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I don't lose my reply progress often. It occurs rarely, mostly (or rather only) when I'm typing something on a mobile device. When it happens, though, I just start anew. Losing a reply I have been writing before sending it doesn't discourage me from writing it once more and sending it properly. :P

Ayo, a whole episode dedicated to a specific fast food company? XD I've yet to see something like that, haha. In some shows (mostly series) I've seen fragments with product placement, but they were usually harmless, blending naturally into the whole picture, even though they were rather easy to detect. They were often about simple things, like a coffee brand being mentioned, but could also involve more expensive items, like cars or mobile phones of specific brands. In both cases, I don't recall any of these product placement scenes lasting more than a few seconds. But a whole episode being a product placement? Now that's something... spectacular, haha.

Ah, perhaps I misunderstood something about this aspect of Code Geass (if it indeed is one).

I believe I know who CC is. At least, I've seen her image. Beyond that, I don't know much about her, except that she a significant character in that show.

Ouch, my friend's just told me that another hiatus was announced not that long ago, lol.

Same. I sort of understand his choice, but I would've preferred to see him focused more, even if a little, on all that supernatural stuff. His rivalry with Yosuke, the source of his serious involvement in paranormal activities, was no more; but he had proven himself to be a formidable warrior during the Dark Tournament. Seeing him essentially abandon his potential, rather than continuing to improve, felt like a missed opportunity. Like wasting a good character quite early on.

I feel the same. While I understand the nostalgia many feel for Cowboy Bebop, even through rose-tinted glasses, I believe it's objectively just decent. As you mentioned, the pacing is often sluggish due to its episodic nature, and the characters are clichéd and underdeveloped. If Spike is considered a well-written character simply because of his cool and stylish persona, then generic isekai or battle shounen are filled with similar "peak" characters, kekw.

I'm not a fan of episodic series, so many episodes were simply dull. Having only completed half, I lack the motivation to continue knowing the second half follows the same pattern, except for the final episodes.

When I remember this anime's soundtrack, I lose all my motivation, lol. I'm not into jazz, but I can listen to it without problem if the track is good or if tracks aren't repetitive. Sadly, Cowboy Bebop didn't meet both of these subjective criteria of mine. xD

I think Gold Saints from either the 20th or 18th century won't appear in a hypothetical Next Dimension sequel, regardless of whether it's a direct continuation or a side story. I wouldn't mind seeing Seiya and his friends regain their memories and become Gold Saints, similar to the "Do Cvidanija - Time of Promise" concept. Or perhaps a Gaiden series dedicated to ND's Gold Saints.

I've read a fan theory about Odysseus reviving them, but I think that would be a cheap and lazy solution. Let's focus on the Bronze Saints and other characters. The Gold Saints can shine, but I don't see any reason to make them shine at the moment on which the ND's story concluded.

They died for good after completing their mission. I don't think there will ever be any brand new anime like Soul of Gold, dedicated to Gold Saints after they sacrificed themselves. We might see Episode G anime one day, though. I mean, I would love to see it, haha. Even more than ND anime, in fact.

Hehe, that famous Gear 5 clip felt more Looney Toones than actual Looney Toones for me. xD

Sure thing!

About Skeleton Crew, yeah, I read it's a show targeted at a younger audience, resembling more of the old Ewoks series than any other live-action Disney has produced so far. I was moderately intrigued by Jude Law's involvement, but my interest waned, as it did for other new Star Wars shows. The last Star Wars thing I actively followed was the second season of The Mandalorian.

Speaking of games, I never liked the original Tomb Raider games, haha. I played them long ago, but they felt too clunky for me. They had their charm, of course, but I preferred different types of games back then. I didn't play all the newer Tomb Raider games, but I enjoyed the 2013 game.

From what has been revealed so far, it seems like a series targeted at a female audience. It appears to be something completely different from Saintia Shou, but we'll see. Technically, Saintia Sho is a seinen, but thematically, it leans heavily into "typical shounen" tropes with a touch of mahou shojo elements.

I don't think Saintia Shou needs any fixing, to be honest. The manga is great as it is. The anime, on the other hand, was awful. ;p It's unfortunate that its anime adaptation turned out to be perhaps not a disaster, but something not giving the source material enough justice.

As for the card, I'm not sure if it's just a visual element or if it will have a functional role in that new manga. I hope they won't use cards for transformations. That would be awkward, especially considering the cards have already been used in the series before (during the Silver Saints arc). Their role was merely to be messages left by Bronze Saints. If anything, I'd prefer to have "cards lore" expanded this way, instead of omitting the established lore and turning them into fancy "transformation devices".

