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The summer season was pretty strong! I enjoyed almost every thing I watched.

Though I Am an Inept Villainess - I think this show has become my new favorite "villainess" series! In fact, it was my favorite of the season, and one of the best shows I've watched this year so far. Most villainess shows tend to be of the "isekai" variety, where the heroine dies and gets reborn as a "villainess" in her favorite series/fantasy world, but this one is actually a body-swap story, in which our two leads, Reirin and Keigetsu, are a part of the Maiden Court, a group of young women from all the various clans who are in the running to marry the crown prince and eventually become his empress. Reirin is the sweet, beautiful, and talented "butterfly" of the court, beloved by all, but behind her smile, she has a very frail body prone to sickness. Meanwhile, Keigetsu is the so-called "villainess", someone knowledgeable about curses and black magic and looked down upon by almost everybody in the court as a lowly "sewer rat". Jealous of Reirin's popularity, Keigetsu decides to cast a spell to switch bodies with Reirin, but the plan doesn't go quite as she expected... Yeah, there is probably something to be said about Keigetsu being "punished" for her crime with having to deal with Reirin's chronically ill body, which isn't...great, but it really is heart-warming to see Reirin enjoying the chance to live with a strong, healthy body for a change -- and hilarious to see her often pathetic attempts at acting the "villainess" she's supposed to be as "Keigatsu". Of course, as we learn more about Keigetsu and her circumstances, it becomes clear that she's not truly a villainess either, just a misguided girl desperate for love and affection. One of my favorite parts of the show is actually the unlikely friendship that develops between Reirin and Keigetsu as they get swept up into a mystery at court involving a deadly curse on the current empress. I'm excited to hear this is getting a second season, and I'm intrigued by what will happen next, considering that this cour ends ( spoilers for the ending )

Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia - Oh, wow, this show looks absolutely gorgeous, and it's clear that a lot of research went into portraying the time period and various cultures accurately and with respect. (Especially appreciated in light of recent world events!) It can be a little tough at times to keep track of all the characters, especially when Genghis Khan's sons had so many different wives, but definitely worth the effort. Based on historical events, the story follows a Persian slave named Sitara, who is captured by the Mongols after her hometown is attacked and destroyed. Sitara was very attached to the family she served, particularly her kind mistress Fatima (whose name she takes when she needs an alias), so when Fatima is killed and her treasured book stolen for one of the aforementioned wives, Sitara vows revenge, eventually joining forces with Töregene, another of the wives who has her own personal reasons for wanting to rebel, in order to bring down the Mongol Empire. (Obviously, the fact that Sitara was so fond of her owners can be seen as problematic, but it should be noted that Persian slaves were treated very well, with Sitara even receiving a top-notch education and there being talk of her marrying Fatima's son, who she did seem to have some feelings for. Still doesn't make it right, but her feelings are more understandable when seen in that light.) I love how smart and clever Sitara is, but she's not infallible, sometimes misjudging people and situations. The other female characters are also great, particularly Boraqchin, who I found quite fascinating. This cour does come off a bit as a prologue of sorts, so I really hope we get another season once the manga gets further along!

Goodbye, Lara - If you ever wanted a yuri version of "The Little Mermaid", this is the show for you! And even if you haven't, I would still highly recommend checking out "Goodbye, Lara", even if the ending is a bit disappointing and lackluster. Honestly, it almost felt like the writers got to the final episode and went, "Crap, the show is called "Goodbye, Lara". That means Lara actually needs to leave somehow. How do we do that? ( spoilers for the ending ) My other main quibble? What the heck was up with the...shirts(?) all the merfolk wear? At first I thought they were like bio-shirts that were actually a part of their bodies, which was weird enough, but then we see Rowan (Lara's father) wearing three different "shirts" at different points in his life, so I guess there's some way you can take them off? Or maybe they shed them as they age and a different kind grows in to replace it? If it is fashion that they have the ability to change, then why are they trying to imitate humans when they hate humans so much? IT MAKES NO SENSE! I get that the TPTB might not have wanted topless merfolk (and at least they're equal opportunity, covering up both male and female chests), but there had be some better choice to avoid showing nudity -- Rapunzel hair (which a lot of the merfolk have anyway), scales going all the way up their torso, even the Disney seashell bras would have made more sense than those bizarro shirts! That all being said, it's still a great re-imagining of the classic fairy tell. Maybe just skip the last couple of minutes!

Ascendance of a Bookworm - Still great, although I have to admit I'm just not really into all the political stuff and miss when the story was more about Myne trying to make books. However, the budding romance between Brigitte and Damuel is super cute, and this cour ended on one heck of a cliffhanger, so hopefully we won't have to wait long for the next season (especially since I think the book series is over?). EDIT: I didn't realize that there was another episode left in the season! Oops, but thank goodness we didn't have to end on that cliffhanger after all, and I'm looking forward to Rozemyne attending noble school during next cour, which has already been confirmed. ( spoilers for the ending )

Please Excuse My Younger Brothers - I wonder, is it super common for single parents to remarry in Japan without introducing their new spouse and any step-children to their own children beforehand? 'Cause this must be at least the fifth or sixth time I've watched/read a series (usually a step-sibling romance) where it happens, and it strikes me as odd every single time. Poor Ito here doesn't even find out she has four younger step-brothers until the day she and her mother move into her new step-father's house because her mom thought it would be a "fun" surprise! And of course, almost as soon as everyone's somewhat settled into their new life as a family, the news comes that the boys' father's job has transferred him to another city for the next two years, leaving Ito and her new brothers to fend for themselves (mostly) while their parents move away instead of doing the reasonable thing and have the whole family move with him. (To be fair, the original plan was to have Ito move with the parents, but she decides she would rather stay.) I have to admit, though, this is one of the better step-sibling romances I've watched/read. I think it definitely helps that there are other siblings involved, so the story isn't just about the (forbidden) romance. I particularly loved the sweet relationship formed between Ito and Shu, the third brother who became a shut-in due to being bullied at school. As for Ito's love interest Gen (who is only her little brother by a day), they often butt heads because both are used to being the caretakers in the family, but they do have a nice chemistry together. This is actually continuing into next season, which I wasn't expecting at all, but I'm not complaining!

Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun - With most of the recent cours covering long-running arcs, it's kinda nice that this cour consisted of mostly fun 1-2 episode stories. That being said, I am looking forward to the plot moving forward a little more, especially since it's strongly hinted that the next arc will be about choosing a new Demon King. It'll also be fun to see the Misfit Class as second years!

Hana-Kimi - I actually liked this cour a lot better than I did the first. I still wouldn't call it a "great" show, but I can at least kinda see why the manga was so popular now. I especially enjoyed Mizuki's best friend from America, Julia, visiting Japan as foreign exchange student, attending the sister school to Mizuki's all-boys' academy. It was nice to see Mizuki interact with a girl her age who actually knows that she's a girl, too. It's a shame that Julia only stuck around for a few episodes, though. Especially since this adaptation has been changed to take place in the modern day instead of thirty years ago when the manga was first released, the fact that Mizuki and Julia don't seem to have much contact otherwise doesn't make much sense when technology makes it so much easier nowadays. Maybe the writers finally realized the issue, because we did at least get a very brief video chat between them after the Christmas Ball at the end of the cour, but still! As amusing as Mizuki's friendship(? kinda?) with the gay school nurse, Dr. Umeda, who also knows her secret is, I really wish she would talk more to Julia about her issues than him. More Julia in the last cour, please! Justice for Julia! She's too fun a character to waste. Also, for a series that started with Mizuki falling in love with Izumi's high jump and disguising herself as a boy so that she can go to school with him, I have to say it's weird that high jumping is maybe mentioned twice during this entire cour and I don't think shown at all. I guess that kinda makes sense, with track and field probably not that active during the autumn, but this show is definitely not the sports anime I was expecting!

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You - Oh, boy, this cour introduces probably some of the most problematic girlfriends yet -- namely Rentaro's America-obsessed teacher, his own cousin, who is only in middle school (so incestuous and age-inappropriate!), and probably most shocking of all, Kusuri's GRANDMOTHER, who like her granddaughter looks like a ten-year-old but permanently because she took a stronger version of the immortality drug -- but, hey, if you're gonna get hung up on that, you probably would have checked out of the series long before now (like when he added one of his other girlfriends' mother to the harem). That being said, I do feel like it is getting to the point where there are just way too many girlfriends (17!) to properly develop and keep track of all of them, and we haven't even gotten through a quarter of the promised one hundred yet! Also, I just didn't really care about most of the new girlfriends introduced in this cour, aside from the gentle giant, Yamame, who might be one of my favorites out of the whole harem. It's still funny, and there are moments of genuine sweetness, but also, this was probably the cour with the most amount of fanservice (with one moment that I absolutely do think went WAY too far even if we didn't actually get to see it on screen), which I wasn't a big fan of.

Red River - It's a shame that this series didn't get a bigger budget. The art in the manga is absolutely gorgeous, while this show... Well, the animation could certainly be better, to say the least. (I do have to say that I rather like the fact that there was little attempt to modernize the character designs or setting (in the few parts that take place in the "modern day"). The show looks like it would have been right at home airing along side 90s shoujo classics like Sailor Moon and Fushigi Yugi, and there's something kind of charming about that.) The characterization isn't great either, which can probably be blamed on the rushed pacing. There just isn't the time to focus on character development when I assume they're trying to get through a 28 volume epic manga in only two cours. (As far as I know, anyway. Maybe there are more cours planned, but at the moment, I only know it's continuing into next season.) Yuri suffers the most in that regard. She's such an awesome character in the manga, but while she does still has plenty of badass moments in the anime, she can also come across as a little too stupid to live at times. Which, yeah, was also in the manga to a certain extent (although I don't remember it being anywhere near as bad), but her characterization was strong enough that you could understand why she was acting like that. Not so much in the anime. Her love interest Kail doesn't come off as much better, although at least they did tone down how sexually aggressive his manga counterpart could be. The story itself is still excellent, however, and hopefully things will improve in the second cour, continuing next season.

Grow Up Show: Sunflower Circus - Well, this definitely was not another Kaleido Star, but I liked the show well enough. My main complaint is that most of the performances (outside of the last episode, where they clearly spent most of their money and effort) are rather dull, relying on panning over still images instead of actually animating the action. Even when they do animate some moves, it's strictly workmanlike, with no sense of style or dynamics. I can appreciate them wanting to keep things more realistic -- the girls aren't doing fantastical stuff like the Golden Phoenix or the Angel's Maneuver -- but that doesn't mean they can't do more flashy cuts or even just add some sparkles to make the moves more exciting to watch. Still, the characters are fun, and I enjoyed the fact that it takes place in...I think it's the 1950s? Somewhere in the range of mid-century. It's a unique setting we don't get to see too much in anime, so I liked the novelty.

Star Detective Precure! - Well, the identity of Cure Eclair has finally been revealed, and Cure Arcana Shadow has dropped the "Shadow" to switch back over to the good guys, but I wasn't as enthused about this cour as I have been about the first two. The issue is, Eclair and Arcana are just kinda...boring, to be honest, and it's frustrating that Anna/Answer and Mikuru/Mystique have mostly become side characters in favor of focusing on the new girls. It makes sense, of course, but still, I'll be happy when Anna and Mikuri return more to the spotlight once again, which will hopefully be soon.

Bungo Stray Dogs Wan! - Cute. Yeah, that's pretty much all I have to say about it.

The Ogre's Bride - This series takes place in a world where rich and powerful demons live among humans, and (at least according to Yuzu, the main heroine) it's every girl's dream to get married to one, because demons shower their human brides with love, money, and devotion. When both girls are still young, Yuzu's awful parents decide that Yuzu's younger sister Karin is the one with the potential to become a bride, so they spoil her rotten while treating Yuzu like, well, Cinderella. Their plan seems to work when Karin gets engaged to a fox demon, but the joke's on them when poor mistreated Yuzu catches the eye of Reiya, heir of the most powerful demon family. It's hard not to compare this series to another recent Cinderella-type anime, My Happy Marriage, and it very much pales in comparison. Where MHM is just as much about Miyo's healing from her abusive childhood as it is about her slow-burning romance with her arranged fiancé, Kiyoka, OB's story feels much shallower, especially the boring romance. Reiya (like all demons who take a human bride) falls in love with Yuzu at first sight, but doesn't seem to have much interest in her as an actual person. (For example, he likes to shower her with tons of expensive gifts, but never takes the time to get to know her and find out what kind of presents she might actually want. And then he expects her to kiss him in "thanks". Grr.) As for Yuzu, it does take her a little while longer for her to warm up to him, but she mostly just seems to fall in love with him because he rescued her from her terrible family. The two of them have no chemistry and are basically just together because of fate, I guess. The best part of the show is seeing Yuzu's parents and sister getting their comeuppances, and it is genuinely great to see Yuzu stand up for herself against them, but it's difficult to feel too happy for her when it feels like she's left one abusive situation for another, just one where instead of being a servant, she's a bird in a gilded cage, meant to just sit there and look pretty regardless of what she actually wants.

Next season is actually looking rather light in terms of shows that interest me. Of course I'll be continuing on with Red River, Please Excuse My Younger Brothers, and Star Detective Precure, and I'm really looking forward to season three of The Apothecary Diaries, but in terms of new shows, the only ones that have caught my eye are the remake of Magic Knight Rayearth (so excited!), Firefly Wedding (technically published in a shonen magazine in Japan but released under the Shojo Beat line here in the U.S.), and if it ends up on Crunchyroll, From Far Away (adaptation of an old shoujo manga I've never read, but always wanted to). At least that means I'll finally have time to catch up with some shows I've put on my wait list!

Current Mood: mellow

The 2026 spring season was filled with shows I really liked...and some I really didn't, with not much in-between. So, onto the review!

Witch Hat Atelier - The best show of the season by far and will definitely be on my list of the best anime of year! The animation is beautiful, the world-building is incredible and thought-provoking, and the characters are wonderful, especially Qifrey, my favorite. He seems very kind and is a good mentor to the girls who are a part of his atelier, but you can't quite trust him fully, because it's clear that he's up to something. Whatever that something is, I'm intrigued! I also love Coco and Telia and Tartah and Agott... I'm just in love with this show, period! Thrilled that this is getting a second season.

Ascendance of a Bookworm - Myne is now living as Rosemyne, the adopted daughter of the archduke, and working as the new high bishop, but she's still the same obsessive bookworm at heart. It's sweet that even though she's technically not supposed to have any contact with her original family, they still find time to see each other, even if it's just for a few moments, and the first half of the cour is nicely light-hearted as Rosemyne adjusts to her new aristocratic life and arranges a fundraising concert starring Ferdinand, complete with limited edition drawings of him made with the new printing technology she's "invented". But this cour also touches on some of the darker aspects of the new world Rosemyne has been reincarnated in, particularly when it comes to child labor. My one major complaint is Wilfried, one of Rosemyne's new brothers, the youngest. The show doesn't seem to quite know what to do with him, clearly shown right from his introduction when he drags Rosemyne off to play, only for her to collapse...and then it weirdly goes to a new episode where the incident isn't even mentioned. Like, what happened after that? Going forward, he randomly shows up here and there, establishing the fact that he's a bit of a spoiled brat, but then we get a whole episode devoted to him and Rosemyne trading spaces for the day...and I'm just left wondering what's the point of his character? I assume he becomes important to the story later on, but at the moment, he just sticks out like a sore thumb. The overall pacing of the cour is a bit off in general as well -- the aforementioned collapsing incident with Wilfried being a prime example -- but, eh, I find the show so charming that I don't really care that much? Anyway, this is continuing into next season, so we'll see if the pacing improves!

Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun! - Now this is the series I fell in love with! The past couple of cours have been okay, but this cour feels like a return to what I like best about the show. The Music Festival arc lasted the perfect amount of time -- not too long, not too short -- and the episode where Iruma's class puts on their musical was amazing! It was also great to finally learn more about Purson, the classmate who has been around the entire time but rarely seen because his family prides themselves on their invisibility powers. Glad that this is continuing into next season!

Go For It, Nakamura-kun! - There was some controversy when this show first came out with the mangaka being bullied off of Twitter due to some slightly problematic elements in the manga. I've never read the manga, though, so I can't really say much about that with any kind of authority (other than from the small parts I have seen and heard about, people are being way too puritanical). However, the anime was great! Even though the story takes place in the modern day, I loved the retro-style character designs and how instead of a single ending theme, each episode's ending is actually different old J-pop songs from the 80s-90s. I also liked that it's less a BL "romance" in the traditional sense, and more like a coming-of-age story about a closeted gay teen dealing with his first major crush. I have to admit, Nakamura did come off as kinda creepy whenever in the presence of Hirose's childhood friend who also has a crush on him -- they both do, honestly, especially the childhood friend whose name I've forgotten -- but at least that only happened a couple of times. Otherwise, a really cute series!

