u/GramsciFan

So I LOVE Galactic Heroes and because of that I’ve been meaning for a while to check out Tanaka’s other series as well. I recently started reading the Arslan manga (since there’s no official book translation). I’ll reserve judgement as I read more but as of three volumes in it’s surprisingly weaker than LOGH. It’s not bad but the politics and world building just feel so much more simplistic. What are your experiences with/thoughts on Tanaka’s larger body of work? Which series comes closest to LOGH in your opinion?

Has anyone ever ordered the episodes by time of year they take place in? Since the series has taken place within the span of less than a year and we've had multiple episodes across different times of year (beach episodes, Halloween, Christmas time, etc), and Conan shrinks IIRC either the late fall or early spring, you could probably order the episodes by when they should occur in relation to each other (I know the manga order is different). Would probably be fun to see if any notable events happen in the "wrong" order.

Has Hoshino ever elaborated on the reason the Noah have dark skin? I've been revisiting the series (both the anime and the manga) and the choice always interested me. My personal guess would be that she's drawing from the the Curse of Ham in the bible (or more specifically, the 19th century era interpretation where it was argued that Black people are descents of Ham, one of Noah's sons).

That the Noah are dark-skinned always struck me as a bit *uncomfortable* as an American reader. I know a lot of Japanese writers don't have the same context western audiences do for racially charged iconography (see Sister Krone in Promised Neverland or a lot of Stardust Crusaders) but as a westerner, it's hard to think about (at least for me).

Hi all,

I watched the D. Gray Man anime back in middle school and Hallow as it was coming out in High School. I recently bought a bunch of the manga on a whim because I've been meaning for a while to return to the series and I remembered the animation being less than stelar. For those of you who have consumed both or just have strong opinions about the series, how do you compare the two? Do you think both have merits or is there a clear winner in quality? (Well for the original show, I know most people did not like Hallow).

Hi all, I’m interested in learning more about the academic study of folklore (so ideally written by PhD scholars). I especially love learning about what inspired different folk stories. Do you all have recommendations on books related to the topic? Bonus points if there’s an audiobook version.

Not seeking advice as much as looking to commiserate

I'm a PhD student in the US in the social sciences. I just took my major comprehensive exam today (took the minor on Monday) and when I checked my phone afterwards, I saw I got feedback on a pre-analysis plan I submitted for a class. (I hope to turn that project into my dissertation) Both were rough to say the least. I don't know how other programs handle their exams, but we have a repository of the least ~10ish years of questions and there's generally a few heavy hitter questions that normally show up. This year almost every question was new and outside of my own focus (I prepared for multiple kinds of questions but since they generally tend to gear at least some questions towards current students' research interest, I was expecting at least one question I knew I could do very well on).

The feedback on my PAP was not great either, some things I knew needed work but others that I thought I did a good job on my advisor tore apart. My cohort all felt the exam was very difficult and a lot of people in the class got similar feedback, so I know I’m not the odd one out but both happening back-to-back makes you feel pretty incompetent.

I'd love to hear others' comp/qualifier/whatever your program calls it horror stories.

One thing that's always bugged me is how fast the Arrancar appear after Aizen leaves the Soul Society. Say what you will about the Bount Arc (and there's a lot to say) but it always made sense to me to have an arc between SS and Hueco Mundo. Setting that aside how was he able to build an army in few weeks? I understand that with Kyoka Suigetsu he could have gone back and forth without being noticed but he only had the Hogyoku post SS.