Crank

The goofiness took my guard down and then they hit with all the feelings. This show can be absolutely hypnotizing when it wants. I don’t even like dancing but I couldn’t take my eyes of the screen

Sweet, funny, and just as good as when it left. Perfect show to start a Sunday morning. I couldn’t stop smiling
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What a great start. This was my most anticipated show of the season, and I’m so happy it’s finally back.
I always wondered if that blue haired girl we’ve seen in S2 had any significance to the story. Turns out it was Nina.
It seems that Rudeus had a calming effect on Eris when they’ve been around people. Now that they’re separated, her old self feels more prominent

It has great audiovisual production values for a show of this type. Natsuyoshi Yuuko is nailing her role. The sounds she makes are on par with Kumiko noises. The show is funny, yet the creators make no attempt to hide the fact that the story has its dark sides. It definitely comes across as an anti-smoking ad. I’m glad someone decided to portray smoking as something disgusting, which it is, because anime as a medium usually depicts it in a positive light. The opening sequence is also excellent. It’s packed with references to various cultural works (Spiderman, LotR, Nirvana, and a bunch of others), and I probably didn’t even catch half of them.

Eisen used to make giant hamburger steaks as birthday presents. It was a custom from his region to thank warriors who put in their all, and later Frieren continued that tradition

What a beautiful dance sequence there at the end. I should have expected that from Cypic, but this looks way better that I though it would

Call of the Night - the whole show is just pure vibes, and it portrays the nighttime in a unique way. Watching it after it gets dark enhances the experience. It’s even better if you have a thing for vampires

I agree, it was definitely overhyped.

would likely watch a second season but won’t be overly sad is the story ends here.

Second season is already in production according to a reliable leaker. I expect that we’ll get an official announcement soon

nitter.net/SugoiLITE/status/2062558762775511344

Honestly, I don’t understand why My Ribdiculous Reincarnation title gets so much hate. In my opinion it’s fun, creative, easy to pronounce, and much better than this monstrosity: Goddess: “What Do You Want to Turn Into When You’re Reincarnated in Another World?” Me: “Into a Hero’s Rib”

Witch Hat Atelier was my biggest disappointment of the season, other than Agents of the Four Seasons. After reading comments from people familiar with the manga who said it was a story that could rival Frieren, I was expecting something that would surprise me with its unique approach. But while Frieren paid a lot of attention to portraying characters in a believable way, avoided standard solutions to common tropes, and cleverly used flashbacks to introduce us to the main character’s way of thinking, watching WHA gave me the impression that I’d seen this story a hundred times before. For the first half of the season the characters came across as very stereotypical, with few exceptions – the happy-go-lucky MC with a sad backstory; the hardworking, edgy perfectionist; the laid-back individualist; the sweet ray of sunshine who’s always cheerful; the talented teacher who always saves the day. Over time, we get to know everyone a little better, but in a way that leaves much to be desired, and moreover, while the characters do develop, they do so in a manner very characteristic of the stereotypes they originally represented. There’s nothing surprising here. At the same time, the whole thing is full of dialogue that doesn’t sound like real conversations between people, but rather as if it were crafted to explain to the audience everything that’s happening on screen – how the world works, what the characters are feeling, and what conclusions they’re reaching. It’s as if the characters were speaking to us instead of to each other. To make matters worse, sometimes I had the impression that the author was trying to cram into the dialogue as much moralizing wisdom as possible, which makes it sound rather artificial. The main character’s attitude is also irritating; she seems unable to learn from her own mistakes or think even one step ahead which always put her in danger, and at times it feels like it’s the only way they push the plot forward. It’s not all bad, though. I really enjoyed the visuals – the series has nearly cinematic quality and is certainly one of the most beautiful anime of the year. I also like the world in which the story takes place, and in particular the magic system based on drawings. Unfortunately, the elements I view positively are secondary to me when evaluating the quality of the anime as a whole. For me, the most important are characters and dialogue, and in that regard, I was disappointed. Overall, I give this 6/10