MARRIAGETOXIN - I love the premise of this show: Hikaru Gero is a Poison Master (basically an assassin) from one of the top families in the business. Their poison powers are inherited through the bloodline, so his grandmother is keen for Hikaru's sister Akari to get married and have a baby. The only problem? Akari is a lesbian who already has a long-time girlfriend, so Hikaru decides to take her place, agreeing to be the one to get married instead. To help him find a wife, he teams up with a marriage swindler he meets on one of his jobs, and the two hatch a plan to offer Hikaru as a bodyguard-for-hire for women needing protection. One thing I really like is the fact that even though this is a romance anime, I honestly have no idea who Hikaru will fall in love with by the end. I mean, considering that he's pretty much the co-lead, Kinosaki (the marriage swindler) honestly would make the most sense...if this wasn't a Shonen Jump title. The original creators (the manga is written and drawn by two people) seem to be quite LGBTQIA+-friendly, but would SJ really allow them to have Hikaru hook up with a male bisexual cross-dresser? That would be rather ground-breaking! On the other hand, I believe the series isn't actually published in the physical magazine, but on SJ's website, so that may allow the creators a bit more freedom. In any case, Kinosaki wouldn't be able to give him a biological child, which is the whole reason why Hikaru's grandmother wants Hikaru (or his sister) to get married in the first place, so...who knows? I also like the fact that the women Hikaru protects are not damsels in distress. They may need his help, but they do contribute to their own rescues...well, except when we get to Kimie, which is rather ironic because while the other two women he helped before her were normal people caught up in bad situations, Kimie is a part of Hikaru's world, a Hamster Master from the Beast Clan. Well, that's not totally fair to Kimie. She does end up helping some at the end of the cour, but I would have liked her to have been a little more involved in the rest of her arc, especially since she seems to be the strongest candidate to be Hikaru's bride so far if he doesn't end up with Kinosaki. Oh, well. (Honestly, the whole Beast Clan arc was the weakest part of the show in general and why this isn't higher on my list after a very strong start. Too much (admittedly very cool) action, not enough romance.) I'm glad to hear that we're getting another season of this, so I'm looking forward to it!

Akane-banashi - I absolutely loved Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju from a few years ago, so I was really interested in watching this more modern day, shonen take on a rakugo anime. I have to say, after watching SGRS and seeing how Konatsu wasn't allowed to perform rakugo professionally because she was a woman, it's so wonderful that Akane being female is no longer considered an issue in the rakugo world. Her gender isn't really commented on at all by the story, and there are other women rakugoka as well. The creative ways the animators brought the rakugo stories to life is also really cool! As the main character, I do wish Akane felt more fleshed-out, though. I get the same kind of vibes from her that I got from Eve from Birdie Wing. With Eve, she was obsessed with golf, and Akane is obsessed with rakugo...and that's pretty much their entire personality. Granted, I don't think Akane is quite as one-dimensional as Eve was, but for example, Akane's main goal at the start is to confront the head of the rakugo school who expelled her father (and his fellow trainees) at the promotion exam and find out his reasoning. Because of that, you would expect Akane to be really close with her father, right? Maybe even going to him for advice on how to improve her own rakugo from time to time? Except even though he's alive and still around, he almost disappears from the show after the first episode, apparently busy with his new more conventional career. If the series wasn't going to do anything with him, why bother even keeping him around? Personally, I think killing him off (especially if by suicide, considering that he failed to make his dream come true) would have given Akane a little more chance for development, having her deal with her grief while following in his footsteps. As is, it feels kinda strange that she's so obsessed with finding out the truth about her father's expulsion, yet they rarely interact even though there's nothing stopping them from talking to each other. Maybe it's just an issue of those kinds of moments being cut from the anime? I don't know. Anyway, this is also confirmed to be getting another season, so yay!

Star Detective Precure - Still enjoying this season! And I have to say, the Detective Conan crossover episode was a rather inspired idea. I've only ever seen one episode of Detective Conan a long, long, looooong time ago -- it came on a free sampler DVD I got from probably Suncoast or Sam Goody back in the day -- but that one episode was enough to familiarize me with the main characters, so it was pretty fun seeing them again. The current contest they're running is also a great idea, having fans try to guess the civilian identity of the newest Cure, Cure Eclair.

A Hundred Scenes of AWAJIMA - I think I would have liked this a lot more if it just focused on a core group of characters. Instead, this series consists of a bunch vignettes told in random order, starring various different people over the years who are somehow connected to the Awajima Opera School. In a vacuum, most of the stories themselves are quite good, but it was frustrating trying to figure out who the characters were (especially when most of the character designs are very bland and a lot of the characters also have stage names, since they're mostly Takarazuka actresses) and roughly when the story was taking place every single episode (and often multiple times in an episode, since the length of the vignettes varied).

Rent-a-Girlfriend - After...how many cours has it been? This is the fifth, so after five cours, we finally find out why Mami is so obsessed with ruining Kazuya's relationship with Chizuru...and the reason is pretty dumb. It's not like I don't have any sympathy for her. What she went through as a teen was legitimately awful, but Kazuya had absolutely nothing to do with that! He didn't even know her back then. Her reasoning is basically because she wasn't able to be with the guy she loved, nobody around her should be happy in love, so she decides to devote like a year and a half (? I can't remember exactly how long off-hand; I know it's been at least a year in story (and far too many in real life)) to interfering with some random ex-boyfriend's (who she doesn't even seem to want back) love life? Like, move on, girl, and get a shrink, because you've got serious issues! (Not that we didn't already know that, but still.) At least the truth about Chizuru working as a rental girlfriend has finally been revealed, even if they've managed to convince his family that though they were lying about their relationship at first, they're definitely a real couple now -- which they still aren't. Obviously, both of them WANT to be, but can't have the story wrapping up too soon now, can we? Nope, because we're getting a sixth cour. Yay. So excited. (Not.) At least with Kazuya and Chizuru now temporarily living together at her dead granrdmother's house after an earthquake damaged their apartment building, maybe they'll FINALLY get together for real and put this show to rest (like it should have done after the actually excellent third cour when it would have made perfect sense).

Agents of the Four Seasons - Dance of Spring - I really wanted to like this, because it's shoujo, and I want to support more shoujo anime...but this was just not very good, y'all. Oh, my god, all the trauma porn! All the show wanted to do was constantly beat you over the head about how sad, tragic, and traumatized every single character was. I certainly don't mind a little angst and melodrama, but this was so over-the-top that it was almost hilarious -- not exactly the vibe they were supposed to be going for. Also, the insistence that Hinagiku and Sakura are totally in love with their male love interests who they barely interact with instead of each other is a total joke. Like, seriously. We have eyes. Those girls are in love.

This season was rather lacking when it came to shoujo, but the Year of Shoujo has returned with a vengeance with the summer season! I'll be continuing on with Star Detective Precure, Ascendance of a Bookworm, and Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun, and checking out the new seasons of Hana-Kimi (shoujo!), The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, Really Love You, and Bungo Stray Dogs Wan. Possibly the second cour of You and I Are Polar Opposites (which I caught up with this season after skipping watching it during the winter simulcast and really liked), but I don't mind putting it on the wait list if there's not enough room in my schedule. As for new shows, I'm interested in Red River (shoujo! super excited!), Please Excuse My Younger Brothers (shoujo!), Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia (shoujo!), The Ogre's Bride (shoujo!), Grow Up Show: Sunflower Circus (original anime, but the premise reminds me of Kaleido Star), Goodbye, Lara (another original; it sounds kinda like a retelling of The Little Mermaid?), Though I Am an Inept Villainess (josei!), and maybe Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky.

Current Mood: okay

Happy Easter if you celebrate!

The shoujo-tastic Winter season ended with three clear stand-outs (one josei, one shoujo, and one shonen), with the rest being good, but not great.

Before you ask "What about Medalist?", considering how excited I was about the new season, well... For some unfathomable reason, Hulu decided to delay airing Medalist until after the Olympics were over. (Seems to me like having a figure skating anime airing while skating was in the spotlight would have been good advertisement, but what do I know...) That means the series is currently only halfway over in the U.S. Seeing as I would rather only pay for one month of Hulu anyway, I've decided just to wait until later so I can binge-watch the whole thing at once.

Now, onto the review!

Journal With Witch - By far the best show of the season, and already a strong contender for the best show of the year! The characterization in this show is just incredible. Every character feels so real and multi-faceted, which makes the exploration of grief as Makio (the aunt) and Asa (the niece) deal with the sudden death of Asa's parents in a car accident that much more personal and far from stereotypical. I also really appreciated the unconventional relationship between Makio and Kasamachi. The two of them were previously a couple before the story began but broke up because Makio felt too stifled being in a romantic relationship. (Though it's not stated explicitly, I seem to recall hearing about an interview with the mangaka that confirmed Makio is meant to be seen as aromantic.) When she takes Asa in, she reaches out to him for help with some of the logistics, and in the process, they become close again. Kasamachi never stopped loving Makio, but while Makio is still very attracted to Kasamachi and cares for him a lot, she knows that she'll never have the same kind of romantic feelings for him as he does for her -- and Kasamachi decides he's okay with that, accepting Makio just as she is. The two then basically become one of the healthiest examples of "friends with benefits" I've even seen in fiction, which is pretty unique. My one complaint? Journal With Witch is such a dumb choice for the English title! While journaling does play a role in the story, I have no idea where they got "witch" part from. Witches are never even mentioned in the show to my recollection! The Japanese title is Ikoku Nikko, which seems to translate to something like "Diary of a Strange Land" according to Wikipedia. It's a bit metaphorical in nature, but at least I can kinda get the connection. Journal With Witch, on the other hand, just sounds super boring and makes no sense. I can't imagine someone browsing Crunchyroll and finding the title intriguing enough to click on without knowing anything else about the series, which is such a shame! (And even if they did, they'd probably be pretty confused why there are no witches to be seen in the show.)

Tamon's B-side - It's so wonderful to watch a shoujo series with an actual budget! Most of the shoujo offerings this season have been pretty limited when it comes to animation, but this one is gorgeous with tons of style and flair -- and befitting a series involving an idol group, the music is pretty fantastic as well. As for the actual content? First rate! This show is freaking hilarious, with fun, expressive characters. I especially loved the main character Utage, the ultimate fangirl who lands a job as a housekeeper for her favorite idol only to discover he's nothing like she expected. She's a hoot! Lately, cute girls suffering from severe social anxiety seem to be kind of a trend in manga/anime, so it's nice for a change to see a gender-flipped version of the trope in Tamon, who's a cool and sexy flirt when he's on stage as one of the members of F/ACE, a popular boy band, but becomes a gloomy, insecure bundle of nerves in real life, often running around in sweats and a paper bag over his head so people won't perceive him. The other members of F/ACE are similarly (and amusingly) very different from their stage personas, although it's a shame that we didn't get to see much of the fifth member who was just there. (I can't even remember his name off-hand...Rintaro! That's it.) I imagine the anime just hasn't gotten to the part of the manga where he presumably gets more focus -- which is all the more reason why we need a second season! (Or, I suppose, I could just check out the manga...which I might.)

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End - I was glad to see this cour of Frieren going back to mostly being the slice-of-life traveling show that so charmed me in the first place. Last cour's exam tournament was great, but Frieren really excels more when it comes to the smaller, more character-focused moments, rather than battles (although there were still a couple of good ones in this cour, too, as they travel the dangerous Northern Plateau). Loved seeing Stark and Fern go on their awkward first date, and I was really happy to hear Frieren admit she hopes that one day Sein will rejoin the group in the priest role. I've really missed him! I hope that means he may return sooner, rather than later. (Maybe in the next season, which has already been announced!)

Champignon Witch - Loved the fairy tale vibes of this show! The world-building was pretty interesting as well. I was kind of...eh about Lize's precocious crush on Luna, afraid that it might turn into an Usagi Drop manga situation (IYKYK), but Luna is really more of a mentor to Lize than a mother figure even if she is raising him, and since this isn't a romance manga, I don't think she'll ever reciprocate his feelings, so I guess it's okay. (She does blush sometimes around him, but I think you're supposed to interpret it as being because she's so starved for any kind of love and affection, rather than an indication of romantic feelings on her part. She's in love with somebody else anyway, even if they can't be together since her touch is literally poisonous.) Still, I don't think the crush was needed. Lize having strong maternal feelings toward Luna would have worked just as well. Love doesn't have to be romantic to be important or more special than other kinds of love!

Isekai Office Worker: The Other World's Books Depend on the Bean Counter - This series reminds me of another BL anime, The Night Beyond The Tricornered Window, in which I found the actual non-romantic plot far more interesting than the central romance. Unlike Tricornered Window's Mikado and Hiyakawa, Seiichirou and Aresh aren't completely devoid of chemistry, but that's admittedly a really low bar to clear. There's still not much to enjoy about their relationship, unless you're just really into controlling, possessive semes but feel kinda guilty about it, thus will happily go along with the conceit that it's okay for Aresh to act like that because he's technically saving Seiichirou's life. (That's not an exaggeration, btw. If left to his own devices, Seiichirou is such a workaholic that he literally will work himself to death. Not to mention the whole "have to have sex to protect his weak body from magicules" thing, which is the whole reason they got together in the first place. So romantic...) That's not my thing, though, so it doesn't work for me. That all being said, Seiichirou is really good at his job, and though accounting doesn't seem like it would be the most interesting profession to base a show around, I rather enjoyed watching him do his investigations and come up clever solutions to make the kingdom run more effectively without wasting a bunch of money. (If only he had been put in charge of DOGE instead of Musk...) While I do wish we got to see more of Yua, the teenage girl the kingdom was actually summoning when they got Seiichirou as a bonus, I also liked how the story touched on the fact that while being summoned to another world to be a hero seems cool in theory, it may not be as awesome as it appears at first.

Star Detective Precure - The last couple of Precure seasons have been pretty lackluster, but this one is getting off to a pretty strong start! I love the detective/mystery theme, along with the time travel angle of having Anna/Cure Answer falling into a time slip and ending up in 1999, where she meets Mikuru/Cure Mystique. Of course, being a kids' show, the mysteries are pretty simple and easy to solve, but still, it's a fun idea that also allows the villains to actually be interesting and more involved with their schemes. Speaking of which, it's rather intriguing that the third Precure, Cure Arcana Shadow, is currently working for the evil Phantom Thieves for some reason. Really looking forward to watching more of this!

In the Clear Moonlit Dusk - According to Anime News Network's "Worst of the Season" column, this was the worst series of the winter, to which I say... "Huh?" No, it's not going to win any awards for animation (although the artstyle itself is very pretty), and it's not anything special or memorable, but the show was literally fine (especially compared to the descriptions of the other shows on the list). I think the issue is that a lot of people came into the show expecting some sort of exploration of gender identity since the main character, Yoi, is a teenage girl with a bit of complex due to often being mistaken for a boy because of her (supposedly) masculine features (which you can't really see because of course she's drawn just like a pretty girl with short hair). Instead, they got a very typical shoujo romance about a cute girl who doesn't think she's attractive who nevertheless manages to land a super-hot boyfriend. Granted, I personally preferred the secondary love interest, Oji (although he has some issues, too), and it's not hard to see why some people might be put off by Ichimura, who never exactly crosses Yoi's boundaries (aside from his really bad habit of grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her away when he wants to talk instead of just asking to go somewhere more private) but definitely pushes them at times, but in terms of problematic shoujo boyfriends, he's a fairly mild example. I've come across a lot worst! In any case, I just want to see more shoujo animated period, so while this series may not be the greatest representation of the genre, I'm still happy it got an anime and enjoyed it for what it was.

Hana-Kimi - I've always wanted to check out the Hana-Kimi manga, but at 23 volumes, it was just a little too long to justify buying as a blind buy. (I did really enjoy Sugar Princess: Skating To Win, a short 2-volume figure skating series by the same mangaka, however. I always hoped that Hisaya Nakajo would come back to it one day since there was clearly more of the series planned, but with her death a couple of years ago, that obviously never happened.) So, when it was announced that Hana-Kimi was finally getting an anime adaptation nearly twenty years after the original manga ended, I was pretty excited to finally get the chance to check it out! Did it live up to my expectations? Eh... It's not bad, but I wouldn't call it great either. Just...okay? I have to say the choice to set the story in the modern day really had me rolling my eyes at some points, because some plots just aren't as believable nowadays when almost everyone carries around small computers in their pockets, particularly the whole entire premise of the story. Like I'm really supposed to believe Mizuki was able to enroll in a school halfway across the world (she's Japanese-American and grew up in the U.S.) without her family realizing that it was a boys' school? The idea would probably strain credibility even in the mid-90s, but didn't her parents do any research at all into the school before agreeing to let her attend? At the very least visit the school's website? (Vampire Dormitory from a couple of years ago has a very similar cross-dressing plot, but they took care of such questions by making the MC an orphan.) Also, I have to say I'm surprised her roommate (and love interest) Sano discovers that Miyuki is actually a girl very early on, like within the first few episodes. Considering how long a series the manga was, I thought for sure her sex would remain a secret for much longer. Of course, he doesn't tell her that he knows the truth because that would be too simple and logical... *rolls eyes* Seriously, I'm wondering how the manga managed to last for so long on such a flimsy premise! I've heard rumors that this is supposed to be a full adaptation of the manga, lasting for three cours (with the second cour just announced), so I guess I'll find out... At least the characters are fun.

Trigun Stargaze - The first cour of this Trigun reboot was amazing, so it's disappointing that this second half falls a bit flat in comparison. Not even the much anticipated return of Milly helped, seeing as she and Meryl didn't get to do much. In hindsight, it really makes me question why they had Meryl traveling with Roberto in Stampede. There's really no reason why Meryl couldn't have taken on the Roberto role of being the more experienced journalist, showing newbie Milly the ropes. I also wasn't a fan of the show's seeming reluctance to kill off characters who died in the old series. I was devastated by ( spoiler for the first anime! ) death in the original anime just like everybody else (especially since they were my favorite character), but to give them what seems like a touching death scene only to basically say "Psych, just kidding!" a few seconds later was rather tone-deaf. I will say that the battle scenes were absolutely incredible, though, and the potential definitely was there. I just think it needed another cour to let the story properly breathe.

