AniFriday Issue #26 – Autumn Manga Special pt2: Bleach

Oh god!  Here I came into this supposedly final arc, expecting answers and revelations.  Instead, I’m seeing a lot of the same stuff that made me hate the previous arcs, and call this series a bloated formulaic mess.  Everything I love and find cool about this show can be boiled down to a few characters.  Any love I once had for this series is dangling from a metaphorical string made of three to four personalities.  It’s almost as bad as when I was watching the original InuYasha anime once it got past the first 60-70 episodes.  At this point, if there’s anything good and memorable to be strung from this series’ last arc, it will have to come from Ichigo – again!

Since I haven’t been able to put together weekly AniFriday posts for most of the summer, I thought I’d take the material that I could and compile it into specific posts for each series.  While I couldn’t squeeze in time for some much desired anime watching, I did have time to read my favorite manga week t0 week.  For this post, I’ll be focusing on the chapters (591 – 603) I read during that hiatus for Bleach and its final major arc, the war with the Quincy.  At the end, I’ve given my general overall thoughts on the material, while on the way there you can see my chapter by chapter thoughts on the series.  Though I think I may have given away some of thoughts in my initial rant.  Pardon me, while many may have abandoned this series, I still hold some semblance of passion for it.

AniFriday Issue #24: August 1st, 2014 (that felt kinda nice)

I’ve been a tad lazy this week.  No, I’ve been very lazy.  The rain, the lack of things that need to be done on my days off.  Sometimes it just feels good to just veg out and enjoy the slow days.  On my days off, if I even so much as have a conference call for 45 minutes to an hour, it just pisses me off until the task is done.  I like to do things at my own pace, on my own time.  Though I honestly work best under pressure.  It takes a lot to motivate me if I’m not self motivated.  That’s why I don’t really have too much done this week.  Still, for most people watching five, six or seven episodes of anime in a week is still quite a bit.  I hope you appreciate the work I put in this week, even at my laziest.

Here are the anime and manga I’ll be covering this week, in order:

• Stardust Crusaders ep17
• Akame ga Kill! ep4
• Naruto ch686
• Bleach ch590
• Hajime no Ippo ch1061

AniFriday Issue #23: July 25th, 2014 (Star Platinum/Jonathan Joestar wants you deep inside his body!)

I will refrain from going on a rant this week.  Instead, I’ll just say that I’m having a lot of fun with anime right now.  Especially since I’ve started narrowing down and finishing off lingering series.  Ao Haru Ride, Argevollen and Glasslip are gone.  Tokyo Ravens and Chaika are almost done.  It’s a whole lot more satisfying than what I have to deal with when it comes to manga.  The impression is being given that mega manga Bleach and Naruto are ending, but those lingering final battles are going to last a long time.  And if they aren’t f*cking amazing battles, it’s gonna leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouths.

There.  Nice and short.  Here are the anime & manga I’ll be covering in order:

• Stardust Crusaders ep15 & 16
• Tokyo Ravens ep21 & 22
• Chaika the Coffin Princess ep7
• Akame ga Kill! ep3
• Hajime no Ippo ch1059 & 1060
• Naruto ch685
• Bleach ch589

AniFriday Issue #21: July 11th 2014 (it’s gonna be a very busy, very loud summer)

Oh man!  Summer season is here!  And like furniture store or car lot with a crazy owner, I’m trying to clear out all the old inventory as quickly as possible.  I should change the borders of my blog to wacky, wavy inflatable flying tube men to get the full effect across.  That said, I’m still enjoying what’s on my plate at the moment, even if I’m anxiously trying to get through it to move on to new projects.  I’m getting the feeling that I really will miss Tokyo Ravens and Chaika when I’m threw with both shows.  Each is showing more heart than I was expecting in their own unique ways.  Other shows I’m watching are only going further down the road towards their crazy realm of bullsh*t – I’m looking right at you Stardust Crusaders!  And other shows say they’re ending, but it really feels more like their last world tour, as opposed to their last concert, Bleach and Naruto – I’m now staring at both of you!

Here are the anime and manga I’ll be covering this week, in order:

• Stardust Crusaders ep14
• Tokyo Ravens ep20
• Chaika the Coffin Princess ep6
• Ao Haru Ride ep1
• Hajime no Ippo chs 1055 & 1056
• Naruto ch683
• Bleach ch587
• Team Medical Dragon ch106
• Teppu ch5

AniFriday Issue #19 (June 27th, 2014): Chaotic Neutral vs. Neutral Evil

 

Had to adjust my AniFriday schedule a bit, even if it meant pushing back the post a whole week.  I just couldn’t allow to call this series AniFriday, and all my posts go up late on a Saturday night… Damn you JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure!  But I won’t dwell on that.

