February Q&A and Catchup

Love the content been binging a lot of your stuff last couple weeks to catch up. I'll just cut to the chase and give some recommendations that a personally would love to see you watch and react to. Death Note- pretty obvious one, sure you know it exists, if you haven't already seen it Code Geass- Kind of a mecha Death Note with sprinkled in wacky, slice of life episodes Steins Gate- not sure your take on time travel shows, but it's the best executed ones i've seen For some not as requested but personal favorites of mine Spice and Wolf-Economics, romance and a really smart wolf goddess/girl. What's not to love? Shinsekai yori(from the new world)- covers a lot about adolescence, discrimination, and a lot of concepts of culture in a very unique way(most underrated/unappreciated show ever in my opinion) Then some short shows for fill in Angel beats Somali and the forest spirit anohana

Stephen Chamberlain

Yea that’s cuz you guys dealt with the pandemic properly in the beginning

Soren Monroe

That’s sortve genius

Soren Monroe

Goodwin: this isn’t a long story Also Goodwin: it all started when I was in 5th grade Also wanted to mention that Workaway is super similar to what you did only it’s not just farmers, it’s usually either housework and or babysitting and sometimes it’s like volunteering in a hostel when u live and it’s great because you can be wherever u go for as short as a week and as long as a year or more and there’s also a lot of last minute options. I haven’t use it myself but it’s probably how I’m going to spend this summer in Dublin Ireland this summer and I’ve heard only good things about it from other travelers

Soren Monroe

I second this!

Jamie Morgan

Would love to see you react to demon slayer! It’s a fun well animated show with a lot of heart that I’d think you’d like!

Henry Law

I would love to see you reacting to a anime called Erased, its only 13 episodes, and deals with childhood trauma and time travel, and it is really good.

Raysa Fonseca

Interstellar is one of my favorites of all time as well. I'd love to know Goodwin's thoughts on it cause I think he said in a previous qna he finished the imdb top 250 and interstellar is like no. 29 or something on that list.

benj

If you're looking for something special and human to watch, I strongly recommend Monster from Naoki Urasawa. It's not an easy watch (it's quite long and FAR from slice of life or romantic), but seeing how you approach reactions to other series, I really think you would enjoy it (and I'd love to get your view on it!). It's unlike most of the anime that get usually requested, but even if it isn't most people's first choice, they usually agree it's a masterpiece. And it will give you plenty to talk about.

blackcharcz

Would love to see your reaction to the anime Parasite: The Maxim and if you ever plan to do movie reactions, Arrival.

Shahd

I would love to see your thoughts on HunterxHunter, She-ra, and Bojack Horseman!

Rebecca

Heavily agree with Altered Carbon. That show asks a lot of questions about what it means to be human, the first season is pretty phenomenal (haven’t seen the second one yet)

Nick

A potential show you could watch is Violet Evergarden (anime). I haven’t seen it all, but I know it’s extremely highly acclaimed (pretty short too I think). It’s not really completely slice of life from what I’ve heard but is apparently pretty emotional. You could also do a series unrelated to reactions where you talk about human relationships in a way that relates to writing? I have no idea if you’re a writer but that would be interesting to see, combined interests Also I was wondering: have you seen the movie Interstellar? It’s personally one of my favorite movies, and I get the feeling you would possibly like it, based on its themes

Nick

Definitely consider rewatching AOT!! I’d be really excited to see that. And I saw somewhere that you were interested in watching a romance, so I highly recommend Horimiya, which has a realistic view of a high school romance compared to other romance anime. The Promised Neverland S1 was incredible -- plot twist after plot twist -- and it reminds me of Attack on Titan. I’d definitely watch you react to it! However, I say read the manga after finishing the first season. Have you thought about reacting to movies? If so, I recommend "A Silent Voice” and “Your Name”. If you wanna take a break from anime, then I recommend She-Ra and the Princesses of Power.

Katrina Vieira

Yes! I agree with a rewatch of AoT. There are a lot of important things that go unnoticed the first time around -- a lot of things that you can only understand after knowing everything.

Katrina Vieira

not two vids a day cuz thats prob hard but whatever show u are watching u can do 2 eps per post :)))

Gabriela Benavides

or two episodes per!! esp for aot

Gabriela Benavides

Imagine a Goodwin reaction series to Hyouka. Would be to good to be true. I feel like he'd solve each mystery in the first 5 mins though so it wouldn't even be any fun lmfao.

benj

Man when you said you wanted something more like slice of life, I emmidiately thought of Gintama. It's my all time favorite show but unfortunately its too long for you to react to (300+ episodes) but it truly is a phenomenal show, even though its mostly comedy, the cast is amazing, especially the protagonist. It's basically every genre all packed in one anime beautifully. So I'm just putting this here just in case you ever wanted to check it out.

