What are you watching today?

Japanese Watching
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I’m like super late to this party but oh my God, that’s the one feel-good-manga from my youth I still keep in it’s German translation because I can’t find the Japanese anywhere. I used to regularly re read it whenever I was down… I think the last time was just a couple years ago so I can’t use that past tense, haha.

Did you continue/finish? I don’t think I ever saw the complete anime though I did watch it when I could catch it airing on German TV. I’d be interested to know how the anime holds up. :sparkles:

(Sorry if you posted about this recently, I haven’t finished reading all the posts yet.)

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And there’s my answer… :joy:

If that’s who I think it is, she’s great! :smiley: The ice demon who tries to steal Yosuke?

:eyes: Well, I know where you’re at, haha!

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I have 3 more episodes. I’m actually planning on doing a whole write up so I’ll make sure you see it once I do :joy:

It seems to be deeply out of print. As far as I can tell there wasn’t an English translation (America and other English speaking countries were very late to the translated manga game, lol). I’m sad because I’d love to read it, even translated at this point.

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I finished マリア様がみてる S1 | L27 and left with a much better impression than I started with. I still like わたゆり more, but at this point I’ll either continue the anime, the LN or both. It seems like the anime leaves out enough (internally and externally) that reading the LN will still be enjoyable.

Update: I finished & loved 義妹生活 S1 | L26 - there were one or two side character parts that got way too unrealistic, in the last few eps, but it was something I was willing to overlook. Overall, I really loved it, and I’m torn btwn continuing LN 1, or picking up with LN 5 (apparently there was Yuuta stuff cut from 3 & 4, in the anime). Probably I should do 5, so I’m less bored… tho 1 has the audiobook.

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447

Watched the bonus interviews from Yuki Kajiura 2008 concert DVD. I could understand a lot, but not all of it. I’ll probly finish 時々ボソッとロシア語でデレる隣のアーリャさん S1 | L25 next, just for the easy watch, or BanG Dream! S2 | L21. Update: I finished バンドリ 2, and would describe it as just okay. Otherwise considering starting:

Since I never got around to watching them, during the season

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The anime I most want to check out fall season is アオのハコ S1 | L30??, but my recent track record with watching anime has been abysmal, so I won’t be surprised if I don’t keep up or simply don’t even start it. :sweat_smile:

Apparently it’s going to be two cours, which is surprising but cool.

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Having read the manga, I would have been surprised/worried if it wasn’t. I’m nervously excited for it, as well.

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1st ep was great, and I could understand almost all of it (w/ subs)

1st ep was awful - it’s the side of the show/series I don’t like (everyone’s in romantic love w/ the MC and/or has stupid drama over it). Since I was watching without subs, there was a lot that was over my head, so I may hold off until someone uploads JP subs, before watching more.

Almost through - not a show I’d particularly recommend, but it’s gotten better as the season’s gone on

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Watched Look Back today!! It was really good, simple Japanese too, I’ll probs write a review of it later. If anyone’s looking for an emotional film then I highly recommend it

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Where/how did you watch it? That caught my eye a while ago

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Finished my preview of fall simulcasts (that looked interesting and didn’t seem past my ability to keep up with). None of them are on the chopping block immediately, but a few are on a bit of borrowed time :laughing:

Sister harem. I’m usually a pass on harems, but am a sucker for 神社 and 巫女 so I’m giving it a chance. I was also expecting some 京都弁 practice, but all of the sisters speak with a standard accent. The show feels like it’s shipping the middle, same aged sister, which I approve of. Art is nice. Not really a fan of any of the characters, but didn’t hate anyone enough to dump it. Estimated level: 23-25.

cw: pet death
Honestly kinda boring and really indulgent on the scenes where the main character is remembering the past. But the きのこいぬ is cute and weird in a way that my brain likes, so I’m giving it another week. Based on the op/end and the art style, I’m thinking the tone will pick up in the coming weeks and it might be better after the set up episode. Estimated level: 20-23.

Two office weirdos decide to fake a marriage in order to not be transferred. I love this type of plot and this one feels like it has a lot of potential. Estimated level: 23-25.

