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2020 would have managed to kill almost all of us, if not for the entertainment industry churning out great products for every medium be it film, games and especially animation. Anime in 2020 saw a skyrocketing viewer count, with shows reaching levels of viewership never seen before in terms of rating. This has carried on into 2021, and anime is booming. There’s a ton of great anime being released, previewed and aired! Seeing some of the biggest names in anime being aired has 2021 seeming like another awesome year for anime fans! Here is a list of the best 5 anime currently airing for whoever wants to remain up to date on their anime info!
5. One Piece What can one say about One Piece that hasn’t already been said? Reigning supreme in carrying one of the most loyal fan bases in the history of anime. One Piece has remained consistent for over two decades at this point, while the fans have loved the content for more than 20 years, there’s more and more people starting to get into One Piece. The story focuses on Monkey D. Luffy who is a skinny scrawny kid that sets out on a life changing journey to find the treasure known as One Piece, inspired by his idol Red Haired Shanks. One Piece has managed to remain consistent for so long because of its ever expanding cast of characters, its ever evolving storylines and the sheer amount of talent in their writing time. 4. Jujutsu Kaisen Jujutsu Kaisen is one of the most popular new anime out to watch. The show is simply awesome; one could consider it the Harry Potter of the anime world. The show focuses on Yuji Itadori, young high school student who is not really liked by anyone, suddenly he is cursed with a magical spell and his immense control over it leads to him being recruited into the Tokyo Metropolitan Magic Technical College. This is where the rest of the anime takes place, the series is full of twists and turns and is super reminiscent of the popular Harry Potter books, if the characters were all badass. The series has stunning animation, created by none other than MAPPA who are known for their true to manga art style and smooth animation. 3. Re Zero Re-Zero is one of the latest Isekai anime series that just blew up in 2020. The show became so popular for a multitude of reasons, whether it was the brilliant art style, whacky cast of characters that often times confuse you (?) or it’s the weirdly unorthodox story line the show has. Re-Zero’s popularity in the past year or two has grown so much that it has reached top of the charts in terms of TRP, more than once. The series was created by the studio White Fox; these are veterans of the anime genre, creating masterpieces such as Steins Gate and Akame Ga Kill. The series follows Subaru Natsuki as he enters an unknown realm, and being completely caught up into a world of politics and mystery meeting new whacky characters. This show has everything packing; comedy, action and emotion. 2. Promised Neverland Promised Neverland is a dark anime, probably the darkest to come out in recent memory. This anime was taken from the manga of the same name published in the Weekly Shonen Jump magazine and it was later adapted and produced by CloverWorks studios. The show revolves around a group of children in an orphanage who begins to sense the sinister plots that run behind closed doors in this orphanage. The three main characters are Emma, Ray and Norman, while the creepy caretaker who they inadvertently call “mom” is known as Isabella, and her terrifying plots run deep within the roots of the orphanage. This anime is not for everyone but if you dare to get immersed within this world, then this show is packing a ton of visceral emotions for you to quench your anime thirst. 1. Shingeki no Kyojin: The Final Season Shingeki no Kyojin or more popularly known as Attack on Titan, will go down guns blazing in its final season of animation. Previously developed by WIT Studios, but now taken over by MAPPA as WIT was too busy creating Vinland Saga; Shingeki no Kyojin’s final season will see almost a decade worth of wait for fans becoming fruitful. The story follows Eren Jager, Armin and Mikasa Ackermann after Eren’s mother is eaten by Titans and his father goes missing, Eren’s quest for vengeance starts out as a slow burn full of shocking twists and turns that Isayama (The author of the manga) is famous for. This is a long running series, despite being only four seasons has kept a lot of fans waiting for it to be finally adapted properly and released. Lucky for the fans, this season will wrap everything up, all three seasons of story and build up has led to this final season of Shingeki no Kyojin. With only the top talent in