I will say, it feels great to be in a groove with a couple of series again.  Tokyo Ravens is fun as hell, Chaika is damn near my favorite thing to watch right now, and even though Stardust Crusaders has been a little stale for a bit in my opinion, it’s still better than most shounen battle material I’ve watched or read this year.  As for the manga, I’m pretty much hyped for everything except for Umi no Misaki, and you’ll see why.  I don’t know what it needs more of.  Perhaps more tits and/or plot – wait!  That’s the same thing isn’t ?!

Here are the anime and manga I’ll be covering in this post, in order:

• Stardust Crusaders ep12
• Tokyo Ravens ep18
• Chaika the Coffin Princess ep4
• Naruto ch681
• Bleach ch585
• Hunter X Hunter ch342 – 344
• One Piece ch750
• Team Medical Dragon ch105
• Umi no Misaki ch6

AniFriday Issue #18 (June 13th, 2014): there’s no “I” in team, and there’s no creepy monster in my mirrors anymore

Summer’s here!  And that means that I have more time to watch anime and read more manga!  Why?  It’s not because I’m out of school, I’ve been done with that forever.  It’s because my kids aren’t in school, so I don’t have to waste time picking them up and because I can get more sleep.  I don’t have to wake up four hours after going to bed to take care of business!  Couple that with the time I plan on spending at the beach and drinking more beer, and I’m thinking that I’m going to be in a much better mood over the next couple of months.

AniFriday Issue #17 (June 6th, 2014): all you can eat buffet of creepypasta

There must be a special on creepy this week.  Almost every anime episode I watched this week had some creepy as hell sh*t in it.  From some guy bragging about how much he enjoys using a toilet that uses a pig to clean your butt, to evil mirror hopping murder monsters, to government lackeys who enjoy being way to far inside an alien girls personal bubble, to a magical familiar who just stares at teenagers with murderous intent.  It’s anime, so it’s a rule that it’s always weird, but even that stuff has its awkward moments among the awkward moments.  And all this crap is obscuring the death of a character I really liked!  Damn you anime weirdness!  You make everything uncomfortable!

AniFriday Issue #16 (May 30th, 2014): none of it makes sense to me, and that’s OK JoJo

Alright!  We’re almost running at full power!  Things are a bit shounen heavy, but it’s all good shounen.  I mean, who can complain about JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure.  I’ve learned a bit this week.  I’ve learned I suck at video games.  Or maybe I should say I’ve relearned that I suck at video games.  In between getting furious at my stupid deaths in Don’t Starve, my inability to proper learn how to use an arcade stick in Super Street Fighter IVAE ver. 2012, I found time to read plenty of manga and watch a few anime.  I’ve also learned that some of my coworkers are a-holes (not really a surprise there).  And finally I’ve learned that I haven’t lost all my love and passion for anime.  It still burns dimly but strongly.

Here are the anime & manga I’ll be covering this week:

• Stardust Crusaders ep9
• Chaika the Coffin Princess ep1
• Tokyo Ravens ep15
• Naruto ch678
• Teppuu ch4
• Hunter X Hunter ch341
• Bleach ch582
• Team Medical Dragon ch101
• Umi no Misaki ch3

AniFriday Issue #15 (May 23rd, 2014): Victory Through Anti-Hype

I dare say that I’m almost getting back on schedule.  I may be two days late posting this (killing my thought out defense that it’s Friday somewhere when I post these), but at least I’m almost regularly watching anime and reading manga now.  I’m still in the process of figuring out where I’m at in regards to the current anime world though.  In the process of doing this, I’ve tried taking up a little show called Captain Earth.  Let’s see how this goes, because I’m not exactly in the mood for a super robot show right now.

AniFriday Issue #14 (May 16th, 2014): Star Platinum is the Popular Kid

It’s been a long time coming, but I’m pushing out new posts.  I’ve come to grips with the fact that I’ve lost a lot of time, and that both the Winter and Spring seasons are lost for me.  I can only focus on what I have the energy to focus on at this point.  And that means that a lot of material will just have to wait a while.  For now I’m going to move forward on stuff that I’m having fun with and have a regular watch cycle I can continue.  That means JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Knights of Sidonia and a lot of manga.  I hope you guys follow along as I try to get back in the groove.