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Yoooooo man! Thanks for the birthday wishes!! I apologize for disappearing for an eternity once again but y'know how it is, wish I could have responded sooner, but I'll definitely come around more often now.

You're right there, there's plenty of great indie comics, especially if you look outside of the US. I didn't want to make it seem as if only Japan's doing comics, but you have to admit it's impressive that they can go toe to toe with the entire rest of the world combined in terms of sheer output. The manga that you can find in English is already a gigantic amount, but it's probably a drop in the bucket compared to the amount that doesn't get translated. I also feel that that western comics differ greatly from manga in their use of the medium. I read Scott McCloud's stuff when I wanted to get into making comics, and he managed to put into words what gave manga and comics such a different feel from eachother. For example, manga tends to use "establishing shots", i.e. dialogue-less, action-less panels of moments frozen in time, to ground the reader into the setting, whereas western comics tend to move action-to-action or dialogue line to dialogue line. Fascinating stuff, gave me more appreciation for both, and now I get why Manga feels so much more immersive at times. We really need more Alan Moores out there in the world lol, I wanna get more into graphic novels but I haven't been able to find anything as good. I read The Horde (a.k.a. Jihad) by Igor Baranko a little while back and it was... definitely an experience to say the least, one I would recommend at least once, and I'm currently reading Blacksad at a friend's request and quite enjoying furry noir -- hard not to compare with Beastars though. Ofc, I've also read all the ones you've mentioned, those are all classics. Also, side note, Dostoyevsky in your fav novels gets my respect. I wanted to get into Joyce as well but I've had some baaaaaad experiences attempting to read Finnegan's Wake as a non-native speaker lmfao

Frankly, I feel like I need to get more familiar with cinema classics before I branch out to specific eras or countries, but I very much appreciate the recommendations. Sadly, although I downloaded obtained Mulholland Dr. from a totally legal source immediately after the last message, I'm still slacking off from getting to it lmao. I've been busy with college and stuff, and I feel like you will agree that Lynch's films require you to be in a certain mindset and mood to fully appreciate, not something you can watch in a hurry, or while you've got something else on your mind.

I'm from Romania! Surprised it never came up in all the times we've talked before. We've got a surprisingly prolific cinema scene for such a small country, actually. Hard to recommend things though since I can't be sure what films translate well outside Romania's cultural context, but Cristian Mungiu's works (4 Months 3 Weeks 2 Days, Beyond the Hills) as well as the films that started off the Romanian New Wave (Filantropica, The Death of Mr. Lazarescu) got considerable praise outside of Romania, so I don't think you can go wrong with those if you're ever interested. Filantropica in particular I've recommended to a lot of people, raunchy comedy aside it's got some of the most scathing criticism of Romanian society I've seen, and also gives you the best "feel" for what living here is actually like -- insanely quotable and ridiculously funny as well, but once again, hard to tell how much of it translates well. 12:08 East of Bucharest is also one I really liked, though a big part of the experience for me was actually getting to meet and talk with the actors and crewmembers involved in it, the film's production was apparently as much of a comedy as the movie itself lol.

I don't think you'll be surprised to find out that Texhnolyze ended up among my favorites. I was already familiar with the director from his other works, especially his other collaborations with Chiaki Konaka and ofc ABe's godly art and designs. Out of the shows they've made together, Texhnolyze is unquestionably the best one, sad they didn't get to make Despera though. The show kind of reinvigorated my interest in anime singlehandedly, it was exactly the kind of mature, artful and deeply beautiful experience I was looking for. I ofc have plenty of things to say about it, but I was planning to rewatch it soon with a bunch of people and will probably get back to you with some better formulated thoughts after then. Have you thought of revisiting Lain after watching Texhnolyze? I've been flirting with the thought, I'd probably have a lot more appreciation for it now, though in retrospect it dawned on me not too long ago that what really stuck with me from Lain was less its actual themes and story and more its *vibes*, and I'm willing to bet it's the same for a lot of diehard Lain fans. If you liked the tone of Texhnolyze, I also recommend Haibane Renmei and Kino's Journey from the same director. I wasn't really able to connect with the former as much as I'd wanted, but I still definitely feel it's an experience worth seeing, and the latter is very much still a gem, imo.

