I am a fan of anime. No, seriously, I’m a big fan. So, for the past few seasons, on a discord server with some friends, I’ve been posting my thoughts on what I’m watching (and / or started and dropped) for each season. Note – I subscribe to the streaming service CrunchyRoll (still not shilling!), but nothing else. This means that, much as I might like to, I can’t comment on anything streaming on any of the other services – because I’m not watching them.
I’m probably not going to say much about any of the series here, so don’t expect that. This is more of a “my thoughts about each series”. I’ll try to link to something that talks about each series, so you’re probably best off going there to find out what they’re about.
Note that this list is in no particular order, so don’t assume anything based on where a particular series might show up. On to this season! [And, yes, there’s a LOT of stuff this season, most of which I’m watching so far…]
TEPPEN!!!! (and lots more “!”s)
dropped – The first episode piqued my curiosity with the ridiculous slapstick humor. Episode 2 was not shown (some of the humor apparently collided badly with some real-world events), and Ep3 just … didn’t work for me. The humor just completely missed for me.
Classroom of the Elite (Season 2)
watching – I binge-watched Season 1 just as this season was starting so I could get caught up. The mind games and stuff is right up my alley, so this is a keeper for me. It may be a bit too … intellectual? … for some, though. YMMV
Yurei Deco
dropped (like a hot potato) – The art style was just a complete turn-off for me. I’ve since seen a YouTuber’s recap of their stuff for the season which said it was intriguing and good, so perhaps later I’ll go back and look at it, but … honestly, it was kind of eye-clawing-out-ly bad.
Lycoris Recoil
watching (and loving it) – There’s a subgenre of anime that is known as “CGDCT” (Cute Girls Doing Cute Things). I saw someone describe this as Cute Girls Doing Counter-Terrorism, and it’s such a spot-on description. This may be one of my favorites for this season, flat-out. Yes, it’s yuri-baited like you wouldn’t believe, but that’s not why I’m liking it! No, really!
Harem In the … Hell with it – thou art now known as “Isekai Harem”
watching (but not proud of it) – This is the extremely … “uncultured” … version of this show. This is the “other” isekai show this season which involves the MC purchasing a slave and Stockholm Syndrome’ing her. On the other hand, both of them beat the hell out of “Shield Hero”, so they’ve got that going for them. As I say, I’m watching it, but it’s probably not something I’d say a lot about. It’s a very “mid” show, as they say.
My Stepmom’s Daughter Is My Ex
watching – Nothing like putting an explanation for what a show is about right in the title, eh? At first, I had speculated this would be some sort of half-assed DnK, but it’s actually decently cute, reasonably wholesome and a bit of a mix between a rom-com and slice-of-life. A fun ride, so far.
Engage Kiss
watching – Interesting (although weird) premise. Almost has a vibe that feels like a cross between Strike the Blood and … something? I suspect this will wind up being better in retrospect (binging it) compared with watching it week-by-week, but I’m following it for the developing story. [Edit: I figured it out – the “something” is Takt op.Destiny. I say that because the “friendly” demon girl powers up from the MMC.]
Shoot! Goal to the Future
dropped – I got through about an episode and a half or so? The first episode was interesting, although the secondary main character’s voice acting made me want to commit all sorts of violence upon my screen. I just couldn’t take it any more, though. The story was … zzzzz … and I booted it. There’s a lot of much better stuff this season.
The Yakuza’s Guide To Babysitting
watching – I’d actually been reading the translated manga (again, a no-shill shout-out to BookWalker), so I was excited when I heard this was getting an anime adaptation. The last episode (ep 4) was weird – and even the show admitted it – but otherwise, this has been a solid adaptation of a very wholesome slice-of-life manga.
Utawathefuckisthistitle?
dropped – As you probably could’ve guessed from the way I chose to title this one. I bailed after half an episode because 15 minutes should have been enough to give me at least a tiny idea of the world-building going on here, shouldn’t it? I just couldn’t get interested. Sorry / not sorry.
