Things I’m excited for this season, in descending order:

• Medalist S2
• a pretty wide gap tbh
• Frieren S2
• Jujutsu Kaisen S3
• Oshi no Ko S3

So why the wide gap? I liked the beginnings of those last three shows quite a lot, but I’ve read the manga for all of them and IMO they all go downhill as they go on. Frieren begins to feel more like a generic battle shounen. Jujutsu Kaisen focuses too much on the fights and the magic system and not enough on the characters. Oshi no Ko’s author is really good at writing fun characters and character moments but kinda bad at writing the serious drama he seems to want to write. Also, Medalist really is just that good. It’s a great story with a decent adaptation and I’ll take that over a decent story with a great adaptation any day. And who knows, maybe Season 2 will fix some of the minor issues Season 1 had - in particular I’d appreciate it if they could make the spins look better. Guess we’ll find out!

Frieren season 2 is a gimme, as is Trigun Stargaze (I quite liked Stampede and am looking forward to seeing the rebooted version of Millie). I’ll undoubtedly end up watching the third season of Oshi no Ko, but I’m actually only sort of lukewarm on the series, so I don’t feel any great urge to watch it, and might end up letting it go for now and binging it later on. Same for MF Ghost season 3 - it’s safe to presume that it’ll be the same as the first two seasons, which is to say tediously drawn out (at the rate the story’s going, I expect it to be finished, if it lasts that long, by about season 8, in about 2040).

Nothing else really grabbed my attention as far as series go (seems to be even more cheese than normal), but I’m definitely looking forward to the All You Need is Kill movie. I hate that the most popular adaptation it’s gotten yet is that Americanized Tom Cruise movie, which doesn’t even come close to doing justice to the original story.

Edit to add: just browsing the list some more and noticed that there’s an adaptation of Seihantai na Kimi to Boku (You and I Are Polar Opposites) coming. I loved the manga, so even though I already know the story, I’ll likely give the anime a shot.

As far as the current season goes, the final episode of May I Ask For One Final Thing? was just what I’d hoped. The story had been obviously drawing together for a couple of episodes now, and sure enough, the final episode wrapped all of the immediate issues up in a neat little package, while still leaving enough longer term and more distant issues around which to build a second season. I have no notable complaints about the episode, or about the season as a whole for that matter. The characters are great (Scarlet and Julius in particular), the story was a bit rushed, but satisfying, the art is gorgeous and both the OP and the ED are excellent, each in their own way. The only minor criticism I have is that the story unfolded a bit too easily and smoothly, mostly because Scarlet is massively OP. But more complication would’ve drug the story out too long to fit it into a single season, so I’m okay with that. And like Julius, I’m fine with Scarlet being OP, because it’s always amusing to watch.

Past:

Looking for a sort of counter to the rule of cool mayhem of the Gridman series, I went back to one I’ve watched a couple of times before - a spoof called Robot Girls Z. It’s about three (plus more over time) girls who go through sort of magical girl transformations and end up in costumes not coincidentally patterned after super robots (the original three are Mazingers, but pretty much every franchise in existence gets a nod somewhere along the way), then proceed to fight with standard super robot attacks - drills, beams and of course rocket punches. And the basic arc of each episode is the really pathetic super villains hatching some really feeble scheme (the first episode shows them dining and dashing at at ramen restaurant), then the robot girls responding by unleashing city-block leveling attacks on them (the first episode culminates with the robot girls triggering an Akira-style hemispherical explosion that destroys most of the city. To punish the villains for dining and dashing). It’s just goofy fun that completely deflates all of the super robot tropes.

Then I somehow ended up with Yuasa’s OVA Kick Heart. It’s a mostly unvoiced portrayal of something that might become a romance between a professional wrestler and a nun, done in the rough but highly dynamic style that he later (in my opinion over-) used for Ping Pong: The Animation. It was amusing and interesting and a nice diversion.

