And, once again, it’s time to delve into the collection of this season’s anime. It’s a bit late into the season (already approaching the half-way point), but … what can I say? Been busy / distracted with a bunch of other stuff.
I’ve divided them up into very general categories. Please note these are not necessarily the “official” categorizations for the shows. I leave that for other, more learned, folks to do. This is purely my own way of thinking of them.
As always, the listing of the shows within each category does not indicate any sort of preference – it’s pretty much just the order in which I was reading them from my Watchlist.
Continuing Shows
Shangri-La Frontier (cour 2) – Bird-mask VRMMO guy is back! And, so far, this cour has been an absolute banger. Yes, cour 1 had the truly awesome “yakuza rabbit blacksmith song” in Episode 11. [No, for real. That description is dead-on accurate … and I think the studio blew their entire budget (or whatever) on that. It really is phenomenal.
So far, this second cour is focused on the battle with the unique boss, Weathermon, and the multi-episode fight scene has been an absolute blast to watch.
Frieren (cour 2) – Yesssss!!! Things have slowed down a bit with the “First Class Mage” exam arc, but it’s still got the depth of story and emotional depth it started with. I’m less than thrilled with the new OP song (but glad they kept the ED song).
The Apothecary Diaries (cour 2) – When I’d started watching this last anime season (first cour), it hadn’t quite grabbed me from the first few episodes. However, it built quickly and has become an outright powerhouse of a show. Between this, Frieren and Shangri-La, the continuing shows have been thrilling to watch.
Returning Shows
HIGH CARD (S2) – I’d forgotten about this show, honestly, so I was surprised to see it pop up with a second season. I’m mostly watching this to see if the story goes anywhere interesting and … well … so far, it’s not really grabbed me much. I doubt I’ll drop it, but I’m less enthused about watching it – if that makes sense?
Classroom of the Elite (S3) – I enjoy, somewhat?, the mindgames of this show as much as I did for previous seasons. And, let’s face it, it’s also got one of my absolute favorite voice actresses as one of the main characters.
Banished from the Hero’s Party (S2) – “Slow life” indeed for the retired adventurer and his Hero-attribute sister (who’s also retired, much to the chagrin of some others). Still a fun watch!
MASHLE (S2) – The adventures continue at defiinitely-not-Hogwarts with the “do you even lift, bro?” muggle. Now that he’s been revealed to be a muggle, however, things have gotten much more interesting, as the overall “magic world” society has divided up into staunch defenders against the “kill the not-witch!” status quo. Still stupidly funny at times, although less so than Season 1.
The Rom-Coms
A Sign of Affection – By the end of the first episode, I was absolutely enthralled. Female lead is fully deaf and has led a rather sheltered life. At college, she winds up meeting a fellow student who is a world traveller and speaks multiple languages. Instant attraction on her part, especially when he expresses interest in learning sign language so he can communicate with her. Both leads are really good and, not that I am hearing disabled, it seems to do a good job of conveying the difficulties she has being deaf in a world full of sounds. This show is just … comfy … to watch
Hokkaido Girls Are Super Adorable! – Tokyo high school student moves to Hokkaido (northern part of Japan) just in time for winter to start. He proceeds to meet a bunch of adorable gyarus, and, of course, starts falling hard for one of them. Thankfully (for him), she’s also falling hard. It’s a typical(-ish) slow-burn HS romance. Yeah, I’m a sucker for shows like this.
The Isekais
Fluffy Paradise – isekai’ed from overwork, female lead is now in a fantasy world and her super power is being able to talk with animals because she … needs … fluffiness! Well, more like, she needs to pet all the animals. There’s also a “quiet” storyline about how she’s got this super power because the omnipotent deity who’s sent her soul there isn’t sure whether or not to let all the humans live or eradicate them in favor of the various animal species. Story-wise, it is as fluffy as the title says it is.
Villainess Level 99 – otome isekai where the girl is (ta-da!) the hidden boss. But, as is always the case, she’s trying to avoid getting killed as the hidden boss. The first episode had a very interesting hook of starting it like the game (presumably) would have started before pulling a fast one with “Nope, that’s not really the main character.”
Tales of Wedding Rings – Not just isekai, but also harem trash, for double the trashiness! Male lead goes after his life-long female friend (who is really a princess from an isekai) who is returning to her world. Once there, he discovers that she has an arranged marriage to Save The World™ from the demons. And this is because she has a pair of Magic Wedding Rings. So, of course, he winds up marrying her instead But, wait! There’s more! It turns out there are four other pairs of Magic Wedding Rings and, just like pokemon, he has to catch them all! Oh, and the princess? Once again, my favorite female VA. Like, seriously – she could be reading a phone book and I’m there.