About the necklaces, I got used to the Cloth necklaces, or whatever they are called, relatively fast. They felt alright as a design choice to attract new people (younger fans) who might not have liked the classic Pandora boxes. But more importantly, they had potential to be a nice piece of merchandise. Who wouldn't want to have their favorite Saint's necklace used in the anime? ;D

When talking about "something that is used to put a Cloth inside of it it", I'm a traditionalist. I've been a fan of Pandora boxes since the very first time I saw them in the original anime. I think they are not only iconic, but also Pandora boxes are definitely something peculiar to Saint Seiya. Not to forget they are, in my opinion, the best and the most original way to depict a way of carrying a heavy armor by a single person. Way better than necklaces, jewels, or whatever. It's also quite realistic, even if realism might not be the best thing to bring up when talking about Saint Seiya, where teenagers battle gods with supernatural, crazy techniques, hehe.

Here's the synopsis of Saint Maria (translated via Google Translate; source: cavzodiaco.com.br):

Ayo, have you heard that there's gonna be a new Saint Seiya spin-off series?

You're welcome!
Yes, there were two games, actually. The old one's Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, and the newer one's called just Call of Cthulhu. I never played the latter, but I played the former. It was alright. It offered great atmosphere and adventure, but bugs, glitches, and optimization problems made it far from an overall enjoyable gaming experience.

Yes, it's definitely convenient to write longer replies in a text editor. Not only can you write your long reply section by section whenever you want, instead of writing the whole thing on the same day, but, as you mentioned, you won't risk your reply getting lost due to, for example, a search engine malfunction or something similar.

That's a shame. It's always disappointing to see good shows go unnoticed, lost in the sea of other series simply because they weren't advertised enough to reach the average viewer. A good budget and solid production quality may not be enough without effective advertising.

Ugh, then I definitely wouldn't enjoy it either. In general, except for a very small number of series (i.e. Death Note), I don't like it when the main character is a genius with insane superpowers and charisma feeling more like an asspull than an actual character trait. It seems to also have elements like a "harem in disguise" and waifubait, two things I'm definitely not a fan of, haha.

I heard about it. I read once several posts written by YYH fans who, even though they enjoyed HxH in general, expressed their disappointment on how there were many ideas or concepts looking as if they were dedicated foremost to be used in YYH.

Togashi-sensei overcame his mangaka burnout, but he is suffering from back pains, from what I heard. It makes HxH manga have a lot of breaks, no?

Same. Even if it was just one solid spin-off telling a nice story. Something like Kuwabara going on a solo mission could be fun to read, haha.

I see. Hmm... So it's not as bad as some folks whose posts I read claimed it to be. Sure, it's stretched in places, but it doesn't feel off when looking at the show as a whole and considering how it adapts the source material in general.

Iyashikei anime isn't my cup of tea, unfortunately. Mushishi, from what you've said, also seems to be quite episodic, and I'm not a fan of episodic anime, heh. That's one of the reasons I still haven't finished Cowboy Bebop (and I don't even feel motivated to return to it). I guess my tolerance for that kind of plot structure was higher in the past. ;D

That was one of my guesses some time ago. Titans have appeared in multiple Saint Seiya works. Perhaps now it's time to introduce them to the main, original storyline? We will see, although I can also imagine the hypothetical Heaven arc following the well-known formula of Bronze Saints advancing through temples of some sort and fighting their overpowered guardians who'd be Olympian gods, with Zeus standing on the top as the final boss (perhaps deceived by Chronos if Chronos is meant to be the main baddie, lol).

I can only judge him by looking at his character design and basic info about his superpowers, so my knowledge about Chopper is very limited. As the series' mascot, I think he's alright. xD


Whut. Not gonna lie, this sounds kinda bizarre, haha.

The power of fanboyism is incredible, lol. My friend once explained to me how fanatical One Piece fans can be both at overthinking every small element of the manga, or act like obnoxious, toxic crybabies once someone says something negative about One Piece or Oda-sensei's writing. It doesn't have to be a trolling or remotely rude comment. Just expressing one's opinion in a polite way. xD

Brunhilde is great, indeed. I like her as a character and the leader of the humans during the tournament. Göll, on the other hand, is annoying as heck when she talks so much that you can't see the end of her screaming unnecessary stuff, lol.

Going back to the animation, it could have been worse. At least the stills look good, and the animation, even if it doesn't do justice to the source material's dynamic art style, is at least okayish for me as an anime-only viewer who has enjoyed the two seasons released so far. I'm more tolerant towards even underwhelming aspects of shows I enjoy watching, hehe. ;D

I think it was more about mixing classic shounen tropes with mahou shoujo, but without making the latter dominate the former.

