Permapost Updates:

Lots of cool permapost action has occurred recently.  Three new permaposts have been introduced to the list.

A 'permapost' is a post I keep permanently updated to stay current with the current reality, or something so fundamental to my ideology that it sums up everything I try to say on this blog.  My normal posts aren't even necessary so long as you read all my permaposts.  Also, if I find myself constantly posting about the same things over and over, a single, continuously updated permapost is a better solution to begin with.

My 'Anime/Manga Situation Report' is meant to deal with just that.  I can continuously update people on what anime and manga I'm reading, when it comes out, and how good the anime shows are in comparison to each other on a weekly watching basis.  When new anime seasons begin the list will update and reflect the new current reality, so this permapost will always be in a state of flux.  In addition, sometimes I discover new good manga and add them to my reading list, while sometimes good manga comes to an end and I have to subtract them from my reading list.  Ao Haru Ride is set to end soon, so this permapost will be updated almost as soon as I've cobbled it together.  Humorously enough, a new chapter of Strobe Edge is coming out, even though supposedly Strobe Edge ended before Ao Haru Ride even began.  On top of that, the Major manga is also restarting, even though no English translation has finished the previous version anyway, so this doesn't help anyone in the West regardless.  Manga sure is fickle.

I've finished rereading the 1000 Year Blood War Arc of Bleach (again), and used my newly gained knowledge to tweak my 'Bleach Situational Report' from before.  I figure this post should stay a permapost until Bleach ends, because there's simply too many characters to keep track of without a guide and database to back them up.  I, for one, will find it handy as a resource so long as the manga continues.  As the plot in Bleach progresses, I can keep updating everyone's status and location, until the show finally comes to a healthy conclusion and all the mysteries are solved.

The next permapost I've chosen to keep updated is 'The Runners-Up'.  This list is an important list of the shows I've watched in full and rewatched in full, even though they aren't in my rankings.  These guys are my prospective recruits for when I want to expand my rankings, or just want to give mild praise to a series without going all the way and giving it a ranking.  Since I wrote that Runners-Up post, many more anime series have joined my 'watched in full' portion of my list, like Karin and Elfin Lied.  If people only check out my Runners-Up list once, they'll miss out on good anime series I added afterwards via watching yet more anime than before.

My 'Good Manga' permapost has been updated to a new high of 91 members.  The new recruits are Assassination Classroom, which must be good given how good the anime based off of it has been, and MIX, a new work by Mitsuru Adachi that combines the 'feel' of Miyuki and Touch into one perfect mixture.  Mitsuru Adachi is practically a god, so it's no surprise that he's churned out another great manga on top of all of his previous ones, but MIX somehow manages to look even more beautiful and compelling than anything that came before.  The only problem with MIX is that it's still short, which sort of comes with the definition of being his 'newest work.'

Hopefully someday my Good Manga permapost will reach a nice round number of 100 great manga works.  This is bound to happen if Mitsuru Adachi doesn't retire.  He could fill up the whole damn list himself.  He's the Jun Maeda of manga.

My Eagerly Awaited Releases post has been made more legible by separating the anime I want into two different categories -- anime that just plain needs subtitles, and anime that has been subbed before, but never in blu-ray quality, even though a blu-ray version is available over in Japan.  In addition, I separated out the visual novels whose translations are still actively making progress from those whose translations have gone cold.  The ones we can hold out hope for are works like Da Capo III or Grisaia, who actual companies are working on, plus a couple with genuinely enthusiastic fansubbers who are making steady progress towards their goal.  The visual novels that no one is working on, like Tenshin Ranman, are now properly in their own category of despair.

Recently, Ero Manga Sensei volume 3 has been fully translated, so that was an exciting entry to erase from my eagerly awaited list.  Once something arrives, it's no longer awaited, so it disappears from the list and enters my heart instead.  But for anyone who hasn't read Ero Manga Sensei yet, go ahead and do it.  You don't know what you're missing.

