dr. b

Another solid new chapter of Choujin X, only 5 days after the previous chapter. This manga has a really weird schedule. Or, less a schedule, more of a "whenever Ishida is ready" release cycle. In any case, I will say it again, it's been really good lately Chainsaw Man #117

Episode #2 of Stray Dogs was a big improvement over the first one, IMHO. Finally we have colour! Ranpo's the best

Watched a couple more episodes last night, #4 and #5. I wish I kept a log of all the laugh-out-loud moments. Too much good stuff going on in this show. My favourite moment so far might have been Bocchi imagining Kita the normie singing her downer social outcast lyrics: I spend my days cursing you losers! What a lovely visual

I'm only three episodes in, but I think it's safe to say that Bocchi the Rock! was AOTS for the fall season. Oh man this show is good Still upset with myself for being late to the party on this one.

I honestly can't remember Watched the first episode of Bocchi the Rock! over lunch and it is fantastic. Thanks for the tip @Anelle ! As somebody who played guitar in bands in high school (and beyond) and has always been more on the introverted side, especially in those painfully awkward high school days, I really appreciate what this show is about. Judging by the first episode, it is going to be a barrel laughs. Feeling rather disappointed in myself that I didn't watch this during the fall season...

re: Sakamoto: I was starting to feel pretty tired of movie guy, so I hope this is the last of him for a while now. The fighting in this chapter was good though. Akane-banashi Tokiyuki's the best Choujin X continues to be exciting. Consistently several very good chapters in a row now

You should watch Ousama Ranking too

Well, that was a very strong ending to the first part of the show..! It's kind of infuriating for me how inconsistent it's been, but the good parts tend to be very good. Even the dumb school stuff and duels suck me in eventually. You can't help but want to cheer for Suletta. Episode #12 Now I find myself really looking forward to Part 2 in the Spring. Please don't be a disappointment..!

I'm not sure why I never checked out Bocchi the Rock! during the fall season. Guess I'll add it to my watch list now

Yup Me too. It usually starts to make sense eventually… maybe next chapter will clarify things a bit.

First episode of Buddy Daddies was okay but I’m not totally sold on it yet. First episode of Trigun was very good and I am already looking forward to next week!

New episodes of The Way of the House Husband hit Netflix this week. I didn’t realize I never actually finished the first season, so I’m picking it up there. The beach volleyball game and then the bespoke aprons

Watched the first episode of Revenger last night. The start was decent but I lost interest as the episode progressed... however I will stick with it for at least a couple more episodes to see where it goes. Gen Urobuchi wrote it and he's created some pretty fantastic stuff over the years. There's hope it could be a good story.

tbh I found this new episode of Stray Dogs a bit dull. I expect it to get better in upcoming episodes though. I didn't love the stylistic choice to not use much colour. Like, I think I get what they're going for with that look, but I didn't love it. YMMV and all that. The other problem is that I've never found Fukuzawa to be a very interesting character. Thankfully, Ranpo's antics injected some much needed fun and entertainment into the episode! He is definitely one of my favourite characters, so I will enjoy seeing his evolution.

Stumbled upon this group Otoboke Beaver somewhere on the Internet the other day and I'm enjoying them quite a bit. The songs start to sound a bit same-y after listening to entire albums, but they are very infectious and energetic punk rockin' kinda tunes that I think are great in small doses.

I fell behind on Gundam. Sad to say that I haven’t really been looking forward to it each week. Caught up to the end of episode 10 now and I’m saving episode 11 to watch next weekend before 12 releases.

I watched the last episode of Chainsaw Man the other day. Not the strongest ending to a season imo but it was not bad either. I’m looking forward to more. Curious to see how they handle the rest of part one. I think there’s too much material left to fit into 12 episodes but maybe not quite enough to fill 24 episodes. A movie plus a 12 episode season could be an interesting solution. Or maybe I just want to see Chainsaw Man on the big screen…

Yeah, I took a more in-depth look at the Winter 2023 season today and double-checked Cruncyroll's lineup announcement as well. Buddy Daddies and Revenger are the only two anime originals that look like they could be promising, and Crunchy will have them both, so I'll be checking them out. Add on Trigun and Stray Dogs and that's four series I could be following this season, which seems like enough for me. All four should be starting this week/weekend.

If Trigun is on Crunchyroll then I’ll be watching that for sure. And I guess I’ll keep watching Stray Dogs since I watched the previous seasons. Other than that, I’m not super jazzed for anything. I need to check if there are any promising anime originals coming up…

On Christmas Eve I got sick with something. Not covid, but some kind of virus that kicked my ass pretty bad. Christmas morning is a blur. I was awake and opening presents with my family, but I have next to no recollection of it I got some new clothes and some chocolate. I feel like I might have gotten one other thing, but maybe not... I dunno. Can't remember. I got my wife this super cool Lego set. She really likes building Lego, and it's not something she had the luxury of doing as a kid so I figure we should make up now for lost time. Our older daughter (12) got climbing shoes and a 10-punch pass to our local climbing gym, some $$$, a couple books, and assorted stocking goodies. Oh, and Pokemon Violet (via grandma). The little girl (4) got toys and dolls and clothes and assorted stocking goodies. We're visiting my sister today, and then my dad tomorrow, so the kids still have more gifts coming. My dad will most likely have a bottle of scotch waiting for me, which should be my last and perhaps best present of the year

HxH is on hiatus again. I figured it was going to happen again soon, but it is still a sad thing to see.

I finished JJBA: Stardust Crusaders last night. The short review: I actually enjoyed it a lot in the end. There was a stretch there when I was not enjoying it. I think it was a bit a ‘quantity over quality’ problem with so many stand users introduced one after another. Some were just too silly for me. But once the team hit Egypt, the enemy stand users got more interesting and everything got better as a result. The final chapters against Dio were especially good. I am in no hurry to start reading Diamond is Unbreakable, but I will continue with it someday in the future.

Might as well just bump last year’s thread… Merry Christmas to everybody here at the OSF! What Christmas goodies did you give and receive this year? And what kind of fun stuff have you all been up to?

I've been listening to lots of jazz and fusion lately. Jaco, Casiopea, Brand X, Weather Report, Jean-Luc Ponty, etc. have all been heavy in the rotation of late. Also a solid amount of the classics and "jazz masters" mixed in for good measure (Monk, Coltrane, Oscar Peterson, etc., etc.)