Speaking about Magic Knight Rayearth, have you heard the news about this anime getting most likely a remake? Or well, it seems like one. Or perhaps it will be a reboot? Anyway, the new Magic Knight Rayearth anime project is under development. I'm curious to see how they'll approach the story and visuals in this new iteration.
https://myanimelist.net/anime/59204/Magic_Knight_Rayearth_Shin_Anime

I think I'll check out that Tomb Raider show out of pure curiosity. I'm not a huge fan of Lara Croft and her adventures (I like some Tomb Raider video games, but I wouldn't call myself a fan), but perhaps the animated series will be fun to watch.

He primarily wrote short stories. Some of them were about Cthulhu, 'cause while H.P. Lovecraft is most famous for his contributions to the Cthulhu Mythos, he wrote many other stories that don't directly involve cosmic horrors or ancient gods.

Going back to the Cthulhu stuff, long story short, Lovecraft created the Cthulhu Mythos, and his literary successors expanded it even further.

If you'd like to give it a try, then for starters I recommend picking up "The Call of Cthulhu" short story. :P

Ayy, I'm terribly sorry... When I'm writing a longer reply, I just write it in a text editor. I find it more comfortable to do it that way. At the moment I was writing that reply, my friend sent me one of his early 3D models and asked for an honest opinion. So I wrote the reply in the text editor, copied it, and sent it to him. Unfortunately, I forgot to delete it from the file that was dedicated for the reply. xD I apologize for causing confusion, haha. It surely must've looked random as heck.

It was supposed to look like this:


It's already been many years since I applied such "doctrine". Years ago I had more free time to spend on checking out shows that didn't look that much interesting to me, out of rather timid curiosity, or continuing watching shows that didn't feel fun to watch in the slightest. These days I'm just either not giving such shows a try, or drop them early on. I don't buy "it gets better after episode 200 bro"; if something feels dull from the start, then I'm not willing to waste my time on finding out whether it's gonna improve, remain the same, or get worse later on, lol.

Hmm... I think I might've heard about this one around the year you've mentioned, but that's it. I forgot about its existence pretty early on, after reading about it for the first time. I had no idea its production quality was high enough to be a show rivaling famous HBO series.

It seems that Netflix really failed at advertising it, at least in my country. I don't remember any friend of mine ever mentioning watching that series when we talked about more and less popular stuff we had been watching. Too bad it got axed in such way (I hate when a series ends with a cliffhanger and is not continued later, from one reason or another), but like you said, they did a terrible job promoting it if it was to be one of potential hits rivaling such a giant as HBO.

I've always found Code Geass's synopsis a bit off-putting, to be honest. It just didn't spark my interest enough. Or rather at all. Reading random comments about the plot and characters only confirmed my initial impression. I doubt I'd enjoy it, especially considering its 25-episode length. While it may not seem like much, it's too long for a show that doesn't immediately captivate me.

As for Hunter x Hunter from 2011, the bright art style was a major turn-off. I'm not a fan of chibi-looking protagonists. My friend suggested trying the older version with its darker, grittier aesthetic, but naah, it did not convince me too. HxH from 2011 adapts more from the manga than the older version, no? I heard it's a more complete adaptation, even if the manga is still ongoing.

Anyway, I guess I'm just quite picky when it comes to anime, heh.

I heard that the anime is very faithful to the manga, so yes, I think I wouldn't like it. I saw people recommending the anime over the manga due to brilliant voice acting, music, overall atmosphere, etc., but I also heard complaints about how the anime messed up the pacing in several moments, which those who complained about it saw as something completely unnecessary. This manga isn't a dynamic one, but woah, is that true that one short chapter about Tenma and that kid (I forgot his name) looking for fuel was stretched to one full episode? ;p

Is Mushishi good? I'm not planning to watch it, but truth be told, I don't know much about this anime.

I think we will see Athena and Bronzies regaining their memories first, and what will happen later? Hard to tell. Same goes with Apollo. He surely is a potential villain candidate, but at this point I can't imagine ND's Apollo to be someone like that. He is pretty neutral, his judgement was fair, Athena and Bronzies complied and accepted it. Rebeling against him would be a dumb move from Athena, proving that she and her elite warriors have always been selfish troublemakers. Unless a significant threat emerges to befall on humanity and put the whole planet in danger, Athena's rebellion against Apollo's judgement seems unlikely. That is, if we assume Athena being wide, responsible and judicious. ;p

About the threat itself, maybe Chronos will make a move? I remember he was mentioned years ago in Hypermyth. More, he was originally presented as the series' final villain. But it was just one of original ideas, a mere concept that hasn't made it to the main storyline's manga. Yet, perhaps, hahaha. However, hard to tell if it will be ever implemented. It's uncertain if Kurumada-sensei hasn't changed his mind over all those years and still intends to use him in this way. It's been years since Hypermyth got released, after all. We'll just have to wait and see. I wouldn't mind seeing him like that. The next story arc will be the perfect opportunity to return to that said original idea. And perhaps finalize Saint Seiya's main storyline with a definite ending.


