| What would be the best experience you had while watching an airing anime or manga? Of course I don't only mean what was "the best" anime that you watched while it was airing, but rather the overall experience (the engagement of the community, the hype for every episode, discussions with friends, etc.). My 2 personal answer would be Attack on Titan post season 3 and Jujutsu Kaisen post Shibuya (and precisely after chapter 236). I've never quite seen a single anime garner the attention and community engagement that AOT had in season 4. basically left me shivering after every episode and discussing every episode with friends about how crazy everything that was happening was is one of the best experiences I've ever had. JJK was as amazing but for different reasons. After the worst ending oat to one of the best fights ever the manga basically went to shit and spiraled into a complete mess with Gege leaving a million plot points that led to nothing, characters that were left undeveloped or unutilized and tons of worldbuilding that was never explored. But ironically enough, that was the fun part about it. Seeing JJK devolved into a mesh without sense or substance, talk about it week after week (dissecting why every chapter was shit) and watching every single funny TikTok and reel that the community was making about it is the greatest thing to happen to anime/manga ever since I started seriously watching the medium in 2020. People were genuinely losing their minds over the poor writing post-Shibuya and I loved every bit of it. |
| "Those words are meant for those that dare defy god's final warning... An epigraph of their stubbornness" - Maho Hiyajo (Steins;Gate 0)  |
| The last two episodes of Akebi's Sailor Uniform because of the visual quality, the discussion, and that I can recognize YLIA references (I would rewatch that show a few weeks later). |
| Mushoku Tensei S2P2 discussion was entertaining, especially after the episode on Father's Day. |
Lycoris Recoil summer 2022, very engaging discussions and it was an original so no "theories" from manga readers  |
| The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya came to mind first, so I'll go with that. The first season intentionally aired out of chronological order, and no one knew that was going to happen until it did, so it was like trying to put a puzzle together, and it was discussed endlessly. Where did each episode belong? What would eventually lead up to the events in the episode we just saw, and when would that episode air? What the heck was actually going on with these characters? Every new episode felt like an event. A new episode would be fansubbed, and it felt like it was all anyone was talking about, at least until the next episode came out. Just watching the series get bigger and bigger and bigger, until it dominated every corner of the community and became inescapable, was amazing (and, to this day, a little baffling). The cosplay, the dances, the theories... Even with all the big hits that have happened since I got into anime, I've never seen anything else quite like that. The second season, too. Watching people lose their minds during Endless Eight was really something. People fell into different camps. There were people trying to analyze every little thing to try to figure out what was going on. There were people who were furious with KyoAni for wasting half of the much anticipated second season on essentially the same episode. There were people who just thought the whole thing was hilarious, and thought KyoAni was impressive for really going for it and trolling the fans like that. Personally, as just a casual fan of the series, I was pretty bored with it over those 8 weeks (well, at least weeks 2-7), but just watching how the rest of the community responded to it made it all worth it. The discussions for the first two seasons of Higurashi were also a pretty fun to experience week-to-week. That would probably be my choice if not for Haruhi. |
palm-treeMar 19, 4:00 PM
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| Kanata no Astra You had to be there, you had to be there... Mod Edit: Removed language which went against forum guidelines. |
Mako995Mar 20, 9:00 AM
| Almost every episode of Demon slayer was a wonderful experience for me. I still remember the day it broke the internet when episode 19 was released. Then the movie broke all sorts of records. The manga broke multiple sales records. The later seasons again broke the internet and there was an amazing hype every season. I wasn't here at that time but Fate zero and UBW had some amazing discussions here on MAL. UBW's average interaction per episode is quite possibly the highest here. Best girl topics also had 1000s of post. Bleach TYBW was pretty hype and had a great reception when it was released. |
If you enjoyed the time you wasted, then its not a waste of time.  |
Reply to Zarutaku
Mushoku Tensei S2P2 discussion was entertaining, especially after the episode on Father's Day.
| @Zarutaku From Mushoku I would actually prefer the experience of watching S1P1 because I just think that everyone was just in awe about the animation and the worldbuilding, and the theories and discussions around Turning Point 1 were insane in its day. But S2P2 was also amazing in that regard. |
| "Those words are meant for those that dare defy god's final warning... An epigraph of their stubbornness" - Maho Hiyajo (Steins;Gate 0) |
Reply to FZREMAKE
Almost every episode of Demon slayer was a wonderful experience for me. I still remember the day it broke the internet when episode 19 was released. Then the movie broke all sorts of records. The manga broke multiple sales records. The later seasons again broke the internet and there was an amazing hype every season.
I wasn't here at that time but Fate zero and UBW had some amazing discussions here on MAL. UBW's average interaction per episode is quite possibly the highest here. Best girl topics also had 1000s of post.
Bleach TYBW was pretty hype and had a great reception when it was released.
