Ramblings about Manga, Magical Love, and Crazy Akashi

Wow. It's Friday night again already? I know I don't have time for Rewind posts anymore, but I'm just not ready to let go. So I won't. Instead, let's talk... manga.

I don't read manga very often, because it's not easy to get ahold of freely and legally. But Crunchyroll recently made their manga collection accessible to all premium members, including us just-anime members. Previously, most of the manga was only available for the all-access folk. So I downloaded the app on my phone and browsed the inventory.

I'm now on the 15th chapter of Kiss Him, Not Me. I probably should be embarrassed admitting that, but it makes me laugh... a lot. At first, half the reason I laughed was its cheesier elements. I mean, it's a reverse harem manga, and that genre is hit-and-miss, but often miss. Plus, the main character, Serinuma, lost a lot of weight within a week while she mourned the death of her favorite anime character. There was never a chance I'd take this seriously... which is partly why I'm reading it.

The heroine is a fujoshi who has four guys (and, it appears, one girl?!) fall in love with her. She fantasizes a lot about BL, something I usually avoid, but oh well. I identify with the rest of her otaku habits to at least some extent. And some of the guys are really cool. They don't just tolerate her otakudom—they start to learn more about the anime and manga she likes. One of them has been particularly great in recent chapters, borrowing manga after manga. Dream guy, right there. He's won me over. I still wouldn't call this an amazing manga, but I don't think I'll drop it anytime soon.

Eventually, I'd like to read Attack on Titan and Space Brothers, as well as some of the other serious and decent-looking manga available on Crunchyroll. But for now, I need humor. I have a lot on my plate, so I favor lighthearted anime and manga.

Speaking of lighthearted, cheesy anime... I decided to keep watching Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE!. It's still fun. Some of its elements imply inappropriate humor, though. Like a lot of magical characters, the Defense Club boys use English words to describe their magical deeds. I'm 99.99% sure that the resulting puns are intentional and understood by most Japanese fans. For example, when the boys transform into their magical selves, Yumoto yells "Love Making!" —meaning, of course, that they're made into Magical Boys who defeat evil with the power of Love. Perfectly innocent love. Yeah. And I'm pretty sure that when the innocent, childish Yumoto cuddles Wombat (the alien who gave them their powers), it's supposed to look a bit like molestation—especially in episode 6. That, I'm not okay with. But obviously I'm not bothered enough to quit watching.

What else is going on in my anime world... Last Saturday, when I deluded myself into believing I didn't need to do homework, I watched several shows, both anime and not. Kuroko's Basketball continues to enthrall me. I know the new episode comes out in less than twelve hours, but let's return to episode 6 for a minute to talk about Akashi.

Dude, you are not God. You're rich and talented, and you're doing a fine job of subjugating some of the greatest young basketball players in Japan, but you are not absolute. And I think Kuroko and Kagami will prove it to you. Somehow. Within the next 16 episodes, anime logic will humble you... I hope.

Also, you should never promise to gouge your eyeballs out if you lose. What if something unexpected happened, like half your teammates twisted their ankles and had to be taken out? Or all of your opponents got into The Zone? Besides, that's just a nasty image. So chill, your majesty. You can inspire your subjects without getting gory.

I like to imagine meeting Akashi in real life. He'd be a short sixteen-year-old... though he might just appear short compared to his teammates, it which he could be my height (about average for a woman). He has muscles, but he's still not a grown man. He'd look rather ridiculous in his pink hair, trying to bend me and my friends to his will. I might offer him a cookie, and if he stuck around, my big-sister-urges might eventually take over, and I'd start to meddle about how he treats Midorima and the rest.

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Aaaannnd I rambled too long. I should have stopped after talking manga. I'd best scramble to do something responsible before bed.

Anyway, do you read manga on Crunchyroll? Are there any titles on there you recommend?

Also, if you watch Kurobas, do you have any thoughts now that we've finally watched Akashi play a game?

Anime-Planet Just Got Even Better

I know it's Rewind day, but I'm putting that post on hold in order to make a special announcement. I'm a little late on the ball, so many of you already know this: Anime-Planet now streams full episodes of anime thanks to a partnership with Crunchyroll.