Oh, it was not a big deal. Just basic info about who was the dude screaming that line, what is the One Piece, and some information about other stuff I found interesting (mostly characters and their abilities). I liked Chopper the most. Cute and original character design, variety of transformations, impressive powers. ;D

So it wasn't known by the crew from the start?

I saw people joking about poor animation quality in The Fable.

I also heard how the Record of Ragnarok manga has a brilliant art style, full of dynamic and detailed sequences. I can confirm it looked good on random panels that a friend of mine showed me. As an anime-only viewer, I enjoyed Record of Ragnarok anime. But yes, it would've benefited from more sakuga moments trying to translate the art level during action scenes known from the manga into the animated format.

Hmmmm... "Saintia Shou" comes to my mind first each time I think of such disappointing adaptations. Bad animation, comical-looking character designs (too big heads, weird proportions) appearing way too often (even in the opening, lol), and the story that was not given enough justice. Heck, even half of it was not adapted. xD What a shame. It could've been a good show if it had received a decent anime adaptation. Saintia Shou mixes well classic shounen tropes with shoujo themes. As someone familiar with the manga, it was simply sad to watch the story that could've attracted new people to the franchise and satisfied Saint Seiya veterans, ending up with such an atrocious anime adaptation.

Interesting. I didn't know that. Nice that such a grassroots project was noticed and was turned into a regular show.

As for the original Castlevania show (the one with Trevor), I say the dialogue has remained pretty much the same quality in all four seasons, perhaps improving with each season a little, but not to the point of saying "A-ha! Now that's a change!". Nocturne (it's about Richter) presents rather similar quality, but I found it similar to the last seasons of the original Castlevania show in terms of dialogue lines' quality. Perhaps they improved; at least that was my impression.

honestly, i haven't seen any of Guillermo's show either- i remember watching his movies and THEY ARE SO WELL CRAFTED, SO BEAUTIFUL AND SUCH HEAVY MESSAGE !!!!

ONE PIECE LIVE ACTION ??? lmao i might finally watch it if its under 100 eps then...let's see


not really, atleast not so far- he is definitely a sociopath? psychopath? like he is not a normal human to me and i cannot empathise with him like at all.

i see the religious fanaticism - lol interesting and cliche i think, watched too many media with similar trope... trying to "make a statement"

Tenma is a likeable character despite my personal disdain against people who suffer from dilemma where one choice can literally SAVE PEOPLE but well i can understand why it is so difficult for him, doctors' oath is literally the first thing a doctor takes so i empathise with him but Johan (i know people like him so much, he is the like top 10 manipulators of all time) i just find him...shallow i dont know- im in ep 38 and i literally dont find 1 SINGLE THING ABOUT HIM MEMORABLE maybe thats why i am getting pissed like "KILL HIM ALREADY LIKE WHAT?" ...Nina is good....she is proactive despite her own trauma.

im yet to meet this famous Grimmer so let's see..

same cuz they have so much more untapped potential that i would pay to see

in the end i think, i have already consumed a lot of media dealing major themes that we see in Monster and i kind of find it okay...like im watching just so i can say yeah IVE WATCHED MONSTER...i like getting into the psyche of psychos and criminals, MINDHUNTER does a great job, the killing dilemma of the good guy over the bad guy has been very cliche to me (cliche, not bad) - well, im still optimistic about Monster...hope by the next half tables turn for me or not- its a good show just not the one for me.

thanks!!

HOLY COW ?? fr ?? omg just checked it out - i was unaware of that....lol i really thought it has so much more potential as an HBO show, i kind of love the human facial expression, the acting...in this kind of dark themed shows...it just makes everything so appealing also I LOVE GUILLERMO..he is a goat i truly hope he picks it up someday...someday i wish

99% people are...its a cult classic but the cult is 99& audience..i am not like "NOT LIKING IT" it just isnt gripping me...like i get it... hes a bad guy youre doc you cant kill...idk im not connecting with characters...moreover may i need to give more time...