Magic school. Kinda meh, but the art (especially in the flashback scenes) is gorgeous. Sticking around for another week just for the art. Estimated level 22-24.

College guy gets invited to a 合コン and when he and his friends arrive it’s all men! Oh wait, it turns out that they’re women that work at a 男装 bar. It’s both BL-adjacent and has a 王子様 girl. Absolutely yes. Estimated level: 23-25.

Girl visiting her grandpa finds out that there’s a real, live magical girl in the town and decides to stay for good. And then while gushing about that magical girl, gets involved with a guy who she realizes is actually the bad guy?! Wait, now they’re working together? This one managed to even top the 合コン show for me somehow. After watching the first episode I jumped on the 50% points back sale on the manga. Irreverent magical girl’s show let’s go! Estimated level: 23-25.

I’ve never read the manga, but know there’s a lot of hype for this one. As I mentioned in the Listening Challenge thread, this is a shojo romance laundered through a sports manga, all of which I’m ok with. Estimated level: 20-23 (although there was an early exposition dump that I got lost in even with subs… it feels like the average difficulty will be lower than that, but watcher beware).

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Honestly that sums it up perfectly, and explains why I like it

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Finished 桜Trick S1 | L20 - it was fine overall.

アオのハコ S1 | L30?? ep 2 was excellent! Really happy with adaptation so far

They did a really solid job on the first ep. Different case, score, etc from the original, and updated vibe, but it doesn’t stray too far, and was really fun to watch. I’m curious if they’ll stick straight to the manga this time around (the original has an egregious amount of filler eps)

Mildly interesting, decently funny. I’m only 4 eps in, and I think this is around where I stopped the manga. It’s the sorta show where I can mostly follow, and even when I can’t it doesn’t really matter that much.

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Finally I found a way to rewatch らき☆すた S1, on the German Amazon Prime.

I already watched it about seven or eight years ago, shortly after I started with Japanese and did not understand that much, but from what I understood I liked it very much, nonetheless because of its opening. And the ending is famous, and has gotten some parody.

Despite its current grading of L31, grammar is not the problem, that’s more at L21; it’s that the four leads are constantly talking, so you won’t have a chance to recover for a moment to think about what you heard, and they talk about everything → vocab, like from which direction to eat some sweet, to which illness is more severe.

Edit: and while we are at it, Amazon also has a new (current season) SF-like Mahou Shoujo series: 株式会社マジルミエ S1.

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Finally finished! (I watched eps 1-2 in June 2023 :sweat_smile:). My comprehension was spotty in some places, but it’s the sort of show where even when you can’t follow it, you can still follow it, so that’s fine. It’s the most “in over my head” wrt language I’ve been, in a while. As a yuri viewer, I thoroughly enjoyed the show (it’s a very loud subtext, can you actually even still call this subtext?? sort of a show). Though as I’m thinking about it in comparison to AKB0048 S1 | L27 I’m wondering if the latter isn’t a bit low on the difficulty rating. I feel like I had more trouble with AKB0048.

Ranma ep 2 was ok. I like the original better so far… it’s hard to give a totally fair evaluation though, but to the remake’s credit, it does stand solidly on its own so far. Blue Box ep 3 was also decent… My comprehension hasn’t been perfect for Blue Box, which is ちょっと悔しい, but it’s also something you can follow, even when you’re missing a few small things here and there. アオノハコ and Ranma both have a sort of similar execution/style that’s bothering me a bit, but I’m not sure how to articulate it. With Ranma, I’m also not crazy about various aesthetic choices (the whole inverted colors palette is just way too reminiscent of MS Paint), and some of the voice actors are hard for me to swallow (I think they’re great choices… it’s just a 個人的に sorta thing).

This leaves me thinking of: trying to continue OG Ranma from where I left off… or rewatching 灰と幻想のグリムガル S1 | L28 bc Chisato’s (lycoris) 声優 also voices Merry (Grimgar), and it’s making me nostalgic.

