Anime-Planet Secret Santa 2021

EastIsEarly, thank you so much for your recommendations!! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish all of them as I was very busy with school, but I started at least three of them so I could give my thoughts.

First of all, I read Heesu in Class 2 since I had wanted to read it for a while. I loved very much this manga.
At first, it was kinda boring and slow-paced, but as I was reading it, I began to enjoy it. They are extremely cute together and I appreciate the fact that, even though it's a shounen-ai, they put a lot of kissing, even with tongue (generally in shounen-ai they leave the only kissing scene at the end).
I must say I expected more from the second couple since the author build up a lot of expectancies, but ended up hurrying the story (it felt too fast and unnatural).

I also watched 3 episodes of Charlotte and 20 chapters of Crash Into Me.
For what concerns Charlotte, I think it has an interesting world-building: the whole concept of powers that vanish after adolescence and the cruel reality of the scientists that exploit these teenagers for their own researches made me very curious about the anime; although I think that they lightened the concept too much (of course I suppose it'll get more serious as I keep watching).
Regarding Crash Into Me, I think that it could've been developed more: the story is only 45 chapters and we're already about to know Hyesung's big secret at chapter 20. It feels too rushed. Anyway, the art is pretty good and I will definitely keep watching it.

As for the other recommendations, I will surely watch Tanaka-kun is Always Listless and read/watch Orange. The others will follow if I find enough time and energy for them. Thank you again for the recommendations and sorry for the late reply on the thread.
 
@NaelSchenfel Thanks for the recs! I appreciate the thought you put into them :) So far your picks have been spot on, you've got a 100% win rate. I plan to continue reading them through the holiday season
@Cherstal Thank you for nice recs =]
You're welcome! I will say, you gave me a mini heart attack a while ago when you correctly guessed your Santa's struggle with picks. Your analysis was right; we have very different tastes in manga, most of the adventure manga I did want to rec you'd already read/seen the anime of, and.. I haven't read much manga to begin with. Relieved to hear that you did get some enjoyment out of them :)
 
@Hayane - Thank you kindly for all of the recommendations! Merry Christmas! :)

I managed to get through two of them, not everything I wanted to for this event, but I will plan to do more of them over time, since they all look interesting:

I Want to Eat Your Pancreas
I thought this was a really solid movie in every department. I talked with a friend of mine who took issue with how Sakura passed away, and I understand why this would be a somewhat common complaint, but it really didn't bother me. Even though it maybe could have been executed a bit cleaner, it helps reinforce the underlying message about how temporary life is - to the most of every moment knowing there's really no telling when or how we (or those we cherish) will pass away. Seeing the character growth of Haruki was also really encouraging. Despite the unfortunate circumstances, he completely changed his attitude towards life - Sakura's final gift to the world.

Girls' Last Tour
Wow, what a show. This was really unlike anything I'd experienced before. I'm a big fan of iyashikei, so I expected I would like this, but the tone of the show is quite a bit different than what I'm used to. There was certainly no lack of cute and comfortable moments, but the deeper themes about life and death, the consequences of war, and the need for purpose and tangible relationships made this into something more than just another feel-good show. The world was unexpectedly fascinating, and they really did a good job of keeping a certain mystery about it that slowly unfolds as you explore the it with the girls. Oh, and Song of Raindrops is simply magical. If I have the opportunity to check out the manga, I'll be curious to see what other attractions the girls discover and if we get to see a conclusion to their tour. Either way, the anime is fantastic.

Thank you again to everyone who helped facilitate this event!
 
Thank you @Starletka, I wouldn't have guessed these were from you, especially excel saga, but Millennium actress makes a lot of sense. I appreciated everything I got!

You're very welcome, glad you liked mushishi, and tye despite the fact that it was depressing.

And yes, I will watch it in Dub. :P
Good lass
qKPQS7J.gif


DEFINITELY WAS NOT ME.

I just had to go back and scream that ok.
I bow to you, master of good taste.
 
@Max20Ro Thanks for the recs! Sadly I just finished one anime and one manga, but I really enjoyed both of them and will put all the rest on my never-ending PtW/PtR lists. Also I'll definitely check rest of the Show By Rock-seasons really soon!

(o^ ^o) I'm glad you liked it. It was fun to choose your recs because your list resembles a little bit mine, and all the things I was planning to give, you already saw.
 
randomredneck
gave recommendations to​
Starletka​
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Thanks, dude. I had no idea.