Sometimes fansubbers aren't to blame for a lack of subbed blu-ray versions.  Sometimes it's Japanese uploaders who fail to provide a raw version to the fansubbers.  A lack of blu-rays isn't always indicative of lazy translators.  The same isn't true of broadcast tv series though.  If a series has been broadcast and there isn't any reason why it shouldn't also be translated.  My biggest complaint on this front is Dragon Ball Kai, which is now five episodes behind.  Enough is enough.  A famous show like this should be released every week like clockwork, not be ignored like it's some sort of obscure bad show no one cares about.  This isn't just about Baaro fansubs either.  Hatsuyuki is even further behind, and nobody else has picked up the mission when the others clearly failed either.  This is a collective problem for the whole fansub community.  How do you let Dragon Ball, perhaps the most famous and beloved anime of all time, slip through the cracks?  How much sense does that make?  Really now.

My anime voices list has been updated to include plenty of new talent, like Takahiro Sakurai, Wataru Takagi, and Megumi Hayashibara.  Likewise, they've all been given a complete list of the roles they've played in my favorite anime, down to the most minor role like 'clerk A,' in my Anime Rankings + Voices list.  If you ever wondered if X character in an anime you like is the same voice as you heard in Y anime, this is the resource for you.  The answer is usually yes, they're the same!  Seiyuu get a lot of roles over time, and their voices tend to stand out precisely because they're so talented compared to everyone else.

My "Beautiful Girls in Anime" art museum has also received a thorough update, including a lot of newer girls from newer series I'd ignored before, like the girls of Noucome, or Illyasviel from the newest Fate seasons.  It also has some golden oldies who weren't appreciated yet, like Sakura from Naruto, Inoue Orihime from Bleach, and Lucy from Fairy Tail.  It's definitely time to take a gander at this permapost at least once more.  As more beautiful anime girls come to mind, they'll surely join the slideshow themselves someday.  There's never enough beautiful anime girls.

The biggest change in my 'Anime Rankings' permapost has been my dropping down of Akatsuki no Yona to 128th place.  I just haven't liked the later episodes of this series as much as the beginning.  It's continuously disappointed me ever since Yona went on this dumb dragon fetching quest.  I don't care whatsoever about any of these dragons and I never will, since they all lack free will and are just born to serve Yona on a primal level.  The only characters who matter are Su Yong, Hak, and Yona.  Everyone else is an annoying distraction.  The more the show focuses on 'other people,' the worse the show becomes.  It's still safely a great anime, if nothing else for it's great beginning, but it could have been a lot better than it ended up being.  Shirobako, meanwhile, just gets better and better every episode.  I'm beginning to think even 50th place doesn't do it justice.  This season of Shirobako is so fantastic, it's about as good as the next five shows of the Winter season put together.  The highlight of every week is Shirobako, just like the highlight in highlight-girl's hair is the perfect compliment to her overall beauty.  Shirobako is how a series builds on itself to ever higher heights.  Akatsuki no Yona should take some lessons from it.  Meanwhile, Shirobako's sales continue to climb, to the point that its first volume is nearing 10,000 copies in dvd/bd sales.  Fans understand quality when they see it.  Shirobako is hitting a home run P.A. Works hasn't seen since Angel Beats.

The most important update to my Anime Rankings list is the one I'm continuously updating on a daily basis, the number of episodes each show has (translated and non-bad-filler episodes, that is), and whether the show has an announced sequel or looks like it's over and done for.  Finding out the relative length of a series, whether it intends to air something in 2015 (or even in 2016), and whether the source material of the work is finished or not, is all information to be found in the Anime Rankings list, and all of the information is kept up-to-date with all the latest news out of Japan, so you can always learn more about your favorite series by checking my Anime Rankings list from time to time.  (Though the Eagerly Awaited Releases list also covers this job pretty admirably).

Durara and Baccano are both included as just one show in my rankings, since the characters from both stories intersect and interact, making it just one big show in truth.  However, Baccano has been so much better than Durara, that I only included Baccano's episode count in my rankings.  I've begun to reconsider that decision, though, as this season of Durarara has been really good, to the point that I may just admit that Durara is as big a contributor to this franchise's worth as Baccano, and add all the Durara episodes in as well.  We'll sit back and observe for now, but it's definitely something to keep track of.

Even if it doesn't look like I'm posting anything, I'm always updating my permaposts.  Permaposts are the coolest place to be on this site.  Permaposts or bust!