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No. 115540
>>115536If you want to get into the basic Fate/Stay Night storyline, the order I'd suggest watching it is
>Fate/Zero (takes place 10 yrs before F/SN)
>Fate/Stay Night (2006 anime by Studio Dean)>Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works>Fate/Stay Night: Heaven’s Feel (movie trilogy)Imo it doesn't matter what order you watch the other parts after F/SN in, but I'm sure there are purists out there who have recommended "watch in this order" lists.
Also, stay far away from Prisma Illya unless you want to get flagged by Interpol. It sounds like a cute magical girl au but it's actually loli bait.
No. 115558
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>Warcraft lore
I've played a bit of WoW but actually following the shit that happens in quests, cinematics, new expansions etc is beyond me. I'm not familiar with Warcraft and the novels don't seem worth the time investment, but it would be nice to understand more of the storyline when I play.
>Doctor Who
Too long, too many different series/doctors, and I'm too unclear on the appeal. I just know I'll never bother no matter how often I see people recommend it
>Fantasy novels in general
Stuff like Dune, Wheel of Time, all those Brandon Sanderson novels. They're just massive books and I'm not even sure if fantasy is my thing, so I keep putting them off. I'm really keen to try though, I'd love to have such an endless amount of content to consume especially with upcoming adaptions.
>Jojo, One Piece, Gintama
Listing all 3 at once because it's the same situation for all of them - I've read a lot of the manga and watched a lot of the anime, but it was ages ago and forget tonnes of stuff. I did enjoy what I read but I can't be bothered keeping up with new parts or adaptions. It feels harder to try and get back into them than it was to start them.
What big franchises do anons actually recommend and find worth the time investment? For me it's
>Legend of the Galactic Heroes
110 episode OVA, another ~50 episode OVA, a new adaption and a bunch of movies, it's fucking massive but I loved every second of it. I never expected to find badly animated talking heads discussing space politics so fascinating. I can rewatch it multiple times and I'm still riveted.
>Hunter x Hunter
Two long ass anime series and a manga that will probably never be finished, but by far my favourite battle shounen and I just find it clever and unpredictable in comparison to other series. Even if we never get a conclusion I'm glad I spent so much time on it.
>Supernatural
Actually I don't know if I recommend it, it's pretty shitty at parts and loads of people dislike it. But there are so many fun, hilarious episodes spread throughout 15 seasons that it's worth it for me and I'm thirsty af for Dean.
Damn this is a bit of an essay but I put a lot of thought into what media to invest my precious free time in.
No. 115564
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>>115558For me Supernatural ended season 5 where the original writers had intended it to end. Richings Death was the best thing, such a disgrace how they killed him off in 10.
No. 115569
Star Trek for me, I fucking loved The Original Series as a kid but I never watched any of the other series.
>>115533same, 08th MS Team slaps but the amount of Gundam media that exists is incredibly intimidating. Currently trying to chip my way through the early UC shows though and I'm enjoying myself.
>>115558>LotGHAnother one I plan on getting into, your glowing recc is definitely encouraging!
No. 115573
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I've wanted to get into Warhammer 40000 for the longest time and I never really knew how to given how massive and overwhelming the franchise looks, then during the first lockdown I spent all my days reading pages on Lexicanum and 1d4chan. I now have a pretty good knowledge of the universe, enough to get most memes and to recognize some obscure characters, but I'm not sure if I want to get into playing the board game, the miniatures and codexes are such a money sink, and I'm too much of a dumbass to understand rules. There's also a shitton of books of varying quality, I'm sticking to the Horus Heresy novels for now.
No. 115576
>>115528Ot but the enduring relevance of Higurashi is so confusing to me. I remember watching it as a middle schooler and it was a weird old series then, can’t believe I’m im my 20’s now and kids are still talking abt it, it’s not good
Utena is so popular and supposed to be super deep but every time I try to watch it I can’t get more than a few episode In
No. 115582
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A Certain Magical Index franchise
Every dude who watched it can’t stop telling me how great and “not like other battle shounen” it is. Apparently the female protagonists are good? I’m only mildly interested if I’m taking their words for it but there’s just so much of it.
No. 115583
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> What are some shows and franchises that are hard to get into?
One piece, bleach, naruto. Those shits are too long and just really not my type, I tried watching at least a few chapters of each and it was impossible to me. Same with JoJo, I love the character designs but I tried reading the manga a long time ago and I just wanted colorful guys fighting by homoerotically getting touched by their magical weird spiritual animals. It is quite interesting looking plotwise too, but it’s also already so long that I would need a few days to binge it properly.
The avengers’ comics too, they’re extremely long, my autistic ass needs to be in the zone for binge reading so I can really make some progress reading those, specially the older ones that has walls of texts in comparison to how they’re done nowadays.
Pokémon, it’s difficult to properly get into it, I tried, reading the manga and I noped after a while, it’s immensely huge, so I guess it would be better to just pick your favorite Pokémon protagonists and follow their story.
> What big franchises do anons actually recommend and find worth the time investment?
I think transformers is honestly fun, the characters are interesting even if the pacing gets a bit slow at times, I also like the whole world building aspect of it, technobabble is the best.
Ojamajo doremi, it’s fun and cute, it can touch a few hard subject even if it’s a kid’s show, the whole thing is so whimsical that it can really make one smile.
Sailor moon, the manga is amazing, I loved it, I feel like the story makes more sense in there and there are lots of really beautiful illustrations too.
Servamp, the manga is already around the 100 chapters but it seems that it won’t get extremely long, the vampires and some of the humans are quite interesting, the story is a tiny bit over the place but the whole setting is really interesting.