Agents of the Four Seasons got off to a great start. I had high hopes for this series, considering that the writer behind it is the same person who created Violet Evergarden, which is one of my favorite anime. Although it was clear this was going to be a very melodramatic story, that didn’t bother me, since it’s something I actually enjoy. I was positively surprised for the first five episodes, but then the house of cards started to come crashing down. Throughout the entire series, the creators never stop bombarding viewers with material designed to make them feel emotional and cry. While this makes sense in reasonable doses, here it’s served up in such excessive amounts that it becomes numbing. The longer you watch it, the more the series turns into “cryporn”. On top of that, we’re treated to action scenes that, instead of being thrilling and dramatic, look ridiculous because the insurgents, who are our main antagonists in the story, have combat skills on par with stormtroopers, while our main heroes have a tendency to talk on the phone a lot, even when a hail of bullets is raining down on them. It looks comical, and I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve rolled my eyes. Overall, this was my biggest disappointment of the season. There’s one more episode left, but I think I’ll give this 4-5/10. I liked the visuals and the soundtrack, though. Kensuke Ushio never disappoints.

Kirio Fanclub - The show had its ups and downs, and not all the jokes landed, but when they did it was absolutely hilarious. IMO it was one of the best shows of the season, despite somewhat poor reception at the beginning of the season. I guess some people expected a more typical romcom and got a pure comedy-drama instead, not to mention that comedy is highly subjective. 8/10 from me

Go For It, Nakamura-kun!! - Another fantastic comedy. This season was really carried by comedies, huh. Very funny, very gay, with great production quality. Different ED for each episode was a cherry on the top. Chiaki Kobayashi nailed the role of somewhat crazy, shy, gay MC. I think my only issue with this show, as someone who wasn’t interested in romance, is that only the last episode nailed the balance between romance and comedy. In most other episodes it was either one or another, so some of the episodes were ‘too serious’ for me. Fortunately, there weren’t many of them, so I had a lot of fun watching this show. 8/10

The Klutzy Class Monitor and the Girl with the Short Skirt - Another great comedy with high-quality production. Stylistically, the show reminds me of Trigger Studio’s shows. The development of the relationship between the main characters is portrayed brilliantly here. The series didn’t make me laugh as much as “Go For It, Nakamura-kun!!”, but I think the creators managed to strike a better balance between the gags and the more serious parts of the story. It’s hard for me to say much more, because my main criterion for evaluating comedies is how much they manage to make me laugh, and everyone has a different sense of humor. 8/10

Daemons of the Shadow Realm - this is probably the only non-comedy series that I actually really like this season. It has an original story that’s somewhat reminiscent of gang rivalries, and a great main character who’s got his head on his shoulders. He’s not your typical battle shounen MC who lacks brains and makes up for it with sheer determination in the fight for noble causes. Instead, he displays a more stoic demeanor, he’s level-headed, but he’s not some infallible genius either. It’s like a breath of fresh air, really. It’s not clear where the story is headed yet, and the plot is rather slow-paced, but I like this, because predictability was one of my main complaints about FMA:B (this and FMA were both written by Arakawa). The production quality is very good. The animation looks great, and you can tell a lot of attention has been paid to details. So far, it’s a solid 8/10.

Dandelion - The ending was very cheesy, but the rest was quite fun. It’s by creator of Gintama, and Gintama vibes were certainly there. The ED was great – makes you wanna dance. 7/10

A Hundred Scenes of Awajima - It’s a collection of interconnected, intriguing stories, told in an engaging way with believably portrayed characters, but the fairly similar character designs and the chaotic narrative style at the beginning of the season made it hard for me to follow everything at first, which dampened my viewing experience. I feel like it would be better to watch the entire season in one go, because once some of the characters had managed to stick in my mind, the final parts of the season struck me as really strong. 7/10, but I might change it to 8 after a rewatch

Akane-banashi - Pretty decent season. It improved quite noticeably in the second half once they stopped talking over performances so much. I think the first half suffered from having to explain what rakugo is, etc. I dislike the standard sports anime formula that seems to be applied here, so that certainly affected my score. But overall, the cast was rather fun, and I can’t say I was bored watching this. Production quality was pretty good too. 7/10 from me

Re:ZERO S4 - I’m not sure how to feel about it yet. Some of the episodes nailed the horror atmosphere, and they give you a feeling that we’re back to S1 quality of storytelling, but I’m not entirely sold on this

arc. All in all, it’s too early to tell, but it’s definitely better than the snoozefest battle shounen arc that S3 was.

