dr. b

Who have you got winning the Wild Card series!?! I like Detroit and Baltimore in the AL, and Milwaukee and San Diego in the NL.

Fall ‘24 season incoming! Links: MAL Fall 2024 Anime AniChart Fall 2024 Crunchyroll Fall 2024 Lineup I’ve got a few things on my list for the fall: Dandadan — I’ve been curious about this title in Jump for a while now. If the anime hooks me then I’ll catch up on the manga (~170 chapters) afterwards. Ao no Hako (Blue Box) — Same story as Dandadan, I’ve been meaning to check it out in Jump for a while now. Could be fun. I think Netflix has this one. Ranma — A new anime adaptation seems worth a look! MAPPA does good work. I think this will also be on Netflix. Looks like Tower of God S2 is continuing into the fall, so I’ll stick with it as well. The last couple episodes haven’t been terrible.

Holy smokes, you work fast! Didn’t that just release on Friday? How many hours to beat it?

Dang. Forgot he lived down that way. Good to hear that he’s safe.

The Elusive Samurai #174 Spy x Family #105.1 JJK #271 (finale) The ending was not bad but it was not great either. Kind of forgettable I’m holding out hope that the Culling Game arc will come across better animated, if/when it gets animated. It certainly has its moments in the manga, but it was not a consistently engaging and compelling arc IMHO. Undead Unluck #224 Sakamoto #184 Absolutely killer action this week in Kagurabachi #51

I would absolutely love an Elusive Samurai themed hack’n’slash game! re: the latest Elusive Samurai chapter: Agreed the current arc in Sakamoto Days has been pretty good so far.

Well, it looks like it’s not happening for the M’s this year Eizan. Bummer. I had hope for them… but I guess both our teams are disappointments this year! The Royals, Tigers, and Twins all owe a big debt to the White Sox. That’s a lot of wins for each of those teams against Chicago. The complexion of the Wild Card race would be different if the White Sox were a respectable team

New stuff this week was solid. Kaiju No. 8 #115 Choujin X #57 No spoilers since I don’t think you’re following this one anyways… Just wanted to say that I think you should get on board! This final arc has been epic. I’m loving it. I love the art style throughout. Ishida is a great artist and storyteller. Feels like we’re getting close-ish now to the final showdown. Chainsaw Man #178

Coming down to the end of the Summer season now. This has got to be the slowest our seasonal thread has ever been. @Tassifox @Eizan where are you be!? I enjoyed the ending of Mayonaka Punch. It was a goofy show. Started slow but then found a stride after a few episodes. It was a pretty original idea. DeDeDeDe wrapped last week but I still haven't watched it as I was out of town last weekend. I mistakenly thought there was one more episode tonight, so I was going to watch both tonight. Guess I am only watching one episode tonight..! I am really not sure how it's going to end, but I'm excited to see what happens. The Elusive Samurai will finish up tomorrow night -- hopefully with the announcement of a second season soon following it. I have last weekend's episode saved, so the kiddo and I can watch episodes 11 and 12 tomorrow night This is no doubt my Anime of the Season. (DeDeDeDe comes in a close second place) Last thing on my list is S2 of Tower of God. I am not sure how long it's going to go. Is Sunday night's episode the last or will it continue into the Fall season? Dunno. MAL says it's unknown

I’ve got a soft spot for FFVIII. I have never gone back for a replay… but that’s mainly because I put so much time into in the first place at release. Memory is of course very fuzzy now, but IIRC I did everything I wanted to do and then some in that game, and I enjoyed all of it. Just not quite enough to do it all again. Too many hours. VIII is still lower on my power rankings, but it’s at least better than II and IX !

I finished DB last night. I’m glad I read the manga. It’s a masterpiece. I love the last arc especially. All the matches in the Piccolo Jr. tournament were fun as heck. I have found I really prefer the simpler DB to the increasingly more complicated Z and Super. More martial arts and less energy blasts. Energy blasts and special moves feel more impactful when they’re used more sparingly, like when Ten busted out his first Kikoho. I also love the special items Goku uses early on like Kintoun and Nyoibo, and all the silliness. (Really wish Lunch had continued to be a recurring character in Z. I forgot how hilarious she is!) I started reading the Saiyan arc in Z last night but I dunno… I sort of just want to read the original all over again!