Yeah, that's how elements of inevitability and logic intertwine in pretty much the majority of cosmic horrors. Some otherworldly situation is bound to happen no matter what, and even if it somewhat seems to look or feel familiar (here: spirals, snails, whirlwinds; all those elements are easy to imagine and are relatively common, not that hard to be encountered in real life), it ends up as something totally uncanny, distorted, only borrowing the original grounded element to use it as a mere tool to proceed with what the cosmic horror story is about (here it is the curse of spirals).

Uzumaki is far, far less refined and detailed than H.P. Lovecraft's stories about Cthulhu. Are you familiar with them? If not, then I recommend checking them out. I think you will enjoy them, as they are more than just "shocking and bizarre stuff mixed with randomness". They also provide deep lore behind all things that are happening in them. All of them allow to be put into the boundaries of logic at first, only to become overwhelming enough to not fall under logic anymore. Everything feels natural, organic and realistic, unlike in Uzumaki's case, where many things seem to just happen and where logic is usually inapplicable if one wants to describe or explain them more than just on a surface level.

So yeah, it's only natural to apply logic even to the craziest cosmic horrors. However, as they vary in terms of refinement, some might feel more logical than the others. Uzumaki belongs to the latter group, I guess, haha. The general concept behind Uzumaki can be at fault as well, because refined or not, putting silly moments right next to unsettling ones, and coating everything in uncanny craziness doesn't have to do much with whether a story is refined or not. It's obvious that many people might end up not liking it that much, especially after hearing about how brilliant Uzumaki's story is.

Oh, about "that's hard to escape from", I meant whirlwinds. The spiral curse works differently, even if it resembles at times well-known elements.

Good point! It genuinely felt like an allegory to reincarnation, with the wheel of life turned into the wheel of spirals, repeating the cycle of the spiral curse fairly regularly.

Haha, I see we have similar experience with some popular TV series. :D I saw two episodes of Breaking Bad, but I did not like them, so I decided to pass on that show. It was unfortunate, because months before it I read an article about Breaking Bad, and its content (as presented in that article, at least) seemed to be interesting. Sadly, the show itself happened to be boring to me. I don't mind slow-burn series, but the first episodes I saw were dull enough to make me lose all my interest. Welp, I can be picky about shows, even after giving them a try. :P

As for Game of Thrones, I didn't watch it when it aired, and I don't plan to give it a try. Not my cup of tea. I mean, I enjoy good fantasy, no matter if its dark or high or both, but each person who claimed to be a huge fan with whom I talked about GoT was overly excited about its sexual scenes or depiction of violence. To each their own. It's not a problem at all for me; I'm not a prude, but I prefer when a show offers something more than that. Unless it's dedicated to such stuff, like slasher movies. If it is not, then it might feel too pretentious to my taste. ;D
My only contact with it was through memes that some of my friends or random people on the Internet used to post frequently back then, to be fair. I of course acknowledge the fact that GoT's main series represents high production quality and the whole franchise has gotten a lot of fans over the years thanks to it, but as for me, I don't feel motivated enough to watch it.

About similar anime, I mean very popular ones that are well-received (which can be seen when checking up their mean scores), I never watched Hunter x Hunter or Code Geass. I thought about starting watching Monster anime, but nah, the manga did not impress me (I dropped it at some point), and I think I wouldn't enjoy the anime adaptation.

Haha, thanks. I consider myself a huge fan of the franchise, but truth be told, there are way, way bigger fans than me in countries in which Saint Seiya is popular and stands strong as a franchise, like i.e. in South America. You can find there more merchandise that's relatively easy to buy (like, just by ordering it online or by going to the store, without having to order it in a foreign shop or something) than in countries in which Saint Seiya isn't as popular. As for my country, I think the general popularity of this series here is hmm... very low. Perhaps abysmal, even. I very rarely encounter any person from my country who has ever heard about Saint Seiya, and once in a blue moon it's a person who had any contact with it in the past. In real life, the chance to meet someone who has heard about this series is even lower. The last time I encountered someone like that was, hmm... So long ago I don't remember, lmao.

Yup, I've heard about it. I'm excited, but I still try to tone down my expectations to not be disappointed in case the sequel manga won't be the fabled Zeus Arc, but something else. ;D

Yeah, I dropped One Piece pretty early on, though I read about its lore a little, mostly to understand all those "the One Peace is real memes" and due to the fact that, well, most of One Piece fans I ever encountered were kind of toxic in how they expressed their love for the series. In example, in most of the cases during which I mentioned that I was not actively consuming any piece of One Piece media, I got flooded with random names, places, intentional spoilers, and edgy, unhinged texts about "the rite of passage in case I ever want to watch or read OP", lol. I checked some of them out of curiosity, 'cause why not, haha. My friends who are One Piece fans explained some stuff I was too lazy to check on the fandom Wiki, lol.