voice acting, animation and music, Eren Jager and his story’s ultimate climax will be one of the biggest things in anime history to date; and we will all be there for it. Written by - Zaintechnology Kanazuki no Miko may be one of the most prominent anime and manga of the Yuri genre. The anime took a very different direction from the start in relation to its manga as a lot of anime did during that time. So with the announcement of Himegami no Miko, a new spin-off it from the original authors, all fans of this iconic series were left with a thousand questions going through their heads. Especially what relationship it would have with the maidens of the sanctuary we already knew. With a few chapters realized, next we will tell you what we know until now! Avoiding spoilers as much as we can of course, so you can still enjoy this as much as we would love you to.  “The highborn Himemiya Chikane is cool and aloof, the perfect young lady of good breeding. Kurusegawa Himeko is devoted to her, and secretly her friend. Their lives are undisturbed in their school until an ancient evil suddenly rears its head on the girls' shared sixteenth birthday. To combat it, Chikane and Himeko must take on the roles of shrine maidens of the Moon and Sun.”- KnM summary 1.- ANIME OR MANGA TIMELINE?  After the conclusion of both anime and manga (with a final chapter that, although I watched it several and perhaps too many times, continues to break my heart) the only light at the end of the road we received was: In the manga, that they have reincarnated as sisters. And in the Anime, a post-credit scene where it is implied that the two of them got to meet again, although we do not know if it was in that same life (unlikely) or in another. It was a surprise that the same team of mangaka's from the original manga work confirmed that this would be a spin-off sited in the anime timeline, which would present us the most recent reincarnation of the shrine maidens. 2- 2020 UPDATED CHARACTERS  A new Himeko and a new Chikane that, although they are clearly mirroring to their previous past-selves, also have a few quite clear differences from their predecessors from 2004 Himeko on the one hand is introducing as more loving than before and unafraid to express her feelings towards Chikane, with a sincerer look and more expressive character design. And something that sets a fairly large gap concerning her previous reincarnation, is that from the beginning she is much much clearer with what she wants and expresses, being very fond of Chikane from starters and being clear in communicating these feelings.  But yes, her clumsiness, love for sweets, and photography have not changed. On the other hand, this time we see a stronger and more determined Chikane without losing her maiden elegance. Neither in this new "Reincarnation" has she lost her exuberant beauty nor her fantastic silhouette, on the contrary, in this new drawing style her character design has been improved so much that her eyes are more penetrating and her features more delineated, which gives her the air of a very mysterious girl. We also get to see that she is more expressive in this new release. On several occasions that quiet and cool persona we were used to, becomes explosive and / or very expressive. For example:  3.- THINGS THAT NEVER CHANGE  To not lose the habit, one of the two must die, and Chikane initially appears to be the antagonist. Although I would not know whether to trust her words, mainly because of what we saw in the series. Her villain performance is perfect, all for Himeko to end up killing her instead as a sacrifice to the Moon Shrine. But for now, all we know is that Chikane is aware of her status as a moon maiden and accepts her fate, scheming a plan to kill Himeko after bringing her back to their hometown to fulfill the cycle of the maidens. And on the contrary, Himeko scaped from their hometown rejecting such a fate of having to kill eachother. Kannazuki no Miko means The Maidens of the month without God, so it is very clear that the story is always going to have a “dark and more sinister side”. Kaishaku once more introduces us to this plot full of suspense but now with us knowing that one of the girls needs to die by the hands of the other from starters. And that that has been unavoidable in all the previous reincarnations to save the world from Orochi. That's the eternal cycle of the maidens. AFTERTHOUGHTS  I hope this time, the feelings involved between them, the ones that always make each of the cycles more complicated, finally find a light of hope in this new life, an outcome where they can be together. Because they have a love that transcends in all their reincarnations and that deserves a happy ending.
