The Weekly Praegustator (19 - 25 October '26)

This week I consumed 14 manga, 9 anime, 2 films, 3 TV shows, 3 articles, and 5 podcasts.

19 October

Manga/ Cosmos - Chapter 40 (8/10)

Anime/ Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War - The Calamity Ep. 49 (8/10)

Anime/ PSYREN Ep. 3 (6/10)

Film/ Tenzing (2026) (6/10)

Film/ The Incomer (2026) (6/10)

Article/ Relentlessly Resourceful (7/10)

Article/ The Loved and the Unloved - Delicious Tacos (7/10)

Podcast/ Tyler Cowen and Dwarkesh Patel Predict the Future | Interesting Times (7/10)

20 October

Manga/ Blue Lock Chapter 365 (7/10)

TV/ Widow's Bay (TV Series 2026) (8/10)

21 October

Manga/ Shangri-La Frontier: From Trash-Game Hunter to God-Tier Game Master! - Chapter 284 (8/10)

Manga/ Wind Breaker (NII Satoru) - Chapter 233 (6/10)

TV/ VisionQuest: S01E03-04 (6/10)

Article/ How is music possible - by Henrik Karlsson (6/10)

Podcast/ David Foster Wallace unedited interview (2003) (9/10)

This is the most unfiltered and uncomfortable I've seen DFW. He doubts himself constantly and is very conflicted in giving a definitive answer to anything. He cringes at himself and becomes uncomfortable numerous times. You can also see where his care to words and clarification comes from because he despises about saying the wrong thing or being misunderstood. It is very human but human dialed up to eleven. It does explain how hard it must be for him to do such promotional things and how fame and the burden that comes with it may have piled on to his suicide or difficulties writing The Pale King. It is nonetheless a great piece of media where DFW is less asked about his success and more about culture and his thoughts which is refreshing.

22 October

Anime/ The Ramparts of Ice Season 2 Ep. 18 (8/10)

Podcast/ Josh Brolin | This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von #690 (7/10)

23 October

Manga/ Onepunch Man Chapter 242 (7/10)

Manga/ Tengoku Daimakyou - Chapter 86 (8/10)

Anime/ Link Click Season 3 Ep. 12 (8/10)

24 October

Anime/ Firefly Wedding Ep. 3 (8/10)

Anime/ Steel Ball Run: JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Ep. 6 (8/10)

Anime/ The Apothecary Diaries Season 3 Ep. 52 (6/10)

Anime/ Tokyo Revengers: War of the Three Titan Arc Ep. 54 (7/10)

TV/ South Park: S29E03 (8/10)

Podcast/ "AI Now Has a Mind of its Own" - Early Anthropic Investor (6/10)

25 October

Manga/ [#027] Roku's House of Oddities (7/10)

Manga/ [#054] Someone Hertz (8/10)

Manga/ [#103] Ichi the Witch (7/10)

Manga/ [#142] SPY x FAMILY (7/10)

Manga/ [#227] Akane-banashi (7/10)

Manga/ [#280] SAKAMOTO DAYS (8/10)

Manga/ Blue Period Chapter 91 (9/10)

Manga/ Kagura Bachi Chapter 136 (7/10)

Anime/ Cyberpunk: Edgerunners S02 (8/10)

The story and pacing was definitely better in season 1. King and Avida's relationship was never explained so Avida's death wasn't impactful. D lost his mind due to losing Capri but that didn't make sense because they weren't linked together for that long. I didn't find it meaningful that he lost his way so fast. Talia's relationship with his father kept me wanting for something bigger underneath but it never got explained. The ending was also not tight enough and didn't make sense. Capri wanting to escape D and then going back to him so easily confused me. First season knew what story it wanted to tell and all characters meant something to the viewer. The central romance between our main character and her love interest also happened gradually and took us along the ride which made the emotional intensity of the ending that much more powerful. The drawings, animation and music was exceptional. Probably only Nippon Sangoku, Bleach and Jaadugar (different art style so some might disagree) come close to this level. The art and music choice was excellent.

Podcast/ Visiting Taiwan w/ Jensen Huang | Lex Fridman (7/10)