Shadows House (Season 2)
watching – Yesssss… I watched season 1 and loved it and it’s back. Besides having a really fun / weird story (I did mention that I like mind-games, right?), the FMC (female main character) happens to be voiced by possibly my favorite voice actress, Akari Kito. Gimme more, gimme more!!! [Oh, she also happens to be also doing the FMC in Classroom of the Elite, so – better and better…]
Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer
watching – Ok, I’ll confess… The un-yeet-able lizard-who’s-also-a-knight grabbed me from the very first moment. I know others have said the animation is … lacking … but I’m a story-guy (for the most part). It’s not making me gouge out my eyes and the story is fun.
RWBY: Ice Queendom
watching – I watched some of the original RWBY series and … it was ok? It’s interesting to see an anime adaptation of it. Certainly when I watched it, it felt a lot like it was trying to be anime but didn’t quite make it there. I know some have said the story has been modified, but I don’t remember the original story well enough to notice (or, honestly, care). I’m enjoying this one.
Rent-A-Girlfriend (Season 2)
dropped – I … I just can’t. I watched the first season when it was on and thought it was “ok”. I legitimately could not make it through the second episode of this season. I know that the manga is horrible and has absolutely zero character development for anyone, but all I could think of while watching this was: “The Stupid … It Burns!!!”. If you really want to know more about this particular dumpster fire, may I suggest Geoff Thew of Mother’s Basement here (video link)?
The Devil is a Part-Timer (Season 2)
watching – I watched season 1 and enjoyed it. Season 2 looks to be similar sort of “hijinks and hilarity”.
Black Summoner
watching – Remember how I said there were two isekai this season that had a slave girl being purchased? Yep, this is the other one. This one is actually kinda decent? Sure it’s got the same sort of Stockholm Syndrome’ing, but this one at least has the MC purchasing the slave girl for her use as a combat member in his RPG party rather than as a sex slave. [No lie – that’s really what the other one is about.] The MC is, of course, OP as hell, but it’s taking its time to develop some character dynamics and, c’mon! Even the word-less slime has a personality!!!!
Shine on! Bakumatsu Bad Boys
watching – So … what if your shogun-era secret agent squad all got wiped out and you decided to replace them with convicts who were about to be executed? Yep, that’s the premise and it actually works a hell of a lot better than any sort of … ahem … suicide squad.
Overlord (Season 4)
watching – Lemme tell you – binge-watching 3 seasons of a show can be a bit much, but I did it! This is a weird, but fun, isekai and season 4 is pretty much continuing right where season 3 left off. If you like your main character (and supplementary main characters) to be overpowered beyond belief, this is definitely the show for you.
Parallel World Pharmacy
watching (for now) – This one may get dropped, honestly – if only from overload of trying to keep up with everything. It’s .. ok? … I guess. Interesting premise and better than the previous anime that was similar, although given how all-over-the-place that one was, that’s not really saying much.
Extreme Hearts
watching (for now) – The planning session on this must have been utterly insane. “Let’s mix an idol show with a series-long tournament arc!” Yes, that’s pretty much what this is. It’s intersting…-ish … so far.
A Couple of Cuckoos (second cour)
watching – I was watching the first cour … I’m still watching. Oh, and Erika is, again, Akari Kito, so… yeah.
Aoashi (second cour)
watching – Again, watched the first cour … enjoyed it (and the MC’s “super power” is kinda cool). It’s interesting to see him tossed into a completely unfamiliar position on the field and forced to figure out how to adapt to it.
The Maid I Hired … Nope … “Sus Maid” thou shalt be
3 episode rule – Very odd show. Only seen one episode so far (it started very late in the season). It seems interesting, but I have no idea where it’s going with the young master of the house and the older (but not “too” old, wink, wink) maid. It’s got my attention – now to see what it will do with it.