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That’s not surprising. I watched the first episode with Japanese subs when I first decided to check it out, and even that was challenging so I just watched the rest with English subs. It was one of those shows I wanted to enjoy more than treat as practice.

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In other news, I finally watched the first two episodes of Blue Box. It was good, though the shounen vibes are obvious. I wasn’t really expecting the girl moves into guy’s house setup, so hopefully it doesn’t become an issue. My comprehension was fine overall. I think I only paused a handful of times just to double check a few key words in the setup. I haven’t watched any anime (for listening practice) in like two months, and generally haven’t much at all this year, so it was long overdue.

Hopefully I can get back into a routine, though I would have to drop my manga reading by a lot. The only other show I’d consider watching week-to-week is Gun Gale Online season 2, though I watched the first season with English subs, so I don’t actually know how difficult it is. I could also watch season 2 of Oshi no Ko since I didn’t watch it last season, though of course that’s a lot more difficult. Finally, Giji Harem is coming to Netflix as well, so I’ll probably check that out. I’m not convinced that’ll keep my attention for the whole season though, and it’ll have to win me over in terms of voice acting since I don’t like the casting choice for the main girl.

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I can definitely see that. I barely stopped while watching, I guess for the same reason. Ironically, I think it would be a great “for practice” show actually… so I started the manga :sweat_smile:

Glad you’re enjoying Blue Box :slight_smile:

This may be a bit premature, but I watched the first 2 eps and graded (I’d literally just been eyeing it, when I saw this thread), and it came out at L29. I also watched S1 with EN subs, and my vague impression is that the in-game parts of SAO 2 GGO arc (which I’ve watched too much) is probably an accurate predictor of difficulty. I think GGOA is probably a bit more intense on the gamer lingo and GGO-specific vocab. Unfortunately both the LN and manga are ungraded, so no way to corroborate. (Here is the link, for anyone interested, cuz it’s kinda annoying to search: ソードアート・オンライン オルタナティブ ガンゲイル・オンライン II | L29). I definitely have to actively pay attention, and look some things up, in order to fully understand it tho. The subs are a great help.

So far… I don’t hate it. So we’re doing pretty good compared to how I felt after S1 (2.5 years ago)… It’s making me really wanna rewatch SAO’s GGO arc again tho

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Finally finished 時々ボソッとロシア語でデレる隣のアーリャさん | L26 and was underwhelmed. To the show’s credit, it succeeds at character and relationship development between the two leads pretty well, it’s mostly cute, and sometimes has some funny moments. Otherwise it can feel asinine, contrived, and dragged out. Not gonna watch season 2.

I’m only 1 ep in, but so far it’s goofy to the point of being endearing, and it seems like the vocab will be endurable (I’m not stopping to look up all the game ability descriptions and stuff… I’ll play a game, if I want to do that). Anyway the presentation is quite creative and lively so far. Not totally hooked just yet, but there’s a decent chance I’ll be into it.

Started S3, and it’s surprisingly good (though ugh, 1.5 hr episode). Only watched the first ep so far. Lots of stopping for lookups, but despite the level it felt easier than ログ・ホライズン | L31 last time I tried watching that. Subaru definitely feels way less insufferable than he did in S1, and even S2 to some extent. The rest of the cast is so flirty (not just with him) lol. Also I appreciate that he’s actually vulnerable in various ways, and not just OP (it’s been a while since I watched the show…). Anyway, comprehension was decent for most of it… tho the stuff with Vilhelm, his son, and the drunk asshole I didn’t quite follow - so I’ll have to look it up

Contemplating starting… I watched it w/ EN subs forever ago, and thinking it might be a fun thing to watch. Curious to see how it feels difficulty-wise (tho I’m a bit confused by the cover photo…)

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I remember picking this up one year ago because I was getting tired of SoL and its level was rated in the mid 20s at the time. The least I can say is that I got my ass kicked :laughing: Seeing how much I struggled as soon as anything involved guns or tactics, it motivated me to seek out more military and military-adjacent media. A decision that led me to learn a lot of vocab I will most likely never use in any conversation anytime soon, but that’s okay.

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