Then I bounced off a few things and browsed some episode 1s, then remembered that I still hadn’t seen the latest season of Konosuba, so that became the obvious choice. And it was… pretty good, with a dash of excellent. It wasn’t quite as funny as the past seasons, and there seemed to be entirely too much yelling - they’ve always yelled at each other, and especially Kazuma and Aqua, but for whatever reason, there seemed to be much more of it this time around, to the point that it got sort of tedious. But it was still worth it all in all, and the latter half of the season was excellent, and it was especially nice to see Darkness get some focus.

Next, wanting something a bit more peaceful, I decided it was time for Silent Witch, which has been resting near the top of my TBW for a while now. And it was everything I hoped it’d be and more - great characters, interesting story, beautiful art and just a pleasure from start to finish. I adored it, and am looking forward to a second season.

Then, on a whim, I finished off the week with an oddity that caught my eye a while back - Gleipnir. I quite enjoyed it all in all, though Shuichi grated on my nerves after a while (flashbacks to Claymore - it seems that if there’s a female main character named Claire, there also has to be a sniveling wretch male character to cry out, “Cwaaaaaiiiwww!”). The only real downside to it in the long run (sniveling wretch Shuichi was eventually replaced by determinator Shuichi, which was a bit forced and contrived, but welcome) was that there’s obviously a lot more story left. It was interesting enough that I think I’ll just go ahead and read the manga and be done with it.

And at the moment, I’m rewatching Gabriel DropOut, which I only saw for the first time last year, but which immediately claimed the number 2 spot on my list of all time favorite CGDCTs, second only to YuruYuri.

First of two comments for me this week is a meta comment. I would like to welcome @1Fuji2Taka3Nasubi@piefed.zip to the moderation team of the community! I have been busier and busier at work lately, so the additional set of eyes on things is greatly appreciated.

All I wish for is a different ending for Oshi No Ko. Won’t spoil how it ends, but is dissapointing.

Odd season, there’s a lot of popular sequels… for series I haven’t watched. So for continuing series only one:

• Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End Season 2

And for new series I only have two in my list:

• Easygoing Territory Defense by the Optimistic Lord -> Isekai with city building aspects are my favorite type of “junk food”, so I’ll almost certainly enjoy this.
• The Holy Grail of Eris -> Heard lots of good things about the manga for this one.

For once I’m not late with the current season (only series I haven’t finished yet is the assassin isekai), so I might take some time to watch some series I’m backlogged. Witch from Mercury would be my biggest priority, been stalling that for a long time, maybe MHA Vigilantes S1 after that since the premise is interesting.

Past Seasons

I completed Trigun Stampede and am one-third of the way through Hell’s Paradise. Honestly, the stories are nothing new, but they are interesting enough to keep my attention for now (and to continue with the sequels next season).

Trigun Stampede is yet another Final Fantasy / Land of the Lustrous / Heavenly Delusion clone. Hell’s Paradise is basically a John Wick prequel in a historical + fantasy setting.

Upcoming Season

Next season is insane.

Continuing

from the current season

• Gnosia

I am also planning to catch up with Pokemon Horizons but I am not sure if there’s enough interest in this community for discussion threads.

Sequels

• There’s no freaking way I will be your lover - part 2
• Trigun Stargaze
• Hell’s Paradise - season 2
• 'Tis time for torture, princess - season 2
• My Hero Academia: Vigilantes - season 2
• Chained Soldier - season 2
• Medalist - season 2
• Frieren - season 2
• Oshi no Ko - season 3
• Jujutsu Kaisen - season 3

Familiar

with the source material or other adaptations

• The demon king’s daughter is too kind!!
• Roll over and die

New

to me but their premise is interesting enough to give them a shot

• Sentenced to be a hero
• The Darwin incident

That’s 16 tv series💀

(and that’s not counting movies!)

But I figure it’s better than having to play catch-up.

Thank you @rikka@ani.social