I find “Fooey!” kind of charming, and I think it fits fairly well with how juvenile the sense of humour is in DB. I guess it’s kinda funny juxtaposed against all the panels of naked Goku (“Damn!” or “Shit!” would not have been so bad really.) But even the other maybe-not-so-kid-friendly things like the sex jokes, naked Goku, etc. are all relatively tame and childish. I think it works to keep the language clean in the translation. I don’t know if I’ll continue on with DBZ. Maybe just the Saiyan saga, which is low-key maybe my favorite arc of DBZ overall. I’m well into the Piccolo arc now in DB because I couldn’t sleep last night, so it won’t take long to finish.

I’ve been reading loads of Dragon Ball the last few days. Just finished the Red Ribbon and Fortuneteller Baba arcs. Goddamn I love the original DB. Time to get into the next tournament!

The Elusive Samurai #171 Akane-banashi #125 -- No spoilers, but Master Shiguma is an absolute boss Sakamoto Days #181 Undead Unluck #221

Anybody else watching DeDeDeDe..? You’re missing out if you’re not! Only three episodes left.

Dang that’s fast. I started reading Dragon Ball a couple weeks ago but haven’t had much time to really binge it. I’m ~30 chapters in. It’s awesome. I love how short-but-not-short the chapters are. Toriyama could pack a lot into 13 pages!

Shojo Null #33 (final chapter) - There were some beautifully drawn panels in this chapter. I was satisfied with the ending. Not too many loose ends. Chainsaw Man #176 Choujin X #55 - This series has been consistently really good (IMHO) for quite a while now. There is so much detail in the story and I love the style. The current arc feels like it will ultimately be the last, but it's going to be pretty long and drawn out. Beat & Motion #39 Got the new Show-ha Shoten! queued up for later today to read.

Sucks to see how the M’s have slid in the Wild Card standings. Firing the Manager doesn’t seem to have helped. I don’t think their struggles were Servais’s fault anyhow… if they keep stumbling then somebody in the front office will have to take more accountability. They built the roster that keeps losing.

Spy x Family #104 was a fun little adventure with Damian and his buddies. I like his butler. Akane-banashi #124 - Master Shiguma’s performance continues to be great. I’m really curious to see how his story ends! Kagurabachi #47 - You might want to check this one out if you haven’t yet. It seems to have some staying power. They’re embarking on what feels like a rather big new arc in this chapter. Sweet colour title pages this week too.

Episode #9 of The Elusive Samurai was absolutely awesome. So much good stuff packed into one episode

So tempted to use the jizz smiley to react to that one It's a fun coincidence that you mention facial expressions in Show-ha! Shoten before also commenting on Chainsaw Man. I love the many weird, sad, dejected, wacky, awkward, and just plain messed up faces that Denji makes. That guy wear's his heart (and his stupidity) on his sleeve Just one glance at a panel and you know exactly what is (or isn't) going through his mind. I totally agree that the-thing-that-happened-with-Asa is so perfect for Chainsaw Man. It would be cringey or feel forced almost anywhere else. Not in Chainsaw Man!

Only one chapter left for Shojo Null. This weeks chapter had a lot packed into like 16 pages. It seems there is a time skip now, then the final chapter somehow will resolve everything..? Or it will be a more open-ended type of ending. I dunno. I’m curious to see how it wraps up.

With Show-ha Shoten!, all the goings-on in this big competition have been fun to follow. I still struggle to make sense of the comedy that these kids are doing. But that's a cultural difference that I assume is not easy to explain. The translators would have to add so many little notes under the panels, it wouldn't work But outside of not really finding their comedy funny, there are a lot of likeable characters, and the interpersonal relationships between the different comedy groups are interesting. I like a lot of the characters so I don't even know who I want to win anymore. Can't they just all win!?!

Thought there was going to be a new chapter of Chainsaw Man yesterday but apparently it doesn't actually come out until next Tuesday. Thanks for nothin' VIZ Are you caught up on Chainsaw Man? It hit a low point for me a couple months back, but the more recent chapters have been more compelling so I'm kind of back on the bandwagon.