The Wrong Way to Use Healing Magic – The nobody-ish guy gets isekaied along with the two high school powerhouses (popularity, etc). The female of the “main pair” is a major closet otaku, and it turns out the “nobody” has healing magic – which is suuuuper-rare. He proceeds to get kidnapped and subjected to Training From Hell™ to learn how to use his healing magic. Funny and interesting. And it’s got some possibly never-before-thought-of uses for healing magic: going through Training From Hell?; use your healing magic to strengthen and revitalize yourself while you’re running laps with a weighted vest; etc.
Sasaki and Peeps – Isekai without needing to die to get there = Yay! Lonely salaryman gets a pet bird which just happens to contain the soul / identity / etc. of the greatest magic user from another world. Bird teaches him magic as well as how to flip back and forth between the two worlds. [Oh, wait! I’ve seen something like this before!] As he’s building his “get rich” scheme (buying cheap stuff in our world and selling it for massive piles of gold over there), he also gets “caught” using magic in our world and is recruited into a Super-Secret Organization™ to fight against “other” psychics. Once again, my favorite VA has what, so far, has been a small part. Fun watching it, even if it’s grabbing weird tropes from everywhere.
The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey to Pick Up Trash – This may be my sleeper hit of the season (as you might have guessed from the banner on this post). It’s a very low-key isekai. The main character, Ivy, has the memories of another life (from our world), but they’re separate and not her “identity”. Ivy is absolutely adorable and her interactions with her (tamed) partner slime are lovely to watch – from first rescuing the “weakest” slime to it consuming healing potions for food to, eventually, saving her life since it seems to be a … healing slime? Yep, I’m hooked!
Doctor Elise: The Royal Lady with the Lamp – A double-reverse isekai / time loop, sort of? Noble daughter (somehow?) reverse-isekais into our world, learns to be an amazing doctor / surgeon … dies after a plane crash (and after saving as many of the other passengers as she can) … and discovers herself back as a younger version of the noble daughter with a chance to “fix” a bunch of the issues that occurred in the first playthrough of her life there. Of course, she (now) pursues medicine (drawing on all she learned as a doctor and surgeon over here). Interesting to see her applying modern concepts and such to a typical fantasy-ish (although medieval era) situation.
Action-ish
Brave Bang Bravern! – Words cannot describe this one. The first episode was all (and I do mean all) over the place! First few scenes made me think “real robot” (Battletech-style combat mechs) … then the alien invasion happened … and then we get the giant sentient mech to save the day. Except … the giant mech needs a pilot (with which there is a not-so-subtle homoerotic sexualization) and insists that the pilot has to not only sing along with the theme songs but also shout out the names of finishing moves. This is completely off the wall and, yet, I’m still watching it. Go fig’?
Solo Leveling – RPG style mechanics applied to a “real world” situation where dungeon gates spawn out of nowhere. While I never read the original manhwa, everyone was raving about it at the time. Nice fight scenes and it’s interesting to watch the MC dealing with going from the weakest Hunter (dungeon fighter) on the planet, leveling himself up (which isn’t supposed to be possible), and, presumably becoming the Super Seiyan he’s destined to be … or something like that.
Metallic Rouge – Studio BONES showing off with an anime original for their 25th anniversary. The visuals are awesome and the story is … well, I’ll be neutral about it and say it’s “convoluted”. An odd mix of Blade Runner-style Replicants (complete with Asimov’s Three Laws), with a previous alien invasion, and, oh by the way, it takes place on a colonized Mars. It’s good. I’ll leave it at that.
The Unwanted Undead Adventurer – Typical fantasy adventure setting with dungeon (“labyrinth”) exploration to fight monsters. Except … right at the beginning, the main character dies in a dungeon. It’s ok, though – he gets turned into an undead – a skeleton. He continues to fight, as a skeleton, in the dungeon and eventually “evolves” into a “higher form” of undead. He’s pretty much progressing through the “ranks” of undead monsters and eventually becomes “human enough”-looking to leave the dungeon. He still needs to hide his undead nature, but he’s trying to make it back to “himself”. Cool storyline and, for me, decently-enough executed.
