To be honest with you, I’ve been working on a project in secret…
…it’s a rewatch project; that is, checking out some of the things on my favourites list to see if they do hold up on future watching, as all good works should. (However, the project’s not as official as the others which have categories – it started as merely a way to test run how the “rewatching” option works on AniList – so I’ll just document it as weekly content whenever I can get a post out for it.)
Sidebar: Considering I put Astra on there this past season…that’s probably going to be disadvantaged if I ever try this again in the future, due to the fact what makes Astra good is the unknown stuff and how it is revealed.
Luckily for Rokuhoudou, digging around meant I found some chapters of the manga (in Japanese, naturally) and that makes for some intereting comparisons – since I still have notes from the first time I watched this through, there’s the 1st watch-through vs 2nd watch-through differences and the manga vs. anime differences (for what can be compared).
For instance, chapter 1 focuses on Tsubasa, the lady you meet in the first half of the 1st episode. However, the manga introduces us to Gure first, then the rest, while the anime starts with Tokitaka cooking out of the frame before you see part of Tsubaki. It starts with a lot of the same lines of dialogue and everything, which I think is an interesting move. Here’s another interesting thing, though: I thought upon both watch-throughs of episode 1 Tsubasa was an event planner. In the manga, her book says “TOEIC” on it, which also explains why she’s listening to something on headphones – she’s studying English! Mystery solved!
Tsubasa also compliments Tsubaki’s red hair and decides to go to the gym after her parfait…it’s a bit of a shame neither of those made it to the small screen. The latter in particular is what you probably should do after having all those desserts – everything in moderation, as they say.
For some reason, I think Tokitaka, as he’s depicted in the manga, looks like he’s sad somehow, but anime!Tokitaka doesn’t have that same air of melancholy (in fact, I think that makes the anime version of him hotter, but then again, that may also be due to the frequency of pretty colours and actual action). For instance, take a look at that first image of this post and then compare him to the anime version.
Meta context: Jumping forward in the manga reveals Tsubaki’s intense eyes and Tokitaka’s melancholy air are just the fault of Early Instalment Weirdness (warning: TV Tropes link). (You can figure out the latter when comparing volume covers and the early art above with the anime, which matches later manga depictions of Tokitaka.) It’s mostly in the depiction of the eyes that I get these sorts of thoughts, anyway.
Other fun facts (from the manga and anime) that don’t take up as much space:
- Tsubaki’s hobby appears to be walking around and sampling sweets, hence his skills as a patissier.
- Gure’s duck boat hobby is introduced in episode 9 of the anime (the episode with the truant student called You), but in the manga it’s introduced as early as the 2nd chapter. What a difference a random hobby can make to the characterisation of a…well, character.
- Tsunozaki is still as much a troll as ever in ch. 49 (and points out Yakyou doesn’t have any friends, even though you could argue he and Yakyou are friends). That’s hardly surprising, given how he acts in the anime. It’s just that he doesn’t show it as much there.
- Hayashi and Isago work for a magazine run by the publishing company Shinchosha. I can tell you that company exists…in fact, it happens to be the one that publishes Rokuhoudou‘s manga in the first place. Similarly, one of the episode titles (by coincidence…? Who knows, really) seemed to be imitating You Don’t Know Gunma Yet. The Gunma series is also published by Shinchosha, but in the Kurage Bunch magazine as opposed to the Comic Bunch magazine.
- Rokuhoudou the series comes out on Wednesdays. I believe the anime (as it was simulcasting, of course) came out on a similar day to that, but it’s funny how much they synced up on that front.
- While trawling Twitter for the manga hashtag, I stumbled upon this fantastic tweet (see below) and I’ll let it speak for itself…(gotta love that Halloween vibe!)
Final protip: there doesn’t seem to be a Rokuhoudou manga hashtag per se, whereas the anime’s is #アニメ鹿楓堂 (to translate that, it would be “#AnimeRokuhoudou”).
Basically, this particular set of comparisons was an excuse to picture spam you all with hot boys (but hey, isn’t that predictable of me?) and maybe bring a lil’ attention to legal web manga sources in the process.
My AniList outright reveals the order and which anime I’m going to tackle for this rewatch project, so I might as well ‘fess up that these are the other anime I’ll rewatch and make notes on:
- Planet With
- Tsuritama
- Kekkai Sensen (s1 only, I’ll then start s2 for the first time)
So, with a new rewatch comes new experiences. Do you rewatch anime at all? If so, what was your favourite experience you had with a rewatch of an anime?
The Animanga Spellbook 