It’s that time again!
Actually, it’s already past that time, as pretty much all of the Spring 2023 anime series have already had three or four weeks to get episodes in. To look at it on the positive side, though, this means that the “filtering” process has already run its course and I’m down to the shows I’m actually watching.
As always, before presenting the list, I will remind everyone I watch anime through a Crunchyroll subscription (just mentioning this for relevance, not for advertising – which is why there’s no link there). Believe me, I know Oshi no Ko is being praised everywhere for how good it is. Unfortunately, for me, it’s on a different service I don’t subscribe to, so I can’t watch it. Yes, this hurts.
Now, on to the list, mostly unordered, but with the best stuff first – so you don’t have to wait for it. (Note: I don’t do “tier lists” or anything else. This is just a less-randomized grouping; once you get past the first few, the organization of the rest is literally just what it was from my looking at my Crunchyroll “Watchlist”.)
On With The Show(s)!
My Clueless First Friend – This story is cute and fun and delightful and … then, at the end of Episode 4, the “Drama Bomb™” hit and hit hard. In some ways, it was interesting / amusing. As I think backwards, I had seen it as a sort of very odd swap-around on Love, Chuunibyo, & Other Delusions – which is one of my favorite romcoms with a light and weird tone … until it isn’t. Granted, LC&OD’s DB hit was a heck of a lot later in the first season. [Whatever you do, do NOT watch the second season of LC&OD! Please – they lost the story thread and it’s just bad.] [I peeked ahead on the source manga and the DB hit isn’t as story-changing as it might have been presented as … but it’s still a hell of a hit.]
Skip and Loafer – This is a gentle, fun slice-of-life rom-com. The female lead, Mitsumi Iwakura, at times, displays the carefree playfulness of Renge Miyauchi (from Non Non Biyori – what may truly be the absolute best soul-healing show of all time), but at other times is an uptight bundle of nerves waiting to puke her guts out on the the teacher’s brand new shoes. And then, on top of that, the OP (Mellow by Keina Suda) song is AMAZING! (The ED – Hana Uta to Mawari Michi by Rikako Aida is also nice but not nearly the same level of awesomeness.)
TONIKAWA: Over The Moon For You, S2 – They’re back! The married couple who don’t even know how to have a date are back for another season of trying to navigate being married when the only time they really ever met was when he saved her from being isekai’ed by truck-kun only to be hit by the truck instead (and not get isekai’ed). It’s fun, it’s crazy, it’s wonderful.
My Love Story with Yamada-kun at Lv999 – “Typical love story where the girl gets dumped and then falls for an almost-pro gamer; she has to learn that most people, IRL, aren’t who they are in-game … except when they are.” Yes, it’s a horrible oversimplification of the plot, but if there was anything in there which either resonated or made you go, “Wait … wtf?”, do yourself a favor and watch at least a couple of episodes of this.
A Galaxy Next Door – Slice-of-life rom-com. Sure, it’s got a lot of “different” elements – like how the female has a very non-earth-based sort of “stinger” … and she meets the guy because he’s a mangaka (writes / draws manga) and she wants to be his assistant. But I’m still loving it anyway. [“Wholesome” is the word you’re looking for, damn it!]
The Idolm@ster Cinderella Girls U149 – There are many reasons I’m verging on being ashamed of myself for watching this. It’s an absolutely standard idol show; all of said idols are, basically, elementary school girls (U149 is a reference to height – “under 149 cm” ≈ 4’11”); it’s sugar-filled to the point of inducing diabeteetus; there hasn’t even been all that much singing yet. Yep … allll those reasons … Eh. I guess I’ll just have to live with being ashamed of myself, won’t I?
KamiKatsu: Working for God in a Godless World – This one is a crazy romp. A young guy in our world gets “sacrificed” to the god of a cult his dad got roped into leading. He proceeds to isekai into a world which has no concept of gods or religion … only to discover the wacky “god” his dad and cult believed in is real, but in this world, she has almost no power because, of course, she needs believers. [There’s a reference hiding in here, somewhere, to Terry Pratchett’s Small Gods, I’m sure …] It’s insane, but fun.
