Sweet Dreams

I have to say this season was pretty...lackluster. Granted, several of the shows I really wanted to watch ended up on stupid Anime Strike, meaning I couldn't watch them, but it seems like I wasn't missing much from what I've heard. The best shows this season were continuations of series I already liked -- Sakura Quest, My Hero Academia, and Hell Girl (well, at least the six new episodes we got). Even they weren't quite as good as the previous seasons, though.

Thoughts on the rest:

Gamers! - The parts where they actually focused on gaming were fantastic, but, oh, my, gosh, the way all the characters would misinterpret pretty much anything related to romance (often in the stupidest of ways) drove me nuts! And, unfortunately, the romantic plots took up most of the show. I really wish the romance had been handled better, because the show actually was pretty funny with a good cast of characters, but...argh! Too many misunderstandings! Still, probably my favorite of the "new" shows.

Restaurant to Another World - Good, but VERY repetitive. I don't necessarily mind formulaic shows, but when each episode is cut into two acts that have basically the same simple plot, just with different characters, it's a bit much. The best episodes were the ones that broke the formula, especially the ones that focused on Aletta (the demon waitress). I will say that all the food looked and sounded delicious, though!

Elegant Yokai Apartment Life - This show should have been better than it was, but the pacing was really weird in the beginning, and it didn't really become interesting until a certain item was introduced halfway through the season. Even then, I still wouldn't call it great...just a little better than the first few episodes.

18if - I actually wasn't going to watch this after reading the Preview Guide at ANN, thinking it wasn't really my kind of show, but then I came  across a .gif of the figure skater who stars as the "witch" of the fifth episode. Well, of course I had to check it out after that! (Learning that characters are figure skaters -- even if they're just minor or one-shot characters -- is a great way to get me interested in a show/movie/book. Led me to checking out Ginban Kaleidoscope, Yuri on Ice, Tiger & Bunny, Diamond Daydreams, Kaleido Star, The Cherry Project, Sugar Princess...probably a few others I can't think of at the moment.) The verdict? It turns out my original instinct was right. Some of the episodes were good, but others were pretty bad, even downright nonsensical. (Each episode had a different director, all who apparently were told they could do whatever the heck they wanted with their episode.) Even the figure skating episode was kind of a let down.

Oh, well, at least the new season looks much more promising. If they have a free legal stream, I'd like to check out Black Clover, Kino's Journey - The Beautiful World (second season), Classicaloid (second season), Ancient Magus' Bride, Anime-Gataris, and March Comes In Like a Lion (second season).