I realize I hadn’t included a “wrap-up” post for Summer ’23, but things hadn’t really changed from where they started. Mushoku Tensei was powerfully emotional and very good. (Who would’ve thought most of a season devoted to the main character figuring out, and then curing, his erectile dysfunction would be so well-written?) The Girl I Like Forgot Her Glasses was definitely my favorite rom-com, and The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today was slice-of-life gold!
Moving on to this season, however … even limiting myself to just those shows available on CrunchyRoll (not plugging them; they’re just the subscription service I use to watch anime), there’s a lot of shows. I’ll try to use a loose overall categorization as before (although possibly not the same ones). There is not really any particular order within each category so being the first one in a category doesn’t mean it’s what I like the best within that category or anything – you’ll just need to read my commentary to find out.
The Returning / Continuing Shows
The Saint’s Magic Power is Omniscient, S2 – I enjoyed S1, even as I hated the “start-up” portion of the series, getting to the point where she was recognized as being the titular “Saint”. Not really much else to say so far. It’s a pleasant story and it’s fun to watch her sort of “stumbling” through high(er) society.
Rurouni Kenshin, S2 – The redo of this is still powering along. Given that it is based on an older manga property (and there have already been a couple of different adaptations – anime and live-action), there’s not a lot to change about the story, more of just newer voice actors and overall production quality. I think the voice actors are doing a phenomenal job on this one (Himura Kenshin, especially, complete with his archaic “quirk”) and since the new version is done in “modern” scaling (16:9 vs 4:3), it definitely looks a lot better in that sense.
Girlfriend, Girlfriend, S2 – Yep, this particular harem rom-com is back and we’re adding contestant #4 to the mix. I’ve read the source manga all the way through, and more or less know what’s coming. The production has been generally faithful, so it’s solidly enjoyable for me.
The Faraway Paladin, S2 – Season 1 of this was definitely puzzling as it looked and “smelled” like an isekai (and sort of is one), but those aspects are extremely down-played in favor, generally, of Will (the Paladin) doing his thing. One puzzling thing from the most recent episode was how they (now?) have dwarves and they seem to be extremely based on the versions from Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit – complete with oddly decorated beards and such. On first seeing the newest side character, I immediately thought they’d imported Thorin just about from whole cloth. Weird, but good.
SPY x FAMILY, S2 – Yep, they’re ba-ack! The wacky combination of 1960’s cold war spy, his fake wife assassin, adopted telepathic daughter, and precognitive dog – who, aside from the daughter, don’t know anything about each other’s “real” jobs. It’s about as funny as could be and still going strong.
The Rom-Coms
Our Dating Story: The Experienced You and The Inexperienced Me – This is definitely my “pick” for rom-com this season, and rom-coms, in general, are one of my preferred genres. The girl in this one is far too “experienced”, even to the point of offering sex in the very first episode because that’s what she thinks a “girlfriend” should do. The boy, however, is completely inexperienced with dating, but is wholesome enough to want to actually develop a relationship with her. Nothing but good rom-com vibes here.
A Girl & Her Guard Dog – Another one of “those” concepts … adopted daughter winds up having a mutual interest with her long-time older male guardian – but this time … in a yakuza family! At least we got the Usagi Drop elements made clear from the start. (Note – the anime version of Usagi Drop is absolutely wholesome and pleasant; the manga source has a time-skip which is what makes it “eww?”) It is absolutely cringe-worthy and probably should be instantly killed in a dumpster fire, but, what can I say? I am a sucker for rom-coms, even horrible ones.
The 100 Girlfriends Who Really, Really, Really, Really, REALLY Love You – Rom-com harem and it’s pretty much exactly what it says on the label. Based on the ED, it looks like we’re just getting the first 5 which is probably just as well. I’m amazed this got an adaptation, and, yes, it’s a guilty pleasure.
I’m Giving the Disgraced Noble Lady I Rescued a Crash Course in Naughtiness – This started off quite light and goofy and the “naughtiness” was in attempting to force the Cinderella princess to eat desserts. I wasn’t quite sure how this was going to go up until the most recent episode when they take the “Noble Lady” shopping for new clothes and we get “the reveal” about the scars on her back. While I’m pretty sure she won’t be involved in much as far as punishing her tormenters go, I am very interested in seeing what the “Demon Lord” does.
The Isekais
I’m in Love with the Villainess – Female isekais into the protagonist of her favorite visual novel. However since she (pre-isekai) is absolutely in love with the villainess’ character, she isn’t going to play by the script and, instead, happily goes after the character who, normally, would be her main antagonist and tormenter. Lucky for her, though, she’s into that. It’s very wacky (in a good way) and fun to watch.
Let Me Check the Walkthrough First – This, apparently, is a web animation project which CrunchyRoll has picked up for wider distribution. “What happens when you know how games generally flow and just ignore all the lore” is pretty much the baseline for this – even being explicitly called out and noted by the main character … followed by the other isekaied person (who actually is the “savior”) screaming about how there was a bunch of important info in the conversation that was just casually “clicked through”. If you have any experience with that sort of adventure gaming, you’ve been there – and then, indeed “checked the walkthrough” to figure out what you missed. Fun and funny with a lot of trope callouts.
