What Are You Watching?

[Foggle]

Emmy convinced me to watch King's Game with her. We marathoned the whole thing, dubbed, in three days before my work shifts.

What an absolute load of shit. The art/animation is horrible, the writing is worse, and the dub is reminiscent of 4Kids in their prime. I loved it! One of the funniest anime I've ever seen.

The backstory I read online, which was somehow too stupid even for this adaptation, is genuinely wonderful. So, basically, the King's Game is a computer virus that kills people, developed by the mother of the antagonist as an ultimate biological weapon, that the government wanted to somehow harness as a miracle cure, based on an actual physical disease, which was accidentally created in her village by the spiritual power of a tantrum she threw from not being allowed to fuck her cousin, who she eventually did end up fucking, and she got pregnant with twins, and one of them is an insane sadist, who somehow gets a redemption arc in the last 10 minutes of the show, and her other kid was the protagonist's girlfriend, but she died so he could win the previous King's Game, the purpose of which is to sacrifice people and use their corpses to magically bring said mother back to life.
Please, does anyone know of any other anime like this? Preferably with English dubs.

[Dr. Insomniac]

Ulysses: Jeanne d'Arc and the Alchemist Knight? That was a fun stupid show a couple of seasons ago.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

The first three episodes of Vinland Saga just dropped on Amazon Prime today, and they did not disappoint.

Seriously, get on that shit if you haven't already. It's already confirmed Anime of the Year, and this is the same year which gave us Mob Psycho 100's legendary second season.

[Avaitor]

I forgot to mention this, but I finished Kaiji: Ultimate Survivor a few weeks ago, and I really did love it. Haven't had that much fun with an anime in a while.

Is the second series worth watching? I've heard some not-so-great things about it, but I definitely want more of his world and story.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Not sure who told you season two isn't as good, but they're full of shit. Both seasons are pretty goddamn addicting and top-notch in quality. I absolutely recommend season two, as it actually gives the anime a decent ending point instead of just leaving things off on a cliffhanger. And of course there's always the manga if you want to experience the story beyond that point.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Kimetsu no Yaiba season one ended, and whereas most successful season runs would announce a second season, here we get an announcement of a full-blown movie adaptation of the Infinite Train arc. I was already looking forward to it since it's my second favorite arc from the manga (so far), but to see them adapt it in the most glorious fashion possible has me hyped beyond words.

[Dr. Insomniac]

I've watched a handful of KnY episodes, and I've been wondering, is Muzan supposed to be an interesting villain? Because from what I've read and seen, the only interesting part is that he looks like Michael Jackson. I see people comparing him to guys like Meruem, and I don't follow.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Muzan himself has been mostly shrouded in mystery throughout most of the series up to now. There are more interesting details about him that come to light as the series progresses, but I myself wouldn't say that he's one of KnY's strongest aspects, and wouldn't base the value of the series' quality on his status as main bad guy. Whoever you've seen touting that are the same types of people in every fandom who seem to believe everything about their series is the best. Really, his unusual introduction and status of living as a family man among humans, as well as a few spoiler-heavy stuff from the manga are what sets him apart from standard big bad guys at this point in the current story.

I would however like to point out that KnY has great villains, but the focus is on the minions as opposed to the final boss. It's sort of like reverse JoJo's. Whereas in that series you are left anticipating your next encounter with DIO or Kira in that kind of series, KnY is more about the villain of the week themselves. These are more traditional interpretations of Oni than in various other manga, and thus are portrayed as tragic figures more than straight-up villains. The fans who focus on Muzan are, to me, kind of missing the point. As main antagonist he's more of a representation of succumbing to hatred, bitterness, and temptation than anything else, whereas the various Oni who do his bidding get the real meat of actual characterization. To me it works because it ties into the manga/anime's overall thematic undertones. Likewise, Tanjiro's interaction with other Oni as opposed to most Demon Slayers is also a reflection of his unique standing with them. He has to believe that there is humanity still there otherwise how could his sister Nezuko have any hope? To me, this is what makes KnY interesting, as opposed to Muzan himself, who to me has so far been more of a means to make the story happen. That said, I wouldn't rule out having him become more fleshed out as the story continues to progress.

Anyways, Gaijin Goomba has a really good video on the subject that explains this standpoint better than I could.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

So the Blade of the Immortal premiere was actually good. Can I finally wash the taste of the previous shitty anime adaptation out of my mouth?

That said, being a Prime exclusive and one barely advertised at that, I feel like this one is likely going to slip under the radar for a lot of people.

[Mustang]

Saw the 1st three episodes of Demon Slayer. It's caught my interest, but I did catch myself a couple of times ready to write off Tanjuro(?), but episode 2 ended up addressing my problem with his indecisiveness (another troupe I can deal without). In any case, I like what I've seen so far and because I love all things samurai / ninja is a little added bonus.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

If you love all things Samurai and Ninja, add Blade of the Immortal to your watchlist. It's currently airing but is an Amazon Prime exclusive which is why it hasn't gotten much attention from the anime community. It's fucking great, though, and having read the manga I know how much better the story gets. It's also hyper-violent and has the kind of main character I feel would be up your alley.

Demon Slayer is pretty great, though. I'm one of those guys who never had a problem with battle shonen as a genre as long as it's well-written and interestingly executed, and to me KnY is one of the best current examples of that. However, the best material of the manga hasn't even been covered yet, which means the movie and upcoming second season should be even better than what's already there. And I quite like Tanjiro as a protagonist. To me he manages to be a refreshing change of pace from the loudmouth, hot-headed main character archetype in something like Naruto or Black Clover. There's also a fair amount more nuance to his more calm demeanor that separates him from other such characters over time as the story progresses.

[Avaitor]

I've had a lot more free time lately, as I'm still job hunting while I have less hours at my current place, and I've taken the chance to watch Texhnolyze. I think it's a pretty good show overall, more or less worth the hype. It's a little bleak, but not too much so that it fails to keep my attention. My main complaint is how dark it is- literally. I sometimes struggle to see what's going on in the screen of the prints I've found. But it's generally a solid story.

[Mustang]

Bouncing between Yu Yu Hakusho (one of the GOATS and it's been a while. Not to mention it reminds me why Hiei is just that dude), One Piece and Demon Slayer. I'm still not sure how I feel about Tanjuro as a main character, especially with this past episode on Adult Swim, but everything else I like.

[Avaitor]

I thought this was the best episode so far, but it's still not THE show for me yet. What I'm liking most about KnY is Tanjiro's balance between empathy for the demons, and his understanding his obligation to eradicate them. It's making him a little more interesting than some other shonen protagonists thus far, but otherwise it's still a little overhyped to me. At least opposed to something like MHA, which I fell for pretty instantly.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Which episode did Toonami just air? I haven't been following the dub.

As for me, I personally love the old-school vibe of this series as well as the main cast of characters. Tanjirou is easily my favorite Shonen Jump protagonist out of any of the currently running series.

That said, my favorite material comes from after where season one leaves off, but I'd say that the final two arcs of this season (from back when I read them in the manga) is where the series really took a jump up in quality for me.