#13 Au Revoir Jerome (2021)

This short film was shared by one of my students in my animation class. It’s visually experimental and developed by a small team of art students. Story was solid and emotions were realistic in this piece. It was interesting to say the least.

#12 Message to Adolf by Osamu Tezuka (1-4)

This one was very good. I realize I like Tezuka’s work when it is set in a realistic setting, and plays more into drama and thrill. You see the more manic parts of war come to life with how each character is written. Good read.

Haven’t finished my current read yet, I’ve been putting some time into gaming. This is my current grind. Reading will come back soon

Title drop: Cardcaptor Sakura by CLAMP

I see the appeal. It’s not for me. The art is very pretty, but the soft line-weight makes panels hard to follow.

#11 Witches by Daisuke Igarashi

What I thought would be visually and narratively off-putting, I found myself enamored by the drawings and the float-iness of the story. It was intriguing, which stemmed my enjoyment for this series of short stories

#10 Devilman by Go Nagai

In this collection, it covers the main story arc which is actually really good as well as the arc where the two MCs travel through time and support Adolf Hitler’s art career + party with native Americans — which was dogshit. Just watch Devilman Crybaby.

#9 Riding Bean (1989)

I swear, this was one of the most ‘MERICAN pieces of Japanese media I’ve seen. Guns, cool cars, and an overpowered MC— which we don’t know why he’s as overpowered as he is. Solid short film.

#8 Junji Ito’s Cat Diary: Yon & Mu

This one was really cute. As a cat owner, I liked this one a lot. It’s short, sweet, and as always, great art.

#7 Tombs (Story Collection) by Junji Ito

I felt as a number of the stories in this collection were some of his stronger work. Not every story was great but there were some solid pieces here.

#6 Gantz G by Oku & Iizuka (V1-3)

This took everything that made Gantz interesting and balled it up to airball it into a trashcan fire. Inviting another writer and artist unfortunately made the series feel bland and the stakes did not feel as high.

#5 Gantz by Hiroya Oku (V1-37)

Holy shit was this one good. I did not expect this series to have me convey the emotions it ended up feeling, but this is, I’d consider, to be a top contender. I do feel like it needs an epilogue. What happens after the last page? Monumental

This next one is going to take some time; however, despite the length of the series, I’m getting through it pretty quickly. Micro review coming soon

#4 Super Sentai Himitsu Sentai Gorenger [classic collection] by Shotaro Ishinomori

I didn’t care for this one. While this was the origin for multi-colored powerful fighting groups, I found the episodic nature of the story to be meaningless, with no negative consequences. There was 1 cool panel tho

#3 The Quest For The Missing Girl by Jiro Taniguchi

This one was pretty good. Nothing too complex story-wise, but amazing art, likable characters, and I feel it’s one of those stories I could actually go back to.

#2 Manga Dogs by Ema Toyama (1-3)

This was the epitome of a solid series. It was episodic, satirical, and unserious, but despite all that, it kept references and industry notes relevant and fresh.

This would work well as a short anime if it hadn’t gotten an adaptation already.

#1 Lovecraft’s The Colour Out of Space by Gou Tanabe

Nice short tale that took place near where I live. Wish the pages were bigger as the art is quite nice. I wish there was more cosmic horror that isn’t lovecraftian.

FINAL FINAL TITLE: Undead Messiah by Giz Zarbo (Vol. 1-3)

This one had potential to be a simple zombie story. However, I felt as the plot was super overcomplicated with multi-level zombies that the characters had to keep describing. It was close to being a solid title.

FINAL TITLE: Elfen Lied by Lynn Okamoto (Vol. 1-12)

This is one of my favorite anime despite numerous points that make it undesirable. I looked forward to reading it. The highs were quite high, the lows are deplorable, but I found myself bored and even thrown off by the manga ending. Disappointing…

It was a pleasure doing this thread for an entire year. I don’t think I’ll be reading or watching more this year, but that is subject to change. I’ll add anything else to the end of this thread.

Should I continue a 2026 thread next year?