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Yes, I really don't understand what went through the author's mind. That said, some of the latest chapters are very good. But I honestly count on my fingers the number of chapters I liked in that second half...
I'll still follow the series a bit more, but I'll probably drop during season 4, since that's where it goes downhill to me.

I hope he gets better soon! My buddy’s family got it last week! It’s going around again but fortunately this new strain isn’t particularly bad on average.

Nana is a show I started a few years ago but ended up dropping after a couple episodes because I got distracted by some other stuff. I’ve heard great things about it. I just haven’t been back to it yet.

I think it’s amusing that the little cat ear horns and red eyes that in any other anime would either be ignored or praised as cute are seen in this anime as this hideous deformity that’s constantly met with terror and disgust.

The reason the anime is such a "cult" show is because it's not like much else I can think of. All the mainstream studios wanted nothing to do with adapting this manga, so they went to a studio that at that point mostly just made hentai. Then for the director they hired someone with little previous experience with that studio who at that point was mostly known for being the assistant director and storyboard artist for Cardcaptor Sakura.

The Elfen Lied mangaka is BAD. I've read several of his works out of morbid curiosity and they somehow kept getting worse!

Elfen Lied's anime director is usually very solid. Although even he couldn't save Promised Neverland S2. That was the fault of Cloverworks for demanding that 3/4ths of a manga wrap up in 12 episodes. Also, the Promised Neverland mangaka was brought on to write the script and story for S2. God that was a mess.

Part of what makes the anime special is the sheer oddity of it. For example, it cuts way down on the ecchi content, but then weird shit from the manga still manages to seep in. Including an infamous scene in the first episode where some of the manga's fetish stuff got left in for some reason. Even though it's my favorite anime, I could also easily write a 10-page essay on issues it still has.

I don't really believe in "Trigger warnings" but I will warn you that the anime goes way overboard with underage characters running around nude. That stuff happened relatively often in the Wild West days of old anime before more modern censorship laws were put in place, but this anime is certainly guilty of that. I blame Studio Arms for leaving that part of the manga in.

The anime still has its issues, but that Rodion/Sonya dynamic was really cool to see. Sadly, it doesn't have anyone in that Porfiry roll the way Death Note does. I also enjoyed all of the Raskolnikov vs. Porfiry scenes!

The manga is just a clusterfuck with some cool ideas, but absolutely no concept of what to do with them. Firstly, the manga was created to be an ecchi/horror, which is already kind of a dumb combination. However, the mangaka then added harem and slapstick comedy elements since his favorite manga of all time is Love Hina. Then he suddenly became inspired to inject this psychological drama into it, but with no clear goal or reason. Then, he added weird and often gross fetish elements into the mix because he got horny. Also, the mutants are just evil on a biological level, so previous chapters trying to sympathize with them had zero purpose because that was before he decided they were simply evil to begin with. The manga is so bad on SO many levels that it was honestly Quixotic for the anime director to try make it into something good. Yet, he really made the effort and despite its tiny budget and 13 episodes it became a cult hit during the 2000s. Despite being far from the most flawless anime I've seen, it's still my personal favorite. I've seen the anime over 10 times and even helped write part the English wikia.

Gankutsuou is generally a very beloved anime. For some reason I wasn’t a huge fan when I saw it, but it was quite a while ago. Sometimes I’ll rewatch an anime years later and have a totally separate experience.

Elfen Lied the manga is just absolute trash. The anime halfway through completely abandons the manga and starts to take influence from elsewhere. By the end, it’s kind of hard to miss the similarities. Since it’s a very commonly read novel in Japanese high schools, I’m about 98% sure the anime director just started deliberately ripping off Crime and Punishment.

So you have this mutant serial killer who tries to convince herself that she’s above normal people and has the right and justification to kill them, but ends up being torn apart by guilt and hallucinating and losing grip on reality. She wants to confess her crimes more than anything, but can’t because her beloved is closely related to one of her victims. So the relief of confessing her sins would come at the cost of the only relationship keeping them sane. However, the love interest just kind of forgives them on the spot in a big melodramatic scene and the killer goes through this big thematic rebirth. It really wants to hammer home this message on the importance of forgiveness and that even the worst can find redemption. The anime is still a mess due to super rushed pacing, a terrible animation studio, and an awful source manga whose issues sometimes invade the show, but it still manages to be a cult classic sort of experience. I love that anime SO much. Panda on the other hand hates it with a passion. It typically ends up being one or the other. Lol

BTW, I saw your comment on Panda's page about Gankutsuou. It's probably best in my opinion to see the anime as a separate thing and not as an adaptation. The anime was largely based on an American science fiction that was itself a loose adaptation of the Count. So, it's really NOT a faithful adaptation of the Count simply updated in a new setting. The Count isn't the main character in the anime and isn't nearly as sympathetic as his original novel counterpart. Many important characters from the novel are either completely omitted or changed beyond recognition. The themes and ultimate fates of the characters are different. I think Gankutsuou is a fine anime, but frankly a horrendous adaptation of Dumas' novel. I've said before only half joking that Elfen Lied is a more faithful adaptation of Crime and Punishment than Gankutsuou is of The Count.

I really like Pevear and Volokhonsky, but back in high school I actually started with Constance Garnett, since those old translations are the cheapest if you're collecting physical copies. I actually need to update my reading list again right now to include "And Quiet Flows the Don" by Sholokhov. For that novel I read the old Stephen Garry translation from the 1930s, because it's the one available on audiobook and I drive a lot for my job. Sometimes which translation I choose depends on circumstances like that. Usually, which translation you choose isn't going to have a monumental impact when it comes to most novels. Poetry lives and dies by its prose, but novels also depend on themes, characters, plot, and other elements like that. Dostoevsky for example, tended to write under a tight schedule. So, he wasn't known for perfect, flowery prose even in the original Russian. No translation of Dostoevsky is going to make him sound as elegant as Pushkin. So which translation of Evgeny Onegin you read is going to be a bigger difference than which of Crime and Punishment you read.

When it comes to flat out BAD translations, I'm reading a translation of a Hindi language novel where the only English translation was translated specifically for Southern Indians who don't speak Hindi but speak English as a second language. There are some absolutely baffling translation decisions including translating cholera as "died of the toilet".

It’s fun to mock with friends and tweet about. Idk if I will review it though seems like everyone covered the problems with s1.

Yes, Ultra Romantic was glorious. Truly a masterpiece of the ages to be remembered. Everything else in existence pales in comparison.

No. Maybe I’ll read it later. The anime is very loosely adapted from it.

I have not, but I would like to read the manga some time soon!

Why would I change your mind when you’re objectively correct? ;)

Lol, thanks. I’m proud to be based and a little biased too.