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 #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 #11 (January 31st, 2014): the Snowed in Special Edition

It’s been a hell of a week or two for me.  As an adult, I don’t think weather has kicked my ass as much and as hard as it has this month.  I’ve had to evacuate my house twice because the heater couldn’t keep up with the below freezing temperatures.  People are getting injured left and right, and being on the roads is the worst thing you can do.  But at least I have time to watch some anime and read some manga.  All I need is electricity, water and tea leaves.

Here are the anime I’ll be covering this week, in order of appearance:

• Golden Time ep15
• Tokyo Ravens ep14
• Tonari no Seki-kun ep1
• Bleach ch566
• One Piece ch736
• Team Medical Dragon ch95

AniFriday Issue #9 (January 17th, 2014)

Hey guys!  AniFriday is in full effect this week!  I was actually able to hammer out a lot of diverse anime selections, though it may be a month  or so before I’m able to narrow down what I’m keeping and dumping from this huge list.  All I can really say about that is that I picked up new shows, even though I said I wasn’t gonna do that.

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

• Tokyo Ravens ep13
• Sakura Trick ep1
• Super Sonico ep1
• Nourin ep1
• Pupa ep1
• Chu2koi ep6
• Yamato 2199 ep3
• Wizard Barristers ep1
• Naruto ch661
• Bleach ch564
• One Piece ch734
• Team Medical Dragon chapters 92 – 94
• Teppu ch2

AniFriday Issue #8 (Janurary 3rd, 2014)

Happy New Year guys!  The year of 2013 is behind us, and it’s time for everyone to move on to bigger and better things.  Well that’s the idea at least.  In truth, it takes effort to move forward and dump the baggage you’ve become so comfortable with.  Even a burden can seem like a welcome comfort when it’s all you know.  The easy thing about this medium and the commitment to it is that you don’t have to stick with anything.  The same applies to me.  I could dump a series at any point, though I do make it harder for myself by believing there’s some sort of commitment that comes with watching a series.  That’s a reason why some of these shows on AniFriday have kept getting commentary and coverage.  It’s silly, but that’s why right now, I’m especially happy to dump some burdens.

On the flip side of that commitment, I’m going to attempt to have more diverse coverage of manga in these posts as well.  So I hope all that are reading enjoy the small extra bit of commitment I’ve given to these manga.  Not just shounen and seinen, but shoujo, sports, josei, fantasy and maybe yuri will hopefully all get representation at some point.  Think of it as a sort of New Year’s resolution for AniFridays.  Now then, let’s get started on 2014.

AniFriday Issue #7 (December 20th 2013)

This has been a tiring and hectic week for me, but it has also been a week with one of the best moments of my life.  Sunday my sister graduated from the UNC Chapel Hill!  I don’t know what her major is, I think it has something to do with some holistic medicine, witch doctor mumbo-jumbo.  But that doesn’t matter right now.  I’m intensely proud (and a bit jealous) of her.  And if she gets to read this (because I didn’t really talk that much that day), I wish her all the happiness in the world, and a good job, too.

Now then, onto the anime and manga commentary.  Here’s what I’ll be covering this week, in order.

• Tokyo Ravens ep11
• Ms. MONOCHROME ep12
• Valvrave ep22
• Coppelion ep12
• One Piece ch732
• Naruto ch659
• Bleach ch562
• Team Medical Dragon ch90
• The World God Only Knows

Oh, and in case you’re wondering about the change in titling for these posts from being named parts to issues; I’m attempting to go with the magazine theme I love so much.  I know this is a blog, but humour me.  This is a hobby after all, I’m gonna f*ck around and experiment any chance I get.

AniFriday pt6 (December 13th 2013)

 

Man, it has been a tiring week.  It’s not easy for me to keep up with all this anime.  And I can’t help but think I’ve brought this upon myself.  I mean, if I would actually not f*ck around and watch everyone of these shows consistently every week, then I wouldn’t have to worry about these long tiring “catch up” sessions.  Then again, there’s something to be said about the joy of watching a show in spurts like this, as if I were renting an anime DVD from Blockbuster or the old local video rental place back at home.  Ah!  Memories!

For now, I hope you guys appreciate the effort and attention to detail I’ve put into watching and analyzing these shows.  At this point in the season, and the year, I’m really learning to appreciate what has been a very interesting year of anime.  A surprising year.   And maybe even in this post here, that only covers mediocre to average anime I’m currently watching could have moments that are memorable, or that perhaps will last and reverberate forever throughout anime history.  It’s unlikely as hell, but it could happen.

This week I’ll be shaking up things a bit by adding manga to this AniFriday post, because… well because “why not?”  The name AniFriday doesn’t really mean anything, I can barely get these out on time, and I’m pretty damn sure someone’s already using the name Manga Monday somewhere.

Here are the series I’ll be covering in order of appearance:

• Valvrave eps 18 – 21
• Ms. MONOCHROME ep11
• Tokyo Ravens ep10
• Coppelion ep11
• Naruto ch657 & 658
• One Piece ch729 – 731
• Bleach ch560 & 561

If anyone knows a way for me to link to different sections within a blog post to make this quicker, I’d appreciate it.  For now, enjoy the presentation!