You had me at ramen and cats 
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From the first episode, this is really unique, and seems like it will be a very special anime. I was expecting something generic, but the tone is very thoughtful, almost to the point of feeling a bit weighty. There’s a lot of really interesting use of dialogue-less scenes, and the characters so far seem like real people. I’m watching without subs rn, so I got like 85-90% of it.
- Rewatched with subs (3rd time)
- Listened to the ep 1 commentary. It was ok
- livestream announcing their collab event with MyGO (starts 5:55)
- ガルクラジオ every week
I was able to get most of the livestream (when I didn’t space out), and same for the weekly radio
Tried BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! S1 | L30?? - I got through episode 3 5, and so far it’s boring, and I really don’t see the appeal… Every episode leaves me going “maybe the next episode will actually be interesting?”. I’ll probably torture myself see it through to the end though. Update: I finished and was really underwhelmed.
Picking 転生王女と天才令嬢の魔法革命 S1 | L31 up again. I started the LN, and it’s helpful to watch the anime first.
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I have just found 桜蘭高校ホスト部 S1 | L30 has been uploaded to UK netflix so I will be having a nostalgia blast! Having re-read some of the manga last year, after about a ten year break, it was still as hilarious and absurd as I remembered, so this should be fun 
however I watched the English dub last time! So it will be a little bit of a new experience with the Japanese voice actors 
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Checked out some more Summer 2024:
- 僕の妻は感情がない S1 | L22 - Iffy on the show, probably won’t continue
- 時々ボソッとロシア語でデレる隣のアーリャさん S1 | L30?? - fun. Good challenge to read quickly enough, when she’s speaking in Russian
- 義妹生活 S1 | L25?? - as i mentioned, I found ep 1 really interesting
- 先輩はおとこのこ S1 | L30?? - On the fence about continuing (it’s good, but also not sure I can enjoy it)
- 小市民シリーズ S1 | L24 - Not going to continue (it seems good, but I’m not in the mood for mystery)
- 恋は双子で割り切れない | L25?? - decent so far. Serious and slightly melancholic tone to the first ep
Probly gonna switch to subs for 義妹生活 and 恋は双子. I think I’m at like 85-90% comprehension for those… so it should be good for grabbing new vocab
PTW Summer 2024 (waiting for subs):
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This doesn’t count for my Natively list, but I just watched Mononoke-hime in theaters. This is only the second time I’ve seen it, the first being over 10 years ago in English dub. There is no way I would have been able to follow the story without the English subs. And I was really confused about シシ神 being translated as “Deer God” in the subtitles since I’m just thinking “but ‘deer’ is しか” the whole time. After a bit of research, I think シシ comes from いのしし and かのしし, so the translation to “Deer God” isn’t terrible, though perhaps loses some subtlety and nuance. There was more to the explanation, but my eyes started glazing over.
Anyway, I didn’t love the movie when I first watched it a while ago and that didn’t change from this viewing. It’s certainly a fine and well made movie, but I like many other Ghibli films much more.
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I finally finished ネトゲの嫁は女の子じゃないと思った？ S1 | L22 , and did in fact still enjoy it (with plenty to be critical of) the second time around. I probly wouldn’t recommend it per se, but I wouldn’t recommend against it either… just go in respecting a ridiculous comedy, with a terrible yandere love interest, and you’ll probly be fine. The gaming/gamers aspect is easily my favorite part.
And inspired by conversation on the What are you reading today? thread, I started…
Episode 1 was hilarious - both intentionally, and in a “omg this is so 90’s anime” way… I’m not sure what I want to do about the filler eps just yet, but I found a seemingly decent guide for what’s skippable… so I’ll try one or two. I’m really glad it’s broken into seasons. So I’ll only have to get through 46 eps to mark something as finished, and not 200!
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Season 1 wears out its filler welcome really fast and I think has the biggest filler to plot episodes of the show. I’d skip. 
I’ll be interested to hear your thoughts. I have no objective view of SM and wonder how I’d feel about it if I had only found it as an adult…
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Yeah, I tried a few, and couldn’t get through any of them. Will definitely skip the rest
I’m flipping through the manga on my phone, and they seem to be similar… but very different… I think I’ll try properly reading some of it. Surprised it’s only 10 vols!
Anyway, show is enjoyable so far. I’m definitely missing some dialogue, watching audio-only tho. I just finished the Mars episode. I’ll have to report back once I’m further in 
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I think the first two “seasons” are pretty similar but they diverge as the series goes on. But it’s been a long time since I’ve read the manga, and I don’t think I’ve ever actually finished it.
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I found it to be very filler-less; rather densely packed with plot, to the point that I had to pause regularly to digest.
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Based on the first 3 chapters they share the same skeleton, but they’re really different. Interestingly the manga seems to be way less icky (no pervy grandpa so far, Mamoru is 17-18 and a 2nd year in high school). Usagi is way less of a helpless crybaby, Tuxedo Mask is more actively involved. The actual events of the chapter/episode play out very differently as well.
