3101 replies to this topic

[penrosecat]

Don't just assume other people's unspecified timeframes

[pokari]

Oh. So it was not over the course of 3 femtoseconds?

[penrosecat]

Yeah, it was. But assumptions are rude :^(

[pokari]

I am sorry. I will be sure to take full responsibility for this misstep at a later, unspecified date. v.v

[pokari]

I will now take responsibility no, wait, start talking to myself, apparently.

What—it's about time I picked up the honoured tradition, don't you think?

Edited by pokari, 04 December 2018 - 02:33 AM.

[penrosecat]

aaahh sorry about this.

 

Being on a break sucks! I'm bored out of my mind +_+

 

It seems I got so used to working highly effectively in low power mode with very little sleep that I started enjoying that process and now I can't function properly if those conditions aren't imposed on me. And now I have to get fattened up for a month. I miss my cycle already T_T

 

I guess this is where adulting becomes roboting instead. 

 

I'm reading books and stuff now, so I guess it's ok.

 

I also wasn't able to find any good manga for a long time now (including yaoi), but I decided to read something I had been holding off for long and it was pretty nice, so I was able to spend time for two days like that. Here it is: https://mangadex.org/title/7950/hinamatsuri

 

I also read the slime isekai which is 'number one', it sure was boring, but I kept reading it in a daze. Now that I think back to the time when I was actually reading it, I feel scared about reading it again. 

[pokari]

*headpat* No need to apologise :'3

Well, the position of "most followed" manga is an indication of the breadth of it's appeal, rather than the depth thereof. As indicated by some of the other stuff that ends up in that section—all of them easily digestible, only one or two bring anything more than a slight twist to a tried-and-true formula.

I do kind of like the slime one, but—in keeping with what I just said—not so much that I'd go out of my way to recommend it to someone. I just think it's kind of nice and not spectacularly offensive, and occasionally has its moments.

Sort by rating and the quality does go up a bit, thanks to mangadex's readers having at least some collective good taste (as opposed to more fanservice = higher rating, which is what mangafox used to be like IIRC). Everything still has relatively broad appeal at least with the segment of readers likely to try reading it (because if it didn't, it would get downvotes from misaimed fandom), but it's all quality stuff in one way or another.

But, honestly, the only real way to find all the good stuff is to try everything :/

I think I just spent way more time than was necessary saying something really obvious ~w~;

On the subject of yaoi, I did end up reading some yesterday—one of those "that cover looks intriguing and my stomach feels sufficiently hardened against potential ick today" moments. Critically speaking, I thought it was pretty decent—it did a somewhat decent job of seriously contemplating the issues of romantic developments between people who are in a somewhat questionable position to do so, (in this case, a little too close for that to be comfortable (i.e. sort-of-but-not-exactly-family), and similarly an age gap large enough to be a bit uncomfortable though not criminal) without ever getting too far into "ick" territory, which is a difficult balancing act to pull off. The flip-side is it's a good thing I decided to read it when my tolerences were high ~w~;; (though, it wasn't actually particularly graphic as yaoi goes, most lewd bits were surprisingly non-gratuitous for the genre) And it may not exactly be a "fun" read.

In other news...

Being addicted to work is a real thing—it is not a problem I've had personally, though. Culturally, it is the behavioural addiction that is most encouraged of all, quite possibly, I think. (Is addiction ever a good thing? I don't know.) Yet it definitely can get to the point where it is a problem (neglecting health and mental health, becoming unable to enjoy other aspects of life, that sort of thing). Of course, that might not be what you have going on at all, though ay least superficially your description sounds pretty textbook. :/

So, take care of youself, okay? u~u

Edited by pokari, 05 December 2018 - 01:40 AM.

[PItiful Boar]

is that the one where you take over the world as a slime? I think the slime actually projects the image of a little grill at some point and that's where i decided not to trust the author anymoar. why lower oneself to be a mere primate. slimes are so much more cooler

[pokari]

Technically I think the human form is non-gendered. Which doesn't really make a difference, but I mildly appreciate the nerdiness and pedantry involved in saying, "no, slimes have no gender".

Honestly, that series keeps seeming like it's going to go downhill for me, and then recovers to its normal above-the-waterline state. I don't know how long it will last, though.

Everything has to go downhill eventually if it goes on too long, right...? ...Is that how it works? It feels like probabilistically it must be, but applying probability to ongoing authoring of something seems potentially mucky.

[penrosecat]

Well, a forecast differs a lot from a prediction.

 

And so, yes, it is actually pretty mucky to apply concise probability theory to something like unauthored chapters, which more likely comes in the domain of chaos theory, a butterfly flapping its wings in the mangaka's lawn will lead to a new problem in the next chapter. A similar problem is in economic forecasting. Weather is a bit better because even though it is chaotic, the atmosphere is right above us so we can get a good look at stuff and 'map' it properly in ye olde supercomputer overlords. But whatever.

 

In short though, THAT series is pretty much unreadable nao :^( too repetitive and never-ending adventure-like.

 

These days I feel like only trashy stuff is getting updated, or those highly popular series which have become trashy due to being highly popular.

