What are you currently watching/reading?

I'm reading 'A Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes' by Suzanne Collins.

In addition to the new season of Kaguya-sama, I've been watching Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. It has a nice range, going from charming kid's fantasy to dealing brutally wit hthe nature of death, and the shifts don't feel as jarring as some other series (the natural comparison point here is Eva.) I'm about to hit the filler arc that everyone hates though, so we'll see how I feel after that.

I've also been keeping up with Super Shiro, mostly to be a Yuasa completionist, but also because I like having a six-minute anime Loony Tunes to watch.

Nadia is a series I really need to get to some time.

barbaricyawp wrote:I've also been keeping up with Super Shiro, mostly to be a Yuasa completionist, but also because I like having a six-minute anime Loony Tunes to watch.

Hadn't heard of this until now but will have to check it out ig, didn't know there was another new work coming from Yuasa so soon after Eizoken, though I guess being such a niche work makes sense I hadn't heard about it

About a week ago, I started rewatching Oregairu. Last time I watched it prior was like damn near five years ago, so this was a good refresher. I've managed to find newfound appreciation in all the interactions and quips between characters. It's actually pretty in-depth with its analysis of social psychology.

I've been rewatching Hidamari Sketch and it's as charming as ever. I'm actually thinking of writing a short essay about it. Does anyone know which art movements the anime takes inspiration from? The frequent usage of polkadots feels kinda reminiscent of Yayoi Kusama or maybe even popart. The photorealistic objects remind me of readymade art. I'm not too familiar with art theory/history though, so I'm not entirely sure.

I really couldn't tell you the name of the art styles or anything in Hidamari Sketch, but I do really love how so many of the stylistic choices were born out of a very limited budget and then expanded on when the show could afford to pour more into the animation. It gives it such a neat style that feels quintessentially SHAFT while also feeling unique.

I'm currently watching The Expanse, which is…not anime, but I'm also reading a web novel called I got kicked out of my party because I'm a girl, so I joined up with a legendary witch to make the most powerful team around by Ameko Kaeruda. That's my translation of the title anyway – it got an English translation abbreviated "Sexiled," but I forget how they had the full name. It's pretty good. I started reading it a few months back, but I'm just now picking it back up. I'm tired of being middling at moon, but otoh I'm too lazy to commit to actual studying with anki these days, so I finally decided I'll just read until I git gud. Worked for learning my native language, after all.

I've heard good things about Sexiled, I might check it out since I've been getting more into LNs lately.

I'm pretty unfamiliar with the landscape of LNs too. Kaeruda has a nice sense of style that I don't think I credited them* for at first, though structurally it feels less like a real book and more like fanfiction due to its web novel background. The setting is shorthand fantasy so that Kaeruda can get to the shit they care about and not worry about whether anything in the world makes sense if you poke at it too much, which…we'll see if that holds up in the long term. It's good though. I dunno if I'd recommend it ahead of…I dunno, what's a well-respected LN series? Spice & Wolf is next on my own list, probably. Either that or the Sound! Euphonium books – but those are novel novels.

I'm actually pleased that it's at about the right reading level that it's introducing new vocabulary at a rate that I can learn it at without the actual reading becoming a painful slog.

*The translator seems to think they're a girl, but I dunno if she knows something I don't, or if she's guessing. My impression based on what Kaeruda said has been of a male yuri fan who downed a whole bottle of respect women juice, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Finally started reading Kaiju Girl Caramelise. On the one hand I wish I started soon, but on the other, at least waiting this long gave me more chapters to read before I hit that waiting once a month wall! So far it's practically perfect since they are not dragging drama out and characters are actually communicating!

Currently watching gundam 00, just finished sword art online. Looking for suggestions if you've got them