Thank you @Starletka, I wouldn't have guessed these were from you, especially excel saga, but Millennium actress makes a lot of sense. I appreciated everything I got!
Not gonna lie, it was an absolute nightmare for me, since everything I wanted to give you, you have either already seen or had on your won't watch list (you take Tokyo Godfathers off that list right now, mister). I also wanted to give you something outside of your want to watch list, which didn't make things easier, and at one point I seriously considered giving you all coal, because I know the types of shows you hate, and it would have been easier. In the end I figured Millennium Acress was a safe bet, and the other two were just complete wild cards. I'm glad you actually managed to get through them and even kinda enjoy them. :D Every anime fan should know what Excel Saga is, honestly, good or bad, it's a classic. And Shirokuma Café is like a pocket warm hug. Plus all the memes.

tumblr_mgxlttGXzQ1rnsfv6o1_500.jpg
 
@Cupcakle Thank you for the amazing present~ I loved both of the anime you gave me (Am I gonna start an unhealthy obsession with Heaven Official's Blessing? Absolutely!), but couldn't find a place to read Stargazing dog. On the only source I could find it on I had some pages which would not load, so if you know a good place to read it I'm still interested to do it.
 
@Cupcakle Thank you for the amazing present~ I loved both of the anime you gave me (Am I gonna start an unhealthy obsession with Heaven Official's Blessing? Absolutely!), but couldn't find a place to read Stargazing dog. On the only source I could find it on I had some pages which would not load, so if you know a good place to read it I'm still interested to do it.
For the manga, I have the actual paperback so i wouldnt know of any sites to read it online but I'll send you a link of one if i can find it (didnt know it was impossible to find online-)
but, Glad i can help another unhealthy obsession lol :love: I love both of the animes
 
@thunder7 Thank you again for the recs!! I'm sorry our tastes didn't align so much, but I really enjoyed trying them and exploring new things! I'm also very sorry I was hard to pick for on the manga side.:@_@: But I'm really looking forward to finishing Urara Meirochou and getting into Aria the Scarlet Ammo.

EastIsEarly, thank you so much for your recommendations!! Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to finish all of them as I was very busy with school, but I started at least three of them so I could give my thoughts.

First of all, I read Heesu in Class 2 since I had wanted to read it for a while. I loved very much this manga.
At first, it was kinda boring and slow-paced, but as I was reading it, I began to enjoy it. They are extremely cute together and I appreciate the fact that, even though it's a shounen-ai, they put a lot of kissing, even with tongue (generally in shounen-ai they leave the only kissing scene at the end).
I must say I expected more from the second couple since the author build up a lot of expectancies, but ended up hurrying the story (it felt too fast and unnatural).

I also watched 3 episodes of Charlotte and 20 chapters of Crash Into Me.
For what concerns Charlotte, I think it has an interesting world-building: the whole concept of powers that vanish after adolescence and the cruel reality of the scientists that exploit these teenagers for their own researches made me very curious about the anime; although I think that they lightened the concept too much (of course I suppose it'll get more serious as I keep watching).
Regarding Crash Into Me, I think that it could've been developed more: the story is only 45 chapters and we're already about to know Hyesung's big secret at chapter 20. It feels too rushed. Anyway, the art is pretty good and I will definitely keep watching it.

As for the other recommendations, I will surely watch Tanaka-kun is Always Listless and read/watch Orange. The others will follow if I find enough time and energy for them. Thank you again for the recommendations and sorry for the late reply on the thread.

I'm glad you liked Heesu's story!! I agree about the second couple, that was really weird.
The rushed ending was especially weird because it went the tragic route. Their relationship seemed to be doing relatively fine, so a quick / happy ending could have probably been achieved within a few chapters? But the route it took feels like it needs at least 10chs to flesh things out to make the time skip believable. I wonder if the author had an arc planned but had to cut it short.

I panicked a bit on the BL recs, as you've already read every single one of my top picks (The Summer With You, 4 Week Lovers, Classmates, Here U Are, Sign, and so many more...) I actually ended up adding 30+ series from your list to my want-to-reads, so uh... thank you. :sweat:

Charlotte does definitely get more serious / engages with the worldbuilding, although
it doesn't go as far as would be realistic. If Angel Beats is a 3/10 on seriousness, Charlotte would maybe be a 4/10 or 4.5/10?
 
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(you take Tokyo Godfathers off that list right now, mister)
Okay okay, I will :)

Every anime fan should know what Excel Saga is, honestly, good or bad, it's a classic. And Shirokuma Café is like a pocket warm hug. Plus all the memes.
I think Shirokuma was the most unexpected looking back because IIRC you didn't like slice of life, but I guess there are exceptions to everything huh?
 
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