Submitted 5 weeks ago by wjs018@ani.social to anime@ani.social
It’s time for a new general discussion thread! How are you finding the Fall season? What have you been watching recently? Any recommendations? cautionary tales? questions? You have come to the right place!
As always, remember to be mindful of spoilers. If you want to know more about how to handle spoilers in this community, check the guide here (also linked in the sidebar).
A bit less exciting of a season this time, I think.
Eager to continue:
I’m also watching (for now): Negative Positive Angler, Mecha-Ude, Magilumiere, and Ranma 1/2
And now for the garbage bin (things that weren’t good enough for me to make threads about)
Edgy “everybody underestimates me but I’m actually super strong” type story. Its strengths are all undercut by the fact that the main character is basically just a bard, but the story takes itself too seriously to let him just sing. He even uses a skill called “Wolf’s Bellow: Stun Howl” and doesn’t even have to howl like a wolf to activate it. 3/5 P.S. it’s very easy to read the main character as trans, as he’s very femme-presenting in his childhood flashbacks, and I think that’s neat.
This pulls the same trick as Quintessential Quintuplets where it says the main character will marry one of the sisters but doesn’t say which. The problem is that it also has a vintage harem setup where there’s one older onee-san type, one spunky (too) younger girl, and one tsundere his own age, which carries some pretty clear implications for who the winner is going to be, an opinion it did not bother to try and dispel. It also has the shinto version of some God’s Not Dead strawman atheism that was baffling to see. 2/5
This one confused me to no end. The somber tone of the main character grieving his childhood dog contrasted against the cartoony mushroom pup and its antics were so jarring that I have no idea what this show is trying to do. I’ll probably watch another episode out of morbid curiosity, but I don’t understand. 3/5
There’s really nothing going on in this one, at least so far. Main character has minimal personality (which you might be able to tell from his extremely generic character design), even though he’s a dragon and he should have some interesting perspective on the human world. I did not enjoy watching him play stardew valley, but I did enjoy watching him fail to comprehend the romantic advances of the snake lady he rescued. 2/5
I really liked the art style of this one, but ultimately the story just didn’t work for me. Everything that happened seemed so out of nowhere and I was left with a lot of questions about how their world works that didn’t make sense for them to not include. I went to see if people recommended the novels, since it seemed like there was a good story in there somewhere, and apparently a lot of this was anime-original?? 3/5
Yet another “everyone underestimates me” anime, woo. This one seems to include an age gap romance and a guy who everyone hates because he never tells his party members where his actual strengths lie (dps, not support) for reasons that are not even hinted at. The action was alright, though. 2/5
The Stories of Girls Who Couldn’t Be Magicians
I remember watching a trailer for this one and falling in love with the art style. However, I suspected that the story was not really going to be for me.
Let This Grieving Soul Retire
You aren’t the first person I have seen to compare this to TEIS. As a huge TEIS fan, I might have to check this one out.
Completed Wotakoi: Love is Hard for Otaku
This solidifies josei romcoms as being top tier for me at least. We have childhood friends entering into a romantic relationship, and they did so in the first episode. The characters here are mature and level-headed too unlike many shounen / shoujo romcom characters. I like the relationship dynamics not just within the main couple, but also between and within the secondary couples. The tertiary couple could use more development, but I guess that’s what the source material is for.
It’s a pity that the premise of josei anime tend to be boring. In fact, Wotakoi is the perfect example: the premise is simply two nerds falling in love with each other! I probably passed over many good josei anime because they don’t have the hook to draw me in.
On the bright side, at least I discovered this one, which deserves a solid 9/10.
WIP
Wotakoi is excellent. Really glad you enjoyed it. After watching that one, I tried out a couple of other adult romance series and nothing really hit the same. One that I enjoyed quite a bit was Rikekoi (Science Fell in Love, So I Tried to Prove It). Though, I suspect that a part of why I enjoyed that one so much is because of how hard the show goes into its math tangents from time to time and its depiction of grad school. Also, just a warning that if I were to watch that show blind again, I would probably just stop after the first season.