No. 115587
>>115582Anon, they are straight up lying to you. The only mildly interesting thing in the anime is Accelerator's storyline and he only appears around episode 22 or something, the other 80% of the time you have to follow your typical self insert semi-harem battle shonen protagonist and it's unbearable.
The series with Misaka as a protagonist (the main girl in that poster) is also boring as shit and uneventful.
No. 115607
>>115604I agree with you about Sasuke, and I think he completely ruined the whole franchise, but there's no first series. There's just Naruto from the first to the last volume with everything in between. Because of shit like this you have retards asking where they need to start reading or watching long series like Naruto, Dragon Ball or JJBA when the answer is to watch episode one, then episode two, then episode three, etc. or read the first volume, then the second one, then the third one, etc. Reminds me of idiots on tumblr saying you could skip the first four acts in Homestuck and perfectly understand what's going on. Calling long anime adaptations "Shippuden" or "DBZ" is just some marketing gimmick so Japanese people casually watching TV back then would know there's a timeskip or a new season, that's literally it.
No. 115612
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>>115564Agreed, I still watch into season 8 or so because I love Charlie Bradbury (not AU Charlie or dark Charlie tho). Also I enjoy how we get to see Bobby as an actual father figure to them. Everything else is trash.
No. 115614
>>115606How exactly is Utena retarded? I get that it's not your taste and that some episodes are quirky, but…
And if you think that Utena is retarded, the rest of the anime must be braindead then.
No. 115645
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>>115635NTA, I think they mean Serial Experiments Lain. It's confusing af, but has a great soundtrack and concept.
Another one is Texhnolyze. The same artist from SEL designed it, and it also has a great, kind of unusual, soundtrack. But, it's really, really, REALLY boring and slow paced. It's not as well written as SEL, so there's no urge to try and figure out the plot's meaning. I liked the main character a lot, tho. Wish he had more development.
No. 115676
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For me it's Umineko.
I love Higurashi, but like many others I got into it because of the anime. Once I finished that I craved more so I read the VN (and manga). The anime has plenty of faults and didn't age very well, but it was fine as a way of being introduced to the story and characters.
For Umineko it's different. The anime is an absolute garbage fire and covers only very little of the actual material. I got about 25 hours into the Umineko VN before I accidentally lost my save, and I just… never bothered to pick it back up. It's very very slow and requires a lot of patience if you aren't already invested in the characters. I know there 's supposed to be way more twists and whatnot beyond what I've seen, but I really can't be arsed to spend that much time clicking through what mostly feels like mundane filler dialogue.
No. 115702
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>>115533>08th MS Team firstYou already fucked it up.
Watch Mobile Suit Gundam (1979), tv series. After that, Zeta Gundam (1985) and the movie Char's Counterattack (1988).
0079 themes are the precursors of a fuckton of anime tropes, while the show itself being far from the normal generic anime shitfest. All dramatic points are top-notch and are the reasons why Tomino is always praised by other directors and industry veterans.
If you end up not enjoying it for petty reasons, like the old animation or slow pace, that's okay. But beyond those technical drawbacks lies the core gist of the whole franchise. If you can't say you liked 0079, I doubt you would enjoy the other non-joke gundam shows.
No. 115704
>>115674>part 2 was the best though?Is it really anon?
Nothing wrong with it being someone's favorite arc, but personally i found it just insufferable and if you don't ship caesar/joseph (personally i couldnt like either characters) then there's little to no content to really enjoy in that arc>>115674
No. 115725
>>115705>Skipping Jojo part 1-3 is completely okay because the stupid macho shit is what turns most women off and the series stops doing that after those parts.Nah, girls love stupid macho shit because it means cute macho boys, that's why we're such a massive part of literally any battle manga's audience despite them being aimed at boys. The male characters in 1-3 and therefore the parts themselves are incredibly popular with women.
1-2 are recommended to be skipped because they're so completely different from the rest of the series that they don't really give you an idea of whether you'll like later parts or not, and 3 is when Araki was still finding his footing with stands so it's just not a great part.
No. 115760
>>115754What episode are you on?
I watched it several years ago, it’s definitely a slow burn type series. The anime adaption was very accurate to the manga and doesn’t condense much. It picks up around episode 30ish (I think).
Overall I really enjoyed it, but it’s a definitely a slow-moving story and not for everyone.
No. 115761
>>115754I loved the manga but tbh I'm not sure if the anime would've held my attention if I tried it first, or even tried it now.
When in doubt with anime, I always go for the manga because you can consume 10x as much in the same amount of time and make your decision to continue or not with a better idea of the material.
No. 115768
>>115761>When in doubt with anime, I always go for the manga because you can consume 10x as much in the same amount of timethis, I never understand people that mostly watch anime and skip on manga even though they could get to know the whole story and not just season 1.
Every anime episode takes forever and often nothing even happens lmfao
No. 115772
>>115528
> HigurashiI never really heard about this one before, which is weird cause I was way into anime and mangas when I was younger. I saw it recently on Netflix and didn’t exactly get it.
I’m currently “playing” the VN but it’s so sluggish and the characters are plain annoying. I honestly don’t understand why people are praising the writing when it’s like “awwuuuu she sho kyuuuute” and every basic anime cliche trope that exist under the sun.
Yeah you can fight me Higurashi stans, cause I honestly just don’t get it.
> The officeI just don’t know if it’s worth getting into cause it’s so long, and it seems a bit overhyped. I feel like I’ve seen already half the show through memes at this point. Honestly asking if it’s worth watching?
I’m just starting It’s always sunny in Philadelphia but it’s honestly gold. I want to know if the office is about the same.