[PItiful Boar]

basically wut happened to Bleach, and tower of god

Edited by Feishy Pit Boar, 07 December 2018 - 06:40 PM.

[PItiful Boar]

there are not that many things that i follow these days

urgh i want my youth back

[pokari]

I was sort of feeling that way about anime the last couple years ("These days I feel like only trashy stuff is getting updated", not the series' dragging on for forever).

With mangadex coming out and churning over all the old manga (by re-posting it, that is) I switched to just manga for a while and really the only anime I watched much of in the second half of this year was the shoujo one with the inn in the yokai world (which is incredibly up my alley in terms of personal preference).

That's kind of new for me, I previously watched five or six series a year (or 2-3 at any given time). It's not clear to me whether A ) the quality of series really was getting lower, B ) I was juat getting used to everything and less stuff seemed new because I'd seen it all before, or C ) I'd gone through enough of old series that it was getting harder to just pull out something interesting from the backlog whenever I got bored.

It may have been any combination of those things, of course. So likewise, while I don't feel like I'm running out of good things to read right now, that might for instance be because there's still piles upon piles of old scans that I haven't read yet. I don't know.

I'll happily agreee that isekai are lowering the average storytelling quality of new scanlation releases, though ~w~; It's a little horrifying to think that I'm mostly only reading the ones that were popular enough to be made into manga and then get a fan translation.

Edited by pokari, 07 December 2018 - 07:47 PM.

[penrosecat]

since manga is my sole diet, and that too only a certain range of it, because it seems like I can't really gel with 90s stuff, and the totally new stuff has that 'smooth' art I hate and just wayyy too much focus on the characters than is needed. The inbetween manga are nice, with things like huge last panels having only beautiful scenery (one of many small things which makes reading manga fun)

 

also the super new ones are more like 'junk food manga', directly fulfilling a particular 'want', which even the readers would in retrospect was not thought out to any depth, e.g. female knight, isekai stuff, gender benders, traps, SUGOI DEKAI(srsly wtf is this)

OH looks like the default profile pic for mangadex changed. For Christmas, maybe?

---

 

more on choosing high rated manga,

 

when you actually sort by rating, the [10.00 with only one vote]s actually come on top, so follows are the only real metric to properly track "popular" manga

[pokari]

Mmm... Yeah, they implemented a minimum-number-of-votes feature for the front page but not for use with search.

To some extent you can just "filter" manually—search and sort by rating, skip past the first page or so of perfect 10.0 svore that only have one vote, and then scroll through while glancing at the views/follows columns to fin the ones that were popular enough that the rating is battle-proven.

The only problem with this is that to the extent that it works, you'll end up reading all the good stuff first and then run out? Or so it would seem. Which is why I just look at everything :'D

I can't really gel with 90s stuff, and the totally new stuff has that 'smooth' art I hate and just wayyy too much focus on the characters than is needed. The inbetween manga are nice, with things like huge last panels having only beautiful scenery (one of many small things which makes reading manga fun)

I grew up with the 90's stuff so it's nostalgic for me, but I know the problen of going backwards (I have only so much patience for most 70's stuff, for instance, with the notable exception of Black Jack).

By too much focus on the characters, do you mean in the plot or in the art? I think any increase in focus on character-building is basically a good thing, but I can understand being upset at just a comic full of faces and dialogue.

 
also the super new ones are more like 'junk food manga', directly fulfilling a particular 'want', which even the readers would in retrospect was not thought out to any depth, e.g. female knight, isekai stuff, gender benders, traps, SUGOI DEKAI(srsly wtf is this)

I feel like a lot of the stuff (certainly not all, though) that I can think of like that are webcomics or based on web-stuff, so I fear this may once again be something brought about by the double-edged sword of the internet being good at connecting disparate people with very particular interests.

Some good stuff comes out of that too, yet somehow most of the truly great webcomics taking advantage of this that I can think of, aren't from Japan (but some might be Korean manhwa, for instance).

[penrosecat]

https://mangadex.org/chapter/45183/23

 

nvm

 

replacement: https://www.google.co.in/search?q=yotsuba+penguins&rlz=1C1DVJR_enIN815IN815&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiy8uHWj5bfAhUBR48KHXFQAVcQ_AUIDigB&biw=1280&bih=579#imgrc=yJblFQa69s7c9M:

Edited by penrosecat, 10 December 2018 - 08:42 PM.

[pokari]

D'aww >w<

I actually still haven't read Yotsuba&! despite it having been recommended to me since forever and never receiving anything but the highest praise from anyone that I can recall.

Mind, some of the people recommending it, I didn't trust the tastes of at all XD

Edited by pokari, 10 December 2018 - 08:43 PM.

[penrosecat]

(bcs the first link was to a yotsuba and penguins page, idk wth happened to that)

huh it was in there after all, the penguins didn't betray me

 

or rather, i betrayed myself

 

shit

[pokari]

It's okay, I saw both things and did not in any way suffer for it nwn

Betrayals are best when everything turns out okay in the end and everyone hugs and makes up and is happy, don't you think?

[penrosecat]

i guess it's fine

 

i wouldn't know because i only betray myself and getting mad at myself is wasting too many resources so i don't do it