VERY happy to see Paranoia Agent getting some love!! What was your favorite episode, and what did you think of the experience as a whole? I worship everything Satoshi Kon has ever done, but Paranoia Agent was especially fantastic.

Are you caught up with the Houseki no Kuni manga by any chance? I've just read everything from chapter 90 onwards and it's really something special. I also have a lot more appreciation for it now that I've read like 10-15 books pertaining to Buddhism, Ichikawa nearly outright quotes Sutras at times and I didn't even realize it lol.

I'm also very, VERY late to the announcement, but holy COW Pluto's getting an anime -- AND it's coming out very soon?? I hope you're as excited as I am, I don't know if Netflix plans on releasing it weekly or all at once but I'll definitely make sure to pop in more often to discuss it with you. I've had a complicated relationship with Urasawa's manga, but Pluto was my favorite one besides Monster, so I'm verrrrry hyped for the anime. It's been a while since I've gone through the manga so it's gonna be a mostly fresh experience, curious to see how my impression of it will differ this time around.

The lack of variety is what put me off as well, but I found that manga is much better in this regard. Anime usually gets produced if it can turn enough of a profit to justify the budget, so usually the things that make it to the screen end up kind of same-y on account of the fact that most studios are banking on what sells at the moment. With manga, basically any rando with a pen can publish something, which leads to a much, much bigger variety of stories that feel a lot more personal, especially when you leave the giants like Shounen Jump and read things published in lesser-known magazines. I feel like comics as a medium of storytelling are massively underrated in general. Over in the west, it's mostly superhero comics with the odd graphic novel here and there, manga is the only place where I've seen the comic format used to its potential. If you're tired with anime, I think you'd have a much better time with manga. I greatly recommend Chichi no Koyomi and Haruka na Machi e, as well as the rest of Taniguchi's works to see the kind of small-scale, personal stories you'd find in manga that would never make it into anime.

I feel like with Berserk I've already read what what undoubtedly the peak and no doubt one of the best self-contained stories ever in the Golden Age arc, and especially after Miura's unfortunate passing I didn't feel the need to even read the rest, though I'm sure it's also amazing. Maybe I'll get to it eventually, but man, I'm already more than satisfied with just the first arc.

Hmm, hard to pick a few favorites among so much good stuff lol. Sansho the Bailiff is up there definitely. Kurosawa I'm no stranger to of course, but unfortunately I've only seen Seven Samurai and The Bad Sleep Well from him, the former needs no introduction and it should be no surprise I found it amazing, and the latter is one I've never seen anyone discuss and sometimes feel I'm the only one who watched it lmao. Haven't seen Harakiri, but I've recently seen Kobayashi's entire The Human Condition trilogy and it was one of the most incredible experiences I've had with film. Death by Hanging was an experience to say the least, as was the rest of Oshima's films. I really enjoyed House, though I get it's not everyone's cup of tea. Not necessarily among my favourites, but I've finally checked out Hideaki Anno's actual films, and I was really pleasantly surprised! Compared to whatever he tried to do with the Rebuilds, he definitely seems more at home when making weird experimental indie films about being sad. I don't know if you're big into documentaries, but I've recently seen The Emperor's Naked Army Marches On, which is just one of the most insane and unhinged I've ever seen, at the same time hilarious and incredibly sad, would recommend.

My only Bergman so far has been Wild Strawberries, which to my understanding is quite different from the rest of his filmography? Nevertheless, incredible, and as you'd imagine pretty hard to talk about since it's one of those movies that you feel difficult to put into words or explain. I'm no tired old man as of yet, but its themes of aging, memory, regret and so on I felt resonated with me immensely, and I'd imagine even more so once I do actually become an old geezer. Maybe the best and most heartfelt movie about incest? Really need to stop slacking off and watch Persona and The Seventh Seal, too.