Going back to the backstage material, I like that kind of stuff. It expands the lore without ruining the flow of a story. Of course, it mustn't end up as a conventional substitute meant to fill all obvious gaps that could've been dealt with in a regular way (so directly in the story), no matter why they appeared. That's what I call lazy writing. Enhance the lore, elaborate on something, explain it - all's fine, as long as it doesn't dominate the main storytelling.

Anyway, I don't mind One Piece spoilers, so I read that one that you've mentioned. :) Interesting. Perhaps some inspirations or symbolism behind various things in manga are intentional, and some are unintentional, but still rooted in subconscious connotations coming from mangakas personal experience, popular culture's influence, etc.

Indeed. It's always a bummer to see a relatively good work receiving an adaptation of any kind that doesn't give enough justice to the source material.

Hmm... I'm not a huge fan of the DnD universe when it comes to video games, but I don't mind watching a solid DnD-themed or directly DnD-centered animated series. I heard a little about "The Legend of Vox Machina", but nothing more than the fact that it's an animated series with a fantasy setting (I didn't even know it was a DnD animation, haha). I almost started watching it some time ago, but I was busy back then and well, later on, I lost my motivation. ;D But I think I will give it a try one day. Preferably in the nearest future, before Castlevania: Nocturne's second season is released, hehe. Thank you for your recommendation!

Maybe they were that type of viewers who mistake faithfulness to the source material with other elements, like visuals, for example. The former was alright in my opinion, while the latter had a lot to desire in general.

I guess they were doomed no matter what. The curse in Kurouzu-cho prevented anyone from leaving the town. If someone somehow managed to get in it, like those people of various professions that arrived to the city after that disastrous typhoon hit it, then they couldn't leave. The mechanism was similar to whirlwind. You can get destroyed while trying to reach it, but if you manage to go near it as close as it is possible, then you may be "swallowed" by it inside the spiral that's hard to escape from.

Haha, true. ;D Life is unpredictible, and on top of that it has one specific point that every human is cursed to reach one day.

Now that I think about it, perhaps that was the intention behind Uzumaki? I know it's a cosmic horror, but the presence of an element describing inevitability that cannot be escaped from and that leads only to death, so spirals and the whole curse, could've been intentional; a peculiar parallel to human existence. It can really feel very uncanny for a person who, let's say, is young, full of vigor, and in good health, but despite that starts pondering on it for too long.

Yeah, I have a specific taste when picking up shows. I can also be perhaps overly harsh towards stuff I don't like, no matter if it's highly praised by the majority of people who experienced it, or not.

While I acknowledge that subjectivity is inherent in any form of critique, I strive for objectivity in my assessments. This means I might be harsher or more lenient than others, but always based on the technical aspects of the work.

For example, if I dislike something, I may focus on its flaws more than others. Conversely, if I enjoy it, I might highlight positive elements that others overlook. All within the boundaries of the technical side of things I'm talking about, of course.

Luckily, I can do this myself, but only for things that somehow grabbed my attention in a positive way. Good visuals, music, plot, likeable characters, etc. All those things, preferably combined (depending on a medium; books don't have soundtracks playing from their pages by default, lol), can make me just turn my brain off and enjoy what I'm watching or reading or whatever, as it is.

As for the live-action Saint Seiya movie, I enjoyed it for what it was. I don't feel like watching it again, but once I just focused on action and some other aspects I found interesting (i.e. Cloth designs), and tried to forget I'm watching something belonging to the Saint Seiya franchise, the movie felt fine. Nothing big, but nothing terrible either. Just fine. ;p

Yeah, Uzumaki is full of such plot elements. Or I should say "plot conveniences", not to use the word "asspulls". They are okay, even if surreal and bizarre, to the point you realize that all of them were basically "wacky and random spiral-themed stuff appearing out of nowhere".

As for giant snails, people turned into them because of the spiral curse and them moving slowly, like snails. Y'know, they walked slowly, or were thinking slowly, or were doing whatever they were doing slowly, so they turned into snails, that are also slow creatures. And have, in most of cases, a spiral-shaped shell, lol. The first individual to turn into a snail was that kid who was slow in general, exhibiting slowness and sluggishness combined, both physically and mentally (slow movements, slow thinking, etc.). The homeroom teacher perhaps was slow in some way, or perhaps the sole contact with those eggs turned him into a snail person. I also found it irrational, but in a silly way. At some point I got used to those elements when reading the manga, so I wasn't bothered by them in the anime, but I understand anime-only viewers who weren't impressed by them, but rather annoyed or confused on how that highly appraised horror story is just a bizarre shitshow at so many times.