Anyway, I'm Falling I Love With You - I wasn't all that impressed with the first cour of this series, but the second half was actually a lot better. I think it helped that most of this cour takes place when the main cast are adults, instead of during their high school years, meaning I didn't have to be constantly annoyed by how it didn't feel at all like they were going through the pandemic like I was during the first cour. Granted, I still wouldn't call this a great show by any means, but at least my favorite Airu got some nice spotlight. Really, the series would have been a lot more interesting if Airu was the main character, and we got more focus on him coming to terms with his sexuality and unrequited love for Kizuki. Instead, we mostly got a boring love quadrangle between Mizuho and her other three childhood friends, only for her to end up with the worst choice, ( Spoiler! )My Hero Academia: Vigilantes - You know, I don't think I've ever come across a series that has less interest in their main character than MHA: Vigilantes. The first cour ended up being more Knuckleduster's story, which considering his personal relationship to the main villain of the arc made some sense. He was also the most experienced of the main trio, so showing how he worked as a vigilante first was probably a good idea. Going into this cour, I thought maybe the focus would return more to Koichi (and to a lesser extent, Kazuho), but...nope. Instead we get an episode dedicated to Makoto's brother, the police detective who has been a fairly minor supporting character, then an extended three episode flashback about Aizawa/Eraser Head's days as a student. That's a quarter of the cour where the main character appears for, what, maybe five minutes total? (And I'm probably being generous.) Like, I really enjoyed Eraser Head's flashback in particular (minus Midnight's ridiculous original costume design -- if you can even call running around in nothing but a couple of strategically placed belts and an open coat a "costume") -- but it really seemed more like something that should have been an OAV. Later, we also get a half-episode devoted to Captain Celebrity's backstory about how he met his wife...and why do I feel like I know more about Captain Freaking Celebrity than I do about the main character of the show? Come on, give Koichi some development beyond the expanded powers he got this cour. Otherwise, good season, just a baffling lack of focus on the supposed main character.

To Your Eternity - Well, at least that character who I hated from last cour didn't show up too much in this cour (and when he did, he didn't do or say anything creepy, so I guess that's nice). The rest of it? It was good, but it was kinda hard to follow along at some points. I blame the fact that the show went on a couple of weeks of hiatus at probably the worst time because of the Olympics, so when it finally came back, I couldn't quite remember where it left off. Still, a satisfying ending overall; the series just never quite managed to get back to the brilliance of the first cour, unfortunately.

For next season, I believe the only series that is continuing into spring is Star Detective Precure, so of course I'll be watching that, along with new cours of Ascendance of a Bookworm, Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun!, and Rent-A-Girlfriend (please let this be the last cour!) There are a few more sequels I plan to watch eventually, but I'm not in any rush to get to them, so they'll go in the backlog. (You may ask why R-A-G is getting simulcast priority. ...I don't know? Morbid curiosity?) New series I plan to watch are Agents of the Four Seasons: Dance of Spring, Witch Hat Atelier, MARRIAGETOXIN, Akane-banashi (on YouTube for free!), and Go for It, Nakamura! There are a few more new titles I've got my eye on, but I'll see how they sound during ANN's Preview Guide before making any definite decisions. There are a couple of series from the winter season -- namely You and I Are Polar Opposites and The Invisible Man and His-Soon-To-Be-Wife -- I'd like to catch up on as well if I have room in the schedule.

(BTW, since I've mentioned the Olympics a few times, guess who's going to a Stars On Ice show at the end of May to see most of Team USA perform live? Me! I finally get to see Jason Brown skate in person (even if he actually didn't make the Olympic team this year) -- so excited!)

Current Mood: excited

My Dress-Up Darling - Just as good as the first cour! It was nice to see Wakana not worry so much about his "feminine" interests, becoming more confident and actually socializing with his classmates, who think he's super-talented. I also liked how in the first cour, they had a storyline about a girl wanting to crossplay as her favorite male character, which was mirrored in this cour by Marin and Wakana meeting a guy who loves crossplaying as female characters. Both times, there's no real judgement, just easy acceptance and intellectual curiosity as they learn how people can present themselves as different genders, which they even get to put into practice when Marin decides to crossplay for a contest in the school festival. The one thing that kind of annoyed me was Marin's weight gain due to eating too much of Wakana's cooking. On the one hand, she is a part-time model, so a storyline dealing with weight is somewhat expected, and to the show's credit, I think they handled it better than the vast majority of anime I've seen. Marin herself doesn't even really care about the weight gain at first until she realizes she can no longer fit in all the cosplay costumes Wakana made for her, and when she does decide to go on a diet, she seems to do it the right way. There's no crash dieting, dangerous diet pills, or over-exercising with her ending back at her original weight by the end of the episode. (In fact, I don't think she's even back at her original weight by the end of the season.) Instead, it's just mentioned a couple of times over the remaining episodes that she's on a diet, with it not being treated as a big deal at all. That being said, I could have lived without the storyline altogether.

Dan Da Dan - I didn't watch the first cour while it was airing, but upon hearing everybody rave about it, I had to check it out, and this is one show that definitely lives up to the hype -- and, honestly, I think this second cour is even better than the first! The animation and direction is just incredible. Is it weird that my favorite part was just a kind of random training battle with the spirits of dead composers while they sang "Ode to Joy"? Not that important in the grand scheme of things, yet the animators decided to show off by creating one of the coolest battles I've ever seen, period. Also, Momo and Okarun's awkward budding romance is just freakin' adorable!

Anne Shirley - Pacing issues were definitely more obvious with this cour, considering they had to adapt two books, but, eh, I don't really care. I was still just as charmed as I was by the first cour, and now I'm really wanting to reread the books. Fingers crossed that even more of the books get adapted, but even if they don't, the series ends in a great spot with Anne ( (Do I really need to hide this spoiler?) ).

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun - Such a good cour; definitely my favorite so far! It was great to finally learn more about girl Aoi -- hey, I think I've finally gotten over my confusion regarding Aoi Akane (girl) and Akane Aoi (boy) -- and I loved the arc about the Red House, where we got to learn more about Hanako's family and what is really going on with Tsukasa. But, man, I sure hope we get a new season soon, because this cour did not end in the best spot.( Spoiler )

Witch Watch - I really like the new character of Miharu, a vampire who feeds off life force/magic instead of the typical blood. Nemu's budding crush on Keigo is super adorable as well! Other than that, this cour was basically more of the same from last season, which I'm not complaining about at all. Not all the jokes hit, but I'd say there were more hits than misses, and I certainly wouldn't mind getting more of this show in the future!

With You and the Rain - Cute slice-of-life series about a writer who meets a tanuki on a rainy day and adopts it as her new pet, believing it to be a dog. (Well, I'm not sure how much she actually believes it. Fuji's not an idiot. She has to know that dogs can't write, but that's what she tells everybody it is...and they mostly play along with it.) I have to say, Fuji seems like one of the most realistic writer characters I've ever come across. At least I related to her a lot. Anyway, cute!

See You Tomorrow At The Food Court - What's with this recent trend of short 6-or-less episode cours? There were at least four this season, and I watched two of them. (I have Takopi's Original Sin on my watch list, but I think I need to be in a better headspace to watch it...) Of those two, this is definitely the stronger series thanks to the chemistry between the two leads. It's a simple premise -- two friends meet after school at the mall food court and have random conversations -- but the characters are so fun that it doesn't matter if there isn't much of a plot (even if Wada does often straddle the line of being just funny enough not to be annoying). It's a mystery why the show went the route of six normal length episodes instead of breaking them up into twelve half-length episodes, though, especially when the episodes are already broken up into parts. If any show seemed tailor-made to be a short, it was this one!

There's No Freaking Way I'll Be Your Lover! Unless... - Okay, this show did not go at all the way I was expecting, and I mean that in a good way. I started out with not knowing much about the series, other than it was yuri and seemed like it was going to be a "friends-to-lovers" type storyline. I wasn't expecting it to be a yuri harem, but I'm glad it was, because I was not a fan of the first girl, Mai. With harem anime, it's rare that I actively root against the apparent main couple becoming official. I may personally prefer one of the other love interests, but I can usually understand why the main character ends up with main hero/ine and support it. With Mai, though... She's not the worst love interest I've ever come across, and to her credit, by the end of the cour, she did get a little better, but, oh, my god, it annoyed me to no end that she would not respect Renako's feelings about not being ready to date and wanting to be friends and kept trying to force their relationship to move in a romantic direction. Then when you compare her to Sena... What you need to know is SENA IS BEST GIRL, hands down, and I'm not the only one who thinks so. Since the show aired on YouTube (on the "It's Anime" channel), there were plenty of comments, and the vast majority of fans were also in favor of Sena winning Renako's heart. Still, Mai was the first girl. Conventional wisdom was that Mai was going to be the final girl, too...except the cour ends ( Spoiler )

You and Idol Precure - Nothing really much to say about this one. It's cute, but not a particularly strong Precure series.

Captivated, By You - This is the other short anime I watched, coming in at only five episodes. I was not so captivated by it. It wasn't bad, just kind of...eh. Very forgettable. It didn't help that the character designs were very bland and similar looking, so I had trouble remembering who all the male characters (which made up most of the cast) were.

Rent-A-Girlfriend - Ugh. The last cour was so good, so of course this season had to follow it up with both Mami and Ruka tagging along on a Kinoshita family trip with Kazuya and Chizuru. Nothing could thrill me more... (Note the sarcasm.) To be fair, this cour wasn't quite as bad as I feared it might be (other than the fact that pacing has slowed to an absolute crawl -- seriously, this arc should have been five or six episodes, max, yet it's not even over), but come on, just get Kazuya and Chizuru officially together already and put us out of our misery! Unfortunately, this is getting yet another cour, so we'll have to deal with Mami and Ruka for a little while longer...

Next season, I'll be continuing with You and Idol Precure, of course, and watching the new cours of Spy x Family (SO EXCITED!), My Hero Academia (final season!), Kakuriyo -Bed & Breakfast for Spirits- (I'm kind of shocked this got a new season when the first aired all the way in 2018, but I'm not complaining), and To Your Eternity (hoping it'll return to being as good as the first season, instead of the middling second). For new shows, I'm most interested in Mechanical Marie and The Dark History of the Reincarnated Villainess, which are both shojo series, woohoo! (There's actually a third...fourth? (I think Kakuriyo is considered more a josei based on the magazine the manga adaptation runs in) shojo anime series airing this season called A Star Brighter Than the Sun, but that's airing on Amazon Prime. Boo!)

Current Mood: blah

The Apothecary Diaries - Whoa, there was some dark stuff in the first half of this season, but the second half goes even darker...and it's so, so good! I think the part where Loulan ( Spoilers! )Also, yay, Maomao finally knows who Jinshi really is!. Could have lived without him attempting to force a kiss on her twice in the last episode, though. Ugh. At least both times they were interrupted. Anyway, thrilled that another season has already been confirmed!

Anne Shirley - Oh, my childhood! I loved the Anne of Green Gables series growing up. It's because of Anne that I came to believe that Anne-with-an-e was the prettier, more elegant spelling (even though my mother and sister use the plainer Ann as their middle name), and I'm pretty sure I can pinpoint my love of red hair to Anne Shirley as well. Needless to say, I'm loving this anime so far! Granted, it's probably been at least thirty years since I last read the books, so I can't really speak to how faithful an adaptation this anime is, but they've kept all the most iconic scenes that I remember: Anne breaking the slate over Gilbert's head (obviously!), Diana accidentally getting drunk, Anne trying to dye her hair, etc. The animation is just beautiful as well, looking like something out of a storybook! All in all, with the world seemingly going mad, this show has been my happy place every week (even with a few sad moments), and I'm so, so glad this is continuing for another cour.

Black Butler - I don't really get the point of the five-minute recaps that began a couple of the later episodes -- surely if there wasn't enough canon material for an episode, they could have added a filler scene or two instead of a totally unnecessary recap -- but other than that, the Emerald Witch arc was another fantastic cour, revealing a big twist that I had been spoiled about beforehand but which still managed to come off as a surprise. ( Spoilers! ) I also really liked Sieglinde and Wolfram, and I'm curious if we'll continue to see them in future arcs. I assume so, since Ciel took them back to England with him? We'll see. I believe the manga is getting close to the end, so hopefully we'll get another cour fairly soon.

Kowloon Generic Romance - I really loved the retro look of this anime, which was the perfect way to accentuate the running themes of nostalgia and wanting to live in the past. I also liked the way it explored the idea of "identity". I just wish the mystery was a little more...hmm, concrete, I suppose? We learn "what" happened and mostly "why", but the logical "how" is pretty much completely ignored in favor of a more symbolic, psychological approach -- which isn't necessarily a bad thing, just not really what I was expecting. I don't think it helped that the manga is still ongoing but about to end, so they had to rush the ending of the anime to fit into the one cour they were given (presumably with notes from the mangaka about what was planned). It probably would have made more sense to wait until the manga actually ended to make the anime, or else plan for a movie or another season to properly wrap things up, but I get why there would be no guarantee of that, so they felt they had to do it all at once. That all being said, I still really liked this show! I just think it needed more episodes to go from great to amazing.

Witch Watch - Cute and funny, and gets bonus points for an unexpected figure skating backstory (although loses some points for the use of a magical disability cure). The characters are a lot of fun as well. I really appreciated the fact that even though Nico's spells often cause trouble, it's not because she's a bad or stupid witch. To the contrary, her spells often work TOO well! It's more of a "be careful what you ask for" type of thing. Also, as opposed to a certain other show further down this list, the relationship between Nico and Morihito is more along the lines of what I'm looking for in a good friends-to-lovers type story, even if romance isn't a heavy part of the show. Happy this is continuing for another cour!

You and Idol Precure - Just in time for Pride Month, Pretty Cure brought us what may be the franchise's first official queer couple in Meroron and Purirun. Like, I don't know really see how you could interpret their relationship any other way? Some may try to downplay it by pointing out that Meroron calls Purirun "Sissy", and they are technically siblings since all the fairies are born out of the same tree (similar to Ail and An from Sailor Moon), but, still, Meroron constantly says she loves Purirun and acts like a jealous girlfriend whenever she thinks Purirun is paying more attention to Uta than to her. Heck, even Meroron's Precure form is called Cure Kiss! It seems pretty clear to me that Meroron is romantically in love with Purirun, although I suppose it's debatable if Purirun feels the same (or is possibly in love with Uta instead -- which, still, gay). That all being said, I always do get annoyed when the fairy characters start getting more attention than the main Precures, so as ground-breaking as their relationship may possibly be, I'm not exactly loving the current focus on Meroron and Purirun. (Doesn't help that I find them both kind of annoying, tbh.) Hoping the show will get back to focusing on Uta, Nana, and Kokoro soon!

My Hero Academia: Vigilantes - I love the original My Hero Academia, so it's fun to see some of the older heroes we know fight in this prequel spinoff. It took me a while to warm up to new characters that make up the main cast, though. It wasn't until Makoto joined the group (so to speak...she's not a vigilante, but she knows their secret and helps out behind the scenes) around midway through the cour that this series started gelling for me. I love Makoto! Too bad Koichi, the main character, isn't all that interesting, especially compared to Deku from the main series. He really is just a generic nice guy -- in fact, his first name as a vigilante hero was literally Nice Guy until he changed it to The Crawler instead -- with a rather boring Quirk of being to slide around fast. Even when it came to defeating the main villain of this arc, he and Pop Step really didn't do anything at all, which was a strange plot choice, if you ask me. Yeah, Knuckleduster had the more personal connection to the villain, but you'd expect the main character to at least be a part of the first major "boss" fight!

Can a Boy-Girl Friendship Survive? - *sigh* Is it too much to ask for a really good friends-to-lovers romance anime? Every time I'm excited when I see one on the seasonal list then end up disappointed when I actually watch it. What sucks is that this show did some things well. The main characters do have good chemistry, and Yu's dream of opening a shop to sell flower accessories is something rather novel for a male teenage character. But, oh my god, Himari could get on my last nerve! She's so emotionally manipulative, constantly flirting and being salacious toward Yu only to turn around, laugh at him, and say "Just kidding!" when she's obviously not. Honestly, I didn't really like any of the characters in the show aside from Yu.

Lazarus - It's interesting, because when this show started airing on Toonami, I was coincidentally in the middle of rewatching my favorite Shinichiro Watanabe anime, Carole & Tuesday, and I gotta say...Lazarus does not come out well in comparison. What's worse is that there was a lot of buzz about Watanabe wanting to be his masterpiece, so it's so strange that it feels so...I don't know how to describe it. Not really disjointed... Random maybe? The premise of a ragtag group being tasked with finding the location of a brilliant doctor so he can make an antidote for a drug he created that's due to kill everyone who used it (including himself) in 30 days should be exciting and high states, yet none of the characters act with any sort of urgency. The way they run the investigation feels like they have all the time in the world. Then when we finally find out the whole backstory...eh. It's definitely no Cowboy Bebop, that's for sure! At least the fight scenes looked great?

Go! Go! Loser Ranger! - *sigh again* Gah, this series! Like the first cour, this part started off pretty strong with an interesting time loop mission that focused on a small group of characters made up of Fighter D's new teammates. I thought that was going to be the formula going forward, going on missions that let us get to know the characters better, but again, it did the same thing as the first cour, going into an extended battle arc with the full cast of characters -- and. there. are. just. way. too. many. of. them. It also feels like plot points are missing, if that makes sense? Like, it's skipping stuff that I assume was in the manga? There's just something weird about the pacing that made everything even more confusing.

Next season looks to be a season of watching sequels for me. In addition to continuing with Anne Shirley, Witch Watch, and You and Idol Precure, I'll be watching the second seasons of My Dress-Up Darling (yay!) and DAN DA DAN (didn't watch the simulcast of the first season, but I've since caught up and I'm looking forward to more), the third cour of Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (glad we didn't have to wait too long this time!), and the fourth season of Rent-A-Girlfriend, which will hopefully continue building on the good will earned during last season's surprisingly touching cour (but I have my doubts...). I'd also like to check out Rascal Does Not Dream of Santa Claus since I watched and liked the first season of Rascal, but I haven't seen any of the three sequel films yet, so I'm guessing I'd be lost. (Oh, it looks like Crunchyroll does at least have the first movie. I'll have to put that on the watch list.) I'm not sure about brand new shows. The only one that really caught my eye was The Summer Hikaru Died, but that's on Netflix, so it'll have to wait until I decide to subscribe again. Guess I'll have to see what looks good in the ANN preview guide.

