hey lego jujutsu kaisen nation! it's been about a month since the last post which means it's time to talk about what i liked most from april. as a cultured individual, i managed to somehow read a fair amount of manga in addition to anime (though i think some of that ended up being in may :/ ). i still really have no idea what to talk about other than this but i'll try to remember i have a blog this month maybe.
anime of the month
in contrast to march, april was really strong. i finally finished Yuu☆Yuu☆Hakusho after about two and a half months, which was pretty solid with some flaws. early in the month, i also binged the everloving fuck out of Higurashi no Naku Koro ni and its sequel season Higurashi no Naku Koro ni Kai. some other highlights were finishing my rewatch of Hagane no Renkinjutsushi: FULLMETAL ALCHEMIST and watching Mononoke-hime for the first time (the latter of which was incomprehensively beautiful). however, despite having watched all of those great things this april, i have to give the anime of the month award to Kill la Kill.
it is hard to put into words how long Kill la Kill has been on my radar. it is likely the first anime other than Pokémon that i was aware of (though that position may actually belong to Steins;Gate). i've known about it since i was in middle school. no spoilers about the age of lego jujutsu kaisen, but that was a long time ago. i don't know why it took me so long to watch it, but i absolutely was not disappointed.
this was far from the first work i've seen by director Imaishi Hiroyuki, but it absolutely lives up to his legacy. parodying not only common mahou shoujo tropes but also his own Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and of course, Shin Seiki Evangelion, Kill la Kill manages to have a wildly fun time and retain a strong identity of its own. it's no secret that i am extremely of parodies and satire (seeing as Kage no Jitsuryokusha ni Naritakute! is one of my favorite anime of all time), so this appeals to my interests very well. i think some stupid people might be turned off (or on?) by the show's liberal use of ecchi, but if you're not a freak it's a very important part of the experience (and of course, comments on these freaks).
to wrap this up, i'll just say that in addition to what i've already mentioned, the artstyle and animation are both incredible as expected from TRIGGER. it had been some time since i watched something that broke the 8/10 barrier (getting an 8.5/10), so that was nice too.
manga of the month
i was extremely close to having to put Tokyo Ghoul:re as my manga of the month, but i luckily was really on a reading kick when i finished that and started Jeonjijeok Dokja Sijeom, also known as Omniscient Reader. though it's still ongoing, i'm gonna talk about it because it is really good.
this is the second manhwa i've read now after Sinui Tap (Tower of God) and i've really begun to appreciate the medium. i'm a fan of the long, vertical-scrolling format, and i'm especially a fan of the full color since i have a lot of difficulty telling characters apart and following action scenes in manga due to the lack of color. this is also the first time i've read a manhwa that was adapted from a web novel, and i think there are elements of that that i prefer to original works like Tower of God, especially the consistency in chapter length and pacing. it is of course important that this is a good adaptation, since i imagine a bad one would not be very fun to read.
Omniscient Reader is quite possibly the most brilliant meta work i've ever seen. its power system is derived from the power of stories themselves and the plot is a beautiful melting pot of stories either drawing inspiration from or directly quoting history, mythology, and other influential works of fiction. it's a work obsessed with humans and their culture and is an awesome twist on the typical cultivation story (even if it does lack that tag on AniList for whatever reason. it absolutely is).
i hate reading anything ongoing viscerally, but i'm going to do my best to actually read this weekly. the chapters are long enough in comparison to most manga that it feels like getting a full "episode" worth of content.
final thoughts
aside from anime and manga, i also watched The Grand Budapest Hotel. it was a good watch, but i don't really have enough to say on it to highlight it here since any in-depth critique of it requires more of a background in film and cinematography than i have. maybe my ~one reader should talk about it.
i can already tell that may is shaping up to have some great stuff. i'm going to try to actually do this review at the beginning of june instead of a week in, but those who know understand why this month's was delayed.
it's always nice for a little bit of a lego jujutsu kaisen monthly review, but that time has unfortunately come to an end now. i look forward to what the rest of this month will bring me, and maybe i'll talk about something else this time too. -lego jujutsu kaisen