I wasn't here at that time but Fate zero and UBW had some amazing discussions here on MAL. UBW's average interaction per episode is quite possibly the highest here. Best girl topics also had 1000s of post.
Bleach TYBW was pretty hype and had a great reception when it was released.
| @FZREMAKE I think S2 of Demon Slayer is were people lost their minds the most. Like I think people genuinely (me as well) couldn't understand how an episode (or various episodes in a row) could so godly animated. You talking about UBW and how you weren't there, and I remembered how I would have loved to be on the original discussions around Steins;Gate and Steins;Gate 0, that would have been magical. |
| "Those words are meant for those that dare defy god's final warning... An epigraph of their stubbornness" - Maho Hiyajo (Steins;Gate 0) |
| Either Aot S4 for obvious reasons or Nomad: megalo box 2, not only in anticipation of the story but also looking forward to the new tunes my ears would be blessed with. |
Reply to FurySlasher
Either Aot S4 for obvious reasons or Nomad: megalo box 2, not only in anticipation of the story but also looking forward to the new tunes my ears would be blessed with.
| @FurySlasher I heard that Megalo Box was pretty good, especially the 2nd season. |
| "Those words are meant for those that dare defy god's final warning... An epigraph of their stubbornness" - Maho Hiyajo (Steins;Gate 0) |
Reply to Corvida
Attack on titan manga is hands down the best and worst experience I have ever witness on a month to month basis.
I started reading it when it was at about chapter 120 (last is 139 iirc); so about 2 years before it ended. The hypothesis and predictions people made based on assumptions at that time, the waiting each month just to read the manga and the fact that it was near it's peak, I went crazy dude. I would roam certain communities and speak with people and draw conclusions, it was such a nice experience...
And then the last 6ish episodes came. It was absolute cancer. Each month I would pray that Isayama was plotting something crazy and each month I was dissapointed by what I was reading. Lost faith at the last 3 chapters, and when 139 arrived I just read the whole thing while laughing at the butchering made to the series.
Can't say I didn't enjoy the ride but about the ending, it was written by some room-temperature IQ andy.
I did enjoy discussing with people that liked the ending and their arguments.
I started reading it when it was at about chapter 120 (last is 139 iirc); so about 2 years before it ended. The hypothesis and predictions people made based on assumptions at that time, the waiting each month just to read the manga and the fact that it was near it's peak, I went crazy dude. I would roam certain communities and speak with people and draw conclusions, it was such a nice experience...
And then the last 6ish episodes came. It was absolute cancer. Each month I would pray that Isayama was plotting something crazy and each month I was dissapointed by what I was reading. Lost faith at the last 3 chapters, and when 139 arrived I just read the whole thing while laughing at the butchering made to the series.
Can't say I didn't enjoy the ride but about the ending, it was written by some room-temperature IQ andy.
I did enjoy discussing with people that liked the ending and their arguments.
| @Corvida I actually really liked the ending to the show. I deeply discussed the ending when it came out in the anime with a couple of friends who were watching it at the same time as me. We knew that the ending was really divisive in the manga, but frankly, all 3 of us really liked the ending and thought that it was basically the only way AOT could finish. Actually I feel like the great majority of anime only people liked or even loved AOT'S ending and it think there are a couple of reasons for this:
I personally completely understand the reasons why a lot of manga readers didn't like the ending (as the things that were changed in the anime were really meaningful and could lead to misunderstandings and even outright character assassinations) but when I saw it in the anime, completely spoiler free, I actually felt that there was no other possible ending for the show and that it was actually a very logical conclusion for the entire story and how it progressed especially in the final season. |
| "Those words are meant for those that dare defy god's final warning... An epigraph of their stubbornness" - Maho Hiyajo (Steins;Gate 0) |
| Got to be Haruhi. The combination of the extremely high quality of what it was doing, fandom coming along with the ride and responding absolutely perfectly, and the way that this was all totally unexpected with seemingly only about five people in the English-speaking world having had an idea of what might be coming. |
| Dragon Ball Super's Tournament of Power. Sorry, guys. AOT and JJK also had a lot of hype, but Dragon Ball is mainstream in a cross generational way and it felt like the entire world was watching it. |
| hype-wise, recently there was all the gear 5 vs kaido episodes in one piece and takamura vs sakamoto, nagumo, uzuki, gaku and haruma all within the span of 5 chapters in sakamoto days. aot s4 as well. chainsaw man's episode 7-9 run had even more talk than usual. jjk's final arc memes were way better than the actual manga. |
 |
Reply to Corvida
DarkFirefly72 said:
I personally completely understand the reasons why a lot of manga readers didn't like the ending (as the things that were changed in the anime were really meaningful and could lead to misunderstandings and even outright character assassinations) but when I saw it in the anime, completely spoiler free, I actually felt that there was no other possible ending for the show and that it was actually a very logical conclusion for the entire story and how it progressed especially in the final season.
