The Anime/Manga/Related Merchandise Thread

Fair's fair, that's not huge amounts. Although Dragonball on its own might be longer than anything I've seen start to finish.

Frieren and the mimic.

I haven't watched all of it, though, I mostly read the manga. And I read the whole thing start to finish in like three days because a hostel I was staying at in Kyoto, while I was bouncing between places to stay and ostensibly searching for a job, happened to have the full set in English.

Speaking of Dragon Ball, I was really sad to hear that Akira Toriyama has passed away. His impact on the world of manga and anime - hell, on pop culture in general - is undeniable and he'll be sorely missed.

I saw this advert for Dragon Ball Z Kakarot and found myself getting a bit emotional watching it. Dragon Ball was a big part of my childhood and early teens and I still enjoy watching clips from it today.

I live in Japan and I'm with a Mexican, so Toriyama's passing has been everywhere. Its been touching seeing the tributes and messages from such a range of folks.

I've kept quiet about Toriyama, but that's just because I don't have much to say.  I didn't watch Dragon Ball or Z at a formative age unlike many, and I've never really got into Dragon Quest.  I think we can all agree that 68 is no age, but it wouldn't surprise me if mangaka didn't live as long on average sadly.

As well as being gutted about this season of Frieren drawing to a close, I've been getting thoroughly into The Apothecary Diaries.  A girl in not!Tang Dynasty China gets pressed into service to the emperor's court of concubines, but said girl is:
- utterly unfazed
- a poison junkie and sake fiend
- completely immune to the charms of the "head eunuch"
- just great fun.
If the premise is uninspiring, the execution is just top-notch.  Maomao is easily among my all-time favourite anime main characters.  (Frieren might have a shot for that as well actually.)

Never played Chrono Trigger, Balla? He was responsible for the designs in that.

I found myself going through a big collection of Toriyama's vehicle designs recently - I adore how he draws machines, they look amazing.



I've heard good things about The Apothecary Diaries. If there's not much coming out in the next season of anime, I might give that a go.

I recently had Solo Levelling playing in the background as I was working this past week as it was getting a good bit of buzz around it. Besides some flashy animation, I don't really see the appeal. It's your usual edgy power fantasy "I have a unique skill which makes me the strongest" show with those tired "it's real life, but also a GAME" elements that were tired 12 years ago after Sword Art Online. Don't bother!

I did play Chrono Trigger yes, but the lads and lasses spend most of their time as SNES sprites. I don't think of it as a huge Toriyama showcase. (Also - whisper it - I didn't like CT that much. I did kind of ruin it for myself though.) That's a nice little flying car though. I think I prefer Toriyama's machines to his people.

I was eyeing up Solo Levelling, so I'm glad to have this assessment. If you don't like an edgy show that means it must be bad.