Happy New Year! For those interested, here's my annual fanfic review.

And my thoughts on the fall anime season:

Natsume's Book of Friends Season 7 - You know, despite the fact that Natsume meets a new yokai in almost every episode this season, it's a bit strange we only saw the Book of Friends used only a couple of times this cour! But, connected to one of those times, it was interesting to finally meet the very first yokai whose name Reiko collected and learn how the book originally got started in the first place. (The story behind it is very bittersweet.) I also loved the focus on the supporting characters this season. I think most of Natsume's school friends got one episode devoted to them, and we even met a guy who could possibly be Natsume's unknown grandfather. This may be the series' seventh season, but I'm not bored of it at all. Let's just hope that it doesn't take another seven years for us to get another cour!

365 Days to the Wedding - This is a really sweet fake dating -- or should I say fake engagement -- romance between two very awkward, introverted people. The whole subplot about someone finding out about their secret and making threatening phone calls to them using a voice-changing device was a bit dumb (seriously, who cares that much about a fake relationship between coworkers, even if it's to avoid a transfer to Alaska?) and obviously just included to give the story some tension, but, honestly, it wasn't needed. I just enjoyed watching Rika and Takuya gradually getting to know each other and falling in love for real. I also liked how the show explored different views of marriage and what it means to different people. The cour ends in a great spot (with Rika and Takuya ( spoilers )), but I definitely wouldn't mind seeing more.

Nina the Starry Bride - There's a lot to like about this series. The animation is beautiful, the plot is great (if maybe a bit rushed in parts, especially in the beginning), and Nina/Alisha is a fun and spirited lead character. I just wish I liked her two love interests more. Azure is obviously the better choice between the two if she has to pick between them, but he's still the one who bought her off the streets to pretend to be his dead sister, the princess. Speaking of which, you would think the fact that everybody believes them to be blood siblings would be a much bigger deal to angst about, but neither of them seem to think much about it at all, which is a bit weird. Well, they are (pretending) to be royalty, so maybe incest is more accepted between the royal family in Fortna? It also doesn't help that due to the aforementioned rushed beginning, Azure and his romance with Nina come across as being rather underdeveloped, so it's hard to be invested in their relationship. In any case, ignoring the kinda-incest (but not really), the more immediate problem is that "Alisha" is already engaged to Sett, the prince of a rival kingdom. He's the "bad boy" type who will occasionally deign to be nice to Nina but is otherwise mostly unpleasant. (He does start to get a little better once he gets attached to Nina, but, still, not a great guy.) Honestly, I don't get what she sees in either of them (mostly she seems to fall in love with them out of pity due to their tragic backstories, rather than their actual personalities), but, whatever. Despite my dislike of both of her love interests, I do love Nina and all the palace intrigue, and I'm really hoping we get another season, especially with the rather inconclusive ending we got...

Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii -- I know, I know, I was just complaining about Nina's problematic love interests, but sometimes, it's kinda nice to just sit back and watch a truly dysfunctional romance, and the one between Yoshino and Kirishima certainly fits the bill! Forced together in an arranged engagement by their respective yakuza leader grandfathers, they don't get off on the right foot, but as it turns out, Kirishima is a huge masochist who loves when Yoshino treats him like crap, and though Yoshino likes to pretend to be a normal teenager, she can be just as wild and unhinged as Kirishima when the situation calls for it. Watching them argue and grow closer as they get involved in various yakuza schemes is a lot of fun. It's also just plain awesome to see some josei anime for a change! (Technicallly, Nina the Starry Bride is also josei, even if it feels much more shoujo in vibe.) I don't really get the point of them being seniors in high school, though. Considering how adult they look and act and how little of the show actually takes place at the school, I think it would have made much more sense for them to just be in college already. Also, as with NTSB, the last episode is weird, just kinda...ending after setting up for the next arc. (Seriously, I was like "That's it?" after the final scene and wondered if there was going to be a thirteenth episode, but there's not.) I wouldn't mind so much if we were guaranteed another cour -- which I hope we do get -- but, come on, it's a josei anime. It's a miracle that it got one cour in the first place; it's not getting a second. (Nina...maybe. Between the two, I'd put my money on NTSB getting a sequel, but I still think it's unlikely for both.) The second-to-last episode would have worked fine as an ending spot. Now I might just have to check out the manga (for both this and NTSB)...which was obviously the main goal anyway!

Wonderful Precure - The one thing I will say about this season of Precure is that after some lukewarm romantic subplots in previous seasons, the romance between Iroha and Satoru is pretty freaking adorable. I'm surprised Satoru and his pet bunny, Daifuku, never became Pretty Cures, though! After last season introduced the first boy Cure in a main role, I thought for sure it was only a matter of time until Satoru and Daifuku joined the team, but it never happened. (Apparently, they do get Cure-like forms in the movie, but I haven't watched that.) Anyway, I do rather like that this season focuses a lot more on the characters and not so much on Precure stuff. I know I criticized the lackluster "battles" (if you can even call them that) in the beginning, which never really changed, but when the villains aren't really that bad and actually have a good reason for their anger against humans...eh, I guess it doesn't really matter if there's not much fighting involved this time. At least the characters get some nice development.

Delico's Nursery - After a long break, Delico's Nursery came back to finish up the rest of the cour from last season, which focused more on the investigation and less on the child-rearing. Since the child-rearing was the part I actually enjoyed, I wasn't as interested in this second half of the show. It was...fine, I guess?

After-School Hanako-kun Season 2 (kinda) - I don't really get the point of making these four episode long series of shorts. Even Crunchyroll is considering these episodes to still be part of the first season, even though a year has passed between them. Why not just do a full 12-13 episode cour? With each episode being only about ten minutes long, it doesn't seem like it would take that much extra effort, especially compared to a cour of full-length episodes. Anyway, much like the first batch of episodes, this set was amusing, but mostly forgettable, mostly just serving as an appetizer to the main event, the long-awaited second season of Toilet-bound Hanako-kun next season, which I am legitimately excited about.

Uzumaki - Speaking of four episode series... In my last post, I expressed the hope that this series would at least be better than Toonami's last attempt at airing a short horror series around Halloween, Housing Complex C. Was it? Eh, I guess so, but that's not a high bar to clear. The first episode was legitimately great, with stunning black-and-white animation that looked like a moving manga. I also liked that they showed the episodes in Japanese with subtitles. (Apparently they're showing the dubbed version during a marathon the weekend after New Year's.) I'm not sure if it's the first time they've shown subtitled anime on Toonami -- I think I remember some subtitled movies? -- but I wouldn't mind seeing more in the future. Unfortunately, there was a noticeable drop in quality starting with the second episode that lasted until the end. It didn't help that the characters were as flat as paper, and they tried to cram way too much into each episode. I think the series would have benefitted a lot if it had been a full cour.

As for next season... Man, is it packed! Of course I'll be continuing with the end of Wonderful Precure and watching the new You and Idol Precure, assuming Crunchyroll gets it, which I have no doubt they will. (There's another Precure coming out this season called Mahō Tsukai Precure!!: MIRAI DAYS, but it's a sequel to the older series Witchy Precure, which I haven't gotten around to watching yet, so that one will have to wait.) There's also new seasons of the aforementioned Toilet Bound Hanako-kun, The Apothecary Diaries (so excited!), and The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You. Re:Zero and Blue Exorcist also have new cours, but seeing as I still haven't caught up with this past season's cours, they will need to be wait-listed, along with the second season of Unnamed Memory, which I'm just not in any rush to watch. (The second season of Happy Marriage will also have to wait until whenever I subscribe to Netflix again.)

As for new series, the show I'm most looking forward to is obviously Medalist, another figure skating anime. Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait! I've read some of the manga, and it is so good! I'm also planning to check out Honey Lemon Soda and Anyway, I'm Falling in Love with You. Maybe Ameku M.D.: Doctor Detective, too, but that will probably have to wait-listed. If they show up on either Crunchyroll or Hulu/Disney (got a year-long subscription to both for cheap on Black Friday), I Have a Crush at Work, Baban Baban Ban Vampire, and Sakamoto Days are some other titles I'm eyeing.

And, finally, my Top Ten Favorite Anime of 2024! (* means I didn't watch it simulcast)

A Sign of Affection

The Apothecary Diaries

YATAGARASU: The Raven Does Not Choose Its Master *

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Sound Euphonium Season 3

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

Black Butler: Public School Arc

Kimi Ni Todoke Season 3

Girls Band Cry *

Natsume's Book Of Friends Season 7

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF

Kimi ni Todoke - The decision for this new season after so many years to be broken up into five double-length episodes instead of the usual 12-13 normal episodes is a bit baffling, but that was pretty much my only real complaint with the cour. Otherwise, it was just as lovely and charming as the previous seasons. I still can't believe we actually got more of the Kimi ni Todoke anime! And hopefully it does well enough for Netflix to invest in more, since we still haven't gotten to the end of the manga. At least we finally got to Sawako and Kazehaya's first kiss animated, but, come on! I want more!

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF - Hallelujah! At the end of this cour, we FINALLY got to a new arc that was skipped over in the first anime adaptation. To be honest, I kinda understand why they skipped over it. Not because it's bad -- in fact, I really liked it! -- but because it's more focused on world-building and exploring the tension between the church and villages who still cling to pagan ways, rather than the economics and money-making schemes that have been at the center of the other arcs. It would have made a strange choice to end the first anime on such an arc, but, fortunately, it was just announced that this new adaptation is getting another season, so as a bridge between seasons, the new arc works just fine. Looking forward to more in the future!

My Hero Academia - Last cour I said I didn't mind when MHA went into non-stop battle mode because the fights were easy to follow and fun to watch. This cour, however, things have become kinda confusing with all the separate battles. It doesn't help that the show keeps going back in time to show what was happening while something else was going on. I also don't think it was necessary to bring back literally EVERY single character that ever appeared on the show. (That may be an exaggeration, but seriously? They even brought back ( Spoiler ), two minor comic relief villains who decide to come fight for the good guys?) Deku should be the star of this final battle, but he's pretty much gotten lost in the shuffle because there are just so many characters also fighting. That being said, there were a lot of awesome moments as well. The entire Todoroki family coming together to defeat ( Spoiler ) was a particular highlight that left me in tears. And there are still a few more episodes left to go, so hopefully the series will stick the landing.

Mission: Yozakura Family - Again, just a fun, entertaining show about a wacky family of spies. I do wish the show had focused a little more on Taiyo and Mutsumi's romantic relationship, but otherwise, I can't think of much to say about it!

Twilight Out of Focus - I have to admit I was super-surprised that the main couple of Mao and Hisashi got together so quickly, unaware at first that this BL show was actually more of an anthology series. The first four episodes focus on Mao and Hisashi, the "friends-to-lovers" roommates. The next threee follow Jin and Ichikawa, the "rivals to lovers" directors. Lastly, Yoshino and Rei, who are basically the "opposites attract" couple, also get three episodes, with the last two episodes going back to finish Mao and Hisashi's storyline with a (very) minor focus on the other two couples. To my surprise, my favorite couple was actually Jin and Ichikawa. Friends-to-lovers is usually my thing, so you'd think I'd like Mao and Hisashi's story the most, but they got together so quickly that I didn't really get to enjoy them long enough as friends. They're also not the most interesting characters. (Actually, Hisashi's backstory as a victim of ( Spoiler ) could have been interesting to explore, but the show seemed reluctant to really dive into his character and how he felt about it, mostly sticking to Mao's POV. Considering that it's a fairly light-hearted show, I can see why they wouldn't want to go too deep into the subject, but in that case, why even include it in the first place?) Jin and Ichikawa, on the other hand) are much more dynamic characters and have the best chemistry of the three pairs. I also loved the little "twist" connecting their pasts. Anyway, I enjoyed the series! I just kinda wish they had stuck to one couple for the entire cour. I think all of the romances would have been better developed if they had more time.

SHY - Unlike the first season, which was broken up into several different arcs, this new season focuses on only one long arc, introducing the ninja, Ai. Though I liked the arc and Ai is a great character who I hope sticks around longer, I'm not sure it really needed to be quite so long. I admit part of my disappointment with the length is that Iko, being the only "normal" person in the main cast, obviously had to be left behind when Teru and the others went into battle, only showing up in the first couple of episodes and the last. Considering her friendship with Teru is one of the main appeals of the show for me, I really wish we could have seen her more! But it was nice to see Teru stepping into a leadership role, and the hints about the first superhero of Japan are intriguing.

Wonderful Precure - You know, this season might finally be winning me over a little. Or maybe I've just gotten used to the weirdness. I don't know. Don't get me wrong, I'm still not a fan of the premise and it's definitely one of my least favorite Precures so far, but this cour didn't bug me as much as the earlier ones. I think the fact that they haven't been shown going to school in a while helps. Also, the villains behind the possessed animals have finally appeared, and they actually have a pretty sympathetic reason for disliking humans, so I'm kinda interested in where they will go with it.

Code Geass: Roze of the Recapture - This Code Geass spinoff sequel is based on the series of alternate timeline movies that came out after the main series (in which ( Spoiler ) lives), but you don't really need to be familiar with them to watch Roze since it focuses on a new cast with only cameo appearances by the characters from the original series (and Akito of the Exiled). (I didn't even know Crunchyroll had the movies until I had already watched the first couple of episodes, so I'll get around to watching them eventually.) That being said, Roze basically comes across as a pale imitation of the original show, even copying some of the same story beats. The new characters aren't particularly memorable either aside from Roze and Ash (although I quite liked Natalia). The main issue, however, is that the series was originally broken up into four three-episode movies, causing some weird pacing issues that probably would have worked a lot better if the series had been allowed to be the normal 24-episode series it clearly should have been. It's a decent enough watch, but, eh, not really necessary viewing unless you're a mega fan of the franchise.

Delico's Nursery - This series kinda came out of nowhere. It just suddenly appeared on Crunchyroll a few weeks into the season, right around the Olympics when most of the series I was watching went on hiatus, so I decided to give it a shot since "hot guys taking care of children" is another one of my weaknesses. The "hot guys" in question are a group of investigator vampires at the Vlad Agency, tasked with solving a series of murders connected to the last remaining "true" vampire (called TRUE OF VAMP, otherwise referred to by the unfortunate portmanteau of TRUMP), but their recently-widowed leader Dali Delico is more focused on raising his two young sons after their mother's death than looking for clues. After complaints from the other agents, he decides to combine his job and parental responsibilities by having all the other fathers on the team bring their kids to work. It's a bit of a weird premise, but the kids are cute, and the series's take on vampires is actually pretty unique. (Aside from the immortal TRUMP, the rest are mortal and don't seem to need to drink blood to survive, although they can control people by biting them.) Unfortunately, the show seems to be rather a troubled production. It actually was supposed to start at the beginning of the season like all the other shows but got delayed, and now they've only aired six episodes, going into repeats until the second half of the cour starts at the beginning of the fall season. (Not sure why they didn't just wait until fall in the first place!) That doesn't sound promising, but, eh, we'll see what happens

The Magical Girl and the Evil Lieutenant Used To Be Archenemies - With a title like that, I was expecting a magical girl show with a bit of SenShi vibes. The actual show, however, is a romantic comedy series of half-length episodes (about 12 minutes), and Byakuya (the magical girl) and Mira (the evil lieutenant) have pretty much nothing in common with any of the SenShi pairings. I did like how far from stereotypical the two magical girls are - Byakuya is a near-emotionless orphan who only really cares about making enough money to survive, while her friend Hibana looks cute, but is super violent and drops F-bombs every other word -- and the budding relationship between Byakuya and Mira is pretty sweet. I just wish there were less ecchi moments. Byakuya's humanoid cat "mascot", in particular, is just awful, basically acting more like her pimp than a guardian or mentor, constantly sexually harrassing her and trying to get her to do dubious jobs. It doesn't help that Byakuya looks super young, especially next to Mira, who appears to be in his early 20s. She's living on her own (well, with her mascot) and doesn't go to school, so it's possible that she's an adult (and the fact that one of the jobs we see her do appears to be a hostess in a hostess club seems to indicate that), but Hibana is said to be 15 and I believe they were once classmates (although she was possibly an upperclassman), so who knows? In any case, if you want to watch a show about literal enemies becoming lovers, then I recommend the excellent Love After World Domination from a couple of years ago instead.

Oh, and of course I watched the Sailor Moon Cosmos movies. The first one had weird pacing issues, which considering that the manga version of this arc also has weird pacing issues isn't surprising, but I enjoyed the second movie more than I thought I would. For me, the manga never really properly conveyed the epicness of the battle against Galaxia, but I actually got that "epic" feeling during the movie. It was also fun to see characters like Sailor Heavy Metal Papillon finally animated. I just love her design. It's a shame they didn't get to use her in the original anime. She's one character I've always wanted more of.

Though this past season was rather sparse, the fall season looks to be rather jammed pack with shows I want to watch. Obviously I'll be continuing with Wonderful Precure, Delico's Nursery, and the last few episodes of My Hero Academia. There are also a lot of sequels this season -- so many that I'll probably put most of them on the back burner for now. I definitely plan to watch the seventh(!) season of Natsume's Book of Friends and the second season of After School Hanako-kun, but the rest (Blue Exorcist: Beyond the Snow Saga, Sword Art Online Alternative: Gun Gale Online II, and Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-) can wait for a less packed season. As for new shows, Nina the Starry Bride, 365 Days to the Wedding, and Yakuza Fiancé: Raise wa Tanin ga Ii are on my must-watch list. There's also the 4 episode horror anime Uzumaki that just started airing on Toonami, just in time for Halloween. This isn't the first time Toonami has done the miniseries thing in October, but Uzumaki's catching a LOT of buzz online, so hopefully it'll be better than the dud that was 2022's Housing Complex C.

