I quite liked the awkward flow in their conversation. Interested to see where this goes.

I mean it could be argued that by revealing this “scheme”, the TL org can no longer be trusted with any public statements it’s made. They seemed to portray themselves as taking the moral high ground but were actually straight up dishonest about their intentions. The hypocrisy is one things to consider, but I think the bigger issue that doesn’t sit well with people has to do with integrity, and the question is if they’re content with trying to fool their followers this way, couldn’t and wouldn’t they have misled and lied to these followers before? For how long? Were the management of this org morally bankrupt the whole time?

The same could be asked of the other orgs, but they didn’t open themselves up to scrutiny the way TL did.

I think if anyone has issues with this, they ought to question why TL or any other org participated in this tournament in the first place. By being involved in any way, they’re all complicit in tolerating the unethical practices of Saudi Arabia, in exchange for financial gain. Team Spirit could give every dollar they earned in winnings from this tournament to charity and they’d still be guilty of playing for this dirty money.

It’s an uncomfortable truth to think about, and that extends to the esports scene at large with the increasing reliance on betting as the main influx of money, so I think calling TL out here for hypocrisy is in itself a red herring that pulls attention away from the bigger, more sinister and insidious problem of an unethical esports structure.

The notification didn’t appear on my Lemmy app so I didn’t see your reply! I would have gotten back to you a lot earlier had I seen this! Whoops.

No better time than now to dive into Bleach, with the new anime season currently airing. There’s a lot to critique about the story and how frustrating the pacing and power scaling can get towards the end, but Kubo is unparalleled when it comes to style, whether it be in storytelling or in character designs. I think it’s worth reading just to see illustrations of some the characters and their powers.

I’m not sure what your appetite for explicit material (violence, sexual content etc.) is like, but I’ll throw out a couple of titles I think might interest you:

I can’t resist recommending Spice and Wolf to anyone who mentions fantasy. Originally a light novel adapted into manga and anime form, this story set in medieval times follows the journey of a travelling merchant, Lawrence, and his encounter with a wolf deity, Holo, that takes the form of a girl. I admit that this series is first and foremost a romance, but I think the writer also does a great job immersing the reader into a world set in the middle ages but where folklore were real. It’s also a story that revolves around macroeconomics, and manages to make the subject digestable and even appealing to understand. One of my favourite series.

Another one in the same vein is The Ancient Magus’ Bride, this time with a little less focus on the romance and a little more on fantasy. Chise, a teenage girl with a strong affinity to magic that brings her nothing but exclusion and sadness, finds herself up for bid at an auction. There, she is bought at a high price by a sorcerer named Elias and is told she is to become his apprentice. And also his bride. It’s a more Harry Potter-esque story especially towards the more recent arcs, but it goes HARD on the Celtic and Nordic folklore. I know barely anything about European cultures and beliefs, but I loved this series and every new chapter and creature it introduced for a long, long time. Not to mention the art is gorgeous.

I’ll end with Made in Abyss. I don’t know if you’ve heard about this series, but it’s a controversial one for sure. The city of Orth surrounds a vast pit which has been aptly named the Abyss. The citizens of this city make a living as Cave Raiders - people that explore the Abyss and dig up valuable treasures and relics left over from ancient times. Riko, a young orphan girl who dreams of becoming a great Cave Raider, meets Reg, a mysterious boy who has no memories of his past but has some strange abilities. Together, they descend into the Abyss and adventure together, and find out just how cruel and unforgiving the Abyss truly is. There’s no denying some of the author’s decision to make the characters children is very questionable, and that it’d be strange to read this without feeling uncomfortable at times. That said, Made in Abyss is a modern day classic. The art is breathtaking. It is a masterclass in storytelling, and there’s no other series quite like it being written right now. And it has been adapted into anime (which is debatably even better than the source material) so you’ve got options!

I apologize, I didn’t mean to write an essay, but these are manga that I thoroughly enjoyed experiencing so I couldn’t help but write in a little more detail. I hope these descriptions made you a little curious!

Another series that doesn’t beat around the bush. It’s been uplifting to see more straight-shooting romance stories appearing in Jump!

Edit: sorry, spoiler tags don’t seem to be working!

It’d be a time sink for sure, but I think you can only fully appreciate the explosive rise in tension and the eventual resolution of both series after watching them in full.

For Liquid vs Talon, both teams could have taken g1, while Talon looked like the superior team in g2, and so g3 starts with everyone already quite on edge. Liquid seemed to struggle to stay ahead and at some point start slipping, and it eventually leads to the endgame situation and the hail Mary by Zai. It literally felt like the endgame scenario - where out of the millions of possibilities, and where all these specific events and conditions HAD to be fulfilled, both right and wrong, that we got this single final outcome - and it felt like Liquid, in one fell swoop, took their sealed fate by the throat, choke slammed into the ground and screamed “I DECIDE WHO WINS!” It’s a historic dota moment with a great storyline to preface it.