No. 115775
>>115772About Higurashi, I had hard time in the beginning because all of these tropes and extra long scenes of the characters playing games were just boring to read but let me assure you, it's loved for a reason. The whole point of setting up the "cliche" vibes and characters that seem like one trope personified is to make the later horror shift in tone feel even more pronounced.
In the end it's understandable if you don't want to sit through all that "cliche fun time" (and it's a lot of it especially in the first 3 chapters, at some point I just fastforwarded through some) but it's legitimately worth it in the end because writting where it matters really is fantastic, I've been reading horror literature half of my life and Higurashi is up there with the best when it comes to setting the tone, building tension and characters' psychology. On the surface if may seem like just "oh you think this cute girl is cute but she's actually a psycho" gimmick but it's much deeper than that, all of the character's "quirks" really make sense in the end, they're fully fleshed out people you can sympathize with.
Sorry for sounding like a weeb I guess but I'm really jaded when it comes to horror and visual novels as the genres and this genuinely VN surprised me with how good it turned out to be; so I feel like other people should not give up on it too.
No. 115783
>>115779I've seen the anime, don't know about manga, but I'm gonna say - definitely VN. The first person narration provides in depth look into protagonist's mind which is impossible to ever fully achieve in mediums like manga or anime; and I believe "tell, don't show" approach is far superior in horror genre, especially here where the author really excells at describing both paranoia and gore in a way that feels more intense than actually seeing someone's visual interpretation of it, gives you more freedom of your own interpretation and is more immersive thanks to that, especially with addition of music and sound effects.
Also, an unpopular opinion but after trying both I believe mangagamer's version is the best one; even though sprites are a bit too sexualized at times, they're polished and rough, filtered photos backgrounds + less of CGI moments kinda fit the vibe of the story more than more "visually appealing" fully painted console version.
No. 115799
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>>115783>kinda fit the vibe of the story more than more "visually appealing" fully painted console versionWhy not just use the original sprites then? I never liked the redrawn ones since they felt so generic. Sure, ryukishi07 is no artistic genius, especially back then, but his expressions have their own vibe and fit the story best of all imo.
No. 115817
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>>115799I kinda like the original 07th sprites, it gives the series a weird doujin charm, all the other designs are generic at best and hideous at worst (the Umineko pachinko sprites they used for Steam). I never managed to get over Mion's gun, it was such a weird design that they got rid of it in subsequent ports (but weirdly enough they kept it for the old anime). I don't think it was ever addressed, is it even a real gun?
No. 115826
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>Avatar the Last AirbenderI tried watching the first couple of eps, it really just feels like a kids show and I couldn't get into it. But plenty of adults adore it, the article I saved pic related from called it one of the greatest shows of all time… should I keep trying? Does it get good at a particular point?
>Star WarsI've only seen the first movie and it felt dated and lame, it's one of the biggest franchises of all time so I feel like I need to watch it eventually. But do the other old movies hold up? Are any of the new ones good enough to make it worthwhile?
>>115768>Every anime episode takes forever and often nothing even happens lmfaoHonestly this is so true. I watched anime for years and I have a lot of series I loved, but even those series are just full of forcibly dragged out moments and overly slow pacing within scenes regardless of how fast the plot itself moves. Even on shitty western tv they tend to have something happening at all times and you're entertained from moment to moment. I can watch a western TV series I actively dislike and I'm still not waiting for things to move along the way I do in anime.
>>115772>I’m just starting It’s always sunny in Philadelphia but it’s honestly gold. I want to know if the office is about the same.Always Sunny is significantly funnier but the Office is still funny and good for just background watching while you're multitasking. It's not a hard series to get into, you literally just pick any random episode and if you like it you'll probably like the rest.
No. 115830
>>115826Re: Avatar, yes, I would say the first several episodes have a somewhat generic, simplistic feel then it gets much better and more interesting. I usually hate when people tell me “watch until episode XX, it’s amazing after that I promise!” when it’s like bitch, if it isn’t capturing me straight away why do you think I want to waste my time watching trash until it
might surpass mediocrity? But there are a few rare instances where I believe the wait was worth it, and I think Avatar is one of those. Personally I think it starts getting more thoughtful, mature and creative by episode 10. Keep in mind that the characters are kids themselves, so it’s also the journey of watching them grow from naive children into more experienced and thoughtful adults that makes it so fun. They never get past the teenage stage so keep that in mind, but it deals with young adults dealing with sometimes harsh realities and conflicting values in an honest and intelligent way. It’s not a gritty grimdark show where they constantly face rape, murder and torture, but frankly that’s one of the reasons I find it so refreshing.
No. 115835
>>115714wait what??? explain
so is beatrice a psychopath troon??
>>115795yeah, hot blooded macho stuff can be fun. I'm watching cromartie highschool right now (dubbed version) and it's just fun to watch.
No. 115844
>>115828The first star wars has not aged badly compared to the second two in the original trilogy anon.
>>115826 If the first one didn't appeal to you than it's just not your style
No. 115853
>>115830Seconding this. I love Avatar, but its fans really do not talk about how generic a full third of it is. FWIW I didn't like it as a kid, so when I say I love it, it's without nostalgia, but yeah, I literally never revisit the whole first season. I watched it w/ my little sis when she was a legit kid, definitely the target audience for the kiddie stuff, and even she was like "when does this get good" – though she's a huge fan now, lol. There's some cool stuff in that first season–some visual choices in the finale were the first things to make me really sit up and think people were onto something when they talked about how good it is. But having seen the whole thing….it's ridiculous how many things that make the show what it is are just totally absent from that first season.
Related, if you end up liking ATLA and want to watch LOK: I think fans are way too hard on LOK and forget how much of ATLA is meh. LOK's got dud moments but ATLA does too, people are just nostalgic.