I personally completely understand the reasons why a lot of manga readers didn't like the ending (as the things that were changed in the anime were really meaningful and could lead to misunderstandings and even outright character assassinations) but when I saw it in the anime, completely spoiler free, I actually felt that there was no other possible ending for the show and that it was actually a very logical conclusion for the entire story and how it progressed especially in the final season.
Well the anime did manage to address some of the most important plot holes, in that you are right; but it failed to be a saviour.
I don't really want to fully lay it out because this thread has nothing to do with this but some concerns I had at the time (at least the ones I remember now) are
I can only recall this much some years later, but there was so much more. There are many yt vids and essays that try an debunk most of the last second decisions and retcons in case you are interested.
I also remember the 139 leaks thread, particularly the
was crazy.
Good to know you liked the ending tho, a couple of my friends were anime-onlines at that time and didn't dislike the ending as much as I did so maybe it is a manga reader issue.
| @Corvida Yeah, I've basically discussed all of these points before in a lot of detail, but at the end of the day I firmly believe that it was simply an expectation/perception issue mixed with the fact that the anime quite simply presented everything in a much better way and fixed plot holes or dialogues that were a detriment to the story in the manga. For all purposes the anime fixed the entire ending, as the great majority of anime only watchers did love it and that can be seen both in the ratings the people gave to the final 2 episodes and in my personaly experiencing discussing the show with other people. It would've been great if you liked the ending as well, but that is simply a difference in opinion and as I said, it makes sense that manga readers didn't like it. |
| "Those words are meant for those that dare defy god's final warning... An epigraph of their stubbornness" - Maho Hiyajo (Steins;Gate 0) |
Reply to ryzxgum
hype-wise, recently there was all the gear 5 vs kaido episodes in one piece and takamura vs sakamoto, nagumo, uzuki, gaku and haruma all within the span of 5 chapters in sakamoto days. aot s4 as well. chainsaw man's episode 7-9 run had even more talk than usual. jjk's final arc memes were way better than the actual manga.
| @ryzxgum The entire arc 3 of Wano could be my favorite thing I've ever seen ever. The funny thing is that the first season of Chainsaw Man is by far the worst part of the manga. The movie and everything that goes after that is going to make the community explode (I think). JJK's community may be the greatest thing that I ever was a part of (with the exception of the insane amount of spoilers). |
| "Those words are meant for those that dare defy god's final warning... An epigraph of their stubbornness" - Maho Hiyajo (Steins;Gate 0) |
Reply to Neterosan
Lycoris Recoil summer 2022, very engaging discussions and it was an original so no "theories" from manga readers
| @Neterosan Being an original, that I super enjoyed made me feel I found my Puella Magi Madoka of anime and watching it while I was airing. I always felt to some extent I missed out on watching great anime originals while it was airing, so Lycoris really scratched that itch for me personally. Ending also made me passionate on how much I disliked it, until I thought about it a bit more, then appreciated greatly. I don't think there are many animes that have potential to do that to me. Another anime that was very enjoyable to watch and engage with (lurk) was Kamikatsu. Bertrand, Mitama, Roy and the great beast and all related images was funny. |
| Tbh it would probably be Pokemon XYZ for me, when Ash Greninja was first introduced, the amount of hype and shock people had when it was first revealed was insane. And then later on when we see that Another one would be MHA s2, when it felt like its popularity and hype peaked, since it was the Tournament and Stain arc back to back |
Reply to DarkFirefly72
@ryzxgum The entire arc 3 of Wano could be my favorite thing I've ever seen ever.
The funny thing is that the first season of Chainsaw Man is by far the worst part of the manga. The movie and everything that goes after that is going to make the community explode (I think).
JJK's community may be the greatest thing that I ever was a part of (with the exception of the insane amount of spoilers).
The funny thing is that the first season of Chainsaw Man is by far the worst part of the manga. The movie and everything that goes after that is going to make the community explode (I think).
JJK's community may be the greatest thing that I ever was a part of (with the exception of the insane amount of spoilers).
DarkFirefly72 said: i wouldn't say ''worst'' because the content is still solid but it's definitely the least hype parts. well, that's excluding part 2 because i think that's even less hype compared to season 1 i think. feel like most of it focuses more on character interactions compared to part 1 so i'm not sure how the community's gonna take that, if/when we get to those parts being animated.The funny thing is that the first season of Chainsaw Man is by far the worst part of the manga. The movie and everything that goes after that is going to make the community explode (I think). DarkFirefly72 said: i just decided to read the leaks as it dropped because spoilers became physically impossible to avoid after culling games lol. join em if you can't beat em.(with the exception of the insane amount of spoilers). |
|
| The recently aired remake of Spice & Wolf felt like a nice experience to me, not just because of the show itself but also because of how many people were excited by it, of how big and positive the community for this story is: I got completely caught in a good mood and started reading the novel during the same time period the show aired, also reread parts of the manga, listened on loop the OPs and EDs, changed my laptop wallpaper to one of the show... and so on :) |
Reply to ryzxgum
DarkFirefly72 said:
The funny thing is that the first season of Chainsaw Man is by far the worst part of the manga. The movie and everything that goes after that is going to make the community explode (I think).
