Seen at Bergen Flesland Airport

The Democratic Party will run the true bipartisan ticket:

George W. Bush / Liz Cheney

Bush and Trump will both be only 82 years old.

I'm still ridin' with Biden for 2028 though, can't convince me otherwise. I'll mail five write-in ballots from Germany this time.

The anime is Genshiken (2004), I picked it up on a whim. It's alright so far. Very "by weebs, for weebs". The manga is from 2002.

The 80s and 90s being a pass of the baton from veterans of the early days to more modern staff, which already grew up with anime, and the success of Evangelion and merchandising had some awful long-term consequences even if it was probably unavoidable under capitalism.

I was toying with the idea of visiting the US either next year or 2026, and not only is the northeast the cheapest destination to fly to, but to my limited knowledge offers the most things to see. (unless you can persuade me in favor of, idk, the midwest, the south, whatever)

What I was thinking of visiting:

The Empire's HQ (D.C.) - obvious choice. Imperial architecture, containing probably one of the most famous museum complexes in the world.

Annapolis, Maryland - looks like a quaint seaside town (or maybe Baltimore, MD, with its antique ships in the harbor. Though I hear it's a bit rough)

Harper's Ferry, West Virginia - John Brown! Plus, it's in West Virginia - an excuse to cross one more border.

Philadelphia and Boston have old colonizer architecture and legacy stuff... but to my understanding, basically nothing is left. No idea if there's anything on indigenous culture in that part of the country.

New York City - One of the cities, for good or ill.

I'm definitely also going to New Haven, CT. I have no idea what's there, but I have something to prove to a comrade (or get owned)

Also I'll probably have around a week, and I should have my license by then, so was thinking of renting a car. Seemingly, the car brain is strong enough that rental fees are surprisingly low.

I now have a full time job plus a long commute, which means... more time for reading manga while half-asleep? Huh?

Anyway the last thread of this kind was in July, and since then an anime season has finished, so might as well do it again.

For me:

Manga:

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (2005): Parallel to watching the excellent adaptation, I have picked up the manga and, much like Kaiji, finished it in a concerningly short time. Koji Kumeta has a bone to pick with the world... with everything in the world. What arises is a very entertaining ruthless critique. I'm fairly sure he's either still a leftist, or used to be one and got disappointed. However, he is also nationalistic. A political mess, mostly agreeable, sometimes dropping horrible takes - but a fantastic manga which never loses its bite no matter how many chapters you are into it. It's also less horny than the Shaft adaptation. A+

√Paradise (1991): Being curious about Kumeta's early work, I read this short manga of his, which is basically the Yakuza games' cabaret club side-plot in manga form. Not too interesting, but a decent enough read. B-

Ijiranaide, Nagatoro-san (2017): Nagatoro is a decent romance manga with a pretty bad beginning. It ended a few months ago, but I have caught up only recently. Not much else to say, really. B

Shiroyama to Mita-san (2021): Nice comedic romance/slice of life manga about two (mostly) uncool people. Fun, but have not finished it yet. B+

Anime:

Aa-Megami Sama (2005): I had read a large chunk of the manga before, and it's just as fun as I remembered it being. The romance stuff isn't too strong, but the hijinks are fun. The source material being from the 80s means that many of the usual tropes didn't exist yet... or were being invented. A-

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003): Almost done with this show, it's been really good overall. Strong characters and storytelling, and the anime original plot... I can clearly see why it's controversial, but I like it. Good show. A

Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines! (2024): The only seasonal I didn't drop. Story-wise very conventional, but the character writing was good. Anna Yanami in particular, being one of the strongest female leads in recent anime history. It had a few tone-unfitting scenes that felt tacked on for the horny audience, but overall decent show. B

Western Animation

The Owl House (2020): Very fun show, with some blatant inspiration from many recognizable source materials, western and Japanese. King is a king. A

(Season 2, Episode 12)

The last post of this kind was two months ago, so it was time for a refresher of the de-facto recommendation thread of the weeb channel of Hexbear.

Personally, work has greatly diminished my free time and makes me tired all the time, but there's still something to squeeze in.

For me:

Manga:

Oresama Teacher (2007-2020, 176 Chapters) - I have already praised this series last time around and am still reading it. Much like in Nozaki-Kun, where this manga really shines are the characters. Kurosaki Mafuyu might be one of my all-time favorite characters in manga. Someone who is an utter fool, but written in a realistic and endearing way, in spite of the ridiculous plot. A+

Anime:

Dragon Ball (1986-1989, 153 Episodes) - Dragon Ball is a show that rightfully deserves its reputation, as it is extremely solid once it figures itself out. Gone is the horniness of early episodes, the show reached a very high peak in the Piccolo Daimao arc and has kept it up ever since. I am like 10 episodes away from finishing it, but there is one worry. The power scaling, well... it's not exactly balanced. It makes early arcs feel puny in comparison. Also give us Pilaf back smh. A

Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei Season 2 (2008, 13 Episodes) - This show continues with its ruthless social criticism (both good and fascinatingly bad) from Season 1, but it goes hard in an abstract direction that is masterfully adapted by Shaft's arthouse-like style. It is also unfortunately pretty horny, like many other Shaft anime... and very entertaining. A+

Descending Stories: Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (2017, 12 Episodes) - This show really is as good as the ratings suggest. It's very un-anime in the sense that it is a serious drama with character-driven storytelling and almost 0 of the usual tropes of the medium. The characters are so good that you WILL get hooked if you watch enough. A+

Fullmetal Alchemist (2003, 51 Episodes) - Now solidly into anime original territory, I have to say this is a really good show, even though the main villains' plans have to fully unravel yet. The atmosphere is on point, and the older early-digital color palette makes it look better than FMAB imo. I will have to check out the manga after finishing the show, since I am curious how the story is there - I dropped FMAB early on, since it didn't hook me at first but '03 did the trick. A

Re:Creators (2017, 22 Episodes) - I started this today thanks to the Mother's Basement video on his favorite Isekai, and I have to say that even if the story ends up really bland, the premise alone is enough to make this show interesting. I think it could have worked better with only one character, but oh well. Too early to tell, but B+

I need to get back to Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction (2024), since I watched a couple of episodes and was intrigued, but then didn't find the time to watch more. ...and get back to reading Capital, of course.

I was boredly looking around YouTube on this Sunday morning and in the mood to watch some bozo talk about anime, maybe get some insights, discover some obscure hidden gem and the like.

However, I found it surprisingly hard to find quality in that scene, beyond niche video-makers like Kenny Lauerdale. Thus I was wondering if you have any recommendations of some people you like making videos about anime.