[Minor update: Several times in this, the animation quality is utter garbage – like, your 7-year-old with crayons can do better-level of garbage. But the plot is crazy enough to ignore that part and just roll with it.]
My One-Hit Kill Sister – Hey! Guess what? It’s an isekai. Yeah, I know – the title might not quite have given it away. Don’t worry – there’s others this season which are significantly less subtle about it. The title does, mostly, give away the story / gag. Guy gets isekai’ed. His sister, who is a massive bro-con, offs herself to join him … and she gets turned into Saitama, while the poor guy has trouble remembering “pointy-end goes in bad guys”. All right, he’s not that bad, but he’s weak and wimpy and the fact that his sister is letting him take all the credit just isn’t helping. Then we toss in the obligatory hot demon girl who’s also thirsty and … you get the idea.
Mashle: Magic and Muscles – “Ok, hear me out on this one! What if we took Saitama and tossed him into the Harry Potter world? But … But! In that context, he’s just a Muggle and also dumber than a box of rocks! However, he’s also forced to keep faking that he’s not a Muggle!” Yes, the previous is largely the synopsis for this show. It’s as insane as it sounds and, actually, a hell of a lot funnier still. [“How to fly a broom when you’re super strong but can’t do magic? Throw the broom at practically super-sonic speed, then Hulk-jump up and over to catch it. if you do it fast enough – no one will be able to tell.” Yes! This really happens!!!]
The Café Terrace and Its Goddesses – Ah … who doesn’t love a good harem story, huh? One guy, five girls … “But – what if none of the girls really likes him to begin with? They have to figure out how to make things work because they’re all living in the house / working at the cafe his grandmother passed down to him?” Fun, cute, and, yeah, some ecchi moments to make the show complete.
BIRDIE WING -Golf Girls’ Story-, S2 – Girls’ golf mafia school story. Ok, there’s a lot more here than that, but if any of those words piqued your interest and you hadn’t seen the first season, go watch that one and then come back for more of it. [Plus, it has one of my all-time-favorite voice actresses, Kitō Akari. Honestly, that’s gonna keep me here anyway.]
Stella of the Theater: World Dai Star – It’s another idol show. This time, rather than music, it’s about stage theater. it’s an interesting take on the concept and the few glimpses into actual stage performances has been awesome.
The Aristocrat’s Otherworldly Adventure: Serving … – Yep, as I’d said … there’s more isekai. He doesn’t quite start as a baby (although it’s still very early in life when he “gains rationality”) and is, of course, over-powered to the Nth degree.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, S2 – It’s GUNDAM … and it’s back. As became readily apparent from the very end of S1, GUNDAM, ultimately, has always been about innocents (usually very young) being thrown into war and there not being a clear distinction between the “Good Guys™” and the “Bad Guys™”. Aside from a short battle royale nod to the “pretty” and “honorable” school duels of Season 1, it’s now full-on war and there is going to be destruction and death. Like I said, it’s GUNDAM.
THE MARGINAL SERVICE – “Ok, hear me out again … You’ll love this! We take the Men in Black and cross that with Power Rangers and, oh by the way, we also have some Mission: Impossible type stuff thrown in with it?” Yes, this is that weird. I’m still not entirely sure it’s working, so I may wind up dropping this before the season is over, honestly. It’s … all right? But the first episode wrote a bigger check the the next couple were able to cash in on .
Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke’s Mansion – Another isekai … where the “hero” goes into one of her favorite “story” worlds … as a side-character who dies early in the plot. So, knowing how she’s supposed to meet her end, she works to avoid it. It’s all right. Another “may drop later”.