The Return was incredible, though I'm also a big fan of Fire Walk With Me as well. The original series creepy/comfy vibe is still unmatched and I did enjoy it immensely, but you could feel the quality nosedive the moment Leland was revealed to be the killer and Lynch left the show. Fire Walk With Me, I feel, took all the best and most disturbing parts of the original and turned them up to the max. The way they turned the simple Leland/BOB thing, which was never originally even meant to be a thing, into an allegory for incest and sexual abuse is just genius. Not to mention, Sheryl Lee is one of the most underrated actresses out there, her performance in this movie alone is beyond stellar and carries the entire experience. I watched both the original theatrical cut and the one with all the deleted scenes, and they really make a difference. As for The Return, as someone who was a giant fan of the surreal, creepy scenes in the original the most, I'm glad Lynch got a green light to make an entire series consisting of just the weirdest nonsense that his demented mind could conjure up, and somehow make it amazing. I gotta appreciate the balls on the man to take the cliffhanger ending of S2, solve the hanging plot threads, and then end on an even more disturbing and unsatisfying note, deliberately. What did you think of the ending. and the choices made with the new series in general?

Embarrassingly, besides Twin Peaks, Eraserhead and that weird short film where he interrogates a monkey, I haven't seen the rest of Lynch's stuff! Mulholland Dr. is one I've been meaning to watch for ages, should get to it soon.

It wasn't any kind of film in particular that I was looking for, as much as I was curious what films you would consider to be essential for anyone interested in cinema. Like you've said, none of those are exactly deep cuts, but I do appreciate the reminder to bump them up in my backlog! I've looked around your letterboxd for a bit -- of course, fantastic taste. The Sacrifice above Stalker in your top 100 caught me off guard, though, it's an interesting choice you don't usually see. Seeing Paths of Glory toward the bottom of your Kubrick list also hurt a bit, though I get it's hard to pick favorites when his entire filmography is fantastic. One thing I've learned, though, checking out your letterboxd -- I need to watch more films!

Stalker is as you'd imagine pretty hard to talk about. One of the few experiences I've had with film that I can honestly describe as hypnotic, I've rarely ever been more immersed in a film than I've been with Stalker. For a three hour long movie consisting of mostly nothing, it really flew by. Just the atmosphere and cinematography alone would be enough to land it as one of the greats, but the actual point of the film, the writing, the three characters that are perfectly acted are also top notch. It's also one of those certain works of art where you feel a connection with the creator, you can really see Tarkovsky speaking through the Writer character at points, as the Stalker in others, and during the whole movie you can see his frustration as a deeply religious person living under an atheist regime, something that really permeates every film he's made -- of course, most clearly in Andrei Rublev. Being Eastern-European myself added an extra layer to the film, since The Zone genuinely looked liked the abandoned spaces we used to explore and hang around in as kids (definitely not safe), so the movie even invoked some really forgotten memories deep down. It's a miracle this movie even came together in the first place, the production was an unimaginable nightmare, but the final product ended up being a masterpiece. I'm thinking of rewatching it soon with some friends, so I'll probably be able to better formulate my thoughts on it then, since even after ruminating on it for a long while, the movie is very much still a mystery to me lol. It's right up there with 2001 when it comes to movies I think about the most, though Tarkovsky would probably douse me in gasoline and set me on fire for saying that.

I can't really pinpoint what soured my on AoT, but yeah the final arc definitely didn't help. Texhnolyze is one I'm excited to finally get into! Rose of Versailles is on my radar as well, but Boring Germans in Space is one of those shows that is so gargantuan in size, scope and importance that I'm not sure when I'll actually slack off and actually watch it.

I feel you on the quality vs enjoyment part. For me, the two have managed to become pretty distinct. There's been plenty of times where I watched something that was technically stellar, but that I soon forgot about since there was not much for me to latch on to, while other times I see something that, while not a masterful work, and a bit shoddy in parts, manage to resonate with me very personally. Dorohedoro is one that I don't consider to be any kind of masterpiece of writing, but it's made with so much heart and the vibe is something I enjoy so much, not to mention the characters, that I just really, really love it. Ergo Proxy is also one that I think is very much not good in many regards, but something about it aesthetically really sticks with me -- it's like you asked a random person in Hot Topic to make their own anime, and they made this completely in earnest, complete with faux-Linkin Park as the OP and Amy Lee as the main character. A similar but much worse example, for me, would be Gantz, something so horrifically bad, made by such an egotistical maniac, that it genuinely wraps back around to being absolutely fascinating and maybe one of the best experiences I've had with manga -- it is one of a kind.

P.S. Sorry for the wall of text, and sorry for the super late response!

