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Showing posts from September, 2021

Weeb Life in Finland: Manga Releases and Streaming Uncertainty

It's a great time to be a manga reader in Finland. Not one or two but three  new series have had their first volumes released during the last month, and since the roughly two-month period following a volume 1's release is the sweet spot where starting to read a series is at its easiest, having three of those at the same time is a big deal.  First off, we have Astra: Lost in Space  (彼方のアストラ, in Finnish Astra - avaruuden haaksirikkoiset ), which I personally was very excited about, having seen the excellent 2019 anime adaption when it aired and recently rewatched it. Publishing an easy-to-approach sci-fi manga during a time when space is a more prevalent topic than it has been in years is a smart move from Sangatsu and I hope it pays off for them financially.  Another safe and anticipated title is Weathering with You  (天気の子), of course an adaption of the Makoto Shinkai movie of the same name, which had a Finnish theatrical run troubled by COVID lockdowns in 2020. ...

Goodbye, All of Evangelion

When I started the first episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion  on Netflix in June 2019, I did not expect it to become the journey it became. While I was not all that much into it every single second of the following two years, it nevertheless stayed deep inside me and occasionally rose to the surface whenever I was reminded of its existence. And as the months went by and the long-awaited release of Evangelion 3.0+1.0 , the final rebuild film, grew closer, I started getting reminded of it more and more, until 2021 arrived and the film was finally released in Japanese theaters, prompting me to revisit the earlier parts of the franchise as I waited for the international release.  It's such an interesting franchise, in many ways. There's a lot going on, even when the pacing is at its slowest, not just in the story's world but on a meta level as well. Evangelion has interpreted to be many things, from a normal mecha action series, to pretentious pseudo-philosophical nonsense, to a...