I’m kind of relieved, cuz they’re different enough that I won’t get really grumpy lol
Interesting… the only time I’ve had to do that is with CLAMP (Tsubasa Chronicles, specifically) - but they make things intentionally convoluted and abstract on purpose
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Caught the latest eps for
- 恋は双子で割り切れない S1 | L25?? 2 - this one was a lot of fun, and extremely nerdy, with all sorts of サブカル references. It was also super hard for me to understand (I had to check EN subs & then re-listen a lot), and I’m going to rewatch it when JP subs are out
- 時々ボソッとロシア語でデレる隣のアーリャさん S1 | L30?? 2-3 - iffy so far. Language is relatively easy, but story is kinda meh
First ep is basically like the manga - and also involves Sawashiro Miyuki 
… difficulty varied, based on how オタクっぽい a particular scene was. I think future eps will be worse, in this regard, but not undoable with subs.
On a different note, headphones reviews:
I might drop 先輩はおとこのこ S1 | L30?? now or after one more episode. I felt this way about the manga as well (which I’ve paused after volume 3), but it feels a bit shallow and the art style isn’t that great. It feels shallow in the manga because it was originally a continuous scroll webtoon-style manga and converting it to a traditional manga format just results in a ton of huge panels and sparse text. For context, the first three episodes of the anime adapted the first two volumes… I’m partly tempted to watch it anyway if it adapts the whole series, but I’m not convinced it actually will at its current pace (though it’s close, so maybe they’ll rush it a bit) and even if it does I’m not sure I care enough to bother. The art style in the manga jumps back and forth between traditional and weirdly deformed, and sadly they translated this into the anime where it works even less well.
This is currently all I’ve been watching since it’s really easy (didn’t even bother with Japanese subs), but I should probably start 【推しの子】 S2 | L30 at some point since I went through all the effort of finishing my recap via manga a little while ago. And/or I should start another easier show, like 響け！ユーフォニアム S3 | L24 or お隣の天使様にいつの間にか駄目人間にされていた件 S1 | L24.
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I really like the jumping back and forth between silly and serious art style in the manga. I think it’s nice to break up the more serious/emotional stuff and remind you that the characters like to have fun.
I wonder if I have a skewed sense of text density because I am a low level reader still. For me it was great and there are some panels in the earlier volumes where a picture speaks a thousand words. I also find the content relatable so maybe that contributes to my liking it.
I have only read the manga though (through vol 8). So can’t speak to how any of it translates to the anime adaptation.
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おとこのこ seemed like it might be alright. Sad to hear it hasn’t turned out so well
I feel like it never comes off well when anime tries to be like manga, in that way
I wish I could get into Hibike… really enjoyed お隣の天使様 fwiw (tho never did end up reading the LN)
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I don’t mind this style change in manga in general, though in this manga I think it was just okay, and I really don’t think it works in anime form.
It’s possible our difference in reading level is part of it. I read it a little while ago and don’t remember all the details, just that it felt like I wasn’t getting my money’s worth and that I wished I could just read the original version since I could binge that in a few days. (But sadly I can’t get access since it’s region locked)
Also possible! I’ve read a bunch of manga with transgender and/or crossdressing themes and generally like them, but this one just hasn’t worked for me. To each their own though!
I really love the first season. Don’t like later seasons as much, but I think the third is supposed to wrap up the series, so I definitely want to finish it.
Yep, I remember you mentioning before. I will definitely watch it at some point, but I haven’t been watching much anime for the last 6 months. I’m trying to get back into it a bit, just need to decide with what.
Anything you particularly recommend that’s airing this season?
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Re: Hibike, does the S1 pace pick up at all? If so, maybe I can torture push myself through it… I tortured myself through BanG Dream! It's MyGO!!!!! | L23 and I’m sure it can’t be worse than that…
I am really enjoying 義妹生活 S1 | L25??, tentatively enjoying 恋は双子で割り切れない (ふたきれ), iffy on 時々ボソッとロシア語でデレる隣のアーリャさん S1 | L30?? (which also seems to be heading in a harem direction 
).
- 義妹生活 is so far a very sober take on this, and really unique in the way it’s telling the story - but I can’t quite get everything without subs.
- ふたきれ switches btwn simple conversation, and deep Western sci-fi/nerd/classics/otaku references that are immediately relatable, and also hard to understand linguistically
- ロシア語 is easy enough that I can watch without subs (the Russian bits are hard-subbed)
Otherwise, I’m interested in 魔導具師ダリヤはうつむかない S1 | L30?? and 黄昏アウトフォーカス S1 | L30?? but get the impression those will be harder
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Oh, the LN has been recommended to me by Booklive. I don’t trust their recommendations anymore, but I’m curious if it’s any good.
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I apparently bought it, and the manga, on Bookwalker ages ago… reading the written reviews on MAL, it seems iffy/like it will heavily depend on your preferences. I’d try the anime or manga first, personally. Maybe @semie could chime in, if they use the forums?
I don’t use it, but why don’t you trust Booklive’s recs?
