afaik when looking into this stuff, the Kurapika backstory chapters all came out after what's covered in the anime, so it really is a question of if we end up doing any post-anime manga coverage. we have basically not discussed this at all and it's like 18 months out so i can't give you any real answers but if we decide against covering any manga, it would not be crazy to maybe sneak the kurapika stuff in as a bonus. my impression is that it's not very long, and im pretty sure they adapted the whole thing into a non canon movie which is something we could cover instead of the manga itself. it's really all an unknown at this point. glad you're enjoying the show!! it's been a blast so far

Newest Media Club Plus episode has me thinking a LOT about larger societal questions in the HxH universe, specifically how Hunters designate themselves as arbiters of Nen, and how that fits in with the New Continent arc and the implications of an inherited nen through monarchic or autocratic authority, the Hunter Association as it currently is, and others. Also, just about Meteor City as a CONCEPT, god. It truly feels like it’s an anarchist society without an external solidarity. Accepting all unconditionally and dying for them, with nonexistent empathy towards any outside group. What a fuckin masterpiece.

The only content I had on twitter that I kind of miss was my large catalog of single post reviews of all the Shojo series I was either watching or reading so I’m PLAYING THE HITS

One Piece gets its own threads lol, BUT! Martial Master Asumi is doing the best competition series (Food Wars, Akane-Banashi) formula, which is to make you care about a couple of freaks in as little time as possible while manifesting their personalities into their techniques. Really lovely series so far.

It’s a much larger conversation but every time I hear what’s currently happening in JJK I’m glad I chucked that series in the garbage. Listening to Media Club Plus covering HxH has also just driven home how much better HxH is as a metaphysics based series and how basically every other series since has been a worse version of it (though you could arguably say that about most genres HxH has ever done).

Do you think when Hitsugi Gondaira found out about Spy Family they thought “yo what the fuck” and then when Spy Family became an international phenomenon they thought “yo what the FUCK”

because I constantly do

Seinen manga by nature of it being for older audiences tends to go deeper into discussions of maturation and society, but Sono Bisque Doll Wa Koi Wo Suru has really impressed me with the discussions on body dysmorphia, gender identity, and in particular - projecting judgement onto others and internalizing shame. It’s a real Trojan horse of boobs and butts as delivery mechanism for a deep dive on social alienation and love & acceptance in a much healthier context than a more “sanitized” Shonen harem series would be able to do.

Been reading a lot of Yuri recently, since I really haven’t read a lot of serialized queer manga and I feel like the recent explosion of Villainess isekai is (hopefully) a bellwether of more mainstream queer series emerging. But going back and reading “staples” from mangaka like Morinaga Milk really hit home how much the landscape has changed. Girl Friends and Hana to Hina wa Houkago came out in 2006 and 2015 respectively, and a core theme is still fear of losing all your friends and family from coming out. I know that’s still a real issue for people present day, but these series are focused on how unthinkable or “impossible” it is to even acknowledge being a lesbian. It’s very sobering to think how recently these were written and how much darker those times were. V cute series, interesting time capsule, hilarious how Girl Friends is classified as Erotica for a single (1) sex scene over the entire series. Yaoi next, baybeeeee.

Literally the only isekai I have ever read where the protagonist knowing about the world they fall into actually feels like magic/precognition, and leaning into a lot of actual political machinations and fate the game characters would be subject to in the setting. Exceptionally well done.

There is a weird feeling I get around series like Blue Exorcist, D.Gray-Man, and World Trigger, where they seem like complete outliers in the SJ universe, singular auteur works that still fit the Shonen paradigm but are so oddly updated and promoted in a way that seems like they are just as surprised as the audience that they still keep going. I love that they throw convention out the window with respect to establishing a pace that a weekly series is captive to, and lean into extremely weird and discomforting storytelling that more popular series simply cant. World Trigger is on year three or more of philosophy spreadsheets, Blue Exorcist is dealing with a cruelty of existence that JJK fans like to convince themselves they’re experiencing, and D.Gray-Man is back??? Again???

Anyway, this color spread is unsettling in how much it feels like a normal Shonen manga series despite that it materially is not. I love these weird series so much. Even if I can read a new chapter and come away from it without being particularly moved in any way, the fact that they still exist is novel, to me.

SHE’S STILL GOT IT, HOT DAMN

This is the moment exactly when Izumi Tsubaki starts firing on all cylinders in Oresama Teacher and an actual story emerges. Between this and Gekkan Shojou Nozaki-Kun, Izumi Tsubaki just writes the most effortlessly lovable queer dorks. This legitimately good fight scene between delinquents comes after volumes of nonstop gag fights up until basically this chapter. It’s still stupid jokes from here on out, but she can deliver when she wants to.

Goddamn is it refreshing to read a series where the metaphysics is fun and acknowledged as partially nonsense. Ever since Keith on Media Club Plus pointed out how JJK literally integrates exposition into the metaphysics of the universe I have really paid attention to how other series deliver “powers” or equivalent reality breaking aspects through the plot. And it turns out that unless you are a masterpiece series that can pull it off seriously (HxH, FMA), I vastly prefer the tone of a series that puts care into the metaphysics but is ultimately pretty irreverent about it (UU, OP).

I just watched Hunter x Hunter episodes 19 - 21, and listened to Media Club Plus Episode 7 "Untimate Gon's Mistake", discussing those episodes. Spoilers below the fold.

ahaha only just now realizing that Hunter!Japan is the only landmass that remains "upright" in this map