The Buttonsmashers Holiday Otaku Guide 2018

With the holidays not too far away most people are already planning their shopping lists, so we thought we’d weigh in with a few Anime/ Manga/ Webtoons that we think Otakus should consider. Our Holiday Gift Guide 2018 features mostly items that we’ve covered here on the site and will feature links to reviews or coverage of them to help you make more informed decisions.

Anime

 

Name Publisher Review/ Coverage
Harukana Receive Funimation Review
My Hero Academia Funimation
Dragon Ball Super Funimation
Inazuma Eleven: Ares no Tenbin TX Network
Prison School Funimation Review
Nagi no Asu kara NIS America, Inc. Review
The Seven Deadly Sins Funimation

 

Manga

 

Name Publisher Review/ Coverage
One Piece VIZ Media
The Royal Tutor Yen Press Review
Fuuka Kodansha Comics Review
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash Yen Press Review
Perfect Half Lezhin Review
Sunggi’s Study Group Lezhin Review
Stand Up! Lezhin Review
Delicious in Dungeon Yen Press Review
No Game No Life Please! Yen Press Review
Remember Ur Nature Mangatellers Review
Everyone’s Getting Married VIZ Media Review
Star Wars Lost Stars Yen Press
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess VIZ Media Review
Your Name Yen Press Review
Girl’s Last Tour Yen Press Review
Anonymous Noise VIZ Media Review
RWBY VIZ Media
Dragon Ball Super VIZ Media
My Hero Academia VIZ Media
We Never Learn VIZ Media
Record of Grancrest War VIZ Media

 

Anime Services

Netflix: Link – Originally Netflix wasn’t a place that I’d consider as a good option for top level anime watching, but times have changed. The Streaming giant has embraced anime, and with that has come some notable options. Netflix changes its selection of anime from time to time, and some of it is exclusive to the platform. Now keep in mind this is not the definitive anime streaming platform, so don’t just get a subscription for streaming anime. If you plan on watching other things or already have a subscription then you can find stuff like Code Geass, Fate/EXTRA Last Encore, The Seven Deadly Sins and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood on the service.

Crunchyroll: Link – If you’re serious about your anime then you’re gonna want to get a Crunchyroll subscription. This services offers the largest catalog of English Sub and Dubbed anime on the planet. The service is limited due to region locks, but even in regions outside of the US there are still many choices. Crunchyroll also has same day airing of anime as Japan, and some of it is actually free. Oh and by the way if you plan on getting this then get yourself a VPN so that you can bypass that stinky region locking.

Manga Services

VIZ Manga App: Link – The VIZ Manga app is a region locked app provided by VIZ Media. The app has a huge catalog of all VIZ Media manga to date and is available on Android, and IOS. It’s not very user friendly and lacks many of the features most of us have come to expect from our manga apps. So why do we recommend it? The numbers. Though this may not be the most intuitive app to use, it makes up for that by the massive catalog of books that can be found on the service.  The other reason we recommend it is because VIZ regularly has free chapters and volumes available on the app.

Comixology: Link – When you’re ready to take your manga reading seriously then upgrade to Comixology. This app has an impressive selection of not just manga but also comicbooks. Comixology isn’t limited by region and has manga from pretty much every big English publisher out there. The app allows for the purchase of individual volumes or a monthly subscription for access to their 15,000 plus catalog. At $5.99/ month that’s not a bad deal. If you’re an avid reader then this is a service that you should consider immediately.

Line Webtoon: Link – When you need your Korean comic fix in the west there are few better options than Line Webtoon. This app has lots of free webtoons for your reading pleasure, some of which come with audio. Yup, while reading you are able to use an audio option to hear sounds from the books you read. Some of this audio may be music while others may be the sound of objects interacting with each other. It’s really and adds something new to the reading experience. Oh and did we mention that it’s all FREE!

Lezhin Comic: Link – We’ve had some ups and downs with this publisher this year, but things have turned out well between us, which is good because we highly rate their app. Lezhin offers some of the best mature reading content in the world for both male and female readers. The publisher releases episodes of their webtoons weekly, and they’re all very high quality. The first few episodes of each series is free so you’ll be able to evaluate them before purchasing subsequent episodes. New episodes cost approximately $1. We have to use approximately because Lezhin uses some arbitrary coin system that doesn’t equate well with regular currency. Hopefully someday they’ll offer a subscription service so we don’t have to use that ridiculous coin system.

2 Comments

  1. Honestly I would love to get some coins to keep up with a webtoon I’m reading right now, Love or Hate! I don’t think a lot of people realize that gifting access to webtoons would be a wonderful gift. Personally, I actually prefer reading manga online and webtoons now over physical copies of manga. It’s just so much easier to go through chapters, and I don’t have to worry about storage space either. I do most of my reading through Lezhin now, and I definitely agree that their mature section is really impressive. They also have a pretty great selection of BL series, so if you’re into that genre, I highly recommend checking out some of their titles.

    1. Thanks for the wonderful comment Kara, and yes it would be nice to gift coins on Lezhin. If they did, we’d definitely do a giveaway or two for some of the series we’ve reviewed on here. Not a BL fan, but the selection on Lezhin is pretty large. Oh and like you, I also spend more time reading digitally. It’s easier to have just one device and read all my manga and webtoons on it. I still like the physical books too, but I have no use for them after I’m finish reading them unfortunately. Anywho. Thanks for the comment, and hope to see more from you.