The Weekly Praegustator (23 - 29 March '26)
Published at 2026-03-29Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 media logweeklymangaanimefilmtvarticlepodcast Table of Content
This week I consumed 15 manga, 11 anime, 2 films, 2 TV shows, 3 articles, and 3 podcasts.
23 March
Anime/ Golden Kamuy - Final Season E61 - Bushido
Anime/ My Hero Academia: Vigilantes - S02E12 - This Is a Hero!
Film/ Demon Slayer: Kimetsu No Yaiba Infinity Castle (2025) (8/10)
Article/ Don't Let LLMs Write For You
24 March
Manga/ Blue Lock - Chapter 340.2
Manga/ Chainsaw Man - Chapter 232
I only noticed that this was Chainsaw Man's final chapter after going on the internet and reading the news. It was very detached from what had been going on up to this point in the story. Fujimoto always said that he'd end things in such a way to infuriate/frustrate his readers but doing a ret-con of the whole story and giving Denji another reality where he doesn't become Chainsaw Man didn't sit right with me as a proper ending. Maybe he made this as a gotcha chapter and he'll release a part 3 which properly concludes the story but I highly doubt that. Chainsaw Man has been a funny, horny and action packed series which delivered a breath of crude fresh air that the manga industry desperately needed. I look forward to Fujimoto's next work in the future, I'm sure it'll be even more depraved and unhinged. Sayonara, Chainsaw Man.
Manga/ Gachiakuta - Chapter 163
Manga/ Shangri-La Frontier - Chapter 260
Film/ Ninja Scroll (1993) (8/10)
Article/ Please don't throw your mind away (9/10)
If this article looks long to you skip to the chapter "Highly theoretical justifications for having fun" it's well worth the read.
Podcast/ Jeff Kaplan: World of Warcraft, Overwatch, Blizzard, and Future of Gaming | Lex Fridman Podcast #493 (9/10)
I've been a big World of Warcraft fan. I've played Classic, Burning Crusade and Wrath of The Lich King. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and the expansive world blew my away at my young age. I begged my parents to get a subscription to play this game because at that time paying for the game plus paying a monthly fee to play that game was such a novel concept on top of them thinking that games were a waste of time resulted in them viewing WoW as a net negative. Although my incessant please were answered and I got to play the game a few months after launch. I recently played WoW Classic as well and that was an incredible time. I realized why this game meant so much to so many people. I made friends and rivals. Joined the Un'Goro Crater Devilsaur mafia and got reported on the official forums for insider trading. (Hilarious to be repoted for insider trading in a game.) I played Overwatch for hundreds of hours and finally hit Diamond which felt amazing. That's how I got introduced to Jeff from the Overwatch Team. This whole podcast felt like a play-through of my childhood games. Jeff's honesty and bluntness were a breath of fresh air as he can now speak his mind more freely since his exit from Blizzard. The early Blizzard days and the culture surrounding the studio reveals so much about the why and how these games became so successful and more importantly culturally impactful. Created by gamers for gamers and scrutinized to the death on every choice. The rot at current Blizzard can be noticed from miles away but listening to his stories and perspectives of how things shifted in-house was a big confirmation of long suspected (widely known to be fair) cultural and administrative changes post Activision acquisition. (These began probably before the acquisition a la suffering from success.) Very long but highly recommend watching, Jeff's voice is also quite soothing.
25 March
Manga/ Heavenly Delusion - Chapter 81
Anime/ Oshi No Ko - S03E11 (10/10)
Such a great series. I'm definitely going to binge the manga in order to learn how this story ends. Can't wait for another year for the anime.
TV/ Invincible - S04E04 - Hurm
Article/ The Company Man (8/10)
Podcast/ No Priors - The End of Coding: Andrej Karpathy on Agents, AutoResearch, and the Loopy Era of AI (3/10)
This was honestly a waste of time. Nothing interesting was talked about in the podcast. Every take and discussion was surface level and self flattery. Couldn't wait for it to finish.
26 March
Anime/ JUJUTSU KAISEN - S03E59
Anime/ Sentenced to Be a Hero: S01E12 - Sentence: Aid in Evacuation of Ioff Cheg Port 3 (8/10)
Great animation quality. The story is so so but the characters are interesting. Quite good ending to the first season where they leave a lot of anticipation for what's to come.
27 March
Manga/ One Piece - Chapter 1178
Manga/ Oshi no Ko - (Chapter 128 - 137)
Couldn't wait for the next season of the anime so I'll be completing the story through here.
Anime/ Frieren: Beyond Journey's End - S02E10 - A Beautiful Sight (10/10)
Anime/ Kingdom - S03 (10/10)
This was an incredible season. The sloppy animation is gone. The story escalates and multiple characters shine through.
TV/ The Pitt - S02E12 - 6:00 P.M.
28 March
Anime/ Fate/Strange Fake: This Illusion Becomes Reality - S03E13 (7/10)
This series definitely needs some Fate knowledge before watching which I have none of. The art and animation are superb. Character backgrounds all come from previous Fate series' but the story is simple. The motivations of the characters are somewhat hard to follow which character is participating in the Fake Holy Grail War and which is participating in the Real Grail War. Apart from that it's a solid series.
29 March
Manga/ Akane-banashi - Chapter 200
Manga/ Blue Box - Chapter 236
Manga/ Ichi the Witch - Chapter 76
Manga/ Kagurabachi - Ch. 116
Manga/ Oshi no Ko - Chapter (137 - 166) (8/10)
SPOILERS/ I'm conflicted about the ending. Aqua could've easily devised a plan where he wouldn't have to sacrifice himself. It also seemed childish to condemn everyone to another huge loss for the sake of Ruby's future which Kamiki was being less of a threat each day. Overall a great series but the ending was a letdown. I still enjoyed this series. It looks quite shallow on the surface but has a lot of meat underneath.
Manga/ Sakamoto Days - Ch. 253
Manga/ Someone Hertz - Chapter 27
Manga/ SPY x FAMILY - Chapter 131
Anime/ Journal with Witch: S01E13 - Morning is Here (9/10)
On the surface this anime might be daunting to get into with a topic such as grief. I'd argue that the main topic isn't grief but difficult decisions and situations. It's moreso about life and continuing to live against everything that gets thrown at you during your journey. I'm grateful this was suggested and I decided to pick it up. I had been looking forward to this series each week. Highly recommend it even if the subject matter doesn't interest you at first glance. You might found something that resonates with you afterward.
Anime/ To Your Eternity - S03E21 - Stay Here
Anime/ To Your Eternity: S03E22 - To Fushi (9/10)
This is an exceptional series. It conveys a lot of different philosophies about life, happiness, sadness and letting go. It also emphasizes well how there really isn't a singular answer to any of these things. The pursuit, being on the journey is always more important because there will only be temporary satisfaction at best upon reaching the summit. Thanks Black One and Fushi.