Sound Euphonium - It's a shame we didn't get to hear the band play as much as we did in the first two seasons, but otherwise, I absolutely loved this cour and the focus on Kumiko, who struggles to figure out what she wants to do after she graduates high school while also having to compete against a talented new transfer student who also plays the euphonium for the chance to play the soli with Reina at Nationals in the band's new contest piece. Also, no need to mention that the animation is still absolutely gorgeous!

Black Butler - Black Butler has one of the strangest release schedules I've ever experienced with anime. The first season is mostly true to the manga (apparently, I've never read it myself) until the ending, which is anime original. Then Season 2 is competely anime original and made essentially to undo the ending of the first season, which killed Ciel off. They went back to following the manga with Season 3 (Book of Circus), but the next two manga arcs were covered with a 2-episode OVA (Book of Murder) and a movie (Book of the Atlantic). Now seven years after the movie's release, it's back with a Season 4, covering the Public School Arc. If any series could really use a reboot, I'd put Black Butler at the top of my list at this point, but I actually really enjoyed this arc. In fact, it may be my favorite arc so far! It was nice to see Ciel interacting mostly with people around his own age for a change, and thankfully, there was very little creepy sexualizing of Ciel this time around. The last episode hints at the next arc, so hopefully it won't be too long before we actually get another season!

Spice and Wolf: MERCHANT MEETS THE WISE WOLF - It's been a long time since I watched the first adaptation of Spice and Wolf, but I'm struck by just how similar this new adaptation is to the old one, to the point where I'm wondering why they didn't just make a sequel to the original if the intention is (presumably) to adapt the full novel series? Literally the only major change I've noticed is that the new series starts with a flash-forward scene. Other than that, it's basically the same exact show with new animation and music. That being said, it's still a great show! If you've never seen the first series, I definitely recommend checking it out. Lawrence and Holo are absolute masters at the art of flirtatious dialogue, and even a subject as dull as economics becomes positively riveting when those two are involved. If you have seen the first series, though... Eh, you can probably just skip this first cour and just pick it up once it gets to new material. If it ever gets to new material. (It's continuing into next season for a total of 25 episodes, which is the same length as the original series, so I'm not really sure what the overall plan is.)

Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again - This series does not put its best foot forward with the first episode, in which their teenage granddaughter (and her mother, but she's a daughter-in-law, so it's not quite as weird) gets the hots for her suddenly-young grandfather (who she knows is her grandfather). It's hard to tell whether we're supposed to believe Mino's just joking around, or if she actually serious. Fortunately, it's never mentioned again beyond the first episode, and Mino soon gets her own age-appropriate, not-related love interest. That's a good thing, because the rest of the series is a genuinely touching and sometimes bittersweet look at a loving, happily married couple getting a second chance to be young again and make the most of the time they have left together.

Laid-Back Camp - A change in animation studio means the show looks a little different than it did before, featuring a lot of hyper-realistic backgrounds that are likely actual filtered photographs, but at heart, it's still the same cute show about cute girls having fun while going camping. What more can you ask for?

My Hero Academia - The FOUR episodes of recap that started this cour were excessive and pretty pointless, but once it got back to the actual story, the show has been on fire (for the most part)! Good thing, too, since this is the start of the final batttle, the climax of the entire series. Normally I tend to get bored whenever there's too much fighting going on in a show, but My Hero Academia is one of the few series that can hold my interest even through back-to-back battles, thanks to how easy it is to follow along with what is happening and how cool and inventive everybody's powers are. I just wish ( Spoiler ) got to stick around a while longer. Yeah, her power was super OP, but it's a shame that she got killed off so soon after her introduction. At least she went out in a blaze of glory. I also almost completely forgot that there was supposed to be a traitor in Deku's class since it hasn't been mentioned in ages, so the revelation of their identity seemed kinda random and anti-climatic, but in hindsight, who it is makes sense, and the reason why they started working for All-For-One is very sympathetic, allowing them a chance for redemption.

Mission: Yozakura Family - Could have really done without the annoying big brother with the sister complex, but otherwise, this was a really cute and funny show about an ordinary teenage boy who "marries" (by way of an old family tradition that's probably not legally binding) his best friend/crush and becomes a member of a wacky family of spies.

A Condition Called Love - This show starts with an interesting premise. Hotaru loves her family and her friends, but believes herself to be aromantic, incapable of falling in love with anyone. (Of course she doesn't actually use that term, but it feels like an appropriate label for her, at least at first.) Hananoi, on the other hand, is the complete opposite, with absolutely no friends and distant family. For him, the ONLY thing that matters is romantic love, to the point where he seems to have no real personality of his own, since he's always trying to conform himself to his latest girlfriend's tastes. Obviously, he doesn't have the most healthy view on love, and even though it makes sense why he has such issues when you learn his backstory, it's easy to see why a lot of viewers find him creepy and stalker-ish at first. The thing is, while Hananoi does change little-by-little over the course of the series, the show has Hotaru decide she's in love with him way too early in his (re)development. When she confessed her love for him around the midway point, I was left wondering, "Why?" At that point, she still didn't know much about him, and what "changes" he'd gone through were so small that his grandmother basically had to tell Hotaru (and the audience, by extension) what they were. There were some cute moments between them, and I appreciated how much focus was put on the importance of communication (even if they didn't really do much with the idea, and Hananoi is still keeping a huge secret from her by the end of the show), but, really, there needed to be more time spent on developing Hananoi's character earlier in the series before they turned their trial relationship into a real one. That would have made it a much more compelling romance.

Go! Go! Loser Ranger! - This show started off really strong, but started losing me when Fighter D began impersonating a cadet and a lot of new characters were introduced at once right before a fairly boring battle tournament set in a parking garage, of all places. There just wasn't any time to learn or care about any of the other cadets before they started fighting, so those episodes were a bit of a drag to get through. It picked up a little near the end, but, still... Just too many characters introduced way too fast.

Vampire Dormitory - Ah, this show... It's kind of a trainwreck, to be perfectly honest, and I rolled my eyes more than a few times at how dumb the characters are and how idiotic the plot is, but...it's still pretty fun to watch? Like, in a "it's so bad, it's good" kind of way? Yeah, it's definitely no Shakespeare, but if you turn your brain off, it's an entertaining enough soap opera. Just don't think too much while watching it. Seriously, just don't.

Wonderful Precure - Still not really feeling this new Precure series, but I am glad focus has, at least for the moment, shifted mostly away from Iroha and her dog, Komugi to Mayu and her cat, Yuki, who are frankly much more interesting characters. The conflict between Yuki, who only cares about keeping Mayu safe and believes Iroha and Komugi are putting her in danger by being friends with her, and Mayu, who understands how Yuki feels but also wants to help her friends and the possessed animals, is really well done, and at least Yuki/Cure Nyammy is willing to do some actual fighting. I just don't get this insistence the show has with Komugi and Yuki attending school in their human forms. They're animals! They don't know how to read and write! Or at least they shouldn't, but it seems all logistics are just glossed over to put them in school uniforms.

Unnamed Memory - There are hints of a good story here. Too bad this anime has little interest in actually showing us that story, instead settling for basically summarizing the source material. Even for someone not familiar with the original light novels like me, it's obvious the show skips over a lot in favor of hitting the highlights. Things just happen with no warning and little explanation, almost forcing people to check the comments on Crunchyroll for spoilers to understand what actually happened. A lot of anime are created as extended commercials to get viewers to check out the original source, but in this case, it feels more like the show was aimed toward people who are already fans of the novels...except I can't imagine those fans being very happy with this kind of adaptation, either. Somehow, though, it's getting another season? 0.o Why? I mean, it's not outright terrible, but... (Actually, the last episode of the season was probably the best one of the series and basically resets everything, so maybe a second season could do a better job...but, eh, I'm not in any rush to watch it.)

Next season, I'll be continuing with Spice and Wolf, My Hero Academia, Mission: Yozakura Family, and Wonderful Precure. I also plan to watch the new season of SHY, but as for new shows... Honestly, nothing's really piquing my interest except maybe Twilight Out of Focus. Normally, that would be a bad thing, but with Sailor Moon Cosmos finally coming to Netflix in August, along with a third season of Kimi ni Todoke (so excited for both!), I've decided to subscribe to Netflix for a few months and catch up with some of the exclusive series I've been wanting to see there, like Delicious in Dungeon, My Happy Marriage, Romantic Killer, Ooku: The Inner Chambers, and the second season of Tiger & Bunny.

Current Mood: blah

Happy Easter if you celebrate!

Here's my review of the winter anime season:

A Sign of Affection - This was by far my most anticipated show of the season. I've been reading the manga and loving it, so I was thrilled to find out that it was getting an anime. I'm happy to say, the anime adaptation did the manga justice! Beautifully animated, and the romance is just so sweet. Some might argue that it doesn't portray Yuki's deafness 100% accurately -- she is a little too good at lip-reading, for example, although she still has trouble sometimes -- but I think it did a decent enough job.

The Apothecary Diaries -- Still love Maomao, still love this series! So glad another season has already been announced. As for this cour, it was nice to get some backstory about Maomao's family. What I find interesting is how the show at first makes you think Lakan is likely a bad guy who did something awful to her mother and that's why she doesn't like him, but the actual truth is far more tragic and sympathetic as far as he's concerned.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End - I was a bit concerned when the show got to the first-class mage licensing exam that took up the majority of the second cour's run-time. I love the show for its slice-of-life traveling vibes, not because of its action and battle scenes (even though they do tend to be quite good when they happen), but I shouldn't have worried. While I do think too many episodes were spent on the exam arc and I really missed Stark, who didn't have much to do, not having the ability to do magic like Frieren and Fern, it still was an enjoyable change of pace with some fun new characters. That being said, I really have my fingers crossed that we get more of this show in the future and that we return to focusing on the main trio again as they continue their travels. (And maybe bring Sein back to make them a quartet again. He left the party way too soon!)

7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy - I always get a chuckle whenever I read the full title of this series because Rishe's seventh life has not been easy-going and carefree so far in the least. She can't help herself, though. Whenever she sees someone in trouble or a problem to be solved, she can't resist involving herself -- and that's part of the reason why Arnold is so charmed by her. (It should be noted that even though Arnold is the "Worst Enemy" referred to in the title, they never had a truly personal hatred toward each other. (I don't think they even met in most of her lives.) It's just that the war he started ended up killing her, either directly or indirectly, in her six previous lives, and she's hoping to avoid that fate this time by preventing the war from happening in the first place.) The two of them have a fun chemistry together, and Rishe is just all-around awesome, using the knowledge she has gained over her many lifetimes to not make only her life, but everybody else's life, better.

The Demon Prince of Momochi House - This was a nice little supernatural romance. Nothing really special, to be honest, and the story felt a bit rushed, but I enjoyed it. With a title that references a "demon prince", I have to admit that I went in expecting Himari's love interest to be one of those jerks with a heart a gold that are so popular, so I was pleasantly surprised by how genuinely gentle and kind Aoi turned out to be. More sweet boys like Aoi and Itsuomi (from Sign of Affection) as love interests, please!

Cherry Magic! Thirty Years of Virginity Can Make You a Wizard?! - I feel the same about Cherry Magic; it's a nice BL romance, but nothing makes it really stand out as amazing, even with the wacky premise of 30-year-old virgins getting the ability to read people's minds. (Well, other than the fact that it ends with Adachi and Kurosawa actually ( Spoiler! ) That's rare for even het romances in anime!) I did find the romance between the two co-worker leads really sweet and one of the most healthy I've come across in BL, though I was far less interested in the beta couple, Adachi's romance novelist friend and a young deliveryman/aspiring dancer who delivers his packages. Their romance just always seemed kinda...random and forced? Like, I genuinely can't think of a single thing they have in common other than they like cats, and they don't really have any kind of chemistry at all. One other thing that bothered me is the characters' eyes. I'm not usually one to nitpick animation errors, but whenever a character was supposed to be making eye contact with someone else, sometimes it appeared they were looking somewhere off to the side instead. Not a huge deal if it only happened every once in a while, but it was pretty much a near constant thing in the middle episodes, and I found it rather distracting.

Wonderful Precure! - I've been known to be a fan of human characters who turn into animals (*cough* Helios and most of the characters in Fruits Basket), but I'm a bit more iffy about animals turning into humans, especially if they're supposed to be just ordinary Earth animals. Last series (which ended well, btw!), there was Tsubasa/Cure Wing, a Puni Bird from Skyland who could switch between bird form and human form. That worked for me, since Puni Birds don't actually exist and he possessed very human-like intelligence (in fact he was the "smart" one of the group), but this season of Pretty Cure has the gimmick of regular Earth animals turning into humans in order to transform into Precures, and... Well, I'm iffy about it. It doesn't help that Komugi/Cure Wonderful acts very much like the puppy she actually is even in human form, making her seem like a cute toddler in a teenager's body, just with a more advanced vocabulary. (Again, last season, we had actual toddler Princess Ellee temporarily aging up to a teen to become Cure Majesty, but she didn't still act like a toddler when in that form.) It's just...iffy. Also, it's strange that so far Wonderful and Friendy (Komugi's human owner and fellow Precure) haven't used any offensive attacks against the possessed animals, instead trying to calm them down by other means. I mean, I get that they might want to avoid accusations of animal cruelty and stuff like that, but at this point, I don't really get the point of why Precures are needed if they aren't actually going to fight? At least give them human foes who are controlling the animals to battle, or something like that. (Yes, I know magical girls don't have to fight and do battles, but that's what Precures do! They're fighter magical girls!) In general, I just think the whole premise of this season is a bit of a mess, but maybe it'll get better next cour when more Precures join the team.

Blue Exorcist - It's really kind of ridiculous how many years pass between seasons of this series. First season aired in 2011, second in 2017, and finally a third in 2024! Thankfully, it was pretty easy to get back into the story despite the long break, and I liked that we finally got to explore Izumo's backstory. She's not always the most easy character to like, but knowing what she went through, it's not hard to understand why she finds it so hard to trust people.

The Witch and the Beast - I've been trying to think of what other anime this show reminds me of, and it just hit me: Witch Hunter Robin. Which should have been obvious since both shows are basically about hunting witches, duh. I really liked the world-building and beautiful character designs of TWatB, but the actual story... It's good, I guess, but the (mainly) two-episode arcs devoted to each case don't really help you get into the overall plot. (Which, again, was a complaint many people had with WHR, which was even more episodic in the first half.) It doesn't help that one episode was delayed (production issues?) and that the leads Guideau and Ashaf essentially disappear for one early arc, focusing on a different pair from the Order of Magical Resonance who have not been seen or mentioned since. Maybe they'll have more importance in a later storyline, but at the moment with what has been adapted so far, their arc feels like something that should have been an OVA, not a part of the main series. In any case, I came to actually really love Witch Hunter Robin once the meat of the main plot got started, so maybe the same will happen with this show, if it ever gets a continuation. The potential is there.

Next season, I'll be continuing with Wonderful Precure! and a bunch of new seasons of shows I already like: Sound Euphonium, Laid-Back Camp, Black Butler, and My Hero Academia. There's also the Spice & Wolf remake, which I'm really curious about. As for new shows, Tadaima, Okaeri sounds like it would be right up my alley...if it wasn't omegaverse. Omegaverse is just not my thing at all, but if it mainly focuses on the dads taking care of their kid and not so much on any of the stuff related to how that kid was actually conceived, I might give it a try. I definitely am interested in watching A Condition Called Love, Unnamed Memory, and Grandpa and Grandma Turn Young Again, though.

Current Mood: sleepy

Happy New Year! If anybody's interested, here's my annual fic review questionnaire.

Now, my review of the 2023 fall season of anime. This was actually a packed season, with me watching probably the most simulcasts ever and not even getting to everything I wanted to watch. (I'll have to catch up with My New Boss is Goofy, Power of Hope ~Precure Full Bloom ~, 16bit Sensation: Another Layer, and Tearmoon Empire some other time.) Unfortunately, I picked a couple of clunkers, but most of what I watched was great, including some of my favorite shows of the year!

Spy x Family - Still loving this show, and I especially loved that this cour gave Yor the chance to shine! We've seen quite a bit of Loid's work as a spy, but Yor's job as an assassin has usually taken place off-screen, so it was great to see her mission working as a bodyguard to a slain mafioso's wife and son trying to escape the country take center stage in a fantastic multi-episode arc.

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End - This is just such a beautiful series. I'm not just talking about the animation -- although it is indeed gorgeous -- but just how it deals with Frieren, an elf who has lived for almost a thousand years, learning to really treasure her time with her human companions after realizing how short their lifetimes really are in comparison to hers. She may regret not spending enough time with (especially) Himmel and Heiter before their deaths, but she's still able to form new bonds with a new group of heroes who join her on her latest journey. I also loved the gentle humor and subtle relationship growth throughout the show, especially between Fern and Stark, who may be falling in love with each other? Really looking forward to more next season!

The Apothecary Diaries - Maomao has to be one of my all-time favorite anime protagonists! She just such a little weirdo with her love of poisons, making her the perfect choice to become a taste-tester for one of the emperor's courtesans after she saves the life of said courtesan's child. Her extensive knowledge of poisons and medicines as an apothecary are also helpful when it comes to solving the various mysteries surrounding the imperial court at the behest of Jinshi, a beautiful eunuch who developes a strong attachment to her, much to her annoyance. The mysteries vary in how interesting they are and Jinshi can be a bit much at times, but, really, the main attraction is Maomao herself and her very pragmatic way of looking at the world, and I'm very much looking forward to seeing more of her next season.

