Alternatively Alternative

It’s been quite some time since I’ve written out something here. The recent anime have mostly been quite pleasant viewing, but I wasn’t in the mood to put out my opinions on them on a blog post, as they didn’t strike me as anything particularly awesome in the first place anyway (that, or I’m just too lazy to do anything). While the current season has been surprisingly enjoyable thus far, my notion that the winter season is mostly a transitional season for the blockbuster that is spring looks like it could be true. There are a slew of new TV anime/OVAs/movies that look mightily promising, plus the sheer amount of anime in general next season is something I haven’t seen in a while. If you’re particularly bored of anime this season, then hibernating for a month should be a plenty good idea.

Or, if you’re not exactly the hibernating type, you could just read more manga. I’ve been really out of the loop when it comes to current manga so I can’t say anything about it, but surfing through past titles should also be a worthwhile activity. There are literally hundreds more manga than there is anime, so there are bound to be some gems to be found here and there. I’m sure most have also stockpiled a considerably extensive backlog, so it’s also a nice idea to chip at it bit by bit. I’ve hoarded a lot of stuff over time myself. The feeling of being impressed by a story that’s been put off for very long is a good, if not a rare feeling.

hang this up on walls

 

Obrigado! (Shinkichi Kato)

The main impressive thing about manga is that it’s just so vast. People could cover every kind of material (and then some) and have it released to the reading public. Just about every aspect of life (or anything under the sun, really) has been drawn about, but there still is a lot of impressively inventive pieces of work being put out. Of course the industry is a business, and everyone involved is out there to make money, but the sheer vastness of the industry itself has given opportunities to a multitude of excellent artists/storytellers to effectively exercise their talents and creativity in their own personalized styles. Not necessarily does commercial purposes mean the lack of individualistic creativity. The fact that anime has continuously approached manga for material over the years for its own stories gives proof to manga’s breadth. Just as there are a boatload of fluff on the surface of the medium, I’m plenty sure there are also a boatload of good stuff hidden beneath it. We just aren’t exposed to it heavily enough.