Yeah I feel you, it's a bit hard to get back into anime after a long pause. Compared to when I was totally immersed in the medium, it's a bit hard to get used to and take seriously all the "anime-isms" now. My favs have been more or less consistent throughout the years as you can see, but there's been some things like Dorohedoro and Fire Punch that instantly made it into my favorites on account of being just the kind of nonsense I like. I also found out I much, much prefer manga to anime as a medium. I reserved the characters tab for things that didn't quite fit in the top 10.

Books and especially films are what I've occupied my time with as well. Japanese cinema has more or less taken over my interest in anime. Watched plenty of other stuff as well in the meantime as you can imagine, but I don't wanna reach the word limit just describing my watchlist the past few years lol. Would make a letterboxd but unfortunately even though I've gone on to see my fair share of Tarkovskys and Kubricks, I'm still very much a film phillistine with many classics left to see. Seeing as I'm finally done with exams, what would you say are some films that I need to drop everything to watch right this instant?
If I can think of some standouts, I watched Twin Peaks and loved (almost) every minute, played through Disco Elysium and witnessed maybe the best writing in a videogame of the past 20 years, maybe ever, had an almost religious experience watching Stalker, and nearly puked watching Come and See (in a good way!).

I feel you on VNs. While I kinda get the appeal, and do appreciate that the degree of player interactivity, slower pace and looooooong form storytelling can lead to some unique artistic possibilities, I always end up thinking that I would much rather read an actual book lol. Is Umineko still worth the gigantic time investment?

Apart from Shinsekai Yori, I can't think of any other shifts of opinion that were as drastic. Attack on Titan I've gone from adoring to kind of feeling meh on. Urasawa I'm still very conflicted on. I feel like the rest of his works tripped up and fell flat on their face right on the home stretch, and Monster avoided this fate by a hair. Suprisingly, besides Monster, it was Billy Bat that really stuck with me, despite being no doubt the most subpar of his main works. There's something conceptually about it that I find really fascinating. Have you got any film, anime, manga or otherwise that you recognize to be maybe not the most quality, but something that personally resonated with you very much?

Of course, I liked Stone Ocean! Though most of the experience for me was just watching it with friends and watching their reactions to the absolutely ludicrous stuff that happens. If I were to judge the adaptation on its own merits, I would say compared to the previous seasons it's kinda mmeeeeehhhh, but I do appreciate 3D OP's being back. Playing Roundabout during the finale was cheesy and expected, but it was still a very cute way to wrap up the series with a bow. And yes I am very much slacking off getting to Steel Ball Run lmao, at this rate Part 9's gonna end before I finally get to it.

Yeah, my bad for vanishing out of the blue lmao

Last time I logged in my laptop happened to suddenly die, right as I had college entrance exams looming close, not to mention Covid happened, plus I got hit by a whole whirlwind of personal problems that suddenly came up, so MAL was as you'd imagine the last thing on my mind lol. In addition, I had kinda started to lose interest in anime by that time, so even when things calmed down, I didn't really think to log the stuff I would only occasionally watch or read once in a blue moon and completely forgot about the site. In retrospect, I can see how suddenly disappearing right as the pandemic hit would be a little worrying lolol

It was only recently, when I started to get back more into anime & manga and thought I might as well log the stuff I've seen in the meantime that I'd realized I had not been here for like 2 or 3 years lmfao. How've you been keeping my man, looks like you've seen a whole bunch of good stuff while I was gone. I take it from the Umineko in your favs that you've also gotten into VN's?

Your last message was asking me about Promare, and if I answered you at the time I'd probably have given you some apologetic "meh it's alright" response, but now that I'd had more than enough time to ruminate on it I can tell you that it really is some pretty forgettable shlock, as proven by the fact that literally nobody remembers it, I'd be surprised if you did. If you've seen Kill la Kill and Gurren Lagann, you've basically seen the movie lmao. I think Trigger caught lightning in a bottle with those two shows and never really managed to make anything that lived up to them again.

