Monthly Round-up: April

Not much in the way of anime again this month, but a decent amount of manga.
 
Anime I've Watched:

• Bleach - Still not finished this yet. Really should as I only have about 12 episodes left to go.
• Recorder to Randoseru - Meh. I reviewed this recently for Anime-Planet and summed the whole series up in one word: average. It was funny at odd times, but relies too much on one joke, which soon wears out its welcome.

Ongoing Anime I've Watched:

• Poyopoyo

Manga I've Read:

• Mononoke -Finally managed to finish reading the last few chapters of this. As much as I enjoyed this arc while watching the otherwise less-than-stellar Ayakashi Japanese Horror, I never quite got into the manga. I mainly put this down to only having one chapter every couple of months. Maybe I'd have liked it more had I read it all in one go. Likewise, I think the visuals worked better in the abnime, at times some of the manga looked a little... messy by comparison.
• Old Boy -This is unlike pretty much anything I normally read, but I really enjoyed it. I loved seeing how the conspiracy slowly unravelled and became more complicated. Definitely well worth a look.
• Monster Hunter Orage - This wasn't too bad, but a bit on the disappointing side for two main reasons. Firstly, the story was really rushed and all of a sudden it was at the final battle after little build up. Secondly, while reading it, it felt like an older Hiro Mashima work, with shadows of what would become Fairy Tail characters; except it was actually created a couple of years AFTER Fairy Tail began, so instead it feels more like a cheap knock-off of better works.
• Bakuman -I confess, I'm kind of bummed that Bakuman ended, but only because I'm goign to miss my weekly dose of this excellent series. In truth, it's better they stopped it when they did as otherwise I think it'd be going too far - a little like Bleach after the Aizen stuff, though annoyingly Kubo's new arc is getting pretty good. I really could gush about this series all day, btu I'll save that for another time.

Ongoing Manga I've Read:

• Bleach
• Vinland Saga
• Ao no Exorcist
• Naruto
• One Piece
• Mangaka-san to Assistant-san to
• K-On!
• Beelzebub
• Good Ending
• Rock Lee's Springtime of Youth
• Gin no Saji
• House of Five Leaves 
• Otoyomegatari
• Shinryaku! Ika-Musume

Monthly Round-up: March

March was a fairly busy month for me real life wise, so anime was a little thin on the ground in the end. Apart from all the Bleach - and I'm still not done with that.

Ongoing Anime I've Watched:

• Bleach so much Bleach.

Manga I've Read:

• Good Ending - There are still a few series left for me to catch up on from the 25 Days of Manga extravanganza, and having dipped into a slight manga slump for a week, I decided to make a comeback by reading Good Ending. The more I read, the more it's turning into a harem series, yet somehow I'm really enjoying it.
• Little Little - Little Little is my first experience of textless manga, and frankly I found myself enthralled. I always find any medium that attempts to communicate without the aid of dialogue intriguing, as sometimes the story can be more poignant. I admit that a couple of times I did lose slightly what was going on, but for the most part, I really enjoyed this beautifully-drawn manga about a sickly girl and her new fox-girl friend.
• Violet Blossoms - I had been looking forward to reading this oneshot for a while since the artwork is from Kaoru Mori, mangaka of Emma. The visuals didn't disappoint, though I can't help but feel that Mori really shines when she gets to recreate a lavish period world. Plot wise, the whole thing was kinda meh. I'm not entirely sure I got what the final few panels were about, but it was an OK manga, for a short read.
• Ibitsu - While I'm not normally one for horror anime, I don't mind the odd scary manga, and Ibitsu had been on my list for a while. I confess now, that I probably shouldn't have read it late at night with the lights off just before going to bed, but I genuinely found it quite creepy. The "Little Sister" character is genuinely eerie with her tattered lolita clothes and gaunt, psychotic face. I won't give too much away on this since I may write more on this at a later date. But seriously, if you like horror, go read. Now.

Ongoing Manga I've Read:

• One Piece
• Naruto
• Bleach
• Gin no Saji
• Bakuman
• Nichijou
• Shinryaku! Ika Musume
• K-On!
• Buyuden
• All Rounder Meguru
• Otoyomegatari
• Beelzebub
• Black Bird
• Hanamaru Youchien

Monthly Round-up: February

Well, I've been a bit more prolific this month with any anime watching, and am slowly getting back into the swing of things.
 
Anime I've Watched:

• Working'!! -Along with Bakuman. and Chihayafuru, Working'!! has been one of my favourite series of Fall 2011. With a more balanced depiction of thecast, it's been fa more entertaining than the first series. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and was genuinely upset to watch the final episode knowing that I wouldn't get to look forward to watching the next episode. Now All I can hope is that they license it over here.
• Shinryaku!? Ika Musume - I'm not sure why, but I lost a little steam when finishing off this series. It's good easy fun, but I reckon that I may still be suffering from withdrawal of season one's ultra catchy opening. It's just not quite Ika-chan without the Shinryaku! Shinryaku! Shinryaku! Shinryaku! at the beginning to make you brain melt out of your ears. 
• Ben-To - So I finally finished watching this series, though by the end it was a complete struggle and I enjoyed it about as much as a dog crap donburi. While it initally seemed like a fresh and enticingly quirky series it soon became stale and once the humour of the supermarket battles waned, there really wasn't all that much left to tune in for.
• Poyopoyo - Oh my god is this cute! I can't honestly say that I'm as enamoured with this as I was with Chi's Sweet Home, but I'm certainly enjoying it. Poyo himself is an enigmatic ball of awesome even though the poor bugger keeps getting sodomised by next door's cat. Light, entertaining and above all, fun. Definitely can't wait for more of this. 
• Kill Me Baby - I started the Kill Me Baby manga last year and quite enjoyed it, so when I saw that there was to be an anime, I quite anticipated it. I have to say that it's not bad. Not brilliant, but not bad. I find the manga more enjoyable, but I don't think it's quite as awesome as it could be. Little bit of a disappointment. 
• Fullmetal Alchemist: The Sacred Star of Milos - Thanks to Conqueror of Shamballa, I have a fairly low quality bar when it comes to what makes a good Alchemist movie. Essentially, if it doesn't mess with and ultimately ruin the end of eier series, then it's all good in my book! Luckily Sacred Star of Milos didn't ruin anything. It's not one of the most spectacular shounen franchise movies out there, but better than most. For me it sadly fell into the trap that most other films do, it may have awesome action, but somehow the original vibe gets somehow lost along the way. 