That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime S4 - if you are still watching this, then you know what you’re in for. Can’t say this cour was much better than S3 so far. We’ve got plenty of meetings (obviously), and

. Very mid.

There’s also like a dozen shows that I dropped, but I don’t feel like mentioning them here. It would only piss some people off, and I don’t want to be overly negative. Generally, after having somewhat high hopes, this season turned out to be quite average.

Great finale to a great show. The song made a comeback in a weirdest way possible, all thanks to Seira who’s the true MVP of the series. The show had its ups and downs, not all the jokes landed, but when they did it was absolutely hilarious. IMO it was one of the best shows of the season, despite somewhat poor reception. I guess some people expected more typical romcom and got pure comedy-drama instead?

And then there is finally more of Tanya. It’s been too long after that speech at the end of the first season.

Just FYI, there was a movie after season 1 that is a direct continuation of the story

Definitely watching:

• Mushoku Tensei S3 - I love this series, so this one is obvious
• Jaadugar: A Witch in Mongolia - Naoko Yamada being involved makes this a must watch
• Saga of Tanya the Evil S2 - we only had to wait 7 years for this to come. It was fun, one of the most interesting isekais out there
• You and I Are Polar Opposites S2 - the first season was an unexpected banger
• The Ghost in the Shell - trailers were great and Science Saru is behind this
• Sparks of Tomorrow - I’ll watch anything from KyoAni
• Yani Neko - hilarious premise, great trailer
• The World Is Dancing - Cygames had a streak of some great productions lately (Cinderella Gray, The Summer Hikaru Died, Apocalypse Hotel) so even though it didn’t really catch my eye, I’m willing to check this out

I’ll try this out and see how it goes:

• Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You
• I Want to Love You Till Your Dying Day
• Though I Am an Inept Villainess
• Goodbye, Lara
• Grow Up Show: Sunflower Circus
• Sekiro: No Defeat - if it’s possible to watch online

I think the show is finally finding its groove. The last two episodes were really good, and I think this comes with not narrating over the performances that much, which we might see less often going forward, given that the first part of this cour already served as an intro to rakugo terms and rules. I wasn’t very invested in this story but I’m slowly starting to like it

What a messed up pacing. To make room for dramatic conversations, the creators drag out certain events in a ridiculous way. How long can you keep talking while under fire? Apparently as long as you want – the insurgents will politely wait until you’re done, firing haphazardly in the meantime. There’s even room for a few flashbacks. The way they structured it actually made me laugh a few times. I’m really trying to like this show, despite its flaws, but this was too much

Whenever we get a look into the magic society of pointy hats, it feels so rotten. First the magic gestapo, now how discriminatory they are to people with disabilities. And it stings so much more because Coco proves that even a novice witch can make accommodations for people with accessibility needs

This was great for, like, half the episode, but then I started to feel like I was being forced to feel a certain way, and they overdid it again. This show would be so much better if they didn’t try to make me cry every episode and actually moved the plot forward instead of doing multiple flashbacks to the same event

It was very nice to see the girls keeping in touch with the Agent of Summer and her sister via group chat. It seems Sakura’s reluctance to meet the Agent of Winter doesn’t stem from still being offended by past events, but rather from her own guilt over how she treated them back then. Previous episodes had me braced for another tragedy to strike Hinagiku, but instead the bombshell dropped not on her, but on the Agent of Autumn. Holy hell…

I’m glad they spared us the weird tone shifts in this episode. I like the comedy in this show, but the previous episode had it in all the wrong places.

The way everyone is acting makes it feel like we’re watching rival mafias competing against each other, rather than groups where one holds the moral high ground. This is also highlighted by comments like Jin’s from the previous episode, where he said that daemon skills are useful for raids, hijackings, and terror attacks, and in this episode, Haruo talks about torture as if it were a daily occurrence. Not to mention how easily they resort to killing. On the other hand, we have Higashi Village, which imprisons Asa and later sends assassins after her. Honestly, at this stage, the only person we can sympathize with in good conscience is Yuru, who has been deceived his whole life and whose main goal is simply to find his parents.

Still no explanation of what lies behind the village massacre, but it seems we might get some answers next episode. I like what’s being shown about the daemons – that they all come in pairs and have their own personalities, even if at first glance they’re something like dumb fish. And look at those art skills!
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Everyone in the Village of Spring is a bunch of assholes, only thinking of Hinagiku as a pawn in a power play. The more we learn about them, the worse they look.