Himegami no Miko means Maidens of the Goddess, my hopes are that even with the big chance of the ending being similar to the original series, that won’t happen. But well, that’s something we can’t tell for sure until the conclusion of this great new project. Kaishaku sensei expressed through his twitter that he had a lot of faith in this new manga, so we can tell for sure that he has put a lot of effort into it. Chronologically speaking, exactly 16 years from the original serialization have passed, so this reincarnation is totally valid because, at this time, the girls of the new manga are about or already turned 16. This shows that Kaishaku-sensei has been planning this comeback of the maidens in every detail. Written by - Raon2812  I guess I should start from the beginning. The beginning of when Manga was introduced to me at the ripe age of eight. Man it rocked my world! I believe Guyver was my first introduction into the wonderful universe of Manga. Staying up to watch the Sci-fi channel, being completely captivated by the rawness of their stories, and fascinated by the ultra violence they portrayed. Just imagine an eight-year-old kid, mouth and eyes wide open in front of the tv, just to watch some person getting their head torn off. Truly marvellous I thought. Like so many of us, my childhood was not a great one, so I guess the good memories are something that has firmly latched onto my psyche. How can these old ass cartoons still impress me? To even have Devilman show up again on Netflix, well, you can imagine how I screamed like a schoolgirl seeing their favourite popstar. In terms of their unique stories and perspective, their emotional impact, or their presentation, Manga is still in a league of its own. I always wondered why I kept watching them, even after two decades. And its because they still evoke an emotion. Some must cater to a broader audience now, I get that, but man, some really do push the boat out in terms of originality. So when I started reading, I noticed a lot of published fantasy was either Harry potter, Witcher, Lord of the rings, or Game of thrones inspired. Not discrediting them by any means, they're amazing! But I saw an opportunity to create something different. Mind you, Manga novels have been around for a long time, and I’ve enjoyed many of them. But I still felt like I could bring something new to the table. I didn’t know what at the time, it was just a crazy feeling I had that wouldn’t go away. Kinda like that random cat you feed near your house, and it would follow you every time you returned home. (I give good analogies I know)
So I went on youtube. “Oh sweet glorious youtube, how you changed my life.” Just like the books I was reading; I consumed every video on writing. We’re talking thousands upon thousands of writing tips, the do’s and don’ts, bad tropes and clichés, the Mary sues, different POV’s, author voice, even imposter syndrome. The list goes on! I watched every Brandon Sanderson class on writing. (Which is free on youtube by the way, so check that out if you’re interested) His classes helped me so much I wanted more. So I invested in myself and paid for a masterclass in writing. There were so many great creators on it, but in the end, I chose the god that is Neil Gaiman. (Cue holy music) I was listening to the Sandman audible at the time, so it made sense, but hand on heart, it was the best investment of my life! My whole process in writing had changed, my ideas and planning became laser focused, and I genuinely felt like a better writer because of it. During all these video views and classes, I wrote two novels. Its nothing to brag about, as I was in lockdown, and would have gone stir crazy if I weren’t letting my ideas take form in some way. My hours of writing far surpassed my watching of videos, and it was evident I was developing my own voice. But something was missing, that key element that made me want to get into this difficult and often tedious profession. I was happy with my plot structure, happy with the realistic dialogue, but the action still felt “Hollywood” if you know what I mean. So, I went into full geek mode. I watched every movie that involved the Martial Arts (which was a staggering amount let me tell you) and watched all my favourite Manga’s... again. However, this time, I was taking notes, analysing and writing down every action scene - the way they moved, the angle they struck their opponents, the reason I had an emotional impact from that particular scene, all written down in my flimsy ass notepad. I could also tell you that I did this weird mantra for every movie I loved. For dialogue, I watched everything Quentin Tarantino, which is why I pay homage to him so much in my work. For action, I went everywhere, from the Matrix, to the Raid, to Robocop (the original of course) the new one makes me cry, and they are not tears of joy. I’ve always had a fixated interest in psychology, and my previous employment required training in all thing’s mental health, de-escalation techniques, and more, due to the vulnerable and chaotic people I supported. I also played a lot of video games within the genre I wanted to write in. Silent hill, Outlast, Final Fantasy, to name a few. I would pause the game and write down what happened to conjure the fear factor within me, or what moment made me feel like a complete badass. I’m not saying people need to do this, everyone learns in different ways, but I knew my own writing needed this level of commitment for my vision to manifest, as I am more of a visual learner. People can either love or hate your writing, but at least I can say I put the work in, I can say my stories are inspired by the greats, but will always be original, never carbon copies or the watered-down version. I want readers to experience the same feelings I had when I was eight-years-old, when my eyes were wide, and I knew instinctively that this was the coolest, most unique thing ever. So allow me to formally welcome you to the world of J.R. Manga. Support, reviews, shares, and likes, are all greatly appreciated. They keep introvert writers like me going. |
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August 2023
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