things... And maybe, you could try the Phantom Troupe arc in the 1999 anime instead of the manga since it was the only arc that was a little lower than I had in mind quality wise... But that's because the 1999 anime handled it in a very good and fitting way, with the atmosphere, scenes construction and soundtracks adding a lot to it. But speaking from me personally having recently read all of it, it's just good throughout... Even the considered lower arcs were good to me and just very thought up. The last main arc, the Chimera Ants, is a masterpiece, after having reread it and watched some scenes in the anime, I honestly have a better impression of it overall than even Golden Age Berserk.

 

[Warmmedown]

Greed Island is GOATed. Only missing a HisokaxAsuna scene.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Back on Berserk, now for the Millenium Falcon Saga. Man Griffith is fucking petty. I thought he'd be content being a god but nope, he has to get his own kingdom. Get the fuck outta here man.

Legend of the Galactic Heroes

I was trying to remember the name of this one. Thank you.

 

[Warmmedown]

Wasn't the whole reason Griffith wanted to have the power of a god so he could have a kingdom?

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Guts has friends now? What is this, a happy story?

Wasn't the whole reason Griffith wanted to have the power of a god so he could have a kingdom?

I thought being a god would be better than being a king. That's like buying a Mercedes to go to McDonalds.

 

[SSJ2]

The kingdom may just be a stepping stone towards his true goal.

 

[GreatSaiyaman123]

Guts looks so fucked up with the white hair. He'll be going bald before chapter 300 with all this stress.

 

[SSJ2]

He's like 24 years old with white hair lol