I'm watching Naruto Shippuden on Anime-Planet. I never
thought this day would come, but it has.

Just in case you aren't aware, Anime-Planet is one of my favorite websites. I talk about it so much, it has its own tag here on my blog. It's a great way to keep track of what I watch and to get and give recommendations. But it's more than a tool; it's a community, and a very important part of my online history.

I don't hang out in the forums there anymore; I got busy with real life and elsewhere on the web. I also got bashful about returning after leaving so suddenly. Still, if it weren't for Anime-Planet, this blog wouldn't be what it is today. That website introduced me to online community. Just like a physical place, that website has become a part of who I am, a source of nostalgia, warm fuzzy feelings, and an occasional wince when I remember awkward moments.

That's why I try to make recommendations at least on occasion, and why I rely heavily on ratings, recs, reviews, and blogs by Anime-Planet users when I'm considering an anime. It's why I follow Anime-Planet on Facebook and Twitter, and why I'm excited to give what help I can to promote the new feature.

The full press release is on Anime-Planet, with follow up from the overlord, Sothis, so I'll just comment on a few things.

On the Feature Itself

I like that I only need to go to one website for most of my anime needs. When I go to Crunchyroll, I usually have Anime-Planet open at the same time, anyway. I also like that as soon as I watch the latest Daiya no Ace or Tonari no Seki-Kun, my list will update. I've often wanted to update my anime list, only to find that Anime-Planet hadn't registered the latest episode count. This should help with that.

There is one hiccup I've found, though. The video on Anime-Planet doesn't have the same options listed for quality. That doesn't matter if you're not a Crunchyroll premium member or have consistently good internet speed. I do have an anime membership, and I get 1080p streaming automatically. My internet can't always support that quality, especially when there are other people at home using the network. If I want a smooth viewing experience, I often have to go down to 480p. I can't make that change when watching on Anime-Planet, so I won't get to make full use of this feature.

Still, overall, this looks great! And there's a link directly below each video to the anime's discussion thread. This may coax me back into the forums. While I do comment on Crunchroll videos from time to time, those comments aren't a good way to discuss much.

A Couple More General Notes

Anime-Planet is a site by anime fans, for anime fans, and it shows. Kim Cameron, better known to most of us as Sothis, is the founder and overlord of Anime-Planet. Yes, overlord. The press release says "CEO," but that brings to mind long polished conference tables in skyscrapers, people in stuffy suits, profit, and big corporations... none of which describes Anime-Planet.

Profit is not the goal of this site, and it's clear in the little courtesy things. For example, Sothis doesn't assume that we want everything automatically updated for us. Everything is opt-in. This applies to connection with Twitter (you know how some websites automatically tell Twitter everything you do, until both you and your followers are annoyed and you finally disconnect your Twitter account? Yeah, Anime-Planet does not do that - so I've connected my account without fear of abuse). And it applies to the new feature, too: we can choose for our "watching" lists to automatically update when we watch Crunchyroll videos, or we can stick to our manual ways.

Sothis is the chief developer of this website, and she integrated Crunchyroll with A-P with help of only two other people, one in particular, known as Xesxen. This took a long time, and she's been giving us hints of a big change for a long time. She's been great about communicating without giving away the secrets. I've been curious about the update since months ago, when we could no longer scroll through character lists on each anime's profile page (now, we have to click "see all characters"). More recently, she gave us a visual hint on Facebook. I'm sure she enjoyed watching our guesses and mounting excitement. The hint showed a corner of a Crunchyroll video player, and I suspected that Anime-Planet would be able to give us full episodes. Still, it's so different than anything this site has offered, I told myself not to assume anything. Congratulations, Sothis, you have successfully surprised your users, to put it mildly.

The most amazing thing? This isn't even close to the end of it. Check out what Sothis said at the end of the announcement:

"As the press release hints at, we have some really exciting stuff coming up in the future. We originally planned to hold some of it back until the big redesign was done, but as that's still some months away, we'll likely have another big announcement to make shortly. Stay tuned, and thanks as always for your support of A-P!"

Part of me is wary of big change because, well, I'm a little emotionally attached to this place. But I've decided to trust Sothis, and I'm very excited to see what comes next!