Ongoing Anime I've Watched:

• Bakuman
• Naruto Shippuuden
• One Piece
• Chibi Devi 
• Gintama (Resolution Anime - currently 159 episodes to go until completed)

Manga I've Read:

• Working! -While suffering from withdrawal of the anime, I decided to start the Working! manga. I have to say that I've been thoroughly enjoying it, though the artwork looked a little odd a first. Definitely an ideal read for
• Shinryaku! Ika Musume - Oddly enough, I found myself enjoying the Ika-chan manga more than the anime. It's nice, light relief and a really easy read. I did find that it was comfort reading, which is why I powered through the majority of it while I was ill this month. Also the short chapters make it ideal for picking up if you only have a few spare minutes.
• Onani Master Kurosawa - This was an odd manga. I've already gone into this in more depth in a previous post, but it was an odd one. To this day, I'm still not sure whether I actually enjoyed it or not. It was odd and I found it interesting, but to say like or enjoy is something I'd find difficult to ascertain. Aditionally, I also read the light novel, which continues on after the events of the manga. It provided a fairly stark contrast to the unsavoury nature of the manga, and frankly not much happened. The novel basically felt like a fluff filler DVD special that can be taken or left. 

Ongoing Manga I've Read:

• One Piece
• Naruto
• Bleach
• Gin no Saji
• Beelzebub
• All Rounder Meguru
• Fairy Tail
• Acid Town
• Black Bird
• Bakuman
• Nichijou
• Buyuden
• Teppuu

Monthly Round-up: January

First up I have an apology to make for the severe lack of posts this month. There's little good excuse and I've certainly failed hardcore at the "Blog more" resolution I made. 

Initially I had planned to do a weekly round-up of what I've been watching and reading, but thanks to my (possibly unhealthy) addiction to Skyrim, before I knew it I'd already missed the first two weeks. So, I decided to do a monthly one instead. At the moment I'm not entirely sure how these posts will go, and they may well morph into something completely different, but we'll see how it goes. I'm also hoping that by keeping a record of what I've watched/read this year, my next 12 Days of Christmas post may be a little easier, since last year I forgot what I'd seen in 2011 and what I'd watched before!

Anime I've Watched:

• Arrietty - I've barely watched any anime this month, but it felt quite fitting that my first of the year was a Ghibli film, and the latest one at that! Thoroughly enjoyed it, though wasn't quite as blown away as I had expected to be. Still loved it nonetheless.
• Morita-san wa Mukuchi 2 - I finally finished off the last episode of this, and while it's harmless enough, I'm kind of glad it's over. I was definitely getting more and more bored throughout the series' run.

Ongoing Anime I've Watched

• Chibi Devi

Manga I've Read:

• Vinland Saga - From starting at volume four, I've now managed to get up to date on this, and damn it's good! It's definitely very tough going to reading it as it's scanlated.
• Black Paradox - The final two chapters of this were finally scanlated, so I managed to finish it off, and even by Junji Ito's standards, it's bloody weird!Definitely not my favourite of his works so far, but it won't put me off reading any more.
• Faster Than A Kiss - Another of the 25 Days manga that I wanted to get up to date on. Quite enjoy it, though at one point I found it a bit repetitive. It definitely got more interesting when it started delving into Kazuma's past and his relationship with his family.
• Black Bird - Again, a 25 Days request that I wanted to get up to date on. Still really enjoying this one, especially since while it has all the shoujo romance, it also has a fair bit about the politics of the youkai clans, which for me gives this series an extra edge.
• All Rounder Meguru - Now up to date on this 25 Days manga. Still enjoying this one. I must say I remain surprised at how much I've enjoyed the mixed martial arts manga I've read. I assumed my love for HSDK was mainly due to the humour of the Masters (which it is) but I think there's also some inherent part of me that enjoys the combat side.
• Nichijou - Started and read all that's translated of this. I've certainly gained more of a fondness for Nichijou than when I first started the anime. No longer bored by it and find it quite amusing.
• Hanamaru Youchien - Another series I picked up and have read all that has been translated. Just as cute as the anime, shame that not more of it is available to read.

Ongoing Manga I've Read:

• Bleach
• Naruto
• One Piece
• Beelzebub
• Bakuman
• Fairy Tail
• Ao no Exorcist
• Mononoke
• Kill Me Baby
• Otoyomegatari
• History's Strongest Disciple Kenichi (Resolution Manga - currently 262 chapters to go til up to date)

 As you can see from the above list, I've been shockingly poor with anime this month - something that I'm working on this month as I still haven't finished most of the Fall season, and I owe a post on my final thoughts, with luck that should be coming soon, alongside a post on whatever Winter titles I eventually pick up.