Sweet Dreams

 

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!

 

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.

 

 

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.