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Uh oh…Margaret is one of those anime characters that never opens her eyes. They are usually extremely dangerous or pleasant. Fortunately, she seems to be extremely pleasant with those little apple bunnies. Surely everything will be ok…right?

I have been traveling recently, but have had a chance to check out a couple new shows this season. Some early impressions:

• Laid-Off Cheat-Granting Mage - Holy production value Batman! This one has been a joy to watch, based on the animation quality on its own. The story has been whatever, but that isn’t why I am watching this at this point.
• Reborn as a Space Mercenary - As somebody that played EVE Online for like 15 years, the universe this is set in stokes those same nostalgic embers. The story has been fine so far, but I am loving the world it has built more. Keeping this one for now.
• World’s Strongest Witch - I love this manga, and the anime has been fine so far. I am looking forward to this continuing to be more and more unhinged as we go.
• Romelia War Chronicle - This has been an interesting adaptation that I have mixed feelings about. I still think I am overall liking it more than not, but comparing the manga adaptation with the choices they have made in the anime has been really interesting.

Returning shows:

• Reincarnated Aristocrat - more of the same as previous seasons…still liking this one.
• Reincarnated as a Sword - the production value has seen a significant step up for this season in my opinion. Same old lovable characters, but now with extra juicy action animation.

I think it was more harmful in this episode compared to last. I am going to include some manga panels as examples below, so I am going to put it in some spoiler blocks, however, I haven’t included anything outside of content covered in this episode. Honestly, I could include a lot more than this, but I just chose three examples, all from the same manga chapter (chapter 3).

This has been a really interesting adaptation to me. I have read up through this point in the manga and it handled this story very differently. I mentioned it in last week’s discussion thread, but the manga has way, way more of Romelia’s internal dialogue as we go through, and we learn more about her state of mind and her opinion on those around her. She has an incredible sense of what these soldiers around her are capable of and she tries to set up situations for them to overcome and help develop their abilities. In this adaptation though, we only ever see her actions, and don’t hear her rationale for why she is doing these specific things.

We learn about her ability this episode, Grace. I read the beginning of this manga ages ago…and this ability has kind of stuck in my brain ever since. I think it is a really interesting way to have an ability that is incredibly powerful, but never feels OP. Just imagine if you could make every cosmic coinflip just a bit more likely to land in a way more favorable to you. Nobody knows you have this ability or can stop you from exercising it - it happens even whether you realize it or not. That is a power that has the ability to move mountains…probably before you even realize you needed them moved. Coincidences seem to always work out when you need them to…you have a fortuitous chance encounter with a person possessing the skills you need at that point in time…your enemy is more likely to take the bait on a bluff you make…the possibilities are endless, and subtly powerful.

I already loved Elmina from reading the manga…and then they go and have Fairouz Ai do her voice? A+ character right there.

Mod-approved self-promotion post.

Enjoy the melancholy! Wait…that might be the wrong sentiment.

I remember reading one time on sakugablog that the average anime takes about 3 years from start to finish to make. However, there are many, many examples of deadlines being missed for episodes or a final cut being turned in literally at the last minute. Often the show is mostly done by the time the first episode airs, but there is usually some work still ongoing for future episodes as it is airing.

The animation in that battle for the 8th floor boss was really good. I don’t remember the first season having sakuga sequences like that. Looking forward to what they do for the final dungeon boss.

I like that we’re getting to know Romelia through the eyes of people around her, instead of listening to her inner monologue

This is actually very different compared to the manga adaptation and I like the choice a lot. I think it is clear to the viewer that Romelia is not doing this on a whim and has a plan and goals, but they largely are still a mystery to us. It makes it easier to relate to the soldiers that they introduced this episode because we see Romelia in mostly the same way they do.

It’s you and me

I really like how we didn’t see her face after she got off the bus. I can only imagine it was either the blush to end all blushes, or the biggest stupid grin ever. We just see her try to play it cool and leave, and don’t get too much of a picture of how she felt about it when she wasn’t in front of Shunpei.

I adore this series. It is just so gosh-darned wholesome. Part of me wants them to go into more of into Kyou’s past and how she ended up with a daughter and looking for a place to stay. However, the other part of me just doesn’t want any depressing stuff wrecking the warm and fuzzy family vibes.

Probably should mark this as NSFW.

I will preface this by saying that I am a huge fan of the manga adaptation of this series. This first episode was a bit underwhelming to me, but I think helps set the tone for what is to come. I think the humor in this series is at its best when the MC has a straight man to play off of, but it still came through here.

One of my favorite parts of this series and her power is that she gets both the good and the bad of the internet. Like, yes, you get practically god-like knowledge at your fingertips. However, you also get popup ads, spam, forum trolls, shipping wars, all the rest of it too.

I really like the background art style they went with for the show. However, I do feel like they are leaning really hard on the 8-bit sequences to save animation budget/effort. Also, there is just so much text on screen sometimes that it is hard to parse without a lot of pausing.

Anyway, looking forward to more to see how this adaptation works out.

That’s the thing about skateboards…no brakes!

So, the standing and possessions of this aristocracy is determined by their maids’ skating skills? I kind of love how much effort has gone into coming up with worldbuilding to justify the artist’s love of drawing maids riding skateboards.

If you had to pick a department to join that was going to be tolerant of weirdos, you could do worse than Literature. In my experience, literature and theater departments are chock full of them. I think she can bounce back from this.

Seeing how she played with Rei before meeting Aoba really puts into perspective how much she has changed. I love how this series has always managed to keep the younger siblings so central to the story like this.

I don’t think we have had a full chapter of their school life before. This was an interesting change of pace, but a welcome one.

142 chapters and it is just the end of part 1. Time will tell where it goes from here.

The manga adaptation is pretty cool, so I am probably going to check this one out. However, there are signs this has been caught in production hell for some time, so I am not too hopeful.

Really neat chapter and nice way to give a bit of lore behind the city/world.

Their conversation about eating shampoo killed me. These two are perfect for each other.

Looks good! Welcome!