so, remember in my last monthly review when i complained about how hard it felt to get through anime? that was only significantly worse this month.
i need to complain a little bit. i feel like i have been on a downward spiral, watching stuff that is significantly worse than what i have in prior years, and the stats absolutely reflect this.
i'm getting really tired of this. it feels like everything i watch lately fails to reach the heights of stuff i watched last year, and certainly in my first two years. other than Uchuu Kaizoku Captain Harlock, which will likely be my anime of the year, barely anything has even scratched the 9/10 range this year. it's fucking bleak out here.
on top of that, i feel like i barely read manga. MONSTER is once again gonna get a 10/10, probably, but again, other than that, it's like almost nothing hits. thankfully i've found a refuge in the realm of chinese web novels (Guimi Zhi Zhu), but i miss when it felt exciting to start a new anime or manga. there's now dread attached to it.
alright let's just talk about the damn anime this month.
anime of the month
this month featured some great stuff, like Yojouhan Shinwa Taikei, some disappointments, like Z.O.E Dolores,i, and some straight up garbage, like Kibou no Chikara: Otona Precure '23. however, i must confess that this month was rigged, since this month's winner's source manga is one of my all-time favorites...
TRIGUN is like having concentrated awesome injected directly into your bloodstream. is it a perfect adaptation? no, absolutely not, but i love that it does its own thing. i am generally a fan of anime adaptations that are not faithful to the manga, because if i wanted to experience that, i would just read the manga.
the first 16 or so episodes adapt the first manga pretty faithfully. when i noticed that was the case, i was actually a bit worried since i'm not a huge fan of the first manga, as i believe that Trigun Maximum is much better. however, the extra time that the anime gives to each manga chapter, blending the high-paced goofiness of the original with somber and thoughtful moments without warning.
the last 10 or so episodes "adapt" Maximum. they diverge almost immediately, and i'm kind of glad that they do since what we got is so different. once they no longer had source material to work with, MADHOUSE seems to have run wild with imagination. a certain character's death is so much more impactful here, which is kind of insane because that death was probably the first time i ever cried at a manga when i read it three years ago. the moral conversation is advanced completely differently in a way i appreciate. the final episode is a spectacle, as it should be.
i won't say that i prefer the anime to the manga, but i'm really glad it exists. i want to reread the manga soon. i also watched TRIGUN STAMPEDE recently, but that will likely not be winning anime of the month for december due to its dialogue, tone, and thematic development being a far cry from either the original anime or manga. i'm looking forward to STARGAZE though.
manga of the month
i prefer not to highlight things if they don't really impress me in some way, so i'm again not going to bother here. i'll pick my best one in a week or so for the best of the year. it's probably not close, though...
video game of the month
arc raiders is funfinal thoughts
i really thought i was going to finish Saint Seiya in NOVEMBER... fucking dumbass. i'm halfway through december and i'm STILL not done. close, though.
i'm gonna write the next article AT SOME POINT. -lego jujutsu kaisen