Silly awards time!

• Most Disappointing: This one’s a tie. First up, Buchigire Reijou wa Houfuku wo Chikaimashita/A Livid Lady’s Guide etc. I dropped this abruptly mid-season when the main character decided that taking out innocent third parties as part of her revenge was apparently just fine and didn’t deserve even a moment of guilt. Secondly, Rakudai Kenja/Talentless Sage. After a surprisingly good opening episode (considering the hackneyed premise), this one proceeded to gradually drop the ball as it acquired a harem trope, then descended into utterly unnecessary torture-porn for an episode and a half to emphasise that one of the antagonists was a really really really bad person, m’kay? The sheer amount of material suggests disturbing proclivities on the part of the original author. To add insult to injury, the antagonist whose evils they spent so much time lovingly detailing was a total pushover the MC spent less than five minutes trashing afterwards.
• Most Motion-Sickness Inducing: The Exiled Heavy Knight etc. I mean, it’s GoHands—enough said.
• Best Use of a School Setting: Clevatess . . . because it largely ignores that it’s a school setting that the characters have been sent to infiltrate. There’s no time wasted on school cultural festivals or on the characters panicking because one of the other students asks them an innocent question.
• Most Pleasant Surprise: Sayonara Lara. I almost didn’t watch this one, because I was afraid it would get bogged down in literal fish-out-of-water comedy (which doesn’t interest me), but it managed to maintain its tone despite that aspect.
• Worst Visual Effect: Thunder Three. This is a rather odd show, quite a bit darker than the first episode would lead you to expect. However, the halo of halftone dots around the main characters irritated me beyond measure. It was somehow even worse than the disjointed artwork styles of the runner-up, Exiled Heavy Knight.
• Mascot That’s Most Likely To Eat Your Face: Thunder Three again. It actually has two (arguably three) animal mascots. The bulldog is fine in both versions, but the alien winged mouse critter looks highly suspicious to me. I think it’s the way it always has its tongue sticking out. Anyway, I keep expecting it to eat someone.
• Most Obnoxious Protagonist: Dogulwang/Tomb Raider King. He isn’t really evil or anything, just snarky and exasperating in a way that makes you want to slap him sometimes.
• Best Dragon: Neko to Ryuu/The Cat and the Dragon. Of course.