About a reason for each character transforming in a specific spiral abberation, I think it was not completely random, but it wasn't also completely complex and refined. There were obvious cases of spiral curse affecting certain people in a certain way because of a certain reason (like the kid who turned into a snail), but I can't find or think about any explanation to any symbolism behind curly hair turning into spirals, or local thugs turning into whirlwind surfers, lol.

This whole story is basically about weird spiral-related stuff happening to everything. I guess it's all about uncanny atmosphere and cosmic horror elements I mentioned earlier implemented into it, less about the story or its characters if they are not related to the world of spirals in any way. If it's a specific type of humor, then well, it appeared in most of works created by Junji Ito that I have stumbled since picking up Uzumaki, haha.

It's certainly eerie to see the horror stories of Junji Ito, renowned for their disturbing and unsettling nature, receive less-than-stellar anime adaptations. But the reasons are more grounded and prosaic, I guess, and also mixed with bad luck to have studios or crews not delivering a top-notch show from various reasons (lack of time, small budget, too low skills... there are many possibilities).

I read Uzumaki long ago and didn't compare its manga with the anime adaptation; however, I recalled a lot of scenes when I saw it in animated format. I checked, out of curiosity, whether my feeling of familiarity was correct, and yup, it was. Those scenes really looked as if they were manga panels turned into animated format.



I don't know what people complained about either, I mean in this particular aspect. I can totally understand complaints about the overall visual quality of this anime, but in terms of faithfulness to the source material, it was good, even if it perhaps omitted some minor elements here and there to look better as an anime, so it didn't adapt absolutely everything 1:1, which is completely normal for animated adaptations of various works, not only manga. If one wants a 1:1 adaptation, then perhaps looking for a motion comic can be a better idea than watching the anime adaptation.

Even that wacky episode 2 was faithful to the manga, lol. Sure, it failed in terms of visuals and direction, but its content was faithful to the manga (albeit poorly animated and slightly chaotic at times).

Yeah, that's the main intention behind pretty much every cosmic horror story. To make people experiencing said story feel as if no matter what the characters do, they will always end up in the place, and their story won't end with a happy ending; as if everything was pointless, brutally inevitable, with a higher being, or at least way more powerful than humans power guarding that whole gloomy situation and allowing it to take place. Not everyone likes that kind of horror stories, haha. Perhaps they are not your cup of tea? I like them myself, but I see why many other people might not like them, or simply find them dull and pointless, due to this genre's core elements I mentioned before.

Have fun! I hope you will like it. I don't want to sound like someone trying to make you negative towards the manga before even starting reading it, but I need to admit I found the moments you mentioned as annoying or dumb, less annoying and dumb in the anime format. ;p

My sense of humor is specific, so what I found funny may not apply to the majority of viewers, heh. I found moderately hilarious the whole situation with Toshio, Shuuichi's dad, but the funniest bits were scenes with snail people. Like, all of them, kekw.

I have no idea how those adaptations affect him as a manga author, but yeah, I've been often hearing that the anime adaptations of Junji Ito's works are underwhelming compared to the source material and its brilliant art. For sure, anime episodes with censored gore, or having it radically toned down, take away a huge chunk of uniqueness one can find in Junji Ito's manga. But in some cases, I don't think that it's the main problem. I saw the movie adapting "Gyo" by Junji Ito. It was bizarre, and after some quick research upon finishing it, I read it omitted a lot of stuff from the manga or changed it. Was it true? I can't tell; I never read that manga. However, I also read it treated faithfully the most important themes and atmosphere, despite weird-looking CGI that felt off sometimes... So faithfulness to the source material and CGI aside, maybe the story about cyberfish mutants and humans turning into reeking, farting cyborgs, wasn't actually "peak cinema"? ;D

Yes, it's relatively short, although it's longer than many stories created by Junji Ito that I heard about in the past. Even if I didn't read them, I mostly saw compilations of one-shots instead of one series dedicated to one specific plotline. Anyway, Uzumaki manga consists of 3 volumes, 19 chapters in total. There's also one one-shot manga, Uzumaki Tokubetsu-hen: Ginga, that you can also give a try. It did not appear in the anime. That I'm sure of without double checking.

Hey, hey!

