Furu Anime Panikku

It’s the dreaded time of the school semester once again. Exams.

As usual, I’ve increased my intake of media, now that every single one of my assignments have all been handed in. This time however, I’ve not been watching much animated media, save for a couple of Gintama episodes and the weekly dosage. Instead, I’ve drastically increased my reading intake, be in on the screen or in the books. This should explain the slight surge in manga posts.

It all started with 20th Century Boys. Followed by it, I decided to take a break from all the mystery and went for the sporty genre instead. I know I shouldn’t have chosen Air Gear. The fanservice totally overwhelms whatever little sporty portions the manga contains. At times, I wonder if I’m really reading a manga serialised in a shonen magazine.

Anyway, leaving the boobs, butts and crotches aside, Air Gear started off rather interestingly, but I lost a portion of interest after the relevation of the Gravity Children. It just isn’t as interesting as it was when Ikki and gang were still noobs. I’ll still continue reading it with each chapter’s release though, since I’ve come quite a way reading over 200 chapters. Now I understand why some people can’t quit manga serialisations even after they aren’t as good as they used to be.

Too much fanservice is bad, so it’s back to doom and gloom with Monster. I must say, in just a week, I’ve actually grown to like Urasawa Naoki’s work. Though 20th Century Boys contained a far more excitable plot as compared to Monster, it’s still pretty decent too. Now, I just need to spare some time to read Pluto.

Currently, I’m in the midst of reading Cross Game, Adachi Mitsuru’s currently running serialisation. I really like how his art is clean and simple, and the plot light-hearted and enjoyable. Sadly, I’ve only read 3 out of his many works. I plan to read more though.

And all this was within a single week, excluding the manga tankoubons for train rides. I am rather amazed at the amount I’ve covered.

A reason why I’ve been reading more and watching less is mainly because my computer can’t support the video conversion process for iPod Touch. I’m not running on dual-core, and it also really sucks when it can’t support mkv files more than 50% of the time without lagging.

The next, and core reason why I’m reading more is because you get to control your time when you’re reading. Unlike watching anime, you can speed up your pace. Different people will complete a single episode of an anime at the same time, whereas the time taken to complete a single chapter or volume of manga varies with the reader. Hence, it’s more flexible in a sense. One might argue that speed reading would dampen the enjoyment one derives from the manga, but personally, I doubt there’s much of a difference from my experience.

I suppose that I can read faster than the average reader, so it’s an advantage if I want something to fuel my otaku diet within a limited time. My school curriculum’s screwed up to the extent that I only have time to really enjoy this hobby of mine only during two periods. Holidays and exams. Before last week, my intake has been extremely pathetic according to my standards, and thus, there was an urge to make up for it.

Sigh, so much to read and watch, so little time.