It is so crazy how places like New York are under strict restrictions but here in Australia, it doesn't feel like there is a pandemic. Our shopping centres are filled with people and our restrictions are not anything big.

Yusuf

Promise Neverland season 1 is really good. Season 2 is a big let down they have jumped a lot from the source manga and pissed a lot of viewers.

PS

Thank you for the helpful advice. You're absolutely right. I really like the tinkering approach you explained. And also the idea of 1000 true fans. I used subscribers as a metric, because I rarely see channels under 50-100k subs making a living on youtube and like you said, even bigger channels tend to struggle sometimes. But I know subscribers is kind of a bad way to measure success on youtube. It's such a wonderful feeling when you finally find something you're passionate about. I've tried so many different ventures in the past 2-3 years and it always felt like work. Even if I just spent 4 or less hours per day working, it felt pretty difficult. But in the back of my head, I've always wanted to do youtube and now that I've tried it, it just feels right. My videos are really bad now because I lack experience and I see very little success, but the amazing thing is that I don't even care. I just want to make more videos. I've never felt this way before. Anyway, sorry for the ramble. Again, thank you for the great advice. I wish you great success. Yeah and show recommendations: Hunter X Hunter Assassination Classroom Breaking Bad (if you haven't seen it already) Better Call Saul (same applies)

Chris Virtue

Id really enjoy seeing his thoughts on Re Zero or Cobra Kai

William Abbott

If it's relationship dynamics, then I'd like to recommend Spice & Wolf. And another separate recommendation of a show that doesn't seem to get much love is Land of the Lustruous. Both shows that are a little... off the beaten path. (I may have recommended one of these before). I enjoy these catch-up videos a lot and look forward to them each month. Keep doing what you're doing, and I'll see you at the next one!

A Suresh

I've seen a few recommendation's for Assassination Classroom, and I would also love to see reactions for that! The themes it explores and the lessons it gives are incredible. There are a lot of things I took away from it, and it's a show I always end up coming back to.

Valeri

I just finished watching FMA 2003 myself and I'm really looking forward to see what you think about it! I feel like you'll definitely have a lot of fun exploring its themes, especially because I feel like it takes a really different and imo darker spin on the story. I'm interested to see how you react to how differently the general cast is handled, especially the Homunculi.

H

Hii! Hope you are doing well. :) As a college student who has been looking into the WWOOFing program for a little while now, i was excited to hear that you recommend it. As for anime, The Promised Neverland is really good. I'm sure you would love it! I know its been recommended plenty before, but I agree that The Good Place would be worth watching. I'm not typically a fan of sitcom genre but The Good Place is one of my favorite TV shows & very well written. I know its up to the poll but I just wanted to put that out there haha. Stay cool, my dude :D

Sweetbun

Thought I commented already but I guess it didn't take. I like the idea of sprinkling in some shorter shows for variety and also to kinda reset from the longer shows that tend to have more epic storylines.

jdthebud

Since you are watching through episode 25 of AOT I suggest staying past the credits. I'm pretty sure someone has already told you but... oh well lol

R'Mani Leavell

I'm glad :) I love Death Note. I've seen it a few times now. We'll see about FMA 2003. I originally gravitated to FMAB because I'm wary of the "too many cooks" thing in media, where show writers sort of spin-off from the foundation the original author built (usually good stories are conceived as a total package with foreshadowing, things coming full circle, parallel narratives, etc). But there's a lot to work with, so I'm sure I'll find something to enjoy in the older anime.

Alex G

Thanks for the questions! I enjoyed talking about teaching more than I thought lol. Also, I realized later that I most likely butchered your name so if I did I apologize.

Alex G

I'd say my Korean is only intermediate, even after living there for over 2 years. It's entirely possible to survive in a foreign country like SK without native language ability since there is a high level of English ability there, though it's infinitely more rewarding if you actually learn the language. Once I was with a friend who had lived there for 6 years at the time, and he was trying to order food "to go" at a restaurant, and the worker kept saying "to go?" in Korean, and he kept replying "no, TO GO!" in English. I was like, dude, that's what she's saying, and more importantly, how have you survived for 6 years without knowing how to say "to go"??? But it's incredibly common. In fact I'd say MOST people who live abroad do not learn more than the basics for survival. About 3 months before I flew to Seoul I started studying the language and learned some basic grammar and vocabulary and also listened to tapes where you repeat phrases for pronunciation. That head start I had was incredibly useful and set me up well to learn while there. I also studied actively while I was in the country, I did spaced-repetition drills using Anki (Supermemo is an alternative) and I was always picking up phrases from friends. One difficulty of studying a language formally/academically is that in my experience it often doesn't match what you most need. For example,the most important language includes knowing how to order food, how to get a phone plan, banking, etc, but most textbooks are designed around students and professors and late homework lol. I honestly don't think you can go wrong though. Any study is good and the more you know before going, the easier and more fun it will be.