Shy: I'm a big fan of My Hero Academia, but it's no secret that the outnumbered female heroes in that show don't really get the development and attention that their male comrades do. So, it's nice that we get this fantastic new superhero show where there are almost an equal amount of male and female heroes (leaning female), and the women are the main focus. I also love how the series focuses more on the characters' emotions, rather than physical strength. In that way, it almost feels closer to a magical girl show in spirit, which is certainly fine by me. But most of all, I just love the sweet friendship between Teru (a.k.a. Shy) and Iko! Glad to hear this is getting a second season.

The Ancient Magus' Bride - I still don't think this College Arc is as quite as amazing as the first season, but things definitely picked up in this second half of the second season! Saving Philomela from her abusive grandmother gives Chise the opportunity to show just how much she has grown since the first season, when she was in a similar position as Philomela. My one major complaint is that it's just so dark! And I'm not talking about the subject matter (which obviously is fairly dark), but the actual animation. It was difficult to even see what was going on during the final battle because there just wasn't enough illumination to actually see. People have been complaining about recent TV shows and movies having bad lighting in the name of "realism", but it seems the trend has even moved on to anime. Ugh. Give us light!

The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You -- First off, I'll say this anime will definitely not be for everyone. Only six of the eventual promised 100 girlfriends are introduced in this cour, but it's unlikely that you'll love all of them, especially some of the...more problematic ones. The first four (the horny one, the tsundere one, the cute mute one, and the smart one) are great! The fifth is absolutely obsessed with making wacky drugs, and thanks to a failed attempt at an immortality drug, she can switch forms between looking like a pre-teen(?) to her actual curvaceous 17-year-old self, which is...ehhh. As for the sixth girlfriend, well... ( SPOILERS ) But...it's still stupid FUN! Like, the whole premise is utterly ridiculous, and you kinda have to just turn your brain off, yet it's genuinely funny and even kind of touching at some points. Take Shizuka, the cute mute girl, for example. Her gimmick of only being able to "speak" by pointing to lines in her favorite historical fantasy book instead of simply writing her own words or using sign language is, admittedly, eye-roll worthy and impractical, but rather than trying to help cure her of her mutism (which her emotionally abusive mother tried to force her to do), Rentarou instead types up said favorite book as a text file (apparently, no e-book version of it existed) so that she can use a screen reader to "talk" instead. That's so sweet! And he's like that with all his girlfriends, because he genuinely loves them all the same. And the girlfriends themselves are all friends with each other with only minimal jealousy to be found. (In the case of Hakari and Kaname, they may actually be a little into each other, too...) Is it the most realistic portrayal of polyamory out there? No, I imagine not (especially considering the whole "love at first sight" thing that happens with all of them), but there's still something really charming about this series. Call it refuge in audacity, I guess!

I'm in Love with the Villainess - In my (admittedly limited) experience with watching yuri anime, it's rare for a character to explicitly identify as being gay, so it's refreshing to hear Rae (or Rei, as she was known in her former life before she died and was reincarnated in her favorite otome game) say that she's only attracted to women and doesn't see herself ever falling for a man. It's also a bit heartbreaking to discover the reason why she's so over-the-top and ridiculous when it comes to the girls she likes is because she doesn't expect them to actually return her feelings, so she plays off her love as just a joke, protecting herself from inevitable rejection. That being said, her behavior toward Claire, the "villainess" she's obsessed with instead of the three princes who are supposed to be the main love interests in the game, is a bit...much in the first couple of episodes. (To the point that it counts as legitimate harassment.) Luckily, she does eventually tone down her affection, and it becomes less unwanted by Claire. I do think the middle arc involving a conflict between commoners and the nobles, while probably setting up the reason behind Claire's apparent future execution, was a bit weak and hindered by a totally unnecessary and out-of-the-blue incest plotline, but it wrapped up strong with the final arc. While I hope we get another season since there's clearly more to the story involving the commoners and nobles, if we don't, that's okay, too.At least Claire and Rae become an official couple at the end!

Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure - I really have been loving this Precure series! Still my favorite after Healing Good, largely do to the great cast of characters. However, it does feel an awful lot like they reached the end of the series and suddenly realized they needed to pull everything together with an actual plot. I would have liked to have learned more about the Big Bad's backstory throughout the series, not just have her suddenly show up a few episodes before the end to finally explain why the Undergu Empire is enemies with Skyland. Oh, well. There are still a few episodes left going into next season, but overall, this was a great series to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Precure!

Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and the Inexperienced Me - I loved the premise of this series. The "experienced" one is Runa, a girl who has slept with a lot of boys just because she believes that's what a girlfriend is supposed to do, not because she actually wanted to have sex. The "inexperienced" one is Ryuto, a meek boy who asks her out on a dare from his friends and is surprised when she actually agrees. Runa assumes he wants to have sex with her right away like all her other boyfriends, but Ryuto doesn't want her to have sex with him out of a sense of obligation, instead wanting to wait until she wants to have sex with him out of her own desire. What follows is a pretty sweet romance between the two, although I could have lived without some of the drama, especially involving Maria, Runa's secret twin sister who was coincidentally Ryuto's first love. Though they tried to redeem Maria in the latter half of the series and have her and Runa reconcile, I'm not sure it really felt all that earned? Also, the fact that Ryuto's two friends fall for Runa's two galpals is definitely a cliche, although at least the guys are both rejected. ( SPOILERS ) I have a sinking feeling they'll eventually get together in the source material, but this is actually a series I hope doesn't get a sequel. It pretty much ends in the perfect spot for the main couple, and I just don't care about the other romantic storylines, which all kind of suck.

After School Hanako-kun - I didn't realize that this was only going to be a four-episode season of short episodes. At first, it seemed kinda strange that something like this was produced since the original Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun aired about three years ago -- although the timing was good since the last episode was a Halloween episode -- but then it was announced that Toilet-Bound is getting a second season, and suddenly it all made sense! Anyway, cute set of episodes. That's pretty much all I have to say!

Girlfriend, Girlfriend - Polyamory seems to be a bit of a trend this season... I somehow forgot that I had watched the first season of this until I was reading ANN's seasonal review guide and realized the premise seemed familiar. That's probably not the most ringing endorsement, but I actually kinda enjoyed the first cour as a semi-realistic look into a type of romantic relationship that we don't see much of in media. The second? Not so much, and it's all due to Mirika. I absolutely can't stand her, and the fact that Naoya comes up with this idiot plan to have her move in with him and the other girls as a way to prove his loyalty to his two actual girlfriends, Saki and Nagisa, by forcing him to constantly refuse her advances (no, it doesn't really make much sense in context either) is just so...so...ugh! And the thing is, she's totally unnecessary! Enough drama is provided by Shino, Saki's best friend who wants Naoya to break up with Nagisa so that he and Saki can have a more "proper" relationship while also secretly being in love with him herself. That's genuinely interesting! I was actually invested in her story line. There's no need for another interloper, especially one who resorts to kidnapping and sexual assault to try to force Naoya to fall in love with her.

KAWAGOE BOYS SING - Y'all, this show is dumb, and not even a fun kind of dumb like 100 Girlfriends. It's just so...dumb. Back in school, I was a choir geek, so I thought an anime about a boys' choir would be right up my alley, but it's pretty clear that the writers don't really know anything about how choirs really work. They can't even seem to decide if the characters (who are so bland that the majority are just referred to by nicknames describing their main personality "quirk") are actually in a choir, a glee club, or a boy band. ( SPOILERS )Worst of all, the music kinda sucks. If you're going to do a show centering on music, then the music has to be actually, you know, good for the show to work.

Jujutsu Kaisen - Yeah, this Shibuya Incident arc that manga fans have been raving about is just not very good. I'll say that some of the fights were really well animated -- at the cost of the health of the poor over-worked animators -- but I didn't care about any of it, even when a couple of pretty major characters (including one of my favorites) died. Fight after fight after fight is BORING.

Next season, I'll be continuing with the second cours of Frieren and The Apothecary Diaries, along with the end of Soaring Sky! Precure. As for new series, I'm definitely looking forward to Sign of Affection (been loving the manga!) and The Demon Prince of Momochi House. There's a third season of Classroom of the Elite coming out, but to be honest, I'm not in a huge rush to watch that. Maybe if there's nothing else better. Metallic Rouge, 7th Time Loop: The Villainess Enjoys a Carefree Life Married to Her Worst Enemy, and The Witch and the Beast are other possible contenders.

And, finally, my ten favorite anime of 2023! To my surprise, only one returning anime made the list this time, with the rest premiering this year.

Spy X Family

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts

Frieren: Beyond Journey's End

The Apothecary Diaries

Skip and Loafer

Buddy Daddies

Trigun Stampede

My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead

A Galaxy Next Door

After several really good seasons, I have to say, this one was kind of a dud, but there were a few bright spots.

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts: Definitely my favorite of the season, and one of my favorites of the year so far! I’m glad that it got two cours, giving the anime enough time to cover the entire manga.

Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead: If you asked me a few years ago, I would have said I definitely didn’t care for zombie stories, but after becoming a fan of series like School-Live!, Zombieland Saga, and now Zom 100...maybe I kinda do like them? It’s a shame Zom 100 ended up dealing with some production issues, causing a bunch of delays and the cour to actually still remain unfinished at this point, but the episodes we did get were fantastic. I especially appreciated the artistic decision to colorize the copious amount of blood in this show in rainbow colors. Gore is not my thing at all, so the colored blood really helped make it more palatable for me to handle. (Uh, maybe “palatable” isn’t the best word to use when talking about zombies!) I also loved the way they managed to get Akira’s best friend, Kencho, buck naked (Akira sometimes joins him) at least once in almost every episode since he was first introduced in the show. Never failed to crack me up!

Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure: Still really enjoying this year’s Precue series! I was a bit worried when Princess Ellee joined the team as Cure Majesty, but I liked that they kept her a toddler, only aging her up when she transforms.

Horimiya: The Missing Pieces: This season is a bit unusual in that it’s not a sequel or even a prequel, but a chance to go back and animate all the stuff they cut from the manga during the first season. Filling in the “missing pieces”, if you will. (And, thus, the subtitle.) I have to say, I enjoyed this season more than the first. It helped that most of the episodes focused on the supporting cast instead of the main couple. I’m sorry, but I’m just not a big fan of Hori, and shunting her out of the spotlight for most of the season just emphasized how much more likable the other characters are. Could have lived without the episode focusing on the sleazy teacher, but other than that, I liked it a lot despite the somewhat random nature of the episodes. That being said, I just wish they had done a straight two cour adaptation from the start. I think the series as a whole would have been a lot stronger that way.

TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You: This was just a four-episode miniseries, which I expected to be mostly like your typical OVA episodes. You know, filler-y and fanservice-y, with nothing really important happening in them? So I was really surprised that this little arc with Nasa teaching computer skills to a class of high school girls – still think asking a guy who never even attended high school to teach is strange, no matter how good he is with computers, but they kinda made the premise work – actually had some relevance to the plot, particularly with the introduction of a character who may be connected to Tsukasa’s mysterious past. I imagine she’ll continue to play a role in future storylines, so definitely not skippable material!

Rent-a-Girlfriend: Almost no Mami, aside from a really random, fourth-wall breaking game explanation and a last-second cameo in the final scene? Minimal Ruka aside from the episode dedicated to celebrating her birthday? The addition of a fun neighbor girl who refreshingly doesn’t have a thing for Kazuya (at least, not yet) and would much rather help hook him up with Chizuru? A lot more focus on Chizuru and her relationship with her dying grandmother? See, this show can be good when it tries! This season was sooo much better than the first two. Too bad it doesn’t seem to know when to quit. Seriously, the end of this season would have been the perfect time for Kazuya to tell Ruka he’s just not that into her and get together with Chizuru for real, but apparently they feel the need to drag things on and on and on...

Bungo Stray Dogs: I think my favorite relationship in the entire show is between a young un-Gifted girl named Aya and Bram Stoker, who she affectionately calls Bra-chan. Despite being under the main bad guy’s control and being, well, a vampire, Bram isn’t all that bad himself, and watching him and Aya become friends while she attempts to sneak them out of the airport was quite amusing. The rest of the plot… I honestly think some characters have become way too overpowered, and there are now way too many of them. Of course the good guys won in the end, but not without the help of a lot of deux ex machina. Well, anyway, it seems the anime has now caught up with the source material, so it’ll probably be a while until we get a new season despite the teaser at the end of the final episode.

Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence: This show was...cute. That’s really all I can think of to say about it. It really was just fluff without a whole ton of substance.

MIX: I really should have seen it coming. This series is from the same mangaka who wrote Cross Game, one of the most tear-jerking manga/anime series I’ve ever read/watched, yet...it still caught me by surprise when it happened. Granted, I can’t say it was done as well as Cross Game, mainly because despite having more time with the character, I was never particularly attached to them, but, still, this cour was a definite step up from the previous one.

Reign of the Seven Spellblades: There are a lot of fascinating concepts introduced in this show, but they don’t quite add up to feeling like a satisfying, cohesive whole, if that makes sense. It felt like the show was more interested in world-building than actually forming a coherent plot. I mean, halfway through the cour we learn that main character Oliver is ( Spoilers )...and then it’s barely referenced again after that. (To be fair, this is an extra-long cour with a couple of more episodes left, so maybe things will pick up again when presumably ( Spoilers ), but still!) Like, what? You can’t drop something like that in a story and not do anything with it! From what I understand from comments I’ve read (MAJOR SPOILERS FROM THE LIGHT NOVELS AHEAD), ( MAJOR SPOILERS ) which, fair enough. I don’t expect to get the full story from one fifteen episode cour, but at least build things up, leave clues, prepare plans, reveal more backstory, explore the teachers’ characters, gain allies...really just do ANYTHING with your main freaking storyline!

Jujutsu Kaisen: You know, I’ve come to the conclusion that I enjoy this series so much more when it’s focusing on Gojo and Geto. The first season was okay, but I really liked the prequel movie and the first few episodes of this season, which also served as a prequel flashback. Then after taking a break for a couple of weeks, the show returned to the present and the start of the much hyped “Shibuya Arc”…and I’m back to being “meh”. Seriously, can we just have a spin-off series devoted to younger Gojo and Geto?

As for next season, I'll of course be continuing with Soaring Sky! Precure and Jujutsu Kaisen, which are carrying on into the fall. Really looking forward to the new cours of Spy x Family and Ancient Magus' Bride, and I've already started watching Frieren: Beyond Journey's End and I'm In Love With the Villainess. I'll probably watch the new season of B-Project -- if not now, then at least eventually, since I've watched previous seasons -- but it's not a big priority, and SHY seems like it might be good. Oh, and After School Hanako-kun is a spinoff of Toilet Bound Hanako-kun, so I'll probably watch that, too. Other possible picks, if available on Crunchyroll: My New Boss Is Goofy, Kawagoe Boys Sing, and The Apothecary Diaries.

The spring anime season was pretty much a dream for romance lovers like me. Funny thing, I noticed that most of the shows I watched could be joined up into similar pairs. For example, if you enjoyed TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You, you'll probably also like A Galaxy Next Door. If you loved The Ancient Magus' Bride, you might also love Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts. A fan of Skip and Loafer? Check out My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999. Yuri Is My Job! and Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion might not seem too similar at first glance, but both shows feature leads who put on a mask of sorts and lots of manipulation and secrets. Even MIX and BIRDIE WING - Golf Girls' Story - share more in common than just being sports anime (but to say anymore would be a pretty big spoiler for BW).

Anyway, onto the reviews!

Skip and Loafer - By far my favorite show of the season! It's strange... While y'all know I adore friends-to-lovers plots (and, don't get me wrong, I'm definitely rooting for Mutsumi and Shima to get together eventually), I actually wouldn't be too disappointed if they didn't become a couple, because I'm enjoying their sweet friendship just as it is. I also loved the fact that Mutsumi is still best friends with Fumi, who she grew up with. A lot of the time, when a character moves to a new place, their old friends tend to be forgotten until the character goes back to their hometown for a visit. But Mutsumi and Fumi still call and text each other all the time, and it's clear that Fumi has a life of her own off-screen, too, which saves their relationship from feeling too one-sided as is usually the case. The one weak spot? Ririka. The show does a good job of making you like characters that perhaps start out on the wrong foot (*ahem* Mika), but with Ririka... It's just really hard to feel much sympathy toward her when she really only has herself to blame for what happened to her. I really hope this gets a second season.

My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 - Like Skip and Loafer, I really loved the focus on friendships in this show, and I appreciated that though Akane notices that Yamada is hot right from the start, she doesn't really start crushing on him until she gets to know him better as a friend. Though some might have concerns about their age difference -- she's a 20-year-old second year college student while he's an 18-year-old senior in high school -- by the time they realize their feelings for each other and make it official, Yamada's about to take his college entrance exams, so he'll only be in high school for a few more weeks anyway. Not a big deal, IMO. Speaking of which, I don't really want to spoil too much, but I have to say the scene in the last episoe when they finally confess their feelings is probably one of my favorite anime confession scenes ever. This cour ended in a perfect spot, but I definitely wouldn't say no to more in the future!

Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts - What can I say? I always love a good "Beauty and the Beast"-type story, and this one is a great one. I think it's a cool twist that humanoid beasts actually rule the world and humans are the ones looked down upon, and I'm glad that it's revealed in the very first episode that Leonhart, the current Beast King, is secretly half-human (transforming into one when the miasma surrounding the kingdom is low) and has been releasing all the human sacrifices he receives instead of eating them as believed. Sariphi, the "sacrificial princess" of the title, is a pretty awesome character. No matter what trial and tribulations come her way, whether it comes from Anubis, the king's most trusted advisor, or members of the other clans who hate the idea of the king taking a lowly human as his queen, her kindness and determination always pulls her through. Special shout-out to the crocodile princess Amit, Sariphi's closest friend and ally, whose crush on one of the king's generals is just super adorable. I believe this is continuing into next season, so I'm looking forward to more!