No. 115882
>>115705I like my pretty skinny boys but parts 1-2 are legitimately very fun, and are so short they're low-commitment compared to later parts. You can skip portions of part 3 and still get the gist of the story since so much of it is enemy stand user of the week stories, and are weaker than enemy stand stories in later parts.
Honestly when people skip parts I just assume they want to get into jojo for the memes or something, or that Jojo is straight up not for them if they can't get through parts 1 and 2.
No. 115891
>>115837I'm a different anon but reading the wikia (and not knowing the game)
it's really clear that he is male, not in a "mtf" way but really male, the family just fucked up raising him as a girl because his dick got mutilated in an accident. He is more relatable to (cis) children who where forcibily trooned out by their parents than troons who badly want a pussyIt's also kinda sad that
it became hard to play with the ambiguity of this topic now that these degenerates always have to shout "one of us!!! twans right uwu!!" No. 115894
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>>115891Oopsi I also forgot to add there is a character in a similar context in the game "Fear and Hunger - Termina",
his mother raised him as a girl so he could avoid is gruesome fate as the family heir, and the author stated that "she doesn't feel distress about her gender". I find it's an interesting way to approach the topic but even the troons are kinda ruining it for me because no ambiguity allowed when it comes to gender now.Not saging this post because I actually want to talk about this game. It's a (still updating) sequel of the game of the same name and I loved the weird uneasy atmosphere, anyone liked this game?
No. 116369
>>115772Ok anon from last post here, and I felt like I was maybe missing out something I didn’t get from the anime if I played the first VN so I went back to it and finally finished the first … episode?
I still don’t like it, even more so now if that’s possible. Maybe I just don’t get the format. I never played a “game” so long with so little content. I’m a big fan of horror media and honestly this ain’t it. I felt like watching only the filler episodes of an anime 80% of the time.
Maybe it’s because I outgrew my weeb phase, but characters whose eyes become blank and go “gyeh gyeh gyeh” doesn’t do much for me. Also the whole “loli who goes mew” is too cringe.
I had a better time reading through r/unresolvedmysteries and didn’t have to suffer through 3 hours of middle school kids playing card games.
No. 116394
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>>116371999 and its sequel virtue's last reward are so good.
No. 116434
>>116391>>116374Thanks anons, yet again this board is one of the last place where people have sensible opinions. I thought I was going mad by seeing every review being 9.5/10. I felt like I was taking crazy pills after having sunk 5 hours of my life into this episode.
I’m open to the idea of trying another episode if it has a bit more gameplay like maybe anon here
>>116371 mentioned.
I felt like putting it in the VN category was a bit deceiving as I was expecting some choice option with different endings (idk, maybe a bit like Doki doki, and even that was shit)
Overall, calling the writing a masterpiece is plain deranged.
No. 374940
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>>374809Heartcatch, Go Princess or Smile are the most newcomer-friendly seasons IMO. Hugtto is very shilled around but I personally found it overhyped. Stay away from Kirakira, Healin Good and Delicious Party, they're pretty crappy.
No. 375035
>>374972Ayrt
Kirakira has too many characters that never get developed (as much as you can develop characters in a kids show)
Healin Good isn't that bad but it was screwed over by being the Covid season
Delicious Party went through something similar, they had to rewrite shit on the go when Toei got hacked
That doesn't mean they're not enjoyable if you get into Precure but they are the most boring ones imo and bad ways to get into the franchise
No. 375163
>>375086>Touhou 2hu fans love to act like the games are suuper hard but they're not (aside from the more recent titles). If you like fighting games, the two fighting titles are fun. And most of the fanbase hasn't even touched the games, it's by no means a filter kek
>HomestuckAbsolutely agree. I
know it's good and all, but reading it always felt like a chore, even at the peak of its fandom.
No. 375171
>naruto
I like naruto but it has so many episodes and characters it is hard to follow. I stopped watching around that time where that degenerate ninja start mentoring naruto. Felt like it was dragging then I stopped. When I finally watched it again recently it was even worse, I had no idea who were some people because I simply forgot their names or why they were there even thoug I rewarched from the start. Some characters felt like they had no purpose, and there were the kind of episodes that made no sense and were so damn boring like that one where naruto pretends to be some princess to impress some fat guy because ino doesn't want to do it as she is disgusted by the fatty. The princess is also fat and when that guy sees her he instantly fall in love or something, stupid episode, absolutely disgusting, that is not the ninja way. Then there was some episode about a race, I don't remember much cus it was such a boring ass episode… or episodes, I think that crap don't even end in 1 episode. Then I gave up. I had watched a bit of boruto before going back to this series and I hated, so I decided I wouldn't even waste my time with shippuden when naruto and everyone else grows up to have retarded ungrateful children that are carbon copies of their parents. Shit is ridiculous. I really wish I had the patience because I am sure I'm missing some interesting characters and possibly some nice storyline but I just can't anymore.
>star wars
I wish I liked but something about it makes me sleepy, I was never able to watch an entire movie, and now there are spin offs, I wouldn't know where to start even if I wanted (I don't want to), it is just so boring, idk how something like that looks boring, it shouldn't but it does. I played an old ps1 game when I was a kid and I remember being fun but then it was all because I played with my sister and we made our own story while fighting hordes of robots or whatever we were fighting, then trying again as an adult didn't get me all that fun, I never even finish it. I just don't know why it is like that.
>x men
I love x men, but it is really hard to get into, with all the comics with varying levels of quality and so many characters, you might end up exposed to the worst comic ever and never want to read it again. These days I just go for my favorite characters because I am just so tired of stories that seem to go nowhere and it's the same rehashed shit in the movies but they manage to be worse.
