Not sure if Verb will appriciate the fan service in some sections

I was impressed with the lack of fanservice until the 3 main girls did what was basically a strip tease out of nowhere.

The last few entries dropped the mean of my score down to 3.2 even, so we're back on track.

A few things MAL is recommending to me:

Your Lie in April - I don't know what this is, but it's ranked #22 right now, and it's made by A-1 Pictures (the fucking SAO and Eromanga Sensei people), so I honestly have no fucking idea why they're trying to recommend me this. It doesn't even look like something I'd be remotely into, but I guess I'll have to try it at some point.

Hajime no Ippo - That one boxing anime that everyone seems to like. I think it looks kinda stupid myself, but maybe I'll be surprised. Maybe. Madhouse tends to be hit-or-miss, but that's already miles better than most studios.

Mushishi - I was watching a Digibro video where he's talking about what the most boring 3x3 looks like, where you're just adding shows that everyone respects in order to get people to think you're super cultured and intelligent, and according to him, this is one of the shows. Hmmmm.

Monster - The only thing I know about this show is that Cat told Flee to watch it once, so I looked up a few clips on YouTube of it. It looked kinda weird, but not weird enough for me to go out of my way to watch the whole thing.

Haikyu!! - Why am I being recommended a sports anime? Literally two of my least favorite things in the world.

The Tatami Galaxy - Masaaki Yuasa (Devilman: Crybaby guy) directed this show, so I might actually have to check it out.

ERASED - More from A-1 Pictures. Looks retarded.

Hotarubi no Mori e - No clue what this is. Haven't heard anyone talk about it. I like the poster, I guess, and it's the same studio that made Baccano! (which wasn't terrible) and Durarara! (which I haven't seen but apparently is good).

Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day - Is MAL paid by A-1 Pictures, or some shit? Why are they shilling so hard for them?

Food Wars!: Shokugeki no Soma - This looks stupid too, and doesn't really seem to pertain to my interests at all. What I'm gathering is that I shoudn't take MAL's recommendations too seriously.

I suppose of these, I'll prioritize Tatami Galaxy.

Is there an anime you think wouldn't be better told in some other medium? That is, were any of them enjoyable because they're anime instead of merely enjoyable despite being anime?

that's a very good question

i think, of my top four favorites, grave of the fireflies is probably the only thing that i enjoyed where the fact that it was an anime did not inhibit or deter the experience of watching it in any way for me whatsoever

i talk a lot about searching for shows that "transcend" the medium, and when i say that, the implication is that anime tends to consign itself to a lot of tropes that i find irredeemably shitty, and unless some very specific buttons are pressed in very specific ways, it's going to be very difficult for me to be able to look past them

but that's just me stereotyping

i would never say that anime doesn't have the potential to be a fucking amazing art form; it just isn't to me right now, because in terms of the garbage-to-worth-watching ratio, i've NEVER had to climb a higher mountain of shit, or swim through a vaster ocean of piss, to find just one fucking diamond in the rough, which makes it difficult for me not to make unfair blanket statements

it's easy to find new music to listen to
it's easy to find good movies to watch
it's easy to find a book worth reading

yet i've seen more shiny pokémon than i've seen good anime THINK ABOUT THAT

that said, i think with devilman and golden boy, i'm only able to enjoy them despite being anime, where as i'm watching them, i'm having to overlook a lot of stuff that i viscerally dislike about the medium in order to enjoy myself

the first time i watched devilman, my brain broke, because i wasn't sure if it was the worst anime i've ever seen, or the best (on top of having the most emotionally taxing climax ever)

then again, between those two, devilman (which may or may not be my current top favorite, i'm not sure) is probably the easier of the two for me to enjoy, because even though there's a couple beats and tropes here and there that i can't help but roll my eyes at, the show presents itself in such a way that just tickles the sweet spot in my brain that says "okay, this is an anime, and it's actually pretty cool"

but with something like grave of the fireflies, the fact that it's an anime is integral to its presentation, because it's a story taking place during the bombing of hiroshima and nagasaki, and in my opinion, there's honestly no better medium than anime to tell that kind of story

pop team epic is funny

i don't want to rate things that are still airing though

Who even are you?

i read that as "kefla"

suddenly the whole "with this power, i could destroy a whole universe" line started to make sense

so i watched fucking texhnolyze or whtever

congratulations to markham for being the first person to ever recommend me an anime that i thoroughly enjoyed

thoughts later

what

i like anti-humor and robot chicken-y type stuff

so at what point do you have to admit to liking anime

cuz you now like more than i do

as popular as this show seems to be, i would like to know why nobody has ever told me about rurouni kenshin

because it kinda meets all of my criteria

i'm not necessarily loving the show or anything, but i can't help but feel extremely bitter whenever i come across a popular, well-respected show that could easily have been recommended to me YEARS ago, only for that to never happen

Hmm? I thought it was recommended to you already. Thats weird