i wouldn't say ''worst'' because the content is still solid but it's definitely the least hype parts. well, that's excluding part 2 because i think that's even less hype compared to season 1 i think. feel like most of it focuses more on character interactions compared to part 1 so i'm not sure how the community's gonna take that, if/when we get to those parts being animated.The funny thing is that the first season of Chainsaw Man is by far the worst part of the manga. The movie and everything that goes after that is going to make the community explode (I think).
DarkFirefly72 said:
(with the exception of the insane amount of spoilers).
i just decided to read the leaks as it dropped because spoilers became physically impossible to avoid after culling games lol. join em if you can't beat em.(with the exception of the insane amount of spoilers).
| @ryzxgum I was getting spoiled so much every chapter (for like 30 to 40 chapters in a row) that when for some reason I didn't get spoiled for ONE CHAPTER I was visibly laughing while reading it XD. I was so purely happy for not getting spoiled that that chapter was amazing in my eyes (ldon't even remember what chapter it was). I stopped reading part 2 for Chainsaw around chapter 167 as I decided that I'm going to wait until it is finished to be able to binge it. I felt that I was losing the thread of the story so I decided that it was better to just wait. Its not just that it is focused on character interactions, but the plot points that Fujimoto decided to tackle are pretty weird and maybe not as interesting as the ones he convered in Part 1, so I don't know how people will take that either. |
| "Those words are meant for those that dare defy god's final warning... An epigraph of their stubbornness" - Maho Hiyajo (Steins;Gate 0) |
Reply to MeguSae38
The recently aired remake of Spice & Wolf felt like a nice experience to me, not just because of the show itself but also because of how many people were excited by it, of how big and positive the community for this story is: I got completely caught in a good mood and started reading the novel during the same time period the show aired, also reread parts of the manga, listened on loop the OPs and EDs, changed my laptop wallpaper to one of the show... and so on :)
| @MeguSae38 I really want to see it because people say that it is an amazing story. It gives me Mushoku Tensei vibes. |
| "Those words are meant for those that dare defy god's final warning... An epigraph of their stubbornness" - Maho Hiyajo (Steins;Gate 0) |
Reply to DarkFirefly72
@ryzxgum I was getting spoiled so much every chapter (for like 30 to 40 chapters in a row) that when for some reason I didn't get spoiled for ONE CHAPTER I was visibly laughing while reading it XD. I was so purely happy for not getting spoiled that that chapter was amazing in my eyes (ldon't even remember what chapter it was).
I stopped reading part 2 for Chainsaw around chapter 167 as I decided that I'm going to wait until it is finished to be able to binge it. I felt that I was losing the thread of the story so I decided that it was better to just wait. Its not just that it is focused on character interactions, but the plot points that Fujimoto decided to tackle are pretty weird and maybe not as interesting as the ones he convered in Part 1, so I don't know how people will take that either.
I stopped reading part 2 for Chainsaw around chapter 167 as I decided that I'm going to wait until it is finished to be able to binge it. I felt that I was losing the thread of the story so I decided that it was better to just wait. Its not just that it is focused on character interactions, but the plot points that Fujimoto decided to tackle are pretty weird and maybe not as interesting as the ones he convered in Part 1, so I don't know how people will take that either.
| @DarkFirefly72 DarkFirefly72 said: nah i find a good chunk of it to be more interesting than part 1 and as far as weird plot points go, that's just typical fujimoto. the problem is the art decline and the slow pacing. part 1's chapters could take a while to read but part 2's chapters are very short and the slow release schedule also makes it difficult to connect chapter to chapter. i reread part 2 up till chapter 180 very recently and it was a lot more engaging binge reading it compared to bi-weekly.Its not just that it is focused on character interactions, but the plot points that Fujimoto decided to tackle are pretty weird and maybe not as interesting as the ones he convered in Part 1 |
|
Reply to DarkFirefly72
@FurySlasher I heard that Megalo Box was pretty good, especially the 2nd season.
| @DarkFirefly72 Yeah, I guess it depends on your taste but it caters to a wide audience and you don't need to be a fan of boxing to enjoy it. Both seasons have 2 of the best soundtracks in the whole of anime and it's so much more than just boxing, more so much about character development and dealing with many different personal and societal isues. S1 was great and severely underrated, but yeah s2 is on f my favourite anime seasons of all time. Definitely give it a try when you have some time. |
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