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2023 Winter Anime Review
Apr. 4th, 2023 09:32 pmTime 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:
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.