>anything dc
Same problems as x men but the movies go from silly family thing to over the top crap with too many references most people won't get or won't care, and don't even get me started with the cartoon movies based on the comics, how they manage to fuck up a good story is beyond me, and they even have to add all that blood and death to go "so mature", mature my ass, just adapt the fucking comic right. They keep making awful adaptations and idk how anyone who doesn't read the comics could be convinced to give them a chance if they stumbled on the trash they throw at the fans. There is no quality there.
No. 375187
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I'm surprised no one has mentioned Yakuza/Like A Dragon yet. I think generally people recommend to start with 0, but I noticed that Infinite Wealth is becoming really popular for new players too. I started with 0 and plan on completing them in chronological order (currently on kiwami 2) but asking new fans to play 9 long, dialogue heavy games of varying quality plus the spinoffs to get the "full experience" is a lot.
Also Gundam. I started with turn a because I thought loran was cute and actually really enjoyed it, but no idea where to go from there tbh. I liked how surreal it was sometimes, the well-choreographed battles, all the political drama between the earth and moon people, and loran. Maybe I'll watch the original 1979 series next
No. 375193
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>>375116The people who trash the early acts are retarded. The early acts are actually really solid and genuinely funny. Morons just only like act five because that's when the trolls are introduced, and they're probably the kind of speds who just looked at the pictures without reading the text. Act six also gets a bad rap, but its issue is that it it's a mixed bag with peaks and troughs. It has some of the best flashes and songs, but it's weirdly paced. I'd say the first third of act six is completely fine and on par with acts 1-5 in terms of quality. Unless you're super into the meteor kids, skip the Meenah walkaround flashes. They contain nothing plot-relevant and are super cringey and unfunny. Do not read the Epilogues or the sequel, they are horrible and will ruin the original story for you.
Anyway, if you want a comic in the same style that's easier to follow, shorter, and more consistent quality-wise, go read Problem Sleuth.
>>375163It never felt like a chore to me, but that's because I'm profoundly autistic and it scratches a weird itch for me. I've read the whole thing several times.
No. 375227
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>>375162>Silly and wholesome: Ressha Sentai Toqger. It's a pretty kiddish season but its beloved for the simple but unique concept of the entire team being childhood friends and the general tone of levity.
>Same as above but with a bit of a higher age rating: Kamen Rider Fourze. Takes place in Japan but the entire setting is bafflingly modelled after American high school movies like Mean Girls. A notably light season intended to lift audience spirits after the 2011 tsunami
>Fun retardation with some stupid drama that takes a heart of levity to appreciate:Kamen Rider Saber. Similar to above, this season was specifically engineered to uplift viewers during the covid pandemic. Insane amount of characters so you're bound to like at least one of them. The gist is that there's a secret order of knights protecting powerful books from a place called the Wonder World.
>>375225Yes, there absolutely is! It's less prevalent in the Reiwa era but Kamen Rider throughout the Heisei era was built on kaijin (basically the sentient monsters) x human gay ships IMO.
>Kamen Rider OOOsAnkh x Eiji is the main ship here, although Date and Gotou (human x human) are also very popular. Ankh is a selfish, flashy, pompous bird kaijin x Eiji, his self-destructive humanitarian partner who is generally a super nice guy but firm when it comes to Ankh.
>Kamen Rider FaizI can't tell you who is who and who is the monster in this one because it would be a spoiler. This season is famous for ridiculous levels of drama from a notoriously yet loved writer, and the pairing ends very tragically. If you have a strong tolerance for early 2000s edgy and dramatic yaoi then you'll probably enjoy this.
>Kamen Rider BladeRidiculous season with ridiculous creative decisions that looks like it was filmed on a shitty Nokia. The main romance is Hajime x Kenzaki, a monster learning to become human x the hotheaded hero posed to defeat his kind. The obvious development is that they grow closer as Hajime grows more human, with Kenzaki ultimately having to choose between Hajime or saving the world.
Notably, this ship is heavily supported by the characters' actors, with the ship ring being self funded and designed and titled by them as "Eternal Marriage"
There are actually a ton more human x nonhuman romances throughout toku so if you have a specific preference not represented here, then let me know and there'll probably be something for it.
No. 375229
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You know what, I just realized I didn't include any Ultra and I'm going to use that as an excuse to keep sperging. Ultra at baseline is also much easier to finish as recent seasons have capped themselves at 25 episodes as opposed to the 50 common to sentai and KR. It's also very easy to access, every season I recommend here is officially available for free without an account through either Youtube or the tokushoutsu website.
>>375162Ultra is honestly at baseline more goofy and easy to watch with your brain turned off. The baseline level of artistry is incredible with the miniature sets but for better or for worse Ultea respects even its 50+ year designs and usually does not update callbacks for the modern era, resulting in silly but enjoyable visuals.
Ultraman Z and Ultraman Blazar are both excellent seasons to get into Ultra with.
>Ultraman ZVery very very cute and silly interactions between the host and his Ultra every episode. Also some really great female character writing by toku's usual standards.
>Ultraman BlazarUltra is in a push these days to make the series more accessible to newcomers, so this season has zero reference to past ultras. The fights are incredibly choreographed and executed in all regards, so they meet your flashy requirement, and the physicality of Blazar's fight style is an absolutely zany joy to watch. He's more of a caveman type than past ultras and it absolutely shows in his hijinks.
>>375227Ultra has crazy game when it comes to its villain m/m ships.
>Ultraman OrbThe ship here is Jugglus Juggler x Ultraman Orb (yes, it's juggler x orb, yes it sounds ridiculous kek). These are two men who have been tied together for literal thousands of years, going from friends to enemies as Juggler is warped by complex feelings towards Orb. Juggler is notably one of Ultra's most popular characters for his theatrical antagonism and constant scheming while Orb is more of a noble eccentric.