For Spirit vs BB, we get a similar situation, and the atmosphere and emotion of the previous series is still palpable, so it just continues to build as Spirit seem to be on the back foot right from g1, looking like they were plain outdrafted by BB. Spirit hold, and hold, and hold, and with BB staring them down, 15k networth ahead, Spirit with Yatoro on Drow just straight up respond with a resounding NO. The game that BB should never have lost starts to slowly slip from their grasp in a fashion closely resembling Tundra’s g3 loss to GG. Suddenly Spirit is on BB’s high ground even with a networth disadvantage, and they all in on the T4 into throne push and pull of some impossible magic to win the game.

You’d think BB, with their history of tilt, would be completed out of it after the loss, but they have grown immensely since which is why I think they’ve garnered so much favor. They show a lot more psychological resilience, and it looks like the first game never even happened in g2 as they outplay and crush Spirit quite convincingly, even if Spirit did try to push the game to its limits.

Which leads into g3, where Spirit start on the back foot from the very beginning and they never gain the advantage for a single moment, just desperately struggling to stay barely afloat. Pure and GPK look like MONSTERS for a good portion of the game. The tension only continues to build for the entire hour, and there are so many moments of brilliance and sheer skill that you’ll never see even in regular pro matches - just something about the stakes of this last game that pushed every player in both these teams to play at a skill ceiling we might possibly never witness again (and you KNOW both teams are 100% invested in winning because the ridiculous amounts of pings by both sides). It leads to a base defense that turns into an all in down mid to throne by Spirit that I just don’t have the words to describe.

Both series get some incredible and well-deserved casting from Sunsfan and Khezu. The only thing I could have asked for was a proper crowd to react to this, or maybe for me to have witnessed these series in the flesh. If we get moments like these in Seattle, we might just bring the newly renovated stadium down!

So yes, you’ll see a lot of gushing about this day being one of the best days in competitive dota history, and no doubt about it that it was. And yes, if you call yourself a fan of dota, you’d out to witness these historic moments for yourself. It’s worth it.

It’s 5am, and I’ve stayed up all night watching games. Was it worth it? HOLY SHIT YES IT WAS! I haven’t been this hyped since the LiquidvThunder match and that 1hp infest play by Matu! Incredible day of dotes!

What other media do you consume? Books, movies? Any genres you enjoy? Any favourite piece of literature? I think I speak on behalf of most manga enthusiasts when I say we’d be more than happy to help you add more manga to that to-read list!

I chanced upon this unassuming series by the name of Haraiso Days. The art’s a little dated, but that just adds to the charm, and this story just exudes charm! It’s cosy and endearing, it’s mellow and melancholic. I highly recommend this little gem if you’re looking for a good seinen slice-of-life to indulge in.

I see. Thanks for the clarification. Unfortunately, it doesn’t make it any easier to read, but points for the effort to the creator, I guess.

This, Akane-banashi and Polar Opposites give me so much hope for Shounen manga.

I’d read this… If it had some proper translations. This looks worse than some MTL stuff out there, and this was published on the official app??

Glad you enjoyed it! Yeah, it got frustrating at times watching Nakano and Toda fumble and agonize over a couple of silly things, but things worked out, and more importantly - Mana-chan! What a turnaround from what she was at the beginning! Hands down one of my favorite characters.

So adorable, these two.

DUGONG DUGONG

That was a special era indeed.

You’re in for a great time. It has one of my favourite side character glow-ups in any manga I’ve read, and you’ll know when the time comes. I’m hoping you’ll grow to love that character too!

It’s been awhile since I’ve had the time and motivation to read manga, and even more since I’ve written about it, but I’m in the mood to procrastinate so here’s something I’ve re-binged recently:

Ore no Himekutsu o Haite Kure is about a skilled shoemaker struggling with a foot fetish and a chance encounter with a high school girl who wants a special pair of shoes restored.

That’s right, there’s romantic tension involving an age gap. No, it’s not erotica (but it is ecchi). No doubt about it, the subject and context are straight up taboo, but I ended up adoring this little series that seems to have never appeared on anybody’s radar. It’s an uncomplicated story - the set-ups are straightforward, the characters aren’t convoluted, the twists and conclusion are almost predictable - and it makes for a very mellow and pleasant read.

I really, REALLY don’t like romance stories with age gaps - many of them involve the older party knowingly manipulating the younger one, or just making irresponsible decisions as the adult in the situation - but I’ve a soft spot for this one and how benign and tender this story turned out. I’ve read it several times since its serialization and I’m glad to say it hasn’t lost its charm.

Have you read Mousou Telepathy by any chance?

It hasn’t been years but I wonder what Yuuji Kaku could have done with Ayashimon were he given the chance to tell that story in full. It had no time in Jump to lay the groundwork, but the Yakuza Yokai setting oozed style.

Ginka and Glüna was another series that was taken from us before its time. I think it suffered by being a little more cartoonish and straight edge in its storytelling in a time when Jump readers seem to be into more dramatic and edgy themes.