I wanna update my favs, but to be completely honest, I don't even know what I'd rank where anymore lol. Outside of a few shows that I know are vaguely in my top 10, my preferences have fluctuated so much over the years that I almost think they turned upside down. I thought Shinsekai Yori was a terrible 5/10 show when I'd first watched it, but in retrospect it ended up being among the ones that stuck with me the most, and now I struggle to reconcile the parts of it that I find bad with the parts that are genuinely fantastic. Also, I'd put so much effort into the favorites list in my bio way back when that I am way too lazy to start over now. I don't even know if anyone noticed the little easter egg I'd put in if you click Mugi's eyebrows lmao

Sup dude, how're you doing
Long time no see lmao

Taste

thank you for accepting my fr!! it's nice to meet you. reading/watching anything good?

yooooooo i just finished berserk yesterday.......

definitely a masterpiece

Who's your favorite character so far
- could be kaiki coz i've recently watch hitagi end. I dont have a definite 1 yet.

I would interested in seeing a Monogatari arc ranking from you after you finish the series.
- i'll do it when i finish monogatari

some of your favorite arcs in animanga?
- i'm not too particular about it, especially for seinen animanga, I dont usually rate/rank them; SA + FS (gintama), Chimera Arc (hxh), Shohoku vs Sannoh (Slam Dunk), Battle of the Hawks (Hajime no Ippo), Zero Requiem (Code Geass). L arc (Death Note). These are some of my favorite arcs in animanga on top of my head. need to look back coz I think i miss some.

i'll update when i finish vagabond and monogatari. i'm gonna read berserk after vagabond from start.

YOOOOO REAL ABOVE VAGAGBOND

How's JoJolion so far?

Monogatari - Loved it! it's a light 9 i guess. Hitagi end is currently my fav mono arc. it's cool how it has connections with some previous arcs like the first arc, a nise arc anf nadeko medusa. Kaiki is very compelling in that arc. And like you said, shinobu time is an okay arc. Hitagi end OP is currently my fav OP in monogatari. Can't wait till i reach owari and zoku owari.

Vagabond- currently read until ch284. Currently a 9. Vagabond's prose are beautiful. Love musashi's character developement. Love kojiro as a character and i love how matahachi is one of the most 'human' character in anime/manga (that mom segment cut me deep). I love how Inoue creates the characters in his 3 main manga. i have some problems with the ueda ghost appearance to otsu. kinda looks like it's a plot convenience. did inoue explain how the ghost works in vagabond?

Wow..... finished 2 peaks back to back within this week. Can't wait to read SBR.

You don't have an ordered top animanga?

Niceeee, and yeah same, Ange is my favorite character ever, she's also the character I identify and relate most to. Seeing her being hurt, depressed, lonely or etc, just felt like I'm watching another self of mine and that hit way close to home, she's also extremely inspiring and just thinking about her character conclusion makes me so damn happy, just need to hug her 24/7. Genuinely cried more for her than she did for herself LMAO. Awww seeing Episode 6 so low makes me sad, I do really hope it rises for you on your reread and enjoy it!

I'm just happy you ended up enjoying 86 more than me.

Yeah it's my first time watching Gintama, and it's been an interesting experience to say to the very least, I'm trudging thru it, there's a bunch that I like and dislike, but my biggest gripe would be the comedy aspect of the series, I just don't find the execution of the comedy to be any good, it's mostly because of Shinpachi the comedy killer that ruins it for me because every single time there is a joke that actually makes me laugh he just has scream while explaining the joke everytime, and it's such a turn off. Though I've enjoyed every single serious arc to quite a certain degree, Sorachi can definitely pull some great cathartic emotional moments that I've been appreciating, I'm mostly looking forward to the S2+ content cause I've heard they are way better than S1.

I'm super excited for MVA so hopefully the adaptation for it will be better. Doubt it will be better than the manga but it deserves a great adaptation considering how good it is.

Those 6 are very comfortably the best for me tho some others are great, just not on the same level.

That's a nice list and Ange top 1 is based. Hmmm my ranking of the episodes would be: Epsiode 8 > 7 > 5 > 6 > 4 > 3 > 2/1. Though Episode 4, 5 and 6 are the only ones that I'm not sure how I'd rank since I end up preferring one to another for different reasons and it's never a solid list lol. How about you?

I had really high expectations for 86 due to how much hype was surrounding it but they didn't meet. It tries too hard to get a reaction out of me and it just fails, I don't feel anything watching it, the characters and the world aren't that interesting and I feel like it wastes time to get to the point, though in the recent episode it's showing a bit of promise with its 2 main characters so there might be hope. Great production values and the OST is a banger. Oddly enough I still find it enjoyable. Hope you like it when you'll get onto it though.