Spring season is rapidly approaching! It’s time to start looking ahead to the next season and thinking about what is worth watching vs. what isn’t. This is also the official thread where I will watch for shows that you mention and will enable threads for those shows to be made by our resident bot, @rikka@ani.social.
Please feel free to use this thread as a normal weekly discussion thread as well! Anything that would normally be in the weekly discussion thread any other week is welcome here.
As always, remember to be mindful of spoilers. If you want to know more about how to handle spoilers in this community, check the guide here (also linked in the sidebar).
- Sentai Daishikkaku 2nd Season - I hope the pacing gets better
- GQuuuuuuX
- Gorilla God’s Blessing
- Wind Breaker 2nd Season
- Lazarus
- Witch Watch
- Beginning After The End
Hopefully I’ll actually have time to keep current on shows next season…
What I will probably watch next season:
- Witch Watch: I’ve read the manga, it was written by the same author as sket dance, so its humor sit just right with me.
- Hibi was Sugiredo Meshi Umashi: Another P.A. Works original anime featuring working women like shirobako, sakura quest, and aquatope. I always enjoy their comfy SOL with some light drama.
- GQuuuuuuX: I’ve never watched Gundam before, but the visual and character design pique my interest. I’ll give it an episode or two before deciding if it’s worth the time.
I’ll definitely miss Ave Mujica, there isn’t seem to be another anime that can break me every week.
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Work has been nuts this whole month and I am at least a week behind in just about everything I have been watching, even after dropping a handful of shows mid-season. More recently, I hope everybody got some news they were waiting for during AnimeJapan this past weekend. With that said, it is time to look ahead. The neverending churn of new shows grinds on…
Definitely Watching
- Apotehcary Diaries - This is continuing for another cour. Everybody make sure to check out !theapothecarydiaries@ani.social and shoutout to @sag@ani.social
- I’ve Been Killing Slimes For 300 Years - Season 2! It’s finally here and I am really looking forward to it. I need some chill iyashikei now more than ever.
- Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX - I have never watched a Gundam series before as it airs, so this will be new. Make sure to check out !gundam@ani.social as well!
- Rock is a Lady’s Modesty - I really like the manga for this series, but only the first volume or so has been translated, so I am not sure where it’s going. Looking forward to finding out.
Will Try to Watch (Time Permitting)
- The Too-Perfect Saint - I really enjoy this manga and am curious to see how this got adapted. There is a surprising amount of emotion in this one and I hope that they can build up the emotions as it goes for the payoff later.
- A Ninja and an Assassin Under One Roof - I have enjoyed the manga for this series, but it isn’t a series that I feel like I need to watch after reading the manga. It’s more like I am curious about the adaptation.
- I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! - I have seen people compare this series to one of my favorites, The Eminence in Shadow. So, I am going to try to give it a shot if I can find time.
Might Check Out Depending on Reception
- Apocalypse Hotel - This is an anime original in a post-apocalyptic setting. I kind of have a thing for post-apocalypse stories, so I will probably end up checking this out if it’s interesting.
- Kowloon Generic Romance - This manga has sat on my to-read list for ages. If the anime is well-received, I might just go that route.
- mono - I never watched Yuru Camp, but this is by the same author and I feel like a comfy SOL is just what the doctor ordered for me right now.
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Twins Hinahima looks interesting. It’s kinda historic too.
I won’t be able to make a post about this since it isn’t listed on AniList. So, feel free to make a post yourself if you want. You have my robo-blessing.
Oof. Crazy mods over on AniList.
SPRING SEASON
Definitely watching:
- The Apothecary Diaries - more Maomao
- Aharen-san - I adore Aharen and Raido’s character dynamic
- Shoshimin - charmed me from the start
- Black Butler: Emerald Witch Arc - enjoyed this arc in manga
- Kowloon Generic Romance - loved how atmospheric the manga was
High chance I’ll watch it through the end:
- Fire Force - want to finish this adaptation since I’m not planning on picking up the manga
- Wind Breaker - liked the characters, hope it improves (the theatre arc in the first season was a bit tiring)
- GQuuuuuuX - not missing mecha
- Lazarus - originals are worth checking out
- Aru Majo ga Shinu Made - witchy drama, the premise sounds interesting
- Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de - I’m here mostly for the main seiyuu trio, expecting a fun character dynamic
Will watch the first couple of episodes to decide if I’m sticking with it:
- Yaiba
- Witch Watch
- Anne Shirley
- Sword of the Demon Hunter
- Teogonia
- Zatsu Tabi
- mono
- Food for the Soul
- Apocalypse Hotel
- The Mononoke Lecture Logs of Chuzenji-sensei
- Rock is a Lady’s Modesty
- The Too-Perfect Saint
- From Old Country Bumpkin to Master Swordsman
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Also make sure to check out the recently formed !theapothecarydiaries@ani.social
I am very much looking forward to: Rock is a Ladies Modesty, Lazarus, Lyco Reco, Gundam GQuuuuuux.
I am still in season 1 of Apothecary Diaries, but I promised my partner we could watch it together so I can’t simply binge it all.
I’m a big fan of the Sakamoto Days manga but am finding it hard to get into the anime for some reason. I get the odd feeling that something just isn’t translating to the new medium very well. Have fallen a few episodes behind at this point due to lack of motivation.