Many people say that anime adaptations of Junji Ito works are mostly bad, mediocre at best. While I'm not an expert, as I haven't read many of his stories, I kinda disagree with it. Sure, these animated adaptations often fail to capture the detailed and expressive art style of Junji Ito's manga. Lacking such visuals in a body horror story can significantly impact the overall experience. However, if we focus solely on the writing and narration, these adaptations are acceptable. Many scenes follow 1:1 the manga content, treating panels as storyboards and staying extremely faithful to them. At least I can say it after checking out random moments from that show and comparing them with the exact scenes from the manga.

Yeah, it really felt like that. To be honest, most of the stories written by Junji Ito felt like that for me. Interesting ideas, brilliant depiction of body horror, but kind of ruined many times with wacky elements ruining the mood. I don't mind hilarious additions to add more variety to the story; I also get it is a part of Junji Ito's unique style. But I don't think it works every time. And surely, for many people, those kinds of scenes can simply spoil the moment. That's why you can find people who did not become Junji Ito's fans after checking out some of his works. Enjoying the detailed art style and body horror is one thing, but the most frequent critique I've heard about Junji Ito's style were complaints about "stupid moments that felt off", "scary things interrupted by random humor", "gallows humor-tier comedy turning horror stories into dark comedy all of a sudden".

I guess for most people it's "love it or hate it" type of content. For me, like I said before, it depends on what kind of story is being told and what type of comedy we're talking about. Sometimes it can work out well; sometimes it can ruin the mood. As for Uzumaki, I enjoyed most of those silly moments, lol. I agree that at least when talking about Uzumaki, the majority of them looked and felt more like shitposts than "creepy and spooky stuff". Some of them, like the gang members surfing on whirlwinds, were kinda dumb. Like, a lot. Even if they served their role of adding more bizarreness to the whole situation that city happened to be in.

Going back to Uzumaki, in my opinion the biggest con of this adaptation was that awful quality drop in ep. 2. In terms of adapting the source material, even if my memory regarding that manga is blurry (it's been a while since I read it last time), I say it was proper. The last two episodes were better, but so what? They were still inferior to the very artsy ep. 1. Worsened art and animation, chaotic direction, awkward change of the general feeling... It's a pity, really. The worsened art, chaotic direction, and awkward tonal shifts were disappointing. Uzumaki had the potential to be truly special, but it's likely to be forgotten after this season. The quality drop, after years of anticipation for just four episodes, will be remembered for a long time.

I recommend giving the source material a try. Although I think, after reading what you didn't like about this show in particular, that your opinion about the story itself won't change much. The core is the same as it was presented in the anime, after all.

What are your thoughts so far about this show?

Your taste is horrible.

Oh, interesting. Perhaps she meant CGI KotZ's Poseidon arc? There have been various rumors floating around here and there for some time. They mentioned the potential 2D Saint Seiya anime project, one mentioned several planned projects, although no anime was announced. Not yet, at least. I had hoped for a ND anime announcement back when that manga was close to its final chapter, but now

I think the next Saint Seiya anime may be most likely CGI KotZ Poseidon-hen. But I wouldn't mind Next Dimension anime. Or even better, both shows to be announced, haha.

Agreed.

Yes, there was a post-credit scene hinting the Poseidon arc. I enjoyed Battle for Sanctuary, so I have fingers crossed to see the next arc, preferably done by the same crew or by a crew consisting of a lot of people who worked on the both parts of Battle for Sanctuary.

With each day we are closer to Vol. 16's premiere. November is so close... Extra pages would be great, but I have fingers crossed more for seeing the official announcement of the Next Dimension's sequel. xD

You're welcome! It's a really good-looking and entertaining fanmade movie.

(Sorry for a late response! I was offline for the whole last week, so I couldn't reply faster.)

Apart from having an affair a fan, he also physically abused said fan during an argument and forced her to get an abortion. You can read more here: https://www.ign.com/articles/voice-actor-toru-furuya-resigns-from-one-piece-following-affair-scandal

Yup, definitely! I already got used to his voice years ago.

No idea. I hope we will eventually receive the Next Dimension anime that would be closer to the original anime series than CGI KotZ. And I'm saying it as someone who enjoyed the latest seasons of KotZ quite a lot (I'm talking about both parts of Battle for Sanctuary).

We need to be patient, I guess. It can be extra papes for the last chapter, a spin-off, or a sequel manga. I hope it will be the sequel to Next Dimension, naturally, haha.

That live-action one? If yes, then I heard about it. Looks cool, however, I prefer animated stuff, so I'm more excited about Saint Seiya stuff that Hakuren is currently working on (Preludio de Pegaso and its spin-off Crónicas Celestes; first episode of each work can be watched on YouTube).