Ping Pong: The Animation - A cool show. This is one to watch if you start feeling like too many anime look the same, or if you’re tired of how every character looks like a model. This is also one to watch if you just want to see a good sports anime.
Eureka 7 - I’m only 30-something episodes in, but this show has just been getting better and better. Easily one of the best mech anime I’ve ever seen, assuming they don’t do anything to screw it up later. Very stylish; I love the concept of mechs that fight while riding turbulence on surfboards. It also has a charming cast.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans - This is another one I’m only 30-something episodes into. So far it’s been really good! Not nearly as bleak as the name or the first couple of episodes would have you believe. So far, anyways. I don’t like it quite as much as I like Eureka 7, but it’s close.
An excellent adaptation of the manga. Warning: first episode has sexual assault in it
I’m typically very iffy on portrayals of that nature, but Dandadan does them knowing this is uncomfortable. I can tell it’s not for the viewer’s gratification, so I respected that a lot.
Finished Mawaru Penguindrum - this one was a wild ride! I enjoyed most of it, but the way it jumps between genres and the whole plot / character development in the second half of the show are quite extreme and sometimes questionable. Some things were hard to follow for me, but core ideas are very inspiring and leave quite some room for thinking even outside of anime context.
Not part of the season but I saw look back today and would recommend
Getting into the Fall season and I have some initial thoughts on what I have been able to watch:
About Appraisal Isekai Season 2, been following the manga, and we’re about to enter the actual succession war, so here’s where both most characters will shine, and where it will go most Suikoden with the recruiting people thing, high hopes here
I just watched episode 2 and the new OP teases characters that I didn’t think they would get to in this season. So, I am hopeful that the pace picks up as hostilities get underway. One thing I think the show suffers from is that the pace can feel quite slow, but I am not sure if an anime-only would feel that way or if it is just me since I have read the manga.
So many interesting things to see!
Weekly ranking roundup:
Credit to /u/Abysswatcherbel for making the chart for reddit karma and /u/Nooble5 for the Anime Trending chart.
Two standout shows this week on both charts. Re:Zero and Dan Da Dan both made a big splash in the rankings. I expect Re:Zero to stay strong through the season, but time will tell if Dan Da Dan can stay strong past its bombastic premiere.
nyan@lemmy.cafe 5 weeks ago
Some series that no one else has mentioned yet:
Demon Lord, Retry! R: Somehow the artwork animation is managing to be even worse than that from the 2019 series—guys, at least try to keep the main character’s hair length consistent, okay? Plus, 95% of what’s been shown so far has been a recap of the earlier version. As of the end of the second episode, they are finally caught up. The bizarrely chosen ecchi material, while it doesn’t make up any significant fraction of the runtime, is even more grating in the recap than the original. I found the original series amusing despite its many faults, so I’ll stick with this one for a while, but in general I don’t recommend it.
The Healer who was Banished from his Party etc.: Bog-standard protagonist-that-no-one-has-noticed-is-overpowered fantasy light novel schlock. Okay for turning your brain off, but otherwise don’t bother.
Good-bye, Dragon Life: Bog-standard protagonist-hides-his-power fantasy light novel schlock so far. Another one suitable for turning one’s brain off.
The Most Notorious “Talker” etc.: And for the hat trick, we have protagonist-wants-to-get-stronger fantasy light novel schlock. This one managed to get my attention slightly more than the others by ending the first ep. on a weak cliffhanger. I doubt it’ll come to anything, but we’ll see.
Trillion Game: Mixed feelings about this one, probably because I empathize a little too much with Gaku. Haru, on the other hand, seems like a slimeball despite attempts to depict him sympathetically. Haven’t watched the second episode yet.
I’m still waiting on several other series. There seem to be an awful lot of late premieres this season.
wjs018@ani.social 4 weeks ago
Alright, I had thought the same thing, but wasn’t sure if it was imagining it. There are still a handful of reasonably popular shows waiting on their premiere (Arifureta, Shangri-La Frontier, Dragon Ball Daima).