Finally, having recently finished Zeta Gundam I plan to continue my UC Gundam watch directly into ZZ. I have heard good and bad things about this one. Wish me luck.
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Also make sure to check out the recently formed !theapothecarydiaries@ani.social
Oh boy I (finally) finished Angel Beats! You know, it’s a terrible idea to watch this in the library. It’s hard to hold back those tears when there are people around.
SPOILERS
During the graduation scene, I realized that maybe the reason why I enjoy watching anime a lot lately is because it often focuses on people in their last years of high school. The Coronavirus pandemic kind of took that away from me, so I didn’t get to experience a graduation like most people have.
At the time, I didn’t really think about it. I thought it didn’t matter much but maybe it does.
Anyway, there are worse things in the world so I don’t want to dwell on it too much. Maybe it’s just media’s fault for romanticizing high school life :P I tend to guard myself from thoughts like that but alas, I too have emotions.
The end credits scene made a lot more sense to me now, and I really like that feeling of anticipation on whether Otonashi decided to stay or not. I think Hiroshi Kamiya’s delivery of the line “Kanade!!!” will forever be ingrained in my head.
By the way, the ending reminded me of this video. It’s way too accurate lol
Anyway, this week I’m watching Genius Party and Ghost in the Shell.
Weekly ranking roundup:
- Anime Corner - Full Results - Weekly Winner: Solo Leveling
- Reddit Karma - Weekly Winner: Solo Leveling
Credit to /u/Abysswatcherbel for making the chart for reddit karma and /u/Nooble5 for the Anime Trending chart.
Solo Leveling clearing the field this past week. The huge gains in both charts (karma and vote share) show that it must have had a great episode. In fact, the top 3 for both charts are identical which rarely happens.
There’s not too much I’m excited about this season, but I’ll definitely be watching at least the first episode of Witch Watch and unless something goes terribly wrong all of GQuuuuuux and Apothecary Diaries as well.
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Also make sure to check out the recently formed !theapothecarydiaries@ani.social
The only thing that caught my attention right off was Kowloon Generic Romance. I was interested in the setting, but the manga never managed to really convey it, and hopefully an anime will.
Well… and Shiunji-ke no Kodomotachi, but that’s because it’s from the same mangaka as Rent a Girlfriend and I read the first dozen or so chapters on a whim and it was even more insipid and tedious and awful than I expected. I have no intention of watching it - I just noticed it on the list and was surprised.
Lazarus looks kind of interesting, but it’s unlikely I’ll watch it while it’s releasing. If it’s anything like the other Mappa action series I’ve seen, it’ll be decent in the long run, but it’ll go through a period at about the 2/3 mark when the story will be going in about ten different directions at once and there will still be enough background secrets left to be revealed that none of it will make much sense, and I’d rather binge my way through that.
So last week started with the rest of the Little Witch Academia series. I rank the first LWA OVA as the best single “episode” of anime I’ve ever seen (and I rewatched it a few more times last week - so over the last two weeks I’ve watched it about a dozen times - and that opinion still holds), so any follow-up couldn’t help but be sort of anticlimactic, and with that in mind, it was fine. It stumbled a bit here and there, and I found Akko’s inexplicable lack of character growth particularly disappointing, but I liked it well enough all in all. And the final episode was excellent (and I suspect part of the problem with the series was that that episode was planned out in advance, so the rest of the series, and especially the last few episodes leading up to it, had to be shaped to accommodate it).
Then I cast about for something just light and silly and preferably short and ended up with Uchuu Patrol Luluco. And only noticed later that it was also Trigger. It’s one of those that doesn’t even bother trying to make sense and just revels in lunacy and nonsense, and it was fine.
Then because Trigger had become somthing of a theme, I poked around a bit and went on to Kiznaiver, which was… okay. It had a fair amount of potential, but the pacing was awkward. It basically spends the first ten episodes or so just heaping on layer after layer of essentially context-less mystery, then stuffs the last two episodes with a flood of reveals and exposition to finally make some sort of sense of all of it.
And over the urge to watch Trigger productions, I wandered into Kuzu no Honkai, which is a tawdry love polygon and a rollercoaster of hope and despair and longing and betrayal, and has been pretty good in a smutty soap opera-ish sort of way.
I really like LWA, but I agree. The show spends a lot of time just spinning its wheels with silly SOL stuff only for the story to actually go somewhere later on (like the final third or so iirc).
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Past Seasons
My peak streak came to an end with Ping Pong.
It was well-produced, but I don’t vibe with the story / characters.
One small thing that impressed me was that they hired Mandarin-speaking voice actors instead of butchering the pronunciation of foreign tongue like usual.
Also, I have just picked up Vivy - Fluorite Eye’s Song -. I’m just going to park my stream of thoughts here before I forget them like I did for so many other anime.
Vivy episode 2 spoiler
If the terrorists are going to demolish the building, why bother going after that politician with guns first?! Just set off the bombs while he’s still inside!
Also, if the teddy bear is so good at controlling electronics, there was no need for them to actually set off the bombs to create an escape route at the end. All it has to do is to show a fake timer, then Vivy and gang can use the chance to flee!
Next Season
Continuing
Picking up
A lot of upcoming anime got my interest. However, I simply don’t have the time to explore.
If there’s a hidden gem, hopefully there will be enough people glazing it to catch my attention.
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Also make sure to check out the recently formed !theapothecarydiaries@ani.social