Alex G

Just a random unfiltered thought here, but a possible way to replace atla rewatch with on Saturdays once you're finished. Since the shows that you choose to watch on the channel are generally shows that will also help the channel get traction, maybe you can also do a random show based off of patreon recommendations-- that way we could recommend something more niche that probably wouldn't make for a good series on the main channel, and the random aspect of it gives everyone's recommendation the same chance. You could put limits on the show recommendations, for example not longer than 12 or 13 episodes, and of course reserve the right to drop it if you can't connect with it. Also, you mentioned slice of life type shows, my favorite slice of life anime is Usagi Drop. Really enjoyable show with ample opportunity to relate to the events and characters. Keep up the good work Alex, you are doing an amazing job growing this community!

Jon

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and stories! I really enjoy them and feel like I have learned something new. Not sure if you have seen Death Note, but it is a short anime and is a pretty fun watch. FMA 2003 is, in my opinion, far, FAR more inferior than FMAB since the plot took off on its own pretty much after Hughes's death and...it's just very weird and the world they built is very small. It feels like a fan-made tribute to the real Fullmetal Alchemist Manga. But hey, don't let my words discourage you, watch it and let us know what you think. (It's bad.) Anyways, enjoy your videos as always, and please be safe and healthy.

Joey Joseph Jojoson

Promised Neverland?! ho my god yes please I started S2 and couldn't fricken remember anything that happened from S1 XD i guess watching someone else react to it is how i'm going to rewatch it XD I'm currently at work so i can't rec some shorter anime right this second but when i punch out I'll be back to rec some short ones :3 although i did see someone rec Assassination Classroom and Wotakoi both i highly recommend! Edit: ok so for short series - Snow white with the red hair, Kimi ni Todoke(From Me to you), Say "I Love You", My Love Story(Ore Monogatari!!), Carole & Tuesday was REALLY REALLY REALLYYYY GOOD, Dame x Prince Anime Caravan(DamePri) was super silly, Dororo, Gunsmith Cats is a 6 ep OVA that was pretty cool, FLCL/Fooly Cooly/Furi Curi is also 6 episodes and just super weird, Haibane Renmei was interesting, Hyouka is amazing i love it a lot, Jingai-san no Yome was....really weird but i loved it to pieces, Kamisama Kiss was good ok i'mma stop cuz that's way too many anime lmao

Brimmy

Something unique and more slice of life but still exciting and thought inducing eh? May I suggest Great Pretender on Netflix? A quick two word summary would be Heist Anime.

ComicalSkate

Wow I was going to recommend something but there is like 10 thousand recommendations in the comments already and if I was you I would be overwhelmed. Hec I've seen most of these shows and it still overwhelmed me. Also thanks for responding to my questions it was really weird and awesome at the same time since you are the first youtube/media creator that I have ever truly interacted with.

Kadin Lebreton

I was like, "why does Maniac sound so familiar," looked it up and I actually just watched it about a month ago. I knew nothing about it and had very low expectations, which worked in my favor because it ended up being great!

Alex G

Sucks when shit like this happens to great shows...Sadge

benj

I'm assuming you had to know a decent amount of Korean in order to teach there. If so how hard did you find learning it, and how difficult was it to integrate into a country with such foreign language and culture? I'd love to learn a new language, and an Asian one would definitely be ideal. I also would love to travel and work in countries like Korea or Japan, so it's definitely something I have considered and hearing your stories only inspire me more. My first stop is going to be New Zealand, and WWOOF was one of the options I considered for that trip, since it is an English speaking country that I have always wanted to spend time in, but after that I'd definitely love to work in somewhere like Korea. So any tips, past what you've already said, on how I should go about achieving that?

ComicalSkate

Mob Psycho 100 has your name written all over it. it was the first series i thought you should react to once i got to know you better. it really just touches on so many topics, and is different from the norm. btw unfortunately The Promised Neverland season 2 got completely shafted, and deviates away from the manga to an insane degree. The entire fanbase is very disappointed, its an ugly situation. S

Nicolas

I do not but that is a great idea.

