Hello - My Journey into TMC

Watching Oshi No Ko in my Anime & Manga room

Welcome to Too Much Content.

I'm Maria. I live in the UK and I've created this blog to talk to like minded people, wherever they may be, about the anime I'm watching, the manga I'm reading and the music I'm listening to.

I was late to the party and discovered anime in my early 50's and it surprised me that I hadn't found it sooner having been an art and design student in my younger days. But there you go, at that time I was into the Indie music scene, a bit of a Goth girl, partial to a few drinks and didn't watch much content, it was the days before mobiles, apps and streaming.

Now a mother, I came home from work one day and discovered my then 14 year old daughter watching what I percieved to be a cartoon, however, the content was certainly not "Loony Tunes". I sat down to watch with her to discover it was an anime called Tokyo Ghoul, I would dip in and out, mostly to keep an eye on how it was impacting her, but I didn't think it would interest me. She then tried to get me to watch Attack on Titan with her, but as soon as those huge, lumbering, naked, genitalia free, giants started lumbering across the screen, that was a bit "NO" from me (bare with me, I just needed time 😂). I never considered whether she should watch it, only whether I should! Although I did show some concern when she came to me what seemed like every five minutes, sobbing because her favourite character had "died".

Hermione the cat
showing no respect for
my Haikyu!! shrine

In October of that year, we were going on holiday and had a "relaxing" 10 hour car journey to get to our destination. I told her to download something we could watch on the journey together and she decided on Mappa's Yuri! On Ice. The story of Yuri Katsuki a loveable, but failing Japanese figure skater and of how he came to be coached by his idol, Russian prodigy Victor Nikiforov. A sports anime filled with humour, romance, sporting passion and with the odd moment that will literally make your jaw drop, thanks to the enigmatic, divinely camp Christophe Giacometti. I loved it and couldn't possibly start any holiday activities until it had all been watched. It also gave me the first song - History Maker by Dean Fujioka, in my now 80 hour, 1334 song Anime playlist on Spotify!

Wanting to capitalise on my new found enthusiasm, my daughter introduced me immediately to Haikyu!! Another sports anime, this time about the trials and tribulations of Shoyo Hinata. Hinata is obsessed with Volleyball but has no team or training. The story tells how he uses grit, determination and rivalry to rise up through the ranks, to surpass his dream to become the new "tiny giant" and become the world's greatest decoy. Little did she know she would unleash a monster.😅I protested - "that orange boy is too shouty", "I hate sport, of any kind", "ugh! Teenage boys, they're so annoying". But I sat down and watched the first episode and before I knew it I was hooked, now only on Haikyu!! which remains to this day my favourite anime, but on sports anime and all anime and manga.

Meet my car - Hinata!
(when your obsession is out of control!!)

You'll be pleased to hear I revisited Tokyo Ghoul and Attack on Titan and have now watched them both several times, mostly in the futile pursuit of getting my husband interested in anime. I'm up to about 160 series now plus OVAs and films.

Although I have a great appreciation for subbed anime, my preference is dub. I have an eye condition which makes subtitles challenging, but I can't always wait and often end up watching things twice. When I get to the dub, I'm always amazed by what I missed whilst trying to read those pesky subs.

I'm now trying to control my desire to buy manga. I've got about 300 volumes to date, I do my best to buy second hand where possible. I guess making myself and anime an manga room has probably not done much to help that.

I'm also addicted to web comics, so I really don't think there's any hope for me , thank goodness!

So as I sign off on this first blog and introduction, I'll add some lists below (do your research befoe watching / reading any of these, some have trigger warnings). Let me know in the comments what your lists are, I'd be happy to hear how you got into Anime & Manga.

Finally, if you think I might be someone you can follow please do and check out my other related content on these links

TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tmc_aandmchat?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092102199521&sk=about

Top 5 Anime

• Haikyu!! - Sports
• March Comes in Like a Lion - Slice of Life
• Given - Music, Romance
• Ajin - Science Fiction, Horror
• Terror in Resonance - Science Fiction, Drama

Anime I'm Watching Now

• Oshi No Ko - Science Fiction, Drama
• Mashle - Magic and Muscles
• Ping Pong - Sports
• Vinland Saga - Historical, War, Vikings

Top 5 Manga

• Classmates - BL
• Anonymous Noise - Music, Romance
• The Flowers of Evil - Pyschological drame
• How Do We Relationship - GL
• Orange - Romance

Top 5 Web Comics

• 19 Days - Slice of Life
• Red Candy - 18+, BL, Spy story
• Dangrous Convenience Store - 18+, BL 
• Wrong Night Stand - 18+, BL, Friends to Lovers
• Under the Green Light - 18+, BL with  twist

Top 5 Songs

• Hikariare - Burnout Syndrome - Haikyu!!
• Re:Re - Asian Kung Fu Generation - Erased
• Inferno - Mrs Green Apple - Fire Force
• Black Rover - Vickeblanca - Black Clover
• Duvet - Boa - Serial Experiments Lain