>Ultraman GeedThe ship here is Fukuide Kei x Belial and I'm going to be honest here, it's completely one sided. I din't recommend this unless what I describe is really up your alley, but if it is, you'll enjoy it as much as I did. This is a completely, obsessively subservient servant/master relationship in which Kei constantly gives everything and receives only abuse for it. He's a pathetic and miserable little man who ruins lives for the sake of a master who doesn't care about him and while mpreg isn't a plot point in Geed he desperately wishes it was. The relationship is both hilarious and sad.
No. 375343
>>375193>Morons just only like act five because that's when the trolls are introducedAYRT and I started Homestuck because I saw a review comparing it to a visual novel I really, really like. This VN starts out as a boring slice-of-life rom-com for the first ~20 hours before diverging into an apocalyptic military drama for the remaining 70-80 hours of its run (if some anon knows what VN I'm referencing, yes, I know I have horrible taste and I understand what's wrong with the VN; I'm not going to defend it). The review said Homestuck has a similar shift in tone, and I love stuff that starts off goofy before switching genres or tone to become much darker. I was kind of assuming Act 5 was where it finally had that massive shift. Do you find this description accurate to Homestuck at all? I'm pretty patient when waiting for stories to 'get good,' so it's not even necessarily the length bothering me. However, it's hard for me to get attached to the characters; outside of their typing styles, they feel very same-y so far.
>Do not read the Epilogues or the sequel, they are horrible and will ruin the original story for you.I'll avoid them, even if I end up liking the comic! Do you have any other advice for appreciating the comic more? I genuinely want to like it. I haven't skipped any text or pesterlogs, and I think I'm following what's happening. I refuse to drop something once I've started it because there are plenty of stories I love where you have to be patient for it to 'get good,' so I'm in it for the long haul regardless of if my opinion improves. I'd really prefer if I could enjoy it, though, because it is so long.
>easier to follow, shorter, and more consistent quality-wise, go read Problem SleuthI have actually read Problem Sleuth! I thought it was pretty decent, but I prefer longer media, and I was really hoping for more character development in Homestuck than I found in Problem Sleuth. I did like the noir theme, though. I've also read Jailbreak (I accidentally read all of his previous comics when starting Homestuck because there was a place you could pick them off of the shelf in John's room, and I thought they were required reading kek).
No. 375545
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I have no idea on how to get into Takarazuka as a poorfag in europe that just consumes torrented subbed stuff.
I wish i could find a way to enjoy it, somewhere to start too. I know they've done some anime-inspired shows before but i'm not interested in that weeb side.
No. 375633
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>>375343>The review said Homestuck has a similar shift in tone, and I love stuff that starts off goofy before switching genres or tone to become much darker. I was kind of assuming Act 5 was where it finally had that massive shift. Do you find this description accurate to Homestuck at all?Mostly. I'd say that Acts 1-5 can be categorized that way pretty easily. However, the surrealist, absurdist comedy is present throughout the entire thing, and I'd say that it gets more complex as it goes on in the same way Problem Sleuth does. You know that thing Problem Sleuth does where there are a lot of things that are combination Brick Jokes and Chekov's Guns? Homestuck does a lot of that. It also gets more meta; I've compared it to Animal Man by Grant Morrison before, if you're familiar with that. It also does the Reservoir Dogs thing where it intentionally doesn't show a major event that's part of the ending (much to the chagrin of a bunch of retards with poor media literacy). I'm not going to spoil what it is, but you'll know it when you get to that part.
>outside of their typing styles, they feel very same-y so far.I don't know how far along you are, but about half of the original trolls die, so it's not a big deal if you don't get attached to them. Terezi, Karkat, Kanaya, and Vriska are the ones that have the most screen time. I know some people who get super attached to the minor trolls, but I've always been more partial to the human kids. I particularly like Dirk and Roxy, who get introduced later.
>Do you have any other advice for appreciating the comic more?It's better to read it via the Unofficial Homestuck Collection (
https://bambosh.dev/unofficial-homestuck-collection/) than in-browser. The collection preserved interactive elements that were lost when Flash support ended, and it has been endorsed by Hussie. There are also several high-quality fancomics I can recommend in lieu of the epilogues if you happen to finish Homestuck itself and want more of the characters/world/etc. If you have any other questions throughout reading, I'd be happy to answer them; some aspects of Homestuck are really complex, so I can save you so time and explain certain things if you'd like.
Sorry for weapons-grade autism.
No. 375962
>>375633>don't know how far along you areWhen I made my initial post, I was at the part where the trolls were starting to bother the four main kids.
More recently, I've gotten to where all-caps guy, whose name I have since committed to memory because he's my favorite, was having conversations with John. There were some other trolls bothering the kids, but I did not commit their chumhandles to memory because they all seemed the same. According to the trolls, they're traveling in an opposite direction in time from the kids (so, like, their first conversation with the kids would be the kids' last, and vice-versa; I read a book with a similar concept, and I really like that idea in general). The last thing that happened was around the part where John cloned the babies.>Terezi, Karkat, Kanaya, and VriskaGlad to hear Karkat is important because, as I said before, he's probably the one I like most so far. I had to look up images of the others, and I don't have much of an opinion on Terezi or Kanaya. I don't know much about Vriska, and I don't think I've seen her yet (I've heard of Vriska, but I don't know anything about her besides that she's somehow controversial). Whichever troll keeps typing with a '2' instead of an 's' and writes with a double 'i' is the bane of my existence (TA is his chumhandle and I hope he is one of the first to die because his typing style is irritating). I like the kids more overall so far (I don't have much of an opinion on Jade because she hasn't done much, though).