Alex G

To be fair, Februaries always go by fast. Hm if it's character dynamics you want, there's a miniseries I liked called "Maniac" that is not animated but blurs the line between reality and fantasy. For a longer series I'd definitely recommend The Good Place as someone else mentioned. But going back to animated, I just started Infinity Train and am enjoying it!

Kotryna

I love Bojack but I haven't seen the last season (saving it) so that would be a possibility. I'll definitely be returning to the Homunculi question. I will do a Q&A at the end of the series for sure :)

Alex G

I second this!!! It's also got some twists and turns which is fun. Reacting to The Good Place would be *chef's kiss* perfection.

Kotryna

Thanks! I have been hearing about Black Lagoon for a while and it sounds great.

Alex G

Thanks for the recommendations!

Alex G

Thanks for the video, it was very convincing :)

Alex G

Yeah rewatching is definitely worth it. The foreshadowing went right over my head my first watch through.

Megan

True I still think season 1 is worth the watch though, then just read the manga

Megan

OreGairu and Konosuba are great recommendations. I need Goodwin's thoughts on 8man's monologues lmao they are too good.

benj

Do you have a MyAnimeList where we can see what what anime you have already seen? If you haven't seen that many anime, this comment is irrelevant.

MooTuu

Just a few recommendations: Assassination Classroom (bizarre premise), Erased (time travel mystery, controversial but only 12 episodes total and pretty highly rated besides the saltiness), Dr. Stone (Science Boi), Konosuba (Comedy for the people of culture, wink wink), Mob Psycho (Psychic Boi), Sakura-sou no Pet na Kanajo (Slice of Life, kinda Romance), Wotakoi (Slice of life involving adults with 9-5 jobs), Oregairu (Romance), Asobi Asobase (Crackhead Energy). I think it would be interesting to see you watch a slice-of-life show, I have no idea what the commentary would be like, though.

MooTuu

Steven Universe is a great recommendation!

KJ Gaona

A live-action series that I think would be a good fit for your channel is "The Good Place." It's all about human-dynamics and it often tackles morality and philosophical concepts. Not sure, if there would be must interest though.

Bruce Gil

This 100%. After just watching all the AOT OVA's, I highly recommend watching Ilse's Notebook before Season 2, right after finishing Season 1. Do the same with the Double Episode Levi OVA.

benj

Jumping in real quick to state my own opinion since I saw some other people in recent videos talking about it. I think in addition to the OVA about Levi and Erwin, you should definitely watch Ilse's Notebook before Season 2. It focuses a lot on Hange and will add some vaguely helpful context while contributing to the build up and suspense of the show. The original manga author definitely intended for that story and information to be known to the readers well ahead of the events covered in Season 2.

KJ Gaona

The Promised Neverland has taken a turn for the worst. Without spoiling anything, they did not stay true to the source material that made it such a great story in the first place and it could just be my personal feelings but that also seems to be the general consensus.

Sharan Chakravarthy

Once again throwing my hat in the ring for recommendations. Kipo age of the wonderbeast She-ra and the princesses of power Steven universe (and possibly Steven universe future) and above all Adventure time idk if you’ve seen it but it truly is a masterpiece

DrowsyCody

I second Ghost Hound! So underrated IMO.

Bruce Gil

Attack on Titan is one of the few shows I'd actually want to see you rewatch. As much as I love Avatar, I haven't been interested in that rewatch series (which is fine because the other 6 videos per week are plenty and then some for me) but when you finish that, I'd love an AoT rewatch. At the very least I think you'd find it worthwhile even if it's off camera.

KJ Gaona

Holy shit I love seeing all these people recommend their fav romcom animes, we gotta get one of these to win the poll somehow. Bunny Girl Senpai is another 10/10 romance show that Goodwin would have so much to say about.

benj

LOL at the end talking about off the beat shows and watching some different slice of life maybe even romance stuff...It would be a dream for me if you reacted to some stuff like that but I feel there is no large interest for that lmao. I've got endless recommendations for the very best in Romance/Slice of life/Comedy. Kaguya-Sama: Love is War for instance is a incredibly well written RomCom/Psychological anime that you could literally analyze and talk about for days, I would pay infinite money for you to react to shows like that.

benj

Rewatching (on camara) is a waste of time when there are new anime to see... LIKE PSYCHO PASS!!!!!

Norrin Radd

Still hoping for my main to watch Rascal doesn’t dream of bunny girl senpai, is short but brimming with little character stuff I think you’d eat up

Kollie123

Holy shit I didn't think anyone else wanted him to react to March Comes in Like a Lion as well! I thought it was amazing and I think Alex would find so much meaning in the show.