A Galaxy Next Door - For those who don't think that asking for consent is "romantic" or "sexy", I present to you this anime, which makes consent pretty much the most romantic thing ever. The plot does start off a bit non-consentually with Ichiro accidentally touching Shiori's "stinger", which in her strange island culture makes them engaged and bonded to the point where they can't be too far apart without feeling ill physical effects. But after that revelation, the two of them are beyond respectful of each other's boundaries, even wanting to end their forced "engagement" despite the fact that they genuinely do fall in love with each other. They want to love on their own terms, not because of some mystical bond they did not consent to, and really, this was just one of the sweetest romances I've ever watched. Ichiro having to take care of his much younger sister and brother after his father's death also played to my love of stories featuring men taking care of kids. It was a bit strange that their mother was never really mentioned after establishing the fact that she left after her husband's death because she didn't want to be a mother anymore, a storyline that seemed ready made for drama, but maybe they'll explore that in another season, if the anime gets one. Though it ended in a good place, I definitely wouldn't mind more in the future!

TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You - Though we get a few more big clues this cour basically confirming that Tsukasa is immortal and probably from the moon, her true origins mostly remain a mystery for now. That doesn't really bother me, though, because the real joy in this show is just watching how cute and sweet Nasa and Tsukasa are as a couple. I also enjoyed the adddition of Tokiko, Tsubasa's "grandmother" who knows all her secrets, to the cast. She was a hoot! Curious that we're getting a four episode miniseries about Nasa teaching a high school class this upcoming season. Seems kinda random, to be honest -- and IIRC, he didn't even go to high school himself, much less college, so why is he teaching? -- but I'll definitely take more TONIKAWA!

The Ancient Magus' Bride - I'm so glad this series got another season! This new cour has a bit of a different vibe, with Chise attending school and making new friends with her sorceror classmates, but it still has all the mystical charm and well-researched folklore of the first season. Admittedly, while most of this cour did seem like set-up for a larger storyline, with another cour already announced for later in the year, I'm totally okay with that. Looking forward to what happens next!

BIRDIE WING - Girls' Golf Story - - This anime almost makes golf interesting. Or, rather, it's more like the story surrounding the golf is interesting, because let's be honest, nothing can make golf interesting. Sorry, it's the truth. But BIRDIE WING certainly tries its best, which I can respect. From what I've seen online, most fans seem to prefer the first cour, which focused on Eve playing over-the-top underground mafia golf, but I actually much preferred this second cour, which brings Aoi more into the spotlight as the two of them strive for the pros. For me, Eve was too much of a one-dimensional character, only caring about golf and Aoi. (And I guess Klein and the immigrant orphans, although they felt more like plot devices to give Eve a reason to play illegal golf. Otherwise, she doesn't seem to think or care about them unless it's relevant to the plot at the time.) Aoi, on the other hand, felt much more fleshed out, what with her family pressure, the mystery of her paternity, and her serious illness, not to mention her totally obvious crush on Eve. I'm not sure if the ending really hit a hole-in-one, but it's open-ended enough that another season could be made.

Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure - Soaring Sky! is really turning out to be the best Pretty Cure series since Healing Good so far! With Ageha joining as Cure Butterfly in Ep. 18, the main team is finally complete, and I must say, the way they've really spread out the Cures' debuts with this series really reminds me of the first season of the original Sailor Moon anime, which is a definite plus in my book. The biggest weakness remains the villains, who are pretty forgettable, but that tends to be the case with almost all the Pretty Cures I've seen, so eh. Still a lot of fun to watch!

Yuri Is My Job - Hmm, this anime is a bit difficult to recommend because most of the characters are kinda unlikeable, to be honest, but they're also pretty fascinating. It's both fun and frustrating to watch them interact just because everybody has fundamentally different communication styles, leading to a lot of misunderstandings and drama. Still, I did enjoy it quite a bit, minus Kanako's rather disturbing fixation on Hime. Probably not the show for you if you really hate plots that hinge on misunderstandings, but if you don't mind that, it might be worth checking out.

MIX - This wasn't a bad cour, just not as good as the previous ones. With the first season, it was pretty easy to enjoy the story without being familiar with Touch, which MIX is a sequel to. With this cour, however, there were a lot of references to Touch that I think would be more meaningful to those who are familiar with that series (which I am not), especially the amnesiatic man who starts living with the Tachibanas. He seems to be a character from Touch, but I just couldn't bring myself to care much about the mystery of his identity which took up quite a lot of screentime. And they barely played any baseball at all! At least it seems like a tournament is coming up next, continuing into the summer season. Hopefully that means the focus will swing back more toward the Tachibana siblings and the current baseball team, rather than the previous generation.

Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion - There's no denying that this anime is not going to winning any animation awards (even though the character designs are very pretty), but at least the characters and plot help make up for some of the animation deficencies. Unfortunately, with very little of story's various mysteries solved by the end of the season, the whole thing comes off rather unsatisfying. Definitely felt like it was just made as an advertisement to read the original manhwa, which to be fair is true for a lot of anime series, but most at least try to end on some kind of conclusion to an arc (see My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 and A Galaxy Next Door, which pulled this off beautifully). Raeliana feels like it just...ends. Still hoping we get another season, though, because I am interested to see where the story goes.

Next season, I'll be continuing with the TONIKAWA miniseries, MIX, Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure, and Sacrificial Princess and the King of Beasts, along with watching the new seasons of Horimiya, Jujutsu Kaisen, Rent-A-Girlfriend, and Bungo Stray Dogs. Unfortunately, My Happy Marriage and Ooku: The Inner Chambers, the only new series that really caught my eye, are on Netflix, so I'll just have to wait and check them out whenever I resubscribe to watch Sailor Moon Cosmos (assuming they again get the movies). If Crunchyroll gets Saint Cecilia and Pastor Lawrence, I may give that one a try, but, eh, it's just not a very exciting season.

Current Mood: blah

Time for the Winter Anime Review! Although, before I do that, I forgot to put my usual look back on the fanfiction I've written in the previous year in my year-end post, so here are the links to those on my Tumblr if anybody's interested:

Traditional Questionnaire

And I did something new and wrote individual posts on each of last year's fics. You can find all the tagged posts here.

Now, onto the anime reviews!

Buddy Daddies - I've said it before, but I have such a weakness for series about unexpected men needing to take care of a small child, and this show has TWO! Definitely my favorite of the season. I just loved watching the two of them learn how to care and eventually love Miri, and while I don't necessarily ship them in a romantic sense, I do adore the idea of Kazuki and Rei being queerplatonic partners (especially since I get major aroace vibes off Rei). My one real gripe about the show is that I just don't buy Kazuki as a hitman. Rei, it makes sense. He was literally born into the business, trained to be an assassin since he was a child, but beyond a throwaway line about him turning out the way he did because his parents abadoned him as a child, it's never really explained why Kazuki decided to become a hitman. (Spoilers for Spy X Family: ( Spoilers )) He's much more suited to being a stay-at-home father or a chef (( Spoilers )) than a killer, and while it is acknowledged that Kazuki isn't that great at being a hitman, that still doesn't explain how and why he is one other than that's the premise of the show. (Honestly, I could have lived without the whole hitman angle altogether. It makes the show sound too much of a ripoff of Spy X Family, and I was much more interested in their every day lives than their jobs.)

Trigun Stampede - The original Trigun was one of my favorite shows when I first started watching anime, but it's probably been at least 15, maybe even 20 years since I last watched it, so I was able to come into Stampede with pretty fresh eyes. First off, the CG animation is absolutely stunning. It's probably one of the best looking anime I've seen, period. I also thought Knives was a much more interesting and complex character than he was in the original and was given a much better reason for wanting to kill all the humans. And the twist? Well, I won't say anything more about that... So which series do I like better? I'd say the characters are more endearing in the original, and I really enjoyed the mix of comedy and drama, but the new series has a tighter, more gripping plot that touches on some really fascinating questions. They're both great in different ways, and I'd recommend both! (And for those who were reluctant to check out the new series because of no Milly, again, I don't want to spoil anything...but I'm looking forward to the next season!)

Delicious Party Pretty Cure/Soaring Sky! Pretty Cure - I found the ending of Delicious Party to be rather lackluster, to be honest, but Soaring Sky is off to a really strong start! Like with the last series, they're taking their time adding Pretty Cures to the story, with the third just making his debut in the ninth episode -- and, yes, that "he" isn't a typo. For the first time, a boy is going to be one of the main Cures! (I believe there have been male Cures in previous seasons I haven't seen, but it seems they only had small roles.) The fourth Cure is also going to be another first for the series, an adult (albeit only an 18-year-old)! We've already met her "civilian" identity, and she seems like she'll be a fun addition to the group whenever she awakens. Then there's Sora and Mashiro, the first two Cures, who already have a super close friendship that I actually wouldn't be all that surprised turned romantic based on all the subtext between them. Now, would they really dare go that far with a Pretty Cure series? I don't know, but, again, their chemistry is so strong that anything seems possible...

The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess and the Genius Young Lady - Mmm, I have conflicted feelings about this one, despite it getting a lot of high praise in ANN's season wrap up. The animation is beautiful, Anisphia and Euphyllia are interesting characters, and their (absolutely unambiguous) romance is great, but I found the plot and world building fairly weak. Despite Anisphia being the "Reincarnated Princess" referred to in the title, the fact that she used to live in the "real" world is mentioned only, like, three-ish times? We learn absolutely nothing about her previous life other than that she always wanted to fly, and you can be forgiven for forgetting this is technically an "isekai" series due to how little her reincarnation affects the plot. Take that aspect out of it, and very little would change. Also, there's a lot of talk about the kingdom needing to change, but it's never really shown why? There definitely were some corrupt nobles, but with what little screentime is given to the commoners, none of them seem particularly unhappy or displeased with how the country is run, so it was hard to really care about the political stuff. (Really, it comes across more like the only reason why the change is needed is because neither Anisphia or her brother Algard want to be queen/king...) I think it really would have helped if Anis and Euphie interacted with more commoners besides their maid, Ilia. (And I guess Lanie kinda counts?) Still a really good show that I enjoyed, but I wouldn't call it a great one.

My Hero Academia - Well, that was depressing...and I don't mean that it a bad way. After all, it's hard to be hopeful after all the big losses from last cour. Poor Deku really goes through it, forcing himself to leave the school and fight mostly on his own in order to protect his friends, but I'm glad the class managed to ( Spoilers ).

BOFURI - This is just such a fun, relaxing series, even with all the battles. If that seems like a contradiction...well, it kinda is, but seriously, after all the "stuck in a video game" series with dire, real-world consequences, it's just nice to watch a bunch of people simply having fun playing a VR game where nothing's really at stake besides winning events. I do wish they showed a little more "real-world" stuff like the first season did -- as with Magical Revolution, you could almost forget they are just playing a video game -- but that's my only real complaint...well, other than all the delays. They delayed an episode one week in the middle of the season, and now the last two episodes have been delayed, too. I'm not sure if the delays were production problems or COVID-related, but definitely a bit disappointing.

Tomo-chan Is a Girl - I was really expecting to love this show. "Friends-to-lovers" is one of my favorite tropes, so Tomo-chan should have been a slamdunk...except I shipped Tomo more with her upperclassman from Karate Club, Misaki, than her actual best-friend-turned-love-interest, Jun. I don't know... Maybe it was the fact that Tomo and Jun tend to hit each other a lot that tended to turned me off? It's not exactly abusive (and I believe they intended the violence to be seen as comedic), since they're both in the Karate Club and they're pretty evenly matched, but it was a strange dynamic that didn't really work for me. Also, I got tired of Tomo trying to force herself to be more girly so that Jun would see her as a love interest pretty quickly, especially since it's clear from the start of the series that ( Spoilers ). I did really enjoy Tomo's friendship with Misuzu and Carol, though, and I have to admit, there were some pretty hilarious moments. Jun even managed to win me over a bit by the end...but I still would have preferred her with Misaki.

Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun -- The Harvest Fest arc really did take up way too much time, but at least it ended with a pretty good conclusion. These last two cours really have been the weakest of the series, unfortunately. Next up, assuming it gets another season (which I'm almost certain it will), seems to be another festival, but this one is going to be centered on music, which I think will be a lot of fun!

Bungo Stray Dogs - I wish there weren't such long breaks between seasons of this series. (The last season before this aired in 2019, although there was the series of non-canonical Wan! shorts in 2021.) With so many characters and factions, it can be difficult to remember who everybody is, what faction they belong to, and what their Gifted power is. That being said, I did really love that this season started with a mini-arc devoted to Ranpo's backstory, since he's one of my favorite characters. It was also a bit heartbreaking to learn about Yosano's backstory, too. And, hey, the next cour is set to begin this summer, so not a long wait this time!

To Your Eternity - A third season has already been announced, although I'm not really sure where it will go when I felt the end of this cour wrapped things up really well. (Based on the brief flashforward we saw at the very end, ( Spoilers ), which could be...interesting.) Anyway, this series never really got back to greatness of its first few arcs, but I still enjoyed this cour, even though I felt like Fushi ( Spoilers ) kinda cheapened the earlier, heart-breaking deaths.

IDOLiSH7 - Only three episodes aired to end the last cour -- still not sure why; I assume COVID-related -- so not much to talk about other than I really hate Ryo and think his reasons for doing such awful things is one of the stupidest motives I've ever heard for a villain. (Basically, ( Spoilers ) Yes, that's seriously why he decided he hated all idols and wants to destroy them, no matter the cost.) Next season (if there is one) seems like it will focus on Nagi, my second favorite (after Yamato) member of IDOLiSH7, so hopefully that will be fun, but I'm not looking forward to Ryo sticking around...

As for next season, it's once again sequel-heavy. In additon to continuing with the new Pretty Cure, I'll be checking out the second seasons of MIX, The Ancient Magus' Bride, TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You, and Birdie Wing -Golf Girls' Story- (which I actually just finished catching up with, so great timing). There's also Dr. Stone: New World, but since I assume Toonami will get that, I'll just wait to watch it on there. When it comes to new series, I'm most interested in Skip and Loafer, Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's Mansion, and A Galaxy Next Door, but might also check out Yuri Is My Job!, Ao no Orchestra, and My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999, depending on early reviews and which shows Crunchyroll actually gets.

This was another pretty great season of anime! I really enjoyed almost everything I watched, with one exception.

SPY x FAMILY: Still love, love, love! This cour was perhaps slightly weaker than the first with a lot that could be considered "filler" (though very fun filler!), but this show has really shot to the top of my favorites, not just this season, or even this year. I'm talking about all-time! Well, I probably would still say Kaleido Star is my ultimate favorite, but seriously, I haven't fallen for a show like this since...well, Kaleido Star! I even bought an Anya Mini Figuarts figure during Crunchyroll's Black Friday sale (although I'm still waiting for them to actually ship it... Gotta give them props for not only giving everyone affected by the back-up free express delivery upgrades, but also a $25 off coupon!). So happy that another season has already been confirmed, along with an anime-original movie!

Bocchi The Rock! - This was not on my initial list of shows to watch this season, but the good reviews it got during ANN's preview guide convinced me to give it a try, and I'm so glad I did! I tend to love series about people forming a band, and this one was no exception. So, so hilarious, and Bocchi's social anxiety was very relatable, but not to the point where it felt cringy like in some shows I've watched. (I'm thinking specifically of It's Your Guys' Fault I'm Not Popular (or whatever it's called).) The music scenes were also really well done, feeling realistic for a new, relatively inexperienced band.

Raven of the Inner Palace - I always love a good historical fantasy shoujo, and bonus points if it involves the supernatural, so Raven was right in my wheelhouse. I loved watching Shouxue gradually opening up to other people (especially her love interest, Emperor Gaojun), and the character and costume designs were beautiful, even if the animation itself was nothing special. I also thought the mythology in the show was really well-done and interesting. Definitely hoping for another season!

My Hero Academia - It's battle time! Pretty much the entire cour was taken up by an epic stand-off between the heroes and the League of Villains, and I was quite surprised by how well it managed to keep my interest throughout the entire arc without any real breathers. I actually somehow managed to keep unspoiled about Dabi's true identity, so I really enjoyed the reveal and the effect it had on Endeavor. The one part I hated, though, was when ( Spoiler ). Having her moment to shine essentially stolen by a male character just left a bad taste in my mouth...

Welcome to Demon School! Iruma-kun - I'm a huge fan of this series, but I have to admit, this cour seemed a bit weaker than the past cours. I just wasn't all that interested in the Harvest Festival hunting, and it's a shame that Iruma, Asmodeous, and Clara were separated into different groups. Their friendship is the real heart of the show, and while I guess it's nice to let Iruma interact with some of the other characters more, I just don't care much about Lead, who is his partner during the hunt. It's still a pretty good cour, but, yeah, not the best, at least in this half of the season. Another cour is following into the Winter season, so hopefully things will pick up!

IDOLiSH7 - On the other hand, IDOLiSH 7 redeemed itself a little from the last cour, which I found a bit lackluster. This cour still isn't quite as good as the earlier seasons, and I'm just not interested in ZOOL at all, but it was cool to see TRIGGER try to reestablish themselves after a scandal led to them being dropped by their label, and of course, the music is always great, especially Re:Vale's "Esperanza". Interesting that they're taking a month long break, then actually finishing the cour in February with the last four episodes. They certainly ended this week's episode with quite the cliff-hanger!