Hell’s Paradise – I am sooooo conflicted on this one. On the one hand, it’s made by MAPPA, who are truly one of the god-level anime companies (not just action stuff, although that’s probably their absolute forté; they’ve also done, for example, Campfire Cooking in Another World and Dance Dance Danseur; but, yeah, the action stuff is where they pull out allllll the stops). On the other hand, though, episode 1 grabbed me by the proverbial jacket and screamed at me, “THIS WILL BE AWESOME!!!!”, the rest of it has been more more “Ok … so it’s an action anime show?” May drop later.
Summoned to Another World for a Second Time – This one “feels” like some sort of odd cross between KONOSUBA and some other stuff. Although, after the first two episodes, we seem to have dropped the KONOSUBA part and I’m not even sure what else is left. May drop later.
I Got a Cheat Skill in Another World and Became Unrivaled … – Guess what? Another isekai! Um … yawn. Fat, ugly kid … got picked on a lot … inherits a Narnia-closet … becomes super-human in Narnia … it carries over back to the real world – including having both Adonis and Hercules. Yeah, I think I managed to summarize it pretty well right there. At least from his perspective, there was no truck-kun involved? Although, early on, he got beaten up a lot. Meh. This is a half-step beyond “May drop later” to “Likely to drop later”.
The Legendary Hero is Dead! – Said legendary hero isn’t just dead, though. He’s been resurrected and turned into a zombified “puppet” of the guy who was inadvertently responsible for his death. Oh, and the same guy has a serious stocking fetish (no lie – the guy was putting stockings on his giant radish … no, that’s not a euphemism for anything; it really was a giant daikon radish). And amazingly, it goes downhill from there. Likely to drop later.
Other Shows
There’s others running this season which I’m either delaying for a reason or have already started / dropped. Here’s the bullet list (no links – you can do web searches just as easily as I can); presented alphabetically:
- Dead Mount Death Play – dropped: Episode 1 didn’t grab me … first few minutes of episode 1 didn’t grab me
- Demon Slayer – dropped: good animation, sure … Kitō Akari VA – daaaamn … but I lost interest after the season-long fight scene when I couldn’t even remember wtf was happening from week-to-week
- Dr. STONE – will watch later: my younger son and I watched the previous seasons and he just hasn’t had time, so we’ll probably binge-watch it at some point
- Golden Kamuy – will watch later: barely watched any of Season 1. I want to watch more, but haven’t devoted nearly enough time to it to get current
- Kaguya-Sama – will watch later: not even close to current, so I have to catch up first
- Kizuna no Allele – dropped: watched Episode 1; realized I didn’t know what was going on and didn’t care
- KONOSUBA (a.k.a. “The Megumin Chronicles”) – dropped: I loved KONOSUBA. But, without the “full gang” here, Megumin just isn’t as funny (for me). On top of which, the fully-on Chuuni-ness of every fucking character made me want to rip my eyes out. Sure, it was funny when Megumin is with the gang and that’s not the only gag going on. Like this – Giant Bag of NOPE™
- Magical Destroyers – dropped; hint … if you’re going to start off with a story which is utterly incomprehensible (beyond the barest outlines), make it at least interesting, huh?
- My Home Hero – dropped: I got through a few episodes before realizing it had stopped being clever and fun. The initial premise was cool … to save his daughter, the dad kills her yakuza boyfriend and then has to get rid of the body and hide the fact that he committed murder. After the first three episodes, though, it kinda fell off a cliff into the chasm of “this stopped being interesting”
- Opus.COLORs – dropped; after two episodes. Oh, look … it’s Prima-Donna virtual artists going to Prima-Donna Virtual Art School! Yay! NOPE
- Yuri Is My Job! – dropped: I wanted to like this, if only from the first sort of … idea of it? Second episode, I realized I didn’t know who any of the characters were, nor did a I care. That was enough for me to decide I was done.
And… that’s all there is for this season. Yes, My Clueless First Friend and Skip and Loafer are, obviously, my favorites / must-watches right now. See you next season with the next set (which, looking ahead, already has some tasty stuff … Jujutsu Kaisen S2, Mushoku Tensei S2, My Tiny Senpai, Rurouni Kenshin (new), The Devil is a Part-Timer S2 … and those are just the obvious titles).