Arnav B

Sorry for the mess in my train of thoughts: Bojack Horseman without a doubt for possible next show. I really think you would love it. Attack on Titan is IMHO one of the best series to rewatch and if you ask me I'm more excited to see you rewatching it than FMAB. You're right about the 2 daily episodes, I really prefer quality over quantity. But maybe 3 shows at the same time and include a monthly movie? I really want to see your reaction for original FMA. I have a guess about who is gonna be your favorite homunculi at the end of the show but spoilers so I hope you answer this question once again at the end of the serie. And again when watching FMA. I remember you mentioned about wanting to learn japanese in one comment about sub vs dub, now everything is clear hahaha.

Carlos Salazar

One show that coversdifferent themes than what you have watched so far is Black Lagoon (the dub is a must here, voices are perfect and the dialogue is much better). There's no hero's journey, no grand ending or overarching plot, just the day to day events for a (modern) pirate company in the underbelly of the world. You watch a city swallow all these people and spit them back out. Character development/regression takes a while but it all feels real. Its bleak themes and slow pace are balanced by its physics defying action scenes which bring some levity. There are 24 episodes and 5 ovas which cover another arc from the manga.

Etsch

March Comes in like a Lion is a great slice of life anime, one of the best of all time in fact, and I think it'd be perfect for the type of show you're looking for. It left a HUGE impact on me. If you're talking romance, also OreGairu would probably be good too. Lots to analyze there.

FiioArt

Personally, I am continually blown away by the fact there's a new video for me to watch here every day. For me it's plenty. On another note, here's some Live-action recommendations: - Altered Carbon - Broadchurch - Giri/Haji These are all real good shows, though they're pretty different from the coming of age type animated shows you've shown here the past year.

Aidan Pullen

I think it would be nice if you explored some older anime as well, some well known but still kinda underground anime that I LOVE are Samurai Champloo, Ghost Hound, Wolf's Rain, Trigun and Fooly Cooly. Maybe some people will not know them nowadays, but at least I would recommend you check them out in your spare time.

Meruka Hinaru

If you're still taking recommendations, Waiting in the Summer, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0, and World End: What to do at the End of the World are a few shorter(12-13 episodes) anime that don't really have many reaction videos that you can find. The first one is a romcom anime that deals a lot with interpersonal relationships, the second is about a 12 year old girl and her 8 year brother trying to make their way home in the aftermath of a major earthquake centered on Tokyo that deal with a lot of human psycology, and the last is about the last human waking up 200 yrs after humanities extinction and a group of girls called fairies or leprechauns(the show seems to use these interchangeably) who fight fight to protect the new sentient life and their sky cities from the monsters who were responsible for the downfall of humanity.

george mcvey

I highly recommend She-ra! It’s one of my favorite shows along with ATLA, Legend of Korra and Attack on Titan. It’s definitely good if you need a break from some of the heavier shows you’re watching right now. The characters and relationships are some of my favorite ever. The youtube channel Five by Five Takes made a video called “Why She-re (2018) is worth your time” I would check it out if you’re interested, here’s the link: https://youtu.be/Pij3UD7Qj4I I also recommend The Promised Neverland. It’s a quick watch and in my opinion, one of the best shows for reactions because of its suspense and plot twists

Megan

For a bonus video you should watch the aot OVAs

Eddie

Something bizarre explored? Shorter show? Another dedicated node? Look no further than Angel Beats! (dub)

Ace

I think that would be fun to see as well. I think it depends on how much content we're getting lol. If they can do it all, that would be great, but if we can only get 1 series then I want a Korra sequel :)

Alex G

First off, thank you for sharing so much. Although circumstances are difficult, I'm really glad you started reactions. I actually found your channel from a video of you in China during the beginning of the pandemic, and saw you had just started avatar lol. Your insight and experience are amazing to listen to. Sometimes I listen to it like a podcast (maybe you would consider this). I would love to see some spinoff series with avatar Kuruk and Kiyoshi (Roku didn't seem to have much beyond the episode dedicated). I heard Kuruk battled spirits his whole life and died in his thirties because of his efforts. May be interesting. Also if you haven't seen it, Breaking Bad is top tier, and you can break down tons as far as characters development goes. Also Better Call Saul nearly as good.

WOOT!

Zavooloo

I can already say I’m all for a rewatch of AOT –so I'm hoping others agree to show interest - it’s one of those shows where you catch so much upon each rewatching it so it’d be pretty cool to see you see all the pieces come together.

RationallySassy

(Midnight Gospel gang! Yay!)

T-mo