>Unofficial Homestuck CollectionYes! That's what I've been doing, but thank you!
>There are also several high-quality fancomics I can recommend in lieu of the epilogues if you happen to finish Homestuck itself and want more of the characters/world/etc. If you have any other questions throughout reading, I'd be happy to answer them; some aspects of Homestuck are really complex, so I can save you so time and explain certain things if you'd like.Yes, thank you so much; I probably will take you up on that kek. One question I do have right now (it's kind of dumb, sorry) is about the part where
Dave went back in time and merged with the crow, and Davesprite was created. Namely, is all of this in the game still, or does Davesprite exist externally to the game, as well? I've kind of been under the impression the characters exist in the 'real world' as well as the 'game world,' and things that originated in the 'game world' don't have an actual physical form. In other words, by merging with the crow, did the Dave from the other timeline (who is now Davesprite) cease to exist as a physical being because he's now a part of the game? It kind of felt like he just showed up and left without anything happening, so I didn't get a good idea of what he is, exactly. Likewise, in the part with the babies, I'm not exactly clear yet on how time travel works yet, but I was under the impression it's, like, parallel universes rather than a loop. However, the babies' existence seems to imply it's a loop instead of alternate universes, but that also doesn't make sense to me because, again, the situation with Davesprite reads more like alternative universes. However, Karkat referred to them as "LITERALLY YOU AND YOUR GUARDIANS," and, "A PARADOX CLONE IS BY DEFINITION A CORRECTLY CLONED DUPLICATE THAT WILL INEVITABLY GO BACK AND BECOME THE ORIGINAL." This tells me that John's creation of the clones was always going to happen, and has always happened for them to exist, so it's a loop. At the same time, the existence of the trolls either implies alternate universes (unless they're aliens? I know we get to know more about them in Act 5). It's possible I just haven't gotten far enough to understand either of these things yet.
>Sorry for weapons-grade autism.Also, do not apologize! I asked about it in the first place, and I really appreciate how helpful you've been. I don't really use social media, and nobody I know has read it, so this is more information than I would've hoped to receive otherwise.
>>375884It's actually two VNs, but I was referring to Muv-Luv and Muv-Luv Alternative. I wouldn't recommend it, despite my love for it. It's very much a scrote-y franchise, and I get why I've seen anons on here give the series hate. I don't want to get into arguments about why I shouldn't like it. I enjoyed it, and that isn't going to change, unfortunately.
Edited and deleted my original post because of typos.
No. 375972
>>375545the absolute easiest way to get into takarazuka imo is looking at shows they adapted from broadway/german or based off of movies. for example, elisabeth das musical and me and my girl are probably the easiest to find english translations for, and are extremely popular… the good thing is with a lot of these is they feature some of the icons of the last 20-30 years of essential need to know actresses so you get a. crash course in the popular top stars of each troupe. if you watch all the takarazyka elisabeth adaptations, you basically get to know some of the most iconic otokoyaku (actresses in male roles) in various parts from the leads to the side characters, and even some really iconic musumeyaku. same with me and my girl, you’ll see powerhouses like amami yuuki etc. these two i know for a fact that it’s really easy to come across either physical or digital copies of these, and getting english translations is easy af. there’s also romeo et juliette, which features some more contemporary stars either very young in their careers as side characters or some of the more popular actresses as of the current year like makoto rei. for most other takarazuka shows… its a smattering and it really depends on the translator what they’ll sub and what they won’t.
takarazuka is really known for rose of versailles but honestly idk much about the story but reading the manga might help.
also takawiki is the go to for everything related to basic info like what the troupes are, former top stars, where to buy DVDs, sometimes even translations of scripts or sometimes just synopsis of musicals if you can’t find subs/scripts for them. also a good way to keep track of who is becoming top star because rn we’re going through a bunch of people retiring like yuzuka rei so that can be a little intimidating.
as for acquiring the media there’s some fans that will livestream subbed stuff and sometimes that’s the only way you can get it, like there’s away to get ahold of sky stage airings of stuff, or utilizing some of the ‘where to buy’ resources on takawiki (and looking up diff buying agents like buyee etc) you can just buy the dvds/blu-ray’s yourself and read the script while you watch. the good thing with licensed shows like elisabeth, retj, me and my girl, they tend to change very little between versions so you can just reuse a script between the 2008 and 2014 shows just fine. might miss a line or two but generally you will get the overall story. tho get prepared to have fans go apeshit on you if you’re too loud abt pirating takarazuka shit cuz muh company loyalty.
No. 376016
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>>375962>the part where John cloned the babies.Oh, you're at a really good part in the story. Act 4 (where you are right now) ends with a really funny flash.
>Glad to hear Karkat is important because, as I said before, he's probably the one I like most so far.He's arguably the most important. You can see on the chart I posted upthread that he has the most dialogue of any character in the whole comic. He has a nice character arc, and I love the motifs about him being the most "human" of all the trolls. He's also my favorite troll, for the record.
>they're traveling in an opposite direction in time from the kidsSort of. The trolls have a magic app that allows them to choose any point in the kids' lives to message them. Most of the trolls (Kanaya, for instance) are messaging the kids in a mostly random order. Karkat is the only one messaging the kids in reverse-order, for reasons that get revealed later. Vriska and Terezi are mostly normal and linear. Kanaya and Rose actually explain this in detail at one point, and number their interactions.
>Dave went back in time and merged with the crow, and Davesprite was created.Davesprite is from a doomed timeline, which basically ceased to exist when he prevented John from fighting Typheus. Basically everything in the universe of Homestuck exists within SBURB, for reasons that get revealed in Act 5. So even though Davesprite is technically a game construct, he's entirely real and would continue to exist if he somehow escaped the game. Players with the Seer class (like Rose) have the unique ability to recover memories from their alternate selves in doomed timelines.