The way they portrayed Sakura’s and Hinagiku’s past and present makes me feel like there’s another tragedy waiting around the corner, and it makes me feel uneasy. And I don’t mean the kidnapping.

I’m happy to see the traumatic shit is back. This is what Re:ZERO does best

I’m having a hard time liking the characters in this show. So far, most of them have been presented primarily in a negative light. I probably don’t even need to mention Agott – she took on the role of the bully right from the start, and her ego led to a situation where Coco could have died. But I have a problem with Coco too. This episode in particular highlights her massive flaw: acting completely on impulse, which this time resulted in throwing the whole group into a very dangerous situation. Would it really have been that hard to notify Qifrey, who was in the same shop at the time? What was she even planning to do once she caught that witch? I know Coco is still a child, but she’s not a toddler anymore. Expecting some level of foresight, even just thinking one step ahead, shouldn’t be too much to ask. Especially since Coco already has experience with the consequences of her thoughtlessness. She could really use some self-reflection. I can’t even blame Agott for scolding Coco this time. From Agott’s perspective, she had to go to the shop for new shoes because Coco ruined her old ones, but instead, she gets dragged into a wild chase after Coco that ends with the whole group being teleported into a dragon’s labyrinth. And in the labyrinth, Coco destroys the sigil Agott was drawing to try and get everyone out of the trap. I’d be pissed off too if I were in her.

On top of that, we have Qifrey, who doesn’t strike me as a good teacher. His hands-off approach clearly isn’t working. He threw a new student into a room with a bully. He left them to their own devices, which resulted in a situation where someone could have died. After that, he didn’t impose any consequences on Agott. Not to mention how, at the very beginning, he entrusted a child fascinated by magic with making sure no one peeked at him while he worked. How naive is he? I don’t know the source material, but for some reason, I’ve seen frequent comparisons between him and Gojo Satoru. Maybe it’s just about the look and similar role, but at this stage of the story, Gojo was portrayed as a very charismatic guy, competent in what he does, and with a good sense of humor. He was extremely likeable. Qifrey, on the other hand, pales in comparison, stumbling at every turn. Of course, being a good person isn’t the same as being a good character, and I don’t intend to make the mistake of thinking these are the same thing. However, in my opinion, introducing characters this way from the very start doesn’t work as well as it could. They lack some balance.

It probably sounds like I hate this show, but I don’t. I just have high expectations for stories that carry so much hype, and the quality of character writing is always something I pay close attention to. Visually, the series is still a beautiful spectacle and the world presented is very interesting. I’m hoping that with the next episode, we’ll dive a bit deeper into the plot.

Oh, and why is it always the bad guys who have the superior drip? Their pointy hats are way better than these bland cones

There was a lot of exposition in this episode, but it was presented in a way that wasn’t boring at all. The Hana-Dera duo is really fun, and it’s nice to have a main character who is neither dumb nor a genius, just smart and level-headed.

I get the impression that Sakura has never killed anyone before and she’s actually afraid of doing so, which is interesting given her position as a guard

Fortunately, it seems I was right that the pacing was fast in the previous episode because it served as an introduction and had to pack a bunch of different things at once. This episode is an improvement on that front – the story flows more naturally. As I said before, I love the art style, but I’m starting to have doubts about whether this kind of narrative can hold up in the long run. IMO, creating ‘smart’ characters by making everyone else around them dumber never works well and becomes tedious after a while. So far, nothing Aoteru has said sounds particularly smart or impressive enough to put the masses in awe.

Great episode. Turns out Yuru is way more pragmatic than I initially thought. Instead of the typical rage or despair we usually get from most shounen protagonists, he’s cold and calculating, even when his world is turned upside down. It’s actually kind of refreshing. I also like that, so far, there doesn’t seem to be a clear villain. Sure, Asa’s team basically executed every adult in the village, but it feels like she had reasons we just don’t know yet.

I think the sisters really need a heartfelt talk, and Sakura needs a machine gun.

Not everything is lost for Itechou! Sakura is putting up a front, but when no one can see, she still blushes when she thinks about the past with him. Image

I still prefer to watch subbed because even if the main characters have decent VAs in the dubbed version, it’s way more common to have some disappointing performances among supporting cast there.