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Annarasumanara

1. What is your reaction to the text you just read? I thought Annarasumanara was really interesting both plot-wise and stylistically. I was only able to read up until chapter 9, but I quickly became invested in how relatable the story was. The artistic choices made by the author/illustrator to add real objects (money, toys, flowers) is really neat and even though the images stand out so much from the art, it still seems to fit into the illustrations. I think that's a big part of what drew me to this comic. 2. What connections did you make with the story? Discuss what elements of the story with which you were able to connect? I think this story is relatable in a similar way that My Lesbian Experience With Loneliness is in that it follows a young adult struggling with the realities of society. Topics in this series like Yun Ai's struggle with money and the expectations of Ildeung's parents for him to be at the top of his class are both relatable to me. I think money is a...
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Oishinbo

Oishinbo was another really unique manga. I don't have much experience with "cooking" manga and anime, but compared to what little knowledge I do have Oishinbo seems really different. I like how it includes tidbits and recipes for how to cook the food in the manga, and it definitely didn't help with the Japanese food craving I've had since the lockdown started. From the clips I've seen of other cooking series it seems like making the food look as pretty as possible is the main focus, but I like how Oishinbo takes the time to explain how the dishes are made and why they work so well. I think a big part of what makes this manga successful is the detailed descriptions of the food and techniques. It's difficult to make food look delicious without the use of color, so descriptions are really important with this kind of storytelling.
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Silver Spoon

I didn't expect a series like this to come from the same mangaka responsible for Fullmetal Alchemist. It was funny just how stylistically similar it was to her past work, I mean that gym teacher is just Major Armstrong. I had a lot of fun reading Silver Spoon. I've never really experienced anything like this manga previously, the subject of farming and agriculture isn't one I've seen covered before. Farming is really interesting to me, and growing my own food is something I've wanted to do for a while so I enjoyed reading Silver Spoon. I found it interesting how in the first chapter the upperclassmen just slaughter a chicken like it's nothing, because this is just normal to them. Getting the perspective of someone who has experience in this industry in the form of a comic was really neat, especially because it's not something frequently covered.
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Isekai: That Time I got Reincarnated as a Slime

I don't really have much experience with Isekai as a genre, but after thinking about it for a bit I realized that the very first anime I watched,  Bleach,  could also be considered Isekai, as well as many others I had never considered anything other than Shonen. Bakugan is an Isekai, that's what I've decided. Anyway,  That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime is a manga about a man who dies and gets reincarnated as a slime, duh. I'd never heard of this series before reading it but it was definitely an interesting one. I'm a huge fan of fantasy related stories so I had a lot of fun with it and actually managed to make it a few chapters in. I think right away this manga grabs your attention with just how weird of a premise it has, the entire time I was reading it I was just dying to see how ridiculously overpowered this slime could become.
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Junji Ito

For this weeks reading I read the first chapter of Tomie  and the entirety of Hellstar Remina and Gyo . I've been familiar with Junji Ito's work but before now never really read much of it, I think the only works of his that I've read previously is The Enigma of Amigara Fault . Something that I find really interesting about Junji Ito is just how varied his stories are, some are psychological or more science fiction while others are just straight up gross (i.e. Gyo ). After reading Gyo  I just wanted to ask him "Hey man, what the heck?". Was he just like "What if we made farts sentient and gave them bodies so they could unionize?". It was really weird and gross, I hated it but I couldn't stop reading it and I think that really says something about just how great Junji Ito's storytelling is.
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Akira + Ghost in the Shell

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AKIRA Akira is a film that really has it all. Body horror, politics, police brutality, fanatical religious groups, human experimentation, and more. I've only seen Akira once before, and was surprised to see just how much I didn't catch onto the first time around or didn't remember. This film is a unique one, I've never seen anything like it. I don't have much reference to go on as far as 80s anime goes aside from the Devilman OVA from 1987, but the animation is amazing, particularly the characters. The characters' movements and expressions are nuanced and realistic, especially their hand gestures and faces. Honestly I was blown away by just about every shot, the cityscapes in Akira and backgrounds in general are beautifully detailed. I made the mistake of watching the dub this time around out of curiosity and it wasn't great, the voice acting was completely out of sync with the characters' lip flaps and just not very good in general at times. I don...
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Solo Exchange Diary

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This is my "Solo Exchange Diary". It's about dealing with self-imposed deadlines and getting your priorities straight.
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