Sweet Dreams

Thanks to a free one-month subscription to Funimation, I was able to watch some of my more anticipated shows after all!

Haikyu! To The Top - If you remember, I wasn't that impressed with the first half that aired earlier in the year, but this second half went back to being the Haikyu I love. The match with Inarizaki High was intense!

Tonikawa: Over The Moon - SO CUTE! The premise is a little eye-rolly -- 18-year-old boy and 16-year-old girl get married after she saves his life -- but it's just so sweet and adorable, and I love how healthy their relationship is, despite the unusual circumstances. They respect and communicate with each other, and it's just really refreshing to see in a romance.

IDOLiSH7 Second Beat - Still the best idol show out there. The Re:vale duo is a fun addition to the cast, and I liked that some of the mysteries from the first season are being solved, like what happened to Tamaki's sister Aya.

Major 2nd - As I suspected, there were only a few episodes left to overlap with this season, but still a nice way to wrap things up until more (hopefully) comes out.

The Gymnastics Samurai - Not quite to the level of Yuri!!! on Ice, but still really good. I wish it had focused on more events than just the horizontal bar, though. I know it's the Jotaro's specialty, but I didn't even know he was also good at the other events until they showed him competing the All-Around at All-Japan since they never showed him practicing them that I remember. Also, I found Leo and his storyline rather pointless, to be honest.

Healin' Good Pretty Cure - This is the second Pretty Cure series I watched, and I liked it a lot more than first (the original). I think having a team instead of a duo worked more for me. Plus, Rate is probably the cutest animated dog ever! (And I'm saying this as someone who is not a dog-person at all.)

Sleepy Princess in the Demon Castle - I thought this would be funnier than it was, but it was still amusing enough. Kinda repetitive at times, though I rather liked some of the later episodes that had the demons actually having to interact with humans other than Sya. Still, probably would have been better broken up into 12 minute episodes.

Adachi and Shimamura - Like GS, I don't really know what the point of the little alien astronaut was -- she just seemed really out of place and unnecessary in an otherwise mundane, realistic setting -- but this was a really sweet slice-of-life yuri romance.

Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina - This show has major Kino's Journey vibes, which isn't a bad thing at all in my book. Unfortunately, though the animation is absolutely gorgeous, the show itself is very...uneven. Elaina's reactions, in particular, are very unpredictable, and not in a good way. About the only thing that stays constant about her character is that she's very conceited.

As for next season's picks... Skate-Leading Stars is definitely my top pick, but it's on Funimation. I'll have to pick it up the next time I get a free subscription, although I have watched the first episode already since I'm currently still subcribed. In terms of realism, Yuri!!! On Ice it is not, but it still seems fun! Also looking forward to the second season of Dr. Stone, but I'm assuming that'll land on Toonami, so I'll just wait. So what's actually on the list? From Crunchyroll's announcements, Heaven's Design Team, The Quintessential Quintuplets 2, and Tropical-Rouge! Pretty Cure (as well as continuing with Healin' Good -- I'm officially a fan now!) are the only ones that are catching my eye at the moment.

And since it's the end of the year, it's time for another round of my favorite anime of the year!