Delicious Party Precure - Still fun, still cute. I don't really have much more to say!

I'm the Villainess so I'm Taming the Final Boss - With a title like that and a similar premise, comparisons to My Next Life as a Villainess: All Roads Lead To Doom are inevitable, but they're actually fairly different once you get past the surface. For one, Aileen has it way more together than Bakarina, being smart, cunning, and ambitious (traits that unfortunately get her labeled a "villainess"). Also, while Next Life goes the harem route, with all of Caterina's friends falling in love with her regardless of gender while she's mostly oblivious to their romantic intentions, Aileen's pretty set on Claude, the title "Final Boss", once they fall in love. Unfortunately, while Aileen herself is a great character, the story she's thrown in...is not the best. It's not horrible or anything, but the pacing is rather fast, and I don't think her romance with Claude is all that well developed.

To Your Eternity - I feel a bit like a broken record saying this, but while this cour wasn't as great as the beginning few arcs, it was a lot better than the last arc that ended the first season. While Bon started off annoying, he grew on me as the arc went on. I'm not sure how long this cour is supposed to be, but it does seem like it's going to run into the next season, which makes sense considering it started later than most shows.

Housing Complex C - This four episode mini-series was...not good. Way too confusing with too many red herrings, and for supposedly being a horror series, it wasn't very scary at all? Yeah, a definite dud.

And now my annual ranking of my top ten favorite anime of the year! For the past couple of years, this list has tended to include a lot of sequel cours, but there were actually a lot of fantastic new series this year. Of the sequel series, only Kaguya-sama made the list! (Well, and I guess The Case Study of Vanitas also counts since it started last year, but I didn't watch the first part until this year when Crunchyroll started streaming it.)

1. Spy X Family

2. My Dress-Up Darling

3. Bocchi The Rock

4. Love After World Domination *

5. Dance Dance Danseur

6. Kaguya-sama: Love is War Ultra Romantic

7. Raven of the Inner Palace

8. Sasaki & Miyano *

9. The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting

10. The Case Study of Vanitas

* Denotes series I didn't watch simulcast, but picked up later.

As for next season, I'll be continuing with Delicious Party Precure, Iruma-kun, To Your Eternity, and IDOLiSH7 when it resumes, as well as the new seasons of Bungo Stray Dogs, BOFURI, D4DJ, Tsurune, and the new remake of Trigun, assuming Crunchyroll gets them.. That really doesn't leave much room in my schedule for new series, but the ones that have caught my eye are The Ice Guy and His Cool Female Colleague, The Magical Revolution of the Reincarnated Princess, Tomo-chan Is A Girl!, and Buddy Daddies. Man, next season is stacked! I'm...not really sure what I'm going to do! *laughs* Some of the returning series might actually have to wait, because I'm particularly interested in Tomo-chan Is A Girl! and Buddy Daddies.

After a jam-packed spring, the summer anime season was a bit lacking. On a positive note, that did give me time to catch up with spring's Love After World Domination, which I absolutely loved! As for this season's shows:

The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting - Give me an anime about some unexpected guy forced to take care of a cute little kid who wins over his heart, and I'm there. I do wish it had been a little harder for them to bond at first because Kirishima adjusts to babysitting Yaeka way too easily, IMO, but otherwise, it's just a cute, heartwarming series with the occasional dark moment (because it is the Yakuza). My favorite of the season!

My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex - Going into this show, I expected it to be trashy fun on the level of My Domestic Girlfriend or Citrus, but this series surprisingly is a somewhat nuanced take on the whole "step-siblings in love" plot. While it does occasionally fall into fanservice, it's not too distracting or over-the-top. I will say that Isana is the best girl, though, so Mizuto really just needs to get over his stepsister Yume and give his best friend an honest chance. ( Spoilers ).

RWBY: Ice Queendom -- It was really cool to see RWBY, which started out as an anime-inspired American cartoon, turned into an actual anime, and since Weiss my favorite of the main team, I liked that she was the focus on this filler arc, but I do think this would have worked much better as a movie. You can really tell they had to work to make the storyline stretch over twelve episodes, and that was even with the first three episodes being a recap of the beginning of the original series to catch new viewers up. An interesting experiment that I liked well enough, and I wouldn't necessarily mind seeing more RWBY anime, but I don't know if I'm really dying to see more either, you know?

Delicious Party Pretty Cure - Turning Amane, a former brainwashed villain, back to good and having her join the team as Cure Finale did really help with the sense I had about the other girls feeling "off" last cour. I think the creators really learned from the last series, during which I often complained about the other girls being ignored in favor of Manatsu and Laura until the series was almost over. Unfortunately, I also think they've gone too far to the other side, in that Yui, who is supposed to be the main character, feels more like she's in a supporting role. She hasn't gotten much focus at all. And I definitely don't like how Kome-Kome has been a strong focus over the past few episodes. She continues to be more off-putting than cute. It's still a fun series, but, eh. I'm not loving it as much as some of the other Precure series.

Rent-A-Girlfriend - Did we really need that super-uncomfortable, lavishly animated scene of Ruka forcing a French kiss on Kazuya at his birthday party? Did we? I know "Fuck Mami" has been a rallying cry for watchers of the show, but I will take Mami (who honestly didn't even do much this season) any day over Ruka, who gets on my last nerve. Other than that, Sumi continues to be cute but utterly pointless, while nothing much changes between Kazuya and his main love interest Chizuru until it's revealed ( Spoilers ). The season finale, in particular, which focused on Chizuru's backstory, was really good and actually makes me more interested than I expected to be about the already-announced season 3. I just wish they had cut out the rest of the season (which amounted to mostly filler anyway) and started the season with the ending arc.

Classroom of the Elite - I said this a few seasons ago when My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU got a final season, but if there's been more than a couple of years since installments, it would be REALLY helpful to start things off with a recap episode. The first season of this series came out in 2017, and there are, like, a million characters. Only the most dedicated fans would remember who they all are and what happened in the previous season. That being said, I do remember that I didn't really care much for the first season, and that's pretty much how I feel about the second. It was...fine, I guess. A solid "eh". (I will say that Kushida's reason for going after the main characters was REALLY, REALLY stupid, though. Actually, most of the characters' motives for doing things are stupid, now that I think about it, but Kushida's is definitely the most stupid.)

Next season looks to be all about new seasons for shows I already enjoy! In addition to continuing with Delicious Party Precure, I'll be watching the new cours of SpyxFamily (super excited!), My Hero Academia, IDOLiSH7, To Your Eternity, and Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun. That doesn't leave much room to check out new series in my schedule, unfortunately, but I'm potentially interested in:

Bibliophile Princess (except that's going to HiDive, so it'll have to wait)

Raven of the Inner Palace

I'm the Villainess, So I'm Taming The Final Boss

More Than A Married Couple, But Not Lovers (not sure yet who's going to stream this)

Housing Complex C is an apparently a four-episode horror series that will be airing on Toonami in October, so I'll also check that out.

Current Mood: blah

This was a REALLY strong season for anime. In fact, even though I ended up following nine series this season, I still didn't get to check out everything I wanted to see. I'll have to catch up with a few series later on, but for now, here are my thoughts on the ones I did watch.

SPY x FAMILY - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE! I thought it would be tough to top the amazing "My Dress-up Darling" from last season, but "SPY x FAMILY" is my new favorite of this year's anime so far, and I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up as one of my all-time favorites. (I already rated the first season a perfect 10/Masterpiece.) It's THAT good, so I'm definitely glad we're getting more in October!

Dance Dance Danseur - This was another amazing series! The way the characters' eyes look like they're always on the verge of tears is a weird style quirk, admittedly, but the dancing scenes are incredible, which makes up a bit for the strange character designs. Though I'm a bit conflicted on how I feel about the ending to this cour -- it seems very deus ex machina that Junpei gets chosen for the scholarship over a more technically skilled dancer despite being the opposite of the kind of dancer Ayako wants in her school -- I'd still love to see this get more seasons.

Kaguya-sama: Love is War Ultra Romantic - ( Major Spoilers! ) I have to say that this season wasn't quite as funny as the first two seasons, but I'm more than okay with that, since it was building up to the big romantic moment. It really was about time to move things along, anyway. Looking forward to what the next season/movie/OAV/whatever the announced project is will bring!

Ascendance of a Bookworm Season 3 - Compared to the first two seasons, this cour definitely felt a bit lacking, especially considering that it only got ten episodes instead of the typical 12-13 (a couple of more episodes probably would have helped with some of the pacing issues), but even a weaker season of "Bookworm" is still pretty darn good, and assuming we get more seasons, I'm looking forward to seeing what happens with Main now that ( Major Spoilers! )

Requiem of the Rose King - I'm always a sucker for a great Shakespeare adaptation, and "Requiem of the Rose King" is a pretty good one! (Keeping in mind that I only have a passing familiarity with the source material, mind you.) I had to catch up with the first cour which was originally on Funimation, so I watched the entire series this season. Making Richard intersex instead of giving him a hunchback like in the original plays was an intriguing twist. There were some parts that were confusing, like the ending, and I don't really get what the heck was going on with Henry/( Spoiler ), but overall, I found the series rather engrossing despite the limited animation.

Deaimon: Recipe for Happiness - This series was just plain sweet! And I'm not just talking about the literal sweets that are created by the characters at the center of the show, although they did look delicious... The one thing that bothered me was Itsuka's parents, namely the fact that her father abandons her with strangers (at least to her) when ( Major Spoilers! )

Healer Girl - One of these days, I'd love to see another anime musical on the level of the amazing "Nerima Daikon Brothers". A few series since then have flirted with the idea -- "Dance With Devils" is the most recent to come to mind -- but they never really committed to the genre, making the musical numbers seem out of place. "Healer Girl" has come closest to feeling like a true anime musical, yet again, I just want a series to really go for it! I almost wish that they kept the singing bits confined to healing, because the moments they suddenly burst into song stick out when it just seems so random. Either fully commit to being a musical or just stick to more conventional musical numbers that actually make sense within the story. Don't just have them singing for no reason if you're not doing a full-on musical! Okay, rant over! Setting aside my disappointment that this wasn't the anime musical I wanted, it is a cute series, and some of the healing numbers are really beautiful. One healing session during a surgery even brought tears to my eyes! It just that it could have been amazing if they had made it a true musical...

Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It r=1-sin0 - More mathematical and statistical fun...at least until the very end of the cour, in which things took a very dark turn that felt rather out of place in what is generally a very cute romance. I definitely wasn't a fan of that part, but the rest of the season was just as good as the first!

Delicious Party Pretty Cure - As suspected, a Tuxedo Kamen type character has been added to the formula, and it's strongly hinted that he has a crush on Yui! It's cool that they're shaking up the usual formula, but I have to admit that there's something about the characters that feels "off" to me. I can't really even describe it... It's weird. There's nothing objectively wrong with them; I'm just not enjoying them as much as the Cures in the other seasons I've watched. (And Yui's fairy that turns into a hybrid fox/human baby is just...off-putting and unnecessary.) Still a fun watch, though!

Fanfare of Adolescence - This is the only series from this season I didn't really care for. It's not terrible...it's just kinda bland. (Heck, they couldn't even bother to name the school anything other than "Horse Racing School". Yes, that it literally the name of the school.) A lot of it has to do with the main character Yu, who made for a fairly boring protagonist. Even the writers seemed to realize his story wasn't all that interesting, suddenly switching to a multi-episode arc focused on Shun about halfway through the cour that lasted until the last couple of episodes. Shun's story was definitely the strongest part of the series, and you could honestly start the series when his arc begins without missing too much. I will say, though, that the opening, ending, and insert songs were fantastic! In fact, considering how good the music is, it's rather baffling that they decided to make an anime about a former idol giving up his career to become a jockey when the music should have been used for the opposite: a former jockey giving up his career to become an idol! Even just exploring Yu's past as part of a successful boy band would have made his story a lot more interesting. ( Major Spoilers! )

As for next season, it's looking pretty light at the moment. I'll continue with Pretty Cure, of course, but the main new series I wanted to see, Phantom of the Idol, has already been announced as going to HiDive. There are some sequel series that I'll probably check out: Classroom of the Elite II and Rent-A-Girlfriend 2. I wasn't a big fan of either of their first seasons, to be honest, but my completionist personality needs to see them anyway. There's also a new season of Made In Abyss, but I'm not sure how necessary it is to have seen the sequel film to the first season; I haven't yet, so I'll be checking the reviews to decide if it goes on the list. I'm a big RWBY fan, so I plan to check out the new anime version, RWBY: Ice Queendom, even though it sounds like just a retelling of the original series so far. My Stepmom's Daughter Is My Ex sounds like it could be trashy fun, and The Yakuza's Guide to Babysitting is hitting my love of stories about men taking care of little kids, but I'm just not terribly excited about anything. Ah, well, I guess I can just check out a few of the series from this season that I missed out on!

Current Mood: blah

Sailor Moon Manga's Final Arc Gets 2 Sailor Moon Cosmos Films in Early Summer 2023

I'm not the biggest fan of the Stars arc in the manga, but I'm still excited. It'll be fun to see the manga-only characters like Sailor Cosmos and the Animamates who were left out of the original anime in animated form, and the wedding at the end is one of my favorite moments of the entire series, so the movies will be worth it just for that, IMO. We'll see if they actually keep on schedule, though. (I'm still waiting on Ice Adolescence news....)

Did my usual look back at the fanfiction I wrote last year over on Tumblr!

2021 Fanfic Year In Review

2021 Fanfic End of the Year Asks

It's also time for the usual seasonal anime review, as well as the reveal of my top ten favorite series of the year!

The aquatope of white sand - Last season, I said this had the potential to be one of my favorite series this year, and I happy to say...it is! Kinda annoyed that the "visions" from the first half of the series never really went anywhere, but that's my only real complaint. Otherwise, the characters are great, the animation is gorgeous, and it's just a really, really good show!

Restaurant To Another World 2 - I don't know if this series really needed a sequel, especially several years after the first season originally aired, but I'm glad it got one anyway! I liked that this season brought back a lot of customers from the previous season, and of course, the food porn was incredible! Especially since a lot of the food highlighted this time were some of my personal favorites. I was always excited when it came to watch a new episode, to the point that I actually considered it one of my favorites of the year, as you'll see below!

The Night Beyond The Tricornered Window - I will say that this got off to bit of a rocky start, especially with how Hiyakawa was so possessive and controlling of Mikado (which is a BL trope I hate) but it got a lot better once the story started focusing on the main mystery. It helps that Hiyakawa was given an understandable backstory for why he acted that way and that the story never really portrayed their relationship as healthy or sexy, with several other characters calling out Hiyakawa's problematic behavior. Actually, for a story that's supposed to be BL, I have to say it kinda sucks as one, with a main couple who honestly don't have any real chemistry, but as a paranormal mystery, it's great!

Tropical-Rouge Precure - After complaining that Sango, Asuka, and Minori were being ignored in favor of Laura and Manatsu, this cour delivered by giving the other three Precures a couple of focus episodes each. It would have been nice for them to have been more spread out through the series, admittedly, but as much as I love Laura, it was kinda nice to have a break from the "Laura and Manatsu Show".

SAKUGAN - I'm not really sure how I feel about this mecha series, to be honest! It got off to an amazing start, and there are moments of that initial brilliance in later episodes, but there are also quite a few low moments. Overall, I really liked it, but I also thought it could have been even better.

takt op.Destiny - I feel the same about this series as I do about SAKUGAN. There were points I really, really liked, and I loved the character designs, especially for the Musicarts, but the villains were pretty weak and uninteresting, and the stuff with Anna near the end was just...weird.

Platinum End - Though I had heard some less than positive things about the manga this series is based off, I still wanted to give it a chance because I absolutely love Death Note and Bakuman, created by the same writer and mangaka. The verdict? Yeah, it's pretty bad. The main character, Mirai, is the complete opposite of Death Note's Light in that he's 100% opposed to killing in any situation, even self-defense, which is fine, but he also lacks Light's intelligence or charisma, making for a dull lead. The main villain, Metropolitan, is slighlty more interesting, but he's no L either. Honestly, the best character by far is Mukaido. It's too bad he's not the main character, because I think he has the most interesting story to tell. Also, there are a couple of sex scenes featuring minor characters that are purely there for shock value that I found rather off-putting. That being said, this first cour ended with one heck of a cliff-hanger, so of course I'll be sticking around for the second cour to see if things can get any worse. *laughs*

For the upcoming Winter season, I plan to keep watching Platinum End (assuming it resumes right away; details about the start of the second season haven't been given yet, but there was a title card for the thirteenth episode at the end of the last one) and Tropical-Rouge Precure. I'm also catching up with the first season of The Case Study of Vanitas (which Crunchyroll unexpectedly picked up a couple of weeks ago despite being originally a Funimation title) so I can watch the second season (assuming Crunchyroll also gets it from the start this time). For new shows, I'm hoping Crunchyroll also gets Requiem of the Rose King and Sasaki and Miyano, but those are the only two that have really caught my eye so far based on summaries.

And as for my Top 10 Favorite Series of 2021...

*drumroll*

1. Fruits Basket

2. The aquatope on white sand

3. Zombie Land Saga Revenge

4. Sk8 the Infinity *

5. My Next Life as a Villainess: All Routes Lead to Doom! X

6. Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun!

7. Laid-Back Camp Season 2 *

8. oddtaxi *

9.Heaven's Design Team

10. Restaurant To Another World

(* means I didn't watch it simulcast, but picked up later)

And new category! My Anime Movie of the Year was... the Sailor Moon Eternal movies, of course! I don't think I ever got around to gushing about them here, but while the first film admittedly had some pacing issues, the second one was amazing and was about all I ever wanted as an animated version of my favorite manga arc.

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heavenly_pearl

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