The Witch and the Beast – I’m not entirely sure if this should be categorized as “action-ish”, since there’s a lot of depth to this show. Yeah, there are some scenes which are a combination of both gore and horror, but it’s also got more than a bit of “thinky” bits for just about everything else. It’s set in a semi-modern era, but there’s some low-key magic around – centered, mostly, around the seven “witches”. [No, Yamada-kun, these aren’t your witches.] These witches seem to be very evil, and are known to hide themselves. There’s also (in a later arc) necromancy and “revived” undead (with a reveal about how truly horrific being brought back through necromancy really is). I’m not (overly) squeamish about the gore parts and the story arcs are definitely intriguing and interesting.
Reincarnation / Life “Reboot”
7th Time Loop – “Villian” noble girl keeps looping / rebooting … specifically going back to the point when she was (wrongfully) denounced by her fiancé. With the reboots, she’s learning new skills and more information about the world which she uses to try and inform her “new” life. This time, though, she’s somehow wound up as the betrothed of the “real” Bad Guy™, who has consistently been the cause of the war which ultimately led to hear death all of the previous times. So, now she might have a chance at breaking the cycle.
Slice-of-Life
Mr. Villain’s Day Off – Y’know all of the “Super Team vs invading Bad Guys” type of shows? Think of stuff like … Power Rangers, etc. This show is about the leader of the Bad Guys (who, yes, still wants to exterminate humanity and cleanse the planet of us so his side can take over). But … even the Bad Guy CEO takes a day off, weekly, and this is about what he’s doing on his time of. See – he lives in a small apartment in Japan (of course) and stops at a convenience store to pick up some food … or visits the zoo (the guy loves pandas, and how cute, fluffy, etc., they are). Also, he has regular encounters with the Super Team guys, but refuses to fight since, after all, he’s off the clock. Fighting the Good Guys only happens when he’s at work. It’s silly, but handled well and definitely fun to watch.
Food / Friendship “Porn”
Delicious in Dungeon – The ostensible main story for this show is a dungeon party has to return to the dungeon to rescue one of their own (who was eaten whole by a dragon and has time before they’re digested). However, they’re low on funds. Rather than selling off any of their equipment to allow them to resupply, they will, instead, use the monsters in the dungeon as their food supply. That’s where the “food porn” aspect comes from – taking a semi-serious perspective on all of the dungeon monsters and how they could and would be turned into food. After all, the dungeon, presumably, has its own ecosphere and food chain, so most of what’s there has to be edible, and won’t kill you – at least if you prepare it properly, right? Oh, and it has an absolute banger of an OP. The full version of the song as a music video (by the artist) is even better and has been more than a little “stuck” in my head since I listened to it. Here, you can enjoy it too!
‘Tis Time for “Torture,” Princess – An absurdist / comedy show in which the “princess” (who is also one of the strongest knights of the humans) is captured by the demons and is to be tortured for information. Where’s the absurdity, you ask? Well, for her very first torture session, said “torture” is to be subjected to … fresh … buttered … toast. Yep, that’s right – toast is prepared right in front of her and is offered to her if she reveals a secret to the demon torturer. Even with her trusty sentient sword encouraging her to resist, she breaks. The secret winds up being unusable by the demon army, so the torture sessions must continue until she reveals something useful. And food alone is not the sole implement of torture! No, no! She is also subjected to … fuzzy beasts … and gasp video gaming sessions! Oh, will the horrors never cease! This is absolutely hilarious for just how absurd it all is. [And don’t worry – the sword is, at least once, “tortured” as well, never fear!]
“Other”
[Ok, this is taking forever to write, so I’m going to just quickly breeze through these final few … mostly because there’s not too much to say about them and at least two are, even half-way through the season, still on the “might drop” list.]
Delusional Monthly Magazine – Wacky comedy / adventure of a magazine staff who investigate “fake” stuff, but it’s all, somehow, linked to a version of not-Atlantis and, oh by the way, one of the staff transforms under the right conditions into a felinoid warrior type. [Might drop]
The Demon Prince of Momochi House – Orphan teen girl inherits old style house and property … only to discover the current residents are a whole big bunch of yōkai as well as a teen boy who’s been, somehow, transformed into being a guardian of the “edge” between spirits and the real world. Some romance undertones as well as a story just weird enough to keep me curious.
The Strongest Tank’s Labyrinth Raids – “Oh look … another ‘throw out of the hero’s party because no one knew what his real strength was’ show!” Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Very cookie-cutter-ish and there’s already Banished from the Hero’s Party this season. [Might drop]
