Another month gone, another month older, another month at work.
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I've been reading Great Teacher Onizuka and so far it's almost exactly 1:1 like the anime... which means, the horribly aged ableism is about to hit, beyond all the other problematic stuff. Beyond that, it remains as fun as I remember. It's neat. B+
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Gundam SEED has managed to make it across its entire 50 episode run without making me too annoyed or in amused disbelief over the nonsense happening on the screen. Really, it's... alright. I wish Kira and Lacus were less wooden characters. Athrun and Cagalli were significantly more interesting and 500x more likeable than Ange and Tusk in the trainwreck of a show named Cross Ange, who used them as a ~~self-plagiarism~~ source of inspiration B-
SEED Destiny too... has been pretty alright so far. However, I do like Shinn's character. That man has definitely every reason to be as angry as he is... but I am fairly confident the show won't do too much with that. Speaking of Cagalli, wow, that is a massive downgrade in character writing compared to S1. Supposedly, there's IRL drama that caused that! C+
CITY is Nichijou 2, not much else to say about it. It doesn't quite live up to the predecessor, and with the shorter show run it probably never will, but it is undeniably still a good show. A
Dragon Ball Z - almost done with the Freeza fight. That was... pretty long. But consistently good, even though some previously impactful stuff, like people dying, is not much of a big deal now. A
Ranma 1/2 is also consistently entertaining. Not much else to say about it at this point. A
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I knew Gravity Falls was always a highly regarded show... but I did not expect it to be this good. There's an iconic cast of characters, compelling storytelling... it's just very very competent at what it sets out to do. A+
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A challenging Super Robot Wars game in the year of our Lord 2025? One that has, so far, good writing? One that is available in a language I speak? Y is shockingly good. I've been on a binge this weekend. A+
I will use the template in the OP.
Manga
I read My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness, and while I don't really like biographical and auto-biographical works this one was good and very relatable, since it deals with issues such as unemployment, eating disorders, depression, neurodivergance etc. 8/10
Anime
I watched the OVA/movie Patlabor canon (excluding the 2002 movie which wasn't directed by Mamoru Oshii). The OVA was cute and fun, the first movie bored me to tears with a non-existent antagonist with inexplicable motivations, and while the second movie was good, the political themes don't register as something that interesting when you have been a communist for years. I took an interest in this series because I heard that the creators were leftists, but I get the impression that they were closer to being radlibs with incoherent beliefs about the police, military etc. I want to watch the TV series eventually, it seems like it is closer to the OVA in tone. 7.4/10
Visual Novels
I read Saya no Uta. It's absolutely a pedo fanservice game, but it is very well written, creative and disturbing in a very good way, I just wish the pedo elements didn't exist so that I could be able to recommend it to more people, I haven't seen the alienation from the mentally well people in my lives that I feel due to suffering in ways they don't, as well as the dissociation from society once some truths are realized (communism, anti-imperialism, veganism etc) depicted this well in any other media. 8.6/10
Tokusatsu
I watched Kamen Rider Ryuki. The series has an interesting plot, good action, comedy and characters and is good until the ending which I didn't like at all due to it invalidating what came before it. However, it felt great to watch something this influential, given that its DNA is in Madoka (as admitted by Gen Urobutchi himself), and it possibly influenced Fate and many other Death Game series as well. 8.2/10
Yup, Oshii has gone right wing in recent years too, or so I heard. The TV series is an excellent ensemble cast workplace comedy though. I highly recommend it. Also You're Under Arrest, which is very similar even in concept.