I Shall Survive Using Potions – This time, the heroine’s OP power is … wait for it … the ability to craft any possible potion. Who would have guessed, huh? I’m on the fence about this one as I’m still sort of waiting for it to get really interesting. May still drop it.
Butareba – The Story of a Man Turned into a Pig – Last season we had a vending machine; this season, it’s a pig. At least he’s got a beautiful young lady who can communicate with him telepathically – complete with hearing all of his extremely lewd thoughts about her. It’s ok, though, since – just like the Dread Pirate Roberts and Westley – she’ll probably kill (and then cook and eat him) later.
Action-ish
Berserk of Gluttony – The main character (“Fate Graphite” … all right, an incredibly cheesy name, for sure) seems to have no special (RPG-ish) skill in a world where everyone has one. Or, if you don’t, clearly, you’re a low-ranked piece of trash and get treated as such. Except, of course, he does have one. And the skill is … wait for it … Gluttony – a skill which only activates when he kills something (or someone) else. When that happens, he “eats” the levels and skills of whatever he just killed. And, of course, he then needs to eat bigger and badder stuff. Oh, and he’s also always insatiably hungry. There’s lots of it which is absolutely bog-standard, but I’m being entertained, so I’m here for it.
BULLBUSTER – Interesting premise here, sort of? On first glance (literally), it seems to be a standard-ish mecha vs. kaiju anime – giant robots fighting against giant monsters. Except … the accountant demands the company with the mecha has to be (gasp) profitable! Or at least make ends meet. Oh, and the whole fact that they’re fighting against giant monsters? That has to remain super-secret, even from the now-evacuated inhabitants of the island. They’re not a kaiju-fighting businesss. No, no … They are doing “pest extermination”. Good set up and some interesting story lines (as well as presenting, as a more realistic question – do bipedal robots really make sense against ground-hugging monsters?). I hate that the monsters are fuzzy CGI, but everything else is also visually appealing.
My Daughter Left the Nest and Returned an S-Rank Adventurer – Well, we got the Usagi Drop anime taken care of above, and this appears to not be going anywhere near that route. Adventurer finds an infant in the woods, rescues her and, once she’s grown up, she goes off to become an adventurer on her own – achieving (just like it says on the label) S-Rank. She also is absolutely in love (as a child towards a parent, damn it!) her adoptive dad and praises his strength (far beyond his actual capabilities) far and wide … leading to some interesting encounters from others who meet him, expecting to find a monster of an adventurer. Regardless of all that, though, this is very wholesome and has some absolutely diabeetus-inducing moments (but in a good way). Brings a smile to my face every week.
The Kingdoms of Ruin – There used to be witches and witches helped make the world a better place. But then normal humans wanted to be rid of the yoke of the witches and invented .. SCIENCE! Unfortunately, this involved imprisoning (or slaughtering) all of the witches. Several cringe-inducing moments, and this show is surprisingly explicit and gory, honestly. The main storyline seems to be about one human-with-access-to-witch-powers being released from captivity and wreaking havoc on the Kingdom. I’m along for the ride to see where this one goes.
Racing / MMO Gaming
OVERTAKE! – I’ve heard of Formula 1 (F1) Racing. I was unaware, however, that there are “bigger numbers” than just F1 – which refer to more regional or local open-wheel races. Here we dig into Formula 4 (F4) racing … in Japan – but through the “eyes” of a young racer who desperately wants to get to the podium (top 3) and a burned-out photographer (with … dun, dun, dun … a “backstory”). The photographer’s first photo that he’s been able to click the shutter button for in years is of the racer at a moment of the racer’s emotional devastation at losing – again. That click is enough to push the photographer to want to finance them, finding sponsors and helping the driver towards his dream (while, I expect, also finally breaking through his own psychological issues to be able to take more photos).
MF Ghost – This is a combination of racing and romance (I think). Gasoline-powered motorsports in Japan (duh!) in an age when most vehicles have become (ugh) electric. I hadn’t realized it, but this show is apparently a sequel (of sorts) to Initial D, and has many references to it – although I’ve not seen that series. The racing is fun to watch and interesting (lots of track drifting as part of the course) and the romance side doesn’t seem to be overly burdensome (yet?).
A Playthrough of a Certain Dude’s VRMMO Life – One of the two VRMMO gaming series I’m watching this season. (I don’t think there’s another, but if there is – it’s not on CrunchyRoll.) “Regular guy” wants to play a newly-released VRMMORPG (Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game – think Dungeons & Dragons as a huge online roleplaying game with lots of other people, but then throw in some virtual reality equipment). But, because this is supposed to be relaxing, he’s not trying to go for power-leveling, or anything like that. He purposely chooses a low-demand class and even lower-demand skills. This is fine up until they change the game and suddenly he’s not only useful, class-wise, but his skills are in massive demand. Very cool story idea and fun to watch.
Shangri-La Frontier – The other VRMMO anime. Main guy likes playing “trash” games – the ones which are hopelessly broken due to their power systems or their stories or whatever. It’s suggested he try playing the “perfect” game – the titular SLF. He does, but, given his background, he refuses to play the “normal” way, opting, instead, to ignore typical tutorial quest trees and goes for the above-referenced power-leveling, letting him become a very strong in-game character, even playing just by himself. As someone who’s played a couple of MMORPGs (see my posts starting with My Love-Hate Feelings for MMOs – Part I), it’s fun to watch someone actively “breaking” the system, as well as showing some of the actual fun of MMORPGs.
Reincarnation / Life “Reboot”
Tearmoon Empire – So, hear me out on this one … Marie Antoinette-like empress has her fateful guillotine date at the tender age of twenty. After the blade drops and her separated head is in the process of dying, she is reincarnated eight years ago into … herself! She gets a “do-over” on her life. In her “restarted” life, she now has one absolute driving focus! She will do everything she can to avoid her future date with a decapitating blade. She’s a bit of an airhead, and does her best. It just so happens her best winds up fixing many of the selfish and self-centered screwups which resulted in her having that date with a metal blade in the first place. It’s cute, it’s fun, and it’s definitely giggle-worthy, as well as one I’m actively enjoying.
16bit Sensation: Another Layer – Bishōjo artist girl who also loves themed visual novel (VN) games keeps time-traveling back to an earlier era of PC computer games (the dawn-ish of such games) and winds up working in the industry … popping back and forth without her control … between her present-day and that time frame. While I’m not a VN player, it’s an interesting story.
A Returner’s Magic Should Be Special – Still undecided on this one. One of the hero adventurers reincarnates years ago to the magic academy. (Side note: The ongoing influence of the Hogwarts-style magic academy is starting to get seriously annoying. It’d be nice to start seeing something besides that, as this is now at least two or three seasons in a row which have had this.) He has to work to rebuild the adventuring party which will, again – in the future – defeat the Big Bad. May yet drop it as it’s, well … boring.
Slice-of-Life
The Family Circumstances of the Irregular Witch – Whacky show (with multiple in-episode shorter stories) about a young (and, well – absolutely stacked witch) and the witch mom who adopted her. Almost more flat-out comedy than pure Slice-of-Life, as well as quite a few risqué gags, but I’m a grown-up, so I have no issues about laughing at them Worth a few giggles.
My New Boss is Goofy – Young businessman who’s been traumatized by working for a “black company” starts at a new job where his direct supervisor is, just like it says on the label, goofy. Not, like – actively so, though. He’s not a prankster or anything of the sort. He just doesn’t quite pay attention to everything and such. The rest of the cast tends to be similar. If you’ve ever heard of such working environments or, to your eternal regret, happen to be in such a working environment, this is well worth a watch.
Unsure How To Categorize, So … “Other”
Ron Kamonohashi’s Forbidden Deductions – Sherlock Holmes isn’t allowed (for “Reasons“) to actually solve any mysteries … because he’s got a mysterious cursed super-power which forces him to get the person guilty of murder to of themselves to make up for their misdeed. He teams up with a less-than-competent junior police detective to solve murders (with the police detective providing cover and acting largely as a “puppet”). Procedural crime dramas are fun (for me) to watch at times, and this is definitely that, with the added flair of the screwball contortions necessary so it doesn’t appear as if Sherlock is actually doing anything.
SHY – The world now has super-heroes. Yay! But, of course, along with super-heroes, you get some sort of super-villains. Boo! From the story so far, there seems to be one hero per country and, clearly to go along with much of the perceived social interactions of Japanese people, Japan’s hero is a young girl who is … you guessed it! Shy. That’s also her Hero Name. She also lacks self-confidence to a tremendous extent – a condition further exacerbated by someone she was trying to save (in the first episode) being seriously injured. Some interesting world-building (so far) and the main characters are likeable.
The Apothecary Diaries – This one started late in the season and I’m still undecided about it. It’s here because, well – for the moment I’m watching it while I figure out if I’m watching all of it.
The Powerhouse
Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End – Ok. Best for last. And I don’t think I’m exaggerating when I call this one the best of this season. Basic premise here – years after the Hero’s party has killed the Big Bad and saved the day, the (functionally-)immortal elven mage realizes how short human lives are and how little she got to know her fellow Hero Party members. [“For humans, a 10-year adventure is the defining aspect of your life; However, for the thousand-year-old elf … it was a Tuesday.”] Upon coming to the realization that … maybe … she would’ve liked to get to know more about her traveling companions … she recreates the path of her journey, this time intending, at the end, to meet the souls of the hero and others with a chance to talk with them and learn more about them. It is a very poignant and emotionally powerful story. And, so far, every episode just plain hits hard. The adaptation is being widely praised, and I do not disagee with those assessments at all. I would be surprised if this didn’t win Anime Of The Season, as it definitely, IMHO, deserves that recognition.