As for the babies and time travel: after cloning the babies, John hits a button that teleports each of them to a meteor. The Reckoning is an event where the Battlefield (the chess planet surrounded by Skaia) is bombarded with meteors from the Veil, the meteor belt where the Ectobiology Lab is. The game spawns a bunch of portals to protect the Battlefield from the meteors, and these portals disperse the meteors throughout time and space. The meteors with the babies riding them pass through the portals, sending them back in time to Earth, where they grew up. The Alpha babies (Mom, Nanna, Bro, and Grandpa) are clones of themselves via a stable time loop, hence the name paradox clone. The beta kids are the result of mixing the DNA of two of the Alphas; Mom and Bro are Rose and Dave's biological parents, and Nanna and Grandpa are Jade and John's. The Scratch (which they talk about later) does only one thing: it changes the destination of these portals, creating a scenario where the Beta kids are now guardians, and the Alpha kids are the players.
Most of the time travel in Homestuck is stable time loops, where characters were always destined to go back and do the thing they already did. However, a doomed timeline (like Davesprite's) occurs as a result of a paradox (in his case, John's death and prototyping Cal). Whenever a character time travels in Homestuck, there's one timeline (the alpha timeline) where a stable loop is formed, and a theoretically infinite number where it isn't. There's only one character in the story with the ability to actually alter the alpha timeline without any time loops, and that's revealed much later in the comic.
Clear as mud?
>>375959I'm the other way around. I love the comic and generally dislike the fandom, especially in recent years.
>>375967Me with Jojo
No. 376048
>>375972Thank you so much nona for your help, you have no idea.
I did come across the takawiki when i was trying to get into it, i liked how dedicated it was but it was also overwhelming and i felt a bit lost since i didn't know much other than the troupe divisions kek.
>get prepared to have fans go apeshit on you if you’re too loud abt pirating takarazuka shit cuz muh company loyalty.Yeah that sucks, i'm not loud and i generally stay away from fandoms, this is also why i felt discouraged.
I'm not sure how much i'd be interested in the actual performers yet, i'm sure they're great but since i didn't watch the shows yet i wanted to slowly get into it but i will try to slither into it if i can nona, thank you so so so much, you're great.
No. 376177
>>376016I really appreciate how helpful and patient you've been, nona! I just got to Act 5.
>Act 4 (where you are right now) ends with a really funny flash.Kek I liked that animation; it was easily my favorite so far.
>Kanaya and Rose actually explain this in detail at one point, and number their interactions.Yes, I had already hit that conversation when I made my previous post. I think the source of my confusion was that I kind of assumed all the trolls existed in the same space/time, so when Karkat said that, I kind of assumed most of the trolls were doing the same type of time travel, if that makes sense? I get it now that you clarified, though.
>Davesprite is technically a game construct, he's entirely real and would continue to exist if he somehow escaped the game.This is exactly what I wanted to know, thank you. Like, legitimately, I almost asked if Davesprite could still leave the game, but then thought better of it because I was worried about making my question too convoluted.
>The Alpha babies (Mom, Nanna, Bro, and Grandpa) are clones of themselves via a stable time loop, hence the name paradox clone. The beta kids are the result of mixing the DNA of two of the Alphas; Mom and Bro are Rose and Dave's biological parents, and Nanna and Grandpa are Jade and John's.I'll stop bothering you after this, I promise, but I do have one more question. Early in the comic, John stated that Nanna was his dad's mom. Does this mean that John's dad is actually his half-brother? Also, is his dad actually related to Nanna at all, and was he born through traditional means as opposed to cloning? If this is a spoiler, don't worry about it!
No. 376293
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>>376177>Does this mean that John's dad is actually his half-brother? Also, is his dad actually related to Nanna at all, and was he born through traditional means as opposed to cloning?Yes, Dadbert is actually John's half-brother. They don't explicitly say whether he was born naturally in the comic, but that's what most people choose to believe.
No. 376298
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>>375116the moment the trolls show up is when the series begins to suck
No. 376314
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Don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet but Detective Conan. It's been running for 30 years (the manga), anime has 1000+ episodes, and half of those are filler. Plus it's episodic, so it's even harder to get someone else into it since it's not that easy to marathon without it getting repetitive since a lot of the episodes follow a similar structure (like a magical girl show but with detective cases), and the bigger plot only progresses in small doses every ~50-100 ish episodes. The art style is also kind of unconventional by modern standards, which can turn a lot of people off. It's a shame because it's got some great characters, iconic moments and the writer actually cares about making male characters that are attractive to women despite it being a shounen
No. 376371
>>376301It does, sorry for derailing.
>>376177, if you have any other questions, ask in the Homestuck thread.
>>376298The trolls are overrated, but this is just contrarian. A lot of cool things happen with the human characters in Act Five. Also why is Rose drawn like Mandy lmao
No. 376421
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i never could figure this shit out tbh
No. 376423
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Pokemon
Ironically I grew up with it,had the games,toys etc but now it's a soulless shitfest.Hate literally everything about it,the fans,the newer Pokemon especially the fugly furbait and picrel,the newer awfully designed trainers,the newer games.yeahh that's about it.I mean how can someone possibly like picrel and not see how much it sucks ass?
No. 376431
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>>376421The art style is charming and I have a friend who's super into Archie stuff, but I never felt compelled to read any of it. I'm kind of tempted by the Sabrina comics, though.
No. 376469
>>376422it’s just boomer harem comics where he’s in a love triangle with a rich bitch and a tradthot blondie but I think they sometimes